Chief Academic Officer Melanie Novak outlines district approach to early literacy as state delays screener list

Chief Academic Officer Melanie Novak told the Dexter Community Schools Board of Education that the district is aligning classroom instruction and screening practices with the “science of reading” while awaiting additional state guidance.

"Tonight, I would like to give you a little update on early literacy legislation, and how we at Dexter are addressing not only the letters to the law for the legislation, but more importantly, how we're… we are meeting the needs of our students with early literacy," Novak said as she opened a presentation on assessment practice and early literacy interventions.

Novak reviewed several assessment types and how the district uses them: M-STEP as a summative snapshot, NWEA taken three times per year to identify broad areas of need, and Acadience (referred to in the presentation as Cadence) as the universal screener and progress-monitoring tool used for Y5 through grade 4 districtwide. "Cadence is the old DIBELS," Novak said, noting the tool’s long research base and its value for identifying specific early literacy skills such as phonemic awareness, phonics, accuracy and fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

Using an example from a grade-2 cohort, Novak showed how progress monitoring informs instruction: of 37 students who were in the “well below benchmark” category in one testing cycle, 29 remained there in the next cycle, seven moved to “below benchmark” and one moved to “at benchmark.” Of 14 students previously “below benchmark,” eight moved to “at benchmark.” Novak described how reading-intervention staff adjust approaches when individual students do not respond as expected and use frequent small progress checks to guide targeted intervention.

Novak also summarized the effect of Michigan Public Acts 146 and 147, describing them as laws that emphasize the science of reading and dyslexia-related skills. She said the State Department has delayed publication of an approved list of screeners; Dexter staff are meeting bi-weekly with interventionists and will review the state’s list when it becomes available before finalizing any district-wide changes.

Board members asked clarifying questions about the difference between norm-referenced tools such as NWEA and diagnostic progress-monitoring tools such as Acadience, and Novak said the district intentionally uses multiple measures so teachers have both population-level context and the individualized diagnostics needed to target instruction.

The presentation concluded with Novak thanking elementary teachers and reading-interventionists for the district’s work to provide individualized reading plans and for collaborative problem solving during intervention meetings. She said district practice will continue to include diagnostic and progress-monitoring assessments regardless of which screeners appear on the state's eventual approved list.

The board did not take a vote on policy changes; Novak’s update was presented for information and to frame future decisions once the state releases its screener guidance.