Today’s Literacy Headlines

A much-anticipated report on the future of federal education research makes a strong case for the value of the Institute of Education Sciences and calls for significant changes to make research more useful for educators and policymakers. The report released Friday by the U.S. Department of Education praises IES for significantly improving the rigor of education research and contributing to a strong body of evidence about what works in schools. But it also says too much previous work by IES hasn’t been put to practical use, has failed to address high-priority issues, or is redundant.

Experts caution that low-quality, A.I.-generated videos on YouTube geared toward children often feature conflicting information, lack plot structure and can be cognitively overwhelming — all of which could affect young children’s development.

It is 40 years since Janet and Allan Ahlberg’s The Jolly Postman, or Other People’s Letters first followed its eponymous postal carrier to the homes of the Three Bears, the Wicked Witch, Cinderella and The Big Bad Wolf (among others). Yet displayed as part of a celebratory exhibition at the Postal Museum in central London, Janet’s witty watercolours and Allan’s irreverent take on tradition feel as fresh as ever, even if the curators do now feel obliged to explain that letters were a pre-smartphone method to ‘keep in touch’ (and many may consider the story’s most fairytale element its depiction of a reliable local postal service).

While Massachusetts has taken some steps to advance literacy instruction — for example through an effort to invest millions in educator training and curriculum support — it is not among the states that have adopted a significant legislative fix. Now, though, the Bay State is poised to enact what its supporters call some of the strongest reading legislation in the nation — and some educators worry it goes too far in imposing new standards that override teacher control of classrooms. Critics say a curriculum mandate is too restrictive for a state long considered an education leader.

From brain development to relationship-building, music shapes how young children learn, connect and interact with the world. Research is clear about the myriad benefits of music in early childhood. It can support executive functioning, motor skills, language acquisition and social-emotional growth. It promotes engagement and early literacy. It can strengthen relationships and expose students to languages and customs from other parts of the world. 

The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) released a landmark report, A New Vision for High-Quality Preschool Curriculum, in April 2024. The report reflects the findings from a comprehensive study of preschool curriculum quality for children ages three to five, with special attention to the needs of Black and Latino children, multilingual learners, children with disabilities, and children experiencing poverty in the U.S. A new summary guide offers decision-makers practical tools for implementing the recommendations of the NASEM report.

Well-crafted, transparent policies defend school librarians and their collections against arbitrary book challenges, restrictive protocols for readers and eroding intellectual freedom. Proactive communication ensures that everyone in the school and the community knows the library’s role, procedures and contacts. When policies are visible and accessible, they become tools for strengthening collaboration rather than afterthoughts. A transparent collection development policy serves as a how-to manual for library staff on building and maintaining physical and digital collections. It also provides a basis for explaining their choices if part of that collection is challenged.

Autism, developmental delay and multiple disabilities marked the fastest growing IDEA disability categories between 2023 and 2024. About 8.2 million students ages 3-21 qualified for services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 2024. There were increases for both pre-K and K-12 students. 

Revisiting a book repeatedly helps children develop a sophisticated understanding of what emotions look and feel like. Stories place emotions inside meaningful contexts. Characters want something, try something, struggle, make mistakes, persist, or eventually give up. Along the way, characters feel many things: worry when something feels hard, joy when something works, amusement at surprises, pride in effort, and confidence as they grow. Emotions are presented not as isolated labels, but as lived experiences tied to situations: the pursuit of ideas or dreams, relationships, discoveries, effort, and learning.

When schools flocked to tutoring in response to pandemic learning loss, experts initially said they preferred in-person sessions. But new studies bolster the evidence that done well, virtual models can be just as effective at moving students forward as face-to-face instruction. John Hopkins study found that first graders who received services were still on track in reading a year later with no additional help. In Massachusetts, first graders who spent 15 minutes a day online with a tutor from Ignite Reading stayed on track a year later without additional tutoring. Students gained, on average, at least five additional months of learning over their expected growth. 

From astronomers to biologists, these remarkable women pushed against boundaries to make groundbreaking discoveries in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

A growing number of states expect districts to integrate tutoring into the school day and have committed funding and staff to make it happen. Several require tutoring for students scoring below grade level and are vetting providers so districts don’t have to. And in a recent round of literacy research grants, totaling $256 million, federal education officials signaled that access to tutoring should be a fixture in the nation’s schools. New federal grants will help states spread tutoring to rural areas.

