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Starting April 28, there were 1,800 Alaska educators in attendance at the amazing three-day 2023 Alaska Science of Reading Symposium, either in-person at the Egan Center in Anchorage (about 1,000) or virtually from home (about 800).
Attendees celebrated success moving forward with evidence-based practices in classrooms across Alaska. Dynamic keynote speakers Brent Conway, Tracey Weeden, Julie Washington, Kymyona Burk, and Emily Hanford provided knowledge to connect to application that empowered Alaska educators. Numerous options were available for breakout sessions with speakers who took participants on a deeper dive into the science of reading content with practical classroom application.
Attendees heard from the "Symposium Seven" in TED talks from seven Alaska educators who shared their stories of change and forward movement for all students in their districts. Attendees were also treated to a viewing of "The Right to Read." Vendors shared their evidence-based curriculum offerings and district support agencies shared a vast number of reading support resources.
"We are the ones we have been waiting for."
-June Jordan, The United Nations, (1978)
-Alice Walker, Inner Light in a Time of Darkness (2006)
-Dr. Tracy Weeden, Science of Reading Defining Movement (2022)
 Tamara Van Wyhe of Region 16 Comp Center, and Symposium Co-host, introduces "The Symposium Seven" TED Talks, where panelists shared their journey and promotion of evidence-based curriculum, resources, and practices.
 SoR Symposium Co-hosts and Alaska SoR Leaders, Tammy and Susy, along with Alaska Superintendents in attendance, close the symposium by encouraging educators to continue to "shine their light" to the tune of This Little Light of Mine.
2023 Alaska SoR Symposium attendees and presenters commented:
- This was the most amazing conference I have ever been to.
- So much practical information for immediate classroom application; where has this info been all my life?
- There was such a fantastic line up of speakers. The connection of the content was perfect!
- When we know better, we do better! This is so exciting for Alaska!
- Thank you for bringing so many of the Nation's best leaders in Science of Reading to Alaska. This has been truly amazing!
- I cannot wait for next year already!
- I cried watching "Right to Read". We are truly doing the right work for ALL of Alaska's students.
Did you miss the 2023 Alaska SoR Symposium?
Don't worry - We have you covered!
Revisit the 2023 Science of Reading Symposium: Recordings now available!
 Bookmark this link for your 2023 Symposium recordings and 2024 Symposium registration information: https://aksorsymposium.org/
 Time was set aside at the 2023 Science of Reading Symposium to honor people that are reading champions with the inaugural Alaska Science of Reading Ambassador recognitions. As we know, educators and partners across Alaska are working hard to support effective changes in our school systems that will support reading growth for our students. Reaching our goal of "all students reading at grade level by the end of grade 3" will take ALL of us.
With that in mind, the Alaska Science of Reading Ambassador awards provided us examples of people doing great work across Alaska regarding the science of reading. They've worked to transform their classrooms, schools, and districts, and have empowered students through knowledge and implementation of the strategies/approaches aligned with reading science. This year seventy-eight nominations were received that covered five award categories, with one of those awards recognizing a reading advocate that supports readers from outside of the school walls and seven total Alaska Science of Reading Ambassadors recognized.
From left to right below:
READING ADVOCATE
Alys Culhane
Bright Lights Book Project
DISTRICT-LEVEL LEADER
Shanna Johnson
Lower Yukon School District, Curriculum Director
SCHOOL-LEVEL LEADER
Paul Barker
Aleutians East Borough School District, Principal of King Cove
PARAPROFESSIONAL
Olivia Layfield
Nenana City School, Middle/High School Special Education
CLASSROOM-LEVEL
Rhonda Harvey
Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, Lathrop High School Literacy Coach
Missy McMillan
Juneau School District, Teacher and Reading and Equity Coach
McKerwin Acdal
Kuspuk School District, Crow Village Sam School K-5 Teacher
 Congratulations to all of the 2023 Alaska Science of Reading Ambassadors that were announced at the 2023 Alaska Science of Reading Symposium!
Celebrating LETRS in Alaska
Region 16 Comprehensive Center and AK DEED partnered with Lexia Learning to host a meet-up reception for LETRS participants at the recent Alaska Science of Reading Symposium. Almost 70 individuals from across the state (representing all six of Alaska's current LETRS cohorts!) gathered for light hors d'oeuvres, in-person networking, and the opportunity to connect with our Lexia Learning support team, including Toni Backstrom, Marci Houseman, and Ki Anders. We were also joined by State Board of Education Member Bob Griffin, who shared his appreciation for the hard work being undertaken by Alaska's LETRS cohort members.
