Carva King has spent much of her 27-year career asking one question: Why are so many capable students still struggling to read, write, and understand language? After nearly three decades working with students who learn differently, she has become convinced that struggling learners rarely need lower expectations—they need instruction that helps complex ideas finally make sense. That belief ultimately led her beyond the traditional classroom and to the creation of The Literacy Lady, where she continues to do what has always mattered most to her: teach.

Throughout her career, Carva has gravitated toward students whose needs don’t always fit neatly within traditional instruction. Her experience includes students with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences, ADHD, autism, English language learners, students receiving special education and MTSS services, and adolescents facing a wide range of barriers to academic success. She has particular expertise—and a special place in her heart—for older struggling readers, especially those who have spent years believing they simply aren’t “good at” reading. Her goal is to provide the explicit support they need without ever losing sight of how intelligent and capable they are.

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Carva’s commitment to helping adolescents reach their potential also extends well beyond literacy intervention. For nine years while still working in public education, she built what would eventually become ACT Academy, helping high school students use stronger ACT scores to expand their college and scholarship opportunities. Now entering her twelfth year of ACT and college-prep instruction, Carva works with students who travel from across Mississippi and surrounding states for her weekend classes, as well as virtual students from across the country. She often describes her mission as helping students attend college “without the burdensome debt of student loans.” ACT Academy also became an important part of Carva’s own professional journey: its success provided the financial foundation that allowed her to open The Learning Studio and begin building The Literacy Lady into what it is today.

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Anyone who spends much time in Carva’s classroom quickly discovers that she is endlessly curious about language herself. A question about one word can easily become an investigation involving morphology, etymology, phonology, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, history—and a few unexpected detours along the way. Her lessons are interactive, highly structured, and often filled with movement, visual connections, discussion, and plenty of questions. She wants students to understand not only what works in language, but why—and she is rarely satisfied with “because that’s the rule” as an answer.

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That curiosity has helped shape the continued growth of The Literacy Lady. What began with ACT Academy and highly specialized work with adolescent learners has expanded to include Literacy Academy reading intervention and dyslexia therapy, Coastal Academy hybrid homeschool programming, educator professional development, and the development of the Power Words Layered Literacy Framework. Through Power Words, Carva brings together meaning, structure, sound, and word history to help students investigate language rather than simply memorize it. Whether she is working with an emergent reader or an advanced student exploring Latin bases in academic vocabulary, the underlying goal remains the same: make language make sense.

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Carva holds Mississippi AAA educator certifications in Dyslexia Therapy, English, Reading, Library Media Science, Career Technical Special Populations, Special Education–Mild to Moderate Disabilities, English as a Second Language, and School Administration. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Secondary Education with an emphasis in English from Mississippi State University and an Educational Specialist (Ed.S.) degree in Reading from Arkansas State University, where she also earned Graduate Dyslexia Certification. Her additional professional preparation includes Orton-Gillingham methodology through the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education and the Mississippi Alternate Route to Quality School Leadership.

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Despite the growth of The Literacy Lady and her expanding work in curriculum development and educator training, Carva remains an active teacher. She provides reading intervention and dyslexia therapy through Literacy Academy, continues to teach ACT and college-prep students, and teaches Literacy Blocks for students in grades 3–12 through Coastal Academy while collaborating with the instructional team to integrate literacy across content areas. She believes staying directly connected to students makes her a better curriculum developer, a better trainer, and a better teacher. Every lesson she teaches, every student she serves, and every challenge she encounters continues to shape the resources and professional learning she shares with other educators.

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For all the degrees, certifications, programs, and projects that have accumulated over 27 years, Carva still measures success much more simply. Sometimes it happens when a student who has struggled with reading for years suddenly sees a pattern, makes a connection, and realizes, “I get it now.” Sometimes it happens when a high school student sees an ACT score that puts a college or scholarship opportunity within reach. Both reflect the belief that has driven her work throughout her career: students are often capable of far more than they realize when someone gives them the instruction, tools, and opportunity to discover it for themselves.

