Today’s Literacy Headlines

In a study about the kinds of media kids consume that the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology published in June 2025, my colleagues and I surveyed the parents and other kinds of caregivers of 346 first graders. The study participants listed the TV shows, videos, apps and games the kids used the most. We found that only 12% of this content could be described as educational. PBS accounted for 45% of the educational TV or videos parents said their kids watched most often. This makes PBS the top source for children’s educational programming by far. Nickelodeon/Nick Jr. was in second place with 14%, and YouTube, at 9%, came in third.

Welcome to Literary Quotable Quotes, a quiz that challenges you to match a book’s memorable lines with its title. This week’s installment celebrates quotations from classic storybooks that you may have read as a child — or to your own children. In the five multiple-choice questions below, tap or click on the answer you think is correct. After the last question, you’ll find links to the books themselves if you want to get a copy and see that quotation in context.

Allowing elementary students to nominate and vote for their favorite books of the year can create a culture of celebration in the classroom. One teacher shares her experience: “I wanted my students to experience the excitement of recognizing books they thought were the best. And just like that, the Hallbery Awards were born and continued twice a year for over 15 years.”

I remember pretending to read. Holding open chapter books I couldn’t make sense of, flipping pages to keep up appearances. No one saw the panic behind my eyes when we went around the classroom reading aloud. I’d count ahead to figure out which paragraph would be mine and rehearse it in my head, praying the teacher didn’t ask a follow-up question. I wasn’t dumb. I just couldn’t read. That experience shaped my understanding of what’s at stake. It’s more than a reading issue; it challenges a child’s confidence and creates a silent barrier that too many face alone.

As the “science of reading” movement has grown, more districts are moving away from reading programs featuring practices that aren’t supported by research, and toward programs that are rated highly by external organizations, data show. But many school system leaders still report that they’re instructing educators to use multiple programs together, or supplementing their core offerings with add-ons—suggesting that even “high-quality” instructional materials aren’t meeting all of educators’ needs. The reports’ authors caution that using bits and pieces from different curricula without a clear strategy in place could lead to all of them being less effective.

Equipping students with transferrable skills such as innovative thinking and problem-solving can have a powerful effect on learning. Many teachers want to integrate STEM, but they feel overwhelmed or unsure if it is suitable for their grade level. STEM doesn’t mean you need expensive kits or extra class periods. It can start small, by using everyday items and creating quick STEM challenges that develop future-ready skills. 

Author Jeanne Birdsall didn’t know what direction to go in after she ended her beloved Penderwicks book series. Birdsall’s latest novel, The Library of Unruly Treasures, follows Gwen MacKinnon, another memorable young protagonist. When Gwen is sent to stay with her Uncle Matthew for the summer, her time away from home becomes anything but ordinary when she discovers a clan of winged creatures known as Lahdukan living in the local library.

Adopting a new curriculum is only a first step. Real change is like training for a marathon: buying the right gear doesn’t build endurance. Success comes from commitment, coaching, time and deliberate practice. Over time, I’ve come to recognize several warning signs that indicate a school needs Balanced Literacy Rehab. The first is that principals think the new program is being implemented but they don’t really know, because they often lack tools to verify what’s happening in classrooms. The second warning sign is that teachers are using both the new and the old programs. The third sign is that the science of reading is implemented in kindergarten through second grade, but that’s where the shift stops. In third grade and up, teachers continue to rely on outdated comprehension practices focused on “skills and strategies” rather than building the background knowledge that fuels true understanding.

The Science of Reading Implementation Briefs Series, co-authored by 11 educators and literacy leaders from across North Carolina, brings the classroom to the forefront. These eight briefs highlight the real-world insights, roadblocks, and breakthroughs experienced by teachers, coaches, and administrators as they implement structured literacy practices aligned with the Science of Reading (SoR). Each brief tackles a specific challenge from aligning instruction across staff and grade levels to building inclusive schedules and supporting paraprofessionals. Together, these lessons offer a roadmap for sustainable, school-wide change that supports every child’s journey to reading proficiency.

