Creating an Evidence Based Adult Reading Program
Brooklyn Public Library
Innovation Synopsis
Brooklyn Public Library rebuilt its adult literacy program using evidence-based reading research, often known as the Science of Reading, which explains how the human brain learns to read and how it learns novel skills in general, replacing disproven methods with evidence-based, explicit, sequential instruction in English orthography. The redesign spans every layer of the program: a new diagnostic reading and decoding assessment used across five learning centers, a sixteen-workbook foundational reading curriculum written in-house with matching teacher editions and scripts, and a required eight-module training completed by more than 200 volunteer tutors and staff members. Adults who were never taught to read with evidence-based literacy methods are now placed precisely within our curriculum and sequence based on the skills they arrive with and accurate assessment data, and are taught by tutors who understand the evidence and rationale behind every step.
Challenge/Opportunity
Reading is not a natural act. We did not evolve to read the way we evolved to speak. Reading must be taught, which means a child who never receives explicit, sequential Science of Reading instruction becomes an adult who cannot read. Adult education has lagged behind K-12 in adopting reading science. BPL's program, like most, ran on balanced literacy — a disproven method still promoted across NYC literacy institutions. The consequences were structural:
Instruction and curriculum that never built decoding.
Instruction that promoted a "love of reading" without the prerequisite skills. We do not often love what we cannot do.
Assessments that scored comprehension without diagnosing decoding gaps underneath.
Tutors trained in methods the research had discredited.
Students who plateaued for years and concluded the failure was theirs, or their tutors', or both.
Staff and tutors also reacted emotionally to the argument that methods they had used for years were ineffective and possibly harmful.
Key Elements of Innovation
Launched in summer 2024, BPL’s Adult Learning Literacy Redesign realigns every layer of our program around reading science. We introduced a decoding diagnostic given at intake and repeated across all five learning centers, tracking student decoding and comprehension gains across multiple centers and semesters. Assessment results map directly onto a BPL-created 16-workbook explicit and sequential curriculum, with teacher editions, scripted lessons, and adult-focused decodable texts. Every tutor and staff member completes a required 8-module course covering the history of English, the science of learning, the science of reading, phonemic awareness and phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension, and lesson planning. Additionally, through NYC’s Regional Adult Education Network, BPL has trained staff from 52 NYC adult education programs, including other NYC Library Systems and CUNY, in evidence-based reading instruction, making BPL a leader in the city’s reading science movement.
Achieved Outcomes
In our May 2025–April 2026 pilot, 79% of students made measurable gains on the Gallistel-Ellis decoding assessment, with an average largest-section gain of +43%. This initial pilot data currently informs current implementation measures, most significantly ensuring all BPL Adult Learning Staff have completed our Science of Reading Training by June 2027. BPL has partnered with NYSED's Regional Adult Education Network and conducted workshops with 52 NYC adult education programs, including CUNY CLIP, NYPL, QPL, and DOE; of 120 RAEN evaluations, 116 strongly agreed that the workshop content was relevant and useful in supporting struggling adult learners. BPL Manager of Education and Training has conducted specific evidence-based workshops for the CUNY CLIP Program. 200+ tutors have completed the BPL SOR Tutor Training. In tutor Training Exit Tickets, tutors cite working memory limits, gradual release, and the Simple View of Reading as reshaping their teaching.
