Access the Literacy Framework by clicking on the following link - KASD Literacy Framework

After the Introduction, the Framework is divided into five main sections:

• Curriculum
• Instruction
• Assessment
• Organization
• Community Connections

Each is an integral part of the structure that develops and supports all students to acquire the literacy knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for college, career, and life. The icon, below, designed by High School Art Teacher, Mr. Ben Hoffman, details the five components of the Instructional Core of the Literacy Framework: Reading, Writing, Word Work, Speaking & Listening, and Media Fluency.

Why a District Focus on Literacy?

There are few who would argue the importance of providing all children with the literacy skills they need to be successful in school or work as well as the world, at large.

From The Pennsylvania Comprehensive Literacy Plan Introduction and Overview:

“Given the expectations for students graduating from Pennsylvania schools in the 21st century and the need for all students to be ‘career and college ready’ at the end of grade 12, educators will need to rethink the ways by which they approach literacy instruction at all levels…. Students must be able to read more challenging and complex text; moreover, they will need experiences that enable them to use literacy as a tool for learning the content in each of the academic disciplines (i.e., science, social studies, math, and English language arts). The availability of technology has created a need for new ways of thinking about how students learn, as students of today are digital natives, comfortable with the internet, video games, cell phones, etc. (Prensky, 2001).... Likewise, the importance of literacy across curricula has begun to assume more importance with the recognition that literacy skills are important for learning academic content." 

Why a District-wide Plan?

A literacy plan can help focus our work and guide our efforts on increasing student achievement in reading, writing, listening, and speaking as well as an appreciation for the value that literacy can bring to one’s life. It will guide decisions about curriculum, instruction, assessment, programming, and resource allocation. A comprehensive literacy plan will provide the district with a framework from which all stakeholders of the school community may support our students’ literacy learning.

We ascribe to the concept of creating a flexible framework, not to inhibit teacher creativity, but for the sake of our students. Noted literacy expert and author, Lucy Calkins, states in her work, “It is critically important for schools to become communities of practice because methods of teaching are also methods of learning. If every year, every teacher needs to induct kids into whole new ways of acting in a classroom, into whole new cultures and expectations, then kids spend half their time trying to adapt to the whims of each new classroom. How much better for a school to decide upon some shared methods and to think about how, overtime, children's roles will become more proactive, more complex, and more responsible!” (Calkins, A Guide to the Reading Workshop, 2015)

Literacy Team Members

Rebecca Beidelman, MS Social Studies Teacher
Brenda Boyer, HS Library
Bernie Boyle, MS Science
Jim Brown, MS Principal
Lori Christ, HS Read 180
Barry Flicker, HS Principal
Michenelle Groller, World Language Teacher
Kristin Haring*, MS Reading
Alison Kocis-Westgate, HS ELA Teacher
Ed Myers, Director of Educational Technology
John Noll, HS Social Studies
Beth Patten*, MS Social Studies
Sallie Sandler, HS Math
Andrea Stern, MS Reading Teacher

Erin Anderson, Greenwich Elementary Principal
Shawna Amand*, Greenwich Elementary Grade 4

Deb Barnes, Kutztown Elementary
Melissa Blatt, Greenwich Elementary Grade 5
Katie Gosselin*, Kutztown Elementary Reading Specialist
Kerri Schegan*, Greenwich Elementary Reading Specialist
Beth Stump, Kutztown Elementary
Jenna Ziegler, Kutztown Elementary Grade 5

* Literacy Team Leader