New School Year, New Approach To Teaching Reading

In an effort to improve reading levels for the city school district’s youngest students, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) has created a new 90-minute literacy block outline for kindergarten through third-grade educators — all based off of the district’s recently adopted core literacy program.

That block includes 30 minutes of phonics instruction, 20 minutes of whole group structured literacy learning, and 40 minutes of small group instruction. 

NHPS Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum Instruction & Assessment Keisha Redd-Hannans and Supervisor of Elementary Reading and Language Arts Jennifer Tousignant described that literacy-improvement approach, as well as the district’s latest efforts to teach public school students to read, during Tuesday’s most recent full Board of Education meeting.

The meeting took place in-person at Barack Obama School on Farnham Avenue and online via Zoom.

The presentation comes after NHPS chose last year to adopt a new core K‑5 literacy program, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s (HMH) Into Reading and ¡Arriba la Lectura!

NHPS made the switch to HMH after the state passed legislation requiring that reading instruction be based on a phonics-focused science of reading approach, and after the district found that 84 percent of third graders were reading below grade level in 2022. (According to state data published in August, the number of New Haven third graders reading below grade level has increased to 87 percent.)

On Tuesday, Redd-Hannans spoke about how the district’s current approach to literacy instruction has included dividing the role of former Supervisor of K‑12 Literacy Lynn Brantley, who retired at the end of the 2022 – 2023 school year, into two roles. This May the district hired Supervisor of Secondary English Language Arts Jennifer Sinal Swingler and Supervisor of Elementary Reading and Language Arts Tousignant. 

“This year because we needed a laser-light focus on literacy we divided the supervisor of literacy position into two positions,” Redd-Hannans said. 

The district also ran a pilot to review the state’s core program options, decided on HMH, ordered new program materials using ESSER funding, had those materials delivered to the schools by the end of June, and hosted a two-hour virtual overview for K‑5 staff about the program. 

Click here to view Tuesday’s presentation in full. 

Over the summer Tousignant spent time meeting one on one with each elementary school principal to discuss their school’s literacy programs, goals for the year with the new program, and any anticipated issues regarding the program implementation.

“This was a great opportunity for us to problem solve together so that we ensure a really motivated opening of schools along with the roll out of the core program,” Tousignant said. 

Tousignant also led new principals through onboarding for the new program, as well new elementary teachers during an orientation. 

Optional full-day HMH professional development for K‑5 educators was offered in June and August. This made it so the educators who opted into this professional development (PD) were able to start the year with a Tier 2‑level PD this September. 

District and school-based literacy coaches also worked alongside Tousignant to create HMH pacing guides for educators, making links between the district’s science curriculum and HMH program, created a HMH lesson plan template for staff, and created documents for administrators to use while doing walk throughs to observe the roll out of HMH. 

“The goal of this is fidelity to the core,” Tousignant said. ​“Our teachers are using the materials that were purchased for them and there is no need for them to go out and purchase on their own. They have what they need. They have 90 minutes of instruction ideally to work with, they have a 30-minute block for foundational skills and a 45-minute block outside of that 90 minutes.”

Tousignant added that the structured literacy approach will help provide the educators with explicit instruction and include whole group, small group, literacy centers, individualized one-on-one instruction, and independent reading instruction methods. 

HMH includes supports for multilingual learners and special education resources. 

To further prepare educators for the new program implementation in the classrooms, Tousignant highlighted that in August the district hosted a full day PD for K‑5 educators in both of HMH’s curriculums Into Reading and ¡Arriba la Lectura!

On Sept, 12, another full day K‑5 workshop was hosted for educators with a focus on technology resources, assessment data, a workshop for administrators, resource overview, and planned small group instruction. 

Throughout September, classroom walkthroughs were conducted by the schools’ academic teams. 

NHPS has contracted HMH to visit elementary schools once per quarter for a half day to provide on-site coaching to address particular building needs. 

Tousignant concluded that progress monitoring will occur in several ways to monitor both student progress and the program implementation to be sure it is improving student outcomes. 

Board of Education member Edward Joyner commented that a good academic program should take into account three variables: interest, attention, and memory. 

“We have a world-class intervention. And what we need going forward is a world-class response,” Joyner added. 

He suggested schools offer incentives to students to read outside of school. 

Board member Abie Benitez emphasized that HMH includes not just programing in English but also has a Spanish curriculum for the district’s dual language schools. Redd-Hannans said that staff of the district’s multilingual department joined classroom walkthroughs to observe and offer feedback about the new program’s effectiveness and authenticity. 

Board of Education member Matt Wilcox requested to hear from teachers throughout the year about how the program implementation is going.

Additionally he requested an update on the districts initiative to enhance classroom and home libraries for NHPS students and an update on parent engagement efforts to supply them with information and resources to support their students with literacy at home.