Let's build on the success of this week's PA Literacy Summit and the PA Literacy Coalition!! Mark your calendar! Calling all Pennsylvanians concerned about the literacy crisis: the Pennsylvania Literacy Coalition needs your voice in Harrisburg! Join us Monday, May 12th at the State Capitol for a Capitol Day, which will include meetings with legislators, a press conference, and opportunities to share why you’re passionate about making sure all students have access to a literacy education based in the science of reading. We will be advocating for comprehensive structured literacy legislation and an accompanying $100 million investment to support districts with policy implementation. Lunch, advocacy materials, and support in scheduling/preparing for meetings will be provided. Contact Coalition Manager Rachael Garnick with questions: rgarnick@teachplus.org. Sign up here: docs.google.com/forms/d/1jj9…

Advocating to fund ACT 47! Senators and Representatives from Eastern PA learned from educators and parents about why we need to fund literacy in the Commonwealth. Thank @SenatorMuth for your steadfast commitment to literacy! #PALiteracy #FundAct47 #Literacy #LiteracyPolicy

🧠 Just in time for #DyslexiaAwarenessMonth! A paper highlighting the work of ERPA. “When Resources Are Not Enough,” is published in Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal! bit.ly/ERPAParentpaper #ScienceOfReading #StructuredLiteracy #InstructionalEquity

This is a fabulous resource for families and educators! Thank you @Suchmo83!

Please check out Central PA’s one and only Michelle Trostle!

You’re invited to a free CAREI webinar on morphology! CAREI invites you to The Power of Words: Morphology and CAREI’s Path to Literacy Success—a free webinar on Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. ET. Explore the role of morphology in literacy instruction and how it is embedded in the Functional Phonics Morphology curriculum. Attendees will walk away with evidence-based strategies for K–12 classrooms. Date & Time: Thursday, September 18, 2025 · 7:00–8:00 p.m. Eastern Location: Online (Zoom link provided upon registration) Presenters: Kim Gibbons, Wendy Stuttgen, Mariah Mercil, Laura Woolf What you’ll learn: ✅ How morphological awareness supports decoding, spelling, vocabulary, and comprehension. ✅The many ways that morphology can support diverse learners, including multilingual students. ✅ Practical classroom strategies for teaching word parts across grade levels. ✅ An inside look at the Functional Phonics Morphology (FP M) curriculum and the CAREIALL Deep Dive Into Morphology course—highlighting how CAREI aligns professional learning to high-quality instructional routines created by educators, for educators. Register today! lnkd.in/eJRK_GPX

The latest episode of Sold a Story by @ehanford and @CLPeak is out. It's called "The Cuts," and it examines the dismantling of federally funded education research. Worth a listen! apmreports.org/episode/2025/…

Math Fact Intervention Resource update (M.I.N.D. 2.0 - Facts on Fire). I have been collaborating with teachers this last year in an effort to provide a new set of resources that are designed to provide some fact fluency activities that are a little easier to implement and sustain across the school year (i.e., more teacher friendly). Three major adaptations were made. First, we added more skills and worked hard to bolster our Kindergarten and 1st grade resources. Second, we incorporated small sets with Taped Problems to ensure accurate responding and merged this with a systematic interleaving for the retrieval practice as the problem sets get larger. Lastly, student workbooks consisting of anywhere between 20-45 daily lessons can be printed off and powerpoint slide decks are provided to guide each lesson. It is our hope that this will provide teachers with daily practice activities that will range from 5-8 min that will take little to no prep time after the workbooks are printed and the slide decks are downloaded. While it may take a few days to get the hang of, both teachers and students get the routine down quickly and appreciate the structure and predictability. As always, all materials are free. I will be adding to the site quite regularly as we get a few of the links completed that are under construction and get the old website materials on the new site. Please check out the Media section where there are a variety of resources if you are interested in the why and how's of the program including a podcast interview with @rastokke Chalk & Talk and trainings from the PaTTan Virtual Math Conference earlier this summer. Lastly, the amazing and talented @StamStam193 who was kind enough to pilot and record the core intervention activities of the program with her classroom (check it out at the bottom of the Facts on Fire page). Enjoy! brianponcy.wixsite.com/.../m…

