Spring Update!
Thank you to all of the families and professionals who have supported Everyone Reads T/E throughout the past two years. We are excited to share the progress we have made. We also want to share some of the obstacles still facing families as they work toward the mission of Everyone Reads T/E:
To ensure that all students in T/E School District learn to read to the best of their potential with as little emotional impact as possible and that all teachers in T/E have access to professional development and curriculum rooted in the science of reading.
In addition, we want to bring to your attention things happening at the school board level that impact our readers in the district.
Progress Towards Our Mission
1) ERTE provided overview in the science of reading from Earl Oremus to parents, teachers, administrators and board members
2) ERTE and PBIDA donated a dyslexia simulation to the school board and administration
3) ERTE supported over 50 families in understanding their children’s learning needs and in getting access to interventions through T/E and private organizations
4) 18 T/E special education teachers and reading specialists receiving training in Orton-Gillingham intervention by AIM Academy
5) Extended School Year offering Orton-Gillingham instruction for some students with IEP’s
6) Full DIBELs protocol being followed in Kindergarten beginning Fall 2019
7) Pilot Sally Shawitz Screener this spring
8) Question about family history of learning disability being added to the Kindergarten questionnaire
9) 5 reading specialists trained in 3 modules of LETRS
10) Reporting of benchmark data to parents
11) Board member and administrators attend presentation at PA Dyslexia Pilot School
What’s Next?
1) ERTE to receive a response to their Open Letter to the Board – to date there has been no response
2) Create committee comprised of teachers, parents, administrators, outside experts and board members
3) Literacy committee to develop a district literacy plan that includes the following areas – intervention, general education, summer reading program, data analysis and curriculum selection K-8
4) Train classroom teachers in science of reading (as recommended by The Reading League)
5) Follow norm-referenced benchmark protocols for benchmarks chosen, e.g., Dibels or AimsWeb for all students K-6 using the new SIS system just purchased
6) Develop system to track reading progress of all students in the district K-6, all students in intervention K-6 and all students in special education receiving reading instruction K-12 in aggregate
7) Determine system to report reading data to the school board
8) Develop a reading culture in the district that embraces the evidence base in all strands of literacy
We are hopeful that by working with parents, teachers, outside experts and the school board that our administration will embrace the mission of ERTE and will ensure that all students, especially our neediest students become confident readers and writers. We are looking forward to the 2019-2020 school year.
We need your support over the next couple of days as the school board makes some big decisions. Please attend the Finance Committee Meeting tonight (7:00 PM at TEAO) and the Full Board Meeting tomorrow night (7:30 at CHS).
Budget $300,000 for a new reading program
At this time we do not recommended that the district purchase a new reading program. Several things must happen before justifying this expense.
Teachers and administrators must be working towards filling in the missing pieces from their teacher training around evidence aligned reading instruction.
Current instructional practices must be reviewed to determine their efficacy.
Processes must be in place for ongoing data and sharing.
Summer Reading Camp
While we believe that summer reading camp can be a valuable piece to a district’s literacy plan and that no students are being harmed by attending the summer reading camp, we do not support the current curriculum being used. In an effort to align the reading camp with the evidence base we recommend taking norm refenced data to show the growth of students who attend reading camp on a weekly basis. Since DIBELS is the most widely used progress monitoring tool we recommend using the complete DIBELS protocol for grades K-4. We also recommend sharing this data with the school board in August.
Thank you to the professionals and professional organizations who educated ERTE on evidence aligned practices and to all of the individuals who helped us to move toward our mission:
Tina Whitlow – TESD School Board Member
Kate Murphy – TESD School Board Member
Ed Sweeney – TESD Board Member
Michele Burger – TESD Board Member
Heather Ward – TESD Board Member
Scott Dorsey – TESD Board Member
Dr. Pam Kastner - State Lead for Literacy, PaTTAN
Diane Reott – Pennsylvania Branch of the International Dyslexia Association
Dr. Maria Toglia - Pennsylvania Branch of the International Dyslexia Association
Dr. Heidi Beverine-Curry – The Reading League
Dr. Stephanie Stollar – Acadience
Dr. Jared Myracle – Chief Academic Officer, Jackson-Madison County School System
Daphne Uliana – Pennsylvania Dyslexia and Literacy Network
Becky Parker, Teacher and Literacy Coach, Mad River School District
Susie Macik, Principal, Bentworth Elementary
Scott C. Martin, Superintendent, Bentworth School District
