SRI studied the effectiveness of a promising program focused on secondary students’ academic English skills.
Even after mastering conversational English, English learners often struggle with academic English, negatively impacting their educational outcomes. SRI conducted a 4-year randomized controlled trial (RCT) to estimate the effectiveness of the Pathway to Academic Success Project, a promising program focused on secondary students’ academic English skills.
The Pathway Project is a teacher professional development program designed to enhance classroom literacy instruction to prepare multilingual learners and their peers in high-need schools to be successful in core academic subjects and to meet the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.
The program and SRI’s first evaluation were funded through a U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) validation grant. Based on promising results from the i3 study in improving student achievement, the UCI Writing Project received a federal Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Expansion Grant to extend capacity to deliver Pathway professional development to new sites and in new contexts.
In support of this grant, SRI conducted a random assignment evaluation of the Pathway Project in grades 7–11, over the course of three school years (2019/20, 2020/21, and 2021/22). Despite disruptions to program implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic, SRI found that the Pathway Project led to positive, statistically significant impacts on students’ writing.
The size, rigor, and independence of these studies provide a strong evidence base to support the Pathway Project’s effectiveness in improving secondary students’ academic writing at scale and in diverse contexts.
Principal investigators
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Katrina Woodworth
Director, Center for Education Research and Improvement, SRI Education
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Sara Rutherford-Quach
Principal Education Researcher, SRI Education
Associated publications
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UC Irvine Writing Project’s Pathway to Academic Success Program: An Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Expansion Grant Evaluation
SRI researchers measured student outcomes on the Analytic Writing Continuum for Literary Analysis (AWC-LA). Despite disruptions to program implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic, the study found positive effects on student writing quality, conventions, and productivity.
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UC Irvine Writing Project’s pathway to academic success program: An Investing in Innovation (i3) validation grant evaluation
This technical report provides impact and implementation fidelity results from SRI’s Evaluation of the Pathway to Academic Success Project –i3 Validation Grant. The Pathway Project is a teacher professional development program designed to enhance classroom literacy.
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The Pathway to Academic Success Project Leads to Improved Student Writing
SRI study finds that the University of California, Irvine Writing Project’s Pathway to Academic Success project leads to improved students’ academic writing through professional development for secondary English language arts and advanced English language development teachers.
