SERP Institute and MDRC are recruiting school districts and charter organizations to participate in a research study that will support implementation of the Strategic Adolescent Reading Intervention (STARI) in middle school classrooms, starting in fall 2024.

STARI is an engaging, research-based, culturally responsive reading intervention for students in grades 6-8, that has earned an Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Tier 1 (strong) evidence rating. View this video to learn more about STARI and hear testimony from teachers, and read this summary to see the research showing that STARI accelerates students’ reading achievement.

Schools participating in the research study will receive STARI materials and professional learning free of charge for one or two school years and an annual $1,000 stipend for two school years.

The goals of the project are:

• To scale up and support the implementation of STARI in additional school districts so that they can offer it to their middle school students who are reading below grade level and are not proficient on English Language Arts state tests.

• To learn about STARI’s implementation and how it works in a more geographically diverse set of schools and for different subgroups of students.

To learn more about the study and how to participate, view this website.

The evaluation is supported by an Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant from the US Department of Education.