Case Study - Harvest Baptist Christian Academy
Strong Leadership Drives Charter School Literacy Gains
Struggling students behind in reading skills
When Vice Principal Irene Taylor completed fall semester evaluations for her mid-elementary students at Harvest Baptist Christian Academy, she saw that many kids were significantly behind grade level expectations in basic reading skills. She knew that many needed intensive, targeted support to close the gap.
A Partnership in the Making
Luckily, Mrs. Taylor had already been exploring ways to partner with Sharpen Reading, with support from the Central Florida Urban League. This partnership aimed to provide her students with high-dose, 1:1 tutoring using Sharpen Reading’s proven, high-outcome curriculum on its purpose-built digital platform. Mrs. Taylor knew that 1:1 tutoring could accelerate her student’s decoding growth and overall reading skills.
Over the course of the following spring semester, Sharpen provided 1:1 remote tutoring to these at-risk students 3 times a week. Sessions were 45 minutes or 30 minutes depending on the age and attention level of the student. By the end of the semester, the average gain was nearly a full grade level in decoding and foundational reading skill!
Measuring Success by the Numbers
The students’ combined letter-sound knowledge and word reading scores showed nearly a 4x growth.
This substantial improvement indicates gains in foundational reading skills, including letter-recognition and decoding abilities. Students progressed almost a full grade level in reading skills in 24 hours of tutoring dosage over the Spring Semester, 2024.
