The Impact of Knowledge-Building Curricula on Reading Achievement: Closing the Poverty Gap

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of knowledge-building curricula on closing the opportunity gap between students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds compared to more affluent peers. Data consisted of fourth through eighth-grade students’ reading achievement levels on state- wide summative reading assessments from 2015 to 2019 attending US school districts implementing, and not implementing, knowledge-building curricula. Of the school districts implementing knowledge-building curricula, four separate knowledge-building curricula were analyzed among six experimental districts. We found statistically significant differences in the frequencies of students performing at varying proficiency levels between districts that implemented a knowledge-building curriculum versus districts that did not. A greater frequency of students than expected who were attending school districts implementing a knowledge-building curriculum was performing at higher proficiency levels compared to matched controls in twenty-two of twenty-seven comparisons. Overall, our study found that there is evidence to the claim that exposure to knowledge-building curricula closes the opportunity gap in reading achievement for students residing in economically disadvantaged environments.