From Our First Classrooms to Now: Opportunity and Impact with Rosy Hely Reed

Rosy Hely Reed. Rosy is a Director, Academics at TNTP - a non-profit organization that brings research, policy, and consulting together to reimagine America's K-12 public education system. She has been at TNTP since 2016, and currently leads the execution of academic reviews in schools and districts across the country, providing data and insights on students' and teachers' access to the resources that matter most. Prior to TNTP, Rosy was a literacy teacher and instructional coach in New York City and Washington, D.C., public schools, and then oversaw district-wide teacher-leader and instructional-coaching programs for Pittsburgh Public Schools. She loves driving change-making work within (usually messy) school systems at all levels. About This EpisodeIn this conversation, Katie sits down with one of her closest friends and longtime education thought partner, Rosy Reed, a Director of Academics at TNTP. We trace our shared beginnings as brand-new teachers in the South Bronx and explore how those early classroom experiences shaped our understanding of curriculum, instruction, and equity.Rosie shares what she has learned through her work at TNTP about the conditions that most powerfully drive student achievement, drawing on insights from The Opportunity Myth and the Opportunity Makers research. We also talk candidly about dyslexia, advocacy, and how parents can partner with schools to build coherent, research-aligned reading instruction.This episode is both a deep dive into literacy and a personal conversation about teaching, friendship, and the long arc of learning.In This Episode We DiscussTNTP’s research: What actually drives student achievementRosy explains the findings from TNTP’s landmark research, based on 4,000+ students across diverse schools and districts.Four key resources that dramatically impact achievement:Grade-appropriate assignmentsStrong instructionDeep student engagementHigh teacher expectationsWe also discuss:Three core practices of “trajectory-changing” schools:A strong culture of belongingConsistent access to grade-level instructionA coherent instructional programWe explore:Alignment across grades, classrooms, and interventionsThe importance of knowledge-building curriculumWhy teacher planning time and professional learning matterHow schools can better align instruction between general education and intervention