Kansas University researchers have secured a $1.3 million grant to help adolescents learn to read, and a policy push by President Bush may mean more money is on its way.

The grant, from the U.S. Department of Education, will allow researchers with the KU Center for Research on Learning to develop a two-year remedial reading course that will be tested in Kansas.

“Once students reach the fourth grade, we have an assumption they’ve learned basic reading skills,” said Mike Hock, associate director of the center. “After fourth grade, the demands of reading change significantly, and more sophisticated reading skills are required. We don’t address that (in schools).”

Using the grant, KU researchers will develop a four-semester reading curriculum that could be administered in ninth and 10th grades. The scientists will use previous research on reading as well as new research on students’ motivation to read and the processes that are invol ved with reading.

After a year of preparation, the curriculum will be tested in a large, metropolitan Kansas school district. The goal is to increase standardized test scores for students who have performed below the 30th percentile.

The Strategic Instruction Model for learning reading, developed by the Center for Research on Learning, has received national publicity in recent months. Don Deshler, the center’s director, met with first lady Laura Bush in January and with President Bush in May to talk about literacy issues.

The Strategic Instruction Model research should put KU in line to receive some of the $100 million Congress is considering for Bush’s Striving Readers program, which is aimed at increasing adolescent literacy.

“We’re fairly well positioned,” Hock said. “There’s a new call to focus on reading skills for adolescents. In the press, you’re starting to see people talking about the need to spend more time on the issue. The challenge is different for adolescent readers.”

Hock said he applauded Bush’s new emphasis on helping older students who struggle at reading.

“It puts them at a disadvantage for life opportunities,” Hock said. “You could argue it puts the country at a disadvantage when you think about the foundational belief that all citizens need to participate in democracy. You can’t participate when you can’t read and critically think about issues.”