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A total of $30 million has been awarded for the 2006-07 school year to support the implementation of eight Striving Readers programs across the country, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced today. Over five years, these eight recipients will receive a combined total of over $142 million.

"Reading is the foundation of all learning, a key factor in earning a high school diploma and a ticket to success in the 21st century," said Secretary Spellings. "The Striving Readers grants help more students get the skills they need to succeed in college and the workforce and in life."

The programs focus on middle and high schools that have significant numbers of struggling readers and are striving to meet No Child Left Behind Adequate Yearly Progress requirements in reading. They include a range of research-based adolescent literacy projects serving diverse populations. Each program includes a rigorous evaluation conducted by independent researchers. The president's 2007 budget requests a $70.3 million increase in Striving Readers for a total of more than $100 million. Following are the awardees for the 2006-07 school year:

• Chicago [Ill.] Public Schools / District #299, Chicago Public Schools Striving Readers—$24.5 million over 5 years
• Danville [Ky.] School District, Kentucky Content Literacy Consortium (KCLC)—$16.2 million over 5 years
• Multnomah County [Portland, Ore.] School District #1, Striving Readers Project—$23.5 million over 5 years
• Newark [N.J.] Public Schools, Newark Public Schools Striving Readers—$13.9 million over 5 years
• Ohio Department of Youth Services, Striving to Achieve in Reading and Re-Entry (StARR)—$14 million over 5 years
• San Diego [Calif.] Unified School District, Strategies for Literacy Independence Across the Curriculum—$17.5 million over 5 years
• Springfield [Mass.] Public Schools, Springfield-Chicopee Striving Readers Program—$16.6 million over 5 years
• Memphis [Tenn.] City Schools, Memphis Striving Readers—$16 million over 5 years

Grantees may use the Striving Readers funds for activities such as interventions for middle and high school-aged students to improve basic reading skills, motivation, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension using research-based programs; professional development aligned with scientifically based reading research; valid and reliable reading assessments; and the design and implementation of a rigorous evaluation.

Applicants had to meet the following requirements to be eligible to receive Striving Readers grants:

• Serve students in grades 6-12 only in Title I eligible schools; and
• Include each of the three following components in their program: (1) school-level strategies; (2) intensive, targeted intervention for struggling readers; and (3) a project evaluation conducted by an independent evaluator that includes a rigorous experimental research-based evaluation of the intervention.

A fact sheet that lists all of the recipients and grant amounts, as well as additional information on the Striving Readers program, is available at http://www.ed.gov/nclb/methods/reading/strivingreaders.html. For more information about the Striving Readers program, visit http://www.ed.gov/programs/strivingreaders/index.html.

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