Educators Must Combine 1:1 Tutoring with the Science of Reading to Close the Reading Gap

Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the education system faced a seismic shift. Learning loss, especially in foundational literacy, was a national crisis. In 2024, only 31% of fourth graders in the U.S. were reading proficiently, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Meanwhile, tutoring exploded as a top strategy to recover ground, but not all tutoring is created equal. As the science of reading continues gaining momentum in schools, how can we fuse evidence-based instruction with the power of tutoring to transform literacy outcomes?

What does it look like when high-dosage, virtual tutoring meets structured literacy grounded in the science of reading?

In this episode of The Future of Education, host Michael Horn sits down with Jessica Reid Sliwerski, co-founder and CEO of Ignite Reading, to explore how her organization is doing exactly that and what it reveals about what’s possible in early literacy instruction today. The episode traces Jessica’s deeply personal journey, the founding story of Ignite Reading, and what makes their approach so successful in helping children learn to read on time.

Key takeaways from the episode…

• Ignite Reading provides 1:1 virtual tutoring in foundational reading skills, delivering 15-minute daily sessions during the school day with highly trained tutors.
• The approach is deeply rooted in the science of reading, emphasizing decoding as a gateway to fluency and comprehension, addressing the real barrier behind poor literacy test scores.
• Jessica’s origin story is both personal and systemic, revealing how her experiences as a teacher, education leader, cancer survivor, and parent collided to ignite a national model for literacy tutoring.

Jessica Reid Sliwerski is the co-founder and CEO of Ignite Reading, a national organization delivering one-to-one virtual tutoring rooted in the Science of Reading. Her career spans leadership roles in education, including serving as CEO of Open Up Resources, co-founding the edtech company LightSail Education, and working as a literacy specialist and assistant principal. With a deep background in curriculum, instructional design, and scalable literacy innovation, Jessica is recognized for her impact on educational equity and has been featured in national media and documentary films.