Education leaders across the country understand that literacy is the foundation of lifelong learning and opportunity, and they have dedicated themselves to a vision of every child developing the literacy skills needed to thrive in school and beyond. Yet, despite the tireless efforts of many, data from the Nation’s Report Card remind us that too many students are still struggling. According to the 2024 National Assessment of Academic Progress (NAEP), 69% of 4th graders have yet to reach proficiency in reading. In fact, 40% of 4th-grade readers are performing below a basic level.
These sobering statistics reinforce the need to think differently about how we approach certain aspects of literacy development. What if we considered literacy through the lens of “literacy fitness”—a perspective that recognizes the need for both strong foundational skills and continuous growth, with intentional support tailored to different stages of a reader’s journey?
Imagine for a moment that you have set yourself the goal of completing a marathon, or perhaps a 5K. You would not begin by running the full length of the race. Rather, you would follow a trusted training plan with incremental goals, gradually increasing your strength and endurance step by step, mile by mile. You know that consistency and intentional practice are essential—not just to cross the finish line but to continue running with confidence and ease well beyond race day.
How could this same idea apply to the classroom? What sort of training do students need to build the foundation for a lifetime of reading proficiency—a lifetime of “literacy fitness”? What would a “literacy fitness” program or approach look like? It would have to give students the right instruction, practice, and tools for reading with comprehension across the curriculum, in multiple content areas, and it would have to build fitness from the ground up, based on each student’s current “fitness level.” It would need to help students build increasing strength no matter their current reading abilities, and it would need to prioritize the importance of the teacher-student relationship.
Crossing the “Decoding Threshold”
Beginning in third grade, teachers typically focus primarily on their students’ reading comprehension. Educators do not typically deliver foundational literacy instruction past this point and often interpret students’ reading challenges or low reading achievement data as a comprehension problem alone.
Current research confirms that efforts to help students master comprehension must come after students have crossed the “decoding threshold” (Wang, et al., 2019) Until students develop word-level automaticity and fluency, their cognitive resources remain tied up in decoding, leaving little capacity for comprehension. Because low fluency rates typically stem from weak decoding skills, comprehension struggles are often a downstream effect for many striving readers.
Matching Students with the Right Reading Intervention at the Right Time
Instructional methodologies and intervention support in third grade and beyond are most often focused on building comprehension skills and strategies. Unfortunately, students who have not yet crossed the decoding threshold will not fully benefit from comprehension-focused instruction or intervention. As research has made clear, when intervention time prioritizes comprehension before students have demonstrated mastery of foundational decoding skills, it is highly unlikely to produce meaningful gains (Wang et al., 2019). As a result, many striving readers in upper elementary and middle school receive intervention that fails to address the root causes of their reading difficulties, leaving critical gaps unaddressed and delaying their paths to proficiency.
As the Simple View of Reading framework (Gough and Tunmer, 1986) illustrates, a strong foundation in word recognition skills, no matter a student’s current grade, is essential for reading comprehension across the curriculum. Without solid decoding abilities, instruction or intervention that targets skills associated with language comprehension alone simply will not lead to strong reading comprehension.
A student-centered growth mindset requires educators to determine the right supports for every student. Therefore, a tested and proven research-based intervention system is invaluable. However, one recent survey revealed that nearly 75 percent of teachers in grades 3-8 need additional resources to both identify and deliver appropriate support for students with reading difficulties. Identification and student-centered support must go hand in hand with teachers’ ongoing efforts to help all students meet grade-level standards.
Literacy Fitness for All
At EPS Learning, we believe that ongoing literacy fitness is fundamental and attainable for every student. No matter a student’s current reading level or individual challenges and needs, the right teacher-friendly, student-centered reading intervention at the right time is vital. With literacy intervention solutions to address needs across grades and tiers, EPS Learning can equip teachers with the resources required to effectively support all of their students in becoming strong, confident readers.
For example, SPIRE, the flagship reading intervention program from EPS Learning, is a flexible, student-centered solution that helps teachers meet the needs of students in Tier 3 and special education settings, including students with dyslexia. For striving readers who benefit from Orton-Gillingham-based, Structured Literacy intervention to cross the decoding threshold and establish a strong reading foundation, SPIRE comprehensively addresses the five pillars of reading through multisensory, systematic instruction in:
- Phonemic awareness
- Phonics
- Fluency
- Vocabulary
- Comprehension
For striving readers in grades 3 and beyond who have not yet crossed the decoding threshold, EPS Reading Accelerator is a targeted Tier 2, Structured Literacy intervention for students whose comprehension levels have plateaued due to critical gaps in foundational reading skills. Reading Accelerator takes a comprehensive, blended learning approach to ensuring that students build the skills needed to become proficient, lifelong readers, including strong decoding abilities. The program can be used with small groups or a whole class and can be delivered in one school year or less.
Readers who have crossed the decoding threshold can continue to benefit from EPS Learning literacy programs that address close reading, critical thinking, vocabulary expansion, advanced word study, and text analysis. With a wide array of literacy solutions sustainable for multiple students across multiple grades, educators can be empowered to support every student’s literacy fitness, both before and beyond the decoding threshold.
Committed Partnership for Student and Teacher Success
When searching for the right literary solution for students, educators must balance the complexities of each student’s individual progress with the importance of keeping teachers at the forefront of learning. District and school leaders must also navigate constraints on time, funding, and staffing, making it essential to invest in solutions that are both effective and sustainable.
EPS Learning is comprised of an interdisciplinary team of literacy, education, research, and technology experts who provide trusted literacy solutions, grounded in the science of reading, that are evidence-based, reliable, and easy to use. One-day training in EPS Learning’s literacy programs ensures that teachers can confidently, effectively, and quickly implement, without taxing valuable classroom teaching or professional learning time. Ongoing coaching opportunities can further support teachers with job-embedded support as they bring instruction to life in their classrooms.
No matter where a student is in their reading journey, the goal is to build a sustainable, growth-oriented approach to literacy fitness that strengthens every student's ability to read with confidence and ease—both through the grades and into the lifelong opportunities that follow.