HISTORY

With a goal of achieving 100% literacy among Alabama public school students, the Alabama State Department of Education initiated the Alabama Reading Initiative training in the summer of 1998. Training, administered by the Alabama State Department of Education, was conducted that summer for the faculties of 16 schools in the state.

In the summer of 1999 the number of schools to be trained expanded to 64 and the administration of the training was turned over to Alabama’s 11 regional in-service centers. Because The University of Alabama received a $50,000 grant from Royal Cup Coffee to conduct ARI training, however, the grant recipient, Dr. Lea McGee, administered the 1999 training at The University of Alabama, rather than the In-Service Center.

From summer of 2000 through summer of 2005, the Regional
In-Service Centers administered Alabama Reading Initiative summer training programs.