Tempe, Ariz. — The Tempe Elementary School District is implementing the 95% Group phonics core program across elementary classrooms after a curriculum audit found gaps in phonemic awareness and phonics, Chief Academic Officer Katie Moe told the governing board on Dec. 3.

Moe said the district began a competitive procurement after Arizona removed the district’s previous phonics component from the state-approved list. “We put out that RFP, and 470 vendors got it, 10 returned,” she said, describing an evaluation committee of district staff, school staff and community members that narrowed the choice to 95% Group and Wilson Training Corporation (Fundations). The committee selected the phonics core program as the best fit for district needs.

Moe described how the materials are organized and the district’s expectations for classroom implementation. “We ask that teachers use the provided slide decks. We ask that a teacher review the script the day before the lesson,” she said, adding that kindergarten teachers have 25 lessons and first grade 30 lessons, and that teachers are expected to deliver about 30 minutes of explicit instruction for K–3 classrooms.

District officials said tiered supports include a phonics lesson library for Tier 2 interventions and multisyllabic routine cards for grades 4–8. Moe said teachers and literacy specialists will use FastBridge as the universal screener and progress monitor; FastBridge replaces Acadience as the district’s assessment suite. On FastBridge frequency she said progress monitoring happens “about once a month” for most students and more frequently for high-need learners.

Board members asked about differentiation, substitute coverage and teacher training. Moe said the district trained K–3 staff in person before the school year and that literacy specialists and teaching-and-learning coaches provide daily, in-class coaching and small-group intervention cycles. She said many schools have set goals to reach 100% kindergarten reading proficiency and that the district expects to see measurable gains by the end of the school year for some cohorts.

Moe also previewed an instructional technology tool the district plans to use to support teachers. “We have a new app that we’re about to roll out … it will auto-generate additional support materials to accompany the lesson,” she said, referring to a district tool (described in the meeting as AI PlayLab) that draws from the district’s Blueprint resources.

The presentation was informational; no formal board action was recorded on the curriculum during the meeting. Board members who questioned the rollout said they appreciated the detail and asked staff to follow up with research on topics raised, including studies on the “fourth-grade slump” and comparisons between assessment suites.

Next steps: the district will continue classroom coaching, monitor FastBridge results, and report progress to the board; staff said additional documentation and site visits are planned as implementation continues.