Forty five percent of the students' receiving Title I funds in urban lower class inner city schools and 20% of the students not receiving Title I funds in American public schools are reading below proficient on standardized tests. The goal of No Child Left Behind Legislation was to make sure that 95% of all students are reading at a proficient level. This high-stakes state testing requirement created the need to study whether or not the Memphis Literacy Academy's (MLA) focus on reading initiative affects elementary students reading proficiency of two public elementary schools in Memphis, Tennessee. The purpose of the quantitative causal-comparative retrospective study was to determine whether or not the Memphis Literacy Academy's focus on reading initiative affects the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) Achievement Test reading scores of students in two elementary schools in the Memphis City Public School District. Results of the study were significant to educational organizations in that the Memphis Literacy Academy's focus on reading initiative improves reading literacy among students. First, the Memphis City Public School District has allocated funding for the Memphis Literacy Academy's focus on reading initiative and several other literacy programs. Analysis of the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) Achievement test reading scores showed that the increase in reading scores for Lucie E. Campbell Elementary receiving the MLA reading initiative; was significantly greater than the increase in reading scores of Treadwell Elementary given the Reading First instruction without the MLA reading initiative an exception to the rule was the fifth grade students. The percentage of students scoring in the advanced category at Lucie E. Campbell was more than double that of students at Treadwell students. The descriptive statistics revealed a significant increase from the mean scaled scores of the students at Treadwell Elementary to the mean scaled scores of the students at Lucie E. Campbell using Memphis Literacy Academy's focus on reading initiative. The growth in the mean scale score for the students at Lucie E. Campbell determined that the Memphis Literacy Academy's focus on reading initiative does have a significant beneficial effect on the reading scores of the students at Lucie E. Campbell as compared to the students at Treadwell Elementary. Since the Memphis City Public School District is a large urban educational organization, the ability to compare and contrast the various literacy programs at schools should be the target goal of the Board of Education. Educational research is a systematic process, but one that will facilitate and encourage learning for all students. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]