Structured Literacy with Joy Allcock

September 2026

This month, we’re continuing an important conversation from Joy’s time in the United States: how do we strengthen Tier 1 so that we are responsive to the students in front of us?

In this month's edition

➤ From Joy’s desk—the International MTSS Global Summit

➤ "Rehearsing Responsiveness" article

➤ In Conversation with Joy Allcock—September 16th

➤ Key Foundations in action

➤ Sound Rhyme /b/

➤ At Home for Year 0 and Year 1

➤ Code-Ed Rewards—final days

From Joy's desk

Responsive Tier 1

My time at the International MTSS Summit reinforced the importance of strong Tier 1 instruction.

The questions being asked in the US are familiar: How do we respond when students aren’t progressing? How do we provide additional support without losing instructional coherence?

Strong Tier 1 needs structure, but it also needs teachers who can recognise what students know, so that they can respond to what they need.

Pictured: Joy at the International MTSS Association Global Summit book signing.

Worth reading

Can structured literacy still be responsive and joyful?

A recent article in The Reading Teacher explores the tension between structured lesson plans and responsive teaching.

Importantly, it shows that explicit decoding instruction can still be active, engaging and connected to meaningful reading and writing.

Read the Article

In Conversation with Joy Allcock

Responsive Tier 1 Instruction | September 16th

How do we provide explicit, systematic literacy instruction that responds to what students know and what they need?

Join Joy as she continues the conversation from the International MTSS Summit and explores responsive Tier 1 instruction in practice.

Key Foundations in action

Impressive results from Hampton City Schools

Across 33 Pre-K classrooms in Virginia, children made substantial gains after Key Foundations was introduced alongside the district’s existing curriculum.

83% finished the year in the Strong band for Letter Sounds, up from 31% at the beginning of the year.

Professor John Hattie described the results as “very impressive” and the effect sizes as “remarkable.”

Read the results

Explore Key Foundations

Sound of the Month

Sound Rhyme /b/

This month, enjoy digital access to Sound Rhyme /b/ and supporting teacher resources.

Use it to help students hear and work with sounds in spoken language and strengthen connections between speech, sound and print.

Access Sound Rhyme /b/

At Home

Bring literacy learning home

At Home for Year 0 and Year 1 gives families hands-on games and activities that reinforce the literacy learning happening at school.

Explore At Home

Code-Ed Rewards

Final weeks

Code-Ed Rewards end with Term 3.

Talk with your Literacy Consultant now about your school's literacy priorities and accessing your Rewards.

Talk with your Literacy Consultant

Across New Zealand, Australia and internationally, the challenge is the same: how do we make strong literacy instruction work for the students in front of us?

Strong Tier 1 is structured, coherent, and responsive.

Talk to Us

In support of every learner,

Joy & the Code-Ed Team

About Joy Allcock and Code-Ed

Joy Allcock, M.Ed. (Hons), is a leading New Zealand literacy educator, author, and researcher whose work has shaped how literacy is taught in classrooms across
New Zealand, the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.

Code-Ed is built on Joy’s evidence-proven speech-to-sound-to-print approach and classroom-tested resources, designed to strengthen teacher knowledge and ensure every learner can access reading and writing.

Our mission is simple:
evidence-proven structured literacy that builds engagement and
accelerates outcomes for all learners.

Follow Code-Ed for practical classroom insights, new resources, and literacy leadership: