Posted in: Aha! Blog > Wit & Wisdom Blog > Wit & Wisdom Data Stories Geodes > Momentum Builds in Warwick After Year One of Wit & Wisdom and Geodes Implementation
When the Rhode Island Department of Education passed legislation requiring districts to adopt high-quality instructional materials (HQIM), it was the final push that led Warwick Public Schools (RI) to adopt a new ELA curriculum. “The curriculum we were using before was a very outdated program. We made look-fors to show teachers that a new curriculum would have engaging topics, that there would be a lot of student discourse, and that real literature was being used,” said Curriculum Director Lisa Schultz.
Warwick reviewed the state-approved list of HQIM and ultimately piloted two different resources. In the end, teachers overwhelmingly wanted to go with Wit & Wisdom®. “We had about 55 teachers from grades K–5 on this pilot committee, and 99 percent of teachers voted for Wit & Wisdom. They liked the platform, they liked navigating on the digital piece, they liked the materials. We had a little celebration and a party at the end, and they really liked that their voices were heard,” said Patricia Cousineau, director of elementary education.
District Profile
- 8,103 students
- 19 total schools
- 75% White; 13% Hispanic/Latino; 4% Asian; 2% Black/African American
With the pilot complete, Warwick fully adopted Wit & Wisdom along with Geodes® during the 2022–23 school year in grades K–5. For full alignment with the science of reading, the district also selected Fundations® as the new foundational skills program that they would implement in tandem.
Professional Development Central to First Year Implementation Strategy
Implementing three new ELA programs at once was a big lift for everyone across the district, and Cousineau explained how they reworked their literacy block to accommodate the changes and provided support to teachers as they navigated the transition.
“Rather than teaching literacy skills in silos, we decided to open up the literacy block. Now, it’s a 90-minute Wit & Wisdom window, then we have built in time for Geodes and Fundations in grades K–2, and we just added Heggerty in there as well. So we’ve tried to move toward a more layered approach. We’ve even passed out sample schedules just as a guide to how to fit it all in. There are 330 instructional minutes per day, not including lunch or recess, so we literally built some of those schedules to show teachers what it could look like.”
“I think the professional development that we built was really a highlight of year one. Great Minds has a great team—they’ve been really supportive of us and very accommodating.
—Patricia Cousineau, Director of Elementary Education
But the support that Warwick committed to in their first year of implementation went well beyond sample schedules. “We had a three-hour kickoff professional development session with Great Minds, and then we had tailored coaching sessions at every school. Great Minds coaches came in twice to each school, so we had 26 different sessions all day where teachers attended in grade level bands and talked about things they were struggling with and things that were going well. And then we also did Guided Observations for Leaders,” explained Schultz.
Common challenges that teachers faced in year one related to adjusting to the new texts and building comfort with the topics along with pacing through lessons and modules. “I think teachers were really worried about pacing, and they struggled with taking too long on the introduction and Launch part of the lessons and things like that. So we’ve had to give guidance around how to focus on the most important parts of the lesson and then move on. We only did three modules last year; we’re doing an optional Module 4 this year and encouraging teachers to get to as much as possible. Then next year we will fully do four modules with set pacing, so we really need to continue to support teachers and get them there,” said Schultz.
“My advice would be to go slow to go fast, even if that means you can only get three modules done in the first year. That was the decision we made: We have three trimesters, and so we thought that would be a natural way to sort of guide teachers through the first year. It’s a slower roll than we may have wanted, but I’d rather roll slow and do it right than roll fast and do it wrong,” added Cousineau.
Students Show Promising Growth in ELA Proficiency
Warwick administrators have been happy to see their thoughtful and supportive approach pay off. After year one of implementation, students’ average growth in proficiency on the state ELA assessment was on par with the state at two percentage points. “We do a lot of surveys at the end of the year, and we got some really good feedback. Teachers were starting to persevere. Scores are up. And student discourse and the language that kids are using have changed for the better. So good things are happening,” said Cousineau.
Data Spotlight
While all schools across the district worked hard in year one of implementation, the biggest gains in ELA were had by Wyman Elementary School, which improved from 24.7 percent proficient to 41.7 percent—an increase of 17 percentage points. Oakland Beach Elementary also saw impressive gains of 13.7 percentage points along with Norwood Elementary, which demonstrated strong leadership and student performance, as detailed below.
“The principal of Norwood was the principal of the year, so the leadership there is phenomenal and that’s very helpful. They also have some really dedicated teachers; a lot of them have been there for a long time and work well together. And then the reading teacher at Norwood is one of our lead reading teachers in the district, so she helps to push things as well. They even have Koda, her dog, and he’s a certified reading assistance dog.
Norwood is also a Title I school, so they have some additional funding that they’ve used for a coach and a behavioral interventionist, which helps give the principal more time to be an instructional leader. So they have staff and some programs that really help to elevate them.”
–Patricia Cousineau, Director of Elementary Education
When reflecting on the progress made across the year, Schultz and Amy Pinheiro, ELA curriculum and technology coordinator, both praised the impact of cross-curricular connections on the teaching and learning experience and explained that the district is really trying to emphasize all the science, social studies, and art connections embedded in Wit & Wisdom. “I really like the crossover of content. We were used to teaching in silos for the last 30 years. You know, ‘Take out your math book, now put that away. Take out your social studies book, now put that away.’ Wit & Wisdom is all encompassing, and we have some great work being done around that. I think our kids benefit from it and our teachers won’t feel as frustrated that they don’t have time to do it all,” said Pinheiro. Schultz described, for example, that all of the visual arts teachers went through professional development about the pieces of artwork most commonly used throughout Wit & Wisdom modules so that they can explore them further with students during art class.
In addition to those cross-content connections, Pinheiro noted that Geodes were another bright spot of the year. “Everybody loved Geodes by the end of the year. People who dug in and saw the rich content of them really enjoyed the connections. Teachers were surprised by how much the kids really rose to the content. They were nervous about the rigor of it all, but for the most part I can say if the teacher was comfortable with the content, the kids were comfortable with the content as well. So it was really good to see that.”
Building on Progress in Year Two
Pinheiro said that reading specialists were very impressed with the growth that students demonstrated in the way they were able to express themselves through writing, but providing more support for instructional writing and developing students’ vocabulary will be big instructional focuses for the upcoming school year.
Schultz and Cousineau agreed on how valuable professional development has been for both teachers and leaders in their first year of implementation, so providing even more support is also top priority for the district in year two. “I would like to see a lot more professional development next year, and so we’ve budgeted for that. We’re also going to hopefully do more coaching cycles for next year, and I’d like to see more walkthroughs. I’d like to have all the teachers teaching with fidelity,” said Schultz.
Looking back on lessons learned, Pinheiro said districts may want to consider a slower rollout—such as starting with grades K–2 before moving up the grade levels—to make it a little easier to build buy-in and manage the transition. But regardless of the exact approach districts choose to take, Schultz stressed the importance of reassuring staff in those early months of implementation. “Remind people that it doesn’t need to be perfect the first couple of years and give people grace. You may know it doesn’t have to be perfect, but people get so nervous. Principals wanted us to actually say that out loud and just hearing it from our mouths made a huge difference.”
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Alyssa Buccella
Alyssa has nearly a decade of education research experience. She has led equity and student success research to support K-12 public school districts across the country in addressing their most pressing challenges, including college access, mental health, social emotional learning, and racial justice. Alyssa holds a B.A. in Psychology and Global Studies and an M.Ed. in Globalization and Educational Change from Lehigh University.
Topics: Wit & Wisdom Data Stories Geodes