SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Jan. 22, 2026 — Really Great Reading (RGR) today announced that its evidence-based literacy programs, independently and in partnership with Great Minds, have earned a Tier 1 recommendation through Utah’s Instructional Materials Review Process, overseen by the Utah Instructional Materials Commission.

Utah’s Tier 1 recommendation, the state’s highest rating, confirms that RGR’s programs align with the Utah Core Standards and criteria for high-quality instructional materials. This designation makes RGR’s literacy solutions, individually and when paired with Great Minds Arts & Letters®, eligible for core classroom instruction statewide.

“Literacy outcomes matter most when instruction is delivered consistently and evaluated transparently,” said Karl Rectanus, CEO of Really Great Reading. “Utah’s Tier 1 recommendation expands access to evidence-based solutions designed to strengthen foundational instruction and support measurable progress for students. This is about accountability for results and ensuring every student is learning to read in ways that support long-term success.”

Grounded in the Science of Reading, RGR’s structured literacy programs provide systematic, explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, and foundational skills that are essential for early and developing readers. For more than two decades, RGR has supported educators in translating research into classroom practice through a defined scope and sequence designed to accelerate reading development and sustain long-term gains.

The need for effective, evidence-based literacy instruction remains urgent. While Utah continues to perform above national averages on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), recent results highlight ongoing challenges in reading achievement, reinforcing the importance of instructional materials that are well aligned, coherent, and backed by evidence of impact.

RGR’s evidence-based programs are designed to ignite orthographic mapping, strengthen decoding and word recognition, and support diverse learners, including Emergent Bilinguals, English Learners, and students with disabilities. When implemented alongside Great Minds’ Arts & Letters, educators benefit from tightly aligned literacy resources that reinforce foundational skills such as phonics and decoding within a coherent core curriculum to support student outcomes.

Read the full press release.