Improving Vulnerable Populations’ Emergent Reading Outcomes by Training Preservice Teachers in an Evidence-Based Program

ABSTRACT This article details a large-scale tutor-to-teacher pipeline created in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The program addressed two vital needs: 1) improving outcomes for striving readers in high-needs communities, and 2) improving teacher training in both evidence- and research-based instruction. Across school year (SY) 2020–2021 and 2021–2022, 608 preservice teachers delivered an evidence-based (Reading Rescue) or research-based (Reading Ready) early literacy intervention. Through a coordinated effort between the City University of New York (CUNY) and the NYC Department of Education (NYC DOE), 857 NYC DOE students received one-on-one, interactive, remote tutoring three to five days a week, for an average of 21 sessions. Results demonstrated that students who received the emergent word reading program, Reading Ready, improved in their phoneme segmentation and nonword reading skills by 31–47%, and students who received the follow-up evidence-based program, Reading Rescue, consistently improved by one intervention reading level per 10 sessions, and showed age equivalent reading gains of one-half to almost a full year of growth as measured by a standardized, nationally normed assessment. Discussion focuses on the value of this high-quality training and tutoring experience for preservice teachers and on the critical support provided to striving readers in underserved communities in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.