211 Teachers, 16 Staff Finish Key Reading Training

We have some really exciting news about our school district's efforts to help all students become strong readers! A total of 211 of our teachers have finished a special reading training called LETRS (Option 1), and 16 of our school leaders have completed the LETRS program designed for administrators.

This is a fantastic achievement that shows just how dedicated our teachers and staff are!

What is LETRS?

LETRS stands for Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling. It's a deep training program that gives teachers powerful tools and knowledge for teaching reading, spelling, and other language skills. It's not a new curriculum, but instead, it helps teachers truly understand how reading works and why certain teaching methods are best. It's based on something called the Science of Reading, which is a proven way to teach reading effectively. This training helps our teachers understand how our brains learn to read and how to best support all students, including those who might struggle with reading.

LETRS and Minnesota's READ Act

Our district's commitment to LETRS is directly tied to the Minnesota READ Act. This important law, signed in May 2023, aims to make sure every child in Minnesota is reading at their grade level, starting in kindergarten. It also focuses on supporting students who are learning English and those who receive special education services to meet their reading goals.

The Minnesota READ Act says that schools need to provide specific, proven training in teaching reading to teachers and reading specialists. LETRS is one of the approved training programs under this law. By completing LETRS, our teachers are not only meeting these important requirements but are also learning the most effective ways to help our students become strong readers early on. This directly helps us reach the statewide goal of improving reading for all Minnesota students.

A Big Time Commitment for Learning

We really want to praise our teachers and staff for putting in so much effort for this training. LETRS is a demanding program that takes a lot of time. The full LETRS program usually involves over 140 hours of intense learning. This includes lots of online lessons, reading thick manuals, and doing "Bridge to Practice" activities that connect what they learn to what they do in the classroom every day. Besides this self-paced work, they also attend guided training sessions. For our administrators, their training also took a lot of time, as it focused on how to lead and build strong reading programs in our schools.

The fact that so many of our educators have finished these programs shows their strong commitment to giving our students the best education possible. Their new knowledge and skills in teaching reading will definitely have a big and lasting positive impact on our students' success our schools.

Please join us in congratulating these amazing teachers and staff members on this fantastic accomplishment!