Dear Principals,
As we have talked about reading classes and reading instruction, there has been interest from many schools in having teachers more fully trained in the Science of Reading, or LETRS training.
Over the past month, Lexia (the company who provides the LETRS training) has released a new training geared specifically for students in grades 4-8, Lexia Aspire. (Lexia Aspire Website) There are several benefits to this training including:
- The course is web based and self-directed
- The suggested timeline is 29 weeks; however, it could be completed sooner depending on how fast the teacher works through the material
- The cost for the training is $600 per teacher versus $800 + materials per teacher
The one drawback at this time is that we are unsure how Lexia Aspire will be integrated into the Secondary Literacy Interventionist Endorsement (the new Reading Endorsement). Together with other districts, we are working with USBE through this process; however, we won’t know the answer until later this year.
I have started the Lexia Aspire training, and it is something I wish I would have had as a Language Arts teacher. Not only does this program provide the foundational knowledge for why the Science of Reading is important; it also provides practical application that teachers can integrate into their instruction and classrooms now.
Feel free to share this information with any Reading or Language Arts teachers who may be interested in the Lexia Aspire training. We’re hopeful that the training will be beneficial toward an endorsement but, at the very least, it is excellent reading instruction training. If you would like to consider paying for this training for your teachers, please contact me.
Brandee Bergum
Secondary Language Arts Consultant
brandee.bergum@jordandistrict.org