The Tamaqua Area School Board learned about a program that helps younger students build reading skills.

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Stephen Toth explained to the board last week during their committee meetings that this is the time of the year that administrators look at the curriculum.

The phonics-based program from the University of Florida Literacy Institute has shown success in increasing scores, and the administration would like to implement it in the lower grades, he said.

“This would not take the place of any of the curricular programs,” Toth said. “This would be in addition to what we have.”

Students seem to be coming in without the proper background for reading, and the district needs to bring them up to speed, he said.

“This program seems to be hitting it off,” Toth said.

Presenting to the board were Dr. Tara M. Orefice, principal of Tamaqua Elementary School, Title I reading teachers Michele Bittner and Samantha Melusky, and Audra Schlecht, first grade teacher at West Penn Elementary School.

The program is aligned to the science of reading and geared toward kindergarten to second grade, but is also effective for intervention beyond those grade levels, Melusky told the board.

The program provides 140 sequenced lessons and provides 30 to 45 minutes of daily instruction to help students be successful, she said.

“Right now in our schools, only 59.9% of our third graders are reading on track based on the Future Ready PA Index and research shows that students who do not reach proficiency by the end of the third grade face greater academic struggles,” she said.

The UFLI program was pitched as a supplement to current reading curriculum, Super Kids, and provides strong foundational skills that are lacking in that program, Melusky said.

Board President Larry Wittig asked about specifics being taught in the new program, and said that he’s often leery of new programs claiming to have to the answers and they fail.

The teachers pointed success they’ve seen in their classrooms while testing the program, getting results midyear that they normally wouldn’t see until end of the year and also some of their Title I students moving to regular classes.

Schlecht explained that she prepared to integrate the program by taking online classes in the summer, and found it hard to break with what she as teacher has done for years.

“I sat there and went, ‘They’re six (years old). They’re six,’” she said, and trusted in the program and process. “Guess what? They’re six and they’re spelling words.”

Schlecht did get push back from a handful of parents, who she asked to also trust the process and now they’re on board due to the results. She recently got an email from a parent who said they listened to their children read from their reader while making dinner.

“I cannot believe the progress the kids are having,” she said, saying that kids are also excited about the program and look forward to it. “The kids actually love it.”

In other business, the education committee advanced an affiliation agreement with Kutztown University for a dual enrollment program to allow students to explore careers in education.

Superintendent Ray Kinder said there is an education and non-education track, and students would be immersed in education courses three days a week in the mornings on campus and still do coursework they need in school the other days.

“This would be for a very specific type of students,” he said. Kinder also pointed out that they would need transport themselves, or the district might be able to share transportation with another district.

With the need for teachers now, the district would like to have this program available to allow students to see if teaching is something they’d like to pursue, he said.