Chesterfield County, South Carolina
Chesterfield County School District

Author:
Sherri Thurman
Ruby Elementary

Date evaluation report completed:
June 13, 2000

Months/years covered by evaluation:
School year 1999-2000

Number of schools involved:
1 school
24 students

Demographics of sample population:
Chesterfield County School District is a rural district with an enrollment of 7, 955 students. Ruby Elementary is a K-8 building with 275 students: 30% African American and 70% Caucasian. Thirteen 4th–graders and eleven 5th–graders participated in the study. They were all 1- 3 years below level in reading.

Purpose of study:
To measure the reading growth of the Soar to Success students.

Methodology:
Students received Soar to Success instruction within their classrooms. The Soar groups met for 40 minutes of instruction 4-5 days a week. This instruction was delivered by the classroom teachers. The STAR test and the Johns Reading Inventory were used as pre and posttests.

Measures/indicators used to assess effectiveness:
STAR
Johns Informal Reading Inventory

Findings:

Grade 4:	STAR +1.8 grade levels	Johns +2.2 grade levels
Grade 5:	+1.3 grade levels	+1.1 grade levels