Do children with better reading competence read more, or do avid readers increase their reading competence? This highly relevant question has been discussed for many years, yet conclusive results are rare. Previous studies suffer from small sample sizes or omitted variable bias, rendering their findings questionable. We provide new insight using…

This paper investigates the impact of assignment to the Accelerating Literacy for Adolescents (ALFA) Lab, an additional semester-long class taken during an elective period, on ninth grade student reading achievement, motivation, and frequency. We conducted a regression discontinuity (RD) study where 1,378 students from diverse high schools in four…