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District makes structured‑literacy its top professional‑development priority for the year
Summary
Unionville‑Chadds Ford officials said structured literacy is the district's main K–12 PD focus, with primary grades emphasized for phonics/fluency, secondary PD addressing vocabulary and writing, and a district structured‑literacy team trained at the IU to tailor supports by grade and subject.
District leaders said structured literacy will be the primary professional‑development focus this year, with a multi‑building committee guiding K–12 rollout and targeted training for different grade bands.
Administrators reported that representatives from every building attended a three‑day IU training and that the district used Nov. 1 to present structured‑literacy concepts to staff. For primary grades the emphasis will be on phonics, phonemic awareness and fluency; for middle and high school staff the focus will shift toward vocabulary development and written expression.
A district structured‑literacy team — comprising reading specialists, primary grade teachers, ELL and special‑education teachers and administrators — will use needs assessments to plan differentiated PD that matches subject and grade‑level priorities. One board speaker noted that writing emerged as a primary PD need for secondary teachers from the district's data collection.
Administrators said the rollout will use bite‑sized PD, faculty meetings and in‑service days to deliver supports and that the district intends to leverage internal expertise where possible. A district leader said, "Everyone's a literacy teacher," stressing that structured literacy is relevant across content areas.
Next steps: targeted PD planning based on needs assessments and continued cross‑building collaboration to implement structured‑literacy practices.
