Slide 14

The phonics program was gradually implemented in the district, starting with kindergarten in the 2016-2017 school year and progressing to 3rd grade in 2019-2020. However, the fidelity of the program in 3rd grade was lacking due to the pandemic. The supervisor plans to provide more professional development for 3rd grade teachers. The program has been effective, with positive feedback from teachers and improved reading skills in students. There is discussion about changing the reading programs in the district, which may impact the use of the Foundations program in the future. Many teachers are upset about the potential change. Interview with Curriculum Supervisor Question. A lot of phonological awareness activities are introduced and used in the Foundation's phonics program. What year did we start implementing the program? Answer. Our district did a gradual implementation of the program. Kindergarten started the program in 2016-2017 school year, and the following school year, 1st grade implemented it, and then so on with 2nd grade, and ending with 3rd grade implementing the program in 2019-2020 school year. Since the 3rd grade implemented this program during the year of the pandemic, I asked the Supervisor if she thought that 3rd grade was lacking a little bit of fidelity. The Supervisor stated that she did feel like some of the fidelity was lacking, and that she is looking to add more professional development in the future for the 3rd grade teachers. Question. How do you feel about the program? Do you feel that it is effective? And what feedback have you received from the teachers? Answer. I feel the program has really helped our students. The program has many multi-sensory techniques and opportunities for our students and teachers to use. The feedback from the teachers have been very positive. Teachers have also seen an improvement in reading skills. Recently, I attended an articulation meeting, and there has been some discussion about changing the reading programs in our school district. And whether or not they decide to change programs may factor into whether or not we use the Foundations program in the future. Most of the teachers were very upset by this, since many of the teachers have positive feelings towards this program.