PVB Literacy Solutions Improve Reading Achievement in a Georgia School

Discover how a rural elementary school of 764 students in Georgia found literacy success using In Tandem and Stepping Together during the 2023–2024 school year.

Case study prepared by JEM&R, LLC, an independent research and evaluation firm, and edited for clarity. View full case study here.

Overview:

Challenges

• An elementary school in a rural district needed a differentiated, small-group literacy program to meet the needs of diverse students, including a growing number of English learners (ELs). 
  

Solution

• In Tandem
• Stepping Together

Results

• Students using In Tandem improved significantly in the first year of implementation, making an overall gain of 14.8 points on the NWEA MAP Reading Test.
• Students starting the year at lower reading percentiles (i.e., struggling readers) made the most gains.
• Students who used PVB programs more often (>250 min/week) made more gains than students who used it less often.
• ELs who used In Tandem showed significant growth and exceeded the K–2 schoolwide average growth.

Challenges

The elementary school in this study serves 764 students in grades pre-K–5 in a small city of 3,000 residents in Georgia. The school is part of a rural district home to a diverse student body, including a large EL population. Plus, 100% of students at this school receive free or reduced lunch, and home access to the internet is limited.

In this context, the school needed a flexible literacy curriculum to equip teachers to meet the needs of all K–2 students. School leaders and teachers entered the 2023–2024 school year determined to improve students’ literacy achievement and overcome the lingering impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Solution

The school partnered with Pioneer Valley Books to implement In Tandem, a multimodal literacy curriculum that provides differentiated, small-group instruction. "In Tandem was that perfect fit for us because it gave our students opportunities to read decodable texts but also a chance to read less-controlled texts that they could apply those phonics skills to," the literacy coach said.

In Tandem provides students with systematic phonics instruction and opportunities to immediately apply their learning to authentic reading and writing. Each lesson includes decodable books that provide opportunities to practice the targeted literacy skills together. The phonics survey assesses students’ skills to determine the series of lessons that meets students’ needs, and the lesson plans incorporate progress monitoring to inform adjustments to instruction. In Tandem provides differentiated instruction that is suitable for diverse groups of learners with engaging materials that build student confidence and invite real-world applications.

This study also assessed the total number of minutes per week teachers reported using Stepping Together and In Tandem. Students in classrooms that used the products for a longer amount of time each week showed higher levels of growth and achievement. 

Readers of all levels showed improvement over the course of the school year. In Tandem’s small-group format helped identify gaps in learning, flexibly group students, and provide instruction according to their phonics needs. Results indicate that In Tandem may be an especially effective learning solution for struggling readers. As shown below, students starting the year below the 33rd percentile improved most.

The school also saw significant improvement in literacy achievement for the EL population. The mean NWEA Reading Test RIT Score for English learners increased by 15.5 points from fall 2023 to spring 2024, exceeding the K–2 schoolwide average growth.