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This report presents an evaluation of the Literate Voices Project, an 8-week English language arts (ELA) curriculum designed for students in grades 7–11. This curriculum was developed to actively engage students who may be struggling academically in school through assignments designed to build reading and writing skills. The project has been successfully implemented 7 times over 20 years at high schools, middle schools, and an elementary school.

WestEd conducted an independent evaluation of the Literate Voices Project’s implementation at a large high school located in California’s Central Valley that serves approximately 1,900 students in grades 9 through 11. Using data collected from teacher surveys, interviews, and student-level data assessment, the evaluation team addressed the project’s impact on students’ ELA achievement and the extent of improvement on standardized ELA assessment.

The evaluation findings show that students with low achievement who took part in the project exhibited statistically significant improvement on ELA standardized assessment scores. The report includes recommendations for future implementation of the project from participating educators.