At Waterloo Schools, approximately 60 percent of our students are part of historically marginalized Black and Brown communities. Nationwide, there is an achievement gap within education, showing a disparity between Black/Brown students and white students. This trend, measured by test results, also pointed out our own achievement gap for students here at the Waterloo Community School District.
This means it is our collective responsibility to change and update our practices, materials, beliefs and teaching to ensure we are reaching and connecting with each student in a way that helps them aspire toward growth and a love of learning. Beginning in 2019, Waterloo Schools began implementing new phonics and literacy curriculum in our elementary classrooms to start addressing this urgent issue.
“While there has long been a debate on the why,” said Stephanie Mohorne, associate superintendent for educational services. “Our focus in Waterloo has been on spending more time on working with strategies, curriculum, and providing our educators with continued learning opportunities they need in order to truly differentiate teaching to meet the needs of our diverse student population.”
After three years of listening, learning, and implementing these changes, Waterloo Schools is proud to say we have officially closed our elementary reading accuracy gap across our eleven elementary schools.
“This data demonstrates that the Waterloo Schools are doing great things for kids,” said superintendent Jared Smith. “We will continue this work and ensure that our system is a destination for students and families.”
This literacy success was and continues to be a team effort, made possible by district leadership, curriculum coordinators, literacy coaches, classroom teachers, parents, and our hard-working students.
“This should be a celebration for Waterloo Schools,” said Sheena Canady, director of student & at-risk services. “We’ve turned a corner. We’ll never arrive at perfection, but school can be a place where every child can find success, and I would encourage them to celebrate the success in this data.”
Canady says that this type of progress is what happens when educators are intentional about impacting the lives of their students. While students face a barrage of challenges in life, Waterloo Schools offers them a safe place to find equal footing alongside tenacious educators who are determined to teach students to believe in themselves.
Literacy coach, Annette Duncan, says teachers across Waterloo Schools have done extensive professional development on how to collect, interpret, and respond to literacy data in order to specifically tailor lessons and resources to help students succeed.
“I enjoy seeing the light bulbs come on,” said Ryan Lehmann, third-grade teacher. “The phonics/fluency passages, especially the partner reading, made a huge impact for my students who were coming up just short of proficiency.”
Many of these instructional practices in the classroom center around phonetic exercises, helping students to connect the sounds and meanings with the letters and symbols they’re reading. Additionally, struggling students are able to gain extra support through reading interventions which provide one-on-one instruction to help them practice in a more hands-on setting.
“In 2018, 43.62% of kindergarten students at Irving were scoring proficient on their end-of-year FAST reading assessments,” said Bri Brown, literacy coach. “In 2022, that number was 79.71%. This is a significant growth that I know is happening in buildings across the district which is setting students up for success as they become more confident readers and writers.”
First-grade teacher, Chelsea Cole, says that much of the literacy curriculum has also helped her students at Irving improve their writing skills too, giving them the confidence to begin crafting their own narratives.
“This data and progression mean a lot to our community in terms of building students with lifelong skills that we know will help them with their jobs and life in the future,” said Chelsea Cole, first-grade teacher at Irving.
We are proud to celebrate the closing of the elementary reading accuracy gap, and with over 10,000 students across Waterloo Schools, our educators are steadfast in their pursuit of closing the achievement gap for all.
