Wiley Blevins, Ed.D.

Meet the Author
Wiley Blevins, Ed.D.

 

Author, editor, educator, and early literacy expert Wiley Blevins, Ed. D., currently serves as an educational consultant for Benchmark Education Company. He is also Associate Publisher of Reycraft Books, with a focus on publishing titles by authors and illustrators from underrepresented communities.

As a Benchmark Education consultant, Wiley has played a major role in the development of several of the company’s acclaimed phonics programs, including the 2023 CODiE Award finalist, Benchmark Phonics, along with Benchmark Phonics Intervention and Benchmark Workshop, as well as the new solution, StartUp , BuildUp , SpiralUp Phonics. He was a program consultant on Benchmark Advance © 2022, which received “all green” evaluation ratings from EdReports in all three Gateways for Grades K-5. Wiley also helped develop Benchmark Education’s current decodable readers programs: BEC Decodables, Decodable Fluency Builders, and the latest addition to the line, Dynamite Decodables. He has shared extensively his insights on what decodable readers need to be effective for teachers, including in his white paper, “Types of Words Used in Effective Phonics Readers.” As an expert instructor for Benchmark Education’s multimedia professional learning network, Benchmark Academy, Wiley has created engaging courses for educators, rooted in phonics foundations.

Wiley’s books include the PD Essentials title, Meaningful Phonics and Word Study: Lesson Fix Ups for Impactful Teaching, written to help educators teach phonics and address common weaknesses in their curriculum and materials. For Reycraft Books, with co-author Alice Boynton, he wrote the nonfiction picture book, Dolley Madison, the White House, and the Big Tornado, which was named a 2021 Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.

Wiley has also been featured in webinars and podcasts that focus on the Science of Reading. In these presentations, he explains how teachers can ensure that their phonics instructional materials and practices align with Science of Reading research to meet young students’ literacy needs, efficiently and effectively.

Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, and raised in West Virginia, Wiley grew up in a home without books, where illiteracy was a reality that he faced every day. Early in his career, he taught elementary school in both the United States and South America. Since then, Wiley has remained committed to helping children learn to read, seeing that ability as a gift that changes a person's life forever and can never be taken away.

Listen to Wiley Blevins

Ep004

The Science of Reading

What Brain Research Says About How We Learn to Read

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Ep003

Check, Please

Quick Phonics Assessments So Learning Doesn’t Decay

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Ep002

Systematic Phonics

Hey, Language Is a System, So Why Wouldn’t We Teach It Like One?

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Ep001

Decodable Texts

Key Learning Tools for a Crucial Phase in a Reader’s Life

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Watch Wiley Blevins

Phonics & Grammar

Phonics FAQ: Reflecting on the Science of Reading

Wiley Blevins, Ed.D.

Watch Webinar

Phonics & Grammar

Making Phonics Instruction More Meaningful and Effective

Wiley Blevins, Ed.D.

Watch Webinar

Phonics & Grammar

Meaningful Phonics & the Science of Reading

Wiley Blevins, Ed.D.

Watch Webinar
Read Content by Wiley Blevins

White Paper

Types of Words Used in Effective Phonics Readers

Ensuring that decodable texts are instructive, comprehensive, and engaging is a top priority for every educator. Using decodable texts that follow the criteria for the breakdown between decodable words, high-frequency words, and story words not only meets these three goals—along with state mandates—but also has an effective, impactful effect on phonics fluency building.

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Authored Books by Wiley Blevins

Written By Wiley Blevins

Meaningful Phonics and Word Study: Lesson Fix Ups for Impactful Teaching

Written By Wiley Blevins
Illustrated by Eliahou Eric Bokobza

Sunday With Savta Trade Book

By Wiley Blevins, Alice Boynton 
Illustrated by Massimiliano Di Lauro

Dolley Madison, the White House, and the Big Tornado Trade Book

Programs Developed with Wiley Blevins

Dynamite Decodables

Print + Digital
Grades K-2+

Blast off to literacy success! Engage students with 100 new decodable stories your students can’t put down!​

BEC Decodables

Print + Digital 
English & Spanish • Grades K-1+

Practice phonics and high-frequency words in context while nurturing a love for reading.

Decodable Fluency Builders

Print + Digital 
Grades K-1+

Build fluency, develop comprehension, and apply phonics skills with authentic decoding experiences.

Benchmark Phonics

Comprehensive Instruction
Grades K-5

Structured literacy approach with an emphasis on application of learning to reading and writing.

StartUp BuildUp SpiralUp Phonics

Targeted Phonics Lessons
Grades K-2+

Grab-and-Go format helps teachers pinpoint individual needs and deliver effective and efficient instruction.

Benchmark Phonics Intervention

Intensive Intervention 
Levels 1-4

Systematic, sequential, and multimodal instruction with spiraled review and repetition.

Benchmark Advance

Print + Digital 
English & Spanish

Comprehensive literacy solutions for today’s culturally diverse classrooms.

Benchmark Workshop

Print + Digital 
English & Spanish • Grades K-5

Mix-and-match modules designed to support responsive teaching.

Benchmark Academy

Meaningful Phonics and Word Study 
7 Video Classes & Demo Lessons

Succinct and engaging courses with big teaching impact made for educators.

Reycraft Books | Associate Publisher

Trade Books
Grades K-6

Authentic, inclusive, culturally rich stories and illustrations reflecting the voice and vision of all children.