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Project READS: Proposal for Multi-District Randomized Controlled Trial of a Voluntary Summer Reading Intervention

Research
March 2007
August 2009
$697,034
James Kim
Harvard University
Can a voluntary summer reading intervention improve the reading motivation and achievement of fourth graders? This individual-level field experiment seeks to address the summer decline in reading among students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, which contributes to their achievement gap. The researchers build on an earlier study by enlarging the scale of the original intervention, in which activities and books carefully selected for interest and slightly above reading level are sent biweekly to students over the summer; the control group receives books in the fall. Enlarging the study will provide the team with a substantial pool of data comparing the control children to those receiving the intervention. In addition, in each school district participating in the study, the team will add a third group of students (in addition to those in the control group and those receiving the regular intervention) who will receive the regular intervention along with an intensifying condition involving parental involvement, incentives, or increased longevity. Impact is measured using pre- and post-intervention inventories of activity and motivation administered by classroom teachers as well as district- and state-administered reading tests. The researchers will be examining the scalability of the intervention and whether the additional intervention conditions have notable impact. The study includes 1,800 fourth grade students in approximately 25 schools across three districts in southern California, northern Virginia, and Boston.
Focus Areas of this Grant
9 - 12
Education/Education Policy, Intervention/Prevention
Male, Female
Suburban, Urban
Asian, Black or African American, Latino or Hispanic, White
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