Literacy:

Continued from Page 1 for early literacy education increased.

“COVID-19 created a learning gap,” Jones said. “We knew we needed to have more resources.”

With the help of the $168.8 million Fulton County Schools received from the 2021 federal American Rescue Plan, the board pushed for more literacy program funding. In 2021, the board approved a $3.26 million contract to implement the professional development program for teachers.

Fulton County District 4 School Board member Franchesca Warren said a first grader’s parent told her they saw “a huge difference” between sight-reading and a focus on phonics.

Jones said the program is a “very comprehensive view” of literacy education.

“It shows how the brain works while students are working,” Jones said.

Last year, Fulton County Schools found that 74 percent of their third graders were reading at or above grade level. The school district says it hopes to improve that figure to 95 percent in the next three to five years.

“I can’t wait for another two to three years as these kids get into fourth and fifth grade and how they will handle language,” Warren said.

Throughout the eight-unit program teachers complete two assessments, one after the fourth and one after the eighth unit. If they score 80 percent or higher on each assessment, they receive a certificate of mastery and a stipend.

Chief Academic Officer Jones said more than 95 percent of teacher participants achieve the required score.

The programs are led by facilitators already trained in Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling. District literacy staff and school-based literacy coaches can become facilitators if they achieve an 88 percent or higher score on each assessment.

So far, 87 staff members are trained facilitators for the first volume of the program, and 22 staff members are trained facilitators for volume two.

The district hopes to continue inhouse training to make the program extend “beyond the life of the grant.”

District staff members completed the third edition Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading course in June 2022. The contract will fund more than 2,000 additional teachers. The first cohort will include more than 600 school leaders.

Additionally, a group of 1,900 kindergarten through fifth grade teachers will complete the course January 2024. The second cohort that includes about 100 pre-K to 12th grade teachers will complete work in May 2024.

There will also be a 6th-12th grade teacher cohort with approximately 490 participants completing work in May 2024; and a kindergarten through 5th grade teacher cohort of around 450 in December 2024.

The county will create more cohorts as it hires new educators.