Research-proven schoolwide literacy system
Every child can learn to read.
Every teacher can teach them.
SFA is the complete system that makes it happen — in every classroom, every day.
In 2025–26, schools in our first School Success Scholarship cohort saw an average 15 percentage-point increase in students reading on grade level. Your school can too.
More than a curriculum.
A schoolwide approach that makes strong instruction consistent.
In Success for All schools, students do the thinking — reading, talking, solving problems together — while teachers deliver clear, explicit instruction that keeps every child moving forward.
"SFA isn't just a reading program — it's a complete system. It gave us focus, built our team's capacity, and transformed how we teach and how our students learn."
Superintendent Kayla Yates
Texhoma Independent School District, Texhoma, TX
Why reading results get stuck
- and how SFA helps.
You've adopted a new curriculum, or maybe are looking for one. You've added interventions. You've sent teachers to science of reading training. And still, too many kids aren't reading on grade level.
Here's what changes in an SFA school.
Problem
Solution
Literacy efforts are fragmented.
Curriculum, assessment, tutoring, and professional development operate separately — and teachers are left to connect the pieces on their own.
SFA brings the essential pieces together in one coordinated schoolwide literacy system. Everything works together from day one.
Instruction is too uneven across classrooms.
Students can have very different reading experiences depending on the classroom they’re in and the support their teacher receives.
SFA builds shared routines, coaching, and evidence-based practices that make strong instruction more consistent across the school.
Intervention comes too late.
When Tier 1 instruction isn't strong or consistent, schools respond with more intervention — and still don't close the gap.
SFA strengthens Tier 1 instruction and focuses on prevention. Assessment every 8 weeks, flexible regrouping, and tutoring aligned to classroom instruction help schools act early — before small gaps grow into larger ones.
Training doesn't reach the classroom.
Teachers attend workshops, then return to their classrooms. Without ongoing coaching, new learning doesn't turn into daily practice.
A dedicated SFA coach and facilitator work alongside teachers in their classrooms — modeling, observing, and giving feedback — so training becomes practice that sticks.
How Success for All works.
Since 1987, SFA has helped thousands of schools replace fragmented efforts with one coherent system. More than a curriculum, SFA makes strong instruction consistent in every classroom and works until every child reads on grade level or beyond.
Strong structured literacy instruction every day
A proven instructional process — grounded in reading science, learning science, and implementation science — helps teachers deliver explicit, active literacy instruction across every grade. Students read, write, discuss, practice, and learn together every day through structured cooperative learning.
Early support matched to student need
Assessment every 8 weeks, flexible regrouping, and tutoring aligned to classroom instruction help schools respond before small gaps grow. Schools aren't guessing. They aren't waiting.
A schoolwide system built to last
Leadership routines, team structures, data practices, and a dedicated SFA coach help schools implement well, and keep improving over time.
"By year three, I'd walk into math or social studies and think I was watching an SFA lesson. Teachers were transferring SFA's routines and strategies in every subject area, not just the reading block."
Principal Jenell Bear
Edwin Loe Elementary, North Dakota
Independently rated Tier 1 — Strong Evidence. Replicated in schools like yours.
ESSA Tier 1: Strong Evidence — the highest rating in education research.
%
of teachers feel more confident supporting students who are behind in reading.
%
of leaders would recommend SFA to a colleague.
Developed at Johns Hopkins University and validated through decades of independent research, including studies and reviews by MDRC, the University of Michigan, the What Works Clearinghouse, and Evidence for ESSA.
"All those years I taught reading, I didn't really understand it until we started SFA."
Teacher
Edwin Loe Elementary, North Dakota
What this looks like in real schools.
Schoolwide success isn't the product of one extraordinary principal, a few strong teachers, or one advantaged community. For 40 years, we've proven it can be built, replicated, and sustained in every school — rural, urban, and suburban communities, in public, charter, and private schools.
Steubenville City Schools, Ohio - 25 years of partnership.
Six schools in one of Ohio's highest-poverty districts. All six outperform the state average by 20–35 points. APM Reports' Sold a Story devoted three episodes to Steubenville's results and SFA's contribution to them.
Archdiocese of Los Angeles (ADLA) - Growth in one trimester
ADLA began full implementation of Success for All in 2025-26. Across more than 30 schools, the percentage of students reading at or above grade level rose from 45% to 54% in a single trimester.
Hynes Charter Schools - Campus expansion
Hynes Charter Schools has implemented SFA since 2003. Parkview joined the Hynes network in 2021 as the lowest-performing school in its district. By 2024, it had achieved a 39-point increase on Louisiana's School Performance Score system.
You won't do this alone.
Support begins well before day one — through planning, training, and launch — and stays embedded through ongoing coaching and schoolwide data routines. Every school gets a dedicated SFA coach and an in-school facilitator, and implementation support is built around your school's goals, staff, and students.
Leaders get structure too. Leading for Success gives you the routines, team structures, and data practices to lead implementation with a coach alongside you the whole way.
You'll also join a nationwide network of SFA educators. The New Leaders Institute, the annual Experienced Sites Conference, and online forums connect you with thousands of teachers and leaders in schools like yours — people who have already been where you are.
"Most curriculum programs give you initial training, and then that's it. With SFA, we have a coach to lean on and guide us through implementation."
Christy Bohnstadt
Christy Bohnstadt, Principal, Round Lake Charter, Florida
Cost may not be the barrier you expect.
This year's inaugural scholarship cohort — 50 Title I schools — saw an average 15-point gain in the percentage of students reading on grade level in their first year, with some schools seeing gains upwards of 40 points.
For eligible schools — public, private, and charter — up to $100,000 in School Success Scholarship support may be available to help offset first-year implementation costs.
Is SFA the right fit for your school?
You don't have to wait a full year to start. Schools that begin the conversation now can launch midyear, or use the time to prepare for a strong start next fall. Tell us where you are, and we'll help you figure out what makes sense for your students and teachers.
No pressure, just a conversation.
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Help more schools become the place where every child learns to read.
Success for All is a nonprofit. Every dollar we raise goes toward making proven literacy instruction accessible to more schools, especially those serving children who need it most.
If you're looking to invest in work with a 40-year track record of improving reading instruction across schools and helping every child learn to read, we'd love to stay in touch.
