Improving Student Literacy

Bethany Lutheran College Professor of Education Dr. Carrie Pfeifer is keenly interested in literacy education. It’s a subject she cares deeply about. So much so, that she regularly offers to share her expertise with teachers and schools looking to enhance their own literacy knowledge and offerings.

Rachel Moeller is the Mankato Area Public Schools (MAPS) Literacy Coordinator. She had been noticing some changes in literacy outcomes in Mankato schoolchildren beginning in early 2020.

“As we looked at MAPS elementary reading trend data, we observed a slow decline in reading achievement over the previous few years. We sought to understand what was strong about our reading instruction and what research-based shifts we could make in practice to improve student outcomes,” said Moeller.

Pfeifer, to enhance her own literacy knowledge, often looks for opportunities to learn more about the subject. Coincidently, in 2020 she had completed a literacy professional development course facilitated by the Minnesota Department of Education. Without any knowledge of the changing literacy outcomes in Mankato schools, she reached out to MAPS Superintendent Dr. Paul Peterson to offer her time as a resource for the District. Peterson connected Pfeifer with Moeller which has resulted in ongoing collaborative professional development work in Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) – literacy education.

Pfeifer explained more about the serendipitous, collaborative effort.

“I was really just excited about the professional development I had received from the Minnesota Department of Education and wanted to share what I had learned.”

Moeller remarked, “In my role as Mankato schools Literacy Coordinator, I was exploring teacher professional development in literacy that could support our instructional efforts to improve student literacy outcomes. The opportunity to partner with Dr. Pfeifer and BLC came at just the right time, and we’ve been very appreciative of this collaborative work. Dr. Pfeifer has deep literacy knowledge and brings her expertise to our professional development sessions.”

Pfeifer began working with a cohort of fourteen Mankato Public School elementary educators during the 2021-22 school year. The work was well received, and now Pfeifer and Moeller are collaboratively facilitating LETRS professional development for a second cohort of 32 MAPS elementary educators, which began in the fall of 2022.

The group of teachers taking part in the LETRS training serve Mankato elementary students in grades K-5. The cohorts are primarily made up of classroom teachers, special education teachers, reading interventionists, teachers of multilingual learners, instructional coaches and principals are also participating.

Moeller explained, “Training begins with a focus on sound awareness and phonics, so this is where teachers are currently seeing the most growth. However, the cohort that is in their second year is currently applying their learning to vocabulary and comprehension instruction. The teachers are actively implementing their learning and observing growth in students’ reading skills.”

The partnership is also benefiting Bethany education students who had already been involved with clinical placements and student teaching in Mankato schools.

Pfeifer explained, “I also wanted to find opportunities to put our students into clinical placements and student teaching situations where the classroom teacher was knowledgeable and practiced with the science of reading. It’s especially helpful for our students to be supported in those classroom learning experiences.”

Moeller is thankful for the opportunity to work with Pfeifer.

“Dr. Pfeifer commits two evenings a month from September to April for MAPS literacy professional development, and the MAPS cohorts have benefited from Dr. Pfeifer’s deep knowledge of literacy development and her support of the work we are engaging in. We are grateful to Dr. Pfeifer and BLC for the opportunity to collaborate—it is timely and meaningful work. She is a true advocate for all students.”

Moeller and the Mankato schools are gathering teacher feedback and analyzing student data to determine the lasting impact of this professional literacy development on student outcomes.

“We want to ensure this literacy work and professional development is making a difference in teacher practice and most importantly, in our student outcomes. The most important goal is to develop skilled readers and writers.”

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

The Bethany women’s cross country team earned a program-best second place conference finish in 2022. Kayla Tobin (junior) was the top individual finisher for the Vikings as she took home her second consecutive Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) All-Conference honor, crossing the finish line in fourth with a time of 25:18.4. Seniors Jordan Merwin and Cianna Hoppe also ran well for the Vikings, finishing in 11th and 14th, respectively, with times of 26:20.8 and 26:53.8 and both earning All-Conference accolades.

