After roughly a three-year process and a two-year evaluation, the Board of Education heard results and plans from an English language arts (ELA) study at its meeting on October 1.

Superintendent of Schools Dr Lorrie Rodrigue said the ELA study started after a similar study was conducted for the math curriculum. The new project, she said, “looked at the entire ELA program from a district-wide perspective.”

A committee met regularly to conduct the research, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Anne Uberti explained.

Newtown Middle School Reading/Language Arts Coordinator Nadia Papalia and Newtown High School English Department Chair Abi Marks presented the study for the board.

“The self-study really did provide our [kindergarten to twelfth grade] committee with some clear goals,” said Ms Marks. She added later, “We’ve made a lot of progress, and we are proud of all the work we have done as a team.”

Ms Papalia said the group prioritized focus areas to determine actionable steps. The focus areas were a literacy vision/philosophy statement, delivery method, curriculum, rigor, assessment, communication both within and between schools, successes, challenges, and suggestions, according to a slide from the presentation.

Recent progress highlighted in the report included curriculum alignment for kindergarten to fourth grade; district professional development days to support alignment; filling positions for kindergarten to eighth grade coordinators, a director of teaching and learning, and more; exploring resources and adopting a new language training program called Fundations; conducting concept-based curriculum and instruction (CBCI) training; embedding grammar instruction and standards in existing units of study; conducting Words Their Way training for kindergarten to fourth grade teachers; implementing Fundations for kindergarten to second grade; developing guidelines for common interventions for kindergarten to sixth grade; and reviewing and revising the district’s reading homework guidelines.

Next steps shared in the presentation include revising the district’s literacy vision/philosophy statement; continuing curriculum renewals; considering a need for a language arts consultant at NHS; providing training for Fundations for second grade teachers; researching and purchasing resources for grammar instruction; coordinating with the special education department to support literacy skills instructions; developing common intervention guidelines for seventh to twelfth grade; submitting recommendations to the school board for policy revisions; discussing writing homework guidelines; completing and implementing consistent kindergarten to eighth grade writing rubrics; and examining available data to evaluate effectiveness of curriculum.

According to the presentation, the committee will continue its efforts throughout the next year.

“It’s been a very engaged process for all our committee members,” Ms Papalia said.

Among other topics covered at the meeting, the school board discussed requesting information regarding potentially purchasing property adjacent to Hawley Elementary School, and after discussion, Dr Rodrigue was asked to draft a letter for the school board to read before possibly sending the request on to the first selectman. The school board also postponed a decision on its budget goals for 2020-21 year until its next meeting.

Following the meeting, the board held a non-meeting, which is not open to the public, regarding negotiations.