Rochelle Lee Teacher Award Study Groups are school-based professional learning communities. Study groups develop a goal to guide their learning throughout the school year, and meet monthly to discuss instruction and push their practice to reach their goal. Study Groups allow teachers to have a school-wide impact on student literacy instruction. The application is open from mid-December through mid-March. Awardees are announced late April of each year.

WITS sets students on a trajectory for success by building critical literacy skills and developing positive self-identity through teacher led professional development and volunteer powered mentorship programs.

WITS creates opportunities for every student in Chicago to be literate.

WITS is a movement of educators, volunteers and investors coming together to support a better public education for every student.

WITS programs help students develop a love of reading that guides them through the critical transition of learning-to-read to reading-to-learn.

Reading is one of the most commonly and intensively used skills among all types of jobs across the entire U.S. economy.

Third graders who are proficient in reading are four times more likely to graduate than those without proficient reading skills.

WITS is 100% privately funded, and program delivery is not reliant on school or city budgets.

WITS communities of teachers and volunteers model for students the life-enhancing benefits of literacy and a passion for learning.