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North Santiam SD 29J spotlights explicit phonics lesson as district expands 'science of reading'
Summary
At a Sublimity K–8 classroom demonstration, district staff showed how explicit, systematic phonics and PDSA cycles are being used as Tier 1 instruction to improve early literacy and attendance, with preliminary data the presenters said shows small but measurable gains.
At a North Santiam SD 29J board meeting, teachers and administrators demonstrated the district’s new approach to early literacy, showing how explicit phonics instruction and structured data cycles are being used in kindergarten through second grade.
The presentation centered on the district’s adoption of a supplemental phonics curriculum based on the “science of reading” and on classroom procedures designed to make letter–sound relationships automatic. A district presenter said the work is paired with Plan–Do–Study–Act (PDSA) cycles and professional learning communities so teachers monitor progress and adjust instruction every six weeks.
Why it matters: district staff told the board the approach is intended to close foundational gaps early so fewer students need later, intensive intervention. The presenter said attendance-focused PDSA work has also contributed to gains: elementary attendance was reported as nearly one percentage point higher than last year, middle-school attendance up almost 2 percent, and chronically absent students down about 6 percent at the elementary level and about 10 percent at the middle-school level.
Classroom demonstration: Katie Carlgren, a first-year North Santiam teacher who said she previously taught in Salem-Keizer, led the board through a kindergarten phonics lesson that included blending and segmenting drills, sight-word practice and a motor/ASL cue to support recall. Carlgren invited board members to sit with students and model the activities, which used dry-erase boards, tapping motions for phoneme segmentation and timed blending drills.
“This is our day one where we explicitly teach letter–sound mapping,” Carlgren said during the demonstration. Board members observed students decode short words, write letters for dictated sounds, and read brief passages after the drill.
District context and next steps: presenters said the supplemental curriculum and coaching are intended as Tier 1 instruction for all K–2 students so gaps are minimized before students require specialist intervention. Staff said the district will continue six-week checkpoints and tweak incentives and family outreach to sustain attendance and literacy gains.
The board thanked students, families and staff for the demonstration. No formal action was required; the session was provided as an information spotlight and for trustees to observe classroom practice.
