American Reading Company (ARC) announced today that its (award-winning) ARC Core® curriculum earned the highest rating as a Level 1 program demonstrating “Strong Evidence” of efficacy under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Evaluated by Evidence for ESSA at John Hopkins University’s Center for Research and Reform in Education, the “Strong Evidence” designation meets the U.S. Department of Education’s federal funding standards and makes ARC Core a solid choice for Title I, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER), state, and district-level funding.  

A study of ARC Core in kindergarten classrooms, funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and conducted by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) at the University of Pennsylvania, found the curriculum to have profound impacts on students’ reading comprehension, letter-naming fluency, and motivation to read, while achieving savings by using an average of three fewer instructional programs. The study, which involved 1,589 students in 21 schools, is one of the first to rigorously examine the impact of an integrated literacy and science curriculum in kindergarten.  

ARC Core, American Reading Company’s high-quality, comprehensive curriculum, includes knowledge-building units with complex texts— available K–12 in English and K–5 in Spanish—that integrate reading, writing, science, and social studies content in a student-centered learning environment.  

“To have ARC Core recognized as having strong evidence of effectiveness by Evidence for ESSA is an honor,” said Jane Hileman, CEO and founder of American Reading Company. “It affirms the feedback we have received from educators across the country who have implemented our literacy curriculum and witnessed firsthand how it has not only helped their students succeed, but also built their own expertise in teaching reading.”

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE 

About American Reading Company American Reading Company is a diverse, mission-driven organization that works to ensure every student is reading on or above grade level. Headquartered in Blue Bell, PA, ARC works collaboratively to strengthen district and school capacity at every level by placing literacy and agency at the heart of school transformation, through: 

• Reading and writing 

• Knowledge building 

• Foundational skills 

• Formative assessment  

• An integrated, tiered system of supports 

As a result, all students read, write, discuss, think, investigate, and solve problems at ever-increasing levels of proficiency. Their academic performance is accelerated, and their life prospects are fundamentally improved.