San Mateo-Foster City trustees hear staff report strong early gains after three-year rollout of structured literacy program

Pam Barkfield, the district’s executive director of curriculum and instruction, told the San Mateo-Foster City School District Board of Trustees on March 13 that the district’s multi-year rollout of a structured-literacy program (often described in the presentation as the science of reading or Path) is showing measurable benefits in early grades.

Barkfield said the district began a concentrated effort in 2022 that included providing Orton–Gillingham training through the Institute for Multisensory Education and paying for summer training that about 100 teachers attended. She described the work as grounded in “settled research” and emphasized that the approach is not “phonics-only” but combines decoding and language comprehension so students both decode words and understand meaning.

The district described a model that emphasizes Tier 1 instruction in the classroom, supported by 22 language-and-literacy TOSAs (teachers on special assignment) who coach, co-teach and push in with classroom teachers. Barkfield said that keeping students in class for as much of core instruction as possible is a priority and that targeted Tier 2 interventions typically occur in-class with short, focused time-on-task. “This work has been going on over the last few years and we’re really excited to talk with you about it,” Barkfield said.

Why it matters: Staff presented assessment and implementation data intended to show the program’s early returns. The district has shifted its assessment calendar to an August baseline, November, March and May sequence to align with elementary trimesters and to make data more useful for instruction. Presenters framed the goal as getting to 80% of students accessing first-instruction curriculum with effective Tier 1 teaching, a threshold they said would make targeted intervention work tractable.

Data and examples: Nicole, a district staff member leading data cycles, said schools run multiple cycles of data inquiry and that, in a recent cycle, roughly 98% of assessed students showed some growth while about 2% did not. She described a student-acceleration practice in which a teacher picks one multilingual-learner student to support across the year: one example moved from “not meeting” in August to “meeting” by November.

Trustee questions and assessment alignment: Trustees asked several technical questions. Trustee Proctor noted that some kindergarten and first-grade chart lines appear to dip year to year and asked whether that trend is concerning. Staff answered that kindergarten uses a shorter, different assessment (a curriculum-embedded screener focused on letters and sounds), while first and second grades use the same benchmark; they also described a common “implementation dip” when new practices move from intense pilot support to full implementation across sites.

Several trustees asked whether the district’s internal Path assessment results will translate into higher scores on external state assessments when the current K–2 cohort reaches tested grades. Barkfield and other staff said it is too early to show state-test effects but that they expect gains to emerge as students reach testing grades and that they will continue to monitor alignment.

Costs and sustainability: Board members asked about the initial cost of training and future expenses. Presenters said the district spent roughly $500,000 for early professional development and summer training but expects recurring PD costs to decline; the ongoing and larger expense will be TOSA staffing to support classroom implementation.

Home engagement and non‑screen supports: Staff described family engagement work (districtwide literacy nights, translated outreach, transportation to events) and said Footsteps to Brilliance is used primarily as a brief (about 15-minute) at-home supplement for families, not as a classroom replacement. Barkfield emphasized the district purchased decodable take-home books for schools ($5,000 per school allocation this year) so families could practice text that matched classroom instruction.

Next steps: Staff said the district will continue year-four implementation for K–2, refine definitions of Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions, expand principal professional learning communities and continue cycles of inquiry to identify and respond to gaps. The presentation closed with trustees praising teacher and TOSA work and thanking staff for classroom visits.

The board approved the meeting agenda at the start of the meeting and adjourned following the presentation and question period.