Archived -- OERI Bulletin - Summer 1997

A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

OERI BULLETIN - Summer 1997

"Success For All" Catches On

As the end of the school year approaches, approximately 750 schools in 200 districts have joined the crusade to ensure that, with the help of programs such as Success For All (SFA), no student "falls between the cracks." A schoolwide restructuring program based on extensive research for pre-K through 5 students, Success For All focuses on the academic achievement of disadvantaged students. The heart of the program is ensuring reading success during the critical early years of a child's development, since without strong reading skills a child's further learning is greatly limited.

SFA emphasizes prevention of reading failure, extensive intervention to maintain reading success, and the provision of a rich and full curriculum to enable students to build a firm foundation in basic skills. Essential elements of the SFA program include: a writing/language arts program that includes cooperative learning, a structure to regroup children for reading, and one-to-one tutoring (with special emphasis on first grade students); assessment of reading progress every 8 weeks; staff support teams; and family support teams to promote parental involvement.

Major findings from an evaluation of SFA and control schools in several school districts reveal that:

SFA students show greater achievement on individually administered reading scales and other measures.
In average grade equivalents, SFA students perform approximately 3 months ahead of comparison students by first grade, and more than a year ahead by fifth grade.
Positive effects have been found on district-administered standardized tests.
SFA has produced substantial reductions in retentions and special education referrals and placements.

SFA was first implemented in six Baltimore and Philadelphia schools--two of the largest school districts in the country--in the 1988-89 school year. The program is now being used in school districts of all sizes all over the country, from Houston and Memphis to a Navajo reservation in Arizona. In addition, Success For All has a Spanish version, Lee Conmigo, which is being used in bilingual programs in at least five states. Almost all SFA schools are high poverty Title I schools. The program is also being implemented in Canada, Mexico, Israel, and Australia.

The Success For All program, a component of the OERI-funded Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR), is monitored by the National Institute on the Education of At-Risk Students. To learn more about Success For All, including how to adopt SFA at your school, contact: Success for All Program, Johns Hopkins University, 3505 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218; telephone: 410-516-8896 or 1-800-548-4998; fax: 410-516-8890.

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