Powered by the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence and in partnership with Groves Academy, a national leader in literacy instruction, Believe and Read is a three-year initiative that brings Groves Academy’s methodology to St. John’s through outstanding professional development and teacher coaching. Our goal is to ensure that every student at our school reads at or above grade level.
How Believe and Read works:
- Literacy coaches from Groves Academy will work with our teachers (K-2 in 2021-22, and K-3 starting 2022-23) over a three-year period using a “train the trainer” model. SJB teachers will become Believe and Read certified.
- In addition to building students’ vocabulary and comprehension skills through their regular reading lesson, teachers will incorporate a daily 30-minute phonics-based lesson to ensure students are grasping the reading rules they need to achieve fluency.
- Many of the lesson plans are scripted, so teachers will know exactly how and when to introduce each letter, along with its sounds, and how to build up to words from there.
- These lessons use a multisensory approach that explicitly teaches the connections between letters and sounds.
- Our teachers will get weekly support and feedback from their literacy coach, along with assistance in tracking student progress through routine assessments.
Click here to read the Believe and Read Magazine.