Maegan Alligood’s history with The Literacy Lady began long before she became the person helping keep nearly every part of it running smoothly. As one of our founder’s former high school students, Maegan first joined the team while she was still in high school herself, working behind the scenes on weekends to prepare instructional materials, organize resources, and help with everything from laminating phonics games to preparing for large ACT Academy workshops.

It quickly became apparent that Maegan was capable of much more. She moved into instructional support roles with both Literacy Academy and Coastal Academy, assisting reading interventionists, working directly with students, and eventually serving as a teaching assistant. Her natural ability to connect with children, families, and teachers made her an invaluable member of the instructional team—and gave her a unique understanding of our programs from the inside out.

As Maegan gained experience in education, she also began discovering that her strengths and interests extended beyond the classroom. When an unexpected need arose for someone to take greater responsibility for the day-to-day business operations of our growing programs, a conversation about what we needed—and what Maegan wanted for her own future—led to what turned out to be an exceptionally good fit.

Since transitioning into business and operations management, Maegan has transformed the systems that keep our programs moving. She has helped streamline policies and procedures, improve communication with families and staff, organize countless behind-the-scenes details, and bring greater consistency and efficiency to our daily operations. Because she has actually worked alongside our teachers and students, she understands that those systems aren't simply about running a business—they exist to support the people doing the teaching and the families trusting us with their children.

Perhaps the best way to describe Maegan’s role is this: she grew up alongside The Literacy Lady. She has seen the organization from the workroom, the classroom, and now the office, and that perspective is something we simply could not have hired from the outside. What began years ago with a high school student willing to laminate, cut, organize, and help wherever she was needed has grown into a leadership role that has become essential to what we do. These days, Maegan manages an impressive number of moving pieces—including, on occasion, the rest of us!

With over thirty years of experience as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, and district-level elementary reading curriculum specialist, Alison McCraw brings a wealth of knowledge to our Literacy Academy team. But spend even a few minutes with Mrs. Alison, and it quickly becomes clear that her greatest gift may be the way she makes students feel seen, encouraged, and genuinely cared for.

Alison works primarily with our first- through third-grade students, bringing extraordinary patience and kindness to children who may not always find reading easy. Her investment in our students extends far beyond those assigned to her groups. She celebrates their successes, encourages them through challenges, and has a wonderful way of making each child feel that their progress matters. That warmth has helped shape the positive, supportive culture we value so deeply at The Literacy Lady.

Alison holds a B.S. in Elementary Education from Mississippi State University, with K–12 endorsements in Reading and Computer Applications, as well as an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Arkansas State University. Her specialized literacy training includes Orton-Gillingham methodology through the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education® and LETRS®. During her public-school career, she was recognized as both East Hancock Elementary’s Teacher of the Year and Hancock County School District’s Administrator of the Year.

Although retired from public education, Alison certainly hasn’t retired from serving children and families. In addition to her work with our Literacy Academy, she works part-time with Excel By 5 and remains active in the Junior Auxiliary of Hancock County. We are fortunate to have both her considerable expertise and, perhaps even more importantly, her remarkable heart for children as part of our team.

After twenty-six years in public education—twenty of them spent teaching first grade—Lesley Havard knows a thing or two about teaching children to read. In fact, we often joke that you could give Mrs. Lesley nothing more than a dry erase board and a marker, and she could teach a rock to read! Her ability to connect with emergent readers, recognize exactly what they need, and make foundational reading instruction both explicit and engaging has made her an invaluable part of our team.

Lesley holds a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education and a Master’s degree in Reading with K–12 Reading Specialist certification. During her public-school career, she also served as a reading coach, supporting elementary teachers in evidence-based reading instruction. Her specialized training includes Phonics First®, Project Read®, and AIM Pathways®, and she is currently pursuing a second master’s degree in Dyslexia Therapy.

