Viroqua district expands Orton‑Gillingham reading instruction, cites early improvements in decoding

Krista, a district presenter, outlined the Viroqua Area School District’s ongoing adoption of Orton‑Gillingham (OG) structured‑literacy instruction for elementary classrooms, saying the district began training most pre‑K through fourth‑grade teachers last summer and continued rollouts as staff completed certification.

“Orton Gillingham is an explicit or direct approach that is systematic and sequential for teaching literacy,” Krista said, describing OG as a multi‑sensory method that uses sight, hearing, touch and movement. She told the board OG ‘‘is effective for all students but really an essential piece of learning for students with dyslexia or dyslexic characteristics.’’

The presentation laid out why the district selected OG and how it has been put in place: staff completed in‑person training last summer and additional virtual training in the fall, and teachers who finish the 30‑hour OG training can begin classroom implementation. Krista linked the work to Wisconsin’s recent K–3 structured‑literacy training requirement (referred to in the meeting as Act 20), saying the district is aligning staff development to that state requirement.

Board members heard concrete classroom observations tied to the rollout. Krista reported that during winter screenings teachers noticed students increasingly using phonics and decoding strategies rather than relying on guessing or context clues when encountering unfamiliar words: “We’re seeing improvements in handwriting and spelling,” Krista said, and students are ‘‘using phonics first when they get to unknown words instead of other guessing strategies.”

The district acknowledged implementation challenges. Because older students needed some primary‑level instruction, third‑ and fourth‑grade teachers adjusted pacing and content to reteach foundational skills before proceeding to morphology and advanced units. Krista said that approach means the district’s rollout will take multiple years to reach the intended grade‑by‑grade sequence.

Next steps outlined to the board included additional staff training this spring and summer to meet Act 20 requirements, continued classroom rollout in the coming school year, and the selection of a new ELA resource this fall to complement OG’s focus on foundational skills.

The board did not take formal action on the presentation; the item served to inform members about progress and training needs as the district moves to broaden structured‑literacy instruction.