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We put our first structured literacy program in place about four years ago—smack in the middle of the global pandemic.

I was a “boots on the ground” reading specialist at the time and all of the learning was virtual. Our ELA supervisor expressed the need for a structured literacy initiative, which would require a highly-reputable tool that was both grounded in the science of reading and available online.

After exploring the various options on the market at the time, we decided to implement a new literacy platform. It checked all of the boxes and even when we returned to in-person, we kept the program because students were displaying progress across various foundational literacy skills. We knew they were not getting that from our original core curriculum.

5 steps to successful change management

We see professional development as a critical aspect of literacy instruction and were fortunate to have multiple reading specialists in all of our elementary schools. Those individuals were well-positioned to help with the teacher training, which was quite vigorous and intensive.

But for any new program to work, teachers have to know what they’re using, how to use it and how it supports their students. Here are five steps we took to ensure successful change management as we implemented our new literacy platform:

1. Kick it off with an accurate assessment. This is the best starting point because you need to know exactly what you’re dealing with. How many students, schools and classrooms will be involved? How many students aren’t reading proficiently or at high risk for reading failure? If you have to start anywhere, I would start there. This will also help you measure your progress and avoid “spinning your wheels.”
2. Designate reading champions in each school. We’re currently using two literacy programs and two of their professional learning programs. The latter was critical to our learning and building momentum with literacy leaders at every school. Our highly-trained reading specialists shared their knowledge and enthusiasm with their schools. Those champions can be the schools’ principals but in other situations the assistant principal, reading specialist or lead teacher may be the best one to build momentum and make believers out of teachers.
3. Understand that change isn’t always easy. There are some definitive stages of systemic change. When your colleagues are experiencing emotional feelings about change, for example, it’s important to understand that this is perfectly normal and that you’re on the right track. Calling out those emotions (e.g., “Hey, I know you guys might be feeling frustrated or anxious right now”) helps to honor them as educators. And when people send emails saying, “I don’t agree with this and it’s terrible,” just take a deep breath and know they’re in this stage of the process where they need a little encouragement to keep going.
4. Help teachers clear out the clutter. It seems like all technology tools are created equal, but they’re not. For example, we know some of them will be more efficient in teaching children how to read and we don’t have time to waste. Our reading specialist created a sheet with pictures of everything to get rid of, so it was very clear. Some teachers struggled to get rid of those resources—especially those still in their shrink-wrap packages—but they needed to clear out the clutter.
5. Don’t let it fall off the radar. We continue to train all the time. You can never let up because there will also be new teachers coming in and instructors who may need a refresher in this area. If you’re not continuously talking about the literacy platforms or having a session on it to onboard new people—or to even remind people that this is a resource we’re utilizing—then many things can fall off the radar.

Harnessing the power of literacy technology

When we set out to implement an online literacy platform four years ago, we thought we were just getting one program. This year, however, we’re leaning a bit more on the teacher-led lessons in the resource hub for our K3 students versus just having them on the screen so much. This supports what the teacher has already gone over, and it goes beyond just using the platform.

This year, one of our biggest focuses is on adolescent literacy and working with our middle schools and high schools to support students who have experienced years of balanced literacy versus structured literacy instruction. There’s an urgency to this, and you can never be too clear with your expectations for school sites.

This is all part of our mission to support students with what we know is going to help give them the skills to be successful in life. Their achievement is our biggest goal.