The Reading Reset: Examining the EOSY–BOSY Reading Classification Gap in Project SARA

This quantitative study examined reading-classification patterns in Project SARA to determine what the available assessment records reveal about the perceived end-of-school-year (EOSY) to beginning-of-school-year (BOSY) reading-classification gap. Five district workbooks were analyzed: Grade 3 pretest and posttest for School Year (SY) 2024–2025, Grade 4 pretest and posttest for SY 2025–2026, and Grade 5 pretest for SY 2026–2027. The workbook-defined below-target group comprised 537 of 1,215 Grade 3 pretest records (44.2%), 251 of 535 Grade 3 posttest beneficiaries (46.9%), 635 of 1,210 Grade 4 pretest records (52.5%), 444 of the 1,160 Grade 4 learners assessed at posttest (38.3%), and 281 of 1,199 Grade 5 pretest records (23.4%). Of the 1,210 Grade 4 target learners, 50 (4.1%) were absent during the posttest; among those assessed, 716 (61.7%) were classified as having met the target. The Grade 3 posttest covered beneficiaries rather than the entire target cohort, limiting direct comparison with its pretest results. Across 21 school-level records provisionally matched between the Grade 3 and Grade 5 assessment snapshots, the unweighted mean below-target proportion decreased from 43.6% to 25.9%. Eighteen school records showed lower proportions in the later snapshot, while three showed higher proportions. An exploratory Wilcoxon signed-rank test indicated a statistically significant difference between the paired school-level proportions (W = 28, p = .0014). However, because the workbooks contain aggregate rather than learner-linked data, they cannot establish individual learners' transitions from EOSY to the subsequent BOSY or demonstrate that Project SARA caused the observed differences. The study recommends documenting assessment comparability and developing a privacy-protecting learner-linked dataset to support longitudinal analysis.