Emergent writing begins as early as age two or three, when children first start to explore the relationship between marks on a page and the world around them. This development doesn’t happen overnight; it unfolds over time and is shaped by many essential school-readiness skills: physical, language, cognitive, social, and perceptual abilities. By intentionally supporting this stage of development, educators and families can ‘plant the seeds’ for early writing success by focusing on three key areas: creating a rich environment for emergent writing, supporting children through developmentally appropriate writing stages, and fostering oral language skills through meaningful play.

With the aid of Calkins’ curriculum, my 4th graders were synthesizing across texts and making meaning across genres, time periods, and ideas. We read about the American Revolution, wrote cross-text research papers, compared authors’ perspectives, and learned how to hold more than one truth at a time. Calkins’ curriculum uses a workshop-style model that prioritizes student choice and independent learning. I taught her reading and writing units in 3rd and 4th grade, and across my 30-year career, they were among the most meaningful tools I used, not because they were easy, but because they came alive when taught with intention. They opened things up. And yet, Lucy Calkins has become a lightning rod for literacy criticism in the education world.

Giving students equitable access to high-quality instruction and resources for becoming proficient readers will help inspire a love of reading and give them ownership in their own literacy development, according to a report from EdTrust. The EdTrust report recommends these six principles for states to advance equity in literacy: (1) Ensure instruction and curricula are evidenced-based; (2) Have materials that connect to students’ identities and interests; (3) Tailor supports to students’ unique needs; (4) Begin literacy education at birth; (5) Put resources toward supporting teachers; and (6) Don’t sideline families.

Over five decades, he produced some 150 books, many of them illustrated by his wife, Janet Ahlberg, including classics like “Each Peach Pear Plum.” “Each Peach Pear Plum” (published in the United States in 1979) and “The Jolly Christmas Postman” (1991) were awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal by the British Library Association, recognizing distinguished illustrated books for children. In 2007, “Each Peach” was named one of the top 10 works published during the medal’s first 50 years. “The Jolly Postman” was inspired by the couple’s infant daughter, Jessica, who amused herself by playing with the mail while sitting in her high chair. The book included miniature envelopes containing letters to the Big Bad Wolf and other fairy-tale favorites, including one from Goldilocks apologizing to the Three Bears for intruding.

Five years after the start of the pandemic, one of the most surprising ways that school has profoundly, and perhaps permanently, changed is that students aren’t showing up. Here are some insights from a May symposium at the American Enterprise Institute where scholars shared research on the problem of widespread absenteeism. Chronic absenteeism has come down a lot from its peak in 2021-22, but it’s still 50 percent higher than it was before the pandemic.

Stories, songs, and rhymes are the bedrock of early language development. However, there are children who can sing, understand rhyming, and tell stories who are unable to detect sounds within words, struggle to match letters to sounds, and have challenges with reading and writing. Rhythm games, songs, and rhymes are not only a fun and engaging way to build pre-literacy skills. Music-making activities are also ideally suited to the early years of education because learners can participate at their own level and preference.

We can cite everything from No Child Left Behind to the advent of ChatGPT as a reason for insufficient writing time. But regardless of the catalyst, what’s important is that students at all levels keep writing. Here’s why. First, learning to write helps students learn to read. Writing also boosts students’ content knowledge and cognitive development. What’s more, a lack of classroom attention to writing tends may create extra harm to the most vulnerable students. So what can educators and policymakers do? First, keep students writing, from short tasks (e.g., sentence mechanics practice and concise summaries) to long-form writing (e.g., persuasive essays and personal narratives). They should be writing not only in ELA, but also in social studies, science, art, and music, to improve their writing skills while enhancing their knowledge and reasoning in those subject areas. 

