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In this edition of the Alaska Reading Newsletter:
- District/School MTSS Plans *SUCCESS!
- K-12 Alaska Reading Specialist Endorsement Program
- Alaska Reads Act Educator Qualifications
- DEED Family Engagement Resources *UPDATED
- Update from the Early Learning Team
- Alaska School Spotlight - Kuspuk School District
- Highlights from Alaska School Districts
- DEED/R16CC Professional Development *Courses filling up
- 2024 SoR Symposium Save the Date
- AKLearns and Quick Links *UPDATED
- Meet the Academic Support Team
Please help us grow our subscriber list to 2,000 this month (currently almost 1,700) by forwarding this newsletter to all staff, your colleagues, and interested stakeholders. Encourage them to become a subscriber!
District/School K-3 MTSS Plans
The Academic Support Team first wants to acknowledge each district team's outstanding effort and commitment. We received 88 K-3 district reading intervention plans submitted on time, which is a significant achievement. This speaks volumes about our collective dedication to improving reading proficiency across our state. The review process is in full swing. DEED Reading Specialists have been meeting with district leaders to help support plans and alignment with best practices in reading instruction.
As of September 15th, there were only 20 plans in the final review stage. Implementation is the next focus. Implementation will be about embracing challenges as opportunities, adapting as needed, and persisting in facing obstacles. Each task, no matter how seemingly small, each meeting with parents and each minute of reading intervention time contributes to the bigger picture of each student's success. Each person in every district is instrumental in making these plans a success.
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Alaska K-12 Reading Specialist
Endorsement Program
The Alaska K-12 Reading Specialist Endorsement Program opportunity will kick-off this month. About 60 Alaska Educators have been chosen from a very competitive applicant pool that represents 19 school districts all over the state. Participants will work this school year to earn an Alaska K-12 Reading Specialist Endorsement to be added to their teaching certificate.
Designed specifically for Alaska's Educators, the Alaska K-12 Reading Specialist Endorsement program will provide the opportunity for educators with at least three years of teaching experience to explore and apply current research on effective reading strategies and improve student literacy outcomes in Alaska's K-12 classrooms. Aligned with the science of reading and the International Dyslexia Association's Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading, Alaska's program is designed to provide participants with advanced literacy pedagogy focused on connecting reading theory, curriculum, and assessment to broaden literacy-specific knowledge and instructional practices, and to strengthen other responsibilities encountered in our state's unique and diverse classroom settings.
Sponsored and funded by Alaska DEED and R16CC, the Alaska K-12 Reading Specialist Endorsement program is offered at no-cost to selected educators.
Alaska Educator Qualifications
A requirement of the Alaska Reads Act
Part of the Alaska Reads Act includes educator qualifications as noted on the infographic below. The infographic describes who must meet the regulations, how to meet the requirements, and the deadline of July 1, 2025. For more information on educator qualifications, please visit the DEED Educator Qualifications webpage.
Starting last school year, the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development has worked hard to support Alaska Educators by offering FREE DEED-Sponsored professional development that meets Alaska Reads Act requirements for educator qualifications. The paid seats for these courses may not be available past next summer. DEED will continue to offer as many seats as possible between now and then. Visit the DEED Professional Development webpage for information about courses.
Are you one of the Alaska Educators that has completed a DEED Alaska Reads Act approved course? Maybe you are wondering what to do next? DEED Teacher Certification has posted the Alaska Reads Act Educator Endorsement Form. Please complete and submit the form!
From DEED's Early Learning Team
Congratulations to Anchorage School District!
The Department of Education and Early Development is pleased to announce that Anchorage School District’s application as a District-Wide Early Education Program was approved. Anchorage School District’s Early Education Programs, serving 4 and 5 year-old children, show evidence of compliance with Alaska's Early Education Program Standards and is eligible to include these early education program students in the district’s average daily membership (ADM) for the 2023-2024 school year.
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Kuspuk School District
School Spotlight
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This month DEED is highlighting Kuspuk School District. Take a look at their educator commitment to professional development, having an employee recognized as a 2023 Science of Reading Ambassador, and their journey toward reading proficiency.
Kuspuk School District has intentional and specific goals regarding improved literacy across the district. We would like to highlight two of those main goals and how we are making progress toward meeting those goals. First, by May 2021, and continuing for each school year through 2025, seven Kuspuk Elementary Schools will hold eight monthly family engagement meetings annually with a literacy focus and 50% parent attendance. Next, by May 2025, 100% of teachers assigned to K-5 classrooms will be proficient in teaching foundational skills in reading and designing interventions to match student needs. You can see that our literacy goals started before the Alaska Reads Act, and how we’ve been able to access DEED opportunities to enhance and complement our overarching literacy goals. We are pleased to already be showing success!
