Laura Wolfe, the Alabama LETRS representative, told the Alabama State Board of Education on Dec. 10 that nearly 10,000 educators across the state have enrolled in the LETRS professional-development courses intended to teach the “science of reading.” "There are 9,928 educators currently in or having just finished letters in the state of Alabama," Wolfe said during a remote presentation to the board.

Board members said the scale of participation is notable because the training continued during the pandemic. Wolfe and Department of Education staff described a blended delivery model of pretests, online modules, print materials and live virtual consultation sessions with course authors and national consultants.

Wolfe said the program has produced strong participant-reported outcomes and test-score gains. "The average pretest score of every user in the general population of large users in the state of Alabama is a 59%... The average post test score for both populations was in 96 percent," she told the board, summarizing pre- and post-test results for course units. She also reported participant satisfaction: "81% of all people who engage in the training session have ranked it as excellent."

Wolfe and other presenters described a tiered approach. Full-support schools receive small-group consultative sessions in addition to the regular LETRS course; those consultative groups are as small as one-on-one and have been led by national LETRS consultants. Board members and staff also described outreach to institutions of higher education to build preservice preparation into college programs, naming Jacksonville State University and the University of Mobile as early implementers.

Superintendent Eric Mackey and board members emphasized flexibility because the training runs during a public-health emergency. Mackey noted the program allowed a multi-year completion window; Laura Wolfe confirmed learners have up to four years to complete the LETRS materials. He and other board members said the department will continue to share data and the LETRS presentation materials with local leaders.

The presentation included participant comments and narrative feedback collected during the program (Wolfe said staff had gathered more than 13,000 narrative responses). Board members asked for the full slide deck and for the Department of Education to circulate the data to members.

The board did not take formal action on the LETRS presentation during the work session; presenters said the department would provide the full presentation slides and underlying data to board members and to districts.