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Park City School District, Utah

Park City School District LogoOver the past several years, the school district has attempted to address, in various ways, the need for reading improvements for students in kindergarten through grade 6, and for students who are English language learners (ELLs). The school district is targeting the same need during its involvement with the EMSTAC project. Among the initiatives used in the school district to improve reading are the following:

  • Programs based on SRA reading publications have been used in the district for many years (the Linking Agent commented that these programs are not being used "in the true sense").
  • One teacher is in her second year of piloting Read Well, a Direct Instruction (DI) structured, phonetically based program.
  • Early Steps will be implemented in fall, 2001 in all K-3 classrooms. The Linking Agent described this modified Reading Recovery program as being less staff intensive than other programs and including better accountability structures than other programs. Because of his concern with a lag in reading development, the Linking Agent wanted to focus efforts on K-2 students to prevent reading problems and avoid remediation as much as possible. According to the Linking Agent, the district's curriculum director and four reading specialists reviewed and selected this program. The Linking Agent commented that "the weak link is that no special education staff were involved" in the selection of this intervention. His hope for this program is for "continual assessment and re-teaching" of reading. He added that teacher training for this program has met with resistance, especially from those teachers who align themselves with the whole language approach.
  • The Boys Town Program began two years ago in grades 7 and 8 and in high school. Students who may best benefit from this program are selected to participate. The Linking Agent said that although the district's middle schools include grades 6-8, the Boys Town program addresses only students in grades 7 and 8. He expressed concern for addressing students with similar needs.

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