WOMEN’S

Golf

Bethany placed sixth at the UMAC tournament. Bella Garza (sophomore) shot the low score for the Vikings on the final day with a 111 and finished the event with a 348.

WOMEN’S

Soccer

11-7-1 Overall, 10-4 UMAC

For the fourth straight year, the Vikings qualified for the UMAC Tournament, where they received the third seed and fell to Northwestern 1-0 in a tightly contested match. The Vikings finished the year tied for the most UMAC wins in program history with ten.

Elena Luján Rubio (freshman) paced the Viking attack with 26 points (11 goals) which is the ninth most in a single season in program history. Senior Asia Jota found a spot in the record book, as she posted 11 assists which is the third most in a single season. In net, Brooke Wolanin

(junior) played every minute for Bethany and posted eight shutouts, which is a new single-season record.

Olaitz Azkue (sophomore) was the second leading scorer for the Vikings this year with eight goals and five assists, adding four game-winning goals. Both Azkue and Luján Rubio posted that number of game-winners, which put them in the record books as the fourth most in a single-season.

At the release of the end of the season conference awards, defender Ashley Casper (sophomore) was named First Team All-Conference while Rubio, Azkue, Jota, and Wolanin earned Second Team honors.

Volleyball

8-18 Overall | 6-8 UMAC

The Bethany Lutheran volleyball team qualified for the UMAC tournament but lost to No. 5 Northwestern 3-0. Senior Alexis Morsching received conference Honorable Mention accolades. It is the second year in a row that she has been named to the All-Conference list. Morsching finishes her Bethany career with 772 career kills which is fourth all-time in program history.

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

The Bethany men’s cross country team took fourth place at the UMAC Championships. Titus Kibet (freshman) took home his top finish of the season as he finished in eighth place to earn All-Conference honors with a time of 28:51.0. Senior Jakin Anderson was once again a mainstay near the top of the leaderboard, finishing in 12th place with a time of 29:29.5 to join Kibet on the All-Conference team.

MEN’S GOLF

Freshmen Sam Hansen and Keaton Ginter were both All-Conference honorees for the 2022 golf season. Hansen and Ginter both played well for the Vikings with just one stroke separating the two players through nine rounds this year. Hansen posted a scoring average of 80.67, and finished in the top ten in three of the five multi-team events Bethany competed in this season. Ginter had a scoring average of 80.78 this season, including four rounds under 80. Bethany Lutheran finished fourth at the UMAC Championships with a three-day total of 995.

MEN’S SOCCER

15-4-3 Overall | 11-2-1 UMAC

The Bethany men’s soccer team qualified for the conference tournament for the fourth straight year and were the number two seed. Bethany defeated Northland 2-1 in the first round before falling to UW-Superior 3-0 in the finals.

In 2022, the Vikings set new school records for wins with 15 and goals against average with a mark of 0.86.

Antonio Lima (freshman) led the offense for Bethany in his first year racking up 16 goals and 12 assists for 44 points.

Agostino Quadrio

Curzio (junior) was the second leading scorer for the Vikings, notching four goals and nine assists.

Nick Lundberg (sophomore) made the most starts in net for the Vikings with 12, and posted six shutouts and a 9-2-1 record. In his two seasons, he’s now saved 109 shots while allowing 22 goals to post a career save percentage of .832 which ranks second in school history and is the top mark of any Viking keeper to appear in at least 10 games.

When the conference announced its awards at the end of the season, Liam Peterson (senior) was once against named Defensive Player of the Year, while Lima was named Rookie of the Year. Quadrio

Curzio joined Peterson and Lima as First Team All-Conference members, while Eirik Hansson (sophomore), Andre Silva (senior) and Danny Pilot (freshman) earned Second Team, and Sam Irsfeld (freshman) earned Third Team.