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Overbrook program reports midyear literacy gains; district highlights teacher professional development
Summary
Overbrook Early Learning Center leaders told the East Haven board that play-based instruction, targeted phonics and interactive read-alouds produced measurable midyear gains in pre‑K literacy; district staff also reported broad positive feedback on recent professional development.
Marissa Velasquez, representing Overbrook Early Learning Center, told the East Haven Board of Education that the center’s play‑based approach is producing measurable gains in early literacy. “Play is the pathway of literacy,” Velasquez said as she described classroom routines that embed letter‑sound work, phonemic awareness and interactive read‑alouds.
Velasquez said Overbrook serves about 200 students in 10 pre‑K classrooms (ages about 2.8–5). She presented beginning‑of‑year and midyear assessment snapshots: for letter identification the distribution moved from 30% below/59% meeting/11% exceeding at the start of the year to 21% below/53% meeting/26% exceeding midyear; letter‑sound proficiency rose from 20% below/77% meeting/3% exceeding to 7% below/78% meeting/15% exceeding; story retell and comprehension metrics also improved (story retell began 47% below and moved to 20% below midyear, with increases in the meeting and exceeding bands). Velasquez said the center adapts instruction for multilingual learners and students with IEPs, uses SRBI monitoring, and partners with speech pathologists and outside facilitators.
Lisa, the district’s professional learning lead, briefed the board on recent professional development tied to the district’s pathway approach. She said roughly 600 teacher responses across sessions indicated more than 90% of participants found sessions purposeful and applicable, and the most requested change was more time to collaborate and apply new practices. Lisa said paraeducators also participated in targeted PD on de‑escalation, small‑group instruction and supports for multilingual learners.
Board members asked about eligibility and enrolment; Velasquez confirmed Overbrook is open in the summer, is full for four‑year‑olds and may have limited openings for some three‑year‑olds, and that enrollment is limited to East Haven residents except for district employees’ children when slots are available. Velasquez invited board members and the public to Overbrook’s Night of the Museum on May 7.
The district framed the Overbrook results as early, encouraging indicators and said staff will continue to compare BOY/MOY/EOY trajectories to identify students who need tiered interventions before kindergarten.
