Reading Fluency and Comprehension

As determined through pre-and-post assessments of 112 student participants of Dogs Help Kids Read and Succeed:

• Students increased oral reading fluency on average by 16 words per minute as measured by DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills).

As determined through pre-and-post assessments of an additional 126 student program participants:

• The percentage of students at grade level in reading comprehension increased from 50% to 79% as measured by The San Diego Quick Assessment.
   
• 73% of participating students increased their ability to decode and comprehend words in and out of context by one-to-three grade levels as measured by the San Diego Quick Assessment and the McLeod Assessment.

Student Self-Efficacy and Confidence

Teachers who participated in this program indicted that their students:

• Feel more confident when reading.
   
• Have more fun with reading.
   
• Feel less alone when reading.
   
• Want to read more and look forward to reading.
   
• Acknowledge and celebrate their accomplishments.
   
• Believe in themselves and in their own abilities.

Child Safety Around Dogs and compassion for Animals

As indicated by a student pre/post student questionnaire, teacher feedback, and over 90% of parents surveyed, this program helped students to:

• Learn to behave in appropriate ways around dogs.
   
• Learn how to read a dog's body language.
   
• Develop deepened empathy and compassion for dogs and other animals.

What Parents Are Saying...

Here's what 343 families at 6 participating elementary schools told us about their experience:

• 98% of parents said that this program helped their child become a better reader.
   
• 100% of parents said that they enjoyed participating in the program with their child.
   
• 96% of parents said that this program helped their child's confidence in reading.
   
• 97% of parents said that their child wanted to read more OFTEN at home during this program.
   
• 93% of parents said that they noticed a positive difference in their child's kindness towards animals (but when they said there was no difference, this was often because their child was already kind to pets.)

Finally, What Are Students Saying?

We asked 561 students at 6 schools what they thought of this program.

Here's what they said:

• 98% of the students said they enjoyed participating in this program.
   
• 94% of the children said that reading with their dog made them feel more confident about reading.
   
• 92% of the students said that they have become a better reader.
   
• 96% of the children said that they have learned to be kinder to dogs and safe around dogs.
   
• 96% of the students said that reading with their stuffed animal or pet made reading more fun for them.
   
• 95% of the children said that they would recommend this program to a friend :-)

To learn more about what parents, teachers, and students are saying about this program, please click on the reviews tab on the menu bar above.