Reading Revisited

Four of every 10 kindergarten through third-grade students in Idaho show up for school unable to read at grade level. The 2016 Idaho Legislature awarded elementary schools with a share of $11.25 million in state money to improve reading. It’s up to local educators to figure out how to spend their money — and how to address their schools’ unique challenges and demographics. Read about our findings.

A close look at literacy dollars, and literacy demographics

Districts with more at-risk readers receive a bigger share of the state’s $11.25 literacy budget. And these districts tend to face some underlying demographic challenges. Second in a six-part series.

Idaho schools try to bridge a wide reading gap

Four of every 10 K-3 students show up for school each fall without grade-level reading skills. Idaho is putting $11.25 million into extra help for at-risk readers. First in a six-part series.

No clear picture on funding for special education

The $11.25 million literacy initiative provides extra money to help at-risk readers across the state. But there are exceptions to that rule. Sixth in a six-part series.

Rethinking literacy for special education students

With the right instruction, most special education students can increase their literacy. But do Idaho schools have the resources and knowledge to provide those tools? Fifth in a six-part series.

As Idaho revamps its literacy program, its reading test awaits a rewrite

Idaho is poised to change its literacy metric — just as the state's politicians, parents and educators try to gauge the results from a new reading initiative. Fourth in a six-part series.

Literacy initiative tests political patience, and political will

In 2017, lawmakers will have to decide whether to continue their commitment to the state's reading initiative — in the absence of any hard numbers on student achievement. Third in a six-part series.

Episode 49: Reading Revisited

This week, reporter Kevin Richert offers a closer look at his series Reading Revisited, which examines Idaho's $11.25 million plan for 37,000 kids.