The Nebraska Workshops on Reading Development Strategies (WORDS) Project is expanding its work to strengthen foundational reading skills for children from pre-K through fifth grade thanks to additional funding from the Nebraska Department of Education.
“This new funding source allows our WORDS team to expand our reach across the state,” said Pam Bazis, assistant professor of special education and communication disorders and co-director of the Kit & Dick Schmoker Reading Center. “We will double our schools in the fall of 2026, allowing us to form critical partnerships with individual schools and ESUs across the state. We are excited to continue this important work and to highlight the amazing teachers and students of Nebraska!”
Originally launched to help schools meet the 2018 Nebraska Reading Improvement Act requirements, WORDS focused on supporting classroom teachers and their students in kindergarten through third grades. Over the course of a two-to-three-year study, the project combines direct student tutoring with intensive teacher coaching.
Bazis joined the project in 2023 and has helped WORDS expand beyond third grade and across greater Nebraska where literacy resources may be more limited. Since then, WORDS has provided tutoring to 23 schools in Nebraska, reaching more than 1,600 students and providing more than 7,200 hours of literacy instruction.
The results are promising: 70% of participating students increased at least one benchmark level in reading and 11% reached the highest “well above” category. Teachers also reported seeing the difference firsthand, with 94.4% saying their students’ reading improved and 100% agreeing that tutoring made a sizeable impact on both the student and the teachers.
About 500 teachers have participated in coaching cycles, with longitudinal data logged to measure growth over time. The impact on teachers has included 91% reporting improved ability to teach foundational reading skills and nearly 95% saying the program encouraged meaningful self-reflection on their instructional practices.
In 2025, 59% of Nebraska students in third through eighth grades scored at the proficient level on the Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS) for English Language Arts. As WORDS has demonstrated its success, Bazis is optimistic it can play a key role in meeting the Nebraska Department of Education’s ambitious goal of 75% of Nebraska third graders at the proficient level by 2030.
“The combination of practice-based professional learning, literacy coaching for all teachers of reading, data-based extra instruction for students experiencing literacy challenges, and development of on-site literacy leaders sets teachers and students up for success,” Bazis said.
To learn more about the WORDS Project, visit https://nebraskawords.unl.edu/.
College of Education and Human Sciences
Special Education and Communication Disorders
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