Assistant Professor of Literacy Education Jackie Relyea Receives Jerry Johns Promising Researcher Award from the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers

Jackie Relyea, an assistant professor of literacy education in NC State’s College of Education, has received the Jerry Johns Promising Researcher Award from the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers (ALER).

The annual award honors junior researchers whose work addresses significant questions about reading and literacy and extends understanding of its development, assessment or instruction from early childhood through adulthood. 

“Receiving this award is truly an honor. It’s both exciting and motivating to be recognized by colleagues and mentors in the field, and it inspires me to keep pursuing meaningful and impactful research that connects classroom practices with literacy development for the teachers, students and communities we serve,” Relyea said. “This recognition is a wonderful reminder of the difference we can make when we commit to supporting all learners.”

Relyea’s research focuses on understanding reading development with a particular focus on linguistically diverse students as well as on developing and evaluating effective instructional practices in literacy.

She has led or been part of several studies that link students’ content knowledge to stronger reading skills, including a study published in the Journal of Educational Psychology earlier this year that found English language learner students who remained in their classrooms for science and social studies lessons, rather than being pulled out for English language-focused instruction, saw improvements in their ability to write argumentative essays and use new academic vocabulary. 

Since 2020, she has worked alongside Associate Professor of Literacy Education Dennis Davis to develop the Building Knowledge and Language through Inquiry (KLI) Framework, a small-group intervention for English language learners who have reading comprehension difficulties that helps readers strengthen language and literacy skills while building knowledge about interesting topics in other academic disciplines.
Most recently, she received an Innovation Fellows grant from the College of Education for iWolfpack Readers and Writers, which pairs elementary school students with reading difficulties with graduate students in the college and integrates an AI-powered writing tool that offers real-time, personalized feedback to enable students to more actively engage in their learning and receive targeted support based.