Shannon Wilcox presented the district’s early‑literacy framework and system of supports, describing goals, curriculum, teacher development and tiered interventions aimed at improving reading outcomes by third grade.

Wilcox said the district has adopted a Nexus 2030 target that aims for 65 percent of students to be at or above Acadience reading benchmarks by the end of third grade by 2030. Intermediate targets include 65 percent of K–3 students achieving typical‑or‑better growth on Acadience pathways and 80 percent K–2 proficiency on the district’s common interim assessments (CIAs). Wilcox said 208 district educators have completed LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) professional development, a multi‑session training that the district adopted starting in 2018.

Wilcox described the two primary “strands” of reading (language comprehension and word recognition, referring to Scarborough’s Rope) and described K–2 word‑knowledge routines aligned to assessment components (alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, phonics, decoding and high‑frequency words). She said district teachers receive data dashboards that show whole‑class, individual and item‑level results to guide instruction. The district uses Amplify as a tier‑1 curriculum and Mirroring/Amira as targeted practice tools; Wilcox presented data showing high usage (86,000+ stories read in eight weeks) and reported correlations between Amira and Acadience scores (grade‑1 correlation ~0.77; grade 2–4 ~0.6–0.67).

For students needing tier‑2 instruction, Wilcox said the district uses diagnostic assessments to guide placement and primarily uses UFLY for kindergarten and the 95% Group for grades 1–3, with additional tools such as ReadLive and dyad reading. She said the district provides an average of roughly eight ESPs per elementary school (matched with school funding) to deliver small‑group interventions; those ESPs typically run about three intervention groups per day, averaging five students per group, and the district estimated that roughly 1,200 K–3 students receive an intervention daily across schools.

Wilcox described school‑level implementation supports including instructional coaches, in‑classroom visits with feedback, regular revisit schedules and district planning that uses observation and assessment data to focus professional development. She also noted statutory funding that supports some intervention tools (a legislative early‑literacy appropriation was referenced).

Board members commended the work and shared examples of student engagement; no board action was taken.