LETRS and Aspire Give Teachers the Edge They Need To Improve Literacy in Washington, D.C.

Educators at Friendship Public Charter Schools in Washington, D.C., struggled to reach literacy goals before implementing Lexia® LETRS® Professional Learning and Lexia Aspire® Professional Learning. 

Dr. Shanel Marchany, director of literacy for the charter school system, calls the impact of these Lexia® programs “quite profound.” Years of balanced literacy use was not showing results, so Dr. Marchany and Dr. Latonya Manning, a Friendship instructional specialist, presented the science of reading to their chief academic officer and convinced her they needed to go in another direction. 

“A lot of times schools are so engrossed with data, like statewide assessments, and you can't get to a statewide assessment and hit Common Core standards until you really focus on the foundational reading skills,” Dr. Manning says. 

Friendship educators are embracing the science of reading with the help of LETRS and Aspire to train staff. Both Dr. Marchany and Dr. Manning say they appreciate the research behind the programs, and they know firsthand they are working because students are making tremendous strides. 

Friendship’s success is a team effort. Dr. Manning and Dr. Marchany say they are very intentional about working with the coaches and observing teacher practices so they can continue getting the most out of their Lexia programs. 

“We have seen so much teacher growth this year,” Dr. Marchany says. “The teachers can understand various rules and patterns and see what a small-group instruction should look like, and so, they have that opportunity to plan amongst one another and really internalize the lessons. So, that has really been helpful for teachers.”

Dr. Marchany and Dr. Manning know many face the same struggles and detail in this video why they chose Lexia to get their team and students across the finish line.