GRANDVIEW, Wash. -- Middle school readers in Grandview are getting a boost, thanks to a four-year grant geared toward improving adolescent literacy.

Grandview Middle School is one of six middle schools statewide chosen to participate in a program aimed at raising the literacy level in schools with significant numbers of students reading below grade level.

Washington is one of eight states to receive federal dollars to help struggling readers. According to the Department of Education, the total cost for the four-year Striving Readers project is $4.4 million.

To be selected, schools had to be Title I-eligible and have at least 75 students who read at least two grades below grade level.

Title I is a federal program that provides financial assistance to schools with high numbers or percentages of children from low-income families.

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction will partner with the six middle schools as well as an external evaluator, Education Northwest, to implement the reading project.

-- Adriana Janovich