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Simsbury moves to Benchmark Advance for K–3 reading; officials outline timeline, coaching and family supports
Summary
Simsbury's Board of Education heard a detailed presentation on adopting Benchmark Advance for kindergarten through third grade, with district officials saying the change follows state requirements under the Right to Read Act, includes extensive teacher coaching and will be evaluated through surveys and multi-year academic markers.
Betsy Gonzales, director of elementary curriculum and assessment for Simsbury Public Schools, and colleagues presented the board with the district's K' reading plan, centering on the Benchmark Advance program and expanded professional development.
Gonzales said the curriculum shift grew out of a state review related to the Right to Read Act and a district waiver process. "We were partially granted a waiver...in the areas of comprehension and vocabulary, you need a little more something something to be aligned with what we believe to be the science of reading," an official said during the presentation. The district piloted Benchmark Advance for a year and chose it for its comprehensive scope across K'.
Reading coach Cheryl Panyard described how Benchmark seeks to interweave word recognition and language comprehension so students build automatic word reading and then apply that fluency to comprehension. "Teachers are teaching all of the components of reading, and most of the components of reading are now coming from Benchmark Advance," she said. Second-grade teacher Kylie Lam illustrated classroom practice: "They're annotating their text. They're highlighting vocab words. They're jotting in the margins. They're having conversations about text," Lam said, describing student booklets and unit blueprints used in class.
District leaders said implementation includes monthly coaching, classroom modeling, and data reviews after each unit. Officials emphasized differentiation is built into the program: supplemental materials for special education and interventionists' supports are available within the Benchmark suite. Gonzales said the district will survey teachers after year one to gather feedback on assessments, workload and integration with science and social studies.
Board members asked when measurable results would appear. The district cautioned that widespread, externally visible gains are typically most evident in later years of implementation; presenters projected that some standardized or district-level markers would be most reliable by year three, while noting interim progress monitoring is already in use.
The board did not vote on adoption at the session; presenters said teachers have been trained and materials distributed for the current year and that the district will use survey and assessment data to inform refinements for the next school year.
The board will review survey findings and implementation metrics in upcoming meetings; staff signaled continued attention to differentiation, family communication and the relationship between K' reading work and curricula in grades 4—.
