Today’s Literacy Headlines

Our editors sifted through thousands of submissions to highlight the season’s most noteworthy new releases, including playful riffs on established works, exciting team-ups, and anticipated returns from award-winning creators. Happy reading!

The science of reading has affected teachers and students across the country. This series shares the direct experiences of educators with these efforts. One educator says, “The science of reading movement has been both a blessing and a challenge for literacy instruction. While it’s finally given grammar, a forgotten foundational skill, the research backing it deserves, the heavy emphasis on phonics and prescriptive programs has inadvertently squeezed out time for writing and grammar instruction, ultimately undermining the comprehensive literacy profile the movement aims to achieve.”

Dr. Maria Murray founded the Reading League, a Syracuse-based nonprofit working to improve childhood literacy and change how teachers are trained, to understand the science of reading. The nonprofit has since grown into a national movement working to change how teachers are trained, based on how the human brain learns to read. Murray wants to close the gap between brain science research and classroom practice.

For five weeks each summer, Mooresville Graded School District welcomes students who would benefit from additional literacy support. The focus is literacy, but the atmosphere is intentionally different from a typical school day. “While it is an extension of the school year, we want it to be engaging and exciting for students,” Conley shares. Across North Carolina, districts continue strengthening literacy instruction aligned to science of reading research and the Excellent Public Schools Act of 2021 (EPSA). Summer reading camps provide additional instructional time while giving students opportunities to continue building literacy skills during the summer months.

As a reading specialist, I’m always looking for new and interesting ways to infuse my love of language into my daily practice. I decided to create a word journal for each student. In the journal, students would examine one word, with sustained curiosity and attention, for the entirety of the school year. My goal was to make the learning process systematic and cumulative, so that each month, students could dig deeper into their word’s meaning and begin to notice how language affects the ways we think about, see, and experience the world. I’m happy to report that’s exactly what happened. Here’s how it went.

Picture a second grader who is struggling to read at a school trying hard to fix that. He gets his regular classroom lessons, is pulled out for intervention during the day and works with a tutor. On paper, he is a child surrounded by support. But here’s what it feels like from his seat. In his classroom, his teacher references a “silent e,” but the intervention software calls it a “magic e.” His tutor uses different hand signals and follows a different skills sequence. Supports meant to reinforce classroom learning are unintentionally cutting against that, leaving him to sort it out alone. When a Tennessee district aligned instruction across classrooms and tutoring, students were more likely to engage in grade-level work.

By now you may have heard that a film based on the Leonard Marcus biography Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon is currently in the works. But why stop here? What if, for whatever reason, this film becomes a massive hit? What then? Could we see a whole host of remarkable films based on the fantastic lives of various children’s book creators?

A new tool can help districts and publishers accelerate literacy in grades 9-12. The Knowledge Matters High School Review Tool identifies curriculum features including activities that systematically develop academic and domain-specific vocabulary; guidance for educators to engage students in productive and sustained academic discussions; explicit instruction in writing and frequent writing opportunities anchored in texts; targeted supports to grant equitable access to grade-level content; and predictable, effective instructional routines and teacher-facing materials to inform professional learning.

Beyond typical classroom uses for fluency and decoding practice, or as mentor texts for writing, quality children’s literature creates the opportunity for readers to experience the world. Rudine Simms Bishop, who used the metaphor of books as windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors, described reading as a transformational experience. Accurate and sensitive portrayals of characters in children’s books are important because children learn about themselves and others through the literature to which they are exposed. 

Students in K-2 showed little to no progress for reading readiness, according to end-of-school-year data for 2025-26 compared to the year before in a new report from Amplify, an assessment and curriculum provider. National composite scores found that 66% of K-2 students are on track for learning to read with 34% of young learners scoring below benchmark. Amplify recommends districts use a multi-tiered systems of support that coordinates instruction, intervention, progress monitoring and teacher professional development to help young students build reading skills.

In the span of just two years, artificial intelligence has moved from an emerging curiosity to an operational reality in American K–12 classrooms. And most school districts are scrambling to update or create policies that reflect the ever-changing world of AI. But what does an AI policy landscape look like? A new AI School Policy Database provides a snapshot of a field that is neither panicking nor confidently leading: it is waiting, watching and managing uncertainty one teacher-directed decision at a time.

These five strategies can help special education teams set up a consistent PLC meeting time and use that time effectively, allowing for meaningful discussion and action planning around student progress.

