Educational Publishing Veteran Launches Personal Pledge for Clearer Learning Materials

Tracey Biscontini, founder and CEO of Northeast Editing, Inc., has announced the launch of a personal pledge focused on improving clarity, responsibility, and care in educational content. The pledge reflects her more than 30 years of experience in educational publishing and her belief that small, consistent choices can have a real impact on how students learn. "I just wanted to write material that made sense," Biscontini has said of her career. "If students don't understand it, it doesn't work." That principle now anchors her pledge, which is aimed at writers, editors, educators, and anyone who creates learning materials.

Educational clarity is under strain. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only about 33 percent of eighth-grade students in the United States read at or above a proficient level. Studies from literacy organizations show that students are significantly more likely to disengage when instructional text is dense or poorly structured. Teachers report spending increasing classroom time re-explaining written instructions rather than teaching new material. At the same time, digital-first publishing has shortened production timelines, increasing the risk of unclear or rushed content reaching students.

Biscontini's pledge is built around seven specific commitments expressed as daily behaviors. She commits to writing and editing every piece of educational content with the student as the primary audience. She commits to reading all instructional content aloud before it is finalized. She commits to removing language that sounds impressive but does not improve understanding. She commits to questioning unclear instructions rather than passing them through. She commits to prioritizing accuracy over speed when trade-offs arise. She commits to mentoring writers on clarity, not just style. She commits to treating educational content as a responsibility, not just a deliverable. "As writers and editors, sometimes we're the last eyes on a piece before a child sees it," she has said. "That's not just editing. That's responsibility."

The announcement includes a practical toolkit with 10 actions anyone can take, such as reading writing aloud, shortening long sentences, replacing abstract terms with concrete examples, and matching vocabulary level to the intended learner. A 30-day personal progress tracker guides users through phases of reading instructions aloud, revising existing content, applying toolkit steps to new writing, and reflecting on improvements. Biscontini encourages individuals to adapt the pledge to their own work. "Big ideas don't always start loud," she has said. "Sometimes they look like doing the same thing carefully every day." The initiative emerges against a backdrop where, according to data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, literacy proficiency remains a significant challenge, highlighting why focused efforts on educational writing clarity matter for student outcomes.