Pictured is Brenda A. Sanchez, a multilingual learners teacher at Claypool and Eisenhower elementary schools. Photo Provided.

By Jackie Gorski
Times-Union

WARSAW — Warsaw School Board was updated Tuesday, Oct. 8, on changes in elementary school literacy instruction.

Aimee Lunsford, chief academic officer, said the literacy instructional system at elementary schools has three tiers.
Tier 1 is for students who are on track in regards to literary standards. Tier 2 is for students who are at or near standards. Tier 3 is for students who are behind in literacy standards.

Lunsford said tier 1 should be able to help WCS serve 80% of its students. Tier 2 should help serve another 15% of its students and tier 3 should help serve another 5% of students. If WCS is seeing numbers that are not meeting that ratio, it indicates there is an issue.

She said WCS ran some numbers from IREAD and they realized they are reaching 56-57% at the tier 1 level. As a result, Lunsford said they need to do some shifting.

WCS used to expect that phonemic awareness would be in place when WCS gets students. Now, Lunsford said WCS is teaching phonemic awareness with Heggerty — a phonemics curriculum — in kindergarten through second-grade classrooms.

WCS used to look at large-scale data without diagnostic data to personalize next steps. Now, the school system is using specific literacy universal and diagnostic data to intervene with students with their personal area of need.

Mandy Duncan, literacy coach at Leesburg Elementary, said 46% of second-graders passed the IREAD test in the spring. WCS wants to make sure those who didn’t pass while in second grade pass the test in third grade.

Staff members looked up and identified students who already had some type of literacy intervention in place. Then also looked up what the state labeled the students as, on track or at risk. If the students are at risk, staff needs to think about intervention.

Lindsey Smith, instructional coach, said once they identified where students were, they had to figure out a plan. They decided who would monitor and deliver intervention. For tier 1, the classroom teacher would provide intervention. For tier 2, an interventionist would help the student. For tier 3, a multilingual learner program staff or special education teacher would provide intervention.

She said WCS now creates a plan for every student to track their progress.

Earlier in the meeting, Brenda A. Sanchez, a multilingual learners teacher at Claypool and Eisenhower elementary schools, told the board about her receiving the Fulbright Teachers Exchange Award.

The Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and administered by IREX, equips K-12 educators to bring an international perspective to their classrooms. As part of the program, Sanchez will complete a semester-long course, “Teaching and Leading for Global Education,” participate in a professional development workshop in Washington, D.C., and travel abroad to immerse herself in another country’s culture and education system. This experience will culminate in a Capstone Project designed to enhance global awareness and understanding within WCS, according to a news release from WCS.

Tuesday, Sanchez said the Fulbright Program started after World War II to help students understand other cultures.
Sanchez said her international field experience will be in summer 2025 and will be announced in December. It will be about two or three weeks and her top designation choices are Northern Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Sanchez said she works a lot with Hispanic students and she wants to be a model for them so her students can know there are a lot of things they can achieve.

“Our world is interconnected. Students need the skills to interact, communicate, collaborate and find solutions to challenges that affect us all. I hope my experience will empower students to pursue their dreams while contributing to a more understanding and respectful society,” she said.