A New Mexico school district has won the National Spanish Spelling Bee six times since the event began in 2011. Three of its students have won twice—each in back-to-back years. It’s “beyond reason,” according to the district’s bilingual specialist, José Reyes, who helped organize the first national bee over a decade ago, and continues to work with students in the Gadsden School District. The Gadsden district, headquartered in Santa Teresa, N.M., is a Title I district along the U.S.-Mexico border.

These back-to-school reads will help children tackle first-day nerves, new teachers, letters, numbers and more.

SLJasked school librarians what was on their minds as they embarked on the 2025–26 school year. While every school has its own unique issues, there were common threads in the responses. School librarians are grappling not only with the stress of local budget issues but also with the uncertainty of federal funds—those already allocated by Congress for 2025, which have been frozen by the Trump administration, as well as those in the federal budget for 2026. The IMLS cuts leave public library partners unable to step in and fill the gap. Censorship, restricted access to books, and soft censorship remain a concern for many, bringing added work hours, stress, and the responsibility of defending selections. In addition, public pressure and personal attacks have increased in number and vitriol over the last five years.

Three members of the Teach Like a Champion team explain why they are “unapologetic about the book.” We believe that even—perhaps especially—in a digital age, books create a critical experience that can be created through no other means. Ensuring that students read books—excellent books, whole books, together in groups, often aloud to maximize the sense of connection they create—will maximize the chances that they become better readers, more knowledgeable students, and that they come to love and value reading.

This June, on the cusp of California’s full expansion of TK, the Public Policy Institute of California published an in-depth report analyzing the program, enrollment patterns, and related observations. Laura Hill, a policy director and senior fellow at PPIC and lead author of the report, spoke with Education Week about her findings, which provide insights for administrators and policymakers considering launching or expanding a TK program in their own state or district. Hill says, “If you’re going to move TK into K-12, then I think as much attention as possible needs to be given to making sure that there are early childhood experts ready to help the system navigate the change: Making sure the teachers are prepared and the curriculum is ready, preparing the physical space, and helping districts’ senior leadership understand that TK children, 4-year-olds, are not just little kindergarteners—they’re really, really different.”

It’s been two years since Ohio policymakers, led by Governor DeWine, enacted sweeping early literacy reforms aligned to the science of reading, an evidence-based instructional approach that research has proven is an effective way to teach children how to read. Key elements of the statewide initiative include high-quality curriculum, teacher professional development, and stricter standards for teacher preparation programs, as well as roughly $170 million in state funds. How are things going? We don’t yet have test score data (that will come this fall), but a report given by Department of Education and Workforce (DEW) officials at a recent public meeting provides reasons for optimism. 

As the state rolls out a literacy strategy grounded in the approach, a survey shows high interest among educators in expanding their skills. To implement the science of reading practices, teachers require focused and thorough professional development, the report said. This professional learning, however, needs to go beyond teaching new curriculum and ensure that educators learn about certain practices like how to screen and assess student skills, determine specific needs and select proven instructional materials.

An Atlanta father’s library visit with his daughter sparked The Library Dads, a growing movement using books to bond fathers while boosting children’s literacy. The founder, Khari Arnold,  recommends countless resources for being a Library Dad, including regular library visits, audiobooks in the car, free apps like Hoopla and Libby, or playing YouTube channels with video read-alouds. 

American children and teens continue to be plagued by ongoing effects of the pandemic — and most students of color are bearing the brunt of worsening or stagnant indicators, a new report shows. The annual Kids Count report, released last month from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, found that while there’s some bright spots nationally compared to 2019 — including a growing number of children covered by health insurance and a decrease in teen pregnancies — many states are struggling to take care of children, whether it’s the number of children living in poverty, a growing number of teen deaths or older students who are not in school or working.

