Beyond the Jump: What It Takes to Make Literacy Gains Last

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Rebecca Kockler, Founder at Magpie Literacy; Nick Gaehde, President at Lexia; Kelly Butler, Senior Advisor at ReadingUniverse.org; Dr. Miatheresa Pate, Chief Academic Officer at New York City Public Schools; and Brooke Stafford-Brizard, Senior Vice President for Innovation and Impact at the Carnegie Foundation.The speakers explored how, over the past decade, the Science of Reading had driven important progress in early literacy by reshaping instruction, curriculum, and professional learning across the country. While many districts were seeing real early gains, they examined a harder question coming into focus: why those gains so often faded as students moved through later grades, and how literacy growth could endure over time.This session focused on the durability of literacy improvement as one of the field’s greatest challenges. Panelists discussed how early success was too often built on isolated skill gains that failed to transfer, while fragmented tools and short-term measures masked whether students were becoming stronger readers across grades. They examined how coherence across curriculum, assessment, intervention, tutoring, and coaching remained elusive even as expectations for measurable results continued to grow.Drawing from research, district implementation experience, and market insight, the conversation highlighted a shared reality: lasting literacy progress depended on aligned instructional approaches, sustained support for educators, clearer signals of what was actually working over time, and the discipline to move beyond fragmented solutions. At its core, this session examined how the question was no longer whether early literacy improvement was possible, but what it truly took to make those gains last.