The Lena Grow program, which collects data on preschooler talk and trains teachers to increase conversations, has been linked to higher reading scores. Researchers have found that talk and interaction between adults and children in their first few years of life often impacts future cognitive development and academic achievement. This engagement is measured in “conversational turns,” or the back-and-forth exchange of words between children and adults. 

Reading allows children to live in a vibrant world, surrounded by fairies, elves and talking animals, transporting them to places where the impossible becomes real. But reading for pleasure also helps children learn more effectively and broadens how they view, interpret and interact with the world. It gives them a form of expression that fuels their imagination and empathy for themselves and others.

As Massachusetts implements a new literacy mandate, officials must not lose sight of the ultimate goal: helping more students learn to read.

A practical framework for evaluating whether technology is supporting deep learning, meaningful engagement, and instructional goals.

Fourth grade literacy gains earned Mississippi national acclaim. But that achievement tapers off as students advance to higher grades. Lawmakers are putting millions toward changing that. Senate Bill 2294 directs $9 million toward the Adolescent Literacy Initiative, which will fund literacy coaches in districts across the state starting this school year. The initiative ramps up literacy education for fourth through eighth grade students, including introducing assessments throughout the year to gauge how well students are keeping up with reading benchmarks and requiring schools use high-quality curriculum pre-selected by the agency. Early pilots have been lauded among educators, but it’s too early to see results yet. 

The number of students with disabilities spending some of their school day in general education classrooms steadily increased over the past decade, driven by a rise in students who spend at least 80% of their time learning alongside their peers without disabilities, according to a recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. GAO researchers also found certain characteristics of districts that had a higher percentage of students with disabilities who spent at least 40% of their day in general education classrooms.

The International Literacy Association (ILA) proudly announces the recipients of its 2026 Children’s and Young Adult Book Awards. These awards honor newly published authors who demonstrate exceptional talent in literature for children and young adults, with a focus on authentic stories that connect with readers around the globe. This year’s selected titles highlight the power of individuals and communities who challenge obstacles, reclaim their voices, and reshape the world around them. Together, these stories encourage readers to see the world through different perspectives.

Young children need different conditions than older students to thrive. Some school leaders are adapting their practices to reflect that reality. Joel Francik and his principal colleagues participated in the P-3 Leadership Program, which seeks to help elementary school administrators develop and then deepen their knowledge and understanding of the early grades, with a focus on children in pre-K to third grade.

The administration is carrying out the overhaul through 14 interagency agreements that move at least 148 K–12 and higher education programs to six other federal agencies. The old structure has real problems. But replacing one department with scattered agency partnerships isn’t constructive unless it makes the system clearer, more accountable, and more useful to the people it serves. I’ve compiled it with assistance from ChatGPT and Claude, based on publicly available information from Education Week and K–12 Dive. For each of the six partner agencies, it identifies what Education Department work has moved or is moving, why the administration believes the fit makes sense, and the issues that I believe are worth watching as implementation occurs.

By commemorating the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence rather than the compromises of the Constitution or the amendments that make up the Bill of Rights, do Americans signal that we prefer the rebellious spirit of 1776 to building consensus, legislating and governing? New works by Christy Mihaly, Carole Boston Weatherford, Howard W. Reeves and Derrick Barnes show that there is still much to celebrate, rebel against and amend.

Reader’s theater is a theater-inspired activity in which students orally recite and bring text to life through performance. While bringing reader’s theater into the classroom requires some thoughtful planning, a concrete structure can help you navigate this instructional practice and make sure that students are getting the most they can out of it. In my own classroom, I’ve found the following routine to be the most effective way to get started with reader’s theater.

Just 1 in 10 kindergartners who start school at the bottom of their class in reading and math skills is proficient by third grade. This finding comes from a new analysis of MAP reading and math scores from the testing organization NWEA. It aligns with a large body of research that finds that many educational gaps are already present in kindergarten and remain stubbornly persistent throughout children’s educational careers. “The key story for me in these findings is that early intervention matters, and if we just wait until third grade to get a signal of where kids are, we’re missing probably the most important window when we can do something about it,” said Megan Kuhfeld, NWEA director of growth modeling and data analytics

School’s out for summer, but this break can be a pivotal time for children to continue learning. Researchers have identified a phenomenon called summer slide, the loss of students’ academic skills when school is not in session, which is largely due to a lack of reading. A recent study of third to fifth graders showed that on average students lost about 20% of their school-year gains in reading. Reading especially benefits young children, and having adults in their lives who prioritize reading is crucial to developing frequent readers. To prevent this summer slide, Barbara Wasik, professor and PNC Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Education in Temple’s College of Education and Human Development, suggests seven ways that parents and guardians can support and encourage kids’ literacy over the summer.  