Retirement from public education has opened an exciting new chapter in Lesley’s career. In addition to continuing her work with our youngest Literacy Academy students, she is helping expand our daytime Coastal Academy program by designing and teaching reading classes specifically for K–2 homeschool students. She has also stepped well outside her first-grade comfort zone to co-teach our third- through sixth-grade Literacy Block, where she is learning to incorporate morphology and deeper word study alongside foundational reading skills for older students who still need explicit reading support.

That willingness to keep learning may be one of the things we appreciate most about Lesley. After decades of successfully teaching beginning readers, she could easily rely on what she already knows. Instead, she remains curious, enthusiastic, and eager to add new tools to an already impressive teaching toolbox. Whether she is helping a kindergartner discover how sounds build words or learning new ways to help an older struggling reader understand how words work, Mrs. Lesley brings the same energy to the task: every student can become a stronger reader when we find the instruction that helps things click.

Maggie Kowalski joined our Literacy Academy team with a special passion for emergent readers and years of experience teaching kindergarten. It didn’t take long, however, for us to discover that her ability to connect with students extends well beyond the early elementary years. As Maggie expanded her work at The Literacy Lady to include older students, she discovered a new confidence in herself as an educator—one that ultimately helped inspire her to make the leap from kindergarten to fifth grade in her full-time teaching career.

Maggie holds a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Southern Mississippi and has continued to pursue specialized professional development in reading intervention, the Science of Reading, dyslexia awareness, TBRI® (Trust-Based Relational Intervention), special education, and Whole Brain Teaching. She has also completed The Literacy Lady’s Teacher Academy training in reading intervention for older students.

As one of the younger members of our instructional team, Maggie brings an energy and enthusiasm that are contagious—but what may impress us most is how much she loves learning as well as teaching. She is naturally curious and never hesitant to ask thoughtful questions about the reasoning behind an instructional decision. Why are we teaching this concept? Why are we approaching it this way? What does the research tell us? Those questions spark valuable conversations, challenge all of us to think more deeply about our own practices, and make our entire instructional team stronger.

That same curiosity has fueled Maggie’s remarkable growth as an educator. She joined our team most comfortable with our littlest learners, but her willingness to stretch beyond what was familiar has made her a versatile interventionist who now works confidently with students across grade levels. Whether she is learning a new approach herself or helping a student discover something for the first time, Maggie brings genuine excitement to the process. Her own professional journey reflects something we hope to nurture in every student we serve: the curiosity to keep asking questions and the confidence to discover just how capable you really are.

Lindsey McDonald joined our team with exactly the experience we needed to help bridge the gap between early reading intervention and the increasingly complex literacy demands of the upper elementary years. With experience as both a fifth-grade English Language Arts teacher and a second- through fifth-grade MTSS reading interventionist, Lindsey understands that older struggling readers need strong foundational instruction without losing sight of the sophisticated thinking they are capable of doing.

One of Lindsey’s greatest strengths is her natural ability to see the whole reader. A student may be working with her on a foundational phonics skill, but Lindsey will seamlessly weave meaningful vocabulary and highly-effective comprehension questioning into the lesson. She doesn’t treat decoding, vocabulary, and comprehension as isolated skills; she is always helping students connect what they are reading to what it means.

Lindsey earned her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Southern Mississippi and holds Mississippi teaching endorsements in Elementary Education (K–8), Reading (K–12), and Social Studies (7–12). She has also pursued additional training in incorporating morphology into phonics and reading intervention—an approach she has enthusiastically embraced in her work with older students.

Perhaps what we value most about Lindsey is the combination of confidence and collaboration she brings to our team. She can step into a group of third- through sixth-grade students, quickly determine what they need, and get to work—but she is equally willing to experiment with a new lesson, ask questions, exchange ideas, and offer thoughtful feedback. Her insight has made our instruction stronger, and her ability to connect foundational skills with higher-level thinking makes her an exceptional fit for the students we serve.

