RENEWING LITERACY IN WESTBROOK

Literacy is defined as thinking, communicating, and creating. It is foundational to all that we do. Literacy is grounded in the English language arts (reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and visually representing,) but is applied across all areas of the curriculum. Literacy makes learning accessible. Students are taught and have opportunities to practice skills and strategies, content and concepts, and behaviors and routines that develop life-long literacy and lead them to countless opportunities for success.

In Westbrook, we are renewing our approach to the English language arts, particularly in grades K-8. We have incorporated increased direct instruction in phonics, phonemic awareness, and vocabulary development which builds a solid foundation in reading and writing. At the same time, we continue to focus on meaning, deep comprehension, and expression. We do this through direct and targeted instruction and practice, independent reading and writing, and opportunities to respond to and create texts that express critical thinking, analysis, and other expressions of higher order thinking. Classes are structured as workshops with time for whole class and small group lessons as well as independent practice. Our instruction is woven together into powerful learning experiences that impact all students.

As a learning community, our faculty are engaged in learning from contemporary, evolving research including the Science of Reading and models such as The Reading Rope (Scarborough, 2001,) The Active View of Reading (Duke and Cartwright, 2021.) Our elementary school teachers are participating in a lengthy course, LETRS. The first cohort of over 50 have already completed the course and the next cohort is about to begin. Instructional Coaches are supporting teachers in developing classroom instruction that meets the needs of all learners. Instructional Strategists are supporting teachers and grade levels in analyzing assessment data to meet students' targeted needs. Communities of Practice explore instructional practice while continuously monitoring student progress. Additionally, many of our staff are beginning to explore the SIOP instructional strategies that support language development for all students, particularly multilingual learners. Together we will raise literacy achievement which supports all learning of all learners.

The attached documents describe our Vision for Literacy and highlight of Westbrook's literacy renewal plan.

Westbrook School Department