A 2018 report on the adoption of Reading Apprenticeship at Pasadena City College (PCC) was published by Equal Measure, the research and evaluation partner of the Helmsley Charitable Trust‘s post-secondary grantmaking. As an early adopter of Reading Apprenticeship and participating college in our STEM Network, PCC was selected by Equal Measure for campus visits to learn more about site-level implementation of Reading Apprenticeship.
One of four reports on active learning projects by Helmsley grantees, Equal Measure identifies the conditions that made PCC so receptive to Reading Apprenticeship, as well as detailing their multi-pronged approach and ideas for continuing to scale. For other institutions hoping to replicate a similar approach, the report also spotlights the four major contributions to catalyzing campus change at PCC.
Reading Apprenticeship’s impact on PCC’s teachers and students can’t be denied. During their time at PCC, Equal Measure found that teachers reported Reading Apprenticeship “helped them better connect with their students” and “brought structure, guidance, and improvement” to their practice. Students “became more resourceful and empowered to lead their own learning” once given the tools to access the materials on their own. Change was seen at a group level as well. When Reading Apprenticeship was embedded into a general biology course redesign (taken by over 1000 students a year), the achievement gap between underrepresented minority students and white and Asian students was reduced by 10%.