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 the response is 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, Pittsburgh Public Schools, and the Environmental Charter School. The school-based ERAS program has delivered strong reading gains and glowing feedback from volunteers.
Seeing that program's success, in 2026, Literacy Pittsburgh secured new funding to pilot the ERAS tutoring model in our adult education program. Over the course of the last six months, ERAS for Adults has reached more than 60 learners in one-on-one or small group settings. The materials have been used with English Language learners and with U.S.-born students who are working to strengthen their foundational reading skills. Early results of the pilot 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. One instructor, Julie, shared the example of a student from Afghanistan, who had not previously had the opportunity to attend school, and who was developing literacy skills for the first time. As a result of these educational challenges, this student struggled to advance beyond our lowest English language class level. After using the ERAS for Adults materials, she was able to demonstrate an improvement in her 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. The volunteer classroom aides who have been working directly with students using the ERAS content have all 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 told us that 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 tell us that students are also making significant reading gains.
Adapting the curriculum for an adult population – one that includes many English language learners – has required some 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 that the materials continue to meet the needs of adult learners.
Building on the success of the classroom-based pilot, Literacy Pittsburgh now plans to expand the reach of 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 data from the pilot has demonstrated that 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 the largest provider of adult basic education in Allegheny and Beaver Counties. Literacy Pittsburgh annually helps 3,200 individuals gain the skills needed to reach their fullest 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. Founded in 1982, it serves local adults through numerous neighborhood locations and its Downtown Pittsburgh Learning Center.
