Edina Schools Reports Major Gains in New Literacy Program
Edina Public Schools presented results from its overhaul of reading instruction, showing kindergarten literacy proficiency jumped from 59% to over 80% in three years. The shift, driven by Minnesota's $92 million Read Act investment, moves away from older teaching methods toward science-based structured literacy.
On Tuesday evening, the Edina City Council heard from school officials about "Literacy @EPS," a comprehensive initiative to transform how the district teaches reading. The program stems from Minnesota's Read Act, which mandates a statewide shift from "balanced literacy" — an older approach — to "structured literacy" based on brain science research.
The results are striking. Kindergarten students meeting literacy benchmarks rose from 59% in January 2021 to over 80% by January 2024. First-grade proficiency also showed substantial improvement over the same period. These gains came after the district trained over 300 teachers through a program called "LETTERS," which includes 144 hours of professional development. The University of Minnesota partnered with the district to deliver this training.
School leaders emphasized that the new approach is grounded in neuroscience. "We used to think there are many ways to teach reading, and now we know from recent brain scans that there's really one way that's sequenced," said an elementary school leader. For struggling readers, the district uses intensive interventions — five sessions per week, 30 minutes each — described as a "medical" approach to literacy support.
The initiative spans from early childhood through middle school. Young students focus on foundational skills like phonological awareness, while elementary students learn explicit phonics and fluency. Middle schoolers receive diagnostics and targeted help, with all subject teachers trained to support literacy across the curriculum.
School officials highlighted the importance of community partnerships and external funding from sources like the Ed Fund and local foundations. A new community engagement initiative called "Community Action for Kids Education" (CAKE) was announced to deepen involvement. While no votes were taken at the meeting, the presentation underscored the district's commitment to evidence-based reading instruction and its willingness to invest significantly in teacher training to support student success.
Our proprietary artificial intelligence agent analyzed publicly available documents including meeting agendas, minutes, and transcripts to write this story to help inform local residents. Feedback helps us improve, so please consider rating how we did with the thumbs up or down below.
Go deeper on this topic
Research related meeting documents and build a brief — without rewriting the story.
Full analysis
we are here to just show you our partnership with the an col schools how we have worked with the United public schools to bring together um our work and our funding to help meet reality in our school so that we can bring our students the best possible education that they deserve and our teachers the professional development that they need
we came early understanding that balance litery whole language was a problem and really being able to look at Str literacy and trying to make sure that we gave teachers and students the tool they needed to succeed
the read app um has many different components but it's a 92 million Investments and we are the such for starts febrary 12 um I don't know anyy but I'm really excited about hopefully getting 30 million more it's going to be my ass for reap this year
currently has over 300 teachers who are already inol we have cor finished all eight which is 144 hours the of about 25 teachers and now we have K3 already in and we're seeing an impact on students already which is really exciting
when you think about early childhood and the um development of early childhood teachers there is a very very strong focus on Child Development the cognitive development that's there's very um less focus on emergent learning skill literacy and numeracy
we used to think that there are many ways to teach reading and now we know recent brain scans that there's really one way that's sequence
research tells us we have to give that intervention five times a week at 30 minutes dose we're talking medical
what you're looking at right now over here on the left is kindergarten over here on the right and what this is this winter Trend data from okay so we have over in 2021 over see 2021 we had 59% in January 59% of our gardeners were in that's the 5% last year during this time it 76% and just this year in January we are now in% in three years this is significant this is why we the work right it's landing on kids
Source document
[0:04] goings in school and let you get to see what's
[0:10] going on in our classrooms um so how does the work into this we that as we go
[0:16] on too but we are here to just show you our partnership with the an col schools
[0:23] how we have worked with the United public schools to bring together um our work and our funding to help meet
[0:30] reality in our school so that we can bring our students the best possible
