MAYSVILLE, Kentucky — Mason County Schools is deepening its commitment to structured literacy by placing a dedicated, on-site coach at its elementary schools for the first time this school year.
For the past three years, the district has used a professional development model centered on literacy instruction. Now, teachers will have access to in-person coaching support throughout the entire school year rather than relying solely on outside trainers who visited periodically.
The district adopted the Institute for Multisensory Education — Orton-Gillingham Plus program, a structured literacy method that emphasizes multisensory learning.
WATCH: Mason County Schools adds an on-site literacy coach at its elementary schools
The Orton-Gillingham approach has been around for 30 years and has more recently evolved into the IMSE model, which incorporates multisensory strategies to help students become stronger readers.
Courtney Hughes, the district's K-5 literacy coach, said the expansion grew out of what teachers were already witnessing in their own buildings. Several years ago, a small group of teachers trained in Orton-Gillingham brought those strategies back to their classrooms.
"Teachers across the district were seeing how valuable it was and how the children were learning in those classrooms, and the teachers really wanted to learn more," Hughes said.
Hughes and other educators gathered data comparing classrooms that used the program with those that did not, then presented that information to district leadership to make the case for broader adoption. The district responded by funding training not just for general education classroom teachers, but also for special education teachers and instructional assistants.
"It is extremely expensive to be trained in Orton-Gillingham through IMSE, and our district found the funds, which we greatly appreciate, for all of our teachers," Hughes said.
Training costs about $1,500 per educator. ESSER funds and the Kentucky Literacy Comprehensive Grant are covering the cost. The program benefits more than 500 students at Straub Elementary.
The district first implemented the program in kindergarten through second grade, then expanded it to third through fifth grade using the Morphology Plus program. One early challenge in rolling out the program districtwide was ensuring consistency, since some teachers were trained in person while others were trained virtually, and not always by the same trainer.
Bringing in a dedicated IMSE trainer to visit the district multiple times throughout the year helped get everyone on the same page.
Hughes said the coaching model is designed to meet teachers where they are rather than follow a fixed schedule.
"It's going to be something that goes on throughout the school year, not just in the summer. It's going to go on through the school year, and it's going to be based on really what the teachers need for help and how they want to grow and how they want to better themselves, so that they can better their students," Hughes said.
Previously, outside coaches from IMSE visited periodically to observe specific components of lessons — such as dictation or the three-part drill — and then provided immediate feedback, sometimes pulling teachers into the hallway for a quick debrief. With Hughes now on-site full-time, teachers can get that same support on any given day, not just during scheduled visits.
The approach is built around constant movement and hands-on engagement. Students use sand trays, textured bumpy screens placed under paper so they can feel the words they write, and arm tapping to reinforce letter sounds and spelling patterns. Hughes described the philosophy behind it.
"They're using, you know, they have the bumpy screens that they put under, and you'd write on the paper on top of it, and so that they could actually feel their red words. They arm tap words. So the kids are constantly moving," Hughes said.
The program follows an "I do, we do, you do" instructional model and builds on itself from kindergarten through fifth grade, starting with basic letter sounds and blending, then progressing to full sentences, fluency, and spelling rules. Hughes said one of the most valuable things the program gives students is the "why" behind what they are learning.
"As an educator, thinking back to when I was in school, it was, well, how did I learn this? I just learned to read. I just learned to spell. But there was a way, and this gives the students the why," Hughes said.
First grade educator Renee Faris said the training revealed gaps in her own knowledge, even after years in the classroom.
"Even though I taught for what seems like forever, I still didn't really know all the rules, and being able to teach them and having the kids comprehend them has been amazing," Faris said.
Faris said one of the most meaningful outcomes she has seen is the closing of the gap between strong readers and struggling readers.
"One of the biggest changes I've seen is that, because every year you have readers here, and you have writers here, it's closing that reading-writing gap by leaps and bounds. By the end of first grade, even your strongest learners and your struggling learners all can write a really good sentence with capitals and periods and spaces, and using the phonics skills that they've learned through the year," Faris said.
Kindergarten teacher Beth Hutchinson said the program reaches students across a wide range of learning styles, which is especially important when children are experiencing school for the first time.
"Learning about their learning styles, I feel like OG meets all of their learning styles due to the fact that it is a sensory learning style, whether it be writing and saying, arm tapping. They're constantly up and moving. And I feel like it has reached many, many different learning styles and, overall, has worked amazingly," Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson said the results have been measurable over her more than two decades in education.
"By the end of the year, kindergartners are reading ... writing ... spelling and I've seen a huge difference over the last 21 years," Hutchinson said.
By the end of kindergarten, students are reading 30 to 60 words per minute, Hutchinson said. She added that the program's structure benefits students as they move from grade to grade because each year builds directly on what they learned the year before.
"I think it's amazing that we're a K through two building, and we're all doing the same program, and the kids learn from grade level to the next grade. They just keep building onto this, and we all work together," Hutchinson said.
Hughes said she has seen the program's impact both as an educator and as a parent. Her own child did not receive the program until fourth and fifth grade, and she said the difference has been clear.
"I just see the benefits that the students who have received it have when it comes to reading, based on how well they're doing and how fluently they're reading. And even him starting in the fourth and fifth grade, his love for reading in the last two years has changed," Hughes said.
Both Faris and Hutchinson said they are eager to welcome new staff members into the program this school year and hope the model could eventually be introduced at the university level so that educators enter the classroom already equipped with these skills.
"I would definitely highly recommend that other colleges or other schools implement this," Hutchinson said.
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