The 2025 Eisner Awards, one of the most prestigious awards given to comics, were presented at the San Diego Comic Con this weekend. They are given to comics published in the U.S. in the previous year. The award began in 1988, and it is named after comics pioneer Will Eisner. As of 2025, Eisners are given in 32 categories. There are also awards given to honor excellence in writing, newcomers to comics, best retailer, and more. Two comics took home multiple honors this year, including Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham in three categories and David Mazzucchelli’s Batman Year One Artist’s Edition in two categories.

In Austin, Texas, where the titans of technology have moved their companies and built mansions, some of their children are also subjects of a new innovation: schooling through artificial intelligence. And with ambitious expansion plans in the works, a pricey private A.I. school in Austin, called Alpha School, will be replicating itself across the country this fall. Supporters of Alpha School believe an A.I.-forward approach helps tailor an education to a student’s skills and interests. 

Gamifying literacy and phonics lessons teaches students valuable social-emotional skills, gives them regular movement breaks, and increases their engagement. Kathy-Ann St. Hill-St. Lawrence (or “Ms. Saint,” as she’s called by her students) is passionate about literacy. She knows that keeping it playful is critical for learning. In her second-grade class at Harford Heights Elementary in Baltimore, Maryland, she sprinkles in fun games to reinforce new concepts during direct reading instruction.

President Donald Trump has launched a comprehensive campaign to close off education to undocumented immigrants, undercutting, advocates say, the very reason many came to the United States: for a chance at a better life. Preschoolers without legal status are now banned from Head Start and older students and adults without papers are blocked from career, technical and adult education. Some states are rescinding in-state college tuition for those here illegally and K-12 schools are being targeted by the president’s sweeping immigration enforcement crackdown.

The Trump administration is releasing billions of dollars in grants to schools for adult literacy, English language instruction and other programs, the Education Department said Friday. The funding freeze had been challenged by several lawsuits as educators, Congress members from both parties and others called for the administration to release money schools rely on for a wide range of programs. Congress had appropriated the money in a bill signed this year by Trump.

The author of the Myth of Monsters series recommends works that tell, or retell, these strange and wonderful stories for virtually every age group. “Greek myths are having a moment — one that has lasted 2,700 years. Their rich and varied sources make them endlessly adaptable and relatable. Which means there’s a book out there that tells, or retells, these strange and wonderful stories for virtually every age group. Here are some of my favorites.”

A discipline known as cognitive science — born in the U.S. — relies on decades of research on how kids learn to guide teachers in the classroom, and is at the root of several effective reforms, including the Science of Reading. In nearly a dozen interviews, educators and policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic said that while it’s caught fire in England, from the classroom to the halls of government, the idea has made little traction in its home country. Benjamin Riley, founder of Deans for Impact, a Texas-based group that has pushed to make cognitive science more central to U.S. teacher training programs, jokingly refers to it as a “reverse Beatles” effect, with British educators pining for American insights.

The Nebraska Department of Education is moving ahead on priorities of literacy, chronic absenteeism and workforce development. The State Board of Education has selected three legislative priorities for the Education Department through 2027, focused on increasing reading proficiency among Nebraska third graders to 75%, halving the number of school staffing vacancies and halving chronic absenteeism. The State Board hopes to accomplish all three goals by 2030. The state Education Department has enacted the “Nebraska Literacy Plan,” which is supported through funds from the Legislature and the federal government. Legislative Bill 1284 appropriated a few million dollars to employ regional literacy coaches statewide and to mentor teachers in grades K-3 on how to better teach reading. The focus is on training prospective teachers and getting literacy coaches directly in the classroom.

Test scores [in Mississippi] have improved dramatically in the past 15 years, and the state is now ranked as a Top 20 state for public education. Scores exceed Michigan’s across the spectrum, from Black and white students to poorer and richer ones. Known as the Mississippi Miracle, the state’s improvement is a testament to tenacity, not originality. Over the past 20 years, Michigan adopted many of the same tools and accountability standards as Mississippi, only to abandon them for another plan. While Michigan leaders talked about fixing education, Mississippi did it starting in 2013, approving and sticking with sometimes unpopular ideas like grading schools and holding back third graders who couldn’t read, while investing big in teacher training and literacy coaches. 

