After reviewing many programs, we chose Reading Horizons Discovery for all 26 of our elementary/K–8 schools, starting this school year. We also use other interventions such as Leveled Literacy Intervention to target deficiencies in reading that hinder performance.
Upfront and ongoing PD
With any district-wide initiative, we believe in front-loading our educators with professional development (PD). Before the school year started, we opened PD for all of our kindergarten, first-, and second-grade teachers. We provided multiple trainings at three different schools to make sure all 400 educators felt familiar with what they were going to be expected to teach. During these trainings, we introduced them to online modules that keep the learning going.
We also used a grant to hire an additional curriculum staff member who supports educators with PD and implementation. She will observe classrooms and will model, coach, co-teach, and support teachers as they navigate through this high-impact instructional routine.
But PD is not just the initial training or the online modules. It’s supporting our teachers, day in and day out, as they navigate through this systematic, sequential routine of phonics instruction.
Supporting all ages and abilities
Even though we acted before the state required us to, we weren’t looking for a quick fix. We implemented the phonics-based approach for all K–2 students. Most of our students are in general education classrooms, which means that there may be a second teacher who works with students during reading instruction. We use a multi-tiered student support system for intervention. If we see students who are struggling with prerequisite lessons and skills, they can work on those skills either in the general education classroom or in a pull-out setting, in a small group with a teacher.
Our ecosystem of phonics-based learning also extends to our self-contained emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) classroom. Because we started the implementation with K–2, there are students in our third-grade classes who are struggling with phonics and phonemic awareness, and we offer them tier two intervention as well.
So far, feedback from our educators has shown that a phonics-based approach to literacy is the comprehensive support that they and their students needed. After investing time and resources into this initiative, it’s reassuring for educators to say that we’ve found the missing piece.