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Board hears early update on WONCE kindergarten reading intervention
Summary
District officials gave a progress report on WONCE, a kindergarten-focused reading intervention delivered by paraprofessionals with weekly coaching; presenters said 68 classrooms were active, each paraprofessional typically serves about 20 children for daily 10–15 minute sessions, and the district aims to scale coaching and staffing.
The Tangipahoa Parish School Board received an update Sept. 16 on WONCE, a kindergarten reading intervention the district began rolling out this school year, and heard preliminary results and operational details from district staff.
Doctor Fassell, who presented the update, said the program is aimed at kindergarten students and is delivered by paraprofessionals who volunteer for the role and are coached weekly. “We asked the paraprofessionals who wanted this opportunity,” Fassell said. “They all have a coach who watches how they present it, and then 30 minutes a week they coach them on tweaking how they support the student.”
Fassell told the board that the district has 68 classrooms “fully functional” on the program, and highlighted that instructors typically work with a stable set of roughly 20 children, each receiving a blocked intervention session each school day. The sessions are scheduled for roughly 10–15 minutes per child, Fassell said, and paraprofessionals receive coaching and schedules were adjusted so the instruction can occur without displacing other classroom responsibilities.
Fassell said the program, which she described as based on the science of reading and developed out of Stanford research, has shown early gains in classroom-level monitoring; she cited national research indicating students exposed to the model can perform about 30% higher than peers without the intervention when implemented at scale. She stressed the program is still new and staff are troubleshooting scheduling and staffing bumps as more classrooms come online.
Board members asked operational questions. Fassell explained that each paraprofessional’s day is largely dedicated to the intervention and that coaches such as Mr. Mike McKenna are supporting scheduling and troubleshooting in buildings. She said district staff are continuing training sessions to expand the number of paraprofessionals able to deliver the intervention.
No board action was taken. Board members thanked staff for the update and encouraged continued reporting on student outcomes and classroom staffing as rollout continues.
