Hi GSD Community!
In today's post, I want to write about something that I highlight as a success, however, this topic will forever be a focus for the future for me as I serve on the board.
I want to center on something that I believe is the most fundamental item when it comes to our Student Success while they are in our district and beyond: Reading.
In general, my approach to education is fairly simple. The reality is that our teachers have very limited time with our students to teach when you think about it. We need to focus on the most important fundamentals that help build a child's education: reading, writing, and math. Those three subjects are the foundation of a student having the ability to ingest information, use logic to form their own thoughts, and then be able to communicate that out. The result is a student's ability to critically think for themselves.
I truly believe that if we want our students to be successful in whatever direction they choose to go forward with… College or university, trade school, or straight into the workforce… One of the things that we should put the greatest focus on is reading.
Here is the chart of our reading proficiency that starts in the 2015/2016 school year (source: WI DPI). As you'll be able to see, we were on a downward trend, reaching our low point in the 2020/2021 school year. In the past couple of years, we've been able to seemingly reverse the overall trend - time will ultimately tell - but we are actually above our 2018/2019 proficiency.
Please know, there's still a lot of work to do to increase our scores and get our students where they need to be. I'm confident the action of our district thus far has set us on the course to do just that.
I fully supported from the start our approach to our reading curriculum review with a focus on the science of reading. Our teachers who have worked to review the materials and pilot the different options that they have selected have put in a lot of time and effort. From what we've been told in our regular updates during the teaching and learning committee (of which I've been a member all 3 years of my service on the board), the students and parents have also put in a lot of time and effort to make these pilots successful.
I am also proud to say that GSD was “ahead of the curve” in looking to move forward using the Science of Reading even before the Wisconsin legislature approved and the Governor signed Act 20. Act 20 will invest in early literacy development by transitioning the current teaching approach to science-based reading instruction. I believe that we will be ready to move forward with the best option for our district once the council on early literacy finalizes their work.
Primary day is February 20th! Be sure to make plans to head out to the polls on that day.
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