MISSION STATEMENT
Our mission is to develop and support local councils and their members in providing literacy initiatives and advocacy in their communities and throughout the state.
Embedded Files
VISION
We envision a world in which literacy is a basic and essential human right with ample opportunities and support provided to all individuals to become readers and writers.
North Carolina Reading Association
North Carolina Reading Association
Save the date for our Summer Leadership Institute!
Save the date for our Summer Leadership Institute!
President's Message
Heidi Perez
NCRA President
2025-2026
Dear NCRA Family,
As my time as President of the North Carolina Reading Association comes to a close, I find myself holding deep gratitude for this organization, this work, and the people who continue to make literacy advocacy in North Carolina not only possible, but powerful.
Serving as NCRA President has been one of the great honors of my professional life. This year, we leaned into a charge that matters deeply: Educate. Advocate. Empower. Those words were more than a conference theme. They became a call to action. They reminded us that literacy is not simply a classroom priority or an instructional initiative. Literacy is access. Literacy is opportunity. Literacy is voice. Literacy is power.
Across this year, I have been continually inspired by the educators, leaders, families, community partners, and literacy advocates who show up for children with both urgency and hope. At a time when public education asks so much of teachers and students, NCRA continues to be a place where we can come together, learn together, and remind one another why this work matters.
I am especially proud of the ways we have continued to center advocacy as part of our professional responsibility. To be a literacy educator is not only to teach reading and writing. It is also to speak up for the conditions, resources, policies, and support that make meaningful literacy learning possible for every child in every community across our state.
As I pass the gavel forward, I do so with confidence and joy. NCRA is strong because its leaders and members are strong. Our councils, committees, board members, and volunteers continue to give their time, talent, creativity, and care to this organization. You are the heartbeat of NCRA, and your commitment ensures that this work will continue to grow.
Thank you for trusting me to serve. Thank you for pushing my thinking, sharing your wisdom, and walking alongside me in this season of leadership. I leave this role with a full heart and a renewed belief in what is possible when literacy-minded people come together with purpose.
May we continue to educate with skill, advocate with courage, and empower with love.
In service,
Heidi Davis Perez
President, North Carolina Reading Association
Incoming President's Message
Incoming President's Message
Hiller A. Spires, PhD
NCRA President
2026-2027
Greetings,
I am excited about the upcoming year, with deep gratitude and respect for the educators, students, leaders, and advocates who make up our community. At a time when the world feels both full of possibility and uncertainty, our shared commitment to literacy matters more than ever. Literacy is not only the ability to read and write—it is the capacity to make meaning, to think critically, to connect with others, and to participate fully in a complex and changing world. In its essence, literacy is an act of hope and power.
This year, we are guided by the theme Literacy for a Reimagined World: Innovation and Humanity. I created this theme because we are at a pivotal moment in our world. As innovation continues to reshape how we learn, communicate, and create, we are called to consider how these shifts can deepen, not diminish, our humanity. Together, let’s explore practices that honor both the enduring power of language and the generative artificial intelligence possibilities before us. Let’s design ways to engage our learners to be imaginative, curious, and caring. In every classroom, library, and community across North Carolina, literacy remains the thread that connects knowledge with empathy, and innovation with purpose.
I look forward to the year ahead with a strong sense of opportunity and possibility. NCRA will continue to support educators through professional learning, collaboration, and advocacy, while also inviting us to think expansively about what literacy can be and who it can serve.
Literacy is important. I believe that it helps illuminate not only what we know and do, but who we are becoming.
Let’s go!
Hiller A. Spires
NCRA President, 2026-2027
International Literacy Association (ILA)
International Literacy Association (ILA)
The International Literacy Association (ILA) is a professional organization with a mission of connecting research and practice to continuously improve the quality of literacy instruction across the globe.
NCRA is proud to have a longstanding partnership with ILA.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse