HGSE professor wins $15.5 million i3 grant

Harvard Graduate School of Education Assistant Professor James Kim has received a $12.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation (i3) program to conduct research on Project READS, a summer reading program model for low-income children in North Carolina. The U.S. Department of Education, which funds 80 percent of the grant, announced the award in September and required Kim to secure an additional $2.8 million or a 20 percent private sector match, which he has met.

“I am grateful and excited to work on the i3 project with a talented team of researchers, policymakers, educators, and foundation leaders,” Kim said. “Working together, we will validate a cost-effective intervention that promotes summer reading and aims to close the achievement gap in reading in North Carolina public schools.”

Over the next five years, Kim will work with a team of researchers including Thomas White, senior research scientist at the University of Virginia Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning; and Jonathan Guryan, associate professor at Institute for Policy Research of Northwestern University, along with Communities In Schools of North Carolina and Durham Public Schools to implement, validate, and scale up an innovative approach to combat summer reading loss among low-income children.