SPARK Early Literacy, created by Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee in collaboration with UWM’s School of Education and the Milwaukee Public Schools, participated in a Congressional panel in late October.
The panel, sponsored by the Annie E Casey Foundation, organized by The Center for Research and Reform in Education, and moderated by Sarah Sparks, assistant editor of Education Week, brought together Department of Education Investing in Innovations (i3) grant recipient programs that have proven to be both innovative and effective. SPARK was invited to participate because it is one of the four (of 49) 2010 grant recipients whose independent evaluations found statistically significant positive impacts.
The randomized control trial evaluation of SPARK, conducted by UWM’s Office of Socially Responsible Evaluation in Education (SREed), concluded that SPARK had significant positive impacts on both reading achievement and regular school day attendance. “The impact we found in our evaluation suggests that SPARK is both building the literacy skills of students and addressing the underlying issues that cause students to fall behind,” said Curtis Jones, director and senior scientist at SREed and principal investigator of the SPARK study.
Pat Marcus, director of program development from the Boys & Girls Club, represented SPARK on the panel. Marcus said that “In addition to providing concrete evidence that SPARK has a positive impact on the students we serve, the evaluators helped facilitate the creation of tools and procedures that make the program stronger and more efficient.” In addition to doing the independent evaluation, UWM’s School of Education provides support and tutors to SPARK Early Literacy, which the Boys & Girls Club makes available to kindergarten through third grade students in selected Milwaukee Public Schools.