Attention doesn’t suddenly “run out,” but it does need support. Students respond to how tasks are structured and to the rhythms of their own developing brains. In shorter periods, varied tasks may sustain focus across much of the class, but in longer block schedules, continuous attention is far less likely without intentional structure. Techniques such as interweaving direct instruction with active learning tasks help students practice sustained, intentional focus.

Kindergarten should be the place where reading begins to make sense — where sounds connect, words hold meaning and effort leads to understanding. When instructional systems move too fast, even well-intentioned reforms can work at cross-purposes, asking children to perform before they have had time to learn. The challenge before us is not whether to be ambitious, but whether we are willing to design systems that honor how learning actually unfolds. If early literacy reforms are to deliver on their promise, coherence cannot be an afterthought. It must be the bridge that turns high standards into real understanding for every child.

Julie Fogliano and Marla Frazee’s “Because of a Shoe” and Beatrice Alemagna’s “Her Muddy Majesty of Muck” address children’s anger with compassion. These aren’t didactic works. They are art, with soul-stirring depth and resonance.

One of the most powerful drivers of lifelong reading isn’t a program at all–it’s a relationship. And some of the most effective literacy ecosystems today are those where schools and public libraries work not in parallel, but in partnership with parents and students. Few places demonstrate this more clearly than East Hampton, Connecticut, where a decade‑long collaboration between school librarians and the public library has created a seamless year‑round literacy experience for students.

Most parents want to help their children succeed. We check report cards, ask about homework and try to help our kids study. When that fails, we sometimes hire tutors. But in an era of rising grades, it’s easy to be misled. A new study finds parents often assume everything is fine when their child’s report card shows mostly A’s even when standardized test scores slide. That assumption may underestimate the help and guidance their child needs.

Blended learning is a balance of in-person and video-based instruction. With a blended writing workshop, students learn through a series of instructional videos recorded by the teacher in replacement of whole-group instruction. Providing whole-group direct instruction through videos allows students to work at their own pace and gives the teacher time to circulate for one-on-one support.

Sustained achievement means protecting instructional time, preserving curriculum coherence, and acculturating and training new staff into established routines. It’s resisting the steady pressure of new initiatives, new mandates, and new enthusiasms. All of it is essential and none of it is glamorous. The problem, it seems to me, is not that we’re incurious about successful schools … but that we’re insufficiently selective about which models we seek to learn from and the lessons we take from them. Here are three ways we fail to learn from successful schools. 

There are dozens of ways to spark students’ prior knowledge. In a 2023 literature review, researchers analyzed the effectiveness of 30 prior-knowledge activation strategies and concluded that tactics like concept maps, low-stakes quizzes, and structured group discussion can meaningfully improve students’ comprehension and engagement when used at key moments—before, during, or after new learning. Drawing on research and classroom practice, the 12 strategies here highlight evidence-backed ways to help students tap into what they already know.

As an increasing number of corporations are investing in the advancement of AI, the evidence of this fluid technology on student learning has proven difficult to pin down. Will it revolutionize education as every child gets a personalized AI tutor, consequently boosting academic achievement? Or will it become a glorified machine widely used for cheating and one that minimizes thinking and thereby leads to cognitive atrophy? A new behemoth report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) analyzing the emergence of AI in education thus far seems to suggest that it might be a bit of both. According to the OECD analysis, generative AI (i.e., the machine-learning models in widespread use, like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude) can support knowledge acquisition for students by facilitating learning and improving creativity. Key word: “can.” Emerging data highlighted in the report also point to several snags.

Carole Boston Weatherford is a prolific children’s writer who has become a mainstay in the field, with last year marking her third decade of crafting books for young readers that highlight the experiences and history of African Americans. Upon reaching that milestone, Weatherford’s catalogue continues to expand. This year, she has no fewer than three picture book releases—Let It Shine, Black Hands, and Troubled Waters—hitting shelves, highlighting the importance of affirmations, the impact of African American contributions to the United States, and the value of setting as a historical bookmark. Weatherford spoke with PW about how she came to writing books that capture history for young readers, how the forthcoming anniversary of the U.S. inspired her work, and her perspective on her success.

The part of writing that feels hardest for both adults and students is generating ideas. Sitting in front of a blank page can feel daunting when you don’t yet have a reliable way to begin. To sustain a writing life, teachers need a reliable way to generate ideas before they ever sit down to draft. Beginning with ideas inspired by reading, listening, and noticing creates momentum, reduces the pressure of the blank page, and gives teachers a process they can later model explicitly for students.

