© 2025 Vista Higher Learning Reading and Writing Growth with Vista’s Engage 24 Question 3: Do academically at-risk ML students in grades 9–12 receiving Engage instruction show significant growth in reading and writing skills? How does the growth of at-risk students compare to the growth seen for the full sample of ML students in grades 9–12? To address the third research question, we examined the subset of students whose AZELLA scores indicated they were academically at risk—that is, students whose English language proficiency levels placed them at increased risk of academic failure. Students not yet proficient in English face particular challenges as they navigate complex subject-area texts needed to succeed in secondary coursework. AZELLA domain tests are scored on a scale from 100 to 500, with scores of 250 and above reflecting proficiency. Scores between 100 and 229 correspond to the Pre-Emergent, Emergent, or Basic proficiency levels. For this analysis, students scoring below 210 on the AZELLA Reading test (and classified as Basic on the writing assessment) were identified as academically at risk. The score of 210 served as a proxy threshold for risk status in this study. To evaluate whether Engage was particularly beneficial for students performing at the lowest proficiency levels, we compared pre- and post-instruction means for both at-risk and all ML student groups on AZELLA Reading and Writing assessments. Table 16 summarizes these results. Table 16 AZELLA Reading and Writing Growth for At-Risk Students (Grades 9–12) and All ML Students The results show that Engage instruction was highly e ective for academically at-risk students, particularly in writing. Reading gains for at-risk students yielded an e ect size of .56, compared with .37 for the total group. Writing gains were even stronger, with an e ect size of .81 for at-risk students versus .54 for the total group. Skill Area Proficiency Classification N Pre- Instruction Mean Pre- Instruction SD PostInstruction Mean Post- Instruction SD PrePost Mean Di SD Mean di erence (corrected for corr) T Significance Cohens D (corrected for corr) Reading At-Risk ML Students 118 164.95 27.59 179.43 23.50 14.48 28.05 5.6 <.001 .56 All ML Students 171 186.24 41.67 201.67 42.25 15.43 42.06 9.3 <.001 .37 Writing At-Risk ML Students 118 190.94 29.06 210.95 12.93 20.01 26.01 8.1 <.001 .81 All ML Students 171 205.97 34.24 223.09 22.98 17.12 31.80 6.9 <.001 .54
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