[0:36] education that they deserve and our teachers the professional development that they need in order to teach our
[0:42] students so tonight first we're going to bring
[0:55] up just a little bit overw that and
[1:04] well good evening um I was totally prepared for exactly what she just
[1:10] said um okay so the react was a a really big deal and a collaboration I want to
[1:16] give a shout out to who is trly led the way to the state
[1:22] of Minnesota and I remember Stacy I had a meeting uh in my office and I said
[1:27] Stacey how about we this in this and this yes so and this is and this is really
[1:34] what we have but you have led the way like we you are such a gem for for our
[1:39] district I know you always did a love and appreciation that you absolutely deserve I that um so you do really have
[1:46] to Le way for St policy um we we came early understanding that balance litery
[1:52] whole language was a problem and really being able to look at Str literacy and trying to make sure that we gave
[1:58] teachers and students the tool they needed to succeed so the read app um has many different components but it's a92
[2:05] million Investments and we are the such for starts febrary 12 um I don't know
[2:14] anyy but I'm really excited about hopefully getting 30 million more it's going to be my ass for reap this year
[2:21] and so um it it make sure that be also I think the future we're going to want to look at increasing glal ly incentive a
[2:29] for District which I think superintendent you would probably would be really helpful for district but um
[2:34] the re really give a comprehensive look at how we can f out curriculum and
[2:40] improve curriculum districts and then un away for our state just think districts
[2:45] would have to pay for this service the state is paying for it we're betting it we're doing good work we this
[2:52] partnership with the University of Minnesota we are also paying for all of the training now for districts like ours
[2:58] we have already started some of the training so there will be a loss we've talked about reimbursement we'll see I
[3:04] honestly we're never going to make a complet PO for district so um as you take ony as one of your your big issues
[3:10] here atun I am so appreciative and in really any ways that I can partner and
[3:16] if you'd like to spend the day of CIT with me my last session genuinely is open invitation
[3:22] I but thank you P
[3:28] for so without further Ado we g walk through some of the work that's being done in
[3:34] the district
[3:42] um I'll
[3:49] call thank youone to
[3:54] talky um and J work that's happening in
[3:59] Public Schools this is my third year um hey I have the pleasure of overseeing and working alongside everyone who's
[4:05] working on literacy initiatives and if truly is you'll see the snapshat of how
[4:10] this looks pre Elementary and secondary that's kind of our goal today and so to
[4:16] just touch on a few things and have some of our um other sta MERS come and share about programing in specific areas so as
[4:25] I said Beth assistant director of teaching and learning and I just wanted to pause here for a minute know that I
[4:30] highlighted my email address we may not have time for questions because we' got a lot of things to share and celebrate
[4:35] with you if we don't that's there for a reason please use it take a picture of it if you have any questions might not
[4:41] get you to me so with that we always start with and I think this is a beautiful way to start
[4:47] off as we we share this story with you and how the read act and how ly um and S
[4:53] ly is in the district because we are committed every time we get together as a staff we talk about this vision
[4:59] together we read it it's level our teachers
[5:10] students Chris can to that so school for each student to reach
[5:16] their full potential and to Pride and you'll see evidence of that throughout
[5:22] this so This of reading you might be familiar with that very buzz word now
[5:28] education and um as a mom of two kids I first grer thir grader and we're living
[5:34] and breing this now in our in our home and we recognize now that it's way more
[5:40] complicated I started teaching years
[5:45] ago this is just that shows the complexity of what it
[5:51] to allary and them
[5:58] together
[6:06] different this super intentional around why we doing what're doing
[6:13] why why're supping the
[6:23] way compx so um
[6:30] spoke a littleit about I'm just going to talk really quickly she explains the overview of how stat suppored us I want
[6:37] to speak to what this looks school because I will tell you
[6:42] part of my job is networking with other districts across the state we have a monthly meeting called
[6:50] area we share Talk network problem Sol together and when came out I was
[6:57] thrilled because in doing this working in my mind thinking this is so this is
[7:03] so encouraging this is work we're doing this do and so really to touch on that
[7:09] and share with you how we we have to be screening our students
[7:16] here screener that's going approve the state of Minnesota so is the screener if you
[7:22] have you know the strer very well so now trying to figure out how to implement B