Over the past decade, instruction has focused on teaching reading skills with short excerpts. The idea seemed promising. Demonstrate strategies that approximate what proficient readers do on a small piece of text like the ones students meet on an assessment and assume they will emerge competent readers. As stagnant National Assessment of Educational Progress reading scores demonstrate, the approach hasn’t worked. Why not? Too much practice with strategies and not enough reading. A recent RAND Corp. survey reports that roughly 60% of middle and high school teachers assign three books or fewer in a school year. Three books a year does not a reader make, particularly if those books are classic texts like Julius Caesar or The Scarlet Letter that intimidate many young readers. It’s time to bring back books, but we also need to rethink what it means to teach a work of literature. No more spending eight weeks of class on a single novel; no more reading the whole book aloud to 10th graders. We need fewer quizzes and maybe even less annotating. Here’s what teachers and school leaders can do instead.

Educators could predict — as early as kindergarten — whether students will achieve reading and math proficiency by 3rd grade, according to a new study by research and assessment company NWEA. Researchers found that reading and math skills upon entering kindergarten strongly foreshadow whether students will reach proficiency three years later. Only 1 in 10 of the lowest performing kindergarteners reached proficiency by 3rd grade, and by the end of 1st grade, those odds dropped to 1 in 50.  Students’ 3rd grade academic performance is considered an indicator for long-term academic and life outcomes.

I currently teach 23 second grade students who are eager to use technology in ways that far exceed what many adults expect from young learners. My students represent a wide range of academic ability, socioeconomic backgrounds, and linguistic identities, which means each of their products rarely look the same. Teaching in such a diverse classroom has taught me how difficult it can be to get every student invested in literacy projects. Yet it has also shown me how transformative digital tools can be when students are positioned as creators rather than passive consumers.

In a primary school classroom, a nine-year old reads aloud to the person next to them. When they stumble over a word, their partner encourages them to try again. Together they discuss what might happen next. But the child isn’t reading to an adult — a teaching assistant or volunteer. Instead, they are reading to a peer in their class. Later they’ll switch jobs, and help their partner out as they read. What’s more, both children have been taught skills to help them support each other on their journey learning to read. This reading approach is called Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (Pals) developed at Vanderbilt University in the US. It builds on children’s relationships with each other to make learning to read a team endeavor. The program now has international reach.

Movement does not have to be separate from instruction. It can become a powerful instructional tool that supports both engagement and skill development. Instead of limiting movement to brain breaks or transitions, teachers can embed it directly into literacy tasks, allowing students to process content while they move. This approach gives students more opportunities to respond, think, and actively engage with new skills, and it can be done in a variety of simple, structured ways that align directly to literacy instruction.

The author Jane Yolen published an astonishing number of books in her lifetime — more than 450. She died at 87 last week at her home in Hatfield, Mass. Her residence there anchored a career in which Yolen wrote picture books, like the hugely popular How Do Dinosaurs … ? series. But she also wrote across age groups and genres, including young adult fiction, fantasy, poetry and more. Yolen’s daughter, Heidi Stemple, says her mom had a favorite saying: “Touch magic. Pass it on.” That’s what Yolen did over more than six decades as a writer.

Sarah Treharne, founder of Richmond-based Ready Set Grow Speech Therapy and mother of two, follows a simple summer rule. “Each day I try to do one thing for their mind and one thing for their body,” she says. Kristen Roberts, who’s taught gifted and elementary school education for more than 25 years, agrees that summer learning can be short and sweet. Some of the best teaching opportunities often happen naturally, at home or on the go — find ways to incorporate learning into everyday activities. Just a few intentional activities can provide structure and help prevent that back-to-school slide.

Here is my worry, and it is not a partisan one. Housing special education inside HHS invites a subtle reframing. It nudges us toward seeing a child as a diagnosis to manage rather than a learner whose potential the system exists to develop. Special education was won as an educational right. We can’t allow it to be redefined as a medical service. The difference sounds academic until you sit in an IEP meeting and watch which language wins. A medical model asks what is wrong with this student; an educational model asks what this student is ready to become. Here are 3 ways educators can step up as federal oversight moves to HHS: (1) protect the student-teacher relationship first; (2) keep the language education-focused; and (3) document as if the federal oversight still exists.

