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This holiday season, we want to begin with a heartfelt thank you for being part of our community. Your belief in our mission to help children learn to read, regardless of the challenges they face, makes our work possible.

Every day, families and educators face moments of uncertainty. A parent stays up late researching why their child struggles with reading. A teacher questions whether they have the right tools to help a student finally break through. A district leader wonders how to build systems that support all struggling readers.

Your support ensures they have free access to what they need: evidence-based resources, hands-on training, and practical guidance that works at home and in the classroom.

The best way to support our work? Share our free resources with families and educators in your community. That's truly the best way to help us reach more children and help them become confident readers.

With gratitude,

The NCIL Team

2025 was a year of meaningful progress for literacy development. From new resources to deeper engagement with families and educators, we helped turn literacy research into real-world impact across the country. Highlights from this year include:

• In our last cycle, we provided 147 Targeted Technical Assistance consultations across 36 unique sites. We’ve helped more than 100 sites across the U.S. overall! See more about our free TA services.

• When new state legislation mandated that a large Mid-Atlantic school district adopt a Science of Reading-aligned curriculum and implement a new literacy screening assessment, district leaders turned to NCIL. We guided them through the transformation, and it's just one of many success stories this year. Find out how we helped them, as well as other stories of the impact we’ve made.

• We reviewed and analyzed currently enacted dyslexia-focused regulations in all 50 states, and developed The 2025 Report on the State of Dyslexia in the United States that explains the impact on families and educators. Get the report.

• We launched several new tools for educators, including our new Benchmark Effectiveness & Actionable Core Outcomes Navigator (BEACON) app, which helps turn screening data into actionable next steps. Access it here.
  
• Plus dozens of new family resources, educator guides, and more!

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Sarah Sayko is serving as the interim director of the center. Since 2016, Sarah was NCIL's family engagement lead and most recently, a Deputy Director. 

In her role as interim director, Sarah will oversee the NCIL's scope of work increasing access to, and use of, evidence-based approaches to screen, identify, and teach students with literacy-related disabilities, including dyslexia.

We’re also excited to announce that Kristin Kane will move into a leadership role, joining Dr. Yaacov Petscher and Dr. Nancy Nelson as a Deputy Director. Kristin will coordinate the family engagement, targeted technical assistance, and dissemination strands of work.

We would like to personally thank Dr. Lana Santoro, who previously served as project director. Her leadership and vision have been instrumental in continuing the NCIL's success.

NCIL continues to operate at BU Wheelock in partnership with the Florida Center for Reading Research at FSU and RMC Research Corporation.

The research reported here is funded by a grant to the National Center on Improving Literacy from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, in partnership with the Office of Special Education Programs (Award #: H283D210004). The opinions or policies expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of OESE, OSEP, or the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the Federal government. Copyright © 2024 National Center on Improving Literacy.