Three out of four Texas students score below proficiency levels on national reading assessments, suggesting an urgent need for intervention. Well-documented summer learning loss adds to the problem.
A University of Houston College of Education initiative addressing the issue launched with a pilot project this summer. SOAR, or Summer Opportunity for Advancing Reading, used evidence-based reading interventions to help students improve their reading skills, while UH education students gained practical experience as they delivered and adapted instruction to meet individual student needs.
Hope Rigby-Wills, clinical assistant professor of special populations, received an award through the UH New Faculty Research Program to support the six-week summer pilot, offering Houston-area elementary school students intensive instruction using research-backed interventions. Detailed before and after assessments will provide data on outcomes and intervention protocols that can be used to expand the program.
For Rigby-Wills, the project is part of a deeper focus on literacy. A College of Education alumna who earned her Ed.D. and educational diagnostician certification through UH, she also helped launch the College’s BRIDGE Certificate, an online graduate program designed to help educators better support students with dyslexia and other disabilities.
In the following Q&A, she discussed how teaching and research come together through SOAR and her vision for turning UH into a hub for summer reading clinics and educator training.
Tell us about SOAR. What gaps in literacy support did you see that made this project necessary?
During summer school, because of the shortened schedule and a variety of other factors, small group and individualized interventions may not always be available. We know literacy gaps tend to widen without consistent and intensive support. SOAR was designed to provide students with the individualized interventions needed to narrow literacy gaps and prevent the regression that is often seen during the summer months.
Why is this work particularly important for children and families right now?
Literacy is at the heart of almost everything we do, from understanding school content to grocery shopping and even civic engagement activities like voting. Private, individualized literacy intervention is cost-prohibitive for many families in the Houston area, and the SOAR project brought high-quality intervention directly into their community.
What impact do you hope this project will have on participating students?
I hope students are able to use the skills and strategies they learned when they return to school this fall. On a social-emotional level, I hope they develop greater confidence in their ability to read and write. Ultimately, I need to demonstrate growth through the data, but I also hope the excitement students showed while working with their interventionists continues long after the program ends.
How does this project support future educators and literacy specialists at the College of Education?
This project gave three UH students the opportunity to implement structured literacy lessons and make real-time instructional adjustments based on student needs. Our teachers used both quantitative and qualitative data collected daily to adjust the instruction they delivered to students, with real-time coaching and modeling from me.
They learned the reasoning behind instructional changes and how to provide an evidence-based rationale for their decisions. I believe it is critical for our UH students to see faculty actively engaging in the work we teach about in our courses.
How could this award and the pilot project advance your long-term research goals?
For me, the new faculty grant provided an opportunity to bridge the research-to-practice gap and take classroom learning into the community.
My hope is to eventually secure funding for a UH community-based reading clinic where future teachers and interventionists can receive hands-on support and mentorship in data-based individualization of literacy instruction. Ideally, UH could become a hub for summer reading clinics and professional development opportunities for teachers across Houston.
These clinics would also create opportunities to study important questions, including students’ short-term literacy gains, how well students maintain and apply their skills during the school year, teachers’ use of data-based individualized instruction in their own classrooms and the broader impact on literacy outcomes for students taught by SOAR-trained educators.