Literacy is about critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and the ability to engage with complex ideas. When a major title drops [like this fall’s new Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dog Man titles], it’s not just a release date–it’s a shared experience. These books aren’t just for kids — they’re cultural touchstones. They bring generations together. Parents read them with their children. Teachers use them to spark classroom discussions. Librarians build displays around them. And kids? They devour them and talk about them with the kind of passion usually reserved for blockbuster movies or viral games.

With billions of federal dollars frozen by the Trump administration, 85% of school district leaders say they now have to find alternative sources to pay for contracts they have already entered into. Half those leaders say they will have to cut staff to make ends meet if the money doesn’t arrive, according to a new survey. The survey, from AASA, the School Superintendents Association, paints a picture of how the Trump administration’s choice not to distribute more than $5 billion in federal school funds Congress approved in March is affecting districts as they prepare for the upcoming school year. To close the resulting budget holes, nearly three-quarters of leaders with contracts covered by the frozen funds say they will likely have to cut academic supports for students—like literacy and math coaches—and 83% plan to cut professional development for staff

Family engagement is the key to creating a joyful school community and hitting academic goals. Research has long shown that when parents and caregivers are involved and engaged with their children’s education — whether that’s by attending parent-teacher conferences or participating in school events — student achievement, motivation and social-emotional well-being increase. Parent involvement with reading activities has a positive impact on reading achievement, language comprehension, expressive language skills and level of attention in the classroom, according to the National Literacy Trust.

Strong parent partnerships are essential to effective special education, as collaboration between families and educators provides students with disabilities with academic, social and emotional, and behavioral support. While laws like the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandate involvement, genuine collaboration requires ongoing, intentional effort. Building trust can be challenging when families have felt unheard or excluded. Because of this, it’s crucial that educators adopt proactive, empathetic, and inclusive practices. The following six strategies offer evidence-based ways to strengthen trust and foster meaningful family partnerships.

Two new graphic novels for kids feature alien beings that aren’t what they seem. One is a monster disguised as a helper. The other is a monster that turns out not to be monstrous after all.

The Trump administration will now release the federal funding for after-school and summer programs that districts and states expected to begin accessing July 1 but had been frozen by the Office of Management and Budget, OMB confirmed. The $1.3 billion for 21st Century Community Learning Centers was under review by OMB to ensure the funding aligned with Trump administration priorities. The weekslong delay had already caused cancellations and other disruptions to summer and school-year student services, according to educators, families, education organizations and lawmakers. Still under OMB review is about $5.6 billion in other K-12 funds, including programs for English learners, professional development, student academic supports, migrant services and adult education. OMB did not provide a time frame for the review or release of those funds.

In D.C., and N.Y., age cutoffs for kindergarten fall far into the school year. As Maureen Yusuf-Morales, who has worked at public, charter and independent schools, suggests, “Parents with children born after September should be allowed choice with guidance based on developmental milestones, as opposed to birthdays being the only hard-and-fast rule.” Here are some ways to level the playing field for the youngest students: grades with multiple classes can be broken up into three- or four-month bands, so students are learning with a narrower-aged peer group; and repeating a year should be a more acceptable option. Any steps taken to help New York City’s youngest learners would provide the largest experimental sample size in the country, making those results potentially beneficial for students across America. 

Beginning next school year, all of the city’s public schools — from elementary to high school — must pick from a list of at least nine city-approved intervention programs designed to help struggling readers, according to documents obtained by Chalkbeat. The city hopes “all NYC students become thriving readers and writers by 2035,” the document states. Intervention programs can involve a range of approaches. In elementary schools, for example, teachers may pull students into small groups to go over phonics concepts from earlier grade levels to reinforce the relationships between sounds and letters. In high school, some campuses use online platforms to help build vocabulary and comprehension skills.

