Dear TSD Families.
We are so excited to welcome you to another great year in the Troy School District. Our teachers and students are already diving into deep learning and we are confident that this will be a year of tremendous growth for your child.
As a district, we have always placed significant importance on literacy, with highly qualified and trained teachers and a curriculum that builds readers and a love for reading. From the earliest age, our students see themselves as readers and writers and are exposed to a wide variety of quality literature. You may have seen in the news that the State of Michigan has enacted a new law regarding retention for students who do not meet certain reading expectations by the end of third grade. We want to reassure parents that our balanced literacy approach is very different—we have proactively designed our early elementary instruction to produce fluent and avid readers and thinkers, rather than waiting to focus on deficiencies later on.
Each of our elementary buildings has phenomenal classroom teachers who will instruct and guide your child using the best research-based instructional methods. They will formally assess every student, in one-on-one sessions, three times throughout the school year (at the beginning, middle and end of the year) in addition to the progress noted in regular, daily reading sessions. During these assessments, teachers will look for many aspects of reading progress, such as the habits of good readers, not just test for a specific level. This allows our teachers to tailor individual lessons and reading selections to each child as well as identify any gaps in learning that can be quickly filled. Each school also has dedicated reading specialists, who have received specialized ongoing certification in Reading Recovery and a variety of other interventions, should your child need a little extra help. Through our multi-tiered systems of support, we have the experts in place to ensure that all of our students have the assistance they need to meet our high expectations. Our philosophy is that retention should always be a last resort and we are confident that your child will thrive in our literacy rich environment.
Our parents are critical partners in a student’s journey as a reader. This year, you will notice that we have enhanced our communication with you so that you can easily track your child’s progress as the year goes on. You will receive more meaningful reports regarding your child’s reading throughout the year, beginning after the initial assessments this month. This means that instead of seeing a traditional “report card” four times each year, you will receive report cards three times this year, so that our teachers can focus on more detailed communication with you regarding your student's reading progress.Should your child have difficulties at any time, we will also let you know what additional supports we are providing at school as well as strategies for you to help your child at home.
Please remember that learning to read is an individual journey that each child progresses through at different stages of development. Our teachers stand ready to meet all children where they are in the process and we are certain that our students will grow and learn as readers this year. The best thing you can do for your child at home is to promote the joy of reading and share great stories as a family, rather than worry about a specific level or lesson.
We look forward to an excellent year with you and your child!