Our first and earliest literacy goal was to improve family engagement by hosting Family Literacy Nights on a regular and consistent basis. Year 1-2 were post-covid and it was still quite a struggle to get parents into the schools. Year 3 proved different. Thanks to dedicated staff, a lot of hard work, creativity, and out of the box literacy events, we couldn’t have been more excited to have hit a 65% average attendance mark! Going into Year 4, we saw another 10% improvement and closed out that year with a 75% average attendance for all Family Literacy Nights. Embedded in the family engagement plan were also two annual at-home reading challenges related to regional activities, both based on sled dog races. One was based on the Kuskokwim 300, called the KuskoRead 300. The other was IditaRead, based on the Iditarod. This year we hope to exceed our 75% highest average attendance and our hope is that family engagement will become a natural and expected part of nurturing our young readers.
Pictured above: October Family Literacy Night at Crow Village Sam School
Pictured below: Joseph S. & Olinga Gregory Elementary School Family Literacy Night
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Simultaneously, we’ve focused on that second big goal for all K-5 teachers to have the knowledge and skills for teaching the foundational skills that readers need to be proficient, including the ability to utilize data to design an intervention process that meets students needs. A needs assessment was conducted to focus on professional development and literacy instructional needs were identified. A subgoal was set that all K-5 teachers would engage in Science of Reading aligned professional development. This brought on a Literacy Matrix Course through the University of Florida and LETRS Training, as well as attendance at The Reading League Annual Conference and the Alaska Science of Reading Symposium.
Our new learning and continued professional development clearly helped us identify the need for a new core curriculum. We applied for the DEED ELA Core Literacy Grant and were successful applicants. Receiving this grant award assisted with a shift in instructional practices and the adoption of a new SoR aligned curriculum, Amplify CKLA. This is what we will be implementing over the course of this school year. With knowledge learned during professional development we were also able to streamline our Intervention program options for teachers, with only evidence-based programs that align with the Science of Reading.
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With a focus on future sustainability, we really wanted to develop our own Model Teachers, implementing the program where master teachers are given additional training in areas of need, then open their classrooms for other teachers to observe. One of these teachers is McKerwin Acdal of Crow Village Sam School, who also was nominated and chosen as an Alaska Reading Ambassador at the 2023 Alaska Science of Reading Symposium for his amazing work at the classroom level and immense training he had committed to. Pictured above: McKerwin Acdal is engaging and motivating students to participate in the IditaRead at-home reading challenge.
Pre and post training surveys are showing that teachers are increasing efficacy in teaching foundational reading skills each year. We did not stop there! In order to do really important work on the Tiered interventions piece, we became one of DEED’s 18 RTI/MTSS Refresh Districts through an intense two-year grant program. A team of four (Superintendent, Curriculum Director, Principal, and teacher) worked through the process the first year of the grant program. This assisted us with revising our RTI/MTSS plans. We are proud the have a specifically designed K-3 MTSS Plan based on the Science of Reading evidence-based practices.
It will be exciting to see the growth over the course of this school year. It has been helpful to enhance our work toward district goals through the free DEED professional development, ELA Grant, RTI/MTSS Refresh, and Science of Reading Symposium. We look forward to continuing the hard work it takes to provide evidence-based reading instruction to our emerging readers that will help work toward reading proficiency for all!
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Has your school proven great success increasing student reading proficiency utilizing evidence-based curriculum and materials? 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 or questions to: Jenn.Miller@alaska.gov
You can view the 2022-2023 School Year Alaska School Spotlights here:
https://education.alaska.gov/Alaska-Reading-Resources/alaska-school-spotlights
Great Things are Happening in Kenai!
DEED would like to highlight a resource shared out from Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. This is their "Effective Literacy Initiative Update".
Please follow this link to a 3 minute video created by Assistant Superintendent Kari Dendurant.
There is an associated slideshow at this link.
DEED appreciates KPBSD sharing these updates pertaining to their K-12 Literacy Initiative. You can read more about this initiative in Kenai's School Spotlight from the March 2023 Alaska Reading Newsletter.
Congratulations to Kenai on all of their hard work, commitment, and dedication toward reading proficiency for all K-12 students!
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Alaska CLSD Supplemental Grant
2023 Recipient Highlight
Congratulations to Lower Yukon School District!
The CLSD Supplemental grants have had an astounding impact on Lower Yukon School DIstrict students and teachers. We would not have been able to purchase our new mClass Intervention with Boost program without the first supplemental grant. The purchase of this program is clarifying to all of the staff what explicit targeted reading instruction looks like, and is driving all of our instruction.
Our second CLSD supplemental grant gave us opportunities! We have already had a Saturday workday to build student Individualized Reading Plans. We were able to have three days of professional development with trainers from CKLA and mClass Intervention. This funding allowed us to demonstrate the importance of collaboration across the district in PLC's, and we will be sending teachers to Solution Tree for additional PLC training and support. Finally, this CLSD Supplemental grant, is allowing our secondary staff to have focused professional development on Vocabulary Structures to be implemented in their content areas.
LYSD is thankful for all of these opportunities, and more that are coming our way. We would not have been able to impact every teacher and every student without the support of this funding.
