Posted Monday, May 29, 2023 —

Geneva City School District educators are digging into the science behind language arts.

The district has launched new professional development to train elementary teachers in the science behind reading, offering tools to teach language and literacy skills to every student.

The district has made Lexia LETRS® (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) professional learning programs available to West Street and North Street schools.

Developed by Dr. Louisa Moats and leaders in the field of literacy, Lexia LETRS teaches the skills needed to master the foundations and fundamentals of reading and writing instruction — phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and written language. The Lexia LETRS course is built upon the science of reading and structured literacy to support delivery of systematic and explicit instruction learners need to comprehend, retain, and apply literacy foundations.

Recent studies on higher education teacher preparation programs reveal that only 51 percent of programs include the science of reading. As a result, a majority of our nation’s elementary teachers do not understand how to teach children how to read, a cornerstone of learning. Through LETRS, teachers learn how to deliver effective reading instruction to meet every student’s needs.