Literacy

Why Literacy Matters

Literacy is the foundation for educational achievement, workforce readiness, and lifelong success. Yet recent measures show students in many parts of the world falling short of key literacy goals. In the United States, only 31% of 4th graders, 30% of 8th graders, and 35% of 12th graders achieved proficiency on National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading assessments in 2024. Globally, before the COVID-19 pandemic, roughly 40% of children in low- and middle-income countries achieved minimal proficiency in literacy by age 10, and "learning poverty" rates are projected to have sharply increased in the years since. 

Expanding literacy is one way RTI works to improve the human condition. We support literacy by partnering with education agencies and schools, offering technical assistance, research, and implementation support. Our programs improve literacy outcomes from early childhood through the K-12 years.

RTI's Literacy Services

RTI combines literacy research, implementation science, technical assistance, and program evaluation to help education systems improve reading achievement at scale. Our literacy services include: 

• Professional development, training, and coaching to change instructional practice 
• Curriculum, instructional materials, and tool/resource development 
• Systems strengthening/institutional capacity building (district/state ministries, agencies, large delivery systems) 
• Implementation support + scaling evidence-based practices (including continuous improvement approaches) 
• Partnership-driven delivery models (networks, consortia, multi‑organization collaborations) 
• Research on implementation and outcomes of literacy programs 
• Monitoring and evaluation 
• Assessment, measurement, and data use (collection → analysis → decision-making)

Helping Education Leaders Improve Literacy Outcomes 

Partnering with RTI offers federal agencies, state education agencies, school districts, and education organizations the opportunity to work with a deep bench of experts in all aspects of literacy. Our teams have extensive experience in strengthening literacy instruction, scaling evidence-based programs, supporting multilingual learners, and using data to drive decision-making. Some of our primary areas of expertise include:

• Structured approaches to foundational literacy (early grade reading focus/foundational literacy and numeracy) 
• Disciplinary literacy (integration with STEM, social studies, social-emotional learning, interdisciplinary learning) 
• Multilingual learning 
• Supporting students with reading disabilities 
• Career connected learning/workforce literacy 
• AI literacy and media literacy