Tracey Biscontini, founder and CEO of Northeast Editing, Inc., has announced 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 current data. The National Assessment of Educational Progress reports that 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 to improve educational writing. These include reading writing aloud and revising anything that feels awkward or confusing, asking someone unfamiliar with the 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, and cutting one unnecessary adjective from every paragraph. Additional recommendations include checking that each question asks only one thing, matching vocabulary level to the intended learner rather than the subject expert, using headings that explain rather than tease, pausing before submitting to ask who the content is really for, and keeping a short list of common personal mistakes to review before final drafts.
A 30-day personal progress tracker provides structured guidance for implementing these practices. Days 1–7 focus on reading all written instructions aloud and noting recurring issues. Days 8–14 involve revising one existing piece of content using clarity-first edits. Days 15–21 require applying the toolkit steps to all new writing. Days 22–30 emphasize reflection on what improved comprehension and what still caused confusion. Biscontini encourages individuals to adapt the pledge to their own work, noting that "big ideas don't always start loud" and sometimes "look like doing the same thing carefully every day."
The initiative addresses significant challenges in educational publishing where clarity directly impacts student outcomes. With literacy rates remaining concerning and digital publishing accelerating content production cycles, the pledge offers a framework for maintaining quality standards. For educators and content creators, implementing these practices could reduce classroom time spent clarifying confusing materials and increase student engagement with learning content. The approach emphasizes that responsible educational writing requires intentional daily choices rather than occasional grand gestures, positioning clarity as both a professional standard and an ethical responsibility in materials that shape how students learn.
