Utah has set a goal — 80% of third-graders reading on grade level by 2030, up from 50.3% today. SB 241's classroom investment is necessary but not sufficient, and the law requires parents to participate in every struggling reader's plan. Decades of research show parents who teach specific foundational skills are 6× more effective than reading aloud alone (Sénéchal, 2006). rinnalla coaches parents to do exactly that. On September 3, 2026, the Utah State Board of Education approved and funded an independent study of whether it works.
An overview of the study and a non-binding statement of interest — designed to be forwarded to your superintendent or literacy lead.
Three things you already know
Every K–3 student not meeting benchmark on Acadience gets an Individualized Reading Plan, developed with parents and identifying specific evidence-based interventions. The law creates the requirement — not the preparation mechanism at home.
Parent participation · Required by statute
rinnalla coaches PreK–3rd grade parents in the Science of Reading through brief, daily sessions grounded in the same six pillars schools teach.
Today · Parent companion
K–3 devices don't go home by law. Parents are required to participate in reading plans but can't access school-provided tools. The home-side literacy infrastructure must be parent-owned.
Home-side · Parent-owned · Beyond school hours
The study
LXD Research designs the analysis and produces the findings. LXD's evaluations hold 25 Evidence for ESSA approvals across 13 products — the evidence standard districts use to justify what they fund.
The study measures whether Kindergarten and Grade 1 students in participating sites grow more on Acadience Reading than matched comparison schools outside the cohort, and whether parents' confidence and at-home literacy routines strengthen. Every participating site begins in fall 2026 and continues through the fall 2027 beginning-of-year Acadience window.
Data collection runs from the 2026–27 beginning-of-year Acadience benchmark through the 2027–28 beginning-of-year benchmark. Sites share Acadience twice — spring 2027 EOY, and fall 2027 BOY for the same students, then in Grades 1 and 2. Ending at the following beginning-of-year benchmark lets the evaluator see whether gains hold across the summer, when classroom instruction stops and the home is the child's only literacy environment.
Privacy, by design
Data is never sold and never used for advertising. Research outcomes come only from schools' own assessments, under agreement and with family consent.
The findings will be produced by LXD Research from real school data — not generated by the people who built the product.
Parents who teach specific foundational literacy skills are six times more effective than parents encouraged simply to read aloud — regardless of family income level.
Sénéchal, 2006 · Scientific Studies of Reading · See the 6× research →
Also confirmed in Sénéchal & Young, 2008 meta-analysis of 1,174 families published in Review of Educational Research.
The proficiency gap Utah aims to close by 2030. Moving from 50.3% to 80% means nearly doubling the annual success rate.
Gardner Policy Institute, January 2026
Utah has invested more than $16M through SB 241 — funding science-of-reading professional learning, literacy coaches, and paraprofessionals — on top of statewide LETRS implementation. The classroom foundation is strong, and the work happening in Utah classrooms is meaningful.
The 6× finding is why the home matters. Whether rinnalla helps parents realize it is exactly what the study measures.
rinnalla coaches the parent behavior the 6× research identifies. The independent study tests whether that behavior transfers — and whether it moves outcomes.
We believe activating the home side is how a gap this size gets closed — and the founding cohort is how we find out whether it holds.
SB 241 sets a 2030 goal — 80% of third-graders reading on grade level — and, starting in 2029–2030, third graders not meeting the end-of-year benchmark repeat the grade (with good-cause exemptions for ELLs and IEP/504). That is a multi-year ramp, not an August deadline. It is exactly the window to build the home side while the classroom side is being strengthened.
rinnalla coaches PreK–3rd grade parents in the Science of Reading so they can participate meaningfully in their child's Individualized Reading Plan — strengthening the home side of the literacy team without adding to teacher workload.
Every Utah child reading on grade level by the end of third grade — reached through early screening, individualized plans, evidence-based intervention, and meaningful parent participation. The last of those is the home-side lever the study is testing.
23% of Utah students attend rural schools. Traditional family engagement strategies — literacy nights parents drive to — exclude the communities that need them most. A parent coaching companion reaches families on their schedule.
rinnalla's founder, Marci Houseman, co-founded the Utah chapter of The Reading League. In her prior role at Lexia Learning, she supported USBE's statewide LETRS implementation. rinnalla uses the same six Science of Reading pillars that LETRS teaches — ensuring school-home alignment from day one. The 6× parent teaching effectiveness that grounds the approach was first documented by Dr. Sénéchal, whose research forms rinnalla's scientific foundation.
