The Believe and Read Program Continues to Drive Positive Change in our Students’ Literacy
NDA is a proud Believe and Read school! Generously funded by the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence and presented in partnership with Groves Learning Organization, Believe and Read is a best-in-class literacy program that transforms reading instruction and literacy rates for our students. NDA is now one of 65 preschool-8 Catholic schools in MN that is a part of the Believe and Read program. We have been part of the program for three years, and it is so exciting to be able to say we are really seeing some results.
What exactly is the Believe and Read Program?
The Believe and Read Program comes to us from a unique partnership formed between Groves Learning Organization and Catholic Schools Center of Excellence. It was designed to help Catholic schools of all sizes offer a world-class literacy and reading fluency curriculum to both students and teachers. All students who participate in Believe and Read benefit — struggling readers become proficient, and good readers become great ones! Assessment results comparing fall 2021 to winter 2022 progress show that 92.9% of Catholic school students using Believe and Read were above the average improvement rate in oral reading fluency, an essential indicator of growth.
A high-level overview of how it works:
- Coaches from Groves Literacy Partnerships work with our teachers (K–2 in year one and K–3 starting year two) over three years using a “train the trainer” model.
- In addition to their regular reading lessons, teachers incorporate a daily, 30-minute, phonics-based lesson to ensure students grasp the reading rules they need to achieve fluency.
- Many lesson plans are scripted so teachers know exactly how and when to introduce each letter and its sounds and how to build up to words from there.
- Lessons use a multi-sensory approach that explicitly teaches the connections between letters and sounds.
- Teachers will get weekly support and feedback from their in house literacy coach and assistance tracking student progress through routine assessments.
How it’s going
When the 23’-24’ school year started in the fall, 17% of our 1st-3rd graders were in the high-risk category for reading skills. By spring of 2024 that had improved to 13% and the percentage of kids reading above grade level improved from 19% to 24%. These are impressive results that we at NDA are quite proud of. Our two in-house coaches, Ms. Keenan and Mrs. Schneeman are hands-on with our kids and work hard to make reading fun and engaging. Our librarians help support the program by stocking age and reading level appropriate books and encouraging reading with fun material they know individual students will find interesting.
Excited about the future
In conclusion, we’re thrilled to be part of the Believe and Read program and to see the incredible progress our students are making with their reading skills. The results speak for themselves, and it’s clear that the hard work of our teachers, staff, and literacy coaches is really paying off. Thanks to this program, our students are not just learning to read—they’re loving it, too! With continued support from Groves Learning Organization and the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence, we know that our students will keep growing as confident, skilled readers. We can’t wait to see what they’ll accomplish next!
Learn more about Believe and Read here. Learn more about our curriculum here.