Project READS is a voluntary summer reading program designed to improve reading comprehension and help address summer reading loss. The three key elements (“ABCs”) of the READS program are:

• Access to books at home, including a wide variety of texts;
• Books that are well-matched to each child’s reading level and interests; and
• Comprehension activities, including teacher scaffolding of summer book reading through end-of-year lessons, teacher calls, and parent and peer support of summer reading.

In two small-scale experiments, READS had a positive impact on children's reading comprehension scores. In addition, there was preliminary evidence that the effects were largest for minority children and less-skilled readers. The purpose of this multi-district planned variation experiment was two-fold: (1) to test the effects of READS in a larger sample of diverse school districts, and (2) to test enhancements to READS involving a family literacy enhancement, an incentives-to-read program, and a longitudinal implementation of the READS program over two years. In each site, the team also conducted book fairs, which provided children opportunities to self-select books to read during the summer. The goal of this variation was to enhance children's motivation to read during the summer.

The first study took place in a high-poverty southern California district. In this study, 400 Grade 4 children were randomly assigned to a control group, the READS condition, or the READS condition and 3 summer family literacy events. The results showed no overall impact on reading comprehension. There were two implementation problems that may have mitigated effects on comprehension. Children in this study self-selected difficult books, and fewer than half of the children attended a family literacy event. The second study book place in a metropolitan Boston school district. Here, more than 400 children in grades 4 and 5 were randomly assigned to a control group, the READS condition, and the READS condition and an incentives-to-read program. (Children in the incentives program could earn prizes for reading their 10 READS books.)

The findings indicate that the incentives caused children to read more of their READS books, especially those children who selected well-matched books at the book fair. The investigators found no overall positive impact of incentives on reading comprehension scores. However, the incentives-to-read program had a stronger impact on the reading scores of children with high reading motivation, who selected well-matched books. The third study tested the longitudinal effects of the core READS intervention. In this design, children were randomly assigned to receive 10 books during the summer or school year. Our initial results reveal no impact on reading comprehension during the summer months. Among low-income children, receiving books during the school year resulted in larger comprehension gains than getting them in the summer.

Dr. Kim and his colleagues received a $15.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation (i3) program to continue their work on the Project READS intervention. They plan to scale-up the intervention in North Carolina schools. Given the mixed findings of the planned variation experiment, the team’s future work will focus on improving book matching procedures and support for book reading through teacher and parent activities during the summer months.

Additional information is available on the Project READS website at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.