Early reading shapes every part of a student’s academic future, yet Kansas and Missouri continue to see stagnant or declining literacy outcomes. Nearly six in ten third graders in both states are not

This post continues our series on literacy policy and practice. Earlier entries traced how reading instruction evolved in the U.S. and why the science of reading has regained prominence. Here, we turn

On November 12, 2025, Aligned hosted a webinar examining how Kansas and Missouri are translating the “science of reading” into policy and practice. The session walked through recent reading data, what

This post is the second in a series exploring literacy within education policy and practice. In the first blog , we introduced the major methods of teaching reading in the U.S. — phonics, whole

This month’s highlights: Top News – New national polling from the PIE Network reveals a major gap between parents’ perceptions of student achievement and actual performance data. Missouri Update –

This blog post is the first in a series exploring literacy within education policy and practice. Here, we introduce the major methods of teaching reading and the debates surrounding them

This opinion piece originally appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch . By Eric Syverson, Director of Policy & Research, Aligned. Across the nation, skepticism toward statewide assessment is rising

Money matters. But money alone doesn’t guarantee better results. The Aligned Data Matrix is our education finance data hub that lets you compare funding and student outcomes across Missouri school

This month’s highlights: Top Story — Testing & accountability at a crossroads : what the research says, why it matters now, and how systems should evolve. Missouri Update — Funding Formula

For years, educators have raised a problem with assessments: testing students only after instruction ends, when it’s too late to help them improve. Traditionally, states have used end-of-year exams to