[7:29] right as has been living and Brea for many years with k1el and actually now
[7:35] K1 system a year um at a really high level and so this is something that when
[7:42] I he other districts talk I just feel that sense of PR accomplishment and what we're doing our teachers and our leaders
[7:48] and our students are doing in terms of we're already by a couple years right
[7:54] another place for any d d way right we're having the game here is the letter
[7:59] you might have might have heard that professional learning development around teaching the science and reading and
[8:06] instruction shifts necessary um one of is profession letters and this is one
[8:12] option for dists to train their teachers it's very very this is where we
[8:19] really support this with schools currently has over 300 teachers who are
[8:25] already inol we have cor finished all eight which is 144 hours the of about 25
[8:35] teachers and now we have K3 already in and we're seeing an impact on students
[8:41] already which is really exciting I share this with you in my metal area meetings
[8:46] just he scaming TR to figure out how to make this happen where already
[8:52] years we are to finding the way the curve and again we'll students
[9:00] it's pretty exciting the last pie the our resources we're still making our way down this path but I want you to
[9:07] confident that we spend really spend a lot of time aling our resources to theing and while the resources appr on
[9:15] purpose we know that our resources are supporting all the teachers learning answer and again this has been um some
[9:23] them implemented in terms of the foundational skills since 201 we're always that right improving this is so
[9:31] these are
[9:40] Main and EMP so that right think about across the board
[9:48] this is my school and I could be impressed with how um the folks the
[9:54] teachers Embrace this um how love Lear princi for this learning is it's really
[10:01] outand our staff are ring this new
[10:06] learning and actually students you'll see evidence
[10:12] that long way also fam the community by you part of with our alliance with some
[10:19] of our dist to talk about how we working together to make sure that we're
[10:26] communicating well that our families are understand supported um so that partnership has
[10:32] just been really great at each of our elementary schools we're also having a science agree tonight um Chris gold
[10:39] started this couple of months ago and each of our buildings posting one of these for those
[10:47] night so that's and could we just thr have support more
[10:56] about later um ability the has given us to do
[11:02] work and right for teachers i t for years I Tau first grade fourth grade
[11:08] fifth grade and when I think about the amount of um professional development that we're getting our teachers and what
[11:14] we're expecting them to
[11:22] do so I to and she
[11:30] [Music]
[11:44] and everybody I'm excited to be here um always um join to our other excellence
[11:52] in early childhood um I am priv The Learning Center across the
[12:02] we currently serve about 550 students and I work with staff ofan
[12:07] amazing so today I'm to share a little bit about doing inly
[12:18] learning and I'm my P president haser
[12:27] talking so the first thing that I just want to start a little bit that's tell me sharing just a little history around
[12:35] child with it when you think about early childhood and the um development of
[12:41] early childhood teachers there is a very very strong focus on Child Development
[12:47] the cognitive development that's there's very um less focus on
[12:55] emergent learning skill literacy and numeracy and and so when we think about our candidates that are coming out to
[13:01] our teaching program we really know right way we need to invest in training our teacher so that they have skill set
[13:08] to do that um and the other thing that his in early childhood is that
[13:13] curriculum is very
[13:19] is school
[13:24] you and that's great that was but they're not driven doesn't we
[13:32] don't have any Baseline on what kids already know do and so we don't have any direction those how kids learn and grow
[13:40] up and so and also um it's it's a very sta Center plan that we want our
[13:47] teaching always right when we're thinking about that so I was them to
[13:53] come on board in 2016 and uh worked for a couple of years to really get a strong Focus curriculum
[14:01] in the early learning Cent cre culum very very popular in school Bas Early
[14:07] Learning programs and reason it's popular is that is directly align with our state standards
[14:14] eaters it also has a standardized assessment which is called teaching strategy goal and again that
[14:20] standardized assessment is well aligned with what we want kids to know to be
[14:26] able to do as they enter kindergart um and one of the very first things I started saying around school and I um
[14:32] was fortunate enough to join was we're not getting kids ready for June 1 we're getting them ready for September first
[14:39] so what make sure that they're transitioned into the next step of their educational Journey this um they're