The U.S. Department of Education announced it was outsourcing certain federal special education activities to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, eliciting a mixed bag of reactions. Critics say the changes will put more of a focus on the treatment or cure of students with disabilities, rather than an educational approach that integrates individual services with inclusion into general education instruction. Supporters say the collaboration will improve outcomes.

Standardized assessments show that over 39,000 students in Summer Boost gained, on average, nearly a month more learning in math and two and a half extra weeks in English language arts, according to a new study. Consistent attendance, lacking in some past summer school initiatives, contributed to student gains, researchers said. While the growth is significant, the fact that the study found improvement across so many sites makes the findings stand out even more, said Geoffrey Borman, a researcher at Arizona State University who led the study. “A key thing to keep in mind is the scale at which these impacts are being made,” he said. “We’re talking, in this case, about tens of thousands of students per year.”

Nurturing belonging in mathematics means valuing children’s ideas, and simple routines—like inviting students to share their thinking, comparing multiple strategies, and listening before correcting—can strengthen mathematical belonging. As children explain how they solved a problem and hear others’ approaches, mathematics becomes a shared human endeavor. Belonging in mathematics often begins with stories

Researcher Christopher Kearney, whose work on school absenteeism is among the most cited in the field, has documented consistently that students who feel genuinely connected to their school attend more regularly. Dual language classrooms create a particular kind of engagement that is difficult to replicate through other means. Students are doing something genuinely demanding — learning academic content across two languages — and they know it. For students whose home language is the partner language, that experience carries an added dimension: their language and cultural identity are not incidental to school, they are central to it. 

Teacher preparation had long been dominated by progressive education theory and pedagogy, and many of the report’s core claims—that memorization matters, prior knowledge shapes learning, practice improves retention, and “skills” like critical thinking depend on what you know—were far from universally accepted. A newly released second edition arrives under very different circumstances. What’s striking is not how much the report has changed, but how little. It’s nearly doubled in length, but its organizing questions—How do students learn and retain new information? What motivates them to learn? What are some common misconceptions?—remain largely intact. 

Many K-12 systems have spent the past decade moving toward more evidence-based models: curriculum-aligned coaching, continuous feedback cycles, practice-based professional learning, and, increasingly over the past few years, technology-enabled supports that make coaching more scalable and consistent. Research suggests these same practices work for pre-K as well. Across multiple studies of Pre-K curricula, researchers have consistently found that programs are most likely to improve student outcomes when teachers receive training and coaching on implementation and instructional practice. 

Reading seems like a straightforward process. The eyes scan the words, and the brain turns them into meaning. But it’s not always that simple. Readers regularly skip words, sometimes without realizing it. New research from USF shows how the brain still processes those skipped words using peripheral vision, even as the eyes move past them. “Our findings suggest that readers aren’t simply guessing words; they rely on detailed visual and linguistic processing,” Milligan said. “This supports the importance of learning letter-sound relationships and spelling rather than relying solely on contextual guessing strategies.”

A new study published in the journal PLOS ONE provides evidence that reading comic books on physical paper helps the brain absorb and connect story details more easily than reading on a digital tablet. The findings suggest that physical books provide stable spatial and tactile cues that lower the brain’s workload when a reader tries to recall complex plot points later. This research offers fresh insights into how digital reading formats might subtly alter human reading comprehension and memory.

Senators Jim Banks (R-IN), Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and Tim Scott (R-SC) recently introduced the bipartisan Reading Excellence and Achievement for Development (READ) Act to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.     The READ Act is a bipartisan bill intended to align federal literacy efforts with the Science of Reading by shifting federal funds to support only evidence-based reading instruction, similar to already-enacted state legislation.

Broad screen time caps—as proposed in some legislation—do not take into account the need to prepare students for certain standardized testing or assistive technology for students with disabilities. Does a student developing a multimedia book report on a Chromebook “count” the same as a student watching MrBeast on YouTube? These distinctions matter, which is why librarians must be engaged in the policy dialogue. It’s also why we need to pay attention to who is in the room while these bills are written. The concerns around ed tech are real and credible, and we need legislative solutions that are evidence-based and supportive of skill development and learning. Librarians, now is the time to enter the conversation on screen time and advocate for reforms that balance equity and access with the growing body of research about how ed tech does (and does not) support educational outcomes.

