Category: ReadWorks Updates

ReadWorks Welcomes New Board Member, Mandy Casamassima

4/24/2023

ReadWorks is excited to announce our newest Board Member, Mandy Casamassima. A longtime supporter of ReadWorks’ mission to ensure that all children become successful, joyful readers, Mandy joins after serving two years on the ReadWorks Advisory Council.

Beyond ReadWorks, Mandy has worked in and with the nonprofit sector for over 20 years, having spent close to 15 years in public education as a teacher and administrator. She began her career as a Corps Member with Teach For America in the South Bronx. Mandy later joined KIPP NYC, where she built the region’s Shared Services Team, responsible for fundraising, operations, human resources, finance, technology, and Board management.

In 2017, Mandy joined the PBR Executive Search firm and currently runs the day-to-day operations, in addition to leading and supporting searches, PBR Executive Search focuses exclusively on the nonprofit sector.

“Mandy’s guidance has been critical over these last few years as ReadWorks responded to the pandemic, remote learning, and now shifts to supporting learning recovery nationwide,” Terry Bowman, Executive Director, said. “We are so grateful for the opportunity to work more closely with Mandy and know that her expertise in the nonprofit field will immensely benefit our mission and the over 13.5 million educators and students using ReadWorks each year.”

Mandy graduated from Boston College and lives in Greenwich, CT, with her husband, three boys, two dogs, and a handful of chickens. She also serves on the Board of Teach For America Connecticut.

To learn more about the work Mandy is helping lead at ReadWorks, see our strategic plan, Igniting Potential: ReadWorks 2025.

Written by:
Becca Vaughn, Director of Development

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ReadWorks Round Up: March 2023

3/30/2023

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ReadWorks & Tailor-ED partner to create personalized assignments
ReadWorks, in partnership with Tailor-ED, announces a program that directly supports the student learning experience and reading outcomes through an artificial intelligence recommendation engine. With this new feature, ReadWorks provides teachers with recommendations for their students based on past assignments and student performance.

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ReadWorks Book Studies to Deepen Students' Learning
Thousands of teachers are enriching their students' reading of The Lightning Thief, Esperanza Rising, Frindle, Wonder, Sarah, Plain and Tall, and more exciting novels! ReadWorks Book Studies make it easy to integrate more reading into daily ELA instruction and deepen students’ learning. Read our blog to learn more about this offering.

Meet our Team: Ben Nichols, Senior Backend Engineer
Ben is a computer engineer who went to school in Boston before starting his career in the cloud computing industry. After a crash course in the largest computing systems in the world, he moved on to working with small companies where he specializes in system automation, infrastructure design, process improvement, and all things python. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, travel, reading, and stand-up comedy.

Explore Our Newest Content!

Mexican Creators and Feminists

Young People Solving Big Problems

Appreciating Differences at School

Teachers on ReadWorks

Written by:
Becca Vaughn, Director of Development

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ReadWorks Round Up: February 2023

2/21/2023

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New On-Demand Webinar: Tips and Tricks on Using Question Sets for ELA Test Prep
Nearly 1,400 teachers signed up for our newest webinar offering presented by Educator Support Project Manager and former classroom teacher Tamika Reece. In it, she shares how to use ReadWorks passages and question sets in ELA state test preparation plans. You can watch the recorded version now or sign up for our next live offering.

watch now

New Blog Post: 10 Texts About Courage to Inspire K-12 Readers
In this month’s blog post, we shared ten nonfiction and fiction passages about courage that explore the triumphs and challenges of pilots, suffragettes, athletes, and more. These short, accessible texts serve as great jumping-off points for students to work on their critical thinking skills while building background knowledge.

Upcoming Webinar from the Library of Congress featuring ReadWorks
Join us on March 16th from 3:00 – 4:30 PM ET for a panel conversation, "2022 Literacy Awards Program: Promoting a Culture of Reading," part of the Library of Congress Literacy Awards Successful Practices Webinar Series. Click here for more details and to register.