What we believe and are studying
rinnalla coaches PreK–3rd grade parents in the Science of Reading with brief, daily sessions that fit into real family life. Parents get specific activities grounded in the same six pillars schools teach.
Whether Kindergarten and Grade 1 students in participating sites grow more on Acadience Reading than matched comparison schools outside the cohort, and whether parents' confidence and at-home literacy routines strengthen.
We believe activating the home side has the potential to shift kindergarten readiness, reduce the number of children identified below benchmark, ease teacher gap-filling, and — over years — help close the proficiency gap. The founding cohort is designed to find out whether it holds.
No training required. No jargon. No family literacy night a rural parent has to drive to. No device time for the child. Just brief, daily coaching designed to fit real family life.
Simple questions about their child's age, what they've noticed, what they want to work on. Designed today for PreK–3rd grade families.
Brief explanation of one foundational skill — phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary — in plain language. Why it matters for reading. How it complements classroom instruction.
Something they can do in the next ten minutes. Language they can use so it feels like play, not school. Materials they already have.
Districts see whether families are using the tool — engagement is operational, not an outcome claim. Outcome measures come from schools' own Acadience assessments, analyzed by LXD Research. The two data streams are kept separate on purpose.
The Science of Reading Pillars
Hearing and manipulating the sounds in spoken words.
Connecting letters and sounds to decode written words.
Reading with accuracy, pace, and expression.
Knowing what words mean and how they're used.
Building meaning from text in real time.
Building language through responsive, back-and-forth conversation.
Everyday moments
Bath time, the drive to town, breakfast at the table — rinnalla turns small windows into brief, playful practice of the same foundational skills their child is learning at school.
The Parent Report
SB 241 requires parents to participate in every struggling reader's Individualized Reading Plan. But "required to participate" and "equipped to contribute" are not the same thing — too often a parent sits at the edge of the meeting, overwhelmed by a conversation happening around them.
rinnalla gives parents a clear report of what they practiced at home: session and activity counts, parent confidence tracked over months, weekly practice rhythm, their own observations of how practice went, and breakdowns across eight skill areas including Vocabulary and Oral Language.
These are parent observations — not an assessment or a mastery score. A parent walks into an IRP meeting holding a concrete record of what happened at home and what they noticed about their child, ready to help shape the plan the law already says they're part of.
Educators see what's really happening at home, not a guess.
The concrete way a family meets SB 241's role in the plan.
Parents walk in knowing what they've done and what they've noticed about their child.
Public funding
The Utah State Board of Education is funding this study in full through mineral lease research funds — a total of $397,200. Most of that covers licenses and implementation support, which is paid to rinnalla.
$50,000 covers the independent evaluation and flows to the Alma Street Foundation, a 501(c)(3), which contracts and pays LXD Research. Marci Houseman is co-founder of the Alma Street Foundation and CEO of rinnalla; she does not sit on the foundation's board and has no vote. All of this was before the Board when it approved the study.
Sites pay nothing. Families are never billed.
What a founding site joins
Sites pay nothing. Families are never billed.
Name a site lead and identify participating Kindergarten and Grade 1 classrooms. Distribute and collect the parent consent forms we provide. Host one parent-and-child workshop delivered by the rinnalla team, in person or virtually — your site provides the space and sends the invitation we write. Share Acadience data through your existing reporting process, and allow direct contact between LXD Research and your site lead for scheduling and data questions.
Sites receive quarterly written data check-ins covering license usage and what parents report about their confidence and the literacy habits taking hold at home, with a live walkthrough if that is more useful. This is engagement data, not study findings — outcomes come only from Acadience, through LXD Research.
Founding sites are named in the first published findings — a distinction later sites cannot receive.
This non-binding statement of interest tells us your site would like to be considered, lets planning proceed, and shares what participation involves.
Priority through October 15, 2026 goes to schools in rural Utah, Title I schools, and schools identified for Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI). Any licenses still unallocated on that date will be made available to schools statewide until all are placed.
Every participating site begins in fall 2026 and continues through the fall 2027 beginning-of-year Acadience window. Let's talk about whether your school is a fit.
