Tracey Biscontini, founder and CEO of Northeast Editing, Inc., has launched a personal pledge focused on improving clarity, responsibility, and care in educational content. The initiative comes as educational clarity faces significant strain, with only about 33 percent of eighth-grade students in the United States reading at or above a proficient level according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Biscontini's pledge reflects her more than 30 years of experience in educational publishing and her belief that small, consistent choices can have real impact on how students learn.
The pledge is built around seven specific commitments expressed as daily behaviors. Biscontini commits to writing and editing every piece of educational content with the student as the primary audience, reading all instructional content aloud before finalization, removing language that sounds impressive but doesn't improve understanding, questioning unclear instructions rather than passing them through, prioritizing accuracy over speed when trade-offs arise, mentoring writers on clarity rather than just style, and treating educational content as a responsibility rather than 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."
This initiative addresses multiple challenges in contemporary education. Studies from literacy organizations show 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. Meanwhile, digital-first publishing has shortened production timelines, increasing the risk of unclear or rushed content reaching students. The pledge offers a counterbalance to these trends through deliberate, quality-focused practices.
Biscontini has also developed a practical toolkit with 10 actions anyone can implement. These include reading writing aloud and revising anything awkward, asking someone unfamiliar with a topic to read instructions and explain them back, shortening sentences that run longer than two lines on a page, replacing abstract terms with concrete examples, cutting unnecessary adjectives, ensuring questions ask only one thing, matching vocabulary to the intended learner rather than subject experts, using explanatory headings, pausing before submission to consider audience, and maintaining a personal list of common mistakes for review before final drafts. Additional resources include a 30-day personal progress tracker that guides users through implementing these practices systematically.
The significance of this initiative extends beyond individual practice to broader educational outcomes. When students encounter clear, well-structured materials, they're more likely to engage with content and develop stronger literacy skills. For educational publishers and content creators, adopting these principles could reduce the need for costly revisions and improve the effectiveness of learning materials. Biscontini emphasizes that impactful change doesn't require dramatic gestures. "Big ideas don't always start loud," she has noted. "Sometimes they look like doing the same thing carefully every day." This approach makes the pledge accessible to writers, editors, educators, and anyone creating learning materials who seeks to contribute to improved educational experiences through deliberate, consistent effort.
