Provider: Arkansas Department of Education – Literacy Tutoring Grant Program
Program Description
Arkansas’s Literacy Tutoring Grant Program provides eligible families of students in grades K–3 with up to $1,500 for literacy tutoring outside school hours. Students qualify based on reading screening results, and families select an approved tutor. Tutoring can be delivered in person or online.
This study tested changes to the program’s outreach and registration process. One group received a parent-friendly letter explaining tutoring’s benefits and a registration form prefilled with student information. A second group received the same supports plus up to three text reminders. The comparison group received the standard eligibility letter and usual district recruitment support. All three groups remained eligible for the tutoring grant.
Findings
- Significant positive effects on grant registration. The encouraging letter and simplified registration form increased registration by 10.9 percentage points relative to the comparison group’s registration rate of 29.4%. The version that also included text reminders increased registration by 6.1 percentage points relative to the comparison group. Both increases were statistically significant, but the two treatment groups did not differ significantly from each other. The group receiving text reminders increased dollars spent by $84 compared to the comparison group and raised the share of families spending any dollars by 4.6 percentage points. The letter and pre-filled registration form did not have a demonstrated impact on spending.
- Among students assigned to the encouraging letter and prefilled form, 40.6% registered and 19.0% used tutoring funds. For the group that also received text reminders, 35.8% registered and 21.3% used funds. In the comparison group, 29.4% registered and 16.2% used funds. Those who used funds spent an average of $1,174 of the available $1,500.
- The encouraging letter and prefilled form may have increased registration by an estimated 11 percentage points more for English learners than for other students. However, this difference was only marginally statistically significant, meeting the 10% threshold but not the conventional 5% threshold. Neither outreach package showed statistically significant differences in registration effects by gender, race, or special education status.
- Comparison-group families received the standard eligibility letter and district recruitment efforts, including support from Learning Heroes. The findings therefore reflect the additional benefit of changing the registration process within that context. The authors describe the changes as inexpensive but do not report a detailed cost analysis.
- The paper does not report effects on reading achievement or the number of tutoring hours students received. Results come from five volunteer districts. The study cannot separate the effects of the encouraging letter from those of the simplified registration form. The text reminder intervention was weakened by late rollout, a winter storm, and reminders 2–3 not linking to the form.
| Research Partner | University of Arkansas, Department of Education Reform |
| Study Year | 2025-26 |
| Study Location | Twenty schools across five Arkansas school districts |
| Study Design | Three-armed RCT (Randomized Controlled Trial) – families were randomized to different outreach, not to tutoring. |
| Total Sample | 1,200 students randomly assigned: 399 to the encouraging letter and simplified registration form; 399 to the same supports plus text reminders; and 402 to the comparison group |
| Characteristics of Treatment Group | Ranges across the two treatment groups: Female: 45–47% Black/African American: 50–51% Hispanic: 12–15% White: 26–29% Asian/Pacific Islander: 8–9% English Language Learner: 10–14% Special Education: 29–31% Section 504: 7–8% Free/Reduced-Price Lunch: 92–94% |
| Subject | Reading/ELA |
| Grades | K, 1, 2, 3 |