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Mark your calendars for DEED's new event:
Coffee and Content
(starting September 2023; REGISTER NOW!)
 Alaska Science of Reading all year? Yes, please!
Once a month, starting in September, join us for Coffee and Content! We have an amazing line up for our first year which will lead right up to AKSOR 2024!
Each reading leader will share a direct to classroom technique or strategy to add to your SOR toolkit (curricular agnostic) for about 15 -20 minutes. After some content, stay for some educator chat! Have questions about reading, choosing interventions, perhaps you are a single teacher in a village school needing a collaboration partner, or does a student just have you stuck and you want a think partner? This will be an open time for conversation, sharing, and problem solving! Sign up link is below!
Dr. Timothy Rasinski will be joining us for September 18th!
https://forms.gle/uoF5rx8LKm2p5zLV7
Alaska Reads Act Implementation Webinars
This series has concluded - Thank you so much for your participation!
The Alaska Reads Act Implementation Webinar series concluded on May 11th. You will still be able to access the schedule with webinar recordings and corresponding resources here: https://education.alaska.gov/akreads/webinar-schedules.
The following one-page step-by-step supports were created with the intent to further support districts as they begin planning for next school year:
If you have Alaska Reads Act questions or your District would like to request an in-person presentation on the Alaska Reads Act, reach out to us at: akreads@alaska.gov
Follow this link to DEED's Reading Resource homepage:
https://education.alaska.gov/Alaska-Reading-Resources
Find links to past reading newsletters, early literacy screener information, teacher qualifications regarding the Reads Act, and much more!
UPDATED RECENTLY:
NEW PAGES ADDED:
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School Spotlight
This month DEED is highlighting Petersburg School District (PSD). Their dedication to school improvement has included participation in the ELA Curriculum Grant project, RTI/MTSS Refresh project, mClass Screener Pilot, and many conferences/trainings! Stedman Elementary Principal, Heather Conn, shares about their journey and has also provided us her "TED talk" she presented at the 2023 Alaska Science of Reading Symposium.
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With the passage of the current legislation, the Alaska Reads Act, we started our planning journey right from the start in fall of 2022. This last fall we met as a staff and started to prepare for an MTSS and RTI model that would match what the state had laid out in its proposals. We didn’t know where this would end up, but we could at least start planning. Together we started to piece together a plan that would work for our community, our families, and our students. Questions and scenarios swirled through our brains at all hours of the day. What leadership teams do we put in place? When can these teams meet? What does our intervention time look like? Do we invest in interventionists? Who supports our interventionists? How do I give our interventionists time for plans and writing? Which interventions do we use and not use? How can we keep it simple?
In searching for answers, our district was awarded the opportunity to be part of the DEED ELA Core Curriculum Grant and the RTI/MTSS Refresh Grant. These opportunities gave us the money to financially afford to implement a new ELA core curriculum and reading interventions. At this time, we also decided to pilot the new literacy screener from the state, DIBELS 8th Edition. Our hope was to practice and become proficient before the fall of 2023 when the Alaska Reads Act would be implemented.
When the State of Alaska rolled out its first Keys to Literacy class I had signed, hoping to get ahead of the Alaska Reads Act implementation. There are a few others in the school who are also working through similar classes offered by the State in our building to obtain their Reads Act certification.
Plans are coming together for next year. Some challenges are sharing staff with the middle and high school and their rotating block schedule. We are working together to make this happen. We are implementing an Eagle Power block into Stedman Elementary. This forty-minute block will be our intervention time for all students. We are under the belief that all students will be given what they need in this enrichment time. We look forward to providing a block of time outside our core time for these interventions to occur. Even though our focus has been on reading, math is still a thought and problem to solve. However, we believe that within time this intervention time will work itself out by offering interventions from reading, math, writing, and social emotional support.
Michelle Brock (see below) is a 2nd grade teacher at Stedman Elementary. Michelle started within PSD as a preschool special education teacher. To date, Michelle has taught special education, kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade. Michelle has her literacy block well developed. “I truly enjoy my current literacy block and feel it is very effective. It took about 6 weeks to work with students at the beginning of the year, and students have become very independent and successful in using the established Daily 5 model.” With over 20 years of experience Michelle looks forward to adopting a new ELA core curriculum and servicing students for needed interventions outside the literacy block.
