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Insights & Field Notes
Insights, field notes, and discussion topics fueling our work in designing equitable literacy.
How One Rochester School Program Created Secondary Reading Success
“If we want to give them the attitude, we have to give them the aptitude.” - Brandon White In the spring of 2025, we introduced the Tight10 , a teacher-friendly resource to enable middle and high school students’ use of fluency routines to access grade-level texts. Today, we bring an update on how teachers are currently using the Tight10 with students. Brandon White , founder of Freedom A & T charter school and reading specialist for the Freedom Schools Summer Literacy Progra
Kate Crist
Jan 125 min read
What I Learned in 2025: Reflections on Another Year of Literacy Work
As 2025 comes to a close, I find myself reflecting with gratitude and clarity. This year, Education 4500 engaged across many layers of the education ecosystem—from policy design to curriculum review to working alongside high school teachers. I remain deeply grateful for the opportunity to do this work, especially in collaboration with practitioners and leaders who care deeply about adolescent literacy. As I look back on this year and head to next, several lessons stand out.
Kate Crist
Dec 16, 20254 min read
Scholarship Series: Struggling Adolescent Readers
The next installment of the Scholarship Series - "Struggling Adolescent Readers". Read this if you are a systems leader in a middle or high school with students who need literacy support (hint: you likely are).
Kate Crist
Oct 1, 20252 min read
Curriculum as a Dinner Party: Selection Sets the Table, Implementation is Everything Else
Key Moves for Successful Implementation of HQIM
Kate Crist
Sep 9, 20256 min read
Launching the Education 4500 Scholarship Series - Featuring, "Teaching Disciplinary Literacy to Adolescents"
New for the 2025-2026 school year: Education 4500’s scholarship series. Every few weeks, I will feature a piece of literacy scholarship and a series of questions to help bridge that scholarship to literacy work in middle and high schools. The series will reflect what middle and high school educators I work with are currently using to frame and focus their literacy work.
Kate Crist
Aug 28, 20252 min read
The Tight10 in Action: Early Wins for the Fluency Pilot
Just a few weeks into piloting the Tight10 in middle and high schools we are seeing momentum build.
Kate Crist
May 14, 20254 min read
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