Meet our Team: Tamika Reece, Educator Support Project Manager
Tamika Reece received her Master’s degree from Relay Graduate School of Education. She joins ReadWorks with extensive classroom teaching and nonprofit experience. In 2014, she joined Teach For America, and was an elementary school teacher for 8 years. She is passionate about fostering a love of reading amongst young readers, as well as supporting teachers in this mission. She has had the privilege of coaching and mentoring teachers, as well as developing targeted Professional Development opportunities for them. Now, as a Project Manager, Tamika is eager to have a greater impact through thoughtful and intentional planning in this role.

Explore Our Newest Content!

A Food
Discovery

Are You Lonesome Tonight?

Black Female
Entrepreneurs

Addison N. Scurlock, Madam C.J. Walker, c. 1914.

Teachers on ReadWorks

Tweet reads: @ReadWorks offers many accessibility options for students. Seeing them choose what works for them makes me smile. Just one of the many things I like about this program.Picture

Tweet reads: Thank you @ReadWorks for these amazing articles. My students have loved learning about all these amazing people as we continue to celebrate Black History Month. #MuhammadAli #HiddenFigures #ThurgoodMarshallPicture

Written by:
Becca Vaughn, Director of Development

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ReadWorks Round Up: January 2023

1/31/2023

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New Blog Post: How does ReadWorks create high-quality text sets for reading comprehension?

ReadWorks’ skilled team of content writers and partners spend countless hours thinking deeply about the needs of all students and how best to create our free texts, tools, and resources that promote a love of and confidence in reading, analyzing, and comprehending. Learn about what goes into creating each passage on our website in our newest blog post.

ReadWorks Earns Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency

ReadWorks is excited to have earned a 2023 Platinum Seal of Transparency! Only 5% of U.S. nonprofits have a Seal of Transparency from Candid, and of that 5%, only 15% reach the Platinum Seal of Transparency. Explore our updated profile on Candid.

Meet our Team: June Lee, J-Term Video Production Intern

For the second year, ReadWorks is working with Harvard College to provide internships to students during their freshmen year. June is studying neuroscience and economics and is working with ReadWorks to develop instructional videos about ReadWorks products. She is a Korean native but grew up in New Jersey and graduated from Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, NJ. She currently works as a research assistant at the Harvard Lab for Developmental Studies, where she conducts studies with children 6-7 years old to create interventions that help improve their math and reading skills. In her free time, she likes playing her flute, visiting art museums, baking focaccia, and listening to R&B.

Explore Our Newest Content

Jobs in Conservation

Calling for Snow

Rally for Access

“I really appreciate that ReadWorks is research based and that it is free! And the number of reading passages available is huge!”
–Wayne M.

Written by:
Becca Vaughn, Director of Development

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November Update: National Illustration Contest Winner Announced!

11/29/2022

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Support Millions of Students for Giving Tuesday
ReadWorks reaches nearly 1 million educators and over 11.5 million students each year, supporting reading comprehension and the joy of reading in classrooms across the country. With educators supporting learning recovery and mitigating learning loss caused by the pandemic, our work is more important than ever. Support student success today with a $5 donation.

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Winner of Our Illustration Contest Announced!
This Halloween, more than 170,000 middle school students across 48 states read the thrilling new story from ReadWorks, Alien Kids. With hundreds of entries in our #AlienKids Illustration Contest, we’re excited to announce our winning entry and runners-up!

Meet our Team: Maha Kemal, Finance and Operations Executive Associate
Maha joined ReadWorks with over four years experience in accounting, internal audit, procurement and budget management. She previously worked for the Research Foundation of CUNY in NYC, first as the Procurement Manager and then as the Contract Manager. Her accomplishments include managing contracting and communication with over 100+ vendors and leading initiatives to improve participatory leadership. She has both a B.S. and M.S. in Accounting from American University in Washington, D.C. and will be graduating with a MPA from the University of Texas at Austin this December 2022.