This year brought meaningful progress in literacy, powered by educators who worked with clarity and purpose. In this issue, we celebrate the insights, evidence, and milestones that shaped 2025 and highlight the tools and stories that will guide even stronger instruction in 2026.

In this Newsletter

• New Funding Opportunities in Michigan
• Top 3 Most Read Blogs of 2025
• Wayne Westland Literacy Showcase
• Coach’s Corner Keeps Growing
• New Evidence of RGR Impact
• Top edLeader Panel of 2025
• New and State Approvals
• See Us at FETC 2026
• The Reading Roadmap Milestone

Michigan’s updated PA 146/147 literacy laws and the expanded Section 35m amendment window open the door for stronger structured literacy across K to 5. RGR will appear on the updated PA 146 Tier 1 list in January, giving districts full 35m eligibility to adopt or expand research aligned instruction.

Key 35m updates include more time with an amendment window from January 31 to April 17, more flexibility to use funds for manipulatives, decodables, and printed resources, and more options with the ability to select multiple Tier 1 items in a category. Districts can now align with PA 146 requirements with tools that drive measurable gains.

Elementary + Secondary Alignment

RGR is fully aligned to PA 146’s K–12 structured literacy requirements, giving districts a streamlined literacy system from elementary through high school. 

Top Blogs of 2025

This year’s most-read blogs offered practical, research-based insights that educators could apply right away. Revisit the top three:

1. Three Strategies for EL Literacy Instruction
2. Inside the Orthographic Lexicon
3. How RGR Aligns With Dyslexia Intervention

You are invited to join Wayne Westland Community Schools and RGR on January 29 at the William D. Ford Career Technical Center from 9:00 am to 2:30 pm. This event will provide classroom visits to see structured literacy instruction in action, a panel discussion with district leaders, and a luncheon and Q and A session.

Instructional needs are shifting fast, and Coach’s Corner is keeping pace. Our newest sessions are designed for leaders who need clear, immediate guidance they can put into practice today. Explore the latest additions:

• Decoding Diagnostics: Using Data to Drive Instruction
• Support at Every Level: Mastering MTSS
• Empowered Communities, Informed Practice: Facilitating Adult Learning on SoR

Each session delivers actionable strategies to strengthen instruction, deepen fidelity, and support teachers where it matters most.

A 2025 meta-analysis conducted by Instructure reviewed RGR’s existing research base and confirms that Really Great Reading is positively associated with meaningful, sustained improvements in student literacy outcomes.

Key Findings from the Meta-Analysis:

• Improved literacy outcomes: Students using RGR demonstrate stronger reading achievement, particularly in foundational skills such as phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency.
• Statistically significant gains for all students: Significant improvements were observed across student populations, including historically marginalized groups.
• Sustained impact over time: Literacy gains persist into subsequent academic years, indicating long-term benefits.
• Aligned with structured literacy best practices: Findings support the use of High-Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) aligned with the Science of Reading.
• Meets ESSA evidence standards: The research includes Level II and Level III studies, satisfying federal ESSA evidence requirements.

Together, these results affirm that RGR delivers measurable, research-backed outcomes districts can trust.

This year’s edLeader Panel, Oral Language and Vocabulary Strategies to Develop Confident, Capable Learners, ranked among the Top 10 edWeb panels of 2025. Educators shared practical ways to spot oral language gaps early and integrate oral language into everyday instruction.

This year, RGR earned new state approvals in Texas, Mississippi, and Utah, joining Ohio, Missouri, Colorado, Oklahoma, Virginia, Arkansas, Alaska, and Wisconsin. RGR is also approved in Arizona, Indiana, and Louisiana in partnership with Great Minds.

As our state approvals grow, so does the opportunity for educators to bring research-based reading instruction to every classroom.

The Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC) returns to Orlando, Florida, January 11–14, 2026 and we can’t wait to connect and collaborate!

Join thousands of innovators, leaders, and educators ready to power up their practice and transform learning. Visit RGR at Booth 841 to explore our latest structured literacy solutions and grab some giveaways.

Amy Vanden Boogart, VP of Curriculum Products and Services, will be leading a must-see session. The session Policy to Practice: Building Systems that Support Adolescent Readers and Their Teachers is on January 13 from 9:30-10:15 am.

We look forward to seeing you in Orlando.

This year, we launched our newsletter, The Reading Roadmap. Thank you for reading, sharing, and learning with us! We look forward to continuing to bring you even more insights, resources, and classroom ready tools in 2026.