December 19, 2025 (Nashville, Tenn.) — Accelerate has been awarded $13.76 million to lead a multi-year study to improve literacy outcomes for students across Oklahoma, and develop nationally relevant guidance for states seeking to scale tutoring cost-effectively. The project is one of four grants awarded to expand evidence-based tutoring programs through the U.S. Department of Education’s Education Innovation and Research.
In partnership with the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE), the program will provide high-impact tutoring support to approximately 6,000 K-5 students identified as performing below grade-level literacy benchmarks. Districts across urban and rural Oklahoma will be selected, leading to significant gains in reading proficiency for high-need students across the state.
“Oklahoma is proud to lead this work on behalf of students who need strong literacy support the most,” said Lindel Fields, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction. “This grant recognizes our commitment to evidence-based instruction and gives Oklahoma the opportunity to shape how high-impact tutoring is implemented, evaluated, and sustained—both here and across the nation.”
This initiative represents a first-of-its-kind, multi-arm randomized controlled trial, examining how tutoring delivery models—virtual versus in-person, group size, and dosage—affect both learning outcomes and cost efficiency. By embedding cost analysis alongside implementation, the project will produce a practical efficiency roadmap for states and districts nationwide.
“This investment allows Oklahoma to lead in answering a critical question: how can states deliver high-impact tutoring in ways that are both effective for students and sustainable for public education systems,” said Kevin Huffman, CEO of Accelerate. “By pairing rigorous research with practical cost-efficiency tools, states will have the guidance needed to build the conditions for success at scale, and improve outcomes for every student.”
Accelerate brings deep experience in tutoring research, grant management, and state-level implementation to this work. The national nonprofit will build on years of research strengthening the bridge between evidence-based education practices and effective state-level implementation. This study will draw on two proven tutoring models with demonstrated success in boosting literacy.
Key partners include:
- Air Reading: Evidence-based virtual literacy tutoring to K–5 students across participating Oklahoma districts, expanding access to high-impact reading support in both urban and rural communities.
- Enhanced Core Reading Instruction (ECRI): Support schools in implementing paraeducator-led, small-group literacy tutoring grounded in the science of reading, leveraging existing school staff to deliver supplemental, high-quality reading instruction during the school day.
- Mathematica: Conduct the study using rigorous methods (RCTs, data analysis, surveys, interviews) to evaluate programs and identify key factors for success.
“Rigorous research of tutoring models is essential to help schools make informed decisions to address reading gaps across different locations,” Xing Zhang, Founder & CEO of Air Reading. “This grant will provide a deeper understanding of how virtual tutoring can be a scalable, affordable solution to provide more students with access to research-backed tutoring models.”
“States are looking for more guidance on how to scale up evidence-based programs to fit the unique needs of their districts and students,” Nancy Nelson, ECRI author and Associate Director of Translational Research at Wheelock Institute for the Science of Education (WISE) at Boston University. “This project builds on our prior studies that demonstrated significant gains in student reading outcomes as a result of implementing ECRI, so we can provide greater guidance on variables that influence the return on investment of different models.”
The EIR grant will finance 89% ($13.76 million) of the program cost; the remaining 11% ($1.5 million) of project costs will be financed by non-federal sources. Findings will be integrated into OSDE’s statewide High-Impact Tutoring (HIT) initiative, creating a unified framework that connects research, policy, and practice.
