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Empowering Early Literacy Educators: A Focus on Knowledge and Data ReadWorks recently conducted a hands-on professional development session for 1st and 2nd-grade teachers at PS 69 in Queens, NY. The workshop focused on effectively combining Article-A-Day and Nonfiction Decodables to strengthen early literacy, build background knowledge, and target phonics skills simultaneously. Participants left the session more confident in using our free tools and resources. They also learned how to translate student assessment scores into practical classroom strategies and developed personalized action plans and differentiation strategies for their own classrooms. In line with our commitment to reaching students in under-resourced communities, ReadWorks is dedicated to providing free, high-quality learning sessions to Title 1 schools, ensuring teachers have the support needed to help readers of all levels achieve success. If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please visit: https://about.readworks.org/freepd.html Partnership with Purpose ReadWorks partners with world-class organizations to improve reading outcomes for students by providing high-quality and essential content in their areas of expertise, and expanding vocabulary, subject knowledge, and understanding. Our long-term collaboration with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has reached more than 2.8 million students who engaged with dynamic passages on a wide variety of topics about the environment, science, animals, and more. This recent Article-A-Day and corresponding question set discusses the migration of the River Herring. Read more about ReadWorks’ content partners who help us bring non-fiction topics to life for readers of all ages. ReadWorks wishes all of our supporters a wonderful holiday season and a happy and healthy new year. We couldn’t provide our free resources to teachers and students without you!  Missed an issue of our newsletter? See an archive of all our updates here. Have ideas for what you would like to see in our updates? Please email
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 A recent professional development session brought together the dedicated first and second grade teachers at PS 69Q in District 30, NYC, for a hands-on collaboration focused on strengthening early literacy instruction. Participants, representing a wide range of teaching experience and familiarity with the ReadWorks platform, engaged in strategies to meet a singular objective: to seamlessly blend effective, high-quality content tools with data-driven planning for targeted student intervention. This approach ensures that every student receives the precise support they need to build foundational reading comprehension skills. Professional Development Session: Building Knowledge and Decoding Skills A key focus was to ensure that the educators felt confident in leveraging the free materials to simultaneously build background knowledge and target phonics skills. Together we explored just two of many ReadWorks tools. It was important to identify the tools that would best meet the educators current goals for their students. Article-A-Day: Educators were excited about this program that can be easily integrated into daily routines to consistently expose students to a variety of nonfiction topics, building the crucial knowledge base that supports overall comprehension. ReadWorks Nonfiction Decodables: A powerful dual approach that provides engaging informational texts while systematically reinforcing the specific phonics patterns students are learning. Educators learned how to utilize the decodable texts during whole-group and small-group instruction for more impact on student improvement. Data-Informed InterventionsEffective teaching relies on timely, accurate student data. Having the professional development time was significant to discuss how to translate assessment results into practical strategies to build literacy skills.
 Hands-On Planning for Literacy CentersThe most dynamic part of the session was the dedicated work and planning time. Teachers were actively engaged in creating plans they could use immediately. They learned how to set up specific activities to build knowledge, vocabulary, and practice decoding.
Professional Development with ReadWorks The PS 69Q first- and second-grade teams brought incredible creativity and commitment to their recent ReadWorks professional development session. ReadWorks is excited to see how these new strategies and resources support meaningful growth and joyful reading for their young learners this year. Did you know Title I schools can receive free, high-quality professional development from ReadWorks? Send us a quick email at [email protected] to learn more about our free and paid PD options. Written by: Tamika Reece, Senior Learning Partnerships Project ManagerAt ReadWorks, we believe that every student deserves access to high-quality reading resources that support real learning. That’s why our mission is to provide research-backed materials completely free for teachers so you can focus on what matters most: helping your students grow. February brings an important opportunity to highlight voices, stories, and achievements that have shaped our world in powerful ways. Black History Month gives students the chance to see history through a broader lens and reflect on the contributions of Black individuals in science, the arts, politics, activism, and beyond. As fellow educators, we also know the challenges of finding resources that are both meaningful and aligned with your literacy goals. That’s why we’ve developed a Black History Month reading list with more than 100 articles and stories for grades 5-8. These passages are not only relevant and engaging, but also built to strengthen reading comprehension, spark thoughtful discussions, and support writing and critical thinking in your classroom. Whether you have five minutes for a mini-lesson or are building a full month of activities, these resources are designed to fit your schedule, your goals, and your students’ needs. ➡️ Download your Black History Month planner for Grades 3 & 4 and 5 & 6. How ReadWorks Supports Literacy and Deeper LearningReadWorks is grounded in research about how students can grow in reading comprehension. Each text in this Black History Month reading list is built to support the building of background knowledge and vocabulary, while also encouraging meaningful classroom conversations. Here are a few ways you can support your students’ literacy goals with these resources:
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 | Evidence in Action: How ReadWorks’ Research Loop Strengthens its Products and Impacts Student Learning Outcomes How does ReadWorks ensure our resources truly impact student learning? It's all thanks to our continuous Research Loop—the cycle of building, studying, refining, and sharing our findings. In our latest blog post, we share the evidence behind our approach. |
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| Mark your calendars! Giving Tuesday, a global day of giving, is Tuesday, December 2nd. ReadWorks remains free to all users because of your donations. Last year, your support empowered more than 850,000 educators and helped over 10.5 million learners last year. On Giving Tuesday, a donation to ReadWorks will have triple the impact: (1) it empowers a teacher to use ReadWorks in the classroom, (2) it helps students build literacy skills, and (3) it will be matched by an anonymous donor. |  |
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At ReadWorks, we are committed to providing high-quality resources that measurably impact students’ reading growth.
