Photo: A group of retired teachers attended the Archuleta School Board meeting on May 13, holding up signs that addressed the importance of reading skills.
In the first three installments of this editorial series, we considered, briefly, issues related to a possible bond measure at a future election, to address physical deficiencies at our existing public school buildings.
I served as a volunteer member of the Master Plan Advisory Committee, at four meetings held between January and April, and the data presented by the MPAC on May 13 resulted in a determination, by the Archuleta School District (ASD) Board of Education to hire a consultant to survey the community, and see how the voters are feeling about the district’s physical facilities in 2025.
I also serve as a volunteer member of the Board of Directors at Pagosa Peak Open School, a tuition-free, district-authorized charter school that operates semi-independently in a former office building near Walmart, serving grades K-8.
This editorial series reflects only my own personal opinions, and not necessarily the opinions of the MPAC or the PPOS Board.
Following the vote to engage consultant Lynea Hansen to conduct a poll of the community voters, the ASD Board heard some public testimony regarding Colorado’s “Multi-Tiered System of Support” as it is currently practiced at Pagosa Springs Elementary School (PSES), and how it might be handled differently next year.
The discussion was kicked off by PSES teacher Kristeen Harris, during the public comment portion of the meeting.
“I am one of the reading interventionists at Pagosa Springs Elementary School…”
A bit of background before we hear more from Ms. Harris. The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) and the U.S. Department of Education have historically promoted “reading” and “math” as the two most crucial skills taught in our public schools, and CDE has defined, for each grade, a certain level of reading skills as the “grade level” standard to be met by all students in each grade.
The general classroom lessons related to reading are referred to a “Tier 1”.
When a student, or group of students, cannot read “at grade level” they must be subjected to “Tier 2” or, in more difficult cases, “Tier 3” interventions. These interventions might be handled by a “trained” interventionist, in small groups or, in some cases, one-on-one interventions. The goal is to have every child in — say — third grade, reading at “third grade level”.
Like perhaps 99% of the schools in America, PSES has not been able to reach that goal. The school’s principal, Katy Vining, has proposed a “restructuring plan” for how the interventions are delivered, and Ms. Harris offered a criticism of the proposed plan at the May 13 meeting.
Ms. Harris:
“I’m here to share with you my concerns about the reading restructuring plan. First, the restructuring plan presented to me on March 21 by Ms. Vining, stated that, due to constant behavioral interruptions in the classroom, the teachers were feeling burnt-out and were finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the quality learning environment.
“Ms. Vining then explained that and Ms. Looper [PSES Vice Principal] could not think of any other way to help teachers, but to implement the restructuring plan, which omits our Title I reading intervention programs to be replaced by an ‘academic behavior coach’ for the classroom teachers.
“It is in my opinion that this plan will leave our most academically at-risk students behind.
“Research has proven that direct instruction of Tier 3 students has a higher impact on academic success over behavioral coaching for teachers… Tier 3 intervention results in the needed academic growth, and also acts as the keystone for identifying students for special education, and as needing an individual education plan.”
Ms. Harris bring up an interesting situation.
Our public schools have limited financial resources, and typically cannot afford all of the education specialists and coaches that might be desired. But CDE provides extra funding to public schools through the “READ Program” to address students in grades K-3 who struggle to read at grade level.
The Colorado ‘Reading to Ensure Academic Development’ Act (the READ Act) was passed in 2012 and enacted in 2013, and provides resources to help students read at grade level by the time they enter 4th grade. This law is preventative in nature. It focuses on K-3 literacy development and includes requirements for assessment, individualized READ plans for students who have been identified as having a significant reading deficiency, and specifics around parent communication and involvement.
A group of retired school teachers attended the May 13 School Board meeting and sat in the back row, quietly holding signs with messages like:
“What’s BEST for Students?”
“Reading is Fundamental”
“1/3 of PSES students have a READ Plan”
The teachers did not offer any verbal testimony during the meeting, however.
Most of us have no experience trying to teach “reading” to a classroom of 20 third graders, some of whom may exhibit ‘behavior issues’. But we may have memories of attending school with students who occasionally — or regularly — exhibited behavior issues. Possibly, we were ourselves the very students with the behavior issues?
Perhaps we ourselves once struggled with reading skills?
It would seem, based on the testimony from Ms. Harris, that the PSES leadership was ‘restructuring’ its staffing to provide coaching for teachers burnt out by behavioral interruptions, and that restructuring might leave the READ program without sufficient professional support.
At the May 13 meeting, the School Board asked PSES Principal Katy Vining to defend her restructuring plan.
As a member of the Pagosa Peak Open School board of directors, I found this discussion very interesting. Like all public schools, PPOS struggles with staffing priorities and educational challenges.
Can we learn anything from the efforts at PSES?
Read Part Five, tomorrow…