Rochester schools report early gains, scheduling and pacing challenges as K–5 "Wit and Wisdom" rollout continues

The Rochester Public Schools board heard a detailed update Feb. 18 on the district’s K–5 literacy implementation centered on the Wit and Wisdom curriculum, including early classroom gains, training efforts and continuing scheduling and pacing challenges.

District leaders described classroom-level changes they say are producing more student talk, more writing and deeper text-based discussion while cautioning that teachers need time and clearer pacing guidance to deliver 90-minute Wit and Wisdom lessons as designed.

Superintendent Kent Pickell said the district intentionally adopted a new elementary curriculum to align with the Minnesota Read Act and to pair structured literacy work with knowledge-building instruction. “They are literally reinventing the airplane while they’re flying it,” Pickell told the board, praising teachers for implementing the new materials while continuing their regular duties.

District presenters and a classroom teacher detailed where the curriculum is having visible effects and where staff want help. Lindsay Reisches, a fourth-grade teacher at Bishop, said, “we're all learning it together” and described classroom activities — close readings, note-taking, and multiple re-readings of complex text — that have produced richer student conversation and more frequent writing. District staff noted teachers have received multiple trainings this year and instructional coaching, but many remain in early stages of mastering the pacing and scaffolds Wit and Wisdom requires.

Board members pressed for specifics. District staff said the curriculum’s core lessons are designed as 90-minute blocks (three lessons per week), and implementation has required principals and teachers to create additional planning and collaboration time. Instructional coaches and the district literacy team are building pacing guidance and supplemental materials (for example, decodable companion texts referenced as “geodes,” phonics supports and Heggerty phonemic-awareness lessons) to support teachers and to help students at different reading levels access the same knowledge-rich texts.

Presenters said early assessment and classroom evidence show increased student speaking, knowledge-building and writing practice, but it is too early to isolate curriculum effects on standardized tests. The district reported teachers have completed structured-literacy and Wit and Wisdom trainings this year and that principals participated in guided observations. Staff also said they are collecting FastBridge screening data and that more time and longitudinal measurement will be needed to show curriculum effects on reading outcomes.

On family support, the district said it is developing a parent resources page with practice materials and translatable e-books linked to classroom learning; presenters said the page was under development and expected to go live in the coming weeks. Board members asked the district to make supports for families and new teachers a higher priority and to report back on middle-school transition planning so students’ elementary gains continue into secondary grades.

District staff recommended continuing professional development, clearer district pacing guidance for year two, and continued investment in instructional coaching to help teachers move from early implementation to efficiency.

The board did not take formal action on the presentation; members asked follow-ups on scheduling, staffing supports for new teachers and progress measures for middle-school transitions.