The Reading First (RF) Program was first and foremost designed to improve young students' reading skills, as reading proficiency is critical to students' success in school. Students must be able to read and comprehend text well in order to master subject matter taught in various content areas. Disproportionately large numbers of minority and economically disadvantaged children struggle with learning to read, and their lack of reading skill in turn results in inadequate academic performance. The program's authorizing legislation required the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to conduct an independent evaluation of the RF Program. Two major evaluations of Reading First have been completed: The "Reading First Implementation Evaluation" (U.S. Department of Education, 2008) and the "Reading First Impact Study" (Gamse, Jacob, Horst, Boulay and Unlu, 2008), respectively, provided evidence about the implementation and the impact of the program. Findings from those two studies indicated that reading instruction had changed in ways consistent with key program goals and strategies. The current study, the "Reading First Implementation Study: 2008-09," builds on and addresses issues with the prior two. This report addresses a set of study questions--about states' planned responses to the RF budget reduction and describes state-level staff expectations about which RF program elements can be sustained with reduced funding levels--using interviews conducted with state-level staff in fall 2008. The study's findings are timely, as policymakers and legislators are considering strategies and policies for both current and future federal investments in literacy (e.g., Title I, Part A). A future reexamination of Reading First's implementation and rollout, as well as its focus, may contribute to future programs designed to improve students' reading and academic achievement, perhaps by providing more information on the extent of implementation, including the role of instruction in specific components of reading skill. [For "Reading First Implementation Evaluation: Final Report," see ED504204. For "Reading First Impact Study. Final Report. NCEE 2009-4038," see ED503344.]