share.inquirer.com/nQH8gt MILLIONS of Public Dollars to Law Firms and Private Providers Instead of Educator Training and Systems-level Change Countless families across PA struggle to access evidence-based instruction in their public schools, while millions of dollars are spent defending the status quo instead of investing in practices that help all students succeed. 🔗 evidenceadvocacycenter.org/ 🔗 improvingliteracy.org/ Unlike most states, Pennsylvania does not require schools to use instructional methods grounded in evidence, leaving a majority of students behind in both literacy and math. 🔗 Reading: nationsreportcard.gov/report… 🔗 Math: nationsreportcard.gov/report… Today, the Philadelphia Inquirer shines light on a quiet but powerful force keeping things just the way they are: Educational Services Agreements (ESAs). These behind-the-scenes settlements often benefit families who can afford legal battles—while districts continue to deny the broader student population access to instruction that works. 🔗 share.inquirer.com/nQH8gt One of the districts featured is where ERPA first began its work. Eight years later, there’s still no systemic change, just rising legal costs. Instead of training educators or improving instruction, the district has spent heavily on lawyers to fight families seeking basic educational rights. The due process outcomes they cite as "successes" reflect not strong educational practices, but legal strategies that shield ineffective systems. For deeper context: 🎧 Sold a Story – how flawed reading practices became widespread: features.apmreports.org/sold… 🎧 A For Who? – how math education fails students: haleykorbey.com/podcast share.inquirer.com/nQH8gt @JasonOrtitay @GovernorShapiro @JoshShapiroPA @reading_league @karenvaites @KJWinEducation @PaBranchIDA @liv2learn @ehanford @SenatorMuth @PSEA @PhillyInquirer @Parents4RJ share.inquirer.com/nQH8gt

We cannot stress the importance of getting this process right! PA is far behind most states in full scale implementation of evidence based literacy instruction throughout K 12 schools and in higher education. We must serve our students and our teachers by ensuring that they have access to the most evidence aligned resources possible. Local control doesn’t mean misaligned training, curriculum, and instruction!!

A powerful Capitol Day for the PA Literacy Coalition! Advocates from across PA came together to call for urgent literacy action. Let’s ensure every child learns to read. Pass SB700 & HB684! When kids read, PA succeeds. #PALiteracy #PAReads #ScienceOfReading

Pirate Math is a must for any educators supporting students with word problem needs! LOOK free evidence based curriculum!!

In this study, we reviewed 223 math intervention studies. While many interventions lead to improved math outcomes for students, there is a lot of variability across studies. Read more! buff.ly/4aTTy6X

TONIGHT!! This is a must attend workshop for parents, educators and anyone else who works with students!! Free registration - forms.gle/ETF2PDjFwjJ5MCgXA @reading_league @PaBranchIDA @brett_tingley @Parents4RJ @paliteracy

I’m glad to see this talked about in the @nytimes.

All of the inroads that has been made for literacy is due to research and researchers. It is currently gone, we can’t stand for it. We must lift up together.

It was a great day @AIMtoLearn . @PaBranchIDA hosted their annual conference for educators, familes and advocates. National, state and local literacy leaders convened to share best practices for leading structured literacy change. ERPA was honored to share the work we did to develop and implement @SenatorMuth Structured Literacy Grant and the work being done under the grant by the exceptional educators in @NorristownASD. Transformative change requires a comprehensive approach that starts with school and district leadership. @paliteracy @SchoolsCubedLLC @CCIU_24

Day 3 of #EmpoweredParents! Teach Plus PA knows that asking the right questions can make all the difference in your child's literacy journey. In celebration of #ReadAcrossAmerica, begin the conversation with your child’s teacher today.

“I can’t think of a better and more admirable thing for everybody to be working on in the state of PA.”– @JasonOrtitay Every child deserves the opportunity to learn how to read. That’s why leaders are coming together to advance literacy policies that put kids first. #PALiteracy