 Interpreting the effectiveness of a summer reading program: The eye of the beholderDeborah K. Reed and Ariel M. Aloe Evaluation and Program Planning, 2020, vol. 83, issue C Abstract: In applying a methods-oriented approach to evaluation, this study interpreted the effectiveness of a summer reading program from three different stakeholder perspectives: practitioners from the school district, the funding agency supporting the program, and the policymakers considering mandating summer school. Archival data were obtained on 2330 students reading below benchmark in Grades 2–5. After propensity score matching participants to peers who did not attend the summer program, the final sample consisted of 630 students. Pre-to-posttest growth models revealed positive effects in Grades 2–4 (standardized slopes of .40–.54), but fifth graders demonstrated negligible improvement (standardized slope of .15). The standardized mean differences of propensity score matched treatment and control group students indicated null effects in all grade levels (d = −.13 to .05). Achieving proficient reading performance also was not attributable to summer school participation. Findings underscore the importance of operationalizing effectiveness in summative evaluation. Keywords: Effect sizes; Growth modeling; Propensity score matching; Summer reading; Summative evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:epplan:v:83:y:2020:i:c:s0149718920301567 DOI: 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2020.101852 Access Statistics for this article Evaluation and Program Planning is currently edited by Jonathan A. Morell More articles in Evaluation and Program Planning from Elsevier |
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