Sunset Hill kindergarten credits weekly data, Orton‑Gillingham strategies for sharp gains in foundational reading skills

At a March 9 Weisetta Public Schools board meeting, Sunset Hill Elementary teachers presented data showing rapid gains in kindergarten literacy after adopting a weekly data‑review cycle and Orton‑Gillingham–aligned interventions. The presentation, led by kindergarten team lead Morgan Hogland and supported by literacy coordinator Julie Schneider and Principal Ross Williams, described a stepwise approach that moved dozens of students from needing support to mastery in weeks.

The team said their goal is that 100% of kindergarten students decode consonant‑vowel‑consonant (CVC) words by May. According to Morgan Hogland, an initial assessment of students’ ability to write the letters in their first name identified 38 students in “need support/progressing” categories; a first targeted intervention reduced that number to 17 in two weeks and a subsequent fine‑motor intervention reduced it to five.

Julie Schneider, the district instructional coordinator for literacy, described the professional learning and curriculum alignment underlying the work. “We’ve been intentional about a weekly PLC process — we collect data, plan tiered interventions, monitor progress and adjust immediately,” Schneider said. She said the district’s kindergarten and first‑grade teachers have had Orton‑Gillingham training as part of broader ReadAct‑aligned work.

Presenters detailed the four cycles their team used: name‑writing, letter‑names and sounds, early decoding (CVC), and encoding (writing CVC words). For letter‑names and sounds, the team reported students needing Tier 2 support fell from 40 to 20 by the end of October after introducing targeted activities such as letter tracing, sand cards and multisensory chants. For CVC decoding, presenters cited winter benchmarking showing broad gains: one slide stated “by the beginning of February, 100 students in the grade level had mastered or exceeded decoding CVC words, leaving only 13 students in progressing/need support categories,” and presenters also referenced a related figure of 94 of 114 students meeting or exceeding the winter benchmark in a related comment.

Teachers emphasized multisensory tactics — sand trays, letter chants paired with actions, blending boards and the scooping method for students who could not blend all three sounds — and frequent progress monitoring. “When we respond immediately to student needs, we ensure that every learner is supported in mastering foundational literacy,” Hogland said.

The team also described instructional differentiation: students who exceed mastery engage in timed fluency practice with weekly decodable word lists and receive decodable readers sent home to connect classroom practice with family support. Presenters described data protocols (weekly progress checks and success criteria for mastery, progressing and need support) and said PLC meetings were filmed for district professional learning so other teams can replicate practices.

Board members asked for clarification on the Orton‑Gillingham sequence and why encoding sometimes outpaced decoding. Julie Schneider said the district’s letter order was informed by Orton‑Gillingham sequencing and the CCC scope and sequence; she noted the order is chosen to allow students to form simple words early. On encoding versus decoding, presenters said the district observed stronger weekly encoding scores and attributed the difference to frequent daily writing practice and targeted one‑on‑one supports for students who struggled in whole‑group decoding tasks.

The presentation concluded with video clips of students using the CUPS protocol for written work and teachers describing strong parent feedback. The board praised the work and asked staff to continue monitoring outcomes and share findings that will inform district practice.

Next steps noted in the meeting: continued weekly progress monitoring, continued Orton‑Gillingham coaching across kindergarten teams, and sharing PLC footage and data protocols across buildings for broader implementation.