CFDA Number: 84.371A
Program Type: Discretionary/Competitive Grants

This program is aimed at improving the reading skills of middle school- and high school-aged students who are reading below grade level. Striving Readers supports the implementation and evaluation of research-based reading interventions for struggling middle and high school readers in Title I eligible schools that are at risk of not meeting or are not meeting adequate yearly progress (AYP) requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act, or that have significant percentages or number of students reading below grade level, or both.

• Raise student achievement in middle and high schools by improving the literacy skills of struggling adolescent readers; and


• Help build a strong, scientific research base around specific strategies that improve adolescent literacy skills.

Striving Reader programs include each of three key components: (1) supplemental literacy interventions targeted to students who are reading significantly below grade level; (2) cross-disciplinary strategies for improving student literacy, which may include professional development for subject matter teachers and use of research-based reading and comprehension strategies in classrooms across subject areas; and (3) a strong experimental evaluation component.