How to improve literacy with
evidence‑based instruction
What effective literacy instruction looks like
What if every student in your school saw themselves as a reader, building confidence through success and choosing to read again and again because they can and want to? Strong evidence-based literacy instruction uses research-backed strategies to improve reading and writing outcomes, developing not just better readers but lifelong readers.
Dirigo Literacy (pronounced DEER-ih-go), meaning “I lead,” stems from the belief that administrators and educators are leaders at a defining crossroads between unproven literacy initiatives and a critical, urgent need for improvement. Grounded in Dr. Molly Ness’s Upward Spiral of Literacy, Dirigo Literacy is a comprehensive, evidence-based framework that uniquely connects instruction, leadership, and systems to create lasting improvements in reading and writing.
Now, Solution Tree’s Dirigo Literacy professional development provides comprehensive, district- and school-level support to help educators collaborate and implement this framework with fidelity. We know that improving literacy isn’t about adding one more initiative—it’s about aligning systems. Through evidence-based literacy instruction, schools can transform outcomes and create meaningful, lasting change in reading and writing.
Dirigo Literacy is the only framework that connects instruction with leadership, and leadership with systems—and operationalizes science of reading at the district level. It's a defined collaboration framework that drives results.
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The Downward Spiral
Schools today are investing heavily in literacy professional development, new reading programs, and high-quality instructional materials, yet results often plateau.
When reading is difficult, students:
Avoid reading
Get less practice
Fall further behind in skill and confidence
Over time, the gap between struggling readers and strong readers widens significantly.
Why are results so elusive despite educators’ efforts?
Literacy fails when it’s treated as a program instead of a coherent system. Disconnected strategies and short-term fixes simply don’t deliver lasting results.
When students struggle with reading:
Academic performance declines
Confidence drops
Engagement decreases
The question isn’t just why literacy is important; it’s what happens when literacy systems fail, and students begin to experience challenges.
But when schools implement a comprehensive, schoolwide system of strong evidence-based reading instruction, students:
Choose to read more
Build vocabulary and knowledge
Improve fluency and comprehension
This leads to even more success and motivation.
It’s just a fact: Strong literacy systems improve life outcomes.
The Upward Spiral
The Upward Spiral of Literacy shows how reading and writing growth accelerate over time. Rather than treating literacy as an incremental progression or a collection of separate skills, the Upward Spiral of Literacy depicts literacy development as a compounding cycle in which skills, knowledge, and engagement continuously reinforce one another.
Literacy growth is not linear, nor is it hierarchical. It does not follow a simple, step-by-step sequence in which one skill is mastered and set aside before the next begins. Instead, literacy development is a dynamic, cumulative, and recursive process.
Dr. Molly Ness, The Upward Spiral of Literacy
In this upward cycle, oral language serves as the launchpad for literacy development, supporting students as they build foundational skills and begin to read with fluency.
The spiral also reflects the conditions schools create. Literacy development is shaped not only by students' skills but also by external factors such as literacy-rich environments, data-driven, evidence-based literacy instruction, and courageous literacy leadership.
This recursive movement of literacy brings us closer to the ultimate goal: students who read and write with purpose, joy, and lifelong engagement.
This is the foundation of Dirigo Literacy.
How to teach reading, and why systems matter
Many educators ask:
- How can we improve our literacy trajectory?
- How do I teach reading fluency?
- How do children acquire literacy skills?
- How do we integrate the science of reading or evidence-based literacy practices into the classroom?
- How do we build comprehension and fluency?
- How do I implement the science of reading in the classroom?
- What does engaging and effective vocabulary instruction look like?
The answer isn’t a single strategy.
Dirigo supports how to teach literacy through aligned, evidence-based instruction that improves outcomes across classrooms and districts.
Research-based literacy PD for real classrooms
Solution Tree offers comprehensive literacy professional development for teachers and school leaders, including:
- Keynotes
- Standard workshops
- A Deep Dive into the Science of Reading
- The Science of Reading in K–2 Classrooms
- The Science of Reading in 3–8 Classrooms
- Dyslexia: Separating Fact from Fiction
- Planning Effective Read Alouds Across K–8 Content Areas
- Effective and Engaging Vocabulary Instruction
- Best Practices for Comprehension Instruction
- Growing Lifelong Readers: Motivation and Engagement for All Students
- Building Language Comprehension Through Read Alouds
- Using Decodable Texts to Support Phonics, Fluency, and Independent Reading
- Making Words Stick and Transfer: Understanding Orthographic Mapping
- Integrating the Science of Reading and the Science of Learning
- Site-level embedded coaching
- Virtual sessions
Each engagement is designed to align systems, strengthen instruction, and improve outcomes at scale.
Led by a trusted voice in literacy
Molly Ness, PhD, is a former classroom teacher, a reading researcher, and a teacher educator. She spent 16 years as an associate professor of childhood education at Fordham University. She has extensive experience in reading clinics, guiding school districts, leading professional development, and advising school systems on research-based reading instruction. She is currently a board member of the World Literacy Foundation.
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