Newcastle’s Weston County School District 1 (WCSD 1) serves about 800 elementary, middle, and high school students. Of those 800 students, approximately 30% come from low-income households.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the Nation’s Report Card, nearly 60% of Wyoming's fourth grade students were below proficient in reading. Unfortunately, Weston County School District’s numbers mirrored the state scores. WCSD 1 educators were not moving students forward, a fact supported by both standardized and benchmark assessments.
To address this issue in Newcastle, educators agreed the first step was to educate staff (teachers and paraprofessionals) in the science of reading, the basic tenet of Lexia® LETRS® (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) professional learning. The district hired Dr. Carol Tolman, co-author of LETRS (along with Dr. Louisa Moats). Dr. Tolman showed the Newcastle staff the latest neuroscience revealing how young students learn to read and how educators should effectively teach reading.
At the same time, district leaders hired a literacy instructional facilitator with the understanding that the initial focus would be at the elementary level. As some of the teachers and paraprofessionals who became teachers later moved to other grade levels, the district started to see improvements across several grades.
WCSD 1 has had nearly 80 certified staff members—as well as many paraprofessionals—undergo some form of LETRS training. Educators said the LETRS professional learning training dramatically helped everyone understand how the brain learns to read, spell, and write.
The district’s investments paid off. The beginning-of-year assessment for the 2020–2021 school year showed remarkable progress for WCSD 1’s sixth grade students. Eighty-six percent of students were proficient overall, meaning they were at or above benchmark. The district’s goal of reaching 95% proficiency is now well within reach.
Download the case study to learn more about how LETRS impacted Weston County School District student outcomes.
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