Spring ISD approves long-term literacy plan Source: Spring ISD/Community Impact Newspaper[/caption]

Spring ISD has enacted a long-term developmental plan to combat low literacy rates preceding the 2015-16 school year. Test results provided by the district show at least 39 percent of students between first grade and eighth grade are below reading expectations for their grade level in 2015.


“We came together in the beginning of October to really analyze what’s happening in Spring [ISD],” Chief Academic Officer Lupita Hinojosa said. “We went through and launched the work for our strategic plan.”


The plan emphasizes improvement in literacy concepts, such as phonemic awareness and fluency, Hinojosa said. Students will receive 120 minutes of classroom instruction time per year in English and language arts with 45 minutes of intervention assistance for students who need extra attention.


The SISD board of trustees approved a contract between the district and Houston-based nonprofit Neuhaus Education Center on Aug. 11. SISD will spend about $484,000 on the three-year contract with Neuhaus, which will help train staff as part of the district’s literacy plan.


Superintendent Rodney Watson said the literacy development plan will be implemented over three years so teachers are not learning the new tactics and enacting them at the same time. It will also allow principals to coach the teachers.


Watson, who helped enact a Neuhaus literacy plan while working at Houston ISD, said the deliberate approach will provide long-term benefits for students and short-term results for teachers who will be more informed when the plan is introduced to students.


“It’s certainly ambitious, but it’s definitely going to ensure that we have principals [who] are able to lead literacy at their buildings,” Watson said.


Neuhaus will begin training administrators and literacy coaches at elementary schools during the 2015-16 school year, district officials said. Secondary administrators will begin training by the end of the year.


Principals and literacy coaches will be trained on data-driven literacy instruction in the first year of the plan. Administrators will get more advanced training during the second year of the plan, and students will be introduced to the program in its third year. 


The district first outlined a need for a long-term literacy program in its five-year improvement plan, Every Child 2020, which was announced in May and aims to solve the literacy crisis as well as other issues.