The Alabama Reading Initiative is a statewide effort guided by the Alabama Department of Education to improve reading instruction and ultimately achieve 100 percent literacy in students grades K-12.  The primary focus of ARI is to institute instructional practice based on scientific research in reading.  Athens City Schools’ four elementary schools, intermediate school, and high school participate in ARI and have received intensive instruction grounded in scientifically-based reading research.

The Alabama Reading Initiative’s success has prompted two states, Massachusetts and Florida, to implement similar models based on the ARI.   The ARI was awarded the 2002 Education Commission of the States Innovation Award.  This award recognizes a state for excellence in the policy area of literacy.  Alabama was also awarded one of the initial 17 United States Department of Education Reading Excellence Act grants.