Literacy Lab model expands from eight student fellows in Moorhead to teacher preparation programs across Minnesota
The Minnesota Business Partnership has named Minnesota State University Moorhead’s Nibbe School of Teaching and Learning the recipient of the 2026 Minnesota’s Future Award, recognizing its leadership in a growing statewide effort to better prepare future teachers to teach children to read.
For 20 years, the Minnesota Business Partnership has recognized schools and organizations making gains in literacy and approaches that can be replicated across Minnesota.
Minnesota continues to face a significant literacy challenge, with too many of our students moving through school without the grade level reading skills they need to succeed.
But it does not have to be that way. Schools across Minnesota are showing what is possible when educators use evidence-based instruction grounded in the science of reading. Monroe Elementary School, a previous Minnesota’s Future Award recipient, is one example of a school that has strengthened its approach to literacy by changing how reading is taught.
Literacy Labs build on that same principle by starting with future teachers.
The model pairs teacher candidates with elementary students for supervised, one-on-one literacy tutoring. Candidates learn how reading acquisition occurs in their university coursework and then immediately put that knowledge into practice, using student data and structured literacy practices grounded in the science of reading to guide instruction.
Minnesota State University Moorhead became the first Literacy Lab pilot site under the leadership of Dr. Erin Gillett. Eight Early Literacy Fellows worked with students in Moorhead Area Public Schools, providing structured literacy instruction grounded in the science of reading.
Across two semesters, the fellows delivered 637 tutoring sessions to 59 students in kindergarten through third grade at no cost to participating schools. Students improved through the program, while teacher candidates gained practical experience assessing students, planning lessons, and delivering evidence-based reading instruction.
“Our candidates learn how reading research translates into classroom instruction, and then they sit across the table from a child and put it into practice,” Gillett said. “They make real instructional decisions, see the results firsthand and enter their own classrooms with experience teaching children to read.”
“Literacy Labs take what future teachers are learning in the classroom and give them the opportunity to prove it in practice,” said Archie Black, retired CEO of SPS Commerce and co-chair of the Minnesota Business Partnership Education Committee. “Students receive individualized support, teacher candidates become stronger instructors, and we are building a model that can be replicated across Minnesota. That combination is what makes this work.”
The statewide Literacy Labs initiative is led by Dr. Lucy Payne and Jane McDonald Black, and both have brought the vision for Literacy Labs to Minnesota after seeing the model in practice and recognizing its potential to strengthen teacher preparation.
That vision is now expanding rapidly. Following MSUM’s initial pilot, additional educator preparation programs joined the work in spring 2026, including the University of Minnesota and Southwest Minnesota State University. Another group of universities will participate during the 2026–27 academic year, bringing the model to roughly one-third of Minnesota’s teacher preparation programs.
The work has also helped inform state policy. Gillett and Early Literacy Fellow Isaac Martin testified before the Minnesota House Education Policy Committee in support of legislation requiring teacher candidates to complete a supervised literacy field experience aligned with Minnesota’s reading standards. The measure passed unanimously in both chambers and was signed into law.
“Strong reading skills open the door to everything that comes next for a student,” said Allison Gettings, CEO of Red Wing Shoes and co-chair of the Minnesota Business Partnership Education Committee. “If we want better outcomes for Minnesota children, we have to make sure teachers enter the classroom prepared to teach every child to read. Literacy Labs bring together higher education, schools, and the business community around that shared goal, and the progress we are seeing gives us a big reason for optimism.”
The $50,000 Minnesota’s Future Award will support MSUM’s continued work to strengthen the Literacy Lab model and expand opportunities for future teachers to gain meaningful, hands-on experience teaching children to read.
About the Minnesota’s Future Award
The Minnesota Business Partnership established the Minnesota’s Future Award to:
-
Highlight programs demonstrating that all students can succeed;
-
Celebrate the work of educators, students and families; and
-
Elevate successful academic strategies that can be replicated across Minnesota.
The award reflects the Partnership’s longstanding commitment to improving educational outcomes and preparing Minnesota students for future success.