Ohio district trains staff to help English learners read

Orton-Gillingham training – Troy City Schools, a district in Ohio serving nine campuses, has spent three years preparing a district-wide literacy push after pandemic-era learning gaps. It trained 116 staff members in Orton-Gillingham, including elementary teachers, intervention specialis

On a classroom sand tray at Concord Elementary. the lesson looks almost like a game—until you watch the letters take shape. The teacher dictates sounds, students write the corresponding letters in sand, and the practice is designed for recall that lasts. For English learners in Troy City Schools. it’s also the kind of repetition and clarity that can stop a child from silently folding inward.

Sarah Walters says that after the pandemic. the district began seeing exactly that kind of moment: students “wanting to give up. ” becoming withdrawn. carrying social-emotional impacts they weren’t able to name in words. Phonics was the big hurdle—the letter sounds that make up words—and frustration built quickly.

Troy City Schools is a public district made up of nine campuses roughly an hour north of Cincinnati. The area is home to an automotive manufacturer that brings some employees—and their families—over from Japan. Out of roughly 4. 000 students. about 3 percent have primary languages like Spanish. Ukrainian. and Japanese—smaller than the most recent national average of 11 percent. Walters and her colleagues still saw the gap clearly. especially for multilingual students who had to master English while also learning everything else.

Federal data shows that English learners’ achievement scores lag behind their peers on average. with little improvement over the past two decades. In 2020, Walters says English-language instruction was inconsistent and fragmented across classrooms. Even with urgency to lift English learner outcomes, the district didn’t move overnight.

Troy City Schools mulled changes for three years before it had enough funding to deliver on them, according to Danielle Romine, director of elementary teaching and learning for the district. The effort was funded through post-COVID relief grants and budget allocations made by the district’s leaders.

That funding is what allowed the district to make a decision with a clear target: literacy. Walters, a literacy instructional support specialist, became certified in the Orton-Gillingham method through the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education. She now supports and trains staff to use the approach.

The district trained 116 staff members—every elementary teacher, intervention specialist, paraprofessional, and principal—in Orton-Gillingham. Walters says the method’s multisensory structure connects literacy concepts through visuals, sound, and movement. Teachers might use flash cards as a visual element or tap their fingers to each letter as they spell out a word. Students also learn the origin and history of words to strengthen their ability to decode them.

She points to how the approach lands with multilingual learners. A “red word,” she explains, is one that doesn’t follow phonics rules. “Our multilingual learners love it because no longer are they being told, ‘That’s just the way it is,’” Walters says.

It also changed how training spread. Romine describes the way staff talk about a method once it’s in their hands: “In a school district, if you want to get something out, just tell a teacher, because it [will] spread like wildfire.”

After an initial summer training on the Orton-Gillingham approach, teachers spoke so highly of the method that requests for training grew among staff.

The district’s reading numbers are one reason leadership feels comfortable calling the effort more than a promising pilot. Walters says district-wide third grade reading proficiency dropped to 56 percent in 2021–22. but rose to 81 percent by 2023–24—slightly higher than its pre-COVID achievement rate. The most recent state data shows Concord Elementary far surpassed its target goal for English proficiency among multilingual students.

In the classroom, educators describe progress that comes quickly enough to be noticed in the same school year. Walters says she’s heard from teachers that two students from Japan who joined the elementary school in the fall were conversing in English by December. Another student’s phonics diagnostic score rose by 38 points in the same timeframe.

Romine says the district is now working to spread the method beyond its own campuses. “Eventually, our goal is to support the entire community, or the entire county because Sarah having that training [enables her] to support teachers from other districts, as well,” she says.

But the district’s focus isn’t limited to what can be measured on an assessment in the classroom. Walters says ensuring English learners are on grade level in reading is only the start. especially for children who may spend a few years in the U.S. before returning to Japan. She wants those students to carry literacy forward into everything that comes next.

“We want students to have success across math, science, everything,” Walters says. “So it’s important that we get them up to speed as quickly as possible, because those long-term impacts could really be harmful for them. That early literacy is key.”

Ohio education Troy City Schools English learners literacy Orton-Gillingham phonics multilingual students pandemic learning gaps multisensory education Concord Elementary