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Abstract

Kentucky reading achievement has remained below statewide goals, which prompted a revision to the Read to Achieve (RTA) initiative, a state-level grant-funded program aimed at improving student literacy outcomes. The revision prioritized the professional learning of administrators and K-3 reading instructional staff in the science of reading and the adoption of high-quality structured literacy-based resources and aligned intervention resources. This study uses nine years of panel data (2014–2015 through 2023–2024) from all public schools in Kentucky to evaluate whether the revised RTA initiative had a differential effect on school-level reading outcomes. We employ propensity score matching and a heterogeneous difference-in-differences framework, to understand whether the revised RTA initiative had a larger effect for schools that were low-performing at baseline. Results indicate that the revised RTA initiative produced statistically significant gains for schools that were low performing prior to implementation, increasing the percentage of students reading at or above proficient by 5.45 percentage points (d = 0.36). No significant effects were observed for higher-performing schools. These findings meet ESSA Level 2 evidence criteria and suggest that targeted literacy initiatives like RTA are effective when directed toward underperforming schools with greater instructional need.

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