The Morongo Unified School District is proud to announce the expansion of its Reader by 9 initiative, a District-wide campaign aimed at ensuring all students achieve reading proficiency by the end of third grade. This ambitious initiative is part of the District's commitment to laying a strong educational foundation and empowering students with the skills they need for lifelong success.
Research shows that reading proficiency by third grade is a critical milestone in a child’s education. Children who are not proficient in reading by this time are more likely to struggle academically in later years and are at greater risk of not graduating from high school. The Reader by 9 initiative is designed to address these challenges by providing targeted support, resources and innovative teaching strategies to help every student reach this important goal.
The initiative was originally launched two years ago by the District’s United for Literacy team. After an initial planning stage, it was implemented in all kindergarten classrooms last year.
The initiative includes regular assessments to identify students who may be at risk of falling behind. These assessments are through the iReady program and they allow educators to provide timely interventions and support tailored to each student's needs. It also includes implementation of the Magnetic Reading Program, literacy challenges through Footsteps2Brilliance, access to digital books and more.
Teachers across the district also receive specialized training in early literacy instruction, focusing on the science of reading.
“Research over the last few years has really shown us how the science of reading impacts our students.” said MUSD literacy coach Katie Fleishman. “When we read we’re activating three parts of our brain simultaneously and to learn how to do that students have to go through ten developmental stages.”
These stages can happen at different ages for different students but students that miss one stage will be very unlikely to advance past the others and become a proficient reader, said MUSD literacy coach Melissa Stacey.
The stages include recognizing rhymes, syllables, blending (onset and rime), producing rhymes, isolating beginning sounds, syllable deletion, blending sounds, segmenting sounds, sound substitution and sound deletion.
Last year this training was primarily for all kindergarten classroom teachers and included monthly meetings, in-classroom support, quarterly training sessions and more. As a result those classes showed about three-times the amount of growth in literacy from Fall to Winter when compared to other elementary grade levels.
This year, the District is expanding that focused training to first grade teachers with the plan to continue expanding to a new grade level each year.
"Our Reader by 9 initiative is more than just a program; it's a promise to our students and families. We are committed to giving every child the tools they need to succeed and reading is at the heart of that success,” said Superintendent Dr. Patricio Vargas. “By focusing on early literacy, we are building a brighter future for our entire community."
Recognizing the critical role families play in a child's literacy development, the Reader by 9 initiative includes workshops and resources for parents to support reading at home. Parents will be notified throughout the year of different partnership opportunities including Bingo for Books events, take-home literacy challenges and more. The District also partners with local libraries, community organizations and volunteers to create a supportive literacy environment beyond the classroom.