Early literacy scores in Mapleton, Loudonville show payoffs from ongoing efforts toward improvements

NANKIN — At Mapleton Local Schools, efforts to improve students’ literacy have been ongoing since 2021. 

That year, the district implemented a new curriculum based in the science of reading at the middle school level. The following year, that curriculum was brought on at the elementary level as well. Literacy coaches came on, each of them focused on different grade levels, offering extra support to students struggling with reading.

The science of reading approach, backed by decades’ worth of research, emphasizes sounding out words, reading for comprehension and developing an understanding of words’ meanings. The state pushed districts to implement curriculum based on this approach, with $160 million in its biennial budget to help those efforts. 

Even with a focus on literacy, Mapleton Local Schools still struggled with early literacy scores on its state report card. The district came in under the state benchmark in 2021-2022, and again on the 2022-2023 report card.  

Mapleton’s curriculum director, Skip Fulton, said his literacy team expected gains to come slowly even with the district’s focus on the challenge.

He attributed part of that slowness to the way the state report cards measure students’ scores. There’s a lag time there, Fulton said. But, improvement also just takes time.

“Our philosophy has been probably for the last four or five years that reading is the basis of everything,” Fulton said. “If a kid can’t read, it puts them behind so many ways, not only academically, but once they leave a school setting it puts them behind out in the real world…

“We know also that as a student gets older, it gets harder to make up those gaps, so the starting point always has to be from the very beginning. You’ve got to catch them early, you’ve got to start early.”

This year, Mapleton finally saw some of those efforts pay off. It was one of only two public school districts in Ashland County to see an improvement in its early literacy score on this year’s state report cards.

The other district to improve was Loudonville-Perrysville Exempted Village Schools.

Both districts say their increases show a positive outcome from several years’ worth of efforts to improve early literacy.

Early literacy nitty-gritty

On this year’s state report cards, every public school district in Ashland County hit state standards or higher for early literacy. That threshold is three out of a possible five stars on the state report card. 

Ashland City Schools received a ranking of three stars, and Hillsdale Local Schools earned four stars for early literacy. Those rankings remained the same for those districts between the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years.

But, Loudonville-Perrysville Schools and Mapleton each saw improvements in the early literacy measure. Those increases follow a statewide trend of an uptick in early literacy scores on the 2023-2024 report cards.

Mapleton saw an increase from two stars — below the state benchmark — to three stars, which means it now meets the state’s standards. Loudonville-Perrysville saw its early literacy score bump up from three stars to four stars.

How’d they do it?

Both Loudonville-Perrysville and Mapleton’s literacy coaches credited multiple factors for their increased early literacy scores.

Literacy coaches in Mapleton say their first priority was educating themselves on the best teaching practices. Then, they could pass those skills along to the district’s teachers.

That, combined with bringing a curriculum based in the science of reading onboard, served as important first steps.

“We had a lot of teachers doing a potpourri of a lot of things, and we wanted there to be more equity,” Cassie Swanson said.

I do think you have to know where your kids are at. You can throw everything at them, but if you don’t know what they need, you’re kind of wasting your time.

Cassie Newcomer, Mapleton Literacy coach

Swanson came into Mapleton Local Schools as a literacy coach, and now works as the elementary school principal. She added ensuring the curriculum was consistent from classroom to classroom and between grade levels was important for Mapleton.

Angela Layton, a literacy coach with Loudonville-Perrysville Schools, said the district also uses a curriculum based in the science of reading, called “Wonders.” That curriculum had been in the district prior to Layton’s arrival.

“The team had done its homework,” Layton said.

For Loudonville-Perrysville, benchmark testing and short assessments have helped the district tackle students’ reading challenges. Those tests offer insight about students’ areas of need. Then, the district can offer interventions and small group work to target those challenges.

Mapleton has taken similar approaches. Cassie Newcomer, a literacy coach in Mapleton, said finding the “right” assessments helped to better inform the district about students’ literacy needs.

“I do think you have to know where your kids are at,” Newcomer said. “You can throw everything at them, but if you don’t know what they need, you’re kind of wasting your time.”

Mapleton has also implemented “WIN” time for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. In other words, students are separated into groups based on their reading levels and needs. Then, they have time to practice the skills they need extra help with.

Not finished yet

While the districts each celebrated their improvements, they also pointed out that there’s still room to keep moving forward.

Layton emphasized the state report cards serve as one of several ways to measure the district’s effectiveness in teaching students to read. It’s exciting to improve, but there’s also more work to be done.

“We do have a growth mindset that we can still do better,” Layton said. “We want to reach all kids.”

Mapleton Local Schools shares that mindset. While meeting the state benchmark felt like an indicator of success this year, Mapleton’s literacy team emphasized it wants each of its students to read proficiently.

It’s not there yet — and, that goal may be a near-impossible task. But, it’s still at the core of what the district is tasked with.

“When we sat down with our literacy team, with our group of educators, we originally said we want 100% of our kids to pass,” Swanson said. “What percentage are you willing to let kids not be literate?”

What comes next?

Much of the literacy conversation has centered on early literacy. But Newcomer and Layton said work still needs to be done to support literacy for both high school students and preschoolers.

Shelby Ortiz, another one of Mapleton’s literacy coaches, used to work specifically with high schoolers. As resources for literacy have dried up in the district, she has focused more on middle school. But, it doesn’t mean high schoolers who might struggle with reading don’t still need support.

“There’s a level of dignity that you have to provide older students,” Swanson said.

Ortiz said working with middle schoolers, she tries to earn buy-in by explaining to them why it’s important.

Conversely, the push for science of reading has largely affected K-12 districts. But in Newcomer’s eyes, kindergartners would benefit from learning good reading skills even earlier.

She has started approaching area preschools, encouraging them to select curriculums based in the science of reading.

Similarly, Layton has also worked to bring preschools more resources. Plus, she’s working on supports for upper grade levels, like middle and high schoolers.

In her mind, the next step comes with improving students’ writing skills. That’s the ultimate form of mastery when it comes to literacy.

Efforts to maintain this year’s improvements — and grow more — will be ongoing in both districts moving forward.

“We just try to get better every day,” Layton said. “We’re instilling that in the culture and we’re instilling that in our students.”