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COMPARATIVE RESEARCH STUDYÂ
HYDE PARK DAY SCHOOL, 2024-2025
What EBLI Did for the Students Orton-Gillingham Couldn't Reach
Researcher: Dennis Ciancio, SignalPoint Research – Setting: Hyde Park Day School, Chicago – Published: May 2026
A real-world pilot study tracking reading growth for the same students before and after EBLI was introduced. At a school for students with dyslexia and language-based learning disabilities, a subgroup of students wasn’t making the progress instructors anticipated — despite years of intensive, OG-based instruction. These are their gains.
+25
wcpm
Average gain inoral reading fluency,
in words correct per minute
+12
percent
Average gain in oral reading accuracy
+6.0
points
Average gain in written spelling standard scores
4x-5x
times
  More fluency growth per hour than previous years
+40
wcpm
Average fluency gain
over two-year span
The Students Behind the Data
53 students with dyslexia, grades 2 through 7, across three school campuses. Students who had been falling further behind every year.
Hyde Park Day School serves bright students with dyslexia and language-based learning disabilities. Within that population, instructors noticed a subgroup wasn’t pacing like their peers — that’s what put HPDS on the path to piloting EBLI.
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- Below-average phonological processing scores, consistent with dyslexia profiles.
- Word-level reading skills at the 5th–9th percentile at the start of the study.
- Over two years, six teachers and speech-language pathologists at Hyde Park implemented EBLI with this subgroup of students.
- Seeing the change in his students, Casey Crnich, Executive Director of Hyde Park Day School, reached out to EBLI and offered the school’s data for independent analysis.
- An independent researcher was later brought in to analyze the outcome data. What he found became this study.
STUDENT OUTCOMES
What Changed When Instruction Changed
BEFORE EBLI WAS INTRODUCED
+9
wcpm/year
Students averaged 9 words correct per minute of fluency growth per year – falling further behind grade-level expectations with each passing year.
AFTER EBLI WAS INTRODUCED
+25
wcpm/year
Students averaged 25 words correct per minute of fluency growth per year — approaching the rates reported for typically developing peers. The same students who had been falling further behind began closing the gap.
Across both implementation models, these students were gaining reading fluency four to five times faster per hour of instruction than they had under the Orton-Gillingham based program.
Gains held across the summer – minimal regression between Spring and Fall 2024. For students with dyslexia, summer slide is the norm. These students broke the pattern.
TEACHER EXPERIENCE
What Educators Observed
- Students stopped guessing at words and began decoding systematically, syllable by syllable
- Children who had avoided difficult text began tackling it with confidence
- Teachers described students who started believing they could learn to read — a shift they hadn’t expected
- EBLI’s ready-to-use routines significantly reduced teacher planning load
- Educators spent less time managing materials and more time observing and responding to student thinking
- SLPs described EBLI as a natural fit for their language-based goals — phonology, morphology, and vocabulary addressed within a single lesson
Research Team
Dr. Dennis Ciancio
Lead Researcher – SignalPoint Research
Dr. Dennis Ciancio has over two decades of experience leading projects to improve learning and instruction in PreK-12 settings. His work includes experimental evaluations of promising interventions, conducting formative research, tools for educators to improve practice, and formative assessments of academic skills. He is the lead author on the Department of Education’s Teaching K-3 Reading Comprehension Toolkit to be released in 2026. Prior to starting SignalPoint Research, Dr. Ciancio was on faculty at WestEd, the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He received his PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of Notre Dame.
Casey Crnich, Ed.D
Executive Director – Hyde Park Day Schools
Casey Crnich, Ed.D serves as the Executive Director of Hyde Park Day Schools and has held that position since 2011. Casey earned his BS in Special Education and Teaching from Northern Illinois University, his MA Ed. in educational administration from DePaul University, and his Ed. D. in educational leadership from National Louis University.
