Eric.ed.gov – Passport Reading Journeys [TM]. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Snapshot

Literacy skills are critical to students’ academic achievement and setting them on a path to successful high school graduation and readiness for college and careers. “Passport Reading Journeys” [TM] is a supplemental literacy curriculum designed to help improve reading comprehension, vocabulary, word study, and writing skills of struggling readers in grades 6-12. Lessons incorporate both teacher led instruction and technology, including whole-class and small-group instruction, independent reading, video segments, and independent computer-based practice. The curriculum includes a series of two-week, ten-lesson instructional sequences on topics in science, math, fine art, literature, and social studies. Each sequence is themed as an expedition or journey for students. This What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) report, part of the WWC’s Adolescent Literacy topic area, explores the effects of “Passport Reading Journeys” [TM] on student literacy. The WWC identified six studies of “Passport Reading Journeys” [TM]. Three of these studies meet WWC standards. The evidence presented in this report is from studies of the impacts of “Passport Reading Journeys” [TM] on students-including white, black, and Hispanic students-in a range of grades-Grade 6 through 9- and a variety of school settings, including urban, suburban, and rural districts. Findings on “Passport Reading Journeys” [TM] from three studies that meet WWC standards are shown below. For each outcome reviewed by the WWC, an effectiveness rating, the improvement index, and the number of studies and students that contributed to the findings are presented. The improvement index is a measure of the intervention’s effect on an outcome. It can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention. The finding on comprehension is based on analyses that include 2,001 students. The findings on general literacy achievement is based on analyses including 2,316 students. [For “Passport Reading Journeys [TM]. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report,” see ED600567. For “Passport Reading Journeys [TM]. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Brief,” see ED600568.]