For years, the education sector has engaged in a deeply necessary conversation about the Science of Reading. We know the research, we understand the cognitive science behind how a child’s brain learns to decode language, and we recognize the immense need for instructional frameworks that leave no room for assumptions.

But knowing the science and successfully translating it into a thriving, daily classroom routine across an entire school district are two entirely different challenges. Far too often, professional development operates in a silo—a single teacher attends a workshop, gains valuable knowledge, but returns to an environment without the structural alignment or administrative runway to implement it with full fidelity.

At Learning Ally, we have been intentionally engineering a massive institutional shift to solve this exact problem. We are transitioning away from isolated, classroom-by-classroom interventions toward systemic, district-wide professional learning partnerships that build lasting, unified instructional capacity.

Driving this strategic shift is Learning Ally’s Professional Learning team. Guided by the strategic vision of Senior Director Brent Hartsell, and implemented under the design leadership of Bianca Dino, this team built the very infrastructure—including SLA workshops and virtual Communities of Practice—that was recently put to the test.

Today, we are thrilled to share that an extensive, independent evaluation conducted by Hanover Research rigorously validates the profound impact of this systemic model. Under Dino’s leadership, the Hanover Research evaluation coordinated complex study design and educator participation across more than 287 educators and 18 school districts. The data proves that when structured literacy frameworks are deployed systematically and backed by intentional philanthropic support, teacher practice transforms overnight, student engagement skyrockets, and equity gaps begin to close.

The Hard Data: An Explicit Shift in Classroom Practice

The multi-method evaluation analyzed data from more than 230 educators across nationwide school districts participating in our Structured Literacy in Action (SLA) program. The baseline findings revealed a familiar roadblock: prior to entering the SLA cohort, only 11% to 12% of surveyed educators were providing regular explicit instruction in core foundational literacy areas like reading fluency and vocabulary mechanics.

Following the completion of Learning Ally’s systemic professional learning workshops and Communities of Practice, that baseline metric didn’t just improve—it experienced an extraordinary, exponential surge. When educators were surveyed on how often they provide explicit instruction, the combined percentage of those teaching it “A Few Times a Week” or “Daily” reached remarkable new heights:

• Reading Comprehension: Daily or multi-weekly explicit instruction surged to 83% of classrooms (up from an 8% baseline).
• Reading Fluency: Regular explicit instruction jumped to 77% of classrooms (up from an 11% baseline).
• Vocabulary Instruction: Routine explicit vocabulary mechanics reached 76% of classrooms (up from a 12% baseline).
• Phonemic Awareness: Regular explicit instruction in foundational sound structures climbed to 66% of classrooms (up from a 9% baseline).
• Phonics: Consistent explicit phonics instruction climbed to 64% of classrooms (up from a 7% baseline).

These numbers represent a radical shift in the daily experience of thousands of students. Instructors moved past seeing literacy as “just reading and spelling,” expanding their toolkits to integrate language comprehension, sentence construction, and writing seamlessly into core classroom routines.

From Skepticism to “Aha” Moments: Real Classroom Impact

What does this data actually look like on the ground? According to the educators interviewed, it looks like a total transformation in student confidence and engagement. In fact, 93% of participating educators reported a measurably positive effect on student learning in both phonics and reading comprehension, while 90% saw massive gains in vocabulary retention.

Furthermore, 84% of teachers observed a direct spike in student confidence with reading, up from 67% at the start of the program. Students who previously avoided reading or displayed severe text anxiety began taking risks, clapping out syllables, and eagerly participating in partner-based word games.

For Dino, these data points reflect a much deeper, more personal victory for teachers and students alike.

“The moment that matters most to me isn’t in the data,” she reflects. “It’s watching an educator realize their students can do more than they thought, and watching the student realize the same thing about themselves. That moment is what this program is built to create, over and over, at scale.”

One special education and intervention teacher shared a powerful story highlighting how these strategies meet the needs of our most vulnerable student populations:

“I’ve been doing the ‘T-I-O-N’ suffixes with a student who has a learning disability and is also an ELL… But I incorporated one of the activities where we created a diagram of the base word, the suffix, and the new definition of the base word… Breaking it down and having him decode the word and the meaning… helped it to click. He understood the words, and when we would read them, he’s like, ‘Oh, we did this word, and this is what it means.’ It was an aha moment for him.”

Another perspective Dino emphasizes highlights the daily breakthrough moments that define classroom success:

“Numbers tell part of the story,” Dino notes. “The rest happens in the moment an educator watches a struggling student finally succeed, and realizes they can do it again tomorrow. That’s what this program is built to create, again and again, in every classroom it reaches.”

Powered by Partnership: How DGLF Makes the Transformation Possible

A systemic model requires a systemic engine. This large-scale validation study and the underlying instructional victories were made possible through the deep, multi-year philanthropic partnership between Learning Ally and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation (DGLF).

Recognizing that nearly 25% of teacher preparation programs do not adequately cover the core components of reading, DGLF stepped forward as a strategic champion for ongoing, research-aligned teacher learning experiences. Through successive, generous grant cycles—including a critical $602,000 grant in 2025—DGLF completely funded free access to these intensive SLA workshops, interactive digital video libraries, and cross-cohort Communities of Practice for educators nationwide.

This partnership fundamentally bridges the gap between limited district budgets and the urgent need for unified training. 

As Catherine Prall, a Reading Specialist at Fairfield Public Schools, noted:

“Never before have we been able to engage all 30 of our literacy teachers on ONE training that was relevant to everyone! The training was crucial for us to get every teacher on the same page… so we can get every student on track. We wouldn’t have been able to do it this year if not for the Dollar General Grant! I’m so grateful that we had this training (with great resources as well as internal discussions through community of practices) available to move our district forward!”

Through DGLF’s backing and the collaborative leadership of our professional learning team, the SLA program has directly impacted more than 287 educators across 18 school districts, enriching the learning environments of approximately 8,500 students.

What This Means for the Future of Learning Ally

At Learning Ally, we are a mission-driven strategic partner. The insights delivered by Hanover Research do more than validate our historical path; they illuminate our forward trajectory as we continue to transform as an organization.

This ensures that our future curriculum remains directly aligned with the exact phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension results that the evaluation captured. Moving forward, our Professional Learning apparatus is leveraging these findings to implement key strategic enhancements:

• Differentiating by Learner Profile: We are actively developing grade-band and instructional-setting-specific implementation materials. This ensures that educators can seamlessly adapt foundational structured literacy strategies for nonverbal students, older newcomers, and secondary classrooms without losing cognitive rigor.
• Expanding Communities of Practice: To combat the isolation often experienced by educators in rural or under-staffed settings, we are formalizing ongoing, peer-to-peer digital networks. This guarantees that teachers have a collaborative space to exchange strategies, share lesson plans, and sustain momentum long after their initial training cycles end.
• Deepening System-Level Integration: We will double down on our work with district administrators, providing tools to support scheduling, align SLA with existing core curricula, and treat structured literacy as an integrated core framework rather than “one more initiative” on a teacher’s to-do list.

“This independent evaluation serves as powerful evidence that systemic, district-wide professional learning is the catalyst required to turn the science of reading into sustainable classroom reality,” says Brent Hartsell. “When a district aligns its priorities around a unified structured literacy framework, we eliminate fragmented implementation and ensure that every single child—regardless of background or learning difference—receives consistent, explicit, and high-impact instruction.”

We are incredibly grateful to our educators, our research partners at Hanover, and the visionary leadership of the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. Together, we are proving that when teachers are equipped with actionable, practical tools and supported by a unified community, we can completely rewire the educational landscape and empower every child to unlock their full academic potential.