Calhoun County’s new literacy coaches – Lindsey Hastings at Bruce, Katie Hill at Calhoun City and Jennifer Moore at Vardaman – shared their experiences at each school and the impact on students with the school board recently.
Mike Moore
This is the first year for the positions and Superintendent Mike Moore said they are paying dividends.
“We had hoped to get these (positions) funded through the state, but that didn’t happen. Then, with third grade reading gate coming in, we thought we needed to make it happen.”
Moore said the positions are being funded with district money.
“These are critical for us and I can tell you they’re doing an outstanding job,” he said.
Lindsey Hastings works at Bruce Elementary and explained her schedule involves working with dyslexic students, conducting literacy centers in all the third grade classrooms, and meeting with individual students who are the farthest behind.
She shared a letter with the board from the only BES student who failed to pass the reading gate last year.
“Thank you for helping me read,” Hastings read through tears. “This meant so much to me because he didn’t pass, but still wrote me a letter saying thanks for helping me read.”
Katie Hill works at Calhoun City Elementary and described her position as more of a resource for teachers. She analyzed data from past test scores and identified a gap in writing achievement.
She helped develop and implement a plan within the curriculum to help improve writing skill and comprehension for the students.
“We’re seeing tremendous change and growth,” she told the board.
Jennifer Moore is the literacy coach at Vardaman where she works with dyslexic students, others dramatically behind, and then sections of 20 students four days a week.
She also shared a success story of a new student who was previously home-schooled and had to be placed two grades below his age due to current ability.
“He is now reading at benchmark,” an emotional Jennifer Moore said. “I’m hopeful now he can become one of our top students in that grade.”