Since its inception in 1994, Literacy First has invested in rigorous research to evaluate the impact of the program on student outcomes. Beginning in the 2017-2018 school year, the American Institutes for Research partnered with Literacy First to conduct an independent evaluation of the impact of participation in Literacy First on the early reading skills of growing K-2 readers. The first-ever experimental design study of the program, the evaluation employed a multisite randomized controlled trial within 22 schools in the Austin Independent School District. Overall, the study showed that students who received Literacy First tutoring outperformed students who did not receive Literacy First tutoring on all included outcome measures, demonstrating improvement in early reading skills, oral reading fluency, and reading comprehension within the same school year. In addition, students who received Literacy First tutoring in Grade 2 scored higher on the STAAR Grade 3 for both reading and mathematics.
