Reading First Project

Reading First is a U.S. Department of Education program aimed at implementing research-based methods of early reading instruction in kindergarten through third-grade classrooms. States are required to provide annual performance reports, which include data on the number of students taking and passing various standardized tests.

Reading First required a comprehensive site that allowed the general public to review static reports about the program, state departments of education to provide their required data, and federal Department of Education staff and consultants to analyze the collected information.

At the core of this system is the data the state departments of education provide. Each state is required to maintain a list of schools and districts that have received Reading First funding, along with aggregated reports of how each school fared in standardized testing for grades 1 through 3. FirePig developed a system of maintaining the lists of participants using existing identifiers that helped prevent misidentification of similarly named schools, and allowed us to take advantage of existing data sources so that the states would not have to be overly burdened by reporting. The use of these identifiers also greatly eased the task of matching these participant lists to the assessment data they upload each year in the form of specifically formatted Excel files.

Once the states sent in their assessment data, we ran a series of complex checks to make sure they were complete and internally consistent. Passing data was added to a Microsoft Analysis Services database, which powers the web based analytical system we built for use by the Department of Education and its contractors. Users may create complex reports using an intuitive, user-friendly interface that allows them total control over the display of information. If they wish to conduct more extensive analyses in conventional statistical packages, they may download their own custom datasets. State users have limited access to this tool so that they may review their own data. This both gives them an additional analysis tool and allows them to ensure their data is entered correctly into the system.

Finally, Reading First was very concerned with transparency and accountability. In order to share as much information as possible in a clear and concise manner, we allowed all anonymous users access to a series of reports outlining participation and awards by state and school district, all generated by the analytical database. Where applicable, reports include color-coded maps for easier, immediate interpretation.