Evaluation Services

NeighborWorks America’s Housing as a Platform for Academic Success (HPASS) Learning Cohort

The Housing as a Platform for Academic Success (H-PASS) Learning Community Cohort is a group of affordable rental housing providers affiliated with NeighborWorks America, who are dedicated to advancing practices that ensure their residents’ children will be reading successfully by 3rd grade. This Cohort’s work is made possible by the generous support of NeighborWorks America.

Since 2015, RISE Team member Carmen Amigon has overseen the annual parent, student, and staff survey updates and data collection and contracts third-party evaluators to analyze the data objectively.

The team has supported the growth of the HPASS membership from two to ten members in six states. Carmen has used the size of the cohort to increase purchasing power and offers technical support year-round.

RISE uses real-time reports in language arts software to drive literacy outcomes with members of the HPASS Learning Cohort through monthly data review virtual meetings. The Cohort compared, selected, and has used the i-Ready language arts plug and play software since 2016 showing consistent reading improvements including during COVID-19 stay-at-home-orders.

The student base has grown from over 200 to over 1,000 students annually. In the 2020/2021 school year, students in Tier 1 (reading at grade level or higher) increased reading proficiency by 20 points or to 41% by the final diagnostic – during the pandemic.