Dysart board hears results from Spalding phonics pilot; staff intends to continue pilot at Countryside

District staff briefed the Dysart Unified School District governing board on results from a Spalding phonics pilot at Countryside Elementary, presenting DIBELS beginning/mid/end‑of‑year benchmark data for kindergarten and first grade and options for next steps.

Erin Morris, coordinator for research and achievement, said the district used DIBELS composites to compare Countryside (the Spalding pilot site) with Freedom Traditional (an established Spalding campus) and a group of non‑Spalding schools. “In looking at the end of year percent of students at or above benchmark, we can see that last year Countryside had 39% of their students at or above benchmark compared to this year where 53% of students are finishing at or above benchmark,” Morris said.

The presentation showed Freedom averaged roughly 90% of K–1 students finishing the year at or above benchmark, while the aggregated non‑Spalding schools averaged about 61%. Morris and district staff also disaggregated outcomes by grade: Countryside kindergarten end‑of‑year rates rose from 48% to 69% between the first and second years of implementation, while first‑grade end‑of‑year rates moved from 32% to 37% across the same period.

Board members asked several clarifying questions about comparability and fidelity. A staff presenter said Freedom is a traditional, choice school with different entry patterns and supports — including uniforms, a more consistent classroom structure and a higher percentage of students who begin the year already reading — and cautioned that those differences limit direct comparability. “Freedom being a traditional school, has a different structure to it… they do come in at a higher rate of reading for the beginning of the year,” the presenter said.

District staff described two main limitations: Freedom’s distinct model and differences in day‑to‑day practices across campuses (for example, the presence of long‑term substitutes). They also explained Spalding implementation requires two summers of teacher training and ongoing monitoring for fidelity; staff noted substitutes who lack Spalding training can affect classroom results.

On next steps, the district offered options: continue the Countryside pilot with ongoing training; expand the pilot to additional schools (estimated at about $7,600 per added grade level); or convene a committee to study district‑wide feasibility. Staff estimated Spalding training costs at about $800 per teacher and roughly 40 hours of training per teacher in a rollout model.

Board members who requested more rigorous comparisons asked staff to return with results benchmarked against a single, demographically similar non‑Spalding school rather than the aggregated set of non‑Spalding campuses. Member Drake, who requested the pilot originally, said teacher and staff feedback would be important; staff agreed to develop a teacher survey.

Doctor Crodo (Superintendent) summarized staff intent: “We intend to continue that pilot at Countryside and continue the training and the experience and teachers getting better at implementing it,” he said. Staff also committed to reporting back with results from a like school and to provide additional analyses at a future curriculum study session.

Questions and requests from the board included more detailed matched comparisons, an explicit teacher survey about implementation and additional reporting on fidelity and intervention availability.

The discussion was informational; there was no binding board vote on expansion. The board directed staff to continue the pilot at Countryside and return with comparative results and teacher feedback for future consideration.