The Trump administration said Tuesday it will move much of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). OSERS manages programs that support students with disabilities, offering guidance and oversight to ensure states follow the landmark Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a law that guarantees disabled students access to an equitable public education. The administration announced it would also move much of the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). OCR’s staff of civil rights lawyers are tasked with protecting students in K-12 schools and universities from discrimination based on disability, gender, race and national origin. 

The Trump administration’s decision to move special education out of ED to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will turn back the clock on decades of progress and weaken protections for millions of students with disabilities. Administering the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) demands deep, education-specific expertise, robust oversight, and consistent guidance to states and school districts. HHS is not structured to provide that support and is already struggling to serve people with disabilities in its own domains of health and human services due to the Trump administration’s severe staff reductions and program cuts.

Researchers and educators emphasize that some seasonal loss is normal for all learners, but that for most students, this knowledge can be easily regained through basic, everyday interactions between children and parents, provided educators leave room for content review at the beginning of the school year.​ For younger kids, Dr. M.H. Raza, an associate professor in the College of Education at Missouri State University, suggests parents keep learning activities simple during summer. “Parents can make it natural; they don’t need to make learning a burden on their children,” said Raza.​ He adds that 20 minutes a day of pressure-free learning activity is usually all that it takes to help children grow intellectually during the summer.​

Prince George’s County Public Schools worked with partners that provided new furniture, lighting, books and tech devices. In total, about 26,000 students and 12,000 educators will use the newly designed spaces. “I think the biggest benefit, of course, is students having the opportunity to be in a new space with vibrant colors that’s more welcoming,” says Coquette Petrella, supervisor for the Office of Library Media Services in the district. More important, she says, are the enhanced opportunities for student collaboration and gatherings for teachers and families.

As widespread budget cuts have strained the early care and education sector, some states and localities have been exploring how best to invest in early childhood programs. San Antonio bucked that trend by identifying that a sales tax could offer a dedicated, protected revenue source to provide more stability and consistency for childcare programs. More than 23,000 children who have gone through the high-quality Pre-K 4 SA since the program began in 2013.

The growing understanding of phonics and word recognition among teachers is promising, as is the finding that 81 percent of respondents recognize the importance of breaking words into parts to support struggling readers. We were also especially glad to see the report include information on understanding the needs of students with dyslexia and English learners. At the same time, several findings are deeply concerning. We are troubled by the continued finding that only 2 percent of teachers report learning evidence-aligned reading practices during their pre-service training, as opposed to the training they receive after years of teaching. This means the overwhelming majority of teachers have been entering classrooms without the knowledge they need. It is also troubling that 56 percent of teachers still associate dyslexia primarily with letter reversal. Finally, we are also concerned by the “science of reading gap” in high-poverty schools and at intermediate and secondary grade levels.

Jane Yolen, a children’s author who wrote some 450 books in practically every conceivable genre, including history, how-to, science fiction and poetry, and whose immensely popular children’s books, rich in folklore and fantasy, earned her the nickname “America’s Hans Christian Andersen,” died on Thursday at her home in Hatfield, a town in western Massachusetts. She was 87. Her best known books include “Owl Moon,” a poetic picture book illustrated by John Schoenherr that won the Caldecott Medal in 1988; “The Devil’s Arithmetic” (1988), about a Jewish girl who travels back in time to the Holocaust; and the “Pit Dragon Chronicles” series, fantasy novels which appeared between 1982 and 2009.

After years of bad news on student test scores, there’s finally a sliver of hope. The latest results from NAEP, the Nation’s Report Card, found gains in both reading and math for 9-year-olds. Not only that, but they provide the first signs in more than a decade of increases among the nation’s lowest-performing students. This is an important reversal. The key trend over the last 10 to 15 years has been a steady decline in student performance across a range of tests, across ages and grade levels, and across a variety of subjects. Moreover, the steepest declines have been among the lowest-performing kids.

