Triad educators are celebrating a significant increase in the district’s third grade reading scores.
At Thursday’s Board of Education meeting, Elementary Principal Lee Claypool said the district’s third grade reading proficiency increased from 21% last year to 47%.
She said she was especially proud Triad exceeded the state average, 44% proficiency.
“We’re definitely on the upswing,” Claypool said.
Meredith Ford, a literacy coach at the school, said the district is making fundamental changes to increase proficiency.
She explained to the board her role in the district and the impact of literacy coaching on educational goals.
Ford said a Literacy Leadership Team, which meets monthly, has worked together to create a comprehensive literacy to guide the district.
She also meets monthly with a Building Leadership Team which analyzes grade level data to create goals for each grade.
Ford said ensuring there are clear goals at each grade level, as opposed to focusing on third grade, has been one of the most notable points of improvement.
“One thing I think has changed since last year is having expectations for all of our teachers, K-3 (kindergarten through third grade),” she said.
To accomplish this, Claypool said the school has implemented peer-observations, during which a teacher will observe lessons at the grade level below. For instance, she said third grade teachers observe second grade lessons, while second grade teachers observe first grade, and so on.
“This allows the teachers to have vertical conversations about the deficits they may be seeing,” she said.
Ford said this is essential to preparing students for success in third grade.
“That way we can ask, ‘Are the expectations high enough (at earlier grades) to get them where they need to go (by third grade)?’” she said.
Ford said she also spends time on individual and team coaching, meeting with each teacher monthly.
She said a common “3-day cycle” includes observing a teacher’s lesson the first day, teaching the class while the teacher observes the second day and then observing the teacher again to see improvements or changes.
Ford said she has been working to build relationships with each teacher so they can readily come to her with challenges they may be facing. From there, she can assist teachers in ways they need, whether it be developing lesson plans to helping them use language effective with students.
The teachers have been highly engaged with literacy coaching, Ford said.
“I don’t think any teacher has missed (a meeting) at all,” she said. “They’re really all on-board.”
Aside from teacher and student interactions, Ford said she also works to analyze data in order to find specific areas the district should focus on.
Based on various assessments, she said she could determine if students are struggling with informational texts, for example.
Using that data, educational changes that will better equip students for state tests can be made.
Claypool said the school has increased instances in which students are asked to compare two texts, which was a common challenge for Triad students in state assessments. Additionally, she said the school is increasing opportunities for students to read and write through activities like a reading journal.
Board members said they were impressed with the large improvement from last year’s proficiency scores and felt as though the changes implemented were effective.
“Everyone’s been working so hard, so it’s good to finally be able to see that,” Superintendent Vickie Hoffman said.
In other business, the board:
– Heard an update from Technology Coordinator Ryan Thompson about security improvements recently made at buildings throughout the district.
He said door access control, which uses ID badges to grant access to buildings, has been installed at 33 doors throughout the district.
The doors will also have keypads so first responders will only need a code to enter the building in case of an emergency.
A dock with a camera and microphone was also installed at the high school entrance, Thompson said. It will allow secretaries in the building to see and hear who is at the entrance before buzzing them in, as opposed to leaving the doors unlocked.
Thompson said they are also piloting a secure room at the high school.
It has 39 camera angles throughout the building displayed on a 75-inch screen, which is always on. There is also a phone that uses 4-digit extensions to make announcements on the P.A. system in the building.
In an emergency situation, a staff member would be able to enter the secure room, alert building occupants of a lockdown and correspond with first responders regarding the location of the threats.