Byram Hills curriculum team outlines K–5 shift to UFLI phonics, weekly progress checks

The Byram Hills Central School District presented a K–5 literacy update Nov. 4 that centers on a new phonics scope-and-sequence pilot intended to accelerate early decoding and tie phonics instruction into reading and writing practice.

District curriculum leaders said the district began piloting the University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI) scope and sequence in kindergarten this year to address perceived pacing gaps in the previous Foundations curriculum. "With UFLI...by lesson five, our children are already starting to blend those sounds together," a curriculum presenter said, arguing the program lets students learn decoding while they begin reading words and applying spelling patterns.

Why it matters: presenters told the board the curriculum change aims to get more students to 'crack the code' earlier so instructional time in later grades can focus on fluency and comprehension. The team described eight routines within each UFLI lesson, weekly Friday progress monitoring and short assessments that let teachers rapidly adjust instruction.

Details and implementation: Coleman Hill principal Peggy described observing kindergarten classrooms where students "are reading words like map and nap" during lessons and noted that UFLI's weekly progress monitoring creates a regular, short diagnostic that teachers use to inform small-group instruction. Presenters said UFLI is a k–2 program; Foundations will continue to be used through third grade where appropriate while the district evaluates fall-through effects into higher grades.

Assessment and interventions: The district intends to use STAR and other universal screeners three times a year alongside UFLI weekly checks. The presenters emphasized a tiered model: most students receive core instruction; roughly 15–20% who screen below benchmarks receive tier 2 support tied to the same program to avoid conflicting practices. On fluency, the district described cold/hot read comparisons and tracking words-per-minute graphs to measure intervention impact.

Next steps: The board heard that this is the first year of implementation, with a deeper review planned in years two and three and that the district will monitor both formative UFLI checks and state assessment trends to evaluate long-term impact. The presentation concluded with trustees thanking staff and scheduling continued monitoring and follow-up reports to the board.

Quotes used with attribution come from the meeting transcript and the staff who presented the curriculum work. The board did not take a formal vote on changing core curriculum materials at this meeting; the discussion was presented as an implementation update and pilot report. The district's stated goal is to report further findings after continued implementation and data collection.