What kind of text is best for beginning readers? It’s a question at the center of the “science of reading” movement, and a complex one because of the variety of skills texts should help students build. Students need opportunities to practice the letter-sound patterns they learn in phonics lessons, experts say. They need to practice reading fluently, without many stops and starts. And they need texts that can teach them new vocabulary words and ideas, books that can deepen their knowledge about the world and foster questions and conversation. But figuring out what text to use for which purpose, and how to know what’s appropriately demanding for students, can be a challenge for teachers. Three new studies published in April and May offer insights. The research examines how the words used in texts make them easier or harder for students to read—and what interventions can support children when they’re reading more complex passages.

“Tell Me a Story” is both a history of children’s book publishing in the United States and a celebration of the Library of Congress’s rich collections of juvenile literature. I researched and wrote this book over the course of three years, and it was recently published by the Library of Congress as part of its Collection Close-Up Series. When I was conducting research for the book, specialists from throughout the Library guided me to many fascinating, unusual, and unexpected objects. Here are a few that delighted me and that readers might enjoy exploring further on their own.

Oral reading fluency—the ability to read a text with a natural flow, correctly and expressively—is closely connected to reading comprehension. As a student’s fluency skills become more automatic, they can spend less time decoding a text. The goal is for students to be fluent readers so they can focus on the meaning of a given text. The suggestions here are ones I have had success with this year while working with my students in a Tier 2 reading intervention, but many of the strategies can be adapted to support all students in Tier 1 to improve their fluency.

Slightly more than half of teacher preparation programs use scientifically grounded methods to teach aspiring educators how to teach children to read, according to a new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ). Three years ago, when NCTQ last surveyed teacher preparation programs, only a quarter of them were fully aligned with the science of reading. So the number of programs giving new teachers a strong foundation in best practices to teach reading has doubled. However, many teacher prep programs continue to teach outdated methods even as states and school districts invest millions of dollars in retraining teachers already in the classroom.

Literacy is a continuum, not a finish line that kids cross at the end of third grade. The two-thirds of students who can’t read proficiently still need to practice key literacy skills. But that’s not what they’re getting. A solution is to provide educators and students with a core curriculum that includes supports for students who struggle with reading. Alternative texts let classes practice grade-level skills together, regardless of individual students’ differences in literacy ability.
 

Little Golden Books, with iconic golden spines and colorful illustrations, have been bringing children’s stories to life for more than 80 years. The LSU Museum of Art displayed original artwork from the children’s book series and featured 60 original illustrations from books published since 1942. “It’s not necessarily a show for children. I believe it’s a show about nostalgia,” Michelle Schulte, chief curator at the LSU Museum of Art, said. Early titles from the 1940s included “Toodle,” “The Little Red Hen” and the all-time bestseller “The Poky Little Puppy.” In the 1940s, the majority of authors were women. As times changed, Little Golden Books partnered with pop culture franchises. The series also published biographies of famous Americans.

New federal test scores show younger students are making gains in reading and math — after years of declines. “I think this is an optimistic release,” Matthew Soldner, acting commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, told NPR. Results from the long-term trend (LTT) report, released Wednesday, provide a national look at progress in reading and math for 9- and 13-year-old students. The younger students tested showed gains in both reading and math, “which is fantastic,” said Soldner. What’s notable is that students across the board improved their scores, including lower-performing kids. The report paints a less optimistic picture about 13-year-olds. Compared to the last assessment, students showed no significant improvement in reading or math. At the same time, the report found that reading is a pastime for a shrinking number of kids.

Last week, Alexis Sorenson introduced her 8th graders to algebraic expressions with a lesson on Greek language roots rather than formulas. Sorenson drew careful boxes around the prefixes in “polynomial,” “binomial,” and “trinomial.” “I explained that ‘poly’ meant ‘many,’ so this could be an expression with many, with any number of terms,” Sorenson said. And she watched her students reason through the meanings of the other expressions based on vocabulary roots. Sorenson attributes her students’ language and content growth to the school’s intensive training for teachers across the curriculum in supporting basic reading skills.

Today, conversations about literacy often focus on what children need to learn. That conversation matters. The research matters. But so does something else. Joy matters. Identity matters. Relationships matter. The art of teaching matters. For years, I have argued that literacy education should not force us to choose between science and humanity. That belief ultimately became the foundation for my work on Integrative Literacy Theory. At its core is a simple idea: The Science of Reading. The Art of Teaching. The Promise of Possibility. Children deserve evidence-based instruction. They also deserve teachers who understand that literacy is about more than decoding. Literacy is about agency, opportunity, and belonging. It is about helping children imagine futures they may not yet have the words to describe.