For the past two years, more than half the district’s third-graders failed to meet reading proficiency benchmarks during the state’s fall testing period, spurring Superintendent Bruce Hoover to ask the school board for more early intervention tools.

The school board approved the Response to Intervention program last spring as a districtwide elementary school initiative that, according to district documents, will focus efforts “on reviewing students’ academic needs based on test results and resource gaps.”

The RTI program is a multiyear school improvement initiative with a total budget of $1.4 million.

Director of School Improvement Monique Hamilton said it will establish a three-tier system of baselining and intervention, phased in over this school year and next school year at all six elementary buildings.

“The new reading resource that we have begun to implement this school year focuses on strengthening our core curriculum,” Hamilton said. “The resource will serve as an extra tool for staff members to utilize when teaching students the phonetics of reading. That will give students a strong foundation so that by third grade, their reading comprehension will be at a level that allows them to read to learn.”

Besides the state of Ohio MAP testing that assesses students three times a year, the district also will use the Reading Horizons and Read 180 programs, which will provide more frequent assessments, according to Hamilton.

“The RTI Tier 1 addresses classroom instruction and will be offered to all students (using the Reading Horizons program),” she said. “Tier 2 is geared to students who need more intensive intervention. Students participating in this program will be part of the Read 180 program.

“Both programs will allow teachers to more frequently check for student understanding,” Hamilton said. “Armed with that information, our teachers will be able to modify and personalize lessons so that students are receiving the individualized attention they need to become strong readers.”

Tier 3 will be implemented during the 2016-17 school year using a resource called Lexia. According to district information, Lexia is a more intensive intervention program beyond the Reading Horizons and Read 180 programs and is designed to focus on comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, phonetics and phonemic awareness.

“I’m excited about this initiative because it allows us to provide personalized educational services to our kids,” Hoover said. “It’s an opportunity for all children to make growth gains.”

Asbury Elementary School first-grade teacher Marie Scearce said she is excited about how the program will expand on her current efforts.

“This program fits 100-percent with what I do with my first-graders,” she said. “I’m excited to use this program and expand my students’ reading, writing, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension knowledge.”