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 — and we are opening a small founding cohort of rural Utah sites to measure whether it works, independently.
The one-pager is 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 five 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 independent study
The study is designed and owned by an independent evaluator — LXD Research. LXD's evaluations hold 25 Evidence for ESSA approvals across 13 products — the evidence standard districts use to justify what they fund.
rinnalla does not touch the evaluation. It measures whether Kindergarten children in participating sites grow more on Acadience Reading than matched comparison schools, and whether parents' confidence and at-home literacy routines strengthen. PreK sites are measured on PEEP. The study runs one year.
Privacy, by design
A child's reading data never leaves the family's device — never in rinnalla's cloud, never sold, never used for advertising. Research outcomes come only from schools' own assessments, under agreement and with family consent.
The finding we want to publish is one measured by an outside party on real school data — not a number 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 five 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 five pillars schools teach.
Whether Kindergarten children in participating sites grow more on Acadience Reading than matched comparison schools, and whether parents' confidence and at-home literacy routines strengthen. PreK sites are measured on PEEP.
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 and PEEP assessments, analyzed by the independent evaluator. The two data streams are kept separate on purpose.
The five 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.
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.
Coming August 2026 · 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.
This fall, rinnalla will let parents download a simple report of what they've practiced at home — the skills, the everyday moments, the progress over time — and bring it to the table. They arrive with evidence and insight, 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.
Parent Report
At-home literacy practice
Illustrative preview — the Parent Report launches August 2026.
What a founding site joins
Research sites join a partnership at founding-cohort pricing — the site's cost for rinnalla access for the families it serves. Families are never billed.
For sites where budget is the barrier, foundation and grant support may help cover access — so cost doesn't have to decide who takes part.
Host one parent-and-child workshop. Take part in the independent study. You host and communicate; a third party runs the evaluation. Founding sites are named in the first published findings — a distinction later sites cannot receive.
The workshops, materials, and independent research are funded by The Alma Street Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
A short letter from your district signals demand and formalizes intent — it tells the field that districts like yours are ready to put this in families' hands. It also helps us plan cohort composition, so the study includes the range of rural Utah communities the goal must ultimately reach.
We'll be at the Utah Rural Schools Conference (July 15–17, 2026). A short conversation now lets a district build its home-side evidence during the runway — well ahead of the accountability that arrives in 2029–2030.
The study needs some sites to begin later as a natural comparison group, so this isn't a stampede to start in Year 1. Reach out to explore readiness and fit — some founding sites will start in the first cohort, others in the comparison arm, all named in the first published findings.
