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Board reviews elementary curriculum initiatives, Read to Achieve results and Pre‑K changes
Summary
Wilkes County Schools presented Read to Achieve outcomes, LETRS professional development progress, literacy and math curriculum updates, instructional specialist roles, and Pre‑K site/enrollment adjustments for 2025–26.
At the Sept. 8 Wilkes County Board of Education meeting, Director of Pre‑K and Elementary Education Jeffery Johnson presented the district’s curriculum priorities and summer program outcomes for 2025–26.
Johnson summarized Read to Achieve Camp (June 13–27), which served 179 second‑ and third‑grade students with 17 certified teachers, 13 teacher assistants and 13 bus drivers; 16 students reached proficiency after attending the camp. Johnson described LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) as the district’s cornerstone professional development for the science of reading, noting 231 teachers completed cohort 1, cohort 2 had 32 teachers, cohort 3 had 27 teachers, and cohorts 4 and 5 were in progress.
The district is in its third year implementing the Wit & Wisdom literacy adoption and will focus this year on fidelity and coaching support; pacing guides for each grade have been updated. Johnson outlined the literacy intervention plan, which uses programs such as Heggerty, Fundations, Letterland, Corrective Reading and Reading Mastery, and said instructional specialists will focus on coaching and modeling.
Elementary math core programs include Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Tools 4 Teachers, Bridges and Illustrative Math. The district will emphasize unpacking standards and use Math in Practice as a teacher guide. In science, pacing guides were updated with teacher input; no single science adoption was announced.
Johnson also reported on Pre‑K: Wilkes County Schools operates 12 Pre‑K sites, with 18 Pre‑K classrooms in district sites and two classes at Wilkes Developmental Day School. Mountain View Elementary and Ronda‑Clingman Elementary each lost a Pre‑K class this year due to low enrollment. The Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scales will be required again with a revised tool, and training will be provided to staff as the department is trained.
Board members did not take formal action on the curriculum presentation; it was submitted for review and informational purposes.
