Kathleen Williams column
Summer has officially begun and the Wausau School District continues to be busy as ever!
Our Summer Learning Programs launched on June 16 and our enrollment is amazing: over 2,000 elementary, 800-plus middle school, and 700-plus high school students are participating in opportunities to advance their learning, achievement and success.
Further, 318 of our teachers are or will be involved in extensive summer professional development and curriculum projects to enhance their instructional skill sets and enhance student achievement. A few examples of opportunities in which our teachers are immersing themselves include assessments, Educator Effectiveness, iPod training, Spelling Mastery, Corrective Reading for Decoding, Corrective Reading Comprehension, Language for Learning, writing sessions, technology mentoring and the Science of Reading.
Our professional development series attempts to assist teachers to develop their expertise in both the art of teaching and the science of teaching. As previously mentioned, the Science of Reading will be a unique focus for our elementary teachers this summer and during the school year. Current reading research supports the fact that 90 percent to 95 percent of students can be taught to read at grade level. Yet proficiency rates in reading in the Wausau School District and our nation do not reflect these rates. When asking the question ‘why?’ the answer involves the science of reading. Knowledge about how the brain processes information, as well having a strong understanding of linguistic development, has strong implications for effective teaching practices. In order for our teachers to advance our students’ reading skills, we must invest time to enhance teacher knowledge more effectively.
While this is a shift in focus, our core reading curriculum is not changing. Teachers, however, will be applying what they learned from four days of training and eight Professional Learning Community activities to begin making incremental changes in practice that will support student achievement.
In addition to providing teachers the chance to gain more insights on current reading research, the brain and implications for teaching and learning, our core literacy teams also will work to investigate new resources to support both teaching and learning while maintaining the use of our comprehensive bookrooms. Teachers will continue to provide small and whole group instruction, differentiating as needed. Our resources will be reviewed and may be altered to more fully align to the science of reading.
In brief, our current reading curriculum is a mosaic of resources but one that constantly requires adaptation to varying student needs.
Kathleen Williams is the superintendent of the Wausau School District.