District literacy coaches report mid‑year gains; plan expands interventions and Orton‑Gillingham training

District literacy coaches told the Cuyahoga Falls Board of Education on April 23 that classroom benchmarking and progress monitoring show improvements for several early‑grade cohorts and outlined a multi‑year plan to strengthen reading instruction and intervention.

Amanda Heller, Tina Majes and Crystal Hartman — identified by district officials as literacy coaches — described a “beginning‑middle‑end” benchmarking system in which every student is assessed three times per year and teachers use diagnostic follow‑ups to tailor instruction. The coaches said the district has expanded data meetings from three shorter sessions to five or six, two‑hour sessions so teachers and specialists can collaborate on interventions.

Literacy coach Miss Hausman said the district’s assessment results show kindergarten students are reaching end‑of‑year benchmarks earlier than in previous years. “Our kindergarten is already at 66 percent,” Hausman said, citing the district’s benchmark system; she added, “So that’s showing us that what we’re doing is working.” The coaches attributed gains to a combination of consistent benchmarking, coaching support and new curriculum elements adopted over the last three years.

Key proposals and changes - Increase intervention (‘Tiger Time’) from 30 minutes to 60 minutes daily for students who need intensive foundational work; the top tier of need would receive small‑group Orton‑Gillingham‑based intervention with a trained specialist. - Add a structured‑literacy specialist position and increase summer professional development in Orton‑Gillingham approaches so interventionists and coaches share a common, evidence‑based method for teaching phonics, decoding and spelling. - Finalize and publish the district’s updated local literacy plan (district staff said the draft is a 43‑page document) and implement Academic Parent‑Teacher Teams to help parents understand assessment reports and how to support reading at home.

Teachers’ and coaches’ comments The coaches showed classroom examples of lesson planning and student work at several grades and cited teacher feedback that students are using richer vocabulary, producing longer pieces of writing, and showing increased writing rigor under the new Wit & Wisdom curriculum units and supporting programs (district staff identified schools using Foundations, Wit & Wisdom, Heggerty and grade‑level diagnostic assessments).

Implementation and next steps The district said summer 2025 is targeted for Orton‑Gillingham training for specialists and that the district will pilot a 60‑minute intervention block in the 2025–26 schedule. Coaches noted that coaching ratios remain high and suggested grant funding could reduce coach:teacher ratios to allow more intensive in‑class support.

Clarifying details - Benchmarking cadence: Students assessed three times per year (beginning, middle, end) with interim progress monitoring for targeted students (source: Amanda Heller presentation). - Acadience (district reading benchmark) example: kindergarten cohort improved from 49% (end‑of‑year baseline in one prior year) to 66% mid‑year in the most recent cycle as described by coaches (source: Miss Hausman). - Tiered intervention model: top tier — 60 minutes of small‑group Orton‑Gillingham intervention; middle tiers — double‑dose Foundations delivered by classroom teachers; tier 1 — whole‑class Foundations instruction (source: Tina Majes and Miss Hausman).

Why it matters District leaders said the initiative responds to state and federal emphasis on early literacy and to local performance targets. Board members pressed for measurable targets, funding sources for additional training, and timelines for evaluation. The coaches said they will return with grant plans, professional‑development schedules and measures showing whether the increased intervention time produces sustained year‑end gains.

Speakers and attributions in this article come only from district staff and coaches who presented in the April 23 meeting.