The K-12 Literacy Playbook

Empowering Literacy: How State-Driven Efforts Are Shaping the Future of U.S. Education

Low reading proficiency and gaps in literacy are arguably the biggest challenges in K-12 education. The effect of these challenges have only been amplified in post-pandemic years. Unsurprisingly, as a result of this, almost every state in the U.S. has passed literacy legislation for K-12 in the past few years. In fact, according to sources including the Shanker Institute and EdWeek, as of September 2024, 40 States and DC have passed laws or implemented new policies related to evidence-based reading instruction.

Recently, 34 states have incorporated the 5 Pillars into their legislation. However, the Reading Reform Across America: A Survey of State Legislation report shows that reading laws since 2019 cover much more—addressing over 40 areas of reform, including teacher preparation, professional development, assessment, family engagement, and student support. This surge in literacy legislation highlights the urgent need for effective implementation plans to ensure these reforms make a real impact.

With these widening challenges and their legislative requirements, states and districts are left with the urgency to develop and implement effective plans to nurture literacy development for their K-12 students. This is no simple task as literacy is much more than just reading and writing.

[READ: “Raising Reading Fluency To Improve K12 Literacy”]

The Building Blocks of Reading Literacy

To fully equip students with the necessary tools, educators must provide targeted support to help students acquire interconnected skill sets integral to the reading process. Paper’s proprietary data, How To Teach Reading: The K-12 Guide, solidifies that literacy begins with teaching the 5 Pillars of Reading:

Phonemic Awareness: Every child should be able to gain an understanding of the individual sounds that make up words and syllables.
Phonics: Direct phonics instruction should be employed to help students practice spelling out and reading sounds, leading to the ability to identify and write words.
Vocabulary: These comprehension skills include making inferences about the meaning of words and applying acquired knowledge about prefixes, suffixes, and roots to unfamiliar vocabulary.
Fluency: Beyond the level of individual words, students need practice in reading out loud so they can develop reading fluency, or the ability to read passages smoothly and expressively.
Comprehension: Reading comprehension doesn’t have to wait until students become fluent readers on their own—teachers can help them develop metacognitive comprehension skills while reading out loud.

With a renewed sense of urgency and a powerful drive to ensure every child has the support they need to gain strong literacy skills, today’s educators are reexamining their approaches to reading instruction. Dedicated partners and programs are essential to building long-term success for our students. That's where Paper comes in.

[READ: “ How To Teach Reading: The K-12 Guide”]

A Dedication to Literacy Development

Paper is uniquely equipped to support districts with best practices in literacy development because of our robust tools and services. We understand that literacy encompasses much more than reading skills alone. It is also important to develop interconnected skills such as writing clearly and coherently, active listening, and verbal communication. Far from isolated to just ELA, literacy is critical to students’ learning and academic performance across all subjects and grade levels. We provide various solutions to meet each district's needs.

[READ: “In-Class Activities For Building Literacy In the Early Grades”]

Evidence-based practices

We help you drive learning effectively in alignment with the standards of local and federal agencies. Paper’s tools and services have been cross-walked with US DOE’s recommended source of evidence-based practices and What Works Clearinghouse. Paper also meets the standards of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), aligning with Level III "Promising Evidence" for impacts on student GPAs and course pass rates.

Turnkey Integration

Paper’s technology and processes are designed to integrate with existing classroom and the school day structures. They provide a turnkey solution for districts of all sizes. Their platform is built to snap into your existing technology infrastructure for single sign-ons and student rostering. Access is easy and intuitive for students, even across multiple devices.

Differentiated Instruction:

Our tools and services align to MTSS Tiers 1 & 2 and support teachers by providing:

Tier 1
- Paper’s ESS: Paper Reading, Live Help, Review Center, & Paper Missions are available to all, available when needed, and easily incorporated into classroom instruction
Tier 2
- Teacher Assign Tools: A teacher can assign specific students to work with a tutor in either Live Help or Review Center and can attach instructions for both students and tutors.
- GROW High-Impact Tutoring: Students receive scheduled, targeted, small-group instruction for an added layer of academic acceleration support in a particular subject area.

Curriculum-wide Literacy Support

Paper Reading: In addition to an extensive library of reading selections that span grade levels, reading levels, and topics, teachers can upload selected reading passages that promote reading across the curriculum.
Live Help: Paper’s On-Demand tutoring service provides students with individualized support for literacy across all subjects.
Review Center: is a student’s source for feedback and writing skills improvement across the curriculum.
Teacher Assign: provides a method for teachers to differentiate instruction without the burden of delivering the additional support themselves.

