Literacy Geeks

For many students, learning to read and write begins in elementary school. But as they move into middle and high school, reading becomes more about absorbing content than developing literacy skills. The shift leaves many behind as they struggle to keep up with academic demands.

This gap in secondary literacy instruction is what inspired Jonathan LeMaster and Lee Ramsey to establish Literacy Geeks.

Combining LeMaster’s expertise in education with Ramsey’s background in computer science, Literacy Geeks is transforming the way students in grades 6–12 learn to read and write. The company bridges the literacy gap in secondary education by providing explicit and skill-based instruction.

Close Reading Comprehension Strategies

LeMaster and Ramsey recognized a persistent pattern in school teachers. While elementary school teachers often have a strong literacy background, secondary educators tend to focus more on content.

“In secondary education, teachers are specialists in their subject but many are not equipped to teach students the skills needed to truly understand and engage with texts,” says LeMaster.

Research supports this claim. As students move past elementary grades, they often struggle to adapt to more complex reading tasks. By middle school, it is no longer about learning to read but reading to learn. Here, the gap between students who are proficient and those who are struggling widens. Explicit literacy instruction is crucial at this stage.

Literacy Geeks aims to fill this gap by offering a platform that teaches both reading and writing skills. Unlike programs that focus solely on reading comprehension, it teaches students how to engage with texts through strategies such as close reading, analysis, and extracting meaning from complex material.

Technological Solution to a Classroom Problem

What sets Literacy Geeks apart is its Dynamic Learning Engines, a proprietary system that adapts to each student’s needs. By tailoring lessons in real-time, the platform provides personalized instruction to help students develop essential literacy skills and track the progress.

Instead of relying on traditional multiple-choice questions, Literacy Geeks enables students to engage more critically with the texts.

“We might ask students to highlight the sentence where an author introduces evidence, or identify how an argument is structured,” says LeMaster. “This approach encourages deeper thinking and removes guesswork from comprehension.”

The platform provides immediate, on-demand tutorials and differentiated support through language translations, vocabulary tips and short videos. It’s designed to help students become independent thinkers and better readers. The system also tracks their growth over time, allowing teachers to see exactly where students are struggling and where they’re excelling.

Empowering Teachers with Real-Time Data

While the student experience is at the heart of Literacy Geeks, the platform is also designed to support educators. Teachers are provided with real-time data that can be used to adjust instruction.

Unlike traditional assessments that provide data only a few times a year, the platform delivers fresh, actionable data every eight days. This allows teachers to make timely decisions.

It also simplifies grading by automatically assessing students’ progress in both reading and writing. This reduces the time teachers spend on administrative tasks, allowing them to focus more on one-on-one support for students.

Literacy Geeks’ innovative approach is already producing impressive results in schools across the U.S. In one high school in Florida, students who were placed in mandatory reading intervention classes showed dramatic improvement after using the platform. The district’s average success rate for students exiting intervention programs was around 5 percent. After using Literacy Geeks, 50 percent of students in these programs progressed to the next level.

The success story showcases the impact of Literacy Geeks in helping students at all levels, whether they’re struggling readers or advanced learners. Teachers have also reported a noticeable increase in student engagement.

The Next Frontier

While Literacy Geeks began with a focus on reading, its latest innovation, an auto-grade writing platform, is poised to transform how writing is taught and assessed.

“As students become stronger readers, they become even stronger writers. Writing is also a true way to assess a students’ comprehension of a text they have read. And with state exams requiring text-dependent analysis, academic writing about and with texts becomes critical to students’ academic success,” says LeMaster.

Writing instruction has traditionally been time-consuming for teachers, who must grade hundreds of papers while providing detailed feedback on each one. Literacy Geeks’ writing engine provides immediate, detailed feedback on student writing.

Unlike other AI-driven writing tools, Literacy Geeks' system uses research-validated rubrics to evaluate writing in a way that aligns with state standards. It can grade essays and provide feedback in seconds. Students can collaborate using its Peer Review Groups routine to make their writing stronger and clearer. After peer review, they can submit for a final grade.

Ultimately, Literacy Geeks is about more than enhancing reading and writing skills. It is committed to building an entire ecosystem of equitable, high-quality literacy instruction. With its innovative, research-based approach to reading and writing, it shows that education can be both engaging and effective, giving every student a real opportunity to grow, thrive, and reach their full potential.