Island of Understanding- A Reading Comprehension Program for Fourth-Fifth Grade

Over the past two years the program was operated among a large-scale sample of 2,352 students in the fourth and fifth grades and 114 teachers from 33 elementary schools (Katzir, Lipka, Prior, & Shany, 2019).  In a randomized controlled study, we found that the children who participated in the program reported more excitement, interest, and confidence in reading after their experience “on the island” compared to a control group. They also significantly outperformed children who did not participate, on all reading measures. Teachers who took part in this program shared that their relationship with the children had improved and that a sense of community was created through this experience. One of the most important findings of our study, is that both native and immigrant children reported a higher sense of belonging to their school, their peers, and most importantly to themselves.

*The differences presented are significant, p<0.05