Introducing the LIFT Impact Report
Every student deserves the opportunity to become a confident, engaged reader — no matter their age or where they are in their literacy journey.
At Storyshares, we believe it’s never too late to grow as a reader. When older students have access to engaging, age-appropriate books and the right instruction and support, incredible things can happen. And over the past year, we’ve had the opportunity to see what that belief can look like in practice.
Today, we’re excited to share the 2025–26 LIFT Impact Report: A Blueprint for Transforming Student Outcomes in Grades 3+. Read the full Impact Report here!
One program. Six very different stories.
In August 2025, Storyshares launched Literacy Intervention for Teens (LIFT), an intervention curriculum designed specifically for older striving readers. LIFT combines systematic foundational skills instruction with engaging, age-appropriate texts—because students shouldn’t have to choose between learning to read and reading books that feel like they were written for them.
But we knew that creating an intervention was only part of the challenge. The bigger question was: What does adolescent literacy transformation actually look like in real schools?
The answer, as we discovered throughout the 2025–26 school year, is different everywhere.
LIFT was implemented as a daily intervention period, an after-school program, a summer school program, a WIN period, a special education intervention, and more. Students ranged from elementary-aged English language learners to high school seniors. Sessions lasted 30, 45, or 60 minutes. Some schools worked with students one-on-one; others implemented LIFT in small groups or across an entire grade.
The conditions varied. The students varied. The schedules varied.
And students grew: across the 2025–26 school year, LIFT reached 30 school and district partners across 16 states, and 9 out of 10 teachers reported significant growth in their students’ literacy skills.
The numbers tell part of the story. The students tell the rest.
The Impact Report brings together six snapshots from schools and districts that implemented LIFT in very different contexts:
At Montebello Intermediate School in California, students in the program grew an average of two full grade levels in just six months. Their teacher, Jamie Class, described watching students move from reluctance to asking, “Are we reading today?”
At RISE Prep in Rhode Island, 100% of students in a six-week LIFT pilot demonstrated significant growth on the NWEA MAP assessment, compared with 60% of their peers outside the program.
At Phoenix Charter Academy in Massachusetts, 60% of students improved their scaled STAR reading scores, while 14 students exited the intervention within seven months.
And in Belleville, Wisconsin, students demonstrated growth in foundational literacy skills alongside increased engagement and motivation. One interventionist described students moving from shared reading to actively wanting to read aloud and show off their skills.
These numbers matter; but so do the moments behind them: a student asking to read one more page. A reluctant reader wanting to talk about a text after class ends. A teenager beginning to see themselves as someone who can read. Because literacy growth isn't only about a score; it’s about what becomes possible when a student starts to believe they are a reader.
There is no single path to transformation.
One of the biggest lessons from this first year of LIFT implementation is that flexibility matters.
We entered the year thinking about “implementation with fidelity.” But as we watched educators bring LIFT into their classrooms, we began thinking differently about what fidelity really requires. As one LIFT educator put it, what matters most is implementation with integrity: staying true to the core of the intervention while responding to the students in front of you.
That idea is at the heart of this report.
The six stories featured in the Impact Report aren't meant to represent one perfect model for adolescent literacy intervention. Instead, they show what is possible when schools have the flexibility to build literacy support around their actual students, schedules, staffing, and needs.
There isn't one way to transform literacy; there are many.
What happens when we refuse to give up?
The national conversation around adolescent literacy can sometimes make the challenge feel impossible. Older students who struggle with reading face real barriers: limited instructional time, insufficient training for secondary educators, a disconnect between foundational skills and grade-level content, and a shortage of relevant books for older striving readers.
But difficult is not the same as impossible. The stories in this report show what can happen when schools decide that older students are still worth investing in—and when those students receive instruction that builds both their skills and their identities as readers.
LIFT was built around a simple idea: school doesn't end in third grade, and literacy instruction doesn't need to either. The first year of LIFT has given us data, stories, questions, and—perhaps most importantly—evidence that transformation is possible. Now, we want to keep the conversation going.
What do we know works for empowering striving readers? What questions remain? What could we build if we started with a blank page?
We invite you to read the report, share it with an educator, bring its questions into your next literacy conversation, and imagine what could happen if we stopped asking whether it was “too late”—and started asking what students need next.
Because it isn't too late.
The future of adolescent literacy is still being written.
And we’re just getting started.
Want to learn more? Reach out to us at info@storyshares.org or listen to The Adolescent Literacy Podcast.