Tammy Gary, the district's supervisor of curriculum, instruction and assessment, told the Education Committee on Oct. 30 that Council Rock has completed a structured literacy plan and is beginning a multi-year implementation focused on teacher professional learning. The program pairs a leadership cohort with classroom teacher training and is intended to become an ongoing part of the district's literacy work rather than a one-time initiative.

Gary said the district will use LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) for teachers in kindergarten through third grade, calling LETRS the "gold standard" of professional development. The district organized a leadership cohort of roughly 25 participants that includes elementary principals, middle- and high-school principals, special education supervisors and literacy specialists; principals will attend service days alongside teachers to support classroom follow-through. Gary said the LETRS cohort is a two-year, hybrid program with in-person service days on Nov. 4 and May 19 and online synchronous sessions in February.

For students in fourth grade and above, the district will deploy Aspire coursework that focuses on morphology, syntax and discourse. Gary said Aspire offers about 31 individual courses from which teachers take an 8'10 course pathway and then use professional learning communities to translate learning into classroom practice. The district estimates roughly 216 teachers will participate in K'3 LETRS work and about 226 participants overall for the Aspire and secondary pathways; district staff described both programs as two-year efforts with multiple learning modalities (textbook, online modules, in-person training, bridge-to-practice classroom coaching).

Gary described measures of success the district is developing, saying administrators will select data indicators and progress monitoring tools to show whether teacher learning is translating into improved classroom outcomes. She stressed sustainability and said the district plans to keep annual literacy goals as part of its ongoing work rather than phasing this program out after two years. "The focus of everything is on student success," Gary said, summarizing the initiative's central aim.

District leaders said they vetted multiple vendors and aligned training to existing certification areas and staffing plans. The rollout includes planning for time and resources; Gary noted some elements of the training will take place during contracted time and the district is trying to balance teacher learning time with instructional needs in the classroom.

The district has posted the structured literacy plan and assessment calendar on the Council Rock website and will share additional documentation and course descriptions there. Administrators said families and staff will be able to access links, program descriptions and third-party resources on the curriculum and instruction pages.

Gary and other staff said the district will monitor implementation and report back to the committee with data; no formal board action or vote was taken at the meeting.