PORTLAND, Ore. — A new, independent study by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory confirms that four early-literacy programs funded by the PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning met their goals and are helping to improve literacy skills. In Oregon, the study found that Project Optimize is successfully helping teachers rescue children arriving at kindergarten unprepared to learn how to read.

Project Optimize is being conducted in six Oregon schools, including Little Butte School in Eagle Point, Parkside Elementary in Grants Pass, Warm Springs Elementary in Warm Springs, Metolius Elementary in Madras, and Vestal and Boise-Elliott Elementary Schools in Portland, Ore. The PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning is the charitable arm of Pacific Power.

In 2002, the PacifiCorp Foundation selected three initiatives to help fund: Oregon Project Optimize, Utah Motheread/Fatheread and Raising Readers of Wyoming. In 2004, it expanded to fund Idaho’s Parents as Teachers Plus and Washington Motheread/Fatheread. The Foundation is the charitable arm of PacifiCorp, which operates in six western states as Pacific Power and Utah Power.

Created by University of Oregon researchers, Project Optimize provides phonologic and alphabetic instruction that prepares targeted kindergartners to be successful beginning readers. Students receive small-group instruction in a yearlong curriculum from a teacher or education assistant. The program complements the Start Making a Reader Today (SMART) reading program to provide reading support.

The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL), a nonprofit education research, development and services firm, conducted a study of the early-literacy programs’ initial and long-term effectiveness. It found that 78 percent of the children in Project Optimize were reading at benchmark by the end of kindergarten as compared to 57 percent of the children in the comparison group. Working in six elementary schools, Oregon Project Optimize helps children close the achievement gap and become more successful readers in first grade. More than 700 children have been impacted.

“This study confirms that we accomplished what we set out to do,” said Rich Walje, the Foundation’s board chair. “We targeted a need – early literacy – identified a strategy and helped implement a program that’s sustainable and easily replicated. For a corporation with a modest Foundation budget, we were able to contribute more than $1 million and facilitate real, needed change in education.”

At-risk children in schools with Oregon Project Optimize did significantly better on reading assessments than did children from demographically similar schools where the project was not implemented. An estimated 20 percent of entering kindergartners in low socio-economic schools are at risk of reading failure.

“The results are encouraging,” said Dr. Steffen Saifer, director of NWREL’s Child and Family Program and Principal Investigator of the study. “Participating parents are reading to their children more often and are increasing their own reading skills. This is particularly true among immigrant parents. Participating children are more interested in books and more ready for kindergarten than children who did not participate in PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning-funded programs.”

“This has been a phenomenal undertaking and we owe our success to many of the partner organizations and schools who implemented these initiatives,” said Isaac Regenstreif, executive director of the PacifiCorp Foundation. “It’s clear that these programs are helping kids have a better chance at succeeding in school.”

All programs exceeded their anticipated goals for the number of families and children served and the number of books distributed, and more than 10,000 children have been impacted.

• In Wyoming, 7,197 children received 26,594 books. Raising Readers distributes 10 books to each child by the age of five years in conjunction with well-baby check-ups and at times of immunizations. Ninety-two percent of all eligible medical care providers participate in Raising Readers. The Health Care provider's perception is that through the book distribution and conversations regarding the books and reading, they are contributing to better parent-child relationships. The report shows that many more families are building home libraries and are receiving and using information about how to help their children develop literacy skills than would have without the programs.

• Families served in Idaho by Parents as Teachers Plus increased the amount of time they spent reading to their children from an average of 14 minutes a day to 21 minutes a day. All children who participated in PAT+ scored at or above grade level on the Idaho Reading Indicator at Kindergarten entry.

• The Utah Motheread/Fatheread programs served 2,440 families over the past three years and distributed 1,150 books just in this past year. Motheread/Fatheread works with both adults and children to build parenting, critical thinking and literacy skills, and promotes reading and story sharing in the home. It works with families of at-risk children through Head Start and Even Start programs. Sixty-five percent of a sample of parents who participated in the program increased their reading level by at least one level. The Utah Motheread/Fatheread program has operated at 71 sites in 27 counties.

• The newest program, Washington Motheread/Fatheread, distributed 534 books (and an additional 522 funded by Sundquist). Eleven instructors in the Yakima Area were trained and the program has expanded to Walla Walla.

All programs are building sustainable partnerships and are leveraging additional dollars from other funding sources. They will all likely be sustained beyond the 3-4 years of PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning funding. For more information about the specific initiatives, log on to  www.pacificorpfoundation.org .

Media inquiries: newsdesk@pacificorp.com