# An Integrated Data Approach to Exploring Racial Differences in Reading Intervention Effectiveness

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN · 2024 · $612,818

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Persistent, intractable challenges with reading acquisition present critical educational and health concerns as
reading is a known indicator of lifetime earnings, general health, and overall wellbeing (OECD, 2012). Decades
of educational research has contributed to the development and testing of supplemental reading interventions
that provide intensive, targeted support to promote achievement for students with or at-risk for reading
disability (RD). However, to date, there has been no comprehensive exploration of racial differences in reading
intervention effectiveness. National data indicate that only 18% of Black students read at or above proficient
levels in fourth grade, compared to 45% of their White peers (NAEP, 2019). This gap does not narrow with age
(15% and 42% at eighth grade), nor has it narrowed over time (NAEP, 2019). Furthering our understanding of
these disparities in reading achievement requires scientific inquiry that disentangles the role of race in
determining intervention effectiveness. The exploration of racial differences has been dissuaded in part by a
lack of representation of Black students in educational and psychological research (e.g., Graham, 1992;
Graves et al., 2021; Lindo, 2006), and a predominantly race neutral approach to intervention development and
testing. Thus, the overall goal of the proposed project is to aggregate data from rigorous studies of
supplemental reading interventions for students with or at-risk for RD to investigate the presence of differential
intervention effects between Black and White students. We use a cross-disciplinary framework that integrates
bioecological systems theory, which recognizes sources of individual difference that stem from dynamic
interactions within and between our social environments, with QuantCrit, a methodological subfield of critical
race theory. Taken together, this framework recognizes that our interventions are likely not race neutral and
complex systems may differentially affect the effectiveness of these interventions for certain groups of
students. The proposed integrated dataset, representing more than 39 million dollars in federal research
investment, will be archived and shared on the LDbase data repository. By leveraging the existing
infrastructure of LDbase and making use of previously committed NIH resources, we are uniquely situated to
address the overall goal of the research project through three specific aims (SA). First, we will assemble an
integrated dataset with data from rigorous reading intervention studies (SA1). Second, we use the integrated
data to determine whether there are differential intervention effects for Black students compared to their White
peers (SA2). And finally, we identify characteristics of students, interventions, and outcomes that explain
differential response to reading intervention for Black students as compared to their White peers (SA3).

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10838574
- **Project number:** 5R01HD110533-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
- **Principal Investigator:** Jessica R. Toste
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $612,818
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-05-08 → 2028-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10838574

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10838574, An Integrated Data Approach to Exploring Racial Differences in Reading Intervention Effectiveness (5R01HD110533-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10838574. Licensed CC0.

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