Boston (June 29, 2022) – Illinois’ Cicero School District 99 has adopted Lexia Letter (Language required for reading and spelling teachers) Its a professional learning program for teachers and administrators. Offered by Lexia® Learning, a Cambium Learning® Group company, LETRS provides educators with the in-depth knowledge needed to become literate and language experts in text science.
Developed by Dr. Louisa Motts and literacy leaders, LETRS Suite provides practical assistance with tools available 24/7 online and in print. It also offers professional education sessions led by national LETRS experts. These sessions provide examples of learning classroom applications and refine and expand participants ’understanding of the content.
Cicero SD 99 has launched LETRS in the second half of 2021. The district has implemented two professional education activities:
ঠি Letters to academics
Letters to administrators
LETRS for Academics provides a wide range of students with the ability to teach research, depth of knowledge, and literacy skills. LETRS for administrators equips instructional leaders to create systems and structures in their schools and districts to achieve higher levels of educational performance and literacy growth.
“We started very small with a team of 10 people, and only word of mouth spread from those 10 people,” says Ben Zulauf, Cicero’s director of reading and language arts. He noted that when these educators were surveyed about their training, they called on the district to prioritize LETRS and include all staff through the program.
The district agreed to give access to training to a full team of 40 academics if there was enough interest among the staff to fill the remaining 30 vacancies. “We had about 90 people that they were interested in,” Zulauf said. “So, we met the first team and we created a second. So, we now have 80 professionals going through the learning program. “
Located in a suburb of Chicago, Cicero School District 99 is a pre-8 district that surrounds 15 schools. Eighty-three percent of the student population comes from families who speak a language other than English.
“The response was extremely positive that in January, I was asked to send a survey, just to our staff, to see who else would be interested,” Zulauf said. “And about 200 of us are interested. So, we will start training 120 people this summer and 40 more of us in the autumn. ”The district’s goal is to keep an estimated 500 educators and administrators through the LETRS program over the next few years.
Zulauf is pleased with the enrollment rate and what the teachers have learned. “The progress we’ve made this year, I thought it would take us two, three, maybe four years to get to where we are,” he declared.
Dr Liz Brook, Lexia’s Chief Learning Officer, said: “Over the years, educators have received incomplete information about how students learn to read. It is an opportunity to resist those critical missed opportunities and share the burden of practicing a common language and effective evidence-based literacy instruction so that students can progress more quickly. Because literacy can and should be for everyone. ”
About Lexia Learning
Lexia® Learning, a Cambium Learning® Group company, specializes in structural literacy. For more than 35 years, the company has focused solely on literacy, and today, provides a complete spectrum of solutions for both students and teachers. With separate instruction, personalized learning, assessment, and powerful offers for professional learning, Lexia helps more students read, write, and speak with confidence. For more information, visit www.lexialearning.com.
About Cambium Learning Group
Cambium Learning® Group is an education essential company, providing award-winning learning technologies and services for the K-12 market. With a deliberately curated portfolio of reputable global brands, Cambium serves as a leader in education, helping millions of educators and students feel valued worldwide every day. Whatever it does, the company focuses on the elements that provide the most necessary, easier, more specific solutions for learning success that make a meaningful difference at the moment. To learn more, visit www.cambiumlearning.com or follow Cambium on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Medium. The company’s Cambium family includes: Cambium Assessment, Lexia® Learning, Learning AZ®, Voyager Supris Learning®, ExploreLearning®, Time4Learning® and Kurzweil Education®.
eSchool Media staff covers all aspects of education technology – from laws and lawsuits to best practices, learning lessons and new products. First published as a monthly print and digital newspaper in March 1998, eSchool Media K-20 provides the news and information needed to help decision makers transform schools and colleges and use technology and innovation successfully to achieve their educational goals.
