Reading First is an ambitious national initiative to help every young child in every state become a successful reader. This effort is based on high expectations for what can and should happen for all students: that instructional decisions will be guided by the best available research.

Reading First will provide assistance to state and local education agencies to apply scientifically based reading research—and the proven instructional and assessment tools consistent with this research—to improve reading instruction for K-3 students and to ensure that all children learn to read well by the end of third grade.