Great Minds PBC Expands Literacy Offerings with Foundational Reading Program

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Aug 13, 2026, 09:00 ET

Arts & Letters: Reading Foundations, a Coherent approach to Developing Strong Readers

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Great Minds PBC® is rolling out its first foundational reading solution for students in K-5. Arts & Letters®: Reading Foundations is designed to pair with highly rated Arts & Letters®: Language Arts to create a coherent elementary literacy experience that drives strong reading outcomes for students.

Key elements of Arts & Letters: Reading Foundations include systematic, explicit instruction in foundational reading skills, such as phonics and decoding, morphology, advanced spelling, and reading and writing multisyllabic words; building a strong vocabulary; and expanding student knowledge across subjects like art, history, geography, and science.

Through Arts & Letters: Reading Foundations, students read decodable texts aligned to knowledge-building topics in Arts & Letters: Language Arts, an evidence-based core K-8 literacy curriculum that has earned exemplary reviews from EdReports.org and The Reading League and is anchored by award-winning whole books.

"Coupling a research-based foundational skills program with an aligned, core curriculum that deepens comprehension will ensure every student learns to read and can access rich, meaningful books," Great Minds CEO John White said. "We look forward to seeing how teachers harness the power of this expanded Arts & Letters program to maximize instructional time, improve achievement, and deepen students' love for reading."

Assessments and small group instruction are embedded in Arts & Letters: Reading Foundations, and the entire K-5 sequence builds foundational skills while helping students apply those toward accessing high-quality texts and developing reading comprehension. However, daily routines differ in grades K-2 and 3-5 to reflect how reading development tends to grow over time. In early elementary grades, instruction emphasizes explicit teaching with guided practice. Older students generally work more independently and read more complex texts. They also spend a lot of time developing reading fluency—the ability to read accurately, at the right pace, with expression.

"We're thrilled to offer this comprehensive, integrated approach to literacy that builds content knowledge, supports vocabulary development, and teaches critical foundational reading skills across K-5," Great Minds Chief Learning and Product Officer Rebecca Kockler said. "Research and achievement data show this attention to coherence and focus on all the components of becoming a strong reader are needed now more than ever in classrooms across America."

The new reading foundation solution will be available for schools to pilot early in 2027 and fully implement in the 2027-2028 school year.

About Great Minds

Great Minds PBC is a public benefit corporation. Teachers and content experts write Great Minds instructional resources, applying their experience to create materials that resonate with students, teachers, and families. Great Minds curricula include Arts & Letters®, Wit & Wisdom™, Eureka Math Squared®, and Geodes® books for developing readers.