TextProject president and CEO Elfrieda H. (Freddy) Hiebert blogs about important issues in reading research and practice.
Podcast: On the Road to Literacy Success
November 4, 2026
Are we making vocabulary instruction more complicated than it needs to be? And are some of our longstanding instructional practices actually limiting students’ opportunities to become skilled readers? Dr. Freddy Hiebert explores these questions and more with Dr. Staci Bain.
The British and American Word Families Project (BAWF): A New Way to Explore English Word Families
October 27, 2026
BAWF is a free, searchable database of about 378,000 words from contemporary British and American English. For each word, it brings together information about its structure, its family, and how often it occurs. The database is designed for teachers, curriculum developers, and researchers.
Meet BAWF: A Free Word Family Database for Educators, Now at TextProject
October 27, 2026
A second grader who can read help has a head start on helper, helpful, helping, helpless, and unhelpful. Each new word adds a familiar part to a word she already knows, and the meaning of the whole follows from its parts.
CRA 2026: Reading More, Learning More
October 16, 2026
Presentation PDF from TextProject CEO Dr. Elfrieda Hiebert ‘s keynote presentation at the 2026 California Reading Association virtual conference on October 16 is now available.
Download PDFBuilding Automaticity Without Putting Meaning on Hold
October 16, 2026
Why texts for foundational skills can also build knowledge. Integrating automaticity with comprehension, TextProject’s text sets allow for rich learning opportunities. Teachers should select texts that foster word recognition and knowledge development.
When Texts Build on One Another
October 16, 2026
From isolated reading experiences to cumulative knowledge. By engaging with related themes across multiple texts, students develop vocabulary, make meaningful connections, and refine their knowledge. This approach fosters deeper comprehension, allowing students to build on what they’ve learned in previous readings for a richer educational experience.
You Can’t Become Automatic at Something You Rarely Do
October 16, 2026
Why reading volume and word distribution matter. High-frequency words dominate texts, limiting exposure to others essential for comprehension. To enhance literacy, students need accessible, engaging texts that offer repeated encounters with various words while receiving targeted foundational skills instruction to decode effectively.
Putting the New Science of Vocabulary to Work in the Classroom
September 30, 2026
This summer, I listened to researcher Dr. Freddy Hiebert present on using AI to support language learning. I was intrigued by her presentation and agreed with her observation that the words selected by curriculum companies often have little to do with one another.
CRA 2026 Keynote – Reading More, Learning More: Making it Happen with Engaging, Knowledge-Rich Text
September 9, 2026
Join TextProject CEO Dr. Elfrieda Hiebert at the 2026 California Reading Association virtual conference October 16-17. Her keynote session focuses on a powerful but often overlooked lever for reading success: increasing reading volume with texts that matter.
The Complexity That Counts: How Word Support Makes Demanding Text Comprehensible
August 25, 2026
Previously, I have suggested that the decline in reading scores might be traced, in part, to mandates requiring students to read primarily complex texts, whether or not they could read them independently. Now my name is on a study reporting that children who read the complex texts came out ahead. This apparent contradiction is resolved by understanding that a.) complexity is not one thing; and b.) word support is crucial.