Description of Project:

Project READS is a program that aims to reduce summer learning loss by providing books to children during the summer and promoting summer reading through teacher and parent scaffolding. Students are taught six Project READS lessons on reading content and/or comprehension and are provided with eight books matched to their reading levels and interests. Students’ reading levels are tested in the late spring and early fall to determine achievement growth.

Project READS is unique in that it seeks to identify a simple and relatively cost-effective summer reading program that reduces the achievement gap for students of low socioeconomic status. It involves an innovative partnership with a North Carolina nonprofit, Communities in Schools (CIS), which has strong existing relationships with districts across the state. CIS will oversee implementation of Project READS activities in participating districts.

The project has three phases: Phase 1 involves identification of the most cost-effective version of Project READS, based on results of a study in 10-15 schools in the Durham Public School district. Phase 2 validates that version of Project READS through a 2-year longitudinal study in three other North Carolina school districts that did not participate in phase 1 (Durham, Montgomery County and Guilford County), one of which is a rural district. Finally, during phase 3, CIS will take the lead in scaling up Project READS in approximately 20 North Carolina school districts.

Project READS targets third- through fifth-graders, partnering with schools where a low percentage of students pass the end-of-grade reading tests and/or where there are significant differences in test results among students of low versus high socioeconomic status. Project READS’ success will be evaluated by several measures: (a) identification of a simple and cost-effective version of the Project READS summer reading program, (b) validation of that program in different settings and across school years, (c) spread of the Project READS so that it touches 10,000 students and 20 school districts during the course of the project, and (d) successful integration of Project READS outcome data into participating districts’ curriculum development and decision-making processes.

Description of Evaluation:

To identify the most cost-effective version of Project READS, evaluators will conduct a randomized controlled trial to assess (1) program impacts on reading comprehension scores and (2) the cost of three iterations of Project READS. In phase 1, approximately 1,200 third-graders in Durham Public Schools will be randomly assigned to receive the intervention and enhancements. In phase 2, the most cost-effective version of the program will be validated in a sample of approximately 1,000 students in three other North Carolina districts. Phase 3 will be a statewide evaluation involving 8,000 students over 2 years in up to 10 districts.