The Portland Public Schools started this school year with a new strategic plan. It has five priorities we plan to achieve over the next five years and maps out the steps we’re going to take each year to realize these priorities. But what does our strategic plan mean for students in the classroom? That’s a question I’ll be exploring in my column over the next few months.

The five priorities of the strategic plan are: Achievement, Whole Student, People and Systems – with Equity at the center. Each priority comes with strategic initiatives for how we’re going to achieve that priority, starting with the 2024-25 school year and sequenced over the following four years. In this month’s column, I’m going to focus on our Achievement priority and talk about two initiatives underway this school year to elevate learning for all students.

Those Achievement initiatives are:

1. Implement rigorous new English language arts curricula in our elementary and middle schools and strengthen our reading intervention model for students.

2. Re-envision high school to strengthen academics and career and technical education preparation.

To help realize the first initiative this school year, teachers are implementing two new curricula: Core Knowledge language arts, a foundational reading skills curriculum for students in grades K-2, and EL education – English language arts, a curriculum for students in grades K-8 that builds knowledge about the world while developing reading, writing and speaking skills.

Teachers will also be using a new assessment tool called mClass DIBELS in grades 2-5 to assess foundational reading skills and to monitor progress for students who need support.

This program provides individualized assessment information about each student’s reading progress and tracks the student’s progress during the school year, letting teachers know whether a student is on track for grade-level reading success. Teachers make decisions about instruction using the data for each student.

In addition, 48 teachers in our elementary and secondary schools recently received 30 hours of training in the Orton-Gillingham evidence-based approach to reading intervention.

This structured literacy approach breaks reading and spelling down into smaller skills involving letters and sounds, and then builds on these skills over time. This method also involves multi-sensory instruction, with sound/visual and written work, movement, and tactile-kinesthetic learning. It is student centered, with students taking charge of and setting goals for their learning.

The Orton-Gillingham method is beneficial for all students and particularly for the approximately 25% of students who may struggle with reading in the early grades, or older students who need to build word recognition skills.

Regarding the second Achievement initiative – strengthening academics and career and technical education preparation in our high schools – a key mission measure for our district is increasing the percentage of students completing advanced coursework in high school, including Advanced Placement, dual enrollment for college credit, and approved vocational/technical cooperative programs.

The Portland Public Schools already has a strong partnership with Southern Maine Community College. We are working to ensure that all PATHS programs have current enrollment agreements with SMCC or another community college. Currently, 38% of students enrolled at PATHS, our regional Portland Arts and Technology High School, are from the Portland Public Schools. Last school year, PATHS students earned 551 concurrent enrollment college credits, giving them a head start on their postsecondary education.

We’re also holding a series of fall Listen and Learn sessions in October focused on this Achievement initiative of re-envisioning a high school for the future centered on strengthening academics and career and technical education preparation. Find more information at the “Get Involved in the High School for the Future” page on our website, portlandschools.org, and join us.