Evaluations and Awards
Literacy First’s one-to-one early childhood literacy intervention is an award-winning program, which has been proven effective by multiple external evaluations.
Program Design and Impact Recognition
Literacy First’s high-impact tutoring program is endorsed by leaders in the field for program design and efficacy. In 2025, we were awarded the Awarded the Tutoring Program Design Badge from the National Student Success Accelerator at Stanford University.
Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development, a project within the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado Boulder, named Literacy First a certified promising program in 2023.
In 2015, the White House recognized us as a ‘Bright Spot in Hispanic Education.’ In 2016, we received the Governor’s Volunteer Award for Partners in Education and the Latino Excellence in Advocacy Award from Austin ISD.
Literacy First is also part of the ProvenTutoring coalition through the Johns Hopkins School of Education.
Student Outcomes
During the 2024–2025 school year, our nonprofit collaborator, Chattanooga 2.0, evaluated the efficacy of Literacy First tutors in Hamilton County Schools. Findings showed that from fall to spring Literacy First students experienced significantly greater growth than their peers who did not participate in our program. In Hamilton County Schools, most students who qualified for a Tier 2 or Tier 3 intervention received it, highlighting Literacy First’s effectiveness compared to other interventions.
An analysis conducted by Austin ISD’s Campus and District Accountability team indicated that, one to two years after participating in our program, students performed better on State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading tests than a control group who did not receive our intervention. More Literacy First students reached the “exceeds”, “meets”, and “approaches” grade level tiers for reading on the 2023 and 2024 STAAR reading assessments in both English and Spanish when compared to control groups who did not receive Literacy First tutoring.
Beginning in the 2017–2018 school year, the American Institutes for Research conducted an independent evaluation of program impact. The evaluation used a multi-site randomized controlled trial design across 22 schools in the Austin Independent School District. Overall, the study showed that students who received Literacy First tutoring outperformed students who did not receive Literacy First tutoring on all outcome measures included in the evaluation. Read the full report here.
From 2013–2017, Agile Analytics tracked the progress of students in the Literacy First program and the progress of peers not in the program. The study found that Literacy First students are less likely to be retained and more likely to perform better on reading exams in the future. Access an overview of the study here or click here an in-depth analysis and methodology, view the Executive Summary or Full Report.
A 2012–2013 comparison group analysis by the Meadows Center for Educational Risk and follow-up evaluations from the Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin showed that without literacy intervention from a Literacy First tutor, the children we worked with would not have progressed in reading.
AmeriCorps Program Studies and Awards
In 2024, Literacy First was recognized by OneStar at the AmeriCorps Texas Awards. The program was awarded the Community Impact Supernova award for ensuring that interventions provide effective solutions to community challenges. We received this award due to positive results on 2021 and 2022 impact evaluations.
Agile Analytics completed a study in 2021–2022 on the Literacy First tutor to teacher pipeline. Anecdotal evidence from this study showed that returning AmeriCorps members serving with Literacy First who pursue a pathway to teaching through Education Service Center Region 13’s alternative certification program are highly effective and more likely to stay at Title I schools.
Former Literacy First director Dr. Mary Ellen Isaacs received America’s Service Commissions’ (ASC) Outstanding Service Program Staff Award at the ASC Innovation & Leadership Awards in September 2021.
Literacy First was also named a finalist for the 2013–2014 for the ASC and Leadership Awards, and were featured in their “Most Innovative AmeriCorps Programs” publication.