Eric.ed.gov – Reading and Math with Athletics. E.C.I.A. Chapter 2. Annual Evaluation Report, Summer 1983.

The summer of 1983 Reading and Mathematics with Athletics program in New York City provided supplementary remediation in reading and math to 2,157 handicapped New York City students by incorporating sports activities and concepts into instruction. The program was highly effective in meeting its proposed goals and showed marked improvement over previous years in both implementation and effectiveness. In reading, 87.4 percent of the students meeting attendance criteria mastered at least two new reading skills and 72.8 percent mastered three or more. In math, 87.3 percent mastered two or more new skills and 72.1 percent mastered three or more. (In both areas in the two previous years, 60 percent mastered two new skills and less than one third mastered three.) In addition, staff were enthusiastic about the expanded preservice training and the newly introduced inservice training, and saw the incorporation of sports activities and concepts as a strong motivating factor. In marked contrast to previous yuears, transportation was seen as a positive program feature. Finally, teachers found a new curriculum guide to be a useful supplement. Moreover, analysis of aggregate student achievement data from the current and previous years indicated a moderately strong relationship between teachers’ use of particular lessons from the guide and student mastery of related skills. (CMG)