South Washington County outlines district-wide Read Act implementation, screening and training progress

Kelly Jansen, assistant superintendent and district literacy lead, presented the school district'''s annual literacy report to the board at its Oct. 2 workshop meeting, outlining the district'''s implementation of the Read Act and changes to screening, curriculum and staff training.

"The goal of the Read Act is to have every child reading at or above grade level every year, beginning in kindergarten," Jansen told the board, and described four statutory elements districts must address: universal screening, evidence-based curriculum and interventions, structured-literacy training, and a district literacy lead or contract. She said the district has adopted multiple screeners and training programs to meet those requirements.

Jansen said the district trained more than 1,400 educators last year across programs that included Core Curriculum and structured-literacy courses (Carryall, OLA, ALS and Letters), and that staff at all levels'''from early childhood through adult education'''received instruction. "We trained all of our teachers ... more than 1,400 educators went through a training this last school year," she said. The district also piloted and adopted screeners including FastBridge, MAP and Capti Read Basics for grades 4'—.

Leah Boulos, teaching and learning supervisor and district literacy lead for Read Act efforts, joined Jansen and gave an overview of the data the district uses to…