♪ Another school year is approaching and many hope the summer slide doesn't result in further declines in areas like math and reading more than half of Kentucky students are below grade level in reading while Hancock County Schools and Western Kentucky.

We're working hard to improve this.

They still weren't seeing growth until they adopted a curriculum with an evidence-based approach built on the science of reading last week, Renee Shaw caught up with the assistant superintendent of Hancock County Schools at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

To learn more as Kentucky edition goes on the road.

>> Point or thank you so very much for taking some time to meet us here at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and museum.

Thank you for having not such a far drive from Hancock County is not just a 20 minute drive.

Yes, so tell us about the success of Hancock County Schools and turning around some low performing schools.

Where are you now and how did you get there?

So I learned that we need to educate our teachers.

And so we started with the science of reading.

>> And that was one of our first approaches because, as you know, programs don't teach.

The teachers do right.

So we really had to get that knowledge base for our teachers to understand the whys and hows of what we had to So we we.

100% of Hearst.

Our teachers have gone through the program of the science of reading and that sparked the urgency of understanding that we were really basically teaching them the wrong way.

Their scores were not progressing very rapidly.

Unfortunately, that's kind of a trend in the United States.

If you look at the U.S. Department of Education report card of 2023.

It shows that 68% of our 4th grade students are not rating on proficient You put that in numbers and that's 25 million students.

Well, you know, that's heartbreaking.

Yeah, that's right.

And when you take it down to the Kentucky level.

2023 report card wasn't much better it showed that 42% of our elementary school students were profession reading, which is not a very high number.

But what is more disheartening is the only 2% growth was shown the year.

So knowing that and knowing what we have done in Hancock County to develop the the foundation and understanding and bringing in their curriculum that is very robust to show how students learn how to read and write.

It is exciting because our of growth and had cut Kenny has been 28% deficient.

We have decreased 28% of our struggling with struggling leaders too, are struggling readers.

And increased by 23% proficient readers.

Oh, wow.

So in one year's time.

>> In 2 years, time 2 years just took us a long time because when we first started, we didn't know what kind of curriculum we're dealing with right?

So 28, we've decreased the struggling readers by 28% and increased the proficient readers by 23%.

So what is the formula?

What's the secret sauce and the science of reading that can produce numbers like that, OK?

So what I have to take our backbone has been when we found a I am se, which is the center or multi century education.

We call it and see right.

And they had developed a curriculum problem.

And you heard of or telling us, OK, so that started back in 1930, with Samuel Orton, who was a as pathologist and a neurologist and in Gillingham who was and educator and a psychiatrist.

They 2 together worked on a program to help what they called it.

That time weren't blindness.

Today we call that dyslexia, Huawei.

So this started way back in 1930, right?

But when they formulated that program that has been used globally, they found that they could rewire the brain on how to learn to read it.

Now.

And so today we use that through the emcee approach of reading because they have taken what they developed into a small group instruction and a whole group instruction for teachers to be able to deliver that systematically and explicit instruction along the way.

Yeah.

So for school districts who may be watching this interview thinking, how can we replicate the success of Hancock County?

Tell them how to get started.

First of all, I would say all means off.

You just rain, one person and an expected to spread.

We have to very systematically.

And continuously.

Provide the professional development for the teachers in order for that.

To take effect for students.

There's a lot of alignment issues.

If you don't look at every grade level and how it next, it's not going to work.

That's why I say the backbone of our success basically lives on.

I am a C because when we took letters and we learned about the science of reading, we've got the philosophy very well.

Down, Pat.

We understood that.

But when they get done with that, the room like now, what?

We did it, but what we use and how do we do it?

So Im?

He came along and they have the methodology that the teachers needed.

That was another 30 hours of professional development, which no teacher complaint.

Wow, because they wanted to have that in their hands.

They needed that in their tool kit.

They wanted to know exactly how to approach that.

And there are explicit instructional strategies that I I M S E. Delivers and coaches you on.

And it's just beautiful to see health from one grade level to another.

It built upon another.

And he started as early as a child is learning to read, right?

That's right.

We have included our preschool teachers.

They are now doing a lot of the community can win us and I guess to give you a foundation 100% of our teachers are letters training, which is a 60 hour commitment.

They are important Dillingham trained, which is another 30 our commitment.

And this year we're live hearing and other layer which they're ready for from second grade to 10th grade on morphology which means morphology basically breaks down the word into Latin or Greek like the prefix is so that this isn't the root word interest.

And yes, well, it's been a pleasure to learn about this and they want to follow you, you know, follow back up with you next year.

>> To say what kind of gains that you continue a lot of graduations on the commitments because it is a commitment from all to make it work or right.

You're right.

Yes, what?

Thank you, Rob.

And I appreciated him up.

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