Utah Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson visited Springside Elementary School in Saratoga Springs last week to promote the Cox-Henderson administration’s statewide literacy improvement efforts. Henderson spent time in classrooms observing instruction and engaged in detailed discussions with teachers and school administrators about successful literacy instruction.
“What I loved about Springside is that the teachers in each grade level really work together as teams to make sure that they're meeting the needs of all of the students as they help teach them how to read,” said Henderson.
The visit showcased Springside Elementary as a model learning organization, where teachers focus on the science of reading to improve outcomes for students.
“What we’ve learned from the science of reading is each of the skills that are individualized in reading work together to create a good reader,” said Lindsay Rowland, assistant principal at Springside.
Rowland said effective instruction follows prescribed steps to take learners from recognizing basic sounds all the way through comprehension.
Henderson visited four classrooms where teachers taught lessons based on the science of reading, including Tamara Galbraith’s first grade class.
“One of the things that we have found makes better readers is just taking the end goal—that we want all of our kids to be fluent in reading—but they have to know little pieces along the way,” said Galbraith.
Setting ambitious learning goals is a systemwide approach that requires intense collaboration to stay on track.
“Here in Alpine School District we’ve really focused on unpacking the core curriculum,” said Rowland. “Our teachers know the curriculum and understand the steps in each standard that kids need to perform in order to master reading at high levels.”
“I'm really grateful that there are teachers and educators who are willing to invest the time necessary to learn the science of reading so that they can teach our kids how to be successful,” said Henderson.
Rowland also praised Springside teachers for using data to measure the performance of individual students. She said it was one of the school's greatest strengths. “It's by-student and by-standard they intervene on the essential standards and they're catching the students who are falling through the cracks and moving them forward.”
“Governor Cox and I are very, very invested in the goal that 70% of the students, by the time they reach the end of third grade, are reading at or above grade level,” said Henderson.
Springside Elementary has seen excellent gains in literacy in several grades. Henderson is hoping to learn what the best schools are doing in a statewide tour that will take her to every school district in Utah.
“Helping kids transition from learning to read to reading to learn is a fundamental skill for their future education and economic success,” she added.
“Oh, it's the best!” said Galbraith, about watching students make the transformation over the course of a year. “By the end of the year, to see them just be able to read small words, to be able to read a chapter book or a higher level is huge. It's so rewarding.”