Schools Expand Evidence-Based Reading Efforts

Schools and educators are pursuing a range of ways to strengthen literacy, from community events and engaging activities to classroom instruction and districtwide policy. West Plains School is planning a reading event at Zizzer Stadium, while educators elsewhere are exploring strategies to build students’ reading habits and stamina. PBS KIDS is also promoting literacy through activities tied to its returning “Super Why!” characters, including rhyming, alphabet practice, spelling and storytelling. In Kansas City, the Literacy for All Students initiative, which provides literacy coaches, helped participating students’ literacy-growth metric rise from 35% to 48%, though the program serves communities facing significant socioeconomic challenges. Pennsylvania is moving toward evidence-based structured-literacy curricula statewide by the 2027-28 school year, emphasizing skills such as phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary and comprehension.