[14:45] ready and then the other thing that we've been fortunate enough to do is add some training for our teacher letters
[14:52] which I'll speak a more um awareness training um and lessons for her
[14:59] and then um intervention needed if you have kid Elementary set you know read
[15:05] and is we just got that version in the Early Learning Center just called early learning for so um we have a who comes
[15:12] over every day inters for kills in 2022 23 school year we began to
[15:20] keep data and I I um has had noticed for
[15:25] a couple years you know this is pretty kid that are coming to lots of different langages lots of
[15:33] different experiences um really well people and so
[15:39] 22 23 we started to collect some data on who are the fames that are our school
[15:45] and discovered that we have um strong group and even
[15:52] those a number of KS that English Engish Learners and up you think about young
[15:58] kid is two three four five they're all learning English everybody is learning
[16:04] ourish structur but we notic that we have a some population of kids that are English
[16:12] PR as well and so we started a couple of different programs toget those
[16:22] families um so that so all of these things you know I'm really
[16:29] hasin talk about excellence and talking to about what're
[16:35] alsoe the other versions of the metro and I say I can ask every single tell me
[16:43] about how are you what does it look like for you as an administrator where do you see in your
[16:50] classroom how is read young leers do your teachers like the hairing lessons
[16:57] and that feel feel really good to be able to say to other people in
[17:03] theing Che do s you the teacher ask that
[17:10] teacher specific questions about how they Implement that half class or all day class so that's really sort of
[17:17] wasn't really my necessarily but it's been a really nice side that becoming
[17:23] know child for having a pretty low ly program
[17:30] KS okay so
[17:38] letter um so letter is for early TR for professional learning experience for
[17:44] preting kinderart teachers that provides deep knowledge of early ly instructions
[17:49] teachers G skills to help Young Learners build the literacy Foundation before they even learn to read or write you
[17:57] know we take that PR know how to but at some point in our life somebody taught
[18:02] us that right po foundational skill um and the professional learning experience
[18:08] helps the teacher to understand devel language Knowledge Learning writing skills and
[18:15] this is the most important and I see this in the hallway when I'm walking in
[18:20] the classrooms um in the environmental PR when I'm observing lessons the why behind how kids
[18:30] learn the science behind literacy it's so important for teachers to have that
[18:37] and um I have an amazing ly and we often through the school and
[18:43] there are so
[18:49] many prank they the
[18:57] pictures every lesson the other day what they're doing like the corporate and the
[19:03] teachers participated they participate in online session and then they also come together as a group and they
[19:09] facilitate the conversation the conversation that they are having about the why behind how kids
[19:17] learn are so um impactful and you see other in their
[19:23] classrooms um and you know it empowers teachers to feel really um confid what
[19:29] they doing they are deler research based best practice for
[19:38] emerg okay this is such a great picture Andy to grab
[19:46] it um so this talks about the techment in the H kindergarten 10 there skill one
[19:54] letter name letter s recognition activity and then one
[19:59] nurser rights remember your Nursery rights don't ever forget them they're so
[20:04] important um and then the daily lessons provid practice in the exposure for aun
[20:10] awareness now in the early Le Center we only have
[20:15] three be safe and solve problems and this is an example
[20:22] ofid practicing no R this is all child ritten and in particular class this that
[20:32] the K understand that the text has need and it lives in their lives this is
[20:39] directly connected to their lives and that's
[20:51] that's this she's it's so sweet so this is like a
[20:58] little bit more our multi Learners so um students that when they register Early
[21:05] Learning have question here and one the question here is tell us about your languages what do you speak and um and
[21:13] then once we GA that data The Learning Center teachers go out and do home visits to families and lck before you do
[21:21] that home visit they will call each family and give them a little pre interview and for our multile they're
[21:28] really kind of um Gathering data to find out what level of language learning is
[21:35] your child and your family at and then in the following K come together the
[21:41] class screener which is the screener that Meuse for kids that are learning
[21:46] the English language and they they basically they four number and then that
[21:53] helps us know um what level of services they might need and and then um the
[21:59] other thing that was really fun last year is weed into that centering