For this final piece in The Century Foundation’s focus group series with teachers of English learners (ELs), we discuss the evolving practices around literacy. We asked teachers to reflect on how their practices have changed in recent years, both in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic and in the country’s ongoing shift away from Readers Workshop and “whole language” literacy instruction. No matter what sort of literacy program their state, district, or school prescribes, one thing was clear: from California to Massachusetts, from novices to veterans, our teachers reported that English learners were not a high priority in the general education English Language Arts classroom. 

Republicans’ “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which President Trump signed into law on July 4, imposes a host of new obligations on the scaled-down department. Here’s what to know about the changes students, K-12 schools and colleges can expect now that the legislation is officially law: K-12 school vouchers are going national (sort of); Medicaid changes and K-12 schools; cuts to food assistance would also impact school meals; and an increase to the Child Tax Credit

In the Fox C-6 district outside of St. Louis, elementary reading teachers are in the process of shifting their practice, moving from a balanced-literacy approach to a “structured” approach, one that aligns with the evidence base behind how children learn to read. The district implemented new curriculum materials as part of the change. It had planned to offer some follow-up training sessions and coaching this fall to help teachers integrate the resources into their classrooms, funded by federal money designated for professional development, said Tracy Haggerty, the district’s assistant superintendent for teaching and learning. But the U.S. Department of Education’s decision to withhold that money, alongside billions of other grant funding districts rely on, means Fox C-6 will have to find another way to pay for the PD—sending Haggerty’s district scrambling to adjust its plans. “We are depending on that money in order to properly train our elementary teachers in literacy,” Haggerty said. It’s a problem that seems to be happening nationwide.

Young students are showing notable improvements in their early reading skills since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, new research shows.  About 68% of K-2 students are on track to learn to read, according to end-of-school-year assessment data from DIBELS, the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. That’s a jump from mid-school-year data that showed only 56% of K-2 students were ready to learn to read. Disappointing reading results throughout K-12 post-COVID spurred states and districts to invest in professional development in science of reading for teachers and reading supports for students.

Walk into any Rhode Island classroom, and you will meet a growing number of students who speak a language other than English at home. The state sees this as an opportunity, not a deficit. Over the past five years, Rhode Island has deepened its commitment to ensuring all students, including multilingual learners, have access to rigorous, high-quality instructional materials and that teachers have the necessary training to implement them. While overall gaps still exist in the state, students who recently exited multilingual-learner status are now outperforming peers who are native English speakers on statewide exams.

Tennessee students continued to show post-pandemic progress on statewide testing this year, though a majority of third graders fell short of hitting a critical reading benchmark. More third graders scored proficient this year, with 41.7% compared to 40.9% on last year’s reading test, according to testing data released this week by the Tennessee Department of Education. That leaves 58.3% of third graders statewide who fell short of the benchmark, a critical trigger for Tennessee’s third grade reading law that calls for students to repeat the grade if they cannot show improvement or complete certain reading interventions.

The tech industry’s campaign to embed artificial intelligence chatbots in classrooms is accelerating. The American Federation of Teachers, the second-largest U.S. teachers’ union, said on Tuesday that it would start an A.I. training hub for educators with $23 million in funding from three leading chatbot makers: Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic. The union said it planned to open the National Academy for A.I. Instruction in New York City, starting with hands-on workshops for teachers this fall on how to use A.I. tools for tasks like generating lesson plans.

“At the end of the day, our users are librarians, the experts in information literacy, and also the experts in collection development,” says Shelley Diaz, SLJ reviews director. With them in mind, SLJ editors assemble titles that we know will resonate with our readers and the kids they serve, she adds. So, booklists in hand, what do readers actually do with them? Librarians were quick to respond to my query. Learning the specific, practical application of these resources can enlighten our work. But also noteworthy is a commonality running throughout, and that’s trust in the curation and a mutual sense of good faith between curator and reader.

