Photo: Kate Samp for Strategies for Children

My postings about the 16 one-page memos on literacy from Harvard’s Lead for Literacy series is coming to an end, with this item on Program Design for Impact,

“Educators devote much time and effort to literacy supports and programs that reach many children, but we aren’t making a difference in literacy rates,” the memo states. “We need to focus on programs that result in a measurable impact on children’s literacy, and then find a way to increase the number of children served by those programs.”

Too often, the memo notes, programs define success by the number of children served. Instead, it advises, programs should find “the right dosage – amount of time on task needed to improve literacy skills.” Programs should be evaluated to determine their effectiveness and only then brought to scale. It suggests three guiding questions:

• Implementation characteristics: Are we delivering the program or support?
• Key ingredients: What’s working?
• Sufficient dosage: Are we doing enough to change behaviors, prevent difficulties and improve literacy rates?

The final keys to successful program design are ongoing professional development and ongoing monitoring of quality. “Even a model program quickly loses its impact if not implemented correctly,” the memo warns.

The memos are an initiative of the Language Diversity and Literacy Development Research Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The research group is headed by Professor Nonie Lesaux, author of “Turning the Page: Refocusing Massachusetts for Reading Success,” which we commissioned in 2010 and which informs the memos.