School leaders are using supportive and empathetic approaches to help families of young children make attendance a priority. Elementary school principals are in a unique position to set good attendance habits for young students and their families as they enter the K-12 system, said Hedy Chang, CEO, president and founder of the nonprofit Attendance Works. Chronic absence as early as pre-K can negatively impact reading proficiency by 3rd grade, achievement levels in middle school, and suspension and drop out rates in high school, Chang said. There also are impacts on chronically absent students’ executive functioning skills and social-emotional growth. “This has to do with the whole child’s development,” Chang said.

The United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY) announced its 2026 Outstanding International Books list, featuring 41 exceptional titles for children and young adults published in 2025 and originating from 24 countries. Since 2006, USBBY’s annual lists have introduced young readers in the U.S. to global perspectives, outstanding international creators, and stories that foster empathy, bridge cultures, and build connections. Together, these books show young people around the world seeking connection and belonging—through family, friendship, self-discovery, and engagement with their communities. 

They learned to babble to masked adults. They spent their toddler years on video calls with grandparents instead of at storytime in the local library. Many started preschool only to have it disrupted by quarantines or staffing shortages. Now, the first generation of children born during the COVID pandemic has entered kindergarten, and educators say they are meeting a cohort unlike any before. Nearly three-quarters of the educators we surveyed said today’s kindergarteners are behind in early literacy skills compared with students five years ago. Equally striking were findings around attention and confidence. 

World Read-Aloud Day brings classrooms, families, libraries, and communities together through the power of shared stories. A single voice and a meaningful book can shape students’ identities, nurture empathy, and ignite a passion for literacy that lasts a lifetime. Reading aloud does much more than build decoding, fluency, or oral language and listening skills—it creates a communal learning space where every reader belongs. Here are ideas on how to get started with read alouds, including examples of videos that feature authors or organizations reading books aloud.

Happy Black History Month! As you and the young readers in your life pick out this month’s nonfiction books, consider works that highlight Black inventors and scientists throughout history. From George Washington Carver, whose agricultural science work taught farmers how to avoid soil depletion, to Harold Amos, a pioneer in microbiology, to Lonnie Johnson, the inventor of the Super Soaker, there are many Black inventors and scientists for young readers to learn about.

World Read Aloud Day is the perfect time to think about how to expand our school celebrations of highly effective, engaging read-alouds to reach our students at home. Read-alouds, paired with effective interactive strategies, are an easy and effective way to support early comprehension, vocabulary, and a love of reading at home. Here are 10 research-based read-aloud strategies and how to share them with families.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, in her final budget proposal this week, is set to unveil a budget proposal for funding schools that invests $625 million in programs aimed at addressing the state’s K-12 literacy crisis. The literacy investment would come at a time of increased focus on the troubling performance of Michigan students in literacy in the early grades. Just 38.9% of third graders were proficient on the English language arts portion of the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress last year. It was the lowest performance of third graders in the exam’s 11-year history. On the national front, just 24% of Michigan fourth graders were proficient in 2024 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

A ray of hope is emerging in American education. Not among Democrats or Republicans, each diverted by culture wars. Not in the education reform movement, largely abandoned by the philanthropists who once propelled it. Not in most schools across the country, still struggling with chronic absenteeism and a decade of faltering test scores. Rather, hope emerges in the most unlikely of places: three states here in the Deep South that long represented America’s educational basement. These states — Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi — have histories of child poverty, racism and dismal educational outcomes, and they continue to spend less than most other states on public schools. Perhaps the most important [lesson learned] is an insistence on metrics, accountability and mastery of reading by the end of third grade. And while reading gets the attention, just as important is getting kids to attend school regularly.

Over the last four years, I’ve partnered with preservice teachers and local schools to transform nearby trails, campus green spaces, and community sites into standards-aligned STEM learning environments for elementary school students. The outdoors supports inclusive, multimodal instruction by offering visual, kinesthetic, auditory, and social entry points, all of which make STEM learning more accessible and meaningful. During outdoor learning, students work in small groups to collect data, test ideas, and make sense of real-world phenomena. Literacy integration emerges organically; students read informational texts before visits, then record field notes, discuss observations, and construct evidence-based explanations.