Shanna Johnson, Director of Curriculum
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DEED Family Engagement Resources
Please be sure to visit DEED's Family Engagement Resources webpage with information DEED encourages districts to distribute to families. There are grade-level specific family reading support guides and an information section for supporting student reading. Brand-new to the site is the Dibels Parent Guide to assist families with understanding the DIBELS Screening Tool. There is a new resource named the Alaska Reads Act Family Partnership Presentation. Check these amazing resources out!
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DEED sponsored Science of Reading Courses
Please visit the DEED Professional Development webpage for SoR course updates. You can also visit https://aklearns.org under "events" to look for calendar updates with information.
Keys to Literacy SoR Courses
GREAT NEWS! Keys to Literacy has an open enrollment period for all remaining courses on this schedule! You can visit their Alaska Keys to Literacy webpage between September 13th and 27th to pre-register.
All registration dates listed below for each session are still applicable. You may visit the Keys to Literacy webpage during those dates to register, as well.
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Winter 2023 (Registration opens 11/6 and closes 11/17)
Cohort 1: Nov. 22 - Mar. 13, 4:00 - 6:00 pm (Wednesdays)
Meetings on 12/13, 1/10, 1/31, 2/21, and 3/13
Cohort 2: Nov. 22 - Mar. 14, 4:00 - 6:00 pm (Thursdays)
Meetings on 12/14, 1/11, 2/1, 2/22, 3/14
Cohort 3: Nov. 22 - Mar. 16, 8:30 - 10:30 am (Saturdays)
Meetings on 12/16, 1/13, 2/3, 2/24, 3/16
Spring 2024 (Registration opens 1/29 and closes 2/9)
Cohort 1: Feb. 12 - May 22, 4:00 - 6:00 pm (Wednesdays)
Meetings on 3/6, 3/27, 4/10, 5/1, 5/22
Cohort 2: Feb. 12 - May 23, 4:00 - 6:00 pm (Thursdays)
Meetings on 3/7, 3/28, 4/11, 5/2, 5/23
Cohort 3: Feb. 12 - June 1, 8:30 - 10:30 pm (Saturdays)
Meetings on 3/9, 3/30, 4/13, 5/4, 6/1
Summer 2024 (fast tracked course; Registration opens 4/8 and closes 4/19)
Apr. 22 - June 22, 8:30 - 10:30 am (Saturdays)
Meetings on 5/18, 6/1, 6/8, 6/15, 6/22
Summer 2024 (fast tracked course; Registration opens 5/6 and closes 5/17)
May 20 - June 24, 8:30 - 10:30 am (Mondays and Thursdays)
Meetings on 6/10, 6/13, 6/17, 6,20, 6/24
Visit the Alaska Keys to Literacy website for more information:
https://keystoliteracy.com/alaska-reads-professional-development/
Note: Keys to Literacy satisfies Alaska Reads Act educator qualification requirements for both teachers and leaders. It is open to educators in Grades K-6, but required for K-3. Please make sure you have reviewed your schedule and the DEED Guidelines/Expectations for Courses sheet prior to registering. Full participation and attendance is expected.
NWEA for Administrators SoR Course
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The NWEA for Administrators course opened for registration on May 8, 2023. There are multiple course option dates available. Register NOW!
Applicants should register for their preferred term (fall, winter, or spring).
Cohorts 3 & 4 will occur October 26–February 29 (COHORTS FILLING QUICKLY)
Cohorts 5 & 6 will occur January 9–April 25.
The detailed schedule for virtual seminars can be accessed via the registration link.
https://dpdol.nwea.org/pl/sa/AK/AK_Literacy_LeadershipRegistration_Flyer_FY23.pdf
Note: It is recommended that District Leaders take this course, however Keys to Literacy and LETRS also satisfy Alaska Reads Act educator qualification requirements.
Opportunities for LETRS training!
LETRS for Classroom Educators (Cohort 7) launched in June, and is followed by additional cohorts for K-5 teachers, administrators, and early childhood educators since late summer and into 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. Sponsored by Region 16 CC and DEED.
Upcoming cohorts: There is a long waiting list, so if you have not filled out the application form yet and are interested, please do that ASAP. Follow this link to apply.
Mark your calendars for DEED's new event:
Coffee and Content
(REGISTER NOW!)
 Alaska Science of Reading all year? Yes, PLEASE!
Once a month, for the rest of the school year, 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!
We had a great turnout with Dr. Timothy Rasinski who joined us for September!
October 16th we will visit with the wonderful Pam Kastner! Don't miss this!
https://forms.gle/uoF5rx8LKm2p5zLV7
Beyond the Playbook
- a new PD series -
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Catch Them Before They Fall: Working with Emerging and Struggling Readers in the Primary Grades
September 5-26, Tuesdays and Thursdays
4:00-5:30pm AKST
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Working with Multilingual Learners and Academic Language Learners
September 28-October 19, Tuesdays and Thursdays
4:00-5:30pm AKST
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Working with Struggling Readers Grade Three and Beyond
October 24, 26, and November 2-16, Tuesdays and Thursdays
4:00-5:30pm AKST (no session Oct. 31)
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Choose any or all three modules! Must register to participate.
Register here
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