This Is What Systemwide Change Really Looks Like

KCSD teachers works with SUNY New Paltz candidates to plan structured literacy lessons.

Shifting a school system toward structured literacy is not a small adjustment.

It’s a fundamental change in how adults understand reading, how instruction is delivered, how data is used, and how support is provided over time. And one thing has become very clear to me through this work:

Schools cannot make this shift alone.

Structured Literacy Requires Systems, Not Silos

Research on educational change consistently reminds us that sustainable improvement depends on relationships, shared leadership, and coherence across a system—not isolated efforts or individual heroics. Scholars like Michael Fullan and Kenneth Leithwood have long emphasized that change sticks when leadership is distributed and learning is collective.

Shifting schools to structured literacy instruction demands exactly that.

Schools cannot adopt a program and assume understanding will follow. And you cannot rely on a single role—coach, administrator, or specialist—to carry the work.

A System in Motion

Earlier this week, around six o’clock in the evening, I was sitting in the library of one of our elementary schools.

It had been a long day. I was tired. Dinner was Goldfish—because that’s all I had.

But the room told the story of the system we are building.

To my right sat my administrative intern—a seventh-grade special education teacher earning his school administration certification—entering data. I hadn’t asked him to. He understood the work and stepped in.

Across the room, SUNY New Paltz students were working with small groups of children—breaking words into syllables, helping students determine the difference between a topic sentence and a detail.

Alongside them were Kingston teachers—conferencing, providing feedback, reviewing data, and mentoring future educators while refining their own practice.

This is what structured literacy looks like in action: layered support, shared responsibility, and learning at every level of the system.

I Dreamt This Up—But I Didn’t Do It Alone

I may have envisioned this model—but I most certainly did not build it alone.

This work exists because:

• District leadership supported the vision and helped move ideas through the goal line

• My supervisor created the conditions and secured the approvals that made the work possible

• SUNY New Paltz partnered with us to prioritize in-person, field-based learning—even knowing it would mean smaller participation than an online model

• Teachers opened their classrooms, their data, and their practice

• Interns and college students showed up ready to learn and contribute

Each part of the system mattered. Remove one piece, and the work weakens.

Why Mentorship and Internships Matter in Structured Literacy Shifts

As schools move toward structured literacy, adult learning becomes just as important as student learning.

Field-based internships and mentorship:

• Help future teachers and leaders connect theory to real instructional decisions

• Build deep understanding of phonics, decoding, fluency, and comprehension in practice

• Prepare educators to work within systems—not just classrooms

• Create shared language and shared responsibility for student outcomes

This is why we made the intentional decision to bring college students into classrooms rather than keeping learning online. Structured literacy is not learned in isolation—it is learned together.

What Mentor Teachers Gain

Mentorship is not an add-on; it is professional learning.

Teachers who mentor:

• Clarify their own instructional decision-making

• Engage more deeply with data

• Strengthen collaboration and leadership skills

• Experience professional renewal through shared purpose

This work builds collective efficacy—the belief that together, we can improve outcomes for students.

How Schools Can Replicate This Model

For districts navigating the shift to structured literacy, this work offers a clear lesson:

You don’t need to do everything at once—but you cannot do it alone.

Replication starts with:

• Building cross-role teams (teachers, specialists, leaders, higher-ed partners)

• Establishing a shared vision for what strong literacy instruction looks like

• Investing in ongoing, job-embedded support, not one-time training

• Creating mentorship structures that support continuous learning

• Partnering intentionally with institutions that share your goals

Structured literacy is a long-term commitment. Systems change when adults are supported to learn, practice, reflect, and grow—together.

Change Is Built Together

This work is demanding. It stretches time, energy, and capacity.

But when schools commit to shared leadership, mentorship, and collaboration—and when they recognize that structured literacy is a systemwide responsibility—the impact compounds.

This is how change happens.

Not alone.

But together.

When we know better, we teach better.

See you next Sunday!

References & Permissions

Note: This work is informed by research on educational change, leadership, and structured literacy, and shaped by sustained practice in real classrooms, schools, and systems.

Permissions & Use: All images, instructional materials, and examples included in this post are shared with permission, anonymized where appropriate, or created by the author. No part of this post may be reproduced without permission. All rights reserved.

References

Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. (2022). CAEP standards for accreditation of educator preparation.https://caepnet.org/standards

Fullan, M. (2016). The new meaning of educational change (5th ed.). Teachers College Press.

Leithwood, K., Harris, A., & Hopkins, D. (2020). Seven strong claims about successful school leadership revisited. School Leadership & Management, 40(1), 5–22.https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2019.1596077

National Center on Improving Literacy. (2020). Effective literacy instruction and intervention.https://improvingliteracy.org

The Reading League. (n.d.). Defining guide: Structured literacy.https://www.thereadingleague.org/what-is-structured-literacy/