We Need Diverse Books announced the 2026 Walter Dean Myers Awards. The Walter Awards are given in two categories: Younger Readers (ages 9-13) and Teen (ages 13-18). And the 2026 winners are: Younger Readers Winner: The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze by Derrick Barnes; Honor Title: All the Blues in the Sky by Renée Watson. Teen Winner: Champion by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Raymond Obstfeld, and Ed Laroche; Honor Title: King of the Neuro Verse by Idris Goodwin. The 2026 Walter Awards ceremony will be held on Monday, March 23, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C.

Science of reading reforms have boosted decoding, but they were built for monolingual, culturally narrow classrooms. Many science of reading curricula lack multilingual learners’ home languages and cultural knowledge, making it harder for them to comprehend texts. Decodable texts deepen this gap because they are designed to practice phonics rather than to develop rich vocabulary, complex language or connections to texts. As a result, students may look strong on decoding data while continuing to lag in comprehension, confirming NAEP’s widening comprehension gaps even with decoding gains. Despite these challenges, teachers have powerful tools at their disposal that do not require abandoning foundational skills. Instead, they ask us to expand our definition of literacy beyond decoding and provide instructional time for students to develop language comprehension.

“Smile,” “Sisters” and “Guts” still feel fresh as daisies and are currently the most circulated graphic novels in my school library by a mile. … If you have Raina-obsessed readers in your life who have read the “Smile” books, as well as her two stand-alone graphic novels, “Drama” and “Ghosts,” here are 13 other recommendations.

For years, the screen time recommendation for children under age 2 has been simple: They shouldn’t have any. But as surveys of parents have revealed that young children are increasingly exposed to digital media, it’s become clear there’s a disconnect: Families aren’t following the guidance. Not only do the youngest children in the U.S. have some exposure to screens, many of them are getting screen time daily  — and for an average of about an hour each day. 

It is very, very important that kids learn the skill of sounding things out, of converting letters on the page into spoken words. But it’s also critical that in the early elementary years, we are growing their vocabulary, growing their general knowledge of the world, and growing their familiarity with books and stories. When they read something, they should have good odds of being familiar with most of the words in it and have enough background on the world to figure out the rest. Even in states that have logged huge improvements in reading — like Mississippi — the latter is often missing.

Dyslexia is the most common learning disability affecting children, but what does the research actually tell us about how to identify and support students with dyslexia in practice? In this episode, Assistant Professor Phil Capin moderated a discussion with leading scholars Professor Nadine Gaab and Tim Odegard of Middle Tennessee State University, exploring how the science of reading can inform effective supports for students with dyslexia across grades and contexts.

The budget funds the Education Department at $79 billion through Sept. 30. That’s about $217 million above FY 2025 levels. The funding plan does not stop Education Department moves to transfer statutorily required program responsibilities to other federal agencies, but it directs the agencies involved to provide Congress with biweekly reports on the implementation of any interagency agreements. Additionally, the bill requires on-time formula grant funding available to states and districts at levels dictated by Congress in the funding bill. And it adds a new requirement to maintain the Education Department staff at levels necessary to fulfill its statutory responsibilities, including carrying out programs and activities funded in the bill. 

Mike Schmoker is a veteran educator who’s long been a go-to source for “practical, nuts-and-bolts advice, wisdom, and insight” on school improvement. In his book Results Now 2.0: The Untapped Opportunities for Swift, Dramatic Gains in Achievement, Schmoker calls out the “massive gap” between proven practice and common practice. He argues that schools can make immediate, measurable academic gains by leaning on proven curricular and instructional practices such as short cycles of teaching, checking for understanding, and reteaching throughout the lesson. Given the recent surge of interest in high-quality instructional materials and the science of reading, I thought it a good time to hear Schmoker’s take. Here’s what he had to say.

On February 4, 2026, readers of all ages join together to celebrate World Read Aloud Day, also called WRAD. The yearly event encourages people to read out loud together and celebrate the power of stories. WRAD takes place on the first Wednesday of February and reaches readers in more than 170 countries. WRAD began in 2010, with a goal to bring attention to the importance of reading aloud. Today, schools host read-aloud events, families read together at home, and authors join in online by participating in interactive read alouds through Scholastic’s Storyvoice platform. Last year, WRAD reached 391 million people worldwide. I interviewed Pam Allyn, Executive Director of LitWorld and the creator of WRAD, to learn more.