Based on the collective lessons from the districts, we argue that enacting the transformational change needed to effectively support ELs requires: (1) strong district and school leadership, (2) consistent professional learning to prepare educators to implement rigorous and research-based instructional strategies across the curriculum, and (3) genuine home-school collaboration that enriches students’ educational experiences. The brief includes questions at the end of each section to help educators consider how to transform their approach to educating linguistically diverse students.

Story time can be effective in guiding students—even middle schoolers—to recognize the possibilities of producing their own writing. Utilizing texts that students connect with and view as accessible models can bring joy and confidence back into writing instruction. The following picture books aim to help you do just that.

Papilio is an enthusiastic and adventurous caterpillar. Then she’s a blob of goo, hanging out in her chrysalis. Her main goal in life? Metamorphose into a butterfly and learn to fly! Papilio is a children’s story told in three parts, about three stages of a butterfly’s life, written and illustrated by three friends: Ben Clanton, Corey R. Tabor, and Andy Chou Musser.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act — signed into law 50 years ago this November — guarantees a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) to students with disabilities. The law requires schools to provide individualized learning supports to students, as well as related services like physical or speech therapy. IDEA also helps states operate early intervention programs for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. Many consider IDEA not just an education law, but also a civil rights law that provides due process protections for students and families. Here’s what is critical for school districts and their educators to be aware of in their responsibilities for serving students with disabilities.

This honor is reserved for those who have made outstanding contributions to multiple facets of literacy development, including research, theory, and practice. Recipients have decades of impactful research to their name, making the honor akin to a lifetime achievement award. For more than four decades, Joshi has built a prolific career that exemplifies a rigorous integration of literacy theory, cross-linguistic research, and impactful educational practice. He has published over 125 journal articles and 21 books relating to literacy development. Joshi also co-developed the Componential Model of Reading alongside P. G. Aaron, a framework that dissected literacy into decoding, language comprehension, and reading fluency, helping to identify specific interventions for students with dyslexia and learning difficulties. 

When teachers bring this fun formative assessment game into a lesson, they get a snapshot of what students have understood, and what they haven’t. Another benefit of this practice? “ I think a lot of kids struggle with being quiet,” says second grade teacher Kathy-Ann St. Hill-St. Lawrence. “A lot of them don’t have designated quiet time, and so then they have problems focusing. That’s a skill in this digital age that some kids have lost. 

Jessica Pack, a 6th grade language arts teacher at James Workman Middle School in Riverside County, Calif., has been using AI tools to bolster reading comprehension lessons and build metacognitive skills as well as digital citizenship skills. Research shows that asking students to monitor and correct their own understanding of text as they read can boost their comprehension — though using AI for this purpose hasn’t been studied extensively.

Working memory typically holds two to seven pieces of information at a time. In the education context, working memory is what allows students to recall directions a teacher gave, create a plan for what they need to do, or encode (map) a new strategy for a problem. Explicitly teaching brain-based memory strategies can help students build their executive function skills.

“Rebels, Robbers and Radicals” brings the document alive through court cases of real people involved in real struggles. Nearly daily, the front page of The New York Times is filled with the clash between an expansive executive branch and the responses of an embattled judiciary. Yet for many young people the most compelling current events are the swells and trends of the digital world. In “Rebels, Robbers and Radicals: The Story of the Bill of Rights,” Teri Kanefield sets out to reveal to those screenagers the architecture of laws and beliefs that undergirds this nation. Can she engage her readers and prove that a 234-year-old document matters to them? Yes.

Morning Edition host Melorie Begay checked in with WKAR’s Director of Education Robin Pizzo to see what tips she has to encourage summer reading. Her number one tip: Read, read, read, read all summer long. Get your kids out and about to libraries, to different educational events and find books that will fascinate them, and let them choose those books. We find in research that children who choose the stories that they read become lovers of stories.