Webinar: How a small school district transformed their early literacy system
Thursday, April 20 | 1:00 p.m. ET
Join us to learn how Haywood County Schools teamed up with Instruction Partners to implement a set of five essential practices for building and implementing effective early literacy structures and strategies.
If you’re able to join us (and we hope you are!), you will:
- Hear from a district leader and classroom teacher about practices that moved the needle on student outcomes.
- Understand how these practices are rooted in a systematic and explicit foundational skills program as well as content-rich knowledge building.
- Access tools for observing, coaching, and reflecting on the current state of K–2 reading instruction.
We’ll host a live Q&A at the end of the session, so bring all your questions.
Register below to reserve your spot!
“The development of the early literacy vision has been our anchor through some pretty stormy days. Implementing anything new is difficult, but pressing every decision against that vision has been really a game changer.”
—Sarah Aitken, Director of Elementary Education
Haywood County Schools
Meet the facilitators
Julie Parrish
As Director of Early Literacy, Julie has spent five years at Instruction Partners leading the design and implementation of our early literacy pilot services to help our team provide practical, research-based literacy support for partner schools and systems.
Julie came to Instruction Partners with an immense passion for early literacy and 17 years of experience teaching K–2 and serving as an elementary academic coach. With extensive training in foundational literacy, she served on state and district advisory committees where she designed foundational literacy scopes and sequences, curricular materials, and assessment structures for district use. In alignment with her design work, Julie developed and facilitated professional learning experiences for district and school leaders and educators.
Sarah Aitken
Sarah Aitken serves as the Director of Elementary Education for Haywood County Schools in Brownsville, TN, supporting instruction and school administrative teams for pre-K–4th grade. She focuses much of her time on early literacy and providing students with equitable access to high-quality instructional materials that are grounded in the science of reading. She is passionate about supporting educators in growing their knowledge of phonological and phonemic awareness and a structured, systematic approach to phonics instruction.
Prior to joining Haywood County Schools, Sarah taught ELA for six years in 1st and 2nd grade. She has mentored new teachers and worked tirelessly to build collaborative cultures within grade-level teams.
Cindy Currie
Cindy Currie knows that successful students come from highly trained teachers. She is in her 23rd year in Haywood County Schools and her second year teaching kindergarten. She previously taught other elementary grades but found her home in a kindergarten inclusion classroom. Last year, Anderson Early Childhood Center and Instruction Partners joined forces to provide students with high-quality research-based reading instruction. This training, coupled with Tennessee’s Reading 360 program, has strengthened her knowledge of the science of reading. As a result, her students have demonstrated tremendous gains in early literacy. Cindy believes that the work with Instruction Partners has been life changing for the teachers and students at Anderson.