BOCES presents literacy audit results to Webutuck

WEBUTUCK  — The North East (Webutuck) Central School District is tackling what Superintendent of Schools Ray Castellani — as well as members of the Board of Education, staff, faculty and other administrators -— deem to be an important undertaking for the school district: a literacy initiative.

Castellani and the Webutuck Board of Education (BOE) have made this topic a priority, launching it earlier this year.

Literacy committees for each building, as well as a district task force, were created and a literacy audit was administered by the Dutchess Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) in April.

Dutchess BOCES Director of Educational Resources Jodi DeLucia and Educational Resources Staff Specialist Rebecca Green made an appearance at the Webutuck BOE meeting on Monday, July 18, to present the findings of the audit to the board.

Additionally, in the executive summary that was given to board members and the superintendant, BOCES concluded the school district would benefit from hiring Generation Ready (GR) — a company that provides professional learning support to school districts nationwide.

Some of those present at the meeting, including board members, believe that GR may be a good solution to help address literacy gaps found across the districts.

Literacy audit results

BOCES educational consultants visited the school district for four days in April.

They made a stop in all the classrooms at the elementary, middle and high school, spending a total of 20 minutes per classroom observing course instructions.

Additionally, staff and faculty were required to undergo a survey.

After carefully examining the results, Green said in her presentation, the biggest challenge identified for the district is “a lack of shared understanding of the components of effective literacy practice.”

From there on, Green and DeLucia went on to express the importance of having consistency and cohesion to enforce an effective method of teaching. 

For example, both brought attention to the inconsistency seen in the use of the curriculum. Director of Special Education and Student Services Katy McEnroe and special eduation teacher Pat Carmody agreed with this comment.

DeLucia brought attention to that particular problem, because while it is nice to be able to adapt the curriculum to specific lessons that interest teachers, she said, this should be avoided until there is a basic foundation to build upon across the board.

“We didn’t see the foundational understanding of basic literacy skills necessary, particularly for the student population that exists here in Webutuck,” DeLucia added.

Niki Johnson, member of the board, said she was not surprised by the results that came out of the audit “as a parent who has four children in the district.”

“I have twins in the high school,” she said, adding that the content they both learn is different from one another.

Castellani agreed.

“If asked the administrators what good literacy meant to them, I couldn’t get the same  answer from them — that is troublesome,” he said.

Additionally, DeLucia brought attention to the surrounding beliefs that have become a barrier for efficient instruction of the district’s student population.

Education brings about equity and access to better opportunities in life, she said.

“There is a common misconception in this district regarding setting high expectations for students,” the BOCES director said, adding that she has heard from administrators to teacher assistants use poverty as an excuse for why students are not doing well enough in class.

Despite these challenges, however, both BOCES presenters said there were plenty of strengths found from which to build on — the major one being the willingness faculty has expressed to learn how to improve.

Making a decision

The audit executive summary from BOCES recommends Webutuck hire Generation Ready.

However, before this is done, the board will need to review the details of hiring the service.

As a precaution, board member Judy Moran asked if the group could submit a report with success results so the board could review the benefits in a more quantitative way. She said this should be done in order to ensure taxpayer money is invested appropriately.

Generation Ready’s role would be to train and provide professional support to Webutuck administrators and faculty.

A resolution will need to be passed by the board to authorize this action.

BOE President Kristin Panzer said this conversation is expected to take place possibly at the Aug. 1 meeting or the following, asserting the matter will need definite action next month.

According to Castellani, the cost to hire Generation Ready is estimated to be $63,000. Since the service is expected to be purchased in conjunction with BOCES — a partner of the school district — the actual cost is supposed to go down to between $40,000 to $43,000.

If hired, training sessions will kick off some time in August.

For a full year, teachers and administrators in all buildings will participate in two monthly workshops and will check in with trainers on a weekly basis as they work toward developing literacy skill leadership and creating an overall literacy vision for the district.

“Talking with teachers, parents, administrators, support staff and looking at data from scores, it is evident that there is a lack of unified literacy vision in this district,” Castellani said. “The Board of Education is aware of the needs for literacy instruction and a unified curriculum — they understand in order to build the capacity of our administrators and staff a true commitment to sustain professional development is needed, and bringing in these coaches will provide that goal.

“We know that literacy is the most important building block for success in all subject areas,” the superintendent added.

Overall, the board seemed to express general consensus for approving the initiative.

“My feeling is that Ray is our educational leader and, as a board, we need to give him the tools he needs to do his job,” Panzer said. “It’s very thrilling to have him come in and identify the ways in which we can develop and strengthen our program for the good of our students.”