The Literacy Trajectory

CEO Perspectives from Karl Rectanus

I didn't come to this role from the outside looking in. 

I came as a former educator, a school administrator, the founder of a company that helped shape evidence standards in the Every Student Succeeds Act (LearnPlatform, now Instructure Research) — and as the father of three girls, one of whom is blessed with dyslexia.

Each of those experiences taught me something different about literacy. Together, they made one thing impossible to ignore: strong reading foundations change the entire trajectory of a child's life, and we are not yet doing enough, at scale, to get every child there.

That's why I took on this mission – to change the trajectory of US literacy – as CEO of Really Great Reading.

What I'm Hearing From District Leaders

When I first spent time with RGR, what struck me immediately wasn't a product or a pitch deck. It was the trust. Educators and district leaders who've partnered with RGR don't just use our materials — they rely on them. That kind of relationship isn't built overnight, and it isn't built through marketing. It's built by showing up, doing the work, and delivering results in real classrooms with real teachers.

That foundation — decades deep, grounded in the Science of Reading — is what we're building on. Not replacing. Building on.

Where We're Focused Next at RGR

We are investing with intention. Here's where our focus is going:

• Consistent, easy-to-use, unified solutions across print, physical, and digital — all grounded in learning science, designed to reduce friction for teachers and improve outcomes for students.
• Deeper educator input and more evidence — we're unifying current and new innovations into a single, more effective platform, built with the people who use it most.
• Practical professional learning and coaching — designed for real teachers in real classrooms, not for ideal conditions that rarely exist.
• An operating model focused on proven impact — including new contract structures tied to learning outcomes, because we believe so much in our solutions and partnerships… and it’s the right thing to do!

That last point matters to me personally. If we're asking districts to invest in literacy, we should be willing to stand behind results. We do. We are. We will. That's our direction.

But, as the saying goes, if we “want to go far, go together.”

An Invitation to Think Together With Me

I’m not interested in broadcasting a vision from a distance. I want to be in conversation with the educators and district leaders doing this work — learning from you as much as sharing what we're building.

If you've partnered with RGR before, thank you. Your commitment to literacy and to the hard work of changing outcomes at scale is exactly the kind of partnership that makes this mission possible.

If you're new to RGR, I hope this gives you a sense of who we are and where we're going. I'd welcome the chance to connect directly.

Karl Rectanus is CEO of Really Great Reading (RGR), an impact-centered leader driving measurable literacy outcomes for all students. An entrepreneur and advisor, he previously co-founded and led LearnPlatform, pioneering rapid-cycle evaluation and evidence-based decision-making in K-12 education.

He writes The Literacy Trajectory, a series exploring how educators and school systems can improve literacy outcomes at scale.