Each year, the Ignite Reading Torchbearer award recognizes an educator who has taken the First Grade Promise and turned it into practice, closing the literacy gap for the students who need it most.
When we opened up our call for nominations for the 2026 award to educators across the U.S., we heard from dozens of school and district partners who work alongside literacy champions turning the tide on the nation’s reading crisis.
From a district leader who ran empathy interviews with literacy coaches, teachers, and students to get to the “sweet spot” for literacy intervention to a school leader who created “parent universities” to empower families to support their learners at home, these nominees span the map and the many roles it takes to turn commitment into practice: classroom teachers, coaches, principals, and district leaders, all doing the often unglamorous work of making sure every child learns to read.
The stories shared by their colleagues show the many forms this work can take, from the daily efforts behind the scenes that often go unnoticed to the dedication required to put in work year after year after year that will finally pay off.
The hours that don’t show up on a spreadsheet
In Rockland Central School District in New York, Calley Erlwein spends her days as a K-3 Academic Intervention Teacher and her in-between instruction time keeping literacy visible everywhere else in the building. She helps plan the school’s Read Across America Week, keeps its book vending machines stocked so new titles stay in students’ hands, and puts together the school’s annual book fair.
Her colleagues point to that steady, unscheduled work as the reason literacy feels like part of the building’s culture, not just something that happens in intervention groups.
A grade that took years to earn
At Hancock Creek Elementary in Lee County, Florida, Principal Dr. Denise Phillips-Luster inherited a school that needed to change how it approached reading. She put systems in place to track every child’s path to grade-level reading by 3rd grade, then added a schoolwide monthly read-aloud, one for primary grades and one for intermediate, so classes could talk to each other about what they were reading.
None of it happened overnight, but over time, the systems held and her school’s state grade moved from a C to an A. And yet, her colleagues tell us Dr. Phillips-Luster doesn’t shout the impact of this work out enough.
“She is very humble,” Lee County Schools Assistant Superintendent Charles Vilardi says. Phillips-Luster is known for highlighting “teachers and staff for the credit of improving the school grade.”
2026 Torchbearer nominees
Every nominee on this list, from California to Georgia, Texas to Massachusetts, has a story like these, each one unique to their talents and their students’ needs.
One thing connects them all: Each is an educator who treats literacy success for their students as something to build, measure, and refuse to let go of.
Below are this year’s Torchbearer nominees. The award recipients will be announced November 5.
- Alanna Alston — 1st Grade Educator, Springfield Public Schools, MA
- Kristen Beaver — Director of Professional Learning, Jones County Schools, GA
- Ingrid Ceballos — Elementary Level Director, Salem-Keizer Public Schools, OR
- Calley Erlwein — K-3 Academic Intervention Teacher, Rockland Central School District, NY
- Jose Escribano — Assistant Superintendent of Community Engagement, Family Empowerment and Partnership, Springfield Public Schools, MA
- Maryann Garrison — SAI ELA Teacher, Riverside Prep / Oro Grande School District, CA
- Tajuana Glason — Library Media Specialist, Little Rock School District, AR
- Kendra Gragg — MTSS Coordinator, Ravenswood City School District, CA
- Michelle Graham — Director of Teaching, Learning and Intervention, San Bruno Park School District, CA
- Bryan Gridiron — Principal, Panama-Buena Vista Union School District, CA
- Shaquana Hicks — Reading Teacher, BIA Charter School, GA
- Laura Mendes — Director of Literacy, Springfield Public Schools, MA
- Lindsey Miller — 2nd Grade Reading Teacher, Lancaster ISD, TX
- Britt Moseley — District ELA Lead / Instructional Staff Developer, Pinellas County Schools, FL
- Shraddha Nunziata — Senior Director of Special Projects and Initiatives, Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools, GA
- Denise Phillips-Luster — Elementary Principal, Lee County Schools, FL
- Shannon Shaffer — ELA Teacher / MTSS Coordinator, Fossil School District, OR
- Lisa Simonitis — ESE Teacher, Orange County Public Schools, FL
- Jasmine Walton — K-2 Assistant School Leader, Circle City Prep, IN
- Cora Weiss — JH English / Title I Interventionist, Bowman County Public School District, ND
- Kosten Woodard — Remedial Education Program Teacher, BIA Charter School, GA
Borrow these ideas from our nominees
Put dinner and childcare in the family literacy night budget, the same way you budget for books. (Jasmine Walton)
Wait to host family literacy night until kids are excited about their tutor, then build the night around each family’s own child. (Michelle Graham)
When a struggling writer shuts down, let them write in a form they already love. (Bryan Gridiron)
The Ignite Reading Torchbearer Award celebrates a district leader who doesn’t just understand research or implement programs, but who lights a fire in others and keeps it burning bright. This recognition honors someone who has:
- Championed proactive intervention to ensure children read on benchmark by the end of 1st grade
- Created accessible pathways for diverse stakeholders to contribute to literacy efforts
- Measurably expanded access to early literacy resources for all students
- Built coalitions and amplified the work happening in classrooms
- Made the case for literacy equity in ways that move community members and policymakers to action
Meet Dr. Almudena “Almi” Abeyta, the superintendent behind Ignite Reading’s first Torchbearer award.
