The response to our Vision Paper: The Future of Adolescent Literacy has been nothing short of energizing. Educators, leaders, and advocates from across the country are joining the conversation — and?! We’re just getting started.
But we've always believed that the real work happens after the big idea. So this week, we're taking it further.
Introducing our newest series: a deep dive into every section of the Adolescent Literacy Wheel. Each week, we'll pull back the curtain on one piece of the framework — pairing a blog post with a podcast episode to give you the research, the context, and the practical takeaways you can actually use.
Think of it as the vision paper — brought to life, one chapter at a time.
This week we're diving into infrastructure, as envisioned by Dr. Sarah Holbrook from the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz and Sundays with Sarah.
Literacy Growth Depends on Infrastructure
Adolescent literacy has been treated as a classroom issue instead of a systems issue.
Schools introduce interventions, teachers adapt instruction, departments work independently to support struggling readers. But without the structures to connect those efforts, literacy support becomes fragmented, and students feel the effects of that fragmentation every day.
Older students do not move through literacy in isolated moments. They move through schedules, classrooms, support systems, assessments, and expectations that either work together or don’t.
A strong secondary literacy infrastructure is not a single program or initiative. It is a system-wide design that prioritizes reading instruction across the entire school experience. That means creating structures that support literacy consistently, in every setting. Literacy transformation becomes sustainable when it is built into the infrastructure of the school itself.
This might look like:
- Protected intervention time that supports students without replacing core instruction
- Shared literacy goals across classrooms and content areas
- Assessment systems that guide instruction, rather than interrupting it
- Professional learning structures that build teacher knowledge and collaboration
- Schoolwide systems that align practices across tiers of support
Literacy Cannot Depend on Individual Effort Alone
Teachers are already doing extraordinary work — they are differentiating instruction, modifying materials, supporting wide ranges of reading ability, and trying to create continuity for students within systems that are often disconnected.
But adolescent literacy cannot improve through teacher effort alone. It requires structures that empower educators to work collectively instead of in isolation.
That includes:
- Shared vision around literacy across grades 6–12
- Master schedules that include protected, targeted intervention time
- Professional learning communities that prioritize collaboration, shared data, and instructional alignment
When schools create systems that support educators, educators are better able to support students.
What Infrastructure Makes Possible
We have already seen what infrastructural literacy transformation can look like.
Under Dr. Sarah Holbrook’s innovative leadership at Kingston City School District, leaders redesigned the master schedule to include targeted, skill-based intervention time. They repurposed faculty and department meetings to focus on teacher knowledge and data-driven instruction.
The result was not just stronger alignment. It was measurable growth in student outcomes because systems matter. And when schools intentionally design infrastructure around literacy, students receive consistent, targeted support while continuing to build language, knowledge, and confidence as readers.
The Future Depends on What Schools Are Built to Support
Students do not age out of needing literacy support.
If we want meaningful transformation in adolescent literacy, we must work together; schools must move beyond isolated interventions and begin building systems intentionally designed to support reading growth at every level.
With infrastructure, collaboration, and innovation, we will transform literacy for older striving readers, together. The future of adolescent literacy is bright.