Mary Shallenberger became part of our Literacy Academy team in a rather unusual way—she never applied for the job! When a sudden increase in enrollment left us searching for another experienced interventionist, several highly respected educators independently gave us the same advice: “Call Mary.” Recently retired after twenty-five years in education, Mary’s response when we explained how many children needed support was simple: “Just tell me what you need from me. How can I help?”

That willingness to step in quickly became something much more. What began as a commitment of two afternoons each week gradually grew as Mary agreed—again and again—to help us accommodate more students and families. More importantly, the progress her students made was remarkable. By the time we began scheduling for a new school year, families who had worked with Mary weren’t simply requesting a convenient day or time; they were requesting Mrs. Mary. Several were willing to rearrange their own schedules to ensure their children could continue working specifically with her. We can think of no better testament to the combination of skill, trust, and connection she brings to her students.

Mary’s twenty-five years in education span an unusually broad range of ages, abilities, and instructional settings. Her experience includes third- through fifth-grade classroom instruction, preschool through first-grade special education, and Title I and MTSS reading intervention. She holds a Mississippi AA teaching license with endorsements in Elementary Education, PreK/Kindergarten, English as a Second Language, and Special Education (Mild to Moderate Disabilities). Her specialized literacy training and experience include both Saxon Reading and Foundations, with an emphasis on explicit, multisensory foundational reading instruction.

Mary brings tremendous experience to our team, but what makes her such a special interventionist goes beyond credentials. She is the kind of educator who sees a need and asks how she can help—and then builds the kind of relationship that makes children want to keep learning with her. What began with a few phone calls from colleagues who insisted we needed to meet Mrs. Mary has turned into one of the best recommendations we could have received.

Jude Ferry joined our team in January, and her warmth, enthusiasm, and willingness to jump in wherever she was needed made an immediate impression. A retired veteran educator with experience ranging from a self-contained second-grade classroom to seventh- and eighth-grade remedial reading and math intervention, Mrs. Jude brought exactly the kind of versatility we value—and it didn’t take long for her role with us to begin growing.

Initially joining Literacy Academy as an after-school reading interventionist, Jude didn’t hesitate when we later asked if she would also work with students needing support in elementary math. Today, she brings her expertise to both our Literacy Academy and Coastal Academy programs, co-teaching reading and language arts and designing our upper elementary Multisensory Math instruction. Modeled on principles commonly used in dyslexia therapy, her math lessons use explicit, structured, multisensory instruction to help students make sense of concepts that may previously have felt confusing or inaccessible.

Jude is also an enthusiastic learner herself. After participating in recent professional development on incorporating morphology and etymology into literacy instruction across the content areas, she immediately began thinking about how those same concepts could strengthen her math instruction. That curiosity and willingness to make connections are characteristic of the way she approaches teaching: she is always looking for another way to help something “click” for a student.

Jude holds Mississippi educator endorsements in Elementary Education (K–6), Reading (K–12), and English, Mathematics, General Sciences, and Social Studies (7–12). Her extensive professional development includes training in STARRI reading intervention, The Writing Revolution, Conscious Discipline, mathematics instruction, and digital teaching and learning.

As impressive as Jude’s range of experience is, her calm, patient demeanor may be one of her greatest strengths. Students respond to the warmth she brings into the classroom, particularly when they are tackling skills that have been difficult for them in the past. Mrs. Jude has a wonderful way of creating an environment where students feel supported enough to try, make mistakes, and try again—and her instinctive response when our team needs something new still seems to be, “Yes, I’d be happy to help.”

April Pagano is one of the newest members of our Literacy Academy instructional team, but she came to us with something we have learned to value greatly: the enthusiastic recommendation of educators we already know and trust. Her experience and credentials immediately made her a strong candidate, but it was a two-hour conversation that convinced us she belonged on our team. April quickly understood the bigger vision behind The Literacy Lady’s programs and shared an immediate enthusiasm for not simply joining what we are doing, but becoming part of what we are continuing to build.

