Board hears literacy plan; teachers recommend Functional Phonics for K–5, district plans FastBridge screening for K–3

Chris Dobis, who presented the literacy update, told the Little Falls school board the district plans to partner with FastBridge as the new screening tool for kindergarten through third grade beginning in 2024–25 while it waits for state guidance on screening tools for grades 4–12.

Dobis said the district will submit a local literacy plan to the Minnesota Department of Education by June 15, and that the plan will need to include more detailed reporting under recent legislative language. He described a two-phase professional-development rollout: LETRS training in a large Phase 1 that will touch roughly 88 staff members and a smaller Phase 2 about two years later affecting roughly 28 staff.

Lisa Sahlberg, the district literacy staff member who led the pedagogical portion of the presentation, described Functional Phonics as an explicit, systematic and cumulative approach that emphasizes phonemic awareness, phonics and fluency in the early grades and progresses to morphology and vocabulary work in grades 3–5. She said lessons in K–2 are longer and focused on mastery, while lessons for older elementary students shift to multisyllabic words and applied reading tasks.

Dobis told trustees the district piloted multiple curricula and that teachers who piloted Functional Phonics voted 20–0 with the curriculum resource committee to recommend advancing Functional Phonics for K–5 in 2024–25. “And it was a 20 to 0 vote with a curriculum resource, which is really encouraging,” Dobis said.

Trustees asked how the FastBridge decision will proceed if the state does not list a vendor for grades 4–12. Dobis said that in that case the decision would be local and reiterated that the district prefers to standardize screening across grade bands to avoid multiple different screeners. He also said the district has scheduled professional development with FastBridge contingent on vendor approval and that it will monitor state guidance through early summer.

Why it matters: The board heard that the literacy changes are tied both to state-level reporting requirements and to available funding; choosing an approved screening and a K–5 foundational curriculum affects teacher training, classroom practice and budget planning for upcoming school years.

What’s next: The district will submit its local literacy plan by June 15, await further state vendor guidance for grades 4–12, proceed with LETRS PD scheduling and move forward with planning for a K–5 implementation of Functional Phonics in 2024–25 if funding and approvals align.