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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 ManagerAs the season of giving thanks begins, we are grateful for our supporters. November’s update highlights how ReadWorks is strengthening reading in NYC public schools, gives insight into our assessment of free resources, and highlights new texts in the ReadWorks library on AI innovators, sustainable architecture in Mexico, and personal finance for teenagers. Our donors' generosity makes this work possible – thank you. Harlem’s District 5 in NYC Embraces ReadWorks to Strengthen Reading Progress ReadWorks is proud to support reading progress in NYC Public Schools. In District 5, educators successfully deepened their use of our free, evidence-based resources. Learn how ReadWorks' focus on background knowledge and vocabulary, aligned with NYC's ELA curricula, is helping drive this meaningful literacy growth.
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What is a SOC 2 audit?
A SOC 2 audit is a third-party evaluation of an organization's information security practices. It assesses how effectively an organization protects data. What does this mean for teachers and administrators? For the school districts, educators, and parents who rely on our platform, this "Unqualified" status is the gold standard in compliance, signifying that our systems and processes meet the most rigorous industry benchmarks with no exceptions or outstanding qualifications. Procurement teams in schools and districts nationwide expect stringent security standards from edtech partners. SOC 2 certification opens doors for our organization to partner with more schools, bringing our evidence-based reading resources to even more teachers and students. Every student deserves access to high-quality, research-based resources, and every educator deserves tools they can trust. With our SOC 2 certification, ReadWorks reinforces our promise to be a trusted resource. If your school or district is seeking a signed agreement with ReadWorks, please email [email protected] or visit our data privacy agreements page. We’re proud to share that Dr. Susanne Nobles, Ph.D., Chief Academic Officer at ReadWorks, has been named one of Education Insider Magazine’s “Top 10 Chief Academic Officers of 2025.” This national recognition honors education leaders who have demonstrated exceptional impact on education through innovation, research, and a deep commitment to equity. Dr. Nobles’ inclusion in this outstanding list of finalists follows a selection process based on nominations, editorial review, and advisory board evaluation. She was chosen for her unwavering dedication to supporting teachers and students through evidence-based reading instruction.  In her Top 10 Chief Academic Officer feature, “Equity Is the Foundation,” Dr. Nobles shares how her leadership philosophy centers on collaboration with educators. With over 30 years of experience in K–12 classrooms, literacy research, and instructional design, she leads ReadWorks in developing tools that combine the science of reading with a focus on equity—ensuring all students, no matter their background, have access to the texts, knowledge, and vocabulary needed for comprehension success. “We don’t build around teachers—we build with them,” Dr. Nobles explains. Under Dr. Nobles’ leadership, ReadWorks continues to grow its national impact, supporting millions of students and teachers each year with free, research-backed resources. Her work has helped make initiatives like Article-A-Day™, Spanish-English Paired Texts, and curriculum alignments available on the free ReadWorks platform.
This recognition highlights not only Dr. Nobles’ individual excellence but also ReadWorks’ enduring mission: to support teacher instruction that builds the knowledge and vocabulary that drive students’ reading comprehension. 👏 Join us in congratulating Dr. Nobles on this well-deserved honor, and learn more about her career and inspiring work here: “Equity Is the Foundation” — Education Insider Magazine 👉 See the list: Top 10 Chief Academic Officers of 2025 |
