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What If Struggling Readers Need Harder Books, Not Easier Ones?
The research on text complexity may surprise you — and change how you think about leveled reading in your schools.
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Evidence-based Professional Development that teachers actually look forward to — delivered virtually, on-site, or through ongoing coaching. Grounded in the Science of Reading.
Come ready to laugh, think, and leave with a dozen strategies before lunch.
Whether your team is across town or across the country, we bring structured literacy training directly to your teachers — in the format that works best for your district.
Live, interactive online sessions for teacher teams — no travel required. Cover phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension through guided practice and real classroom application.
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We come to you. Full-day and multi-day Professional Development experiences at your school or district offices — designed around your teachers' schedules, grade bands, and current instructional challenges.
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Sustained support that sticks. Monthly or bi-monthly coaching cycles with individual teachers or grade-level teams — combining observation, modeling, and reflection to build lasting instructional capacity.
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Dr. Chase Young began his career as a 2nd-grade teacher in Title I schools before earning his PhD from the University of North Texas (2012). He is Professor of Literacy at Sam Houston State University, Chief Literacy Officer at LiTerrific, and Editor of Reading Research Quarterly (2026–2030). His classroom roots are the foundation of everything LiTerrific does.
Dr. Young's research on reading fluency, literacy intervention, and evidence-based instruction has shaped policy and practice nationally. He is Series Editor for DK Publishing / Penguin Random House's The Science of Reading series and a collaborator on a $2.8M NSF grant focused on literacy transformation at Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Every LiTerrific Professional Development program is built on his published, peer-reviewed work.
Our facilitators are active professors at research universities and literacy researchers whose work appears in the field's top peer-reviewed journals. They are published authors, recipients of national literacy awards, leaders of professional organizations, and — critically — former K–5 classroom teachers and district instructional coaches. They hold doctoral degrees in literacy, reading education, and curriculum & instruction, and bring hands-on expertise in the Science of Reading, structured literacy, reading fluency, comprehension, and dyslexia intervention. Many have delivered professional development across dozens of states and lead national literacy initiatives. You're not getting a generalist trainer. You're getting the field's leading practitioners.
This isn't sit-and-get. Expect movement, real classroom demonstrations, and more than a few laughs — alongside the research.
Every session is designed to move from research to practice — equipping teachers with strategies they can use on Monday morning.
All content is grounded in the most current, peer-reviewed research on how children learn to read — the same body of evidence driving state literacy mandates nationwide.
No abstract theory. Every session includes demonstration, practice, and coaching — delivered by experienced educators who have taught in real classrooms.
We audit your current curriculum and instructional practices first, so the professional development your teachers receive is tailored to where they actually are — not a generic one-size-fits-all program.
We build internal capacity. Through coaching and leadership development, your instructional coaches and lead teachers leave equipped to sustain the work long after the training ends.
Dr. Chase Young
Chief Literacy Officer · LiTerrific
"The science of reading gives us the roadmap—but motivation and engagement are the fuel. Structured literacy works when students are invested and teachers feel empowered to bring it to life. Our job isn't just to follow the research; it's to create classrooms where great instruction and genuine excitement for reading meet."
A few of the activities teachers take back to their classrooms the very next day.
Day 1: cold read and rate. Days 2–3: echo and choral reading. Day 4: rehearsal. Day 5: performance. A structured, zero-prep protocol that builds prosody and engagement simultaneously.
Students choose between two "Would you rather…" scenarios — each hinging on a Greek or Latin root. The debate is the lesson: kids argue their case using the meaning of the morpheme, building word-analysis skills without realizing it.
Morphology meets content-area reading: students decode compound words, research a nonfiction topic, draft a narrative, and perform it — four standards, one connected lesson arc.
Activities drawn from Dr. Young's workshop Integrating Art and Science in Literacy Instruction.
The research on text complexity may surprise you — and change how you think about leveled reading in your schools.
Read more →Dr. Young joins the Literacy Podcast (ep. 245) to discuss evidence-based fluency strategies that work — and how to bring them into everyday instruction.
Listen →Evidence-based methods for building reading fluency in K–6 classrooms — including repeated reading, choral reading, and Readers' Theatre protocols.
Download →Tell us about your teachers, your timeline, and your goals. We'll build a plan together.
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