Peabody schools adopt new phonics program

PEABODY – The city has been making great strides to raise test scores and improve the overall education of its children, particularly those in the early stages of learning.To help in its mission for excellence across the board is the adoption of a new phonics program, the nationally known Fundations.K-8 Literacy Coordinator Sarah Lacourciere said the new program was needed in order to meet the city’s “ever changing population of students.””Upper-grade teachers told us the students were not able to read or spell the way they should be,” she said. “We know that the primary grades are where we really need to build those early literacy skills?There needs to be a strong foundation.”Plans for the change began last year when a special committee comprised of kindergarten through fourth-grade teachers and reading specialists was formed. The group met regularly for three months from April and June to discuss options before deciding on Fundations.”We wanted something that would build through the grades and link to special education instruction, also,” she explained. “Fundations did that well.”Lacourciere said the program teaches to mastery, whereas the schools’ current program featured lots of practice, but not as much mastery.It came at a cost of just under $100,000 and was fully funded by the district.This year’s students entering kindergarten and first grade will be the first to learn under the new rubric. It won’t be implemented in the second or third grade until next year.”Because it’s so cumulative, the knowledge kids will gain in kindergarten and first grade?they need to have that going into the second grade,” said Lacourciere, adding that second- and third-grade teachers will be ready and able to use the program next year, as well.Kindergarten and first-grade teachers underwent in-depth training earlier this week run by Fundations representatives. They were educated on the many features of the program, as well as how to incorporate it into their teacher’s manual.”The lessons address the five areas of reading: phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabular, and comprehension,” said Lacourciere. “It’s synthetic phonics. They learn explicitly how to convert a letter into a sound, then blend that sound into a word.”Lacourciere said Fundations really targets all students, not just those in the top 80 percent.”It especially works well with our increasing ELL population,” she said.Superintendent Milt Burnett trusts that the program will be a great benefit to students.”It’s a widely used program that will increase the phonetic awareness for students still learning to read,” he said.Lacourciere believes there’s a strong link between phonics and learning how to write and recognize letters. She hopes that Fundations will improve the letter to sound knowledge and sound to letter knowledge of the city’s primary students.But, with all new programs, she understands that there will be much work to ensure a smooth and successful transition.”There is that time where it’s uncomfortable – what is this, how do you do it. It’s going to be a process,” she said. “But, the teachers are excited about it and it’s not being met with resistance. It’s a learning process for sure.”