Litchfield Elementary outlines summer instructional frameworks, literacy endorsement and new mentoring for early-career teachers

Litchfield Elementary School District leaders on Tuesday summarized months of summer curriculum work designed to give teachers consistent day-to-day instructional routines and to support early-career educators.

The presentation, led by Katie Wood, director of teaching and learning, and a team of district coaches, described new ELA and math instructional "blocks," slide decks and manipulatives prepared over the summer, a district-created literacy endorsement course for K–5 teachers, and a formal mentoring framework for first- and second-year teachers.

District officials said the work aims to make classroom instruction more consistent across campuses and to reduce planning load for teachers. "We aligned our work for the summer with the keystones," Katie Wood said, adding the summer activities focused on readiness, resources and relationships. The district also highlighted that its K–5 literacy coursework was approved to meet the Arizona Department of Education rubric and will be provided at no cost to teachers during professional days.

Wood and presenters described the ELA block as two complementary emphases: foundational skills (phonemic awareness, phonics, word study, grammar) and ‘‘reading and writing about complex text.’’ A presenter said the summer committees produced slide decks and routines so teachers would have both what to teach and how to teach it. "The research is pretty clear that students learn to speak naturally, but they don't learn to read naturally. So we have to provide them with explicit systematic instruction that connects speech to print," a literacy presenter said, describing the purpose of the foundational-skill decks.

On mathematics, the district presented three grade-band frameworks (K–1, 2–5, 6–8) that prioritize daily reasoning, discussion and problem solving and a "try, discuss, connect" routine intended to build mathematical agency through think time, partner talk, individual writing and whole-class discourse.

The district also described K–1 summer work to prepare hands-on materials that align with the district's iReady purchase; those manipulatives were produced centrally so teachers would not need to prepare materials individually at home.

Science teachers worked over the summer to assemble a one-stop scope-and-sequence and unit guides based on the Amplify science materials and aligned to Arizona standards. District staff said unit guides include essential questions, phenomena for inquiry-based lessons, materials lists, and color-coded references to the three dimensions of science instruction (science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts).

On credentialing, presenters reiterated that Arizona requires K–5 teachers to hold a literacy endorsement by 2028. Litchfield officials said the district is the only Arizona district that developed coursework aligned to the ADE rubric and that part A (science of reading and tier 1 instruction) is complete; part B (intensification for students who struggle, including dyslexia) will begin this year and continue into next year.

The board heard details of a new mentoring framework for early-career teachers. The program pairs early-career educators with mentors and includes monthly professional learning sessions and monthly one-to-one mentoring conversations. Mentors and participating early-career teachers will receive compensation through the district's Continuous Learner Project; mentors will log conversations and reflections in a mentorship log.

Board members praised the work during discussion. Governing Board Member Mister Mikes called the effort "incredible," and Miss Moran described the program as aligned with the district's continuous-improvement goals and useful for teacher retention. President Zaidema and Superintendent Davidson also recognized the staff who developed the materials.

The materials and guides described in the presentation — scope and sequences, pacing guides, tier 2 resources and the new slide decks — are available on the district curriculum website and will be embedded into professional development sessions, officials said.

The presentation contained no formal board action; the board moved on to subsequent agenda items after questions and comments.

Sources: presentation to the Litchfield Elementary School District Governing Board, Aug. 12, 2025.