Six months ago, Literacy Pittsburgh set out to answer a simple question: could a reading curriculum built for K-12 students help adult learners strengthen their foundational reading skills? Early feedback from instructors, adult learners, and volunteers suggests an encouraging yes.
ERAS (Empowering ReAders for Success) began as a program targeted to elementary-aged students. The school-based ERAS program, offered in partnership with OpenLiteracy, pairs volunteer tutors with students and uses a science-of-reading curriculum to identify each learner’s reading needs and then provide targeted support. Since launching in 2024, the program has served many students across the Clairton School District, Catalyst Charter Academy, and the Environmental Charter School. The school-based ERAS program has delivered strong reading gains and glowing feedback from volunteers.
Building on that success, in 2026, Literacy Pittsburgh secured a second round of investment from RK Mellon Foundation to expand ERAS for children and pilot the ERAS tutoring model in our adult education program. Over the last six months, ERAS for Adults has reached more than 60 learners in one-on-one or small-group settings. We have used the materials with English Language learners and U.S.-born students working to strengthen their foundational reading skills. Early pilot results have been extremely promising, with strong engagement from instructors, volunteers, and students. We are excited to share these early successes.
Instructors are identifying learners who can benefit from the materials. Our instructors continue to see value in the ERAS for Adults content and are continually identifying additional learners who may benefit from targeted phonics support. Instructor Julie Wianko shared the example of a student from Afghanistan who had never had the opportunity to attend school and was developing literacy skills for the first time. Because of these educational challenges, this student struggled to advance beyond our lowest English language class level. After using the ERAS for Adults materials, she demonstrated improved language skills and was promoted to a Level 2 class this summer! Julie shared that “along with this level gain, I have seen reading and writing proficiency increase, as well as her confidence.”
Volunteers are seeing increased participation. Volunteer classroom aides who have worked directly with students using the ERAS content have rated their experience as “good” or “excellent” in surveys. One volunteer called it “definitely my favorite element of my time as a classroom aide.” Classroom aides have also observed that students appeared more able and more willing to participate in larger classroom activities after working with the ERAS materials.
Learners are reporting progress. When we surveyed our students, each respondent said they enjoyed working with the ERAS content, and all reported at least some reading improvement. One student shared, “This is direct. This is helping me a lot.” Literacy Pittsburgh is still gathering test data to support these qualitative findings, but early indicators suggest students are also making significant reading gains.
Adapting the curriculum for an adult population, one that includes many English language learners, has required thoughtful adjustments. The OpenLiteracy teaching materials include nonsense words, which can help show whether learners are truly mastering phonics skills rather than relying on context clues or memorized sight words. However, volunteers have found that many English language learners benefit more from practicing with real vocabulary. As a result, we are adapting our teaching to prioritize real words and to incorporate explicit vocabulary instruction into the phonics lessons. The pilot has also shown that our adult students really value the writing practice included in the lessons. Literacy Pittsburgh is developing ways to expand that part of the curriculum, for example, by including more dictation sentences in each lesson, so the materials continue to meet adult learners' needs.
Building on the success of the classroom-based pilot, Literacy Pittsburgh now plans to expand our ERAS for Adults content to students in our tutoring program. Tutors and program coordinators will work together to identify students across Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Washington, and Westmoreland counties who could benefit from this targeted phonics support. We are delighted that the pilot data show it is worth scaling the program to reach more students, and we are excited for this new phase of ERAS for Adults. During this expansion, Literacy Pittsburgh will continue using instructor feedback, learner outcomes, and volunteer experience to refine the program model and strengthen its impact.
If you are interested in volunteering to support students using the ERAS for Adults materials, please reach out to Katy Critchfield (kcritchfield@literacypittsburgh.org) to learn more.
Literacy Pittsburgh (formerly Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council) helps create better lives through learning. Recognized as a national leader in adult and family literacy, Literacy Pittsburgh is Pennsylvania's largest provider of foundational education and literacy services for adults. A nonprofit organization, it helps 3,200 individuals each year gain the skills they need to reach their full potential and participate productively in their communities. Literacy Pittsburgh provides free, personalized instruction in workforce readiness, high school diploma test preparation, digital literacy, English language learning, math, reading, and family literacy through one-to-one and small-class instruction, both online and in-person. Founded in 1982, it serves adults in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene, Washington, and Westmoreland counties.
