District Literacy Leadership Team (DLLT) April 2024

The District Literacy Leadership Team (DLLT)  has met four times during the past three months: January 25th, February 15th, February 29th and March 21st. In the previous Assistant Superintendent’s Blog, I outlined what the focus of our first two DLLT meetings were.   The following information outlines the work we conducted during our February 29th and March 21st meetings.

February 29th  DLLT Meeting
At our meeting on February 29th, each of the six subgroups shared out with the entire group the programs they reviewed. Each subgroup had a specific program to review, those programs included: Wit and Wisdom, EL Education, Wonders, Into Reading, My View, Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA).  The Pros and Cons of the six programs were shared with the entire group.  We were all able to hear about the programs, which was extremely helpful.  From there, our group was able to whittle down the programs from six to three.  We then turned our focus on three programs:  Into Reading, My View and CKLA.

We were led through the review tool by Hill for Literacy.  The tool was comprehensive-each of the three programs we are reviewing will each be held up to a review tool, that is composed of several larger categories, with specific criteria listed under each category.  The larger categories consist of: Phonological Awareness Instruction, Phonics Instruction, Fluency Instruction, Vocabulary Instruction, Comprehension, Writing Instruction, Instructional Design, Assessment, Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education, Motivation and Engagement, Listening and Speaking.

Each member of our DLLT was assigned to be a reviewer in one of three groups:  Red Group which focuses on phonological awareness, phonics, and culturally responsive and sustaining education.  Yellow Group, which focuses on fluency, vocabulary, motivation and engagement, listening and speaking.  Lastly, the Blue Group, which looks at instructional design, comprehension, assessment, and writing. 

At the end of this particular meeting, we focused on the first program we would review which was, Into Reading.  The groups got together, reviewed the resources for this program, and began their work.

March 21st  DLLT Meeting

After having a few weeks to review Into Reading, the three groups met and discussed their review of Into Reading.  We discussed our ratings, and entered them into the larger rubric/database that we’ve been using to capture our impressions of the programs. 

The entire DLLT broke into four groups, where we shared our insights and learnings about the process, and identified stumbling blocks and brainstormed solutions and then shared them out to the entire group.  

At this point in our meeting we began to focus on the next program that we needed to review which is My View.  We watched an introductory video on the program, and reviewed the rubric again, and also how to access the resources for this specific program.  

Our next meeting is on April 11th, where we will meet again, and share our findings regarding My View.

The members of the DLLT are spending a great deal of time and effort reviewing the programs!   This work is greatly appreciated!