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Kenosha School District reports progress in K–5 structured literacy rollout under Act 20
Summary
At a curriculum committee meeting, literacy coordinator Mary Hoover told board members the district completed year two of K–5 structured literacy implementation, reported full elementary staff completion of Cox Campus modules and described NextPath dashboards, learning walks and plans to implement Grade 3 promotion procedures.
Mary Hoover, KUSD’s coordinator of literacy, told the Curriculum Program Committee that the district is in its second full year of implementing a structured literacy phonics curriculum for kindergarten through fifth grade and is tracking early signs of progress.
"We had 100% of our elementary teaching staff complete and pass the Cox Campus professional learning module. That was 525 certificates earned," Hoover said, describing a two‑year professional development plan the district used to standardize teacher practice.
Hoover said the district uses AIMSwebPlus screening across three assessment windows and a NextPath platform to collect and visualize screening data so teachers can check progress and respond quickly. KUSD expanded personal reading plans, initially for K–3, into grade 4 and set a district exit threshold intended to reduce students cycling on and off plans: students initially qualify below the 25th percentile on the screener, while Hoover said the district adopted a 40th percentile exit criterion because it better predicts forward proficiency.
Hoover reported classroom monitoring through learning walks: the ELA team visited more than 140 elementary classrooms twice this year to observe phonics delivery and work alongside instructional coaches. The district also developed common formative assessments for comprehension (grades 2–5) and phonics (K–2) to align instruction with Forward Exam stems and classroom practice.
On outcomes, Hoover said 45 third‑grade students who were on a personal reading plan met the reading benchmark on the Forward Exam; 24 of those students officially exited their plans after applying KUSD’s exit criteria.
Board members asked how district measures compare with state and national indices; Hoover said the Forward Exam is the primary accountability measure used for district‑level trend analysis and that longer‑term growth will take several years to track because the structured literacy work is concentrated in primary grades.
Hoover also described family engagement through NextPath: parents can view personal reading plans and receive progress updates; staff reported parent acknowledgments rose from about 10% in winter to roughly 25% after outreach efforts.
The committee closed with next steps for year three — continuing learning walks, scaling personal reading plan monitoring with special attention to kindergarten, embedding targeted literacy goals into school improvement plans, and planning operational details for Grade 3 promotion policy implementation and a redesigned summer program — and adjourned. The committee set its next meeting for 08/13/2026.
