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Council Rock outlines structured literacy plan as state reading legislation advances
Summary
Committee members reviewed the district's structured literacy plan, related state legislation, and action steps including universal screening, professional development and progress monitoring ahead of a June 1 state advisory list and further bills in the legislature.
Tammy Gary, supervisor of curriculum and instruction for Council Rock School District, told the education committee on May 22 that the district is advancing a structured literacy plan as Pennsylvania moves forward with related legislation and a state reading advisory process.
"Structured literacy is a major education committee discussion," Gary said, summarizing recent changes in state law and the creation of a Pennsylvania Reading Leadership Council that will publish an evidence-based list of approved programs on or around June 1.
Gary told the committee the state has already defined structured literacy practices and prohibited certain previously used instructional approaches. She described recently introduced bills — Senate Bill 700 and House Bill 684 — that the district views as addressing funding and accountability: the bills would attach funding and/or public reporting to state-approved screeners and interventions for K–3 literacy. Gary said the bills differ in emphasis; one emphasizes funding while the other emphasizes public accountability and reporting of screener results and intervention outcomes.
At the district level, Gary said staff used the Pennsylvania State Literacy Plan template and convened a district literacy committee that completed a needs assessment and is now working on an action plan. Key district actions she listed included literacy leadership and sustainability planning; professional development for teachers, principals and administrators; curriculum alignment and the district's purchase of the ATLAS curriculum tool; universal screening (the district uses DIBELS for ELA and another screener for math); evidence-based interventions and ongoing progress monitoring within an MTSS framework.
"The legislation is only looking at ELA, but we do it for both areas," Gary said, noting the district administers universal screeners and plans interventions tied to progress monitoring. She said the district plans to align professional development with Chapter 49 (teacher certification requirements) and noted that some professional-development timelines in proposed legislation point to the 2027–28 year.
Committee members asked how the district will evaluate pilots and professional development; Gary described teacher and pilot-teacher evaluation forms, observation of student engagement and alignment to standards, and plans to return to the education committee with quantifiable pilot results during the textbook-approval phase.
Gary said the district will submit its plan to cabinet and the superintendent and will adjust if the state issues specific accountability requirements following the June 1 posting. She urged the committee and public to watch the Reading Leadership Council's forthcoming list of approved screeners, curricula and interventions and said the district has included structured literacy training dollars in the budget.