[22:06] volunteers so we took all ours and you know I think this year it's
[22:13] 36 languages that we speak and K in a preschool class if this
[22:20] child speaks Japanese and their native language and they're learning one day a
[22:26] week they have a Japanese volunte that comes to school with them and that person is there to just in the structure
[22:33] the routine of the day and it is that get really and then Ono professional
[22:40] development with our teaching staff trying to give them allour as we can
[22:46] I'll them on assessments same thing with the letter just having ke conversations
[22:53] about how can we help support
[22:59] okay and so then this is my last slide and I just you know when matthy says put some pictures in and you have you know
[23:09] 25 so the the first P left corner that is a four-year-old ta room and they're
[23:16] doing a lesson on Wheels and so you can see they have the pictures of all the different kinds of wheels and then they
[23:23] made a chart together what we and so different um notation this is
[23:30] really a Shar of the interactive writing the language to the teacher and
[23:36] she mod writing onart paper J is a the where the teacher she
[23:47] draw hers and direct to the children is find a her so this is where we engage different
[23:55] RS andge because the letter my would be L but if
[24:03] I'm more than just my if I know my name I
[24:13] Le um the top left hand corner is just an interactive chart that's to the creative ccul sh again so each day they
[24:23] go through and do one of his charts and they um work at it together and the bot
[24:28] is a sound ball and if you've been in an elementary CL you probably heard a word
[24:33] ball and this is the sound the ball and so we're really working on teaching kids the S and you you you tell her she's
[24:43] gotes that are covering the picture and and for some of the she's
[24:50] got the um picture of the shape your when you're making s which is really
[24:57] really important kids to understand when they're burning my Mes in different ways
[25:02] to different so just an example great things and all are
[25:18] welcome spend some time 20 minutes downstairs in theer yesterday picture
[25:25] and about 12
[25:31] they so I'm G to just walk you through Elementary a little bit so I spend a lot of time amazing coaches working together
[25:38] fol in our principal in the classrooms and so um I'm just to kind speak
[25:43] now are and some things that are you're notice patterns of work that happens as
[25:50] we up in the years so there are some things I have to give credit with is
[25:55] doly and don't and so we the back before the science
[26:03] reading movement this is subject of the right really big high importants the
[26:08] teachers are making one really important thing is that weed to be great dance right read to your children you a book
[26:15] something that story and they just bit and start to learn like starting to talk
[26:23] you know cing things like that what we know now is it is challenging
[26:28] remember all of those components that are required be explicitly Tau some kids
[26:33] of few might just exposure most being That explicit instruction around
[26:41] awareness findy we used to think that there are
[26:46] many ways to teach reading and now we know recent brain scans that there's really one way
[26:52] that's sequence
[26:58] right so we're really leing into that students read the variables we cannot change we now know that we
[27:07] can and finally see students will catch up we're not going to wait to catch up
[27:15] we want to get it early and often and build those skills just like showing ear
[27:22] so we know that that intervention is critical so did
[27:28] that this now is the level of so this
[27:35] sound so downstairs this in our classrooms we
[27:41] have this um cre in our French or we have this living reading in classrooms
[27:48] now as they did two and Sall they understand professional development and
[27:53] they use all throughout their day during their instruction to be and show show
[27:58] children the sound they even know like a vo sound or un sound when you're in
[28:04] class starting now this point of the year to really use this language but these are in charts if you're in
[28:10] classroom you'll see these in classroom and you'll see teachers referencing they're going to every day teaching
[28:16] sounds teaching this is an example of feny
[28:22] practice one of the pieces in that reading gr is that reading and so um one
[28:28] of the things I'm just going to share with you a really quick video of these two friends at
[28:34] elementary loundy um and do this not just with L sounds but also with passages I'll share
[28:42] this with you really
[28:53] [Music] quick good
[29:08] [Music] job and practice that fluency fluency is
[29:16] really just our practicing our rate and our accuracy andity so we smoothly we
[29:24] speak right so then this would progress on for our older students R first and up
[29:30] we're still practicing in fifth grade practicing Middle School right that fluency
[29:43] passages a couple of pieces here just a snap now our example of a
[29:49] [Music] lesson and this is
