Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Literacy Curriculum topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
District adopts Literacy Matters supports and reports early gains on I‑Ready
Summary
Roosevelt and Vernon principals told the board the district is working with Literacy Matters and other structured-literacy programs; administrators cited lower rates of students below grade level and a rise in students at mastery on fall I‑Ready results.
The Oyster Bay‑East Norwich Central School District on Tuesday described an expanding, multi‑year literacy effort that administrators say is already showing early signs of progress.
"We have decreased the number of students in red from 16% to 12%," Principal Deborah Small said, citing a fall‑to‑fall comparison on I‑Ready scores and noting an increase in students scoring at the highest level from 23% to 33%. The district is working with Literacy Matters on curriculum writing and professional development and is using programs including Hegarty Phonemic Awareness, Fundations, and Just Words to strengthen phonics, vocabulary and comprehension instruction.
Small and Vernon Principal Anastasia Smith walked the board through a grade‑by‑grade plan to develop four integrated thematic units per grade that align with state standards and the district's chosen literacy practices. The principals said the district created a new elementary curriculum associate position to coordinate the work across schools and that Literacy Matters will begin focused work in kindergarten and first grade this year, with additional units phased in over subsequent years.
Administrators emphasized targeted professional development and supports for grades not yet receiving new units. "They are helping us to really strengthen those components, so that our literacy instruction overall includes all scientifically supported components of literacy," Small said. Officials noted the weakest area identified in the data was informational reading comprehension, and said Literacy Matters' work specifically targets background knowledge and vocabulary development.
