McCarthy Consulting

& Professional Services

Listening for What Matters in Literacy Systems

School districts rarely struggle because educators are uninformed or uncommitted. More often, they struggle because well-intentioned practices—curriculum, interventions, assessments, staffing—have accumulated over time without a shared throughline.

As a result, districts begin asking familiar questions:

Why are increasing numbers of students receiving intervention services?
Why do teachers experience the curriculum differently across classrooms?
Which assessments are actually informing instruction?
Where is our literacy system working as intended, and where is it quietly breaking down?

My work begins by listening.

The goal is simple: strengthen core literacy instruction so that fewer students require intervention and teachers experience greater clarity in their work.