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Elementary schools report literacy improvement cycles: writing strategies, phonics pilots and early results
Summary
Four elementary schools told the school board they are pursuing targeted literacy improvement cycles this year, using teacher professional development and small pilots to boost writing and early-reading skills.
Principals and instructional leaders from Clear Creek Elementary (CCE), Tiffin Elementary, North Bend and East Ridge presented parallel school-improvement projects focused on literacy and early reading skills.
Clear Creek Elementary: Principal Dana Hamelon said CCE identified writing proficiency for third and fourth graders as a problem of practice. The school ran a professional development cycle around the science of writing and piloted SRSD (self-regulated strategy development) in kindergarten, first grade, and targeted intervention settings. Teachers attended modules and the school reported implementation in roughly 80 percent of classrooms and early signs of increased student writing quantity and self-monitoring.
Tiffin Elementary: Tiffin staff said they observed low kindergarten letter-sound knowledge and first-grade sight-word gaps. First grade piloted UFLI (University of Florida Literacy Institute) whole-group instructional materials midyear for higher-rigor phonics instruction; the school is also using MAP fluency measures for progress monitoring. A principal said a classroom using UFLI showed quick observable increases in student writing and phonics engagement within two weeks.
North Bend: Teachers concentrated on reading fluency and a second-grade team focused on accelerating high-achieving students by redesigning groupings, setting a goal to increase students above proficiency from 34 to 48 (a 40 percent increase), and developing exit tickets and rubrics to measure deep understanding. The team also emphasized planning time and classroom routines to provide meaningful extensions for students who finish work early.
East Ridge: East Ridge principal explained the building is on targeted status under ESSA because subgroup growth (particularly students with IEPs) lagged. The building used SAM (a local AEA MTSS review) and chose a narrow early cycle: reduce time students with pull-out supports spend away from grade-level instruction and reconfigure small-group rotations so students receive short, targeted pull-outs and return for grade-level re-teaching. The building is tracking formative-assessment progress across four-week cycles.
Why it matters: All buildings tied their interventions to assessment data (MAP, FAST or other formative checks) and set measurable aims for growth. Several pilots were intentionally small to allow the staff to study early impact before broad rollout.
Board request and next steps: Principals said they will continue monitoring MAP/ISASP and classroom formative assessment data, expand professional development for teachers who have not yet implemented the strategies and return to the board with progress updates near the end of the year.