[29:56] another and in our um Elementary classroom that's part of their day
[30:02] makes where they are explicitly teaching we know that is critical reading
[30:08] comprehension p and so this is an example of a teacher lesson where they
[30:13] were using something from our inspired courses letters is our professional development for K3 teachers and inspir
[30:21] is the secondary research St
[30:27] research but it's now of Supply student at home and why we still need a lot of
[30:34] science because iic in first grade and so we have catch
[30:41] up to do with right so that explicit instruction around these pieces of
[30:47] really critical at this age and so this is an example of the inspir living in the classroom of learning being applied
[30:54] so that KS exposures that words I hear throughout the time teachers will tell
[31:00] me they they start
[31:09] writings take word that start different ways we can make that a little bit
[31:16] stronger word less strong intense and
[31:22] ways and then that to share that Liv
[31:36] so I'm Ro and I work here um sou I am
[31:41] administrative student support and I just join you this year from the elementary Creek Valley was my home for
[31:49] 17 years and then con over that so I have I I corelia
[32:05] I really love the science of reading coming from Elementary in and I know
[32:12] talk about what different parts that the
[32:17] the all way through Elementary so back I will show you what certain look like now
[32:24] in midle middle school so we use the pass to
[32:30] screen and then we use the Diagnostics to diagnose we can be going to the
[32:36] doctor um not feeling so great to go to the doctor going to say not feeling great okay well now let diagnos screen
[32:44] realize you need to be this diagnose what this is and see if it's something that we to attend to so at the middle
[32:52] level we know they have com all these great schools and so we want to find
[32:58] where are the actual hles that are causing us to talk with a
[33:03] possible me in so that we take the Diagnostics pass and we work on the each
[33:11] and every student what does each and every student need they are tell you
[33:16] that they have a name from AER we start
[33:21] with and we see if that is where is Maybe or you is with that that um
[33:31] intervention that they could receive to fil and then take off
[33:38] maybe maybe it's a fluency need and we see a lot of that in middle school and
[33:43] so that we know that awareness SKS are
[33:49] there but we need to just make it Moree so depending on what those
[33:54] Diagnostics of life we decide how are we going to make an
[34:01] academic action plan without students we [Music]
[34:06] also showing us it shows
[34:13] there everything all the skills are there diagnos so we are not over
[34:20] servicing students who don't need that so once we identif they do need a
[34:27] need in the middle school and we know what their need is and what we might need to F we use our BAS intervention
[34:37] that they use elementaries we bring in the mid and we
[34:44] are working on what we saw little girls doing and they were practicing
[34:50] no at the level you see seven graders are practicing their feny
[34:57] at the word level the story level level so we know research tells us we have to
[35:05] give that intervention five times a week at 30 minutes dose we're talking medical and
[35:12] so to get those four we have structured what
[35:18] our like what ourway times during school life so that these students are now
[35:25] receiving for a week and then every
[35:30] other week they're do progress monit so we're saying is this working is the
[35:37] doses of need that we are trying to fild working and if we are seeing that it's
[35:44] working in data it's going we can keep going until they
[35:50] reach and toay if
[35:55] we this is begin we say we need to adjust our resp we need to see maybe
[36:02] there that
[36:12] didn't so we are monitoring adjusting so that we can our midd SCH through
[36:21] GOP um some students depending on their need maybe receiving two different
[36:30] inters so that they can build the small skills that they may need and their
[36:35] artist still looking at that fency so at times that's how we try to accelerate
[36:42] the grow grow for our nners um at our district level we have kind of
[36:51] our big rocks and then our our Middle School all the schools that buil our big Ro
[36:57] dist well we know School ly is a big Ro and school wri ly is something that are
[37:05] developing as well so we are training our e teachers our
[37:11] Ela English language and reading reading teachers and our specialized teachers as
[37:18] well as our intervention teachers in the science of reading then we are also full sta for
[37:27] development what does it look like for you as a science a social studies a
[37:33] music a ktic teacher what does that what how what does literacy look like in your
[37:38] space and what supports do you need for that litery to develop so is a ver we
[37:47] are now not using sound of school we are using ver so do need support for veral
[37:53] could you practice using our research these strategies for teaching
[38:00] vocabulary may be a science teacher but let's R in some of those