April brings experience across both classroom teaching and intervention, including first-grade instruction, third-grade math, and third- and fourth-grade reading and math intervention. She has also served in an inclusion role, collaborating with general education teachers to differentiate instruction for students receiving intervention services, students with disabilities, English language learners, and students needing enrichment. That breadth of experience has given her an important perspective: effective instruction begins with recognizing that students in the same classroom may need very different kinds of support in order to grow.

April holds a Mississippi Educator License with endorsements in Elementary Education (K–6), Special Education–Mild to Moderate Disabilities (K–12), and English as a Second Language (K–12). Her commitment to creating inclusive learning environments also extends beyond her formal credentials. She was the recipient of an AdoptAClassroom.org grant that allowed her to add sensory supports to her classroom and create an environment designed to better meet the needs of diverse learners. She also remains actively involved in her community through volunteer service.

As excited as we are about the experience April brings with her, we are equally excited about what lies ahead. She joins a team that values collaboration, curiosity, continued learning, and a willingness to rethink instruction when a student needs something different. From our very first conversation, it was clear that those values resonated with April—and that she was eager to grow alongside us as we continue building programs designed to help every student recognize just how capable they can be.

Erin Haynes joined our Coastal Academy team in perhaps the most perfectly timed way possible. A former high school classmate and teaching colleague of our founder, Erin walked through our doors one day and simply asked, “Do you need a science teacher?” As it happened, the answer was a very enthusiastic YES! What began as much-needed part-time help gave our students access to a veteran educator with twenty-three years of teaching experience—and an extraordinary range of knowledge, creativity, and real-world curiosity.

Erin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and a Mississippi Educator License with endorsements in Elementary Education (K–8), Mathematics (7–12), General Sciences (7–12), and Biology (7–12). Her twenty-three years in education, combined with that broad academic background, allow her to connect with students across multiple grade levels and content areas. She brings particular expertise to math and science, where she has a gift for connecting classroom concepts to the world beyond a textbook.

And Erin certainly has plenty of real-world experience to draw from. A true lifelong learner and something of a Renaissance woman, she raises and shears her own sheep, dyes and spins fiber into yarn, and creates beautiful knitted and crocheted pieces. She is also an active member of our region’s Search & Rescue community, where she and her trained rescue dog may be called into action during times of crisis. Science, animals, fiber arts, outdoor skills, emergency response—Mrs. Erin seems to know a little something about almost everything, and if she doesn’t know the answer, chances are she’ll be interested enough to find out.

That combination of experience, knowledge, creativity, curiosity, and active living makes Erin’s enthusiasm for learning contagious. She reminds students that math and science aren’t simply subjects we study in school; they are tools for understanding, creating, solving problems, and navigating the world around us. Whether she is explaining an academic concept or sharing something she has learned through one of her many interests and adventures, Mrs. Erin brings the kind of authentic curiosity that makes students want to know more, too.

Rachel Sandoval brings both classroom teaching and intervention experience to our team, along with something we value just as much: a genuine willingness to step in and help whenever she is needed. Currently serving in a substitute and instructional support role, Rachel provides our programs with an experienced, familiar educator who can confidently support students and teachers when the need arises.

Rachel is an elementary ELA teacher with additional experience teaching elementary math and previously served as a certified reading and math interventionist through the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). She earned her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and holds Mississippi teaching certification in Elementary Education (K–6). Her literacy training includes Fundations®, a Structured Literacy program incorporating explicit, systematic, and multisensory instruction in foundational reading and spelling skills.

Although Rachel’s role with us is currently more limited than that of our regular instructional team, her commitment to our programs certainly isn’t. She is a true team player—dependable, flexible, and consistently willing to help when her schedule allows. We’re grateful to have an educator we trust ready to step in for our students, and we look forward to seeing how her role with our team may continue to grow.