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Tooele district highlights literacy gains and plans targeted high‑school intervention pilot
Summary
District leaders reported midyear gains in kindergarten literacy and outlined a Grantsville‑led secondary literacy intervention pilot to screen 9th graders for foundational reading deficits and deliver targeted instruction, with pre/post measures to track effectiveness.
District academic leaders used the May board meeting to detail this year’s instructional priorities and to launch new pilots and administrative models aimed at increasing student achievement.
Dr. Ritzel framed the review around the district’s high‑leverage practices and the year’s shift to common formative assessments. He described professional learning team cycles and promised completion data in the coming month.
Shaunie Gim presented kindergarten and first‑grade “excellence plans” that emphasize an accelerated letter‑and‑sound routine, retrieval practice and specific mid‑year targets. Gim reported that 73% of kindergartners could identify letters and sounds by mid‑December and that the district saw a 26 percentage‑point increase on Acadience measures in kindergarten from the start of the year to midyear. Gim said five teachers in the district reached 100% proficiency and growth for their classes and credited literacy coaches, printed classroom materials and targeted teacher supports for the gains.
On secondary literacy, Dr. Ritzel announced a targeted intervention pilot beginning in the fall at Grantsville High School, led by Marin Peterson and Aaron Bodell. The pilot will screen incoming 9th‑grade students for foundational reading deficits, provide targeted instruction for identified skills gaps, use pre/post measures to evaluate impact, and involve parents in the support process.
Dr. Ritzel also described a proposed administrative staffing experiment that would make the principal the lead instructional officer while designating an assistant principal as a dean of instruction who focuses on teacher development and classroom‑level coaching; other assistant principals would specialize in behavior or operations, depending on school size.
What’s next: staff will return with completion and end‑of‑year data; the Grantsville pilot is scheduled to begin in the fall with evaluation metrics to support districtwide scaling if successful.
