Local Literacy Plan

Thomas Elementary School

 Washington Parish School System

Anthony Stubbs, Principal,                                                                                    Anna Temples, Faculty Coordinator

Robert Bateman, Assistant Principal of Discipline                                                   Jolie Schenck, Literacy Coach

                                                                                                                              Jessica Miller, Literacy Coach

May 25, 2023

Section 1:  Literacy Vision and Mission Statement

Literacy Vision:  The students at Thomas Elementary School will graduate with the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful in college and/or career, to be productive members of society, and to care for their future families.

Literacy Mission Statement: The students at Thomas Elementary School will read, think, speak, and write at increasing levels of complexity throughout their school career to prepare for college/career and adult life.

Section 2:  Goals

Student-Focused Goals:

·       TES students in Kindergarten through 3rd grade will exhibit an increase of Benchmark proficiency on DIBLELS 8, the universal literacy screener for Washington Parish, from beginning to end of the 2023-2024 school year.

·       TES Kindergarten students will exhibit an increase on the component of Nonsense Word Fluency-Correct Letter Sounds from beginning to end of the 2023-2024 school year on DIBELS 8, the universal literacy screener for Washington Parish.

Teacher-Focused Goals:

●      All Kindergarten to 3rd grade teachers are educated in the Science of Reading. (K-3 teachers will complete Science of Reading training Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling -LETRS.)

●      Elementary district and school-based literacy coaches will actively coach teachers to improve core and/or intervention instruction.

●       All K-3 teachers will participate in weekly common planning to plan and pace instruction.

●      Teachers will implement effective teaching practices based on the Science or Reading that target individual needs of students, including diverse learners.

●      Teachers will create student learning targets that directly impact goals they set for their students.

Program-Focused Goals:

·       TES will continue utilizing a 3-tiered system of instructional support in grades K-3 that includes additional blocks of time (up to 60 min per day) for students to receive targeted interventions in areas of need as indicated by DIBELS 8 universal screener and additional diagnostic assessments. 

●      Core and intervention curricula will be implemented and prescriptively utilized with fidelity by teachers and interventionists.

●      School staff will use student data, both benchmark and progress monitoring, to effective plan and adjust instruction.

Section 3: English Language Arts Instructional Materials and Amount of Time Devoted Daily to Foundational Literacy Skills

·       TES has implemented Open Court Reading, which is aligned to the Science of Reading, in grades K-3.  Students receive a total of 165 minutes of core ELA instruction, with 90 of those minutes being uninterrupted. Foundational skills are taught during the uninterrupted block.

●      Heggerty an explicit phonological and phonemic awareness program, is utilized in all Kindergarten through third grade classrooms. 

●      Third grade students additionally receive instruction with LADOE’s Guidebook unit - Louisiana Purchase.

Section 4: Interventions and Supports

●      TES currently uses DIBELS 8 for universal screening and progress monitoring.  Other diagnostic assessments such as the Phonological Awareness Screening Test (PAST), Really Great Reading Decoding Surveys, 95% Group Phonics Surveys, and the LETRS spelling screener are used to identify student needs, plan instruction, and monitor student progress. TES has a data room where each student has an individualized data card used to help track literacy progress.

●      TES has established a 3-tiered system of instructional support in grades K-3 that includes additional blocks of time (up to 60 min per day) for students to receive targeted interventions in areas of need as indicated by DIBELS 8 universal screener and additional diagnostic assessments. 

●      TES provides opportunities for after school tutoring for targeted areas of need based on the school’s Comprehensive Needs Analysis. After-school tutoring is offered in grades, 3rd-5th providing additional ELA and Math support.

●      TES uses literacy intervention programs aligned to the Science of Reading in grades K-3, with programs targeting specific strands of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. Programs include: Phonics BOOST, Phonics BLAST, Countdown, HD Word, Kilpatrick, & Read Live.

Section 5: Professional Development in Foundational Literacy Skills for Kindergarten-3rd Grade Teachers

●      All K-3 teachers, literacy coaches, and assistant principals of instruction are enrolled in Science of Reading Professional Development, LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling.) The training spans over the course of two years to complete. Online coursework and a total of 8 professional development days are involved. The teachers work through Volume 1, Word Recognition, the first year. The second year, Volume 2, is Language Comprehension.

●      All K-3 teachers are trained in Open Court Reading. New teacher training is held yearly. Teachers receive daily curriculum support from school-site literacy coaches who are trained in the curriculum and the Science of Reading.

●  K-2 teachers will participate in Heggerty training from the LADOE in the Fall of ‘23.

Section 6: Family Literacy Engagement

●      TES strives to educate and engage families in the literacy development of their children.  Numerous opportunities are provided to engage and inform parents. Examples include in-person literacy nights, open house meetings, and other academic-related opportunities for parents to learn about their child’s education.  We share and explain universal screening scores three times a year, hold LEAP informational meetings, schedule in-person parent conferences, and provide easy access to classroom grades via JCampus, etc. In grades K-3, parents receive extra information weekly in reference to the current ELA curriculum.

TES Literacy Team Members

Anthony Stubbs, Principal

Barrett Bateman, Assistant Principal

Anna Temples, Faculty Coordinator

Jolie Schenck, Literacy Coach

Jessica Miller, Literacy Coach

Teresa Crain, Literacy Interventionist

Katelynn Hughes, Kindergarten Teacher

Kallie Breland-Magee, 1st Grade Teacher

Kathryn Kulbeth, 2nd Grade Teacher

Heather Singley, 3rd Grade Teacher

Team Meeting Schedule

May 22, 2023   August 31, 2023    January 25, 2024   May 22, 2024