Our continuous research loop guides this work every step of the way:
Our continuous research loop guides this work every step of the way:
- we build our resources on existing scientific research
- we study their impact in real classrooms
- we refine our products and guidance based on the data
- we share our results openly with the field
Inside The Loop: How Article-A-Day Builds Knowledge and Vocabulary
Built on the scientific study of reading, our flagship product, the Article-A Day routine, is designed to systematically build student background knowledge and vocabulary in support of reading comprehension.
A subsequent study in the 2024-25 school year validated the routine under authentic classroom conditions. After only nine weeks of reading Article-A-Day sets focused on connected science topics, fourth- and fifth-grade students in the experimental group showed significant learning gains, improving 6.7 times the control group’s gains on science knowledge and 2.6 times their gains on vocabulary. This corresponds to 11% higher post-assessment scores on science knowledge and 4.5% higher on vocabulary.
The Next Step: Strengthening the Book of Knowledge Product to Deepen Content-Area Reading
The Book of Knowledge is an essential step in the Article-A-Day routine, giving students the opportunity to reflect on what they’ve learned, make connections, and reinforce their understanding through writing. When completing the Book of Knowledge each day, students write two to three things they learned and want to remember from reading the article. In a previous research loop, our 2023-24 school year Article-A-Day study revealed a key link between student engagement with the Book of Knowledge and learning gains. To strengthen this connection, we implemented a 20-word minimum requirement for Book of Knowledge entries.
We then conducted the 2024-25 study with this new feature in place, and the results validated this refinement. Longer Book of Knowledge entries were associated with even greater science knowledge gains — roughly one point higher for every additional 20 words written. This suggests that student engagement through their Book of Knowledge writing reinforces and deepens content learning within the Article-A-Day routine.
Based on this evidence, we have decided to permanently require the 20-word Book of Knowledge minimum for third grade and above. Coming full circle, our research loop has strengthened our Article-A-Day product to meaningfully impact student learning outcomes.
We then conducted the 2024-25 study with this new feature in place, and the results validated this refinement. Longer Book of Knowledge entries were associated with even greater science knowledge gains — roughly one point higher for every additional 20 words written. This suggests that student engagement through their Book of Knowledge writing reinforces and deepens content learning within the Article-A-Day routine.
Based on this evidence, we have decided to permanently require the 20-word Book of Knowledge minimum for third grade and above. Coming full circle, our research loop has strengthened our Article-A-Day product to meaningfully impact student learning outcomes.
From Research to Instruction: Sharing Evidence-Based Strategies for Real Classroom Success
We close the loop by sharing our findings widely–through research reports, teacher resources, and other channels–bringing insights directly into classrooms to support student learning.
Here’s how teachers can put evidence from this research loop into practice in their own classrooms:
Here’s how teachers can put evidence from this research loop into practice in their own classrooms:
- Integrate knowledge-building: Article-A-Day is a short, consistent reading routine that can have an outsized impact. Use the refined routine to intentionally build student background knowledge and vocabulary and support comprehension.
- Encourage engagement through writing: Structured daily writing through the Book of Knowledge is a powerful mechanism for knowledge building. Encourage your students to complete this step to help them articulate their learning.
Interested in becoming a research partner? We are continuously exploring how to further strengthen our products to support deeper comprehension. Educators are essential thought partners in this process, helping us listen, learn, and adapt. If you are interested in collaborating on a future intervention study or sharing implementation insights, please contact our research team through this form.
Written by: Liza Ware, Ph.D.
Senior Research Project Manager
