Shraddha Nunziata, SCCPSS Senior Director of Special Projects and Initiatives, has been named the winner of the 2026 Torchbearer Award, a national recognition presented annually by Ignite Reading that honors educators driving early literacy outcomes for students. The Torchbearer Award celebrates a district leader who doesn’t just understand research or implement programs, but who lights a fire in others and keeps it burning bright.

 

In 2024, after time spent working as a science teacher in the Bronx, and six years leading high school enrichment across the Uncommon Schools network, Nunziata moved back to the city where she attended high school and joined the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System. Like many districts across the country, Savannah-Chatham had concentrated its literacy intervention efforts on 3rd grade, when state testing begins, but when Nunziata sat down with teachers for empathy interviews, they urged her to start earlier, when gaps can be closed before they widen. “It’s actually teachers that inspired the First Grade Promise,” she says. “The teachers are like, ‘Why are we pouring all our resources into 3rd? We’ve got to get them in 1st.’”

 

Rather than overhaul everything at once, she proposed a test. In fall 2025, the district launched what Nunziata calls “a focused little bet,” a pilot of Ignite Reading’s high-dosage one-to-one tutoring for 100 readers in four schools. Students in the program grew about twice as much as their peers, giving Nunziata the data she needed to convince her colleagues, and the district school board, to shift its intervention investment to 1st grade. This school year, every 1st grader in the district reading below the 50th percentile receives high-dosage tutoring in foundational reading skills, so they can close their skills gaps while the window of opportunity is still open. 

 

The Torchbearer Award is part of Ignite Reading’s First Grade Promise initiative, which is built on a simple commitment: that every child deserves to learn to read on time.

 

Nominees are put forward directly by their peers in the districts they serve, and the award recognizes the leadership required to turn that commitment into daily practice. "It's wonderful to see Shraddha recognized with the Ignite Reading Torchbearer Award because she advocated for and turned Savannah-Chatham's 'First Grade Promise' into a vibrant community movement," said Jessica Reid Sliwerski, co-founder and CEO of Ignite Reading. "By recognizing the critical urgency of early literacy, she sparked a ripple effect across the district, closing kindergarten skill gaps for 96% of early-fall students and doubling overall reading growth on the AMIRA benchmark. Shraddha is a true leader whose passion proves that when a community unites to give kids the right tools at the right time, we fundamentally change a child’s reading trajectory.”

 

Shraddha was presented the award this past Thursday, November 5th, at Convene, a gathering of school and district literacy leaders in Boston.