The district was given one star on the most recent report card in early literacy, about the same as other big city Ohio schools like Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo, but performed worse than Cincinnati and Akron, which each got two stars in early literacy.
In November 2023, district leaders set a goal of 60% of third graders proficient on the state test in three to five years.
To get there, assistant superintendent Lisa Minor and chief academic officer Akisha Shehee said the district has made major changes in how they teach reading in all grade levels in the last year. Shehee and Minor both came back to the district under current superintendent David Lawrence in August 2023 after leaving for other opportunities.
The biggest switch in the 2023-2024 school year was a change from a dual teacher model, where two teachers in a classroom taught different topics simultaneously, to a co-teacher model, where two teachers in a classroom taught together. But the district discontinued that model this year knowing the funding for it, from federal COVID-19 dollars, was running out.
Dayton Public made major changes this fall to continue to make improvements in reading.
The district implemented a new curriculum aligned with the state’s requirements in the science of reading called Amplify, Minor said. Ohio school districts are now required to pick their reading curriculum from a state-approved list.
“In the middle of last year, we realized that the curriculum we were using was not state approved,” Minor said. “So we really had to hustle and get the approved curriculum, which we kicked off this year.”
Shehee said the new curriculum is a “total course correction” from the previous year.
“Last year, we kind of pieced together some things because we knew we were missing something,” Shehee said.
Another change is all the teachers in kindergarten through third grade classrooms are certified teachers now, Shehee said, something the district wasn’t able to accomplish with two teachers in each classroom. Dayton Public has historically had a difficult time attracting and keeping certified teachers in the district.
While DPS’s third grade reading scores for the 2023-2024 school year were middling compared to the other large, urban districts in the state, Dayton leads in kindergarten reading. Less than 24% of DPS kindergartners are not on track for reading, compared to 32% of kindergartners in Akron, 55% of kindergartners in Cincinnati and 51% of kindergartners in Columbus.
Minor credited Dayton’s free preschool program and Preschool Promise for those scores.
Preschool Promise and Dayton Public now are partnered, and Minor said 90% of DPS families are now signed up with Preschool Promise to get additional support, like a monthly book. Preschool Promise is helping DPS with getting additional teachers, Minor said.
DPS is working closely with other preschools in Dayton, Minor said, including inviting them to professional development days.
“We’re not in competition,” Minor said. “We’re in collaboration, because they’re all children in the city, and most of them end up in our kindergarten classroom.”
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