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Kerri Curtiss has taught at Stedman Elementary for over ten years. In her time at Stedman she has been a reading interventionist, and has also taught kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade. Most recently, Kerri has requested a transfer from 1st grade back to reading interventionist. Kerri spoke in regard to this change. “As Stedman transitions into a new ELA curriculum, tackles the many unknowns of the Reads Act, and creates a three-year school improvement plan, I am excited to narrow my focus and put all my energy into supporting our team and our READERS.” She went on to explain, “I am passionate about the foundations of reading, the science behind how children learn to read, and I enjoy (to a fault) collecting data to make informed and timely decisions on skill deficits and what students need in order to grow their reading skills.”
Most recently added to Stedman’s K-2 team are Ethan Bryner and Erin Hofacre. Both are fresh out of college and ready to teach in the town where they were born and raised, and to give back. Erin Hofacre has been partnered with Kerri Curtiss in 1st grade and Ethan Bryner has been partnered with Michelle Brock in 2nd grade. These powerful teaching teams are setting plans in motion to meet the initiatives in Alaska.
During the recent 2023 Alaska Science of Reading Symposium, I was asked to be one of “The Symposium Seven: Alaskan Educator TED Talks. Here is what I shared:
My Story
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for having me here today to share our story.
My name is Heather Conn, and I am the principal of Stedman Elementary School in Petersburg, a small fishing town in Southeast Alaska. My personal story started as a reluctant reader. I am now the principal in my hometown navigating the challenges and opportunities presented by recent legislation, such as the Reads Act.
My family fished year-round. I was my father’s crew member on the Frigidland. Spending my summers in Lynn Canal shoveling ice and buying fish from a very young age to the time I graduated. As a migrant student I was given an opportunity to select books for my summer adventure. It would soon be a long and busy three months tendering for Petersburg Fisheries. During my summers on the boat, I was forced to read the books that I had chosen to my brothers who are younger than me. They never listened and reading didn’t come easy for them either.
My game changer didn’t come until I was 20 years old. Skeleton Canyon was the book that captured my attention. J.A. Jance the author of this book has a few series in which I read every single one. Two of those series being Joanna Brady and J.P. Beaumont. She couldn’t write fast enough, I was always eager, and patiently waiting for her to write the sequel.
In 3rd grade I went to a reading room for help and there was this rolling fluency machine where a passage would be placed on the rolling machine. From there, I had to read that passage at the speed dialed in or my hands would get smacked with a ruler. Anxiety is what I felt along with a deep sickness to my stomach. I despised that room, that teacher, and reading. This was my first memory of reading. Despite this experience I wanted to be a teacher.
Today I am the principal of Stedman Elementary, the same school I grew up in where I am surrounded by invested educators. Educators who have the passion to change and make a difference. We have over 80 staff and 440 kids. It is us!
When legislation first passed the Reads Act I was overwhelmed. I had been following this bill for many years with many different names. I knew that the bill would eventually pass, the idea to read by 3rd grade is a great idea.
I am “just” a principal and work alongside “just” teachers. With having only, a superintendent, finance director, special education director, myself, and a MS and HS principal hats are shared. This bill was exhausting to think about. It would create resistance amongst the community and staff with the changes it would bring to our district. We decided to take this as an opportunity. We set our path and decided to enlighten interested parties. We come from a community who I believe supports our schools. Together I believe we could make this happen. Trying to get ahead of this was challenging.
This last fall we met as a staff and started to prepare for an MTSS and RTI model that would match what the state had laid out in its proposals. We didn’t know where this would end up, but we could at least start planning. We started to piece together a plan that would work for our community, our families, and our students. By creating teams, processes, plans, and policies that would support this new legislation we began to develop schedules within our day.
The trick was how to develop a schedule without letting go of all of our current and beloved programs.
Questions and scenarios swirled through our brains at all hours of the day. What leadership teams do we put in place? When can these teams meet? What does our intervention time look like? Do we invest in interventionists? Who supports our interventionists? How do I give our interventionists time for plans and writing? Which interventions do we use and not use? How can we keep it simple?
Searching for answers, our district was awarded the opportunity to be part of the DEED ELA core curriculum grant and the MTSS/RTI Refresh Grant. These opportunities gave us the money to financially afford to implement a new ELA core curriculum and reading interventions. It is also the reason why we are here today.
We decided to pilot the new literacy screener from the state, DIBELS. Our hope was to practice and become proficient before the fall of 2023 when the Alaska Reads Act would be implemented. This has been a lot, but we are making it work with the end goal being what is best for students.
Early on we began organizing small informational gatherings within our community. We invited parents, guardians, and community members to come and learn about the Reads Act in a relaxed and informal setting. We made sure to provide clear and concise information about the purpose, goals, and potential that could be realized despite the challenges. We also partnered with our local radio station and newspaper to share our message.
