Spotlight on Laramie County School District #2

Elise GuestSenior Education Improvement Specialist

The previous installment of this series explored Converse School District #1’s efforts to drive district-wide literacy system growth, including improving instructional and assessment rigor and increasing collaboration in teacher professional learning communities (PLCs).

As the series continues exploring Wyoming’s education landscape, the next stop is Laramie County School District #2 (Laramie 2).

Next Stop: Laramie 2

Laramie 2 is a small district, serving roughly 1,000 K-12 students. Their core goals are to ensure students reach “meeting expectation” level or higher on the Wyoming school performance rating model and graduate career- or college-ready. They also focus on encouraging and supporting technology access and skills to enhance learning and teaching.

Like Converse 1, Laramie 2 received a Wyoming Believing in Literacy Together (WY BILT) subgrant in 2021 to power their literacy improvement efforts.

Laramie 2’s contract with Marzano Research involves a custom-designed, multi-phase approach to improving literacy instruction across the district:

Conducting a literacy system review
Facilitating the adoption and implementation of evidence-based literacy curricula materials
Coaching the K-12 leadership PLC
Performing a second mini-review to gauge the impact of the curricula changes and bolstered leadership PLC practices on instructional practices and student achievement

The ultimate aim of this work is to help the district and its schools ensure their literacy practices, supports, and assessment systems are grounded in research and evidence-based practices designed to meet the needs of all their learners.

Checking Under the Hood – Performing a Literacy Review

In 2022, our team at Marzano Research conducted a comprehensive literacy review of Laramie 2. This review included conducting a thorough document review of district literacy policies, procedures, and plans; holding focus groups with district teachers, leaders, and coaches to gather qualitative insights; administering a survey to instructional staff at all levels; and analyzing student literacy achievement data.

Our approach was grounded in the evidence base that defines the critical knowledge and skills for literacy development, and research on best practices for teaching and learning them. Some of the sources we drew upon include the Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read and What Works Clearinghouse Practice Guides that address literacy topics.

Drawing from these inputs, we identified strengths, opportunities for innovation, and key recommendations to improve Laramie 2’s literacy instruction and outcomes.

Strengths

We identified numerous literacy system strengths across the district. For example, Laramie 2’s educators exhibit dedication and collaboration. Most Laramie 2 secondary teachers indicated that non-ELA teachers provide additional support for student literacy through reading, writing, and vocabulary in their content areas.

“Staff has the attitude of ‘the students belong to everyone,’” said one teacher in a focus group.

In addition, both elementary and secondary school schedules in Laramie 2 are designed to accommodate different levels of instruction, ensuring students receive appropriate support.

Opportunities for Innovation and Key Recommendations

Opportunities exist for Laramie 2 to provide more robust literacy supports, training, and collaboration time for teachers. Educator feedback indicated district-wide PLCs needed a clearer focus, especially when prioritizing literacy. Teachers also reported insufficient time for using data and engaging in professional learning.

Using these findings, we provided key recommendations to help Laramie 2 take action. These included defining a clear instructional vision for literacy and finalizing the comprehensive Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). This stage of the process entailed developing evidence-based instructional materials, assessments, and professional learning programs aligned with MTSS.

Furthermore, strengthening existing structures—such as literacy leadership teams, district-wide professional learning communities, paraprofessional roles, and procedural documents—would further bolster the MTSS and instructional materials, ensuring a cohesive and effective literacy strategy across Laramie 2.

Sharing this review with the administrators and teachers allowed all members of the district to provide input.

Traci Schneider, Laramie 2’s curriculum and instruction coordinator, said it provided strong evidence to inform next steps.

“The findings provided specific details shared by ELA teachers that administrators and literacy coaches used to develop goals and action plans,” Schneider said.

Planning Their Route: Facilitating Evidence-based ELA Curricula Selection/Implementation and Administrators’ PLC

After the literacy review, our team guided the district in adopting preK-12 English Language Arts (ELA) curricular materials based on the literacy review findings. We evaluated the curricular materials the district was considering, facilitated an inquiry process with district leaders and teachers to narrow down and select materials, and helped the district prepare for a successful implementation of the curricula they selected. Initial curricula adoption will be finalized in the spring of 2024.

Our specialists are also providing ongoing coaching through the 2023-24 school year to bolster administrators’ skills for spearheading continuous literacy growth cycles.

Schneider said this coaching, including training on the 5D process, “will aid us in data analysis for years to come.”

“Administrators and lead teachers applied the 5D [process] to analyze data through a more structured approach,” said Schneider. “By digging deep into literacy-related data, we were able to identify strengths and weaknesses, set literacy goals, use the analysis outcomes to guide professional development plans, and make literacy coach efforts with teachers more meaningful. Knowledge and practice of the 5D structures will aid us in data analysis for years to come.”

In addition, we’re supporting Laramie 2 leaders who were assigned to lead a districtwide PLC initiative, including developing school-based assessment practices. We’re facilitating professional learning focused on building the leaders’ expertise and helping them organize the work of their design and implementation teams. The goal is to build the leaders’ self-efficacy so they can lead assessment efforts at the district and school levels.

“Although [Laramie 2] has been on the PLC journey for several years, teams get stuck in the PLC ‘light’ mode. Working with Marzano Research allows us to identify reasons our teams are not more PLC advanced and steps we can take to move forward,” said Schneider.

What’s Next: Taking New Curricula for a Test Drive

Our next step in the process will be to conduct a second mini-literacy review to evaluate the impact of the curricula improvements and bolstered PLCs that were put in place since our initial review. Laramie 2 is allotting roughly six months to use the new curricula and implement enhanced PLC practices before we perform the re-evaluation in December 2024.

Next week, we’ll take a look at our similar literacy work with Park County School District 16.

Interested in how Marzano Research can help your district or school enhance their literacy systems and use data to inform your improvement strategies? Browse our literacy related services, which include system reviews, coaching for literacy leaders, and curriculum adoption support.

This blog is Part 3 of a series about Marzano Research’s partnership with the Wyoming Department of Education to improve literacy and use of data for districts and educators statewide.