Driving Literacy Results at Scale
EdTech Digest's Victor Rivero interviewed Really Great Reading (RGR) CEO Karl Rectanus in a feature-length Q&A examining what it means to lead a literacy organization with a mandate for outcomes rather than adoption. The conversation covers Rectanus's background co-founding LearnPlatform — where he built evidence-based infrastructure helping districts measure whether ed-tech investments actually improved student outcomes — and how that accountability-first mindset now shapes his approach at RGR.
Rectanus describes his entry into RGR as a pivot from evaluating literacy programs from the outside to building a model accountable for results from the inside: one in which RGR is paid based on whether students develop foundational reading skills, not based on how many programs are purchased. He explains why the K–12 market is at an inflection point — districts have adopted Science of Reading-aligned materials at an unprecedented rate, but consistent implementation remains uneven — and positions RGR as the first literacy outcomes organization designed to close that gap through rigorous, accountable implementation at scale.