Birchview Elementary tells Wayzata board small-group literacy rotations aim to boost inference skills by May 2025

Birchview Elementary presented a literacy spotlight to the Wayzata Public Schools Board of Education on Jan. 13, outlining a professional learning community (PLC) approach and classroom rotations intended to ensure “all students” make measurable growth in inferencing and use of text evidence by May 2025.

Principal Ashley Farrington told the board the building’s PLC work aligns with district strategic directions to ensure a high-quality daily experience for each student and deliver instruction that leads to high academic achievement. The fifth-grade PLC set a SMART goal: “Through intentionally structured small-group instruction, all students in fifth grade will be able to make inferences about the text using evidence as measured by a common grade-level passage assessment in order to grow or support their literacy skills by May 2025,” the team said.

The classroom model: Monday is a whole-group lesson that introduces a new skill; Tuesday–Thursday are 20-minute small-group literacy rotations; Fridays are reserved for assessment and teacher check-ins. Teachers described five rotating stations (teacher-led small group, breakout/coaching with a literacy coach, skills practice, word work and independent reading). Groups are color-coded and typically include four to five students; teachers said higher-need groups meet with staff twice weekly while other groups rotate for differentiation and extension.

Kate Gio, Birchview literacy coach, and fifth-grade teachers Nick Ladegaard and Shelby Schmea described how PLCs use two data streams: an essential-skill tracking sheet that documents unit-level proficiency and a SMART-goal progress tracker that uses monthly passages to measure inferencing growth over the year. Teachers said they create a success-criteria rubric (scored 1–4) and target a score of 3 or above as proficiency; scores are used to adjust groups and instruction.

Students interviewed in a classroom video told the board the small-group teacher time increased engagement and understanding. One student said, “I like the small group better because then…it's easier to make mistakes because there's not as much people watching,” and another said the rotations “make me feel independent” and helped them “understand certain words better.”

Teachers said PLCs meet about 60 minutes on Thursdays with interventionists, EL and special education staff invited to collaborate; that shared accountability and responsiveness to data allow quick group changes when trends appear. The team reported early data and midyear FastBridge checks will guide adjustments and noted they will analyze midyear assessment results this week as a progress checkpoint toward the May goal.

Why it matters: Birchview’s model emphasizes frequent teacher contact, formative assessment and team planning to move instruction from whole-group dissemination to more responsive, small-group practice—an approach board members described as consistent with district priorities for instructional equity and collective efficacy.

What’s next: Birchview staff will return to the board with updated progress after midyear assessments; the district’s teaching-and-learning office will continue to support PLC rollout and share practices across elementary sites.