Borden-Henryville focuses on 'science of reading' approach

Aug. 27—CLARK COUNTY — Borden-Henryville School Corp. had the highest districtwide IREAD-3 scores compared to other school systems in Clark and Floyd counties, a success that district leaders attribute to an evolving approach to literacy education over the past few years.

Across the district, 89.2% of third graders passed the 2023 Indiana Reading Evaluation and Determination assessment, or IREAD, in Borden-Henryville. This was an increase from last year's score of 85.8%.

Borden-Henryville is among the school systems that have adopted the Orton-Gillingham "science of reading" approach to literacy into regular classroom instruction, and the district has a literacy coach to implement the program.

"We have hired some new staff from other districts, and one of the comments I got from one of the staff members is that we're doing the best job of integrating the [Orton-Gillingham] training, meshing it together and developing a game plan that really impacts student literacy," Borden-Henryville Superintendent Johnny Budd said.

The science of reading approach to literacy education involves a multi-sensory method. The Borden-Henryville elementary schools began using the model in 2019 before the district separated from West Clark Community Schools in 2020.

This year, Indiana lawmakers passed new laws requiring schools to implement "science of reading" curricula in schools beginning in the 2024 academic year.

In addition to Borden-Henryville, leaders at Greater Clark County Schools have also told the News and Tribune about the district's increased focus on the science of reading in recent years.

Borden Elementary Principal Samantha Hurst said all of the teachers in kindergarten through third grade are using the Orton-Gillingham approach, which is often used to help students with dyslexia.

This framework is built into the classroom instruction.

"We know those strategies benefit students with tendencies toward dyslexia, but they also benefit students who don't have tendencies toward dyslexia," Hurst said. "So since we had all of our K-3 teachers trained and we built that Orton-Gillingham, phonics instruction time, we're really intentional about setting time aside in the schedule so that teachers don't have to search for it in their regular 90-minute block."

Kimberly Lewis, an instructional coach and reading specialist at Borden-Henryville, is nationally certified in the science of reading model. She works closely with Lisa Gardner, the director of curriculum of instruction, to implement the science of reading model.

Lewis said the method employs "systemic phonics."

"It's a huge game-changer for these children," she said. "What it does is you manipulate sounds without needing any print, so it works that part of the brain — kind of like when you exercise, you warm up your body. To read, you have to warm up those components of the brain so they start cross-firing the way that you want them to."

She said the teachers have become "brain scientists when it comes to teaching reading."

"It's the science of knowing how the student's brain works," Lewis said.

Gardner emphasized that for the past two years, Lewis has worked toward a national certification for Orton-Gillingham, and she is certified to screen for dyslexia "at a level that most other districts don't have."

"So that's the piece that we really poured into," Gardner said. "She partnered with the Institute of Multi-Sensory Education... so she actually can train all over the nation with them."

Early interventions are also a major focus in the district.

"We are also really intentional about our interventions when students do show that there are some skill gaps, so if they demonstrate a lack of proficiency on grade level skills, we intervene really early closing that achievement gap significantly for most students before they ever reach third grade," Hurst said.

"We then don't have students who are struggling to pass that foundational reading skills assessment when they get to third grade."

Lewis said the interventions are focused on what the individual students need.

"When we give them activities, we don't just pull an intervention program off the shelf, because that doesn't fit everybody," she said. "We need to know, OK, what is this student doing, what are they lacking in, and then we empower each other to meet the kids where they are."

The setbacks caused by the pandemic have been a challenge for many students.

"We have students who come to us, and they maybe have been virtual for longer than our students were virtual, or if their corporation just didn't have explicit phonics instruction, we find that's where a lot of our gaps come from," Hurst said.

As a certified reading specialist, Lewis described her work as writing prescriptions for students who are struggling with reading.

"You can basically look at what a child is doing with reading and be a specialist and be able to write a prescription for what they need," she said. "It's just like when you go to the doctor — you want to fix what's wrong, and you want to do it in a timely manner."

Lewis notes that dyslexia is a lifelong condition, and her job is to provide students with "strategies they need for the rest of their life," while others require short-term intervention.

"Sometimes it's just a quick prescription — we need to do six to eight weeks of this type of instruction, we're going to monitor their progress," she said. "If it's not working, we're going to figure out what's going on."

Gardner expects that IREAD scores will continue to increase in Borden-Henryville.

"We were able to achieve this with a lot of teacher turnover, and we have kind of solidified our teams now, and he anticipates next year having much higher scores."