Many middle and high school students struggle with basic reading skills. Researchers from Central Florida University have studied how a computer-assisted instruction program called PowerUp might help.
The researchers compared English Language Arts (ELA) scores from before and after the program’s implementation for some 26,000 students in a large urban school district in the Southeast.
They found a positive, though modest, improvement in students’ ELA scores. The impact was greatest among students who consistently used the platform and among English Language Learners (ELLs), indicating that the program—and, potentially, other computer-assisted instructional programs—could be an effective tool for helping close the achievement gap in reading.