Spotlight on Park County School District 16

Elise GuestSenior Education Improvement Specialist

This blog series describes Marzano Research’s work on literacy in Wyoming, such as providing tailored professional learning around using data to improve literacy systems and reviewing certain districts’ existing literacy systems, including Converse 1 and Laramie 2 school districts. This blog showcases our work to facilitate Park 16’s literacy improvement journey.

Spotlight on Park County School District 16

Park County School District 16 (Park 16) is a tiny school district in Meeteetse, Wyoming. With only around 105 students from pre-K through 12th grade, Park 16 is about as small as they come. But their size is also their strength. Their tight-knit community and close relationships between staff and students help Park 16 provide personalized support for every learner.

In education, we are about working with people; Marzano Research recognizes that not every solution fits every school, and they have assisted us in creating “our” system with a focus on our people and students.” – Shane Ogden, Park 16 superintendent

Taking a Pit Stop

Park 16’s Literacy Review

Tammy Schlenker, Park 16 principal, knew there was opportunity for growth in the district.

“[Park 16] has been working with Marzano [Research] for the past year and a half,” she said. “After completing a literacy review, we were able to pinpoint the specific needs of our district. This allowed for intensive work that included review of our testing systems and schedules.”

Park 16 already possessed numerous strengths that helped ensure student success in literacy when Marzano Research came on board. Even so, they were looking for ways to improve their literacy programming and practices. They contracted us to look under the hood at their literacy achievement data and curricula and interventions across all grade levels. Our review highlighted where Park 16 was excelling—like their strong community partnerships, small class sizes allowing for individualized support, family and caregiver activities, library access, and staff dedication to students.

The review also revealed opportunities to improve their Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), especially assessment and intervention practices. In addition, the review pinpointed a need to restructure Park 16’s professional learning communities (PLCs) with a renewed focus on collaboration and accountability.

“We were able to find balance between over-testing and under-testing at the district level, Schlenker said. “We solidified terms and processes for a universal screener, diagnostic, and progress monitoring.”

Park 16 Superintendent Shane Ogden highlighted the importance of the review to identifying and addressing the root causes of issues affecting student learning.

In the past, we have tried to band-aid the learning gaps of students, instead of finding the reason for the gap,” said Ogen. “Partnering with experts in the field who are willing to come in and make our system reflect our values and commitments has surpassed any purchased product we looked at.”

Tuning up the engine

Providing tailored professional learning and facilitating collaborative improvement

Taking direction from the review findings, Marzano Research tailored professional learning for Park 16 staff to build their capacity in areas including: applying the 5D process to use data to identify students’ needs.

“As a small district and school, it has been invaluable in helping our staff understand the value that data can have in providing the best learning activities for our students,” said Ogden. “The process of using the 5D’s allows us to dig into root causes that can be addressed.”

The professional learning also focused on matching students to appropriate reading interventions and improving Tier 1 instruction for all students.

Marzano Research specialists also began conducting professional learning sessions designed to formalize Park 16’s district-wide MTSS practices. During these sessions, we worked with district staff to build a common understanding of the three tiers of support and began aligning district literacy materials and assessments with each tier. 

Putting the pedal to the metal

What’s ahead

Now, Park 16 is working to re-energize their PLCs. With laser focus on upping student achievement in literacy, teachers are collaborating more than ever. In the remainder of the 2023-24 school year, Marzano Research will continue to facilitate trainings on the 5D process to build the capacity of district leaders and teachers in data-driven decision-making by reviewing their Wyoming Test of Proficiency and Progress (WY-TOPP) state assessments and district benchmarking assessments and making decisions for improvement.

By posing the Define question from the 5D process, “What are the greatest literacy needs for our students?”, teacher teams are analyzing the data and identifying high leverage opportunities to improve student outcomes. As a result, Park 16 leadership and teachers are starting to refine their assessment and instructional practices to improve outcomes for their students, especially those learning below grade level.

Schlenker also mentioned how Marzano Research continues to support Park 16 as they expand on their work to formalize their MTSS, which “wraps in nicely with the work we previously completed.”

By continually facilitating tailored professional learning sessions with the district MTSS team, Marzano Research is helping Park 16 refine their intervention policy, programming, and practices.

Finally, later in the year, we’ll conduct an interim literacy system review to track the district’s progress thus far and make recommendations for the next steps of improvement.

While small in size, Park 16 thinks big when it comes to giving their students the best education. Their investment in an upgraded literacy system and professional learning demonstrates their commitment to continuous improvement. The work is already paying off through stronger strategies to identify their learners’ needs and get them the right targeted reading support. We are excited to continue working with them!

“Having Carrie and Elise to guide us through these processes has been so valuable,” said Schlenker. “They challenged everyone to think in new ways and consider things we otherwise may not have considered. We look forward to the next year in our work with Marzano.”

Next week, we’ll wrap up this series with a look at our evaluation of a statewide literacy initiative we conducted for the Wyoming Department of Education.

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, professional learning for literacy leaders, and assistance for literacy MTSS.

This blog is Part 4 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.