District LETRS Spotlight: Erlanger-Elsmere Independent
Situated at the top of Kentucky lies a small independent school district with a colossal commitment to literacy. The Erlanger-Elsmere school district is not defined by its size, but rather by its unwavering dedication to nurturing the whole child and empowering its educators. They have embraced the Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) professional learning opportunity at all four of its elementary schools, igniting a transformative journey towards equitable literacy success for all.
 Lindeman Elementary was the first school in the Erlanger-Elsmere district to engage with the LETRS professional learning opportunity.
The Erlanger-Elsmere LETRS journey began at A.J. Lindeman Elementary in 2021. Instructional Coach, Krista Wainscott, and Reading Specialist, Jill Dannenfelser, discovered LETRS through their collaborative research on evidence-based reading instruction. At that time they had grant funding to cover the costs for the training and the opportunity was extended to every educator in the building. Approximately 90% of them jumped on board – general education teachers, special education teachers, the instructional coach, the English Language teacher and the Speech Language pathologist.
Within that year, the school was coincidentally ready to select a new reading resource and found that what they were learning in LETRS equipped them with invaluable knowledge to help make that decision. With the majority of the staff now LETRS certified, Dannenfelser reflects, “In my role as reading specialist, one of the biggest changes I’ve seen is in core instruction. When a student is referred to me for tier 2 support, the teachers are now able to provide more information about the students’ strengths and areas for growth. It feels more like a partnership because we are all speaking the same language and doing it with confidence.”
Perhaps the buzz at Lindeman inspired others because the following year over half of the elementary teachers across the district enrolled in LETRS through the Kentucky Reading Academies. And perhaps the teachers embraced it because of concerted efforts by the leaders in each school to cultivate a community where the LETRS learning can be collaborative and long-lasting.
At Arnett Elementary School, for example, 100% of its general education teachers are currently participating in the learning. Principal Monica Crockett recognizes the power of having all of the staff learn this reading science together. Ms. Crockett is currently participating in the LETRS for Administrators course so that she and the leadership team can effectively support teachers and confidently commit to the expectation that, as a team, they will use the structured literacy principles they are learning. To support this commitment, LETRS specific PLCs have been built-in throughout the year to provide the opportunity for teachers to reflect. Arnett’s instructional coach, Shannon Stahl, has been participating in LETRS along with the teachers. Stahl shares, “Our resources are not effective if we don’t understand the why behind them. That is the critical component of all of this–LETRS is teaching us the why. The first two units are both challenging and mind-blowing. I had no idea that I had no idea.”
 Students at Arnett Elementary utilize the Story Framework graphic organizer that teachers learned about through their LETRS learning.
Less than a mile down the road, at Howell Elementary, 100% of the general education classroom teachers along with the instructional coach and some support staff are LETRS certified through Cohort 1 of the Kentucky Reading Academies. “For new teachers and veteran teachers alike–it’s been a game changer,” says principal Tiffany Gruen. “During our What-I-Need (WIN) time, teachers offering enrichment are now confident in knowing what the next, most appropriate step is for strong literacy growth. Teachers offering scaffolded support have been able to be more diagnostic in selecting student goals for intervention. Our tools have become more valuable to teachers because they understand the why.” From the beginning, it was vital to Gruen to support her staff in this learning through the school’s professional development (PD) plan. “We really analyzed the LETRS pacing guide and then crafted our PD days around it and our other initiatives.”
Amber Moore, a special education teacher at Miles Elementary, the district's fourth elementary school, will be completing her LETRS learning in just a few weeks. “My instructional practices have changed tremendously since beginning my LETRS training. I am now better equipped to administer diagnostic testing to determine exactly where my students currently are, identify what specific skills they may be struggling with, and implement instructional routines that provide opportunities for students to practice skills. I will forever be grateful for this opportunity. I am a much better teacher of reading because of this training.”
ICYMI: KY Reads to Succeed Summer Reading Conference SESSIONS NOW AVAILABLE!
View the conference schedule and register for the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) Office of Teaching and Learning (OTL) Division of Early Literacy first annual Kentucky Reads to Succeed Summer Conference. The conference will take place June 20, 2024, at the Central Bank Center, formerly the Lexington Convention Center.
Keynote speaker and educational journalist Emily Hanford, host of the Sold a Story podcast, the second-most-shared show on Apple Podcasts in 2023 and one of Time magazine’s top three podcasts of the year, has been covering education for American Public Media since 2008. She has won numerous awards for her work, including the EWA Public Service Award in 2019 for Hard Words and the 2017 Excellence in Media Reporting on Education Research Award from the American Educational Research Association.
The conference is FREE to Kentucky K-12 public educators and offers focused learning pathways to meet the needs of teachers and administrators. Attendees will learn from KDE OTL consultants and partners about:
- Evidence-based instructional shifts for literacy;
- The benefits of structured literacy;
- Why high-quality instructional resources matter; and
- Available resources for implementing the Read to Succeed Act.
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