Kindergarteners in Donna Soucy’s class at Mount Lebanon Elementary School gathered in a semi-circle on the blue polka-dot rug at the front of the room, ready to read.

The topic on that midwinter Monday morning: the letter Q.

They started by thinking of some common words that contain Q, like quick and quit. Quest is another Q word, but one unfamiliar to some of the kindergarteners. So, Soucy asked them questions, and provided an example, to help them understand.

“Mrs. Soucy is on a quest to find the best bagels in the Upper Valley,” she said. Her students agreed that bagels are quite tasty.

Over the course of the 40-minute lesson, students practice everything from how to shape their mouth to make the Q sound (kw) to how to write it in both uppercase and lowercase — including where to start on the page, which way to push with their pencil, and which shapes the letter contains. They also learned a helpful way to remember the letter that always accompanies it: “Q and U, they stick like glue!”

Mount Lebanon Elementary School 1st grade Teacher Mary Skiffington, right, works with a group of students during small group literacy time.

A Transformative Approach To Reading

This is just a small glimpse into how the Lebanon School District has transformed its approach to literacy education over the past four years, leading to impressive results and strong, enthusiastic readers.

In the 2024-25 school year, the percentage of kindergarteners meeting literacy benchmarks soared from 44% to 89% over the course of the year. In the latest standardized test results from the winter NWEA assessments, all grades 1-4 are well above the 60th percentile for both growth and achievement in reading. That means Lebanon students are not only achieving above the national average for this time of year, but also beating the average growth percentile from fall to winter.

These strong results come as Lebanon’s public schools have adopted a Structured Literacy approach rooted in the “Science of Reading” — that is, research that shows the cognitive science behind literacy.

The lesson Soucy was teaching on the letter Q came from the University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI) Foundations program, a gold-standard, evidence-based program of explicit and systematic phonics instruction. In the early grades, students learn letter sounds and how to blend them into words using the UFLI (“you-fly”) program.

Students also read “decodable” books that match the phonics skills they are learning, so they can practice successfully and build confidence and fluency. Teachers have participated in ongoing training so they understand how children learn to read and how to teach those skills effectively.

“I was an early supporter of the UFLI program and really enjoy teaching reading with it,” Soucy said. “I noticed growth in my students’ reading and writing almost immediately. I appreciate how structured the program is because the kids understand the routine and know what to expect. At the same time, it’s flexible, allowing me to add my own touches and differentiate lessons so I can meet the needs of all my learners and keep them excited and engaged.”

Donna Soucy, center, helps two of her kindergarteners at Mount Lebanon Elementary School with a writing exercise.

A Student-Centered Approach

The team of four reading specialists at Hanover Street School, the district’s other elementary school, said the district-wide literacy curriculum provides a common language for all educators to work together to meet student needs.

“Whether you’re a classroom teacher or reading specialist, it’s all based on the Science of Reading, and it’s all working toward helping students learn more and provide them with more,” said Jeanne Akpan, a reading specialist at Hanover Street School. “And the students are always the focus. No matter where they’re at with reading, we will meet them there and we’re working to move them forward.”

This year, the Lebanon School District also introduced an additional reading program called Arts and Letters that helps students build background knowledge and expand their vocabulary through rich content and discussion.

In classrooms like Mary Skiffington’s 1st grade class at Mount Lebanon, students get an hour of Arts and Letters writing and comprehension lessons every day, along with small group literacy time when Skiffington can work with cohorts of students based on their specific needs.

Some 1st graders are still working on the fundamentals of reading, Skiffington said, while others are deepening their comprehension skills and having discussions about what’s happening in the books.

Classroom and school-wide libraries at Mount Lebanon and Hanover Street schools have a range of books for readers of all levels, and teachers constantly encourage students to take books home and read with their parents/guardians every night.

“Make sure you have new books for tonight!” Skiffington told her class as they wrapped up small group literacy time on a recent morning.

Together with families, teachers, reading specialists, and administrators, Lebanon’s district-wide effort is creating a community of confident, lifelong readers.

“Literacy expert Louisa Moats says that teaching a child to read is ‘rocket science,’ because it requires intentional, well-designed instruction grounded in a deep knowledge of how the brain learns to read,” said Karen DuBois, the district’s director of academics, engagement, and opportunity. “That understanding has shaped our approach. We’ve invested in teacher professional learning and high-quality instructional materials to ensure that every child has the best foundation for becoming a confident reader.”