In 2019, Glean Education sat down with Dr. Jack Silva, Assistant Superintenden and Chief Academic Officer, to discuss his work in Bethlehem Area School District (BASD) on the initiative Reading By Grade Three (RBG3) focused on student literacy improvement. At the time, only 60% district’s students were leaving third grade with proficient reading skills. They knew there was a problem that needed to be fixed.

The district set out on a multi-year initiative to turn things around and set a goal of having 90% of students proficient in reading by the end of third grade. Creating a “high expectations, high support” environment, BASD set out on a five-year plan to build teacher knowledge, establish effective systems, and deliver high-quality instruction that would ensure secure students have the foundational reading skills to drive their future academic success.

Interested in undertaking a similar initiative in your district? Dr. Jack Silva shared with Glean Education our Ed Leaders Podcast some key takeaways that led to the ultimate success of this initiative.

1. Instill a Common Understanding in School Leaders

Before offering any training to teachers, the sixteen BASD district principals engaged in a professional development program rooted in the Science of Reading. Through this training, BASD administrators explored modules that helped to build foundational knowledge about current research behind reading and spelling instruction and what effective instruction should look like in the classroom.

During the first year of the program, school site leaders worked together to gain enough knowledge to oversee and support educators. “There were 28 days during the school year where principals came down to the education center,” explained Dr. Silva. “We really made them instructional experts before we ever started talking about reading with the teachers.”

Administrators delved into understanding the cognitive processes behind reading acquisition and what educators need to know to deliver explicit reading instruction – things they may have only been taught briefly or not at all in pre-service training.

2. Build Collective Efficacy by Having School Leaders and Educators Learn Together

During year two of rollout, BASD school leaders followed up their own training with another year of training alongside their district staff.

According to Dr. Silva, this professional development experience helped to establish a level of comfort between school leaders and educators and created room for teachers to ask questions, adjust mindsets and try new strategies. “We adopted the philosophy that there is no failure except failing to try,” said Silva.

Educators felt empowered to engage in courageous dialogue around the district's literacy curriculum while considering changes to instructional practice. During this phase, Dr. Silva emphasized the importance of developing professionals as a whole rather than evaluating their performance.

3. Be Intentional About Rollout

Implementing change of this magnitude is a long game and it’s important to be intentional about rollout to optimize impact. Dr. Silva explained how BASD prioritized long-term success and made sure the approach was methodical and intentional to optimize success. At BASD, the school improvement plan was implemented one grade level at a time, beginning with kindergarten with a rollout that included a new grade level each subsequent year.

The district prioritized building teacher knowledge grade-level by grade level starting with the earliest and moving toward later grades with the goal of building a strong foundation in literacy from the bottom up.

As knowledge among BASD educators grew, it became evident that a new curriculum aligned with the science of reading would be needed. “We knew that we were going to have to invest in a new curriculum, but I was unwilling to do that until we had the knowledge behind it,” said Silva.

4. Keep the School Board in the Loop By Sharing Efficacy Data

In order to ensure that the program progressed successfully, Dr. Silva provided the BASD School Board with consistent updates. Delivering this messaging helped to maintain the momentum, and ultimately, helped to contribute to the success of the RBG3 program. “If our school board wasn't providing the resources [and funding], that could take us off the rails. So we gave them constant updates of what we were doing and they became very strong supporters,” said Silva.

5. Create a New Ecosystem for Literacy Development

Creating a new literacy program entails developing a scope and sequence that aligns with the material. Implementing a reading program like BASD’s RGB3 requires the development of several pieces that work together including, but not limited to, leadership training, professional development, and curriculum adoption. “Those types of things create a universe for literacy development and you had to make sure that you were developing all of those relative to each other in the best way that you could,” said Silva.

6. Leave Room for Adjustments but Maintain Fidelity

What may work in theory can be different when put to practice. BASD school leaders left room for adjustments that needed to be made when the real work of implementing the training and new curricula began to happen in the classrooms. School leaders understood that, overall, dedication to implementation fidelity and data was at the center of BASD’s Reading by Grade Three initiative.

Success followed when school leaders led sites that had educators with deep background knowledge of the Science of Reading, materials that support practice, the assessments to track progress, and the understanding of how to intensify for those falling behind.

BASD did indeed find incredible success through this initiative. By June 2017, only one year into the initiative, 88% of the district’s kindergarteners were reading at grade level, up from 46% when school started in September, and up from 71% the prior year. That progress continued over the next several years.

Are you interested in learning how you might support this type of initiative in your district? Feel free to reach out to us at Glean Education to learn more about how we partner with schools and districts to support these types of initiatives.

References:

Hanford, Emly. “Why Millions of Kids Can’t Read and What Better Teaching Can Do About It.” Morning Edition, 2, January, 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/01/02/677722959/why-millions-of-kids-cant-read-and-what-better-teaching-can-do-about-it.
“What It Takes in to Ensure Students Are Reading At Grade-Level By Third Grade.” Ed Leaders in Literacy from Glean Education, 20, October 2019, https://www.gleaneducation.com/ed-leaders-podcast/dr-jack-silva.
Satullo, Sarah K. “Bethlehem schools set a bold reading goal 5 years ago. How close have they gotten?” Le High Valley Live, 10 March 2020, https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/2020/03/bethlehem-schools-set-a-bold-reading-goal-5-years-ago-how-close-have-they-gotten.html.
Von Bergen, Jane M. “A Better Way to Teach Reading.” The Philadelphia Citizen, 17 May 2021, https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/better-way-teach-reading/.