Saga Lit

Now more than ever, a strong foundation in literacy is essential for academic and professional success. While advances in early reading have improved average literacy levels for young children in the U.S. over time, these gains have not been realized equitably. These disparities are especially concerning given the strong association between childhood literacy and a host of long-term life outcomes, including achievement in secondary school, high school graduation, and future earnings. Given the importance of early literacy, it is imperative that we ensure all children have the opportunity to develop these skills.

High-dosage tutoring is one promising approach for addressing differential literacy achievement at a young age. Previous research from the Education Lab found that Saga Education’s high-dosage tutoring model, which provides participants with intensive two-on-one tutoring during each school day, effectively improves high school math outcomes; students gain an additional one to two and half years of additional math learning.

In 2016, Saga Education expanded its model beyond math to pilot a high-dosage literacy tutoring program with first graders in two Chicago Public Schools charter elementary schools. The Education Lab conducted a randomized controlled trial in two CPS charter schools in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 academic years to generate experimental evidence about the effectiveness of this high-dosage literacy tutoring for young children. Early results show that students who participated in Saga Education’s literacy tutoring model gained two additional months of literacy learning.