Woodstock CUSD 200 staff outline middle school math and literacy strategies

Woodstock CUSD 200 staff described steps the district is taking to strengthen middle school math and literacy, including expanded small-group instruction, continued use of Lexia Core5 and new writing supports tied to social studies assessments.

District staff said the changes aim to better identify and remediate skill deficits through targeted assessments and small-group teaching. “Our goal is really to support all the students with what level they're at,” the staff member said during staff comments.

Why it matters: Middle school curriculum and instructional practice affect students’ ongoing literacy and numeracy development and are a primary driver of later academic outcomes. The district presented these items during staff comments rather than as a formal action item at the meeting.

Staff described several components. The district continues to use Lexia Core5 for foundational literacy work and is focusing on using assessment data to differentiate instruction and form small groups. In math, staff said teachers are running short-term targeted groups to “fill in those gaps with those skill deficits.” The staff member said the district is emphasizing deeper student-to-student discourse and IAR-style questioning to promote mathematical reasoning: “That’s actually just to increase student to student discourse, talking about math and really using IAR style of questioning, which is really a deeper questioning mathematically.”

In literacy, teachers have started having students annotate texts on assessments to show where they found answers — described by the staff member as a literacy equivalent of “showing your work”: “Why did I choose letter B? Well, here I highlighted in the text as to where I found my answer.” The district also reported implementing document-based questions (DBQs) in social studies; students categorize evidence into groups and write essays scored with rubrics tied to the district’s writing standards.

Staff also described a mentoring/check-in practice for sixth graders: grade-level leaders meet monthly with sixth-grade students to confirm they have a trusted adult in the building and to identify students who may need additional relationship-building supports.

No formal board action was taken on curriculum during the portion of the meeting recorded in the transcript; the items were presented as staff comments and informational updates.