What's New with STARI This Summer

Welcome back! We hope you've had a relaxing and restorative summer break! While you’ve been recharging, the STARI team has been hard at work getting ready for the new school year. If you took a break from your inbox, here’s a quick roundup of what we’ve been up to this summer:

STARI Professional Learning for Coaches

We're excited to launch STARI professional learning for coaches, designed for coaches and instructional leaders supporting STARI implementation. This self-paced online course includes: coaching specific videos and planning tools, tips for supporting teachers with each STARI component and activities to help guide implementation and reflection.

New Unit Alert! Unit 4.3: Truth, Lies, and Memory

Unit 4.3:Truth, Lies, and Memory, invites students to examine how history is told and by whom. Centered on the Vietnam War and the 1970 Ken State shootings, this unit challenges students to engage with multiple perspectives and reflect on the essential questions: Who decides what's true? Why learn about the past? 

Did You Hear? We Just Launched a New Podcast!

Hosted by Dr. Kala Jones, a former high school literature teacher and current SERP Literacy Specialist.

SERP Stories brings you behind the scenes of powerful collaborations between educators, researchers, and designers.

Each season, we spotlight one SERP project from idea to impact, exploring real challenges, breakthrough moments, and what happens when research meets classroom reality.

Season 1: Reading for Real 

Our first season takes a deep dive into STARI. Hear from the researchers, educators and students who bring the program to life as we unpack the reading crisis too often overlooked in middle school. 

Listen, watch, or subscribe: 

Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or YouTube

Thank You for Joining the STARI Live Virtual Trainings!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our STARI Live Virtual Trainings in June and July! It was energizing to connect with educators from across the country who are committed to supporting adolescent readers. 

It's beautiful to have a curriculum that is so thoughtfully designed and set up so that students get the most out of it and there isn't gray area where teachers have to fill in all the blanks.

- STARI Live Virtual Training Participant

Coming Soon!

Be on the lookout for a brand-new year of STARI Community Forums, where you can connect with fellow educators to swap tips, share inspiration, and troubleshoot challenges together.

And surprise! We submitted a proposal for the 2026 SXSW EDU Conference. Help bring us to the SXSW EDU stage by voting for our session in Panel Picker between August 5-24. 

What We've Been Reading: Summer Edition

Here are some recommendations from the STARI Team: 

Sula by Toni Morrison

Sula is a beautiful story on friendship and love set in a place of adversity by the genius Toni Morrison. 

- Josie, Program Assistant

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Brown Girl Dreaming is a beautifully written story about growing up Black and daring to dream in America.

- Kala, Literacy Specialist

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

A really good, engaging, page turning book. It’s kind of a cold case mystery story.

- Margaret, Director of Literacy

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain 

The title says it all. The author says that one in three people are introverts, with skills and talents that are just as valuable as those of more talkative extroverts. Famous introverts include people like Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Rosa Parks.

- Emily, Literacy Specialist

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt

Within my social and professional circles, and even in my own family, there’s a wide range of political and religious views. This book helped me better understand why well-meaning people can hold such strong and differing beliefs on these topics.

- Christine, Director of Development and Partnerships

Thank you for your commitment to supporting adolescent readers!

If you have any questions, reach out to us at info@serpinstitute.org.

- The STARI Team at SERP