Note: This WestEd project was completed in 2017.
The Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI) at WestEd was a significant partner in the Institute of Education Sciences’ READi (Reading, Evidence, and Argumentation in Disciplinary Instruction) research initiative. This five-year initiative developed instructional strategies, technology, curricula, teacher professional development, and assessment to increase the reading comprehension of students in grades 6-12.
SLI collaborated with researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and elsewhere, first to understand the cognitive processes students need to draw on to develop evidence-based arguments, and then to design instructional interventions that will support students. Finally, researchers designed research studies to measure the efficacy of the project interventions.
Cynthia Greenleaf, former SLI Co-Director, served as co-Principal Investigator, co-led the project’s Intervention Development Studies, and was a member of the Core Research group. WestEd’s Thomas Hanson led the efficacy studies in the final years of the grant.