Randomized Controlled Trial of Reading Is Fundamental’s Books for Ownership program, a national program that seeks to engage elementary school students in both summer and school-year reading

Grant Recipient: Measured Decisions, Inc. 

Principal Investigator: Geoffrey Borman, Ph.D., Measured Decisions, Inc.

Term: April 2018 – March 2024

Funding: $359,227

Project Summary

This is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of Books for Ownership (BFO), a nationally-disseminated program administered by Reading Is Fundamental designed to engage elementary school students in both summer and school-year reading. The primary component of the BFO program is a once-or-twice annual school-based book celebration event, during which free books are distributed to children in an effort to encourage summer reading and prevent the ​“summer slide” in students’ reading performance. During the 2022 – 23 school year, the program will offer a book celebration event and at least three books per student to take home along with family materials to encourage reading; BFO also provides resources for the participating third grade classrooms. The goal is to improve students’ access to quality literacy materials, increase engagement and enjoyment of reading, and ultimately to boost reading achievement.

Prior evidence suggests this intervention could produce sizable impacts on academic achievement. It shares some key features with Annual Summer Book Fairs, an intervention that provides summer reading materials to students in high-poverty schools over three consecutive summers. Annual Summer Book Fairs were found in a large, well-conducted RCT in Florida to increase elementary school students’ reading achievement on the state test by about 35 – 40% of a grade level, three years after random assignment. 

The RCT of Books for Ownership will randomly assign 60 elementary schools in Miami-Dade County Public Schools to a treatment or control group, and track outcomes for approximately 4,800 students over a period of two years after random assignment (i.e., through 3^rd and 4^th grade). The study will assess effects on reading achievement as measured by state tests, as well as effects on related outcomes, such as literacy behaviors, to determine whether and how students and their families use the books. 

The study’s pre-specified analysis plan is linked here.