We know that one of the keys to reducing family anxiety around RTI plans is to familiarize families with the kind of reports they will be seeing in the fall. In August, as a part of our Back to School Night, we will explain how these reports are tools for support and not judgments of students or parents.
We want to be sure to involve parents in the process at the start. We have rearranged our conferences to match up with the beginning of the year benchmark window. This will allow our parents to receive prompt feedback on where their child is at. This also allows us to meet the regulations laid out in the AK reads Act.
All of this is very overwhelming in itself. The question of did we take on too much, is always circulating through my head. To be honest we probably did, but I see what this will do for us come fall of 2023. I hold onto the thought that in 4 Monday's we get a much-needed break.
Our days, evenings, and weekends have been filled with meetings and a lot of hard work, but we have a wonderful team of supportive colleagues by our side. We are in this together, making the necessary changes and putting in the effort to make it work. We believe in ourselves and each other.
Our next step is to get through this year and help others understand what these changes will look like from the perspective of parents and the community. We are confident that with our collective efforts, we can make it work.
Along the way, we are having to set aside some of our long-held beliefs and traditions, but we believe that in the end, we will make a positive difference in the lives of our students. We are determined to see this through, we have what it takes to succeed. Together, we've got this!
There are 9 of us here today from Petersburg. Give a wave Petersburg. If you would like to talk we are more than willing to share our thoughts and experiences with you. One idea might lead to your idea and the next steps for you. Thank you!
Thank you to PSD for sharing about all of this hard work, and congratulations on your amazing journey toward reading proficiency and school success for all students! DEED appreciates you sharing your story!
Have you had great success increasing student reading proficiency with an initiative or strategy in your school? Do you have something you are really excited about as an outcome of a shift to Science of Reading best practices? We are interested in hearing what amazing things are happening in your school to positively impact student reading proficiency and achievement. Please submit your story to the e-mail below. You may be chosen as the next school spotlight in a future edition of the Alaska Reading Newsletter!
Please e-mail your submissions to: Jenn.Miller@alaska.gov
DEED sponsored Science of Reading Courses
Please visit the DEED Professional Development webpage for SoR course updates.
- Currently, you can do late registration for Summer Keys to Literacy through May 19. If you register this week, watch your email closely for your confirmation and course link. Module 1 coursework will need to be completed by the first class on May 22nd.
- The NWEA for Administrators course has open registration for multiple courses now.
LETRS for Classroom Educators (Cohort 7) will launch in June, followed by additional cohorts for K-5 teachers, administrators, and early childhood educators in late summer and early fall 2023. To learn more or to apply for an upcoming LETRS training, please visit the Alaska LETRS Overview Guide at bit.ly/ak-letrs.
You can check back on the DEED reading resources professional development page for any updates regarding the addition of the new courses.
Alaska PLC at Work Institute!
This conference will come to Alaska Nov. 1-2, 2023.
The Alaska Professional Learning Communities Network cohort has been learning and growing together as a team. Throughout the summer 70 educators across the state met in Sacramento, CA, or in Seattle, WA for a summer institute. The 35 educators currently in the cohort meet with a Solution Tree trainer throughout this year to go deeper and to improve practice.
Solution Tree's Professional Learning Communities at Work® process is increasingly recognized as the most powerful strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement. Connections and meaningful conversations around student learning and the four questions are transpiring.
This Alaska-based PLC Institute from Solution Tree will take place in Anchorage on November 1st and 2nd. This institute provides the knowledge, tools, and encouragement to implement this powerful process. If you would like to know more about the Professional Learning Communities at Work event please check out the link here.
Alaska Reading Playbook Recorded Training Guides
Looking for asynchronous guided training in the science of reading? Curious to learn evidence-based strategies in teaching reading? Check out Alaska’s Reading Playbook six recorded training sessions along with facilitator guides and slide decks. This series can be used in staff training or family and community events for anyone supporting young students learning to read.
https://aklearns.org/alaskas-reading-playbook-recorded-training-guides/
Alaska’s Reading Playbook is a guide for educators teaching in Alaska’s unique educational landscape. This playbook combines decades of nationwide research with examples and resources developed by educators in our state. Organized by concepts, you’ll find an introduction to phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, and links to valuable resources where you can continue to deepen your knowledge. Each section provides both the science behind the strategies as well as links to videos modeling the teaching strategies.
https://aklearns.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/AlaskasReadingPlaybook.ac-1.pdf
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