Reading aloud to children is a staple of elementary school classrooms, and for good reason. Read-alouds are helpful for vocabulary development, fluency building, and comprehension. To amplify the read-aloud experience, many teachers employ interactive strategies that go beyond speaking and listening. They ask students to identify character traits or make predictions based on context clues and inferences. As a kindergarten teacher myself, I’m a proponent of interactive read-alouds. I recently tried taking them a step further with an immersive read-aloud—a fun and unique exercise where students enthusiastically participate in the story as it unfolds, which allows for more access points and differentiated autonomy.

Summer reading can be more than recording reading times to collect prizes at the local library branch or a few mandated titles from a high school English class. The Collaborative Summer Reading Program creates resources and programming for public libraries around a new theme each year. (This year is Unearth a Story: Desentierra una Historia—Dinosaurs/Archaeology/Paleontology.) But across the country, school and public librarians are creating their own summer reading programs that not only combat the academic slide and keep kids reading but promote book choice, personal connection, and even outdoor activities.

Over the next several weeks, more than 500,000 students across the country will take an updated version of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in math and reading, but more improvements may be on the way. With its decades-long trendlines, cross-state comparisons, and scientific rigor, NAEP, also known as The Nation’s Report Card, is widely considered the gold standard in assessments. NAEP is complex and hard to change, even when that change is a sign of progress. For example, the updated math and reading tests that today’s fourth and eighth graders are now taking are based on new frameworks that we started developing in 2018, before those fourth graders entered preschool. The rock solid systems underpinning NAEP have helped it earn its strong reputation. But there are several imperatives for NAEP to meet in the years ahead for it to maintain its status.

Kadir Nelson’s book “BASKET BALL: The Story of the All-American Game” is a long-awaited follow-up to “We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball,” published in 2008. Its tone is warm and informal, its conversational style crafted to convey the sense of an older, avuncular figure — a once-upon-a-time player — speaking directly to its target audience of 8- to 12-year-olds. Its easy grace seems to have been honed by family basketball culture — “I was about 4 years old, and my uncle handed me a ball from a game he’d just played” — and by artistic aspirations that carried the high school shooter east from Los Angeles to the Pratt School of Art in Brooklyn, where there were, still, plenty of opportunities for pickup games.

A review of nearly 100 studies found that by age 8, students believed that girls were better at verbal skills, and that this affected boys’ confidence and interest in reading later on. Perhaps because of these influences, girls are more likely to say they like to read — so they do it more and get better at it. Also highly correlated are the kinds of classroom behaviors that lead to learning — things like attentiveness, working independently and sitting still. These are skills that girls tend to develop earlier than boys — and as schools have begun expecting children to learn to read earlier, boys could be at a disadvantage. Boys’ reading struggles are not inevitable, research suggests, and addressing the deficit could improve outcomes in school and beyond. Researchers suggested some strategies that could help boys — and any struggling readers: intervene early; teach in small groups; teach reading well; make it enjoyable; and model reading. 

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that students with disabilities have access to assistive technology, which can include everything from pencil grips and modified scissors to swivel chairs, large mobile touch screens and eye-controlled communication devices. However, in a report out this week, the U.S. Government Accountability Office finds that educators face many barriers to following through on this mandate. School staff reported to government investigators that they know little about assistive technology. Teachers often think of high-tech devices, but not simple tools and, with technology continually evolving, school officials said they have trouble staying on top of the latest options, according to the report.

In the children’s book The One About the Blackbird, a young boy learns to play guitar from his grandfather. And there’s one song in particular they love. That song is, of course, “Blackbird,” by The Beatles. The author Melanie Florence says she wrote the book as an intergenerational love story. “It’s about the connection between a boy and his grandfather and their shared love of music,” she explains. After the grandfather teaches the little boy the guitar, the little boy grows up to become a musician.

Four school districts in major urban areas using the science of reading found while students are grasping basic literacy skills, limitations toward deeper comprehension still exist, according to a new study. The “Robust Reading Comprehension” report, conducted by nonprofit research organization SRI, examined literacy instruction in districts in Texas, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia that have been using materials rooted in the popular phonics-based literacy approach for at least five years. Researchers found a majority of reading lessons lacked “depth” – meaning foundational skills were mainly limited to working on single words rather than reading them in sentences. 

