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Kenosha Unified outlines first-year implementation of Act 20 literacy law
Summary
District staff told the school board they have expanded phonics instruction, trained hundreds of teachers and begun issuing personal reading plans after state-required screeners; staff said timelines, guidance changes and unanticipated costs created heavy workloads for schools.
Kenosha Unified School District staff told the school board on Tuesday that the district has moved to implement Act 20—the 2023 law on the science of reading—this school year with expanded phonics minutes, new teacher training and individualized reading plans for at-risk students.
The district increased primary-level phonics instruction from 30 minutes to 50 minutes, started using decodable readers and supplied teachers with tools such as sound walls, staff said. "We took steps to improve the phonics instruction. First, by increasing the number of minutes that we've earmarked for phonics instruction at the primary level, so we've moved from 30 to 50 minutes," Mary Hoover, district elementary ELA and social studies coordinator, told the board.
District leaders said the work has required construction of new materials, scheduling changes and additional staff time. "The timeline was aggressive is an understatement," Hoover said, describing overlapping tasks including screener administration, diagnostic testing, creation of crosswalks for diagnostic decisions and training turn‑keys for building leaders.
Why it matters: Act 20 requires districts to…
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