Teachers in an elementary school in the New Paltz Central School District (NPCSD) have devised a literacy action plan geared toward ensuring all students are able to receive what the former secretary general of the United Nations called “a basic human right.”
In a quote shared with the NPCSD Board of Education last month, the late Kofi Annan said, “For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right.”
At Duzine Elementary School, a group of teachers began considering making shifts in educational practices to address a sense of urgency in adapting literacy education to ensure all students are shown a pathway to success through the growing trend dubbed “Science of Reading,” while maintaining the singular Duzine community.
“Aligning our literacy instruction with the Science of Reading is urgent work, but it is so important to keep the magic alive at Duzine,” said Deputy Superintendent Linda Oehler-Marx. “Our K-2 students have nature-based experiences that help them develop inquiry mindsets from a very early age. The new shifts will not detract from what we do well, but will add to it so we may serve all students.”
But what exactly is the “Science of Reading”? There may not be a definitive answer. Generally, it focuses on how a child’s brain learns to read. In some cases, neuroscientists have used MRIs to study the brains of readers who struggle.
But in the classroom, the “Science of Reading” seeks to unlock the building blocks of words, with younger students playing rhyming games or identifying individual syllables to promote phonetic awareness. The trend also favors learning the elements that make up words over spelling memorization.
According to a study published by Timothy Shanahan, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago, while reading comes naturally to many children, between 30-40 percent need the focused rigor of the “Science of Learning.”
Which aligns with the philosophies of the NPCSD and Duzine Elementary School. While a pre-K-2 literacy vision statement is still in the works, Duzine Principal Ross Hogan read the school’s mission statement during the School Board presentation.
“Duzine Elementary School is a child-centered community whose mission is to: create a safe, nurturing and inviting environment in which all are comfortable to take risks; instill a respect for individual differences and similarities; provide challenging opportunities wherein students can reach their greatest potential, teach and model cooperation within the Duzine school community; and empower our students to be actively involved in learning.”
Empowerment, as alluded to by Annan, is a critical piece of the Duzine Literacy Action Plan.
“I think that when it’s connected to literacy, literacy has power and its empowerment,” Hogan said.
Instruction at the elementary level at Duzine is viewed through three tiers. Tier 1 is an evidence-based, researched program for all students, with its success based on between 75-80 percent proficiency.
Tier 2 is a targeted intervention for students who fall below expected benchmarks, but are not considered high-risk. Support in Tier 2 is geared toward groups of between 3-8 students, with progress monitored every week or two. Generally, between 10-20 percent of students fall into the Tier 2 category.
Finally, Tier 3 is intervention for students with the greatest need in groups of 1-3, with progress monitored twice weekly.
The key, according to school officials, is to ensure every student receives Tier 1 instruction, with targeted interventions scheduled at other times during the school day. The Duzine Literacy Action Plan is being developed by considering how Tier 1 instruction can be successful for students who have been marginalized the most.
Duzine’s demographics tell some of the story: The student population is 70.7 white, 11.5 percent Hispanic, 10 percent multiracial, 4 percent black, and 3.7 percent Asian. But of the students who receive academic intervention in reading, 51.2 percent are white, 28.6 percent Hispanic, 8.3 percent multiracial, 7.1 percent Asian, and 4.8 percent black.
“What that tells us, the urgency behind the work that we’re doing is that our Tier 1 instruction is not working for all students,” said Oehler-Marx, adding that the near-term goal is to bring the number of students receiving some academic intervention in reading down from 26 percent to closer to 20 percent.
To achieve that, the Duzine Literacy Action Plan is still finding a balance between science and fun.
“We wanted to really make sure that we focused on the magic that is Duzine and ensuring that we kept joy front and center and that we were not falling into the pit of only looking at skill development,” said Oehler-Marx.
The framework is also being built with equity, and culturally and historically responsive literacy in mind, with five learning goals: Identity development, skill development, intellectual development, criticality and joy.
The plan will continue to be developed over the summer, with support, training and materials expected to be available to all teachers in September. Academic intervention teachers with a focus on reading will also receive Orton-Gillingham training, a structured approach that breaks reading and spelling into smaller skills such as letters and sounds, and then building on those skills over time.
The expectation is that Duzine Elementary will have its literacy action plan in its classrooms by January 2024. Work on a literacy action plan for Lenape Elementary School is also expected to get underway this fall.
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