Amid Critical K-12 Reading Loss, NOW! Programs® Wins Multi-State Approval for Live Online Reading Intervention

NOW! Programs®, an evidence-based live online reading intervention developed from federally funded research, is an approved vendor in Missouri, City of Boston, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and select Texas ISDs. Families in 15 states can also access NOW! Programs® through approved state Education Savings Accounts (ESA) programs.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Jun 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 15, 2026, NOW! Programs® was approved as a state-authorized vendor in Missouri to deliver live instructor, online, high-dosage reading tutoring to elementary students not reading on grade level. 

The approval — backed by NICHD-funded randomized controlled trials and four decades of researcher-led implementation — comes as Harvard, Stanford, and Dartmouth researchers confirm reading achievement has declined in 83 percent of U.S. school districts over the past decade - not due to COVID. Select Missouri districts and the City of Boston have grant funding allocated to contract with NOW! Programs®.

Eligible LEAs and district administrators can learn more about school partnerships and begin the process of securing funded services at nowprograms.com/high-dosage-tutoring-for-schools.

NOW! Programs® is currently approved as a high-dosage literacy tutoring vendor in the following jurisdictions:

• Missouri — select districts have grant funding allocated 
• City of Boston — approved vendor and funding allocated
• Louisiana — approved vendor
• North Carolina — approved vendor
• South Carolina — approved vendor
• Texas — approved vendor select ISDs

What Sets NOW! Programs® Apart:

• Most reading programs start at the letter, the word, the passage — NOW! Programs® starts before learning letters, with training speech processing in a 5-way multisensory paradigm
• Reading difficulties are rarely about an inability to learn to read, spell, and write — they stem from foundational speech processing skills not being fully trained before beginning letters or phonics and reading instruction
• Phonics programs are ineffective in early intervention / literacy training with 5-year-olds while NOW! Programs® is proven to empower more than 97% of 5 year olds to stronger literacy skills
• NOW! Programs® was developed and validated through NICHD-funded randomized controlled trials, the gold standard for proof of effectiveness, and has been in use for over four decades.
• Uniquely, NOW! Programs® brain scientist researchers were also the entrepreneurs who pioneered its implementation into schools, clinics and online platforms.

"Speech processing skills are the number one predictor of reading strength or reading difficulty. Every child develops them before ever learning the alphabet, yet most literacy programs skip straight to phonics. NOW! Programs® starts where reading actually begins. When that foundation is in place, reading develops as it should," said Dr. Tim Conway, neuropsychology researcher and founder of NOW! Programs®.

"Students who have spent years in intervention without meaningful progress are not missing another strategy. They are missing the underlying speech processing or phonological awareness skills that are the foundation from which reading instruction works. When we build that foundation first, students labeled resistant to intervention often demonstrate abilities that were there all along," said Becky Lareau, Manager of K-12 Educational Services at NOW! Programs®.

Progress is measured through a variety of measures including school-administered NWEA MAP and STAR assessments. Schools implementing the program have documented:

• Students advancing multiple grade levels within a single academic year
• Approximately 40 percent of students no longer requiring special education reading services upon program completion, based on data collected during the NICHD RCT trial

For families in states without district-level grant funding, NOW! Programs® is also an approved ESA provider — accepted under Education Savings Account programs in 15 states, with annual awards ranging from approximately $4,900 to $20,000 depending on the state and student eligibility. As an approved ESA provider, NOW! Programs® gives families a funded private pathway to the same evidenced-based instruction available to districts. Approved ESA states include:

• Alabama — CHOOSE Act ESA
• Arizona — Empowerment Scholarship Account
• Arkansas — Children's Educational Freedom Account
• Florida — Family Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities and Personalized Education Program
• Indiana — INESA
• Louisiana — LA GATOR ESA
• Minnesota — Afterschool Advance Program
• Montana — Special Needs ESA
• New Hampshire — Education Freedom Account
• North Carolina — ESA+
• South Carolina — Education Scholarship Trust Fund
• Tennessee — ESA and IEA Programs
• Utah — Utah Fits All Scholarship
• West Virginia — Hope Scholarship ESA
• Wyoming — ESA

District administrators, LEAs, and families can reach NOW! Programs® at NOWprograms.com or (352) 275-5778.

Source

Education Scorecard (May 2026). District-level reading score analysis, 2015–2025. Harvard Center for Education Policy Research, Stanford Educational Opportunity Project, Dartmouth. edopportunity.org

About NOW! Programs®

Founded in 2013 by Dr. Tim Conway, NOW! Programs® delivers live, instructor-led, online literacy instruction implemented over four decades and backed by NICHD-funded randomized control trial reading research. NOW! Programs® is an approved vendor for state and municipal high-dosage tutoring grant programs and an approved provider under Education Savings Account programs in 15 states.

About The Morris Center

Founded in 1986, The Morris Center provides comprehensive assessment and intensive instruction for individuals with learning and developmental challenges. Led since 2008 by Dr. Tim Conway, the organization's Intensive Empowerment Program is supported by NICHD-funded randomized controlled trials. themorriscenter.com

Media Contact

Candice Johnson Polowitz
NOW! Programs®
(352) 275-5778
[email protected]
NOWprograms.com/in-the-news-dyslexia-literacy-outcomes/

SOURCE NOW! Programs®