This initiative to expand the reach of Word Detectives

follows several threads:

Thread 1: Certifying expert teachers of the program as Benchmark School Master Teachers of Word Detectives.

Our teachers are ground zero for Word Detectives excellence. Naturally, this makes sense, given that this is the only place in the world where teachers are teaching and refining Word Detectives daily. Many of our teachers have taught Word Detectives for many years, and are already what we consider to be “Master Teachers” in this area.

We recognized that it would be valuable to create formal tiers of mastery that demonstrate and honor where each Benchmark teacher is in their journey. To this end, a dedicated committee created the Word Detectives Teacher Certification Program, which is designed to give recognition to those teachers who have mastered teaching the Word Detectives program at a range of levels.

In the 2023-2024 school year, we initiated the Word Detectives Teacher Certification Program. We recognized 15 teachers as Master Teachers, and began working with other teachers according to their relative experience. Each level of certification requires attendance at professional development sessions, seminar participation, readings, instruction experience, and demonstration of background knowledge and key instructional techniques.

February 2024, we formally recognized

L to R: Eleanor Gensemer, Karen Berry, Theresa Scott, Scott Pfautz, Zeffie Spirokostas, Teri Watkins, Colleen O’Hara, Heather Warley, Joyce Ostertag, Julie Mattaliano, Laurie Veacock, Sandy Madison, Sue Arabia, Eric MacDonald, and Chris Hancock. Not pictured: Melinda Rahm and Susan North

Thread 2: Piloting the expansion of Word Detectives in the Horizons program.

In a unique pilot program, we have already begun a version of our external training and curriculum expansion through a partnership with the Horizons program at Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square. Horizons is an academic summer program that offers tuition-free academic support for 135 students in grades K-8 from three partner schools in North Philadelphia, Lansdowne, and West Philadelphia.

In 2023, Benchmark teachers trained the Horizon teachers who would be working with the youngest summer program students on using Word Detectives. The growth that these students experienced after six weeks was remarkable. Ryan Learn, the Executive Director of Horizons at Episcopal Academy, says, “Our students in K-2 (45 students) piloted the Word

Detectives program. We use STAR to benchmark our students pre- and post-summer. Our students showed 28.9 weeks of growth in Early Literacy Skills. Our students who originally tested below grade level grew 34.7 weeks. This is a substantial growth from our previous two summers, which was 17.6 weeks in 2021 and 12.8 weeks in 2022.”

This past summer, Benchmark’s training expanded to instruct teachers working with older students as well, and we enhanced our training materials with instructional videos. (More on that below.)

Ryan Learn comments, “Horizons at EA is proud to partner with Benchmark’s Word Detectives program, witnessing firsthand the remarkable strides our students have made in literacy. The systematic approach of word identification empowers our learners, making literacy block a seamless and enriching experience every day. Finding curriculum for outof-school-time programs can be challenging, but Benchmark’s program, meticulously crafted for both school year and summer sessions, aligns perfectly with our needs. From decoding strategies to vocabulary development, it’s a model that not only works but excels, backed by research and yielding consistently impressive results.”

Thread 3:

Creating training videos to support the Horizons program, and later, other teacher trainings.

In the past school year, we’ve created dedicated instructional videos specifically designed to supplement the Horizons teacher training. With these videos, teachers can see best practice modeling of the lessons and Benchmark-specific instructional methods that make our teaching so effective.

We hope these videos may also serve as early steps forward in our wider plans for expanding our curriculum access beyond our walls and into many other classrooms.

Thread 4:

Building a certification program that can be offered to teachers outside Benchmark so they can become trained and certified in teaching Word Detectives successfully.

Benchmark teachers can teach anything–including how to teach other teachers to be like Benchmark teachers. We’re in the early stages of planning how to translate our in-house training, in which it takes years to reach mastery, to other teachers and schools. With careful planning and time, we will have a comprehensive training program that will support outside teachers through Word Detectives training. These teachers will have the same leveled certification tiers as our in-house teachers.

Thread 5:

Building out the Word Detectives program curriculum for use by other schools.

When teachers become certified in being Word Detectives teachers, they’re going to need the curriculum that goes with it. Simultaneous with creating external teacher certification, we are beginning to develop a version of our Word Detectives curriculum that can be used in other schools.

With time for careful development and planning, we hope that many more students may someday benefit from Benchmark’s expertise.