By Ali Tadayon, Photo: Nystrom Elementary, EdSource, March 8, 2022
Halfway through the first school year using an overhauled literacy program, Richmond’s Nystrom Elementary is beginning to see some early signs of success.
The 500-student Bay Area school obtained a waiver from West Contra Costa Unified that allowed it to discard the district’s previous reading curriculum, which has been criticized for not focusing enough on phonics. It replaced the program with one that has a greater emphasis on phonics, paired with research-based classroom practice in an attempt to bring every student to grade-level reading. Thus far, the school has seen “growth across the board” on students’ reading skills, said principal Jamie Allardice. And an increasing number of students are expected to end the year on track, he added.
The districtwide curriculum, Units of Study for Teaching Reading English/Language Arts, remains in use throughout the country and still has its supporters. But the school felt that in order to improve on years of lagging reading scores, the best method would be to switch to the increasingly popular “science of reading” approach to literacy instruction. An assessment at the beginning of the year showed the majority of students at Nystrom were behind grade level on their reading skills, so much so that they likely wouldn’t get up to speed without additional help.
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