[READ: “How Does Reading Aloud Help Students To Develop Literacy Skills?”]

Comprehensive Literacy Interventions and Tools

In the evolving landscape of literacy education, high-quality tools and targeted interventions are essential to support diverse student needs. Our comprehensive suite of services is designed to elevate student achievement through evidence-based practices, data-driven insights, and personalized support. Below, we highlight some of our key offerings that empower educators and enhance learning outcomes.

Tool/Service:	Description	Key Points:
GROW High-Impact Tutoring	For partners seeking an additional layer of support for select student groups, we offer our responsive, evidence-based GROW (Guided, Results-Oriented, Weekly) High-Impact Tutoring. Designed in collaboration with each district and according to their needs and goals, each customized GROW HIT Program provides intensive, individualized small group instruction that is relationship-based and led by highly-trained, consistently assigned tutors who are committed to delivering the academic support accelerant students need to deeply impact and improve achievement outcomes.	Evidence-based: GROW High-Impact Tutoring provides an impactful accelerant for literacy skill development for students needing an additional layer of literacy development support in Grades 3-12 that aligns to: National Student Support Accelerator’s guidelines for dosage, frequency, ratio, and setting in HIT. MTSS’s 10 Essential Features of Tier 2 interventions Data-driven: Each session is concluded with the formative assessment as an “exit ticket”, and summative assessments are given every 4 weeks to ensure instructional adjustments can be made to ensure progress in literacy development. Differentiated: Leveraging formative and summative data, tutors can adjust focus and ensure each student is met where they are. Engaging: With a cultivated tutor-student relationship and through proven instructional practices, students report a high level of engagement in and enthusiasm for program participation. Integrated: Teachers can monitor student's progress in programs with a simple, standards-aligned dashboard that lets them follow a student's journey to mastery.
Paper Reading	Paper Reading is a literacy tool that records students as they read aloud, providing real-time feedback and fluency metrics. Using the best of learning science and speech recognition, Paper Reading boosts phonics and helps young students not only practice reading—but genuinely enjoy it. Read more/check out our Blog article: Raising Reading Fluency To Improve K12 Literacy And Paper Reading Pager.pdf	Evidence-based: rooted in The Science of Reading, supports 2 of 5 pillars of Reading Supports 3 key components of fluency: Accuracy Speed Prosody Supports vocabulary acquisition- Teachers can highlight and define words to boost vocabulary acquisition and model proper reading by recording themselves! Data-driven: Paper Reading allows teachers to assign texts to students and leverage metrics on which students are reading—and how much. Differentiated: Data-driven insights allow them to reward progress and automate differentiated scaffolding. Engaging- Pique students’ interest with our extensive library of texts for various ages, ensuring older students with low Lexile levels have age appropriate choices. Integrated- Teachers can upload reading passages on selected topics that promote reading literacy across the curriculum.
Review Center	Allows students to upload any kind of written work and receive tutor feedback within 24 hours on style, grammar, plagiarism, and adherence to rubric. Review Center offers students the ability to receive constructive feedback from tutors on various assignments, enhanced by AI technology, blending the efficiency of AI with our personalized, human touch.	Evidence-based- Supports teachers’ instruction of the Effective Writing Process as outlined in US DOE’s recommended What Works Clearinghouse Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively: Educator's Practice Guide by providing the review and feedback critical to the writing improvement cycle. Integrated: Paper’s expert tutors offer writing feedback on various types of written assignments and projects from across the curriculum, including college application essays, book reports, labs, resumes, or short-answer question responses relevant to any subject area.
Live Help On-Demand Tutoring	Live Help on demand tutoring provides students with highly personalized, just-in-time learning	Evidence-based: (Could cite relevant Impact studies?) Integrated: Paper’s expert on-demand tutors stand ready to support students for literacy related assignments both during and outside of the school day.
Paper Missions	Paper Missions is an independent practice tool that uses interactive, grade-appropriate questions that reinforce learning and supports literacy development. By completing engaging challenges at their own pace, students can hone foundational vocabulary and comprehension skills. A self-paced, interactive practice hub that helps students hone their math and vocabulary skills, Paper Missions is packed with fun stories, short videos, and plenty of positive praise.	Evidence-based: rooted in The Science of Reading, supports 2 of 5 pillars of Reading- Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension- Vocabulary Missions: Students are presented with a short passage and asked to correctly identify the meaning of a specific word. Reading Comprehension Missions: Students read a brief text and must demonstrate effective interpretation by answering key comprehension questions.