[38:08] strategies other places or those need class that to
[38:16] this and if you feel like you we also have ly
[38:22] so we there to help support them support our teachers and and provide so we
[38:29] can not just keep going all the way
[38:46] up is it's working um really quickly um
[38:54] working alongside the second year the teachers right now we're getting the winter data in it's working there as
[39:00] well I have dat here
[39:05] from but students so I know we had 11
[39:14] students stud
[39:19] support they really relation between and I understand right
[39:34] right volumes to what um how we're help we shap the trajectory for the future
[39:41] really so is it working this is really exciting you guys what you're looking at right now over here on the left is
[39:48] kindergarten over here on the right and what this is this winter Trend data from
[39:54] okay so we have over in 2021
[40:00] over see 2021 we had 59% in January 59% of our gardeners were
[40:09] in that's the
[40:14] 5% last year during this time it
[40:20] 76% and just this year in January we are now
[40:34] in% in three years this is significant this is why we the work
[40:42] right it's landing on kids first grade on the left 54% two years ago last
[40:49] year5 this year we're at 72% but an increase in 18% in that data
[40:56] that is outstanding so looken which higher skill right
[41:03] increasing so same increase here with this
[41:09] not we know right catch on the primary level fluency layer
[41:17] skills interv a deeper level 8% in 3 years in second grade 7% in just three
[41:25] years that these are different kids right from year to year but even this year we're staying
[41:31] in in these primary grades this is for letter science anding has been going on
[41:38] to three years okay
[41:49] so so we're getting rolling with the p there we're getting rolling with the coaching there we're getting ready we're
[41:55] getting rolling that data there also so this continues on the story to be
[42:02] continu right as we get more together students so that I'm our segment with
[42:11] just an over video [Music]
[42:17] and Ed Public Schools is committed to ensuring that each and every student
[42:23] that enters our classrooms becomes a thriving reader we have committed to ensuring
[42:30] that each student receives the best instruction aligned to the most current research possible and this is done
[42:37] through our commitment to the science of reading after letters we have so much more intentionality into everything that
[42:42] we do from reading stories to guided spelling to decoding um we really have the science really push into exactly
[42:49] everything that we do um the students are more confident they're using all their skills that they've learned and
[42:55] it's just to totally changed everything we do in literacy here in kindergarten how do they just connect literacy to
[43:02] their lives and that that's really the entire goal of literacy development for
[43:08] um all children but for young children we we're really giving them that fundamental start beginning of school
[43:14] our teachers have just really embraced the science of writing and it has
[43:19] created this um movement around the collective efficacy in looking at data
[43:25] and using that data to inform instruction and then make those instructional shifts that they're
[43:31] learning about in the new research and the science of reading through their letters and the Spire courses and um
[43:38] monitoring that and ensuring that that instruction is landing on kids in a way that shows that they are reaching that
[43:46] aggressive growth and meeting benchmarks and thriving and learning to love reading yeah and I really especially
[43:52] appreciated looking at students who have made growth despite they being at a low
[43:58] risk rate or at a risk rate and they're still making some growth and that's really positive and I what we were
[44:05] thinking right now is to look further and see look at what they are doing um with those kids what we are doing with
[44:11] those kids with um their growth rate how we can maybe bring that to other students who are also on our uh fast
[44:17] Bridge uh charts at Southview we're really um we love celebrating Student
[44:22] Success and so when we see the data go up we we pull the student in and and
[44:30] celebrate with them whether it is the kids being successful our staff being amazing or our community wrapping around
[44:37] our school district to make certain that we are the leaders we are defining
[44:43] excellence in the areas of Science of reading I just couldn't be more proud as a
[44:51] [Music] superintendent
[45:01] W it is soing to see the results in our
[45:08] [Music] classroom sted 2000 middle of right in
[45:18] the middle of our work and Crea our early Lear control
[45:24] comprehensive so
[45:31] connect is CL and that it takes an entire to put
[45:36] this work into place this so that I we do deny Excellence because that is
[45:44] what our students deserve right and so a huge piece that I know um we want to
[45:52] celebrate is the Partnerships that we have at um partnership specifically that
