A current Education Policy Initiative study is the topic of the September 26 MLive article by Roberto Acosta, “University of Michigan studies reading system that Flushing woman created; state officials interested in results.”
The system is Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction, or EBLI, created by Nora Chahbazi to improve her own daughter’s reading comprehension skills. Since she established the program more than ten years ago, it has received increasing attention from school districts around the nation, and has been implemented by dozens of schools in Michigan.
The Education Policy Initiative study, led by Brian Jacob, will take a close look at the effects of the program. According to Acosta’s article, twenty AmeriCorps members in Flint, just trained in EBLI, will be followed by the researchers and ten schools in Michigan, including schools in Flint, Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Muskegon, have signed on. A report is expected next fall.
Brian Jacob is the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Education Policy at the Ford School and co-director of the school’s Education Policy Initiative (EPI). His recent research focuses on charter school effectiveness, gender gaps in academic performance, and other areas critical to American education reform.