Savannah educator earns national honor after helping students double reading growth

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - A Savannah-Chatham County Public School System leader is receiving national recognition for helping young students strengthen their reading skills.

Shraddha Nunziata, SCCPSS Senior Director of Special Projects and Initiatives, has been named the recipient of the 2026 Torchbearer Award, presented annually by Ignite Reading.

The national award recognizes educators who are making a difference in early literacy and inspiring others to improve reading outcomes for students.

A new approach to reading success

Nunziata joined SCCPSS in 2024 after working as a science teacher in the Bronx and spending six years leading high school enrichment programs across the Uncommon Schools network.

When she returned to Savannah, where she attended high school, she began examining how the district supported students struggling with reading.

At the time, much of the district’s literacy intervention focused on third graders, when state testing begins.

However, conversations with teachers revealed a need to intervene earlier, before students fell further behind.

“It’s actually teachers that inspired the First Grade Promise,” Nunziata said. “The teachers are like, ‘Why are we pouring all our resources into 3rd? We’ve got to get them in 1st.’”

A small pilot leads to districtwide change

In fall 2025, SCCPSS launched a pilot program providing intensive, one-on-one reading tutoring through Ignite Reading.

The pilot initially served 100 students across four schools.

According to the district’s reported results, students participating in the program demonstrated approximately twice the reading growth of their peers.

Those results helped Nunziata gain support from district leaders and the school board to expand reading interventions to younger students.

During the 2026–2027 school year, every SCCPSS first grader reading below the 50th percentile receives high-dosage tutoring focused on foundational reading skills.

The goal is to address reading difficulties before students reach later elementary grades.

National recognition for local impact

The Torchbearer Award, part of Ignite Reading’s First Grade Promise initiative, recognizes peer-nominated educators advancing early literacy.

Ignite Reading CEO Jessica Reid Sliwerski praised Nunziata’s leadership in expanding the initiative across Savannah-Chatham County schools. According to the organization, the program helped 96% of participating students identified with kindergarten-level skill gaps close those gaps, while overall reading growth doubled on the AMIRA benchmark.

Nunziata received the national award Thursday, Nov. 5, during a gathering of school and district literacy leaders in Boston.

Ignite Reading provides daily, personalized one-on-one tutoring focused on foundational reading skills.

According to Johns Hopkins University research cited by the organization, 17 out of 20 students who reached reading benchmarks maintained those levels a year later.

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