[45:58] we have with that um they have parents tonight that partn and
[46:04] collaboration because very meaningful parents that are in the Stace that have asked the
[46:10] challenging questions that are CRI for us to our Partnerships are what makes
[46:16] the difference to students and so a lot of that partnership comes in
[46:22] resources and the resources that um we have team with pass critical for us to
[46:29] implement the comprehens read act the
[46:34] science at the highest possible level we results in our
[46:40] students the is committed to making sure these Partnerships are strong and
[46:46] Collective so we have the Imp on students some of the them um
[46:54] and specifically this work our I look
[47:05] at elementary principles for the last two
[47:19] years so we have those days to support our teachers um independent
[47:33] collaboration invested another resource that has invested in
[47:40] specifically is the Comm St ly coaches so you heard tonight we a ly coach at
[47:47] the early we have two litery coach on our elementary um we have had three
[47:53] years and our two are Miss
[47:59] youres middle schools and part who some
[48:05] specific instruction at high school the resource of people and the money and the
[48:13] commitment to the that we um the areas 3 trains that are all
[48:24] phenomenal and they all teach us about the finance and even PRI that we have Team invested
[48:33] in some piloting and collaborating and diing into of those resources we decided
[48:43] to and decided invest in just having train which is one
[48:51] thing implenting what and letter in class
[48:58] so public schools has specifically paid fors that saw pictures so there are
[49:04] resources that we're investing in as a district that wouldn't without those
[49:11] resources would not allow our teachers to implement the level they are I think
[49:16] all of us right have been engaged in Le in our lives know sometimes about sometimes podcast is really easy for us
[49:26] to just so that ination and then take the next step of
[49:31] having conversation about it of applying
[49:40] IT beond professional development that we have in place but I SP soed help a support is
[49:49] one um is the resource fors just a quick kind of give
[49:56] numbers to keep it really simple um we
[50:01] number teachers right now add that number but every teacher um
[50:09] their work um there are two different parts of
[50:15] letters right so we have four lesson for that first cluster and then four L and
[50:20] cluster every time in each cluster so one cluster class about
[50:36] $500 $500 one session one cler learning and
[50:44] another those the licenses books that's
[50:50] th000 right per 300 teachers
[50:58] ,000 teach ,000 and so important Partnership of
[51:08] the and then making sure we're also resources that we me in other areas
[51:16] just a stretch and because we partner and we have people the commun supp us we
[51:24] are able to do this in and not just to the party and
[51:32] on about collaboration and support we've also belied in where we have paid for
[51:39] some of
[51:46] this help us ra is the teachers the time that they investing in this and that's
[51:53] absolutely critical um if think in totality about 140 hours
[52:03] of Master Class that is to ask any
[52:09] individual to do so able
[52:18] to we cre which is also a cost right
[52:27] no matter how we are we teacher STS so
[52:35] C their the hours that they do outside of
[52:40] what we
[52:51] findev our teachers are hard they act amazing professional
[53:01] and
[53:12] in their so we I just really that is
[53:19] highly as a school district prioritizing this through resources I have resources I
[53:27] need money there resources money right and we are going
[53:35] to continue to Le the Partnerships with Ed fund as well as our community just
[53:44] are that's what our deserve
[53:51] ums so and we being here um I think
[54:00] probably questions I want remind
[54:06] everyone
[54:22] question thank you everyone for being here um this is
[54:28] all we are here because of all the
[54:39] work we are Community Foundation that com together to help make sure that this
[54:44] work happens we are here tday to launch our
[54:50] we Community Action for kids education
[54:59] here it's a great to Cate ly and all the work that we do we're come together on
[55:06] Friday just that EV at St P's
[55:13] Church to
[55:20] talk this could be this
[55:28] cheer you know you think about it I was tell my
[55:48] kids and n and you're going to grow
[55:54] it's and we that's how it
[56:01] makes there's some that go it's the
[56:08] veryy it's the and the so let's take our time let's invest
[56:16] in it let's come together as let's do this join us on Friday thank you for
[56:24] being part of us and already thanks
[56:51] for
Was this story helpful?
Other Topics from This Document
K-12 Literacy Program Outcomes and Data
Comprehensive Literacy Development from Early Childhood to Middle School
Community Partnerships and Funding for Educational Initiatives
Want to know when new stories arrive?
Enter your email to receive updates.
We will not use your email for any other purpose. You can unsubscribe at any time.