CUSD 200 details literacy strategy: Bookworms curriculum, FastBridge screening and tiered interventions

CUSD 200 trustees received an update on the district's Vision 2026 learning-acceleration work focused on literacy and multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS). Melissa Murphy, a district staff member leading the literacy update, said the presentation built on a September briefing and dove deeper into evidence-based instruction, dyslexia, universal screening and interventions. "Ninety-five percent of elementary students can learn to read with the right instruction," Murphy said, citing the EAB research that informed the district's approach.

The district has adopted Bookworms as a common elementary ELA curriculum and added an "enhanced core" layer of materials and professional learning provided in partnership with Dr. Jamie Daley from the University of Delaware. Murphy said Bookworms provides daily, systematic grade-level instruction across classrooms and that an enhanced-differentiation model supports teachers who need to meet more than 80% of students at grade level.

Screening and monitoring: CUSD 200 is using FastBridge as its universal screener from early childhood through grade 8 and has piloted FastBridge in early childhood this year. Murphy said FastBridge meets the International Dyslexia Association guidance for screeners and allows the district to flag students identified as "at risk" for further assessment. The district is using a common rule-of-thumb benchmark around the 30th percentile: students below that threshold are likely candidates for intervention consideration, though teams look at multiple data points before changing placement.

Staffing and interventions: the district reported 33 reading specialists spread across 13 buildings (seven of those positions funded by Title I). Reading coaches Nancy Nicholson (Longfellow) and Lisa Tomac (Madison) described how interventions now align directly with Bookworms lessons, which they said improves coherence between classroom instruction and small-group work. "This connection is a super powerful connection that we have not had before," Nicholson said.

For middle school, the district said academic reading is delivered as a scheduled course that replaces an elective and that Corrective Reading is the research-based middle-school intervention used for students who still require foundational skill instruction. Staff noted that other Tier 3 interventions such as Wilson or Reading Mastery are used for a small percentage of students when indicated; those programs require specialized training and more intensive staffing.

Progress monitoring: teachers and interventionists assess students frequently. Classroom stair-step checks occur every three to four weeks; reading specialists and coaches progress-monitor students in interventions every one to two weeks. FastBridge includes progress-monitoring tools the district is using to graph and track student response to instruction.

Equity and multilingual learners: district staff said FastBridge is not a one-size-fits-all measure for multilingual learners and that teams are pairing screener results with ACCESS and other data to make informed decisions. Dr. Pueyo and a district committee are examining MTSS approaches specific to multilingual students.

Next steps: the district plans continued job-embedded coaching, more professional learning for middle-school materials (My Perspective), a review of middle-school interventions and ongoing work to refine data reporting so that the percent of students served in Tier 1 versus Tier 2/3 is clearly visible and actionable for administrators.

"We are continuing to refine the implementation and look at how students move through the stairway to proficiency," Murphy said, noting the district will continue to collect evidence and adjust professional learning and interventions.