Introduction
Imagine if all kindergarten through 12th-grade students had equal access to high-quality reading instruction. This is the key goal that guides all that we do at ReadWorks. This Strategic Plan outlines our ambitious commitment to prioritize our work to reach students within under-resourced schools and provide solutions that advance educational equity to have the greatest possible positive impact on students and teachers in low-income communities and beyond.
ReadWorks is an award-winning EdTech nonprofit that creates free resources for reading instruction. With the science of reading as our bedrock, we provide world-class content, teacher guidance, and digital tools that enhance teacher effectiveness, resulting in improved student achievement. Since the creation of our online platform more than 10 years ago, 5 million educators, serving 30 million students, have seen their students’ reading skills improve because of ReadWorks.
ReadWorks is an award-winning EdTech nonprofit that creates free resources for reading instruction. With the science of reading as our bedrock, we provide world-class content, teacher guidance, and digital tools that enhance teacher effectiveness, resulting in improved student achievement. Since the creation of our online platform more than 10 years ago, 5 million educators, serving 30 million students, have seen their students’ reading skills improve because of ReadWorks.
Few things are more important to successful life outcomes than learning to read. We strive to continue to help solve America's reading comprehension crisis and provide solutions for the deep learning loss due to systemic educational inequities and the Covid-19 pandemic. According to recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only 33% of fourth-graders are proficient in reading––2 percentage points lower compared to 2019.
Our vision is that every child in the United States will be able to read with deep comprehension because all educators are equipped to teach reading effectively with high-quality reading content and curricular supports. Our work will not be done until every student has the opportunity to become a successful, joyful reader, resulting in igniting deeper civic engagement, higher education, earning potential, advanced careers, or whatever success may look like for each individual - with social and economic benefits for all. |
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ReadWorks has seen organic user growth within low-income school districts with 75% free and reduced lunch rates (FRL). Students and teachers have benefited from this organic growth and word-of-mouth marketing, and now we will intentionally collaborate with low-income communities and school districts through thoughtful engagement and marketing plans. We are striving to bring more awareness of the ReadWorks mission and products to make even more of an impact on teacher instruction and student achievement.
focus on USER GROWTH
The data is clear: race and income level are highly correlated with outcomes in education. Students living in lower-income communities have less access to reading materials. On average, there is 16% less educational funding provided per student in these communities as well. The pandemic exacerbated learning inequality, and learning loss was much higher among students in low-income areas of the country. ReadWorks will focus on increasing awareness of these inequities to help mitigate the systemic barrier to the lack of quality reading instruction. |
Focus on Product Development
We will partner with low-income communities to focus our product improvement, user engagement, and technological innovation on best supporting their diverse students and teachers. We will also conduct additional research to ensure that our products and tools are meeting the needs of all students, with a priority on English Language Learners (ELL) and students who benefit from differentiated learning products. |
To successfully support educational equity through our products, we must listen to and collaborate with diverse educators, students, experts, and advisors. As a nonprofit with the mission to benefit all teacher and students, we will deepen existing key partnerships and strategically develop new ones, which will directly benefit students and teachers.
Partnering with Educators
We will continue to define our impact goals and metrics with our most important stakeholders in the field, teachers. This approach will ensure that we are meeting teachers where they are to help them improve their instructional practices and their students’ outcomes. We will integrate more professional development opportunities throughout teachers’ ReadWorks journey to move teachers towards frequent high-value usage of existing and/or new products and services. |
Connecting with
Low-Income Communities Involving underserved communities in our work will be imperative to gain better knowledge, understanding, and empathy, resulting in ReadWorks’ product improvement, increased user sign-ups, and deeper fidelity of use. We will elevate the voices of those within these communities and through intentional focus groups, surveys, and discussions we will ensure that we are focused on the question of how we might improve student outcomes together. |
Expanding through Partnerships
We will develop a district strategy to support and engage schools. We will work with regional funders to fund parts of this work and will also be launching programs with incentives like Adopt-a-District and much more. |
We will embark on a multi-year research plan to deepen our evidence for impact on teacher practice and student outcomes. We will conduct school-based studies with low-income communities to better understand how ReadWorks can deepen our impact and improve outcomes in those communities. We will partner with schools that are willing to be volunteer research labs for our products, services, and improvement efforts.
Research Studies
Previous research partnerships with organizations such as Digital Promise provided us with evidence to support why ReadWorks works. To further understand our effectiveness, we will embark on a multi-year research plan to deepen our evidence of impact on teacher practice and student outcomes. We will conduct school-based studies to better understand how ReadWorks impacts teacher practice and student outcomes. These research partnerships with district leaders and teachers will develop into school-based research labs for our products, services, and improvement studies. |
Sharing our Findings
As a leading nonprofit organization in the field of reading instruction, we will prioritize our efforts in promoting ReadWorks’ theory of change, contributions to teacher practice, and metrics on student achievement, and will provide proven outcomes and stories to support the broader field of the science of reading. We will provide continuous, up-to-date research, metrics, and data on how ReadWorks works, on behalf of best practices for teacher instruction and student success. |
We have planned for important new staff positions, that will help us make an even greater impact on reading as the most important skill to ignite every student’s remarkable potential. We will continue to implement best practices with respect to diversity, equity, and inclusion to strengthen our communication among our colleagues, peers, students, and teachers. We will build upon our existing research practices and feedback loop to hold ourselves to even higher standards of self-evaluation. We are transforming as an organization to meet the crucial need for recovery from pandemic-related learning loss.
Marketing, Engagement, and Development
With focus and intentionality, ReadWorks will build a foundation for marketing processes and execution. Through thoughtful engagement and marketing plans for all of our constituencies, we will effectively engage more users in priority low-income communities. We will work with national, regional, and community foundations to support our priority communities in personalized and effective ways. |
Innovation and Technology
We will continue to build out the technology team to ensure that our processes are efficient and effective in supporting all areas of the organization. Our engineering and technology team will continue to improve and build upon our extensive menu of products and services, including determining which of our many differentiation tools to continue to promote and refine. |
Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
There are three main initiatives within our Commitment to DEI. We will continue to build a supportive and inclusive workplace. An organization is only as good as its culture, and we strive to be a welcoming and understanding place to work. Additionally, we will continue to develop engaging content that reflects the diversity of the students we serve. By giving students windows and mirrors in their reading, we can create opportunities for joyful, meaningful, and relevant learning. Finally, we will continue to ensure that all teachers and students, regardless of circumstance and ability, can access the materials on ReadWorks. This is crucial to supporting educational equity and guaranteeing high-quality reading instruction for all. |
Our mission and vision define where we are going, while our core values describe who we are. These statements all serve as a foundation to the strategic plan.
MissionReadWorks is committed to helping to solve America’s reading comprehension crisis and student achievement gap. Driven by the scientific study of reading, ReadWorks creates proven high-quality content, teacher guidance, and integrated tools that improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement.
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VisionEvery child in the United States will be able to read well with deep comprehension because all educators teach reading effectively with the high-quality reading content and curricular supports they need.
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Core Values
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What does success look like?
This plan provides information and guidance to prioritize our ambitious goals for greater efficiency. We can help teachers and students reach their full potential if we are set up to make an impact at our full potential. This clear view of the future will result in the following achievements over the next three years:
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ReadWorks 2025
ReadWorks has grown into an even more powerful nonprofit that is providing support to teachers and students across America. School districts and teachers rely on ReadWorks as a thought leader because of our research studies that provide evidence of the platform’s impact on reading instruction. Most importantly, more students in low-income communities have greater access to high-quality reading instruction, which results in all students becoming successful, joyful readers.