Dorchester 2 hears literacy implementation update showing teacher and student gains

Dorchester 2 Board of Trustees members on June 9 heard an elementary literacy update from district staff outlining districtwide implementation of LETRS professional development, new instructional materials and changes to early literacy assessments. Presenters said teacher assessment scores and several student early-literacy measures improved from fall to spring.

Jessica Farnsworth, a district staff member who led the presentation, said teachers completing LETRS units showed gains on district pre/post measures: “we went from a 63% score on the pre assessment to scoring 95% average score,” and educators who began later in the sequence moved from about 74% to 98% on those measures. Farnsworth said most K–3 teachers, including special education and multilingual teachers and some administrators, participated in LETRS coursework and that the state provides a stipend for…