A national nonprofit called The Reading League is starting a Nebraska chapter to help teachers implement science-based reading instruction in their classrooms.
Clarice Jackson, founder and president of the newly formed Nebraska chapter, said teachers are the key to ensuring their students can read at grade level or higher.
“They spend eight-plus hours with our kids a day, and so they want to make sure that they’re providing the very best service for them as well,” Jackson said. “I just believe that we need to teach and train our teachers, and treat them as the professionals that they are so that they don’t go home at night worrying about a student that they don’t feel that they have been able to help reading-wise.”
The organization’s introduction in Nebraska comes at a time when the state department is also pushing forward on several literacy efforts across the state, including training teachers in science-based reading. The Nebraska Department of Education set a goal for 75% of third graders to be proficient in reading by 2030. In the 2024-25 school year, about 58% were considered proficient.
The Reading League will host webinars and other events to connect teachers with resources and other educators as they look to implement the science of reading, which includes phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency and comprehension.
Jackson said she saw first hand how important literacy is for students and communities. She first met her daughter, Latecia, who Jackson adopted, while teaching at an Omaha school.
“This little 8-year-old came into my classroom, and I had the alphabet on the board, and she couldn’t decipher what the alphabet was. She didn’t know the letters. She didn’t understand the sounds, and she really, really struggled,” Jackson said. “I was 19 years old at the time, and I was perplexed. I was like, ‘how does a child reach second grade and doesn’t know the alphabet? How can they do the work in the classroom?’”
After adopting her daughter, Jackson enrolled her in a school that focused on helping students with dyslexia. Jackson credits the science-based instruction in that school, Phoenix Academy in Omaha, for getting her daughter from a non-reader to a third-grade level.
Jackson sees literacy as a basic human need and said illiteracy can impact a person financially, emotionally and socially. She added that someone in prison who is illiterate has a recidivism rate of 70% compared to 16% for those who can read.
The main reason behind Jackson’s passion for literacy is the tragedy of losing her daughter.
Latecia died at an Omaha house party at the age of 24, where rival gang members shot into a crowd of people. Jackson said she learned some of those involved were part of the school-to-prison pipeline and had literacy issues.
“I can’t help but believe that if we had a more literate educational system that understood the science of reading and could have addressed those needs that maybe that day would have never happened,” Jackson said. “I wouldn’t be sitting here today sharing with you about my daughter who is no longer with us, but that she would be here and alive and thriving, and maybe married with grandchildren that I get to benefit from.”
Jackson continued her advocacy for improving literacy in the state. Now, she’s trying to get the word out about The Reading League and has already heard from teachers who are excited for that help. She is currently planning the first webinar.
“We’ve gotten so much buzz and excitement, and teachers from across the state, Eastern Nebraska, Western Nebraska,” Jackson said. “They are just excited about The Reading League coming to Nebraska, and thankful.”