New $7,992,519 grant from the U.S. Department of Education will allow MORE to reach 20,000 additional students in grades one through four.
(Cambridge, MA) April 4, 2024—The READS Lab, in partnership with the Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) at Harvard University, has been awarded a $7,992,519 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to scale its Model of Reading Engagement (MORE) program to improve first to fourth grade students’ reading comprehension.
MORE is an elementary science and social studies program that builds schemas and emphasizes the importance of background knowledge for reading comprehension. A recent study by the READS Lab found that the MORE curriculum leads to lasting improvements in academic achievement—including in literacy and math, subjects not directly taught in the program.
“MORE is a timely solution to the grand challenge of helping all learners read complex text throughout their education. It’s a low-cost, high-impact intervention that causes lasting improvements,” says Dr. James Kim, principal investigator and professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE).
Over the last six years, with generous funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), the MORE team built, rigorously evaluated, and scaled MORE more than threefold to serve 20,000 students during school year 2023-24. CZI supported MORE as part of its investment in Reach Every Reader, a collaboration between neuroscience and education research teams at Harvard, MIT’s Integrated Learning Initiative, and Florida State University that is taking a multi-pronged, multidisciplinary approach to building and implementing early literacy tools and interventions.
“At the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a core focus of our education investment since 2015 has been supporting the translation of research into practice in classroom settings so that educators can easily access research-based solutions to respond to everyday challenges in their classrooms,” said CZI’s Head of Education Sandra Liu Huang. “We are thrilled that the Department of Education recognizes the impact of the READS Lab’s work on students and teachers. The federal grant is helping them expand the Model of Reading Engagement, which will lead to improved early literacy outcomes for elementary school students.”
The new mid-phase award is part of the U.S. Department of Education’s Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant program, which provides funding to entrepreneurial, evidence-based innovations that address persistent educational challenges for high-need students. The program aims to help promising projects implement, replicate, evaluate, and expand their work.
“This grant will allow us to extend the grades served by MORE, evaluate its effectiveness in a new context, and refine our scaling strategy to offer MORE cost-effectively in Grades 1 through 4,” said READS Lab Director Ethan Scherer. “We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to build on our foundational work in grades 1 to 3 and double our reach with the EIR grant.”
The EIR award will be supplemented by $275,000 of in-kind services from MORE’s software development partner, the Crudspa Foundation, which, in combination with the federal grant, will support the continued development and expansion of the open-source libraries built by the Crudspa Foundation which comprise MORE's technical infrastructure.
"This is an exciting opportunity to take the lessons we learned from years of research and build a next-generation, cost-effective, and highly adaptable platform that will empower school districts to rigorously assess and adapt programs to their local context," said Jason Looney, CEO of the foundation.
The EIR grant will be led by Professor James Kim (Principal Investigator), with READS Lab Director Ethan Scherer.
MORE is actively accepting partner districts with enrollment greater than 20,000 students. If you would like to partner with MORE, contact READS Lab Director Ethan Scherer.
Contact: Ethan Scherer, READS Lab Director (Email: ethan_scherer@gse.harvard.edu; Phone: 617-496-3408).
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About the READS Lab
The READS (Research Enhances Adaptations Designed for Scale in Literacy) Lab does relevant, rigorous, and replicable research to help educators build and maintain healthy literacy ecosystems to support transfer at scale and improve student outcomes. Its classroom tools support students’ ability to transfer knowledge from taught to untaught subjects, the professional learning pathways support teachers’ ability to transfer instructional practices across the school day and its partnership model supports transfer of equitable scaling strategies to other district goals. Learn more at https://www.readslab.org.
About the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University
The Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University seeks to transform education through quality research and evidence. CEPR and its partners believe all students will learn and thrive when education leaders make decisions using facts and findings, rather than untested assumptions. Learn more at https://cepr.harvard.edu/.
About the Education Innovation and Research Program
The Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program provides funding to: (1) create, develop, implement, replicate, or take to scale entrepreneurial, evidence-based, field-initiated innovations to improve student achievement and attainment for high-need students; and (2) rigorously evaluate such innovations. The EIR program is designed to generate and validate solutions to persistent educational challenges and to support the expansion of effective solutions to serve substantially larger numbers of students. Learn more at https://oese.ed.gov/offices/office-of-discretionary-grants-support-services/innovation-early-learning/education-innovation-and-research-eir/.
About the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded in 2015 to help solve some of society’s toughest challenges — from eradicating disease and improving education, to addressing the needs of our local communities. Its mission is to build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone. Learn more at https://chanzuckerberg.com.
About the Crudspa Foundation
The Crudspa Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to building open-source libraries that make it easy for organizations to build real-time, data-driven, web-based apps using modern and forward-compatible tools. Their first two libraries, Framework and Education, provide a unique and solid foundation for interactive curriculum development and delivery. Learn more at https://crudspa.org.