Killeen ISD hosted 60 educators from four visiting school districts and from across KISD Tuesday to learn from one school’s experience implementing structured literacy strategies.
Executive Director for Curriculum and Instruction Carrie Parker presented information and facilitated question-answer sessions with panels of teachers and administrators at Clifton Park Elementary School.
Between the information session and the panels, educators toured specified classrooms at Clifton Park to see reading and writing lessons in action.
They saw teachers leading discussions with students, drawing out details of reading material to demonstrate their understanding of the content.
Site visit photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/killeenisd/albums/72177720331940425/with/55089201270
Killeen ISD is among nine Texas school systems that received the two-year Texas Reads, Texas Leads grant funded through the Butt Holdsworth Foundation to provide enhanced literacy support among young students.
“We were excited to be excited to receive the grant, and we have visitors from the Holdsworth Foundation and from around the state and they have visited classrooms to see how we have implemented structured literacy in our primary grades,” said Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Jo-Lynette Crayton.
The TXRL grant provides training and resources with the goal for every student to read on grade level by fourth grade.
The professional development and strategic planning efforts aim at reforming instruction to better match the science of teaching reading and support greater outcomes for early readers.
The grant benefits all of the district’s 30 elementary schools.
“We’re ensuring our kindergarten through third-grade students have strong reading skills,” Parker said. “We’re opening our doors to share best practices and show how our structured literacy practices are being implemented.”