Active Consent Letter

600 Maryland Ave. S.W., Suite 550
Washington, DC 20024-2512
Telephone (202) 484-9220
Fax (202) 863-1763
www.mathematica-mpr.com

Dear Parent or Guardian:
This year, your child’s school will be taking part in a study of supplemental reading comprehension
programs for fifth-grade students. There are four programs altogether. The goal of the study is to find
out how much these programs improve children’s reading skills. The U.S. Department of Education is
sponsoring the study, and it will be carried out by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., and three other
firms that are well known for their education studies. (Please see the enclosed brochure for more details
on the study.)
Some schools in the study will continue to teach reading using only their regular curriculum. Other
schools will add one of the supplemental comprehension programs to their regular reading instruction. To
decide which schools will use only their regular program and which will use one of the four other
programs, we will pick school names as you would pick names in a lottery. If your child’s school is
chosen for one of the four reading programs, his or her teacher will be trained to use that program and
will spend about 30 minutes a day teaching reading comprehension according to that program.
To see how much the reading programs help, we will test your child in reading three times: at the
beginning and end of the 2007-08 school year. During the year, we will also collect information on your
child’s attendance and any extra language or reading help your child may receive. We need this
information even if your child’s school uses only its regular reading program because your child is
important to the study either way.
All information on your child will be kept confidential. For example, we will never refer to
students by name. No one—not parents, school personnel, or anyone else—will be able to get
information on your child, except as required by law, regulation, or court order.
We have enclosed a permission form for you to complete and another form for your child to sign.
Please include all of your fifth-grade children on one permission form. This form will allow your
child(ren) to participate in the study and will allow us to collect the above information. Please complete
the forms and return them to your child’s teacher in the enclosed envelope within a week.
If you have any questions about the study of reading comprehension programs, please contact Dr.
Wendy Mansfield, the deputy study director, at Mathematica’s toll-free number, 1-888-535-0283. Thank
you in advance for your help with this important study.
Sincerely,

Dr. Jerry West
Study Director