In 2023, Central Elementary School, part of Tuscaloosa City Schools, was named a “Science of Reading Spotlight School” by the Alabama Department of Education—a recognition bestowed on just 12 schools in Alabama each year. This is an exceptional accomplishment for a district where just 15% of its kindergarten students were proficient in reading during fall 2021. How did Central Elementary educators flip the paradigm on literacy?
School leaders turned to Lexia® LETRS® professional learning to help them get more students reading successfully by third grade and meet the requirements of Alabama’s Literacy Act.
Working with a representative from Lexia®, school leaders scheduled several professional training sessions. The principal first took Lexia® LETRS® for Administrators, and then took LETRS for Educators with an initial cohort of four teachers.
“I did LETRS first myself because I would never expect our teachers to do something that I wouldn’t do. It also gave me the language I needed to be able to ‘talk the talk’ with them,” said Jerry Collins, Ph.D., principal at Central Elementary School.
After completing LETRS, the initial cohort of teachers served as a support team for other instructors. The principal and the teacher cohort gained the deep knowledge needed to become experts in literacy and language instruction. They were able to achieve a 100% buy-in from all educators at the school because leaders could "talk the talk" with educators and provide clear guidance using the science of reading. The results were impressive. Learn how nearly three-quarters of Central Elementary School students are now proficient in reading.
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