When play and academics are intentionally balanced, everyone benefits. Students experience literacy instruction that’s interactive and engaging without losing sight of foundational skills. Play and academics need not compete for time or priority. When planned with intention, they strengthen one another. The hum of conversation, movement, joy, and deep engagement in my classroom aren’t the result of a perfect schedule. Rather, they’re the result of thoughtful planning and a belief that play belongs in serious learning.

Teresa Rivas provides guidance counseling at Owen Goodnight Middle School in San Marcos, Texas. She talks with students about their goals and helps if they’re struggling in class. She’s also a trained navigator placed there by a nonprofit called Communities in Schools. The idea behind CIS and other “community school” programs is that students can’t succeed academically if they’re struggling at home. A new study demonstrates that such efforts have long-term effects. Although contemporary education policy has focused intently on standardized tests, student and teacher tracking, and other accountability measures, the CIS study suggests that the United States could bolster achievement by providing more social support too. 

Renée Watson’s “All the Blues in the Sky,” in which the Oregon author blends poetry and prose to tell the story of a teen confronting the death of her best friend, has won the John Newbery Medal for the year’s best children’s book. “All the Blues in the Sky” is set in Harlem, New York, but much of Watson’s work draws from her experiences growing up in Northeast Portland. Watson called the Ryan Hart series for middle readers “my love letter to Portland.”

As the pace of product development for AI-powered toys accelerates, controversy — and warnings — about the appropriateness of these products for young children have left many parents and educators tempted to tune out or opt out. But as kids interact with AI more regularly, some experts say it’s important to teach kids what’s actually behind AI and how to use it responsibly. A new curriculum focused on computer science and artificial intelligence aims to teach young kids to build, program and prototype together. In essence, students build their own machine learning models, solving problems, inventing characters and telling stories connected to their interests. 

Vocabulary studies are essential for building students’ confidence in reading, writing, and speaking. Traditional activities often rely on drill and memorization, which can lead to low engagement. This year, in my grade four Dual Language classroom, I introduced an innovative approach by encouraging students to create their own board games to learn new vocabulary and Hanzi (Chinese characters). This approach makes learning in their primary language fun for students and also provides significant benefits for teaching, learning, and assessing vocabulary.

By guiding students through developing their own understanding of core concepts, teachers ensure that the whole class is starting on a strong foundation. In Frederick, Maryland, third-grade teacher Karen Wills is beginning a lesson on finding claims in a text with her class at Sugarloaf Elementary School. “Yesterday we read the text Edison’s Best Invention, and then today they had to identify the claim within that text,” she explains. “But I knew that prior to them identifying a claim, we really needed to see what they knew about a claim.” So Wills planned an activity to help her students tap into their prior knowledge.

An upcoming episode of a popular PBS Kids show will be told from the viewpoint of a character with autism. “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” will premiere an episode this week with a story from Max, a recurring character on the show, which is a spin-off of the venerable “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” In the episode, Max, who has autism, learns that people can be more than one thing by finding out the Mr. McFeely, the mail carrier, is also a volunteer story-time reader at the library.

Snow is a joy we can’t buy, an event we can’t control, the closest thing we have to magic during its brief time on earth. No wonder kids love to hear stories about it. Like snowflakes themselves, no two picture books about snow are the same. But they share some common ground — dramatic shadows, deep footprints, animal tracks, wonder on faces of all ages — and land their share of Caldecotts.

Originating in 1922 with the creation of the John Newbery Medal, the American Library Association (ALA) annually honors notable books, videos and other media aimed at children and teens. through their ALA Youth Media Awards. The complete list of 2026 winners can be found here.

Last year, we set out to find the schools that were doing much better at teaching third graders to read than their poverty levels might predict. After looking at data for nearly 42,000 schools, we identified 2,158 that we called Bright Spots. While these schools didn’t always have the highest absolute scores, their students performed much better than might be expected, based on their poverty rates. Today, we’re calling out 255 of those Bright Spots — five public schools in every state and Washington, D.C., that are beating the odds for their kids by the biggest margins.

Many states are focusing on deploying research-backed reading programs for their younger students. But despite a stagnant reading comprehension rate for older students, they are continually left out of the conversation about improving literacy. “There’s this focus on K-3 without a lot of resources dedicated to helping the kids in secondary school that fell through the cracks,” says Anna Shapiro, associate policy researcher for the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit public policy research firm. “Starting early makes a lot of sense in a lot of ways, but there’s also all these kids in the school system that didn’t benefit from that and do need intervention as well.”