Davidson County Schools Builds Its Own Reading Curriculum

Davidson County Schools in North Carolina discovered a critical disconnect in its reading instruction. While students developed foundational skills in early grades, third-grade reading proficiency had fallen below the state average, a situation district leaders called unprecedented. The problem, identified after a deep data dive, was not decoding words but a lack of fluency and automaticity, preventing students from focusing on comprehension.

According to April Willard, the district's director of elementary education and federal programs, teachers had received LETRS training on the Science of Reading but lacked a comprehensive core program to integrate vocabulary, syntax, knowledge building, fluency, and comprehension. The state's Science of Reading policy, governed by the legislature, aims to improve student literacy through components like phonemic awareness and phonics, but applying this knowledge proved challenging.

From Knowing to Doing

Educators had invested heavily in professional learning, studying materials like "The Reading Comprehension Blueprint" and learning from author Natalie Wexler. However, translating theory into Monday morning instruction was a persistent hurdle. Amber Fitts, an early literacy specialist with the state's Office of Early Learning, observed that while teachers knew what to do, they often didn't know how to make it happen practically. "There are wonderful things in LETRS," Fitts said. We know what to do, but teachers don't always know how to make it happen in the classroom.

The district faced a clear gap between educator knowledge and classroom practice, necessitating a direct intervention to help teachers turn learning into doing.

Building a Homegrown Solution

Faced with an estimated $1 million price tag for a commercial reading program and a sense of urgency, district leaders decided to build their own curriculum. Willard stated, We couldn't wait on money to come for an adoption. We had to do the work ourselves. She proposed creating custom knowledge-building units designed to weave together the elements teachers had learned.

The project began with third grade, where the data showed the greatest need. A teacher design team worked through the summer and school year to create units described as for teachers by teachers. A key decision was to connect the units to science and social studies standards, ensuring literacy development was paired with essential background knowledge building instead of forcing a choice between literacy and content.

Shifting Instructional Practices

Implementing the new units required teachers to rethink traditional approaches. Instead of rapidly cycling through texts and isolated skills, the units asked classes to stay with challenging texts longer. Students reread material, examined vocabulary and sentence structure, and encountered multiple reading standards within a single text. This depth was intended to address the fluency issues identified in the data.

The selected texts were intentionally complex, sometimes with Lexile measures one or two grade levels above third grade. Teachers provided scaffolding so students could engage with difficult ideas while receiving differentiated foundational instruction elsewhere. Veteran third-grade teacher Jill Hunt noted an adjustment was required, moving from her accumulated favorites to more scripted lessons, but she demonstrated a willingness to try.

Instructional coach Tina Hampton observed a change in teacher perspective. Educators who had completed LETRS training initially felt they were already applying the practices. As they used the new units, they began to see the difference between superficially incorporating a strategy and implementing it with enough depth to genuinely change student outcomes. The units slowed the instructional process, focusing on one practice, like sentence parsing, for an entire quarter before moving on, allowing both teachers and students to internalize the routines.

Changing Student Access

The repeated reading structure fundamentally altered how students interacted with difficult material. A child who initially struggled to read a passage independently could listen to it, discuss it, build knowledge around its topic, and encounter its vocabulary. After several exposures, the same student might read portions with a partner or more independently. The text's difficulty remained unchanged, but the student's pathway to accessing it had expanded. This approach, district leaders believe, began to level the playing field not only for students, but for teachers by providing a structured, integrated tool to apply their Science of Reading training.