How Avondale, MI, School District Achieved High Student Growth Through Coherent Literacy Instruction

The Avondale School District is a small but vibrant and diverse community in Metro Detroit. Drawing students from three cities, nearly half of the district’s students are economically disadvantaged, and it serves a large multilingual population where more than 40 languages are spoken, and more than one in ten students participate in English language development programs. Rather than look at these factors as challenges, however, Avondale educators view them as opportunities.

“Those things make for a really rich cultural experience here,” said Literacy Coach Jessica Guerra. “We get to have a lot of conversations and a lot of learning around different perspectives … I think that's one of the things that makes Avondale so unique.”

While the district takes great pride in this diversity, meeting the instructional needs of every learner — particularly in literacy — has been a complex journey. In 2020, the district began making a series of purposeful, research-aligned shifts to strengthen instruction and better support its students. Since then, test scores have risen above state averages, and classrooms have begun to reflect a more coherent, engaging approach to literacy teaching and learning.

From establishing a shared vision and grounding instruction in research-based practices to adopting and implementing Savvas Learning Company’s myView Literacy®, a high-quality core curriculum for grades K–5, in the 2023-24 school year. Avondale educators are building a model for literacy success, and they’re only getting started.

Creating a Shared Vision and a Move Toward Consistency

In order to make a shift in literacy instruction that better accommodates the needs of their diverse student population, Avondale educators decided to start by creating a vision. What did they want literacy instruction to look like?

District leaders began by pulling together teachers from across schools and grade levels to talk about what changes they wanted to see made. And the answer came loud and clear: students in different classrooms were having vastly different literacy experiences, and it was time to create coherence.

“There wasn't one curriculum that any one team leaned into to teach reading,” said Guerra. “It was left more open to teachers to be able to pick and choose what they would like to use.”

This inconsistency made it difficult for teachers to ensure that all students were receiving the same high-quality, research-aligned experience. Teachers were eager for more structure.

Avondale needed a system that ensured every student, no matter their teacher or school, had access to the same strong foundation for becoming a reader and writer.

That teacher-led call for consistency became the spark that ignited the district’s multi-year shift toward research-aligned literacy practices.

A Research-Driven Journey Begins

Once teachers voiced the need to build shared practices, the district dove headfirst into the Science of Reading. The timing aligned with a national movement toward research-based literacy, and Avondale educators were ready to learn.

Sarah Stickney, district literacy coach, identified teachers who were naturally curious about the research, those who asked questions, read articles, and wanted to understand the “why” behind instructional approaches. These early adopters formed the district’s core literacy team, a group of classroom practitioners who helped bring research back to their colleagues.

The team read books, listened to podcasts, watched videos, and then gathered in professional learning communities (PLCs) to share and discuss instructional shifts. Leaders understood that for teachers to embrace new practices, especially ones that required letting go of familiar routines, they needed a deep understanding of those practices.

“We laid the groundwork before adding a tool,” Stickney said. “If teachers don’t understand why something is important, they can’t implement it with integrity.”

In response to what they were learning about the Science of Reading, they adopted a supplemental phonics program. As educators learned more about Scarborough’s Reading Rope and the interconnected strands of literacy, however, they realized gaps extended beyond phonics.

“We needed more with our literacy instruction," said Katie Carion, instructional coach. “We had a phonics program, but that core literacy instruction was missing.”

Students needed more consistent exposure to grade-level text, richer vocabulary, and content that helped build the background knowledge necessary for strong comprehension. They needed writing structures that aligned with reading instruction. And they needed the experience to be coherent from one grade to the next.

Putting Systems in Place to Make Coherence Possible

Understanding the research was just the beginning. To truly transform literacy instruction, the district had to create structures that allowed teachers to collaborate deeply and consistently.

Avondale built a literacy leadership team with representatives from each building. PLCs became key spaces where teachers planned units together, analyzed assessments, shared challenges, and tried out new strategies.

As the work deepened, many members of the initial literacy team naturally grew into literacy coaching roles. What started with curiosity evolved into expertise, and teachers began supporting other teachers in meaningful, ongoing ways.

“You can’t just decide to collaborate,” Stickney said. “You need systems where collaboration happens naturally, where people have the time, the support, and the shared purpose to learn together.”

These systems created a foundation, and what the district needed next was a curriculum aligned with its goals. They needed something that would provide the coherence and research-backed structure they now knew they wanted.

Finding the Right Curriculum to Create Well-Rounded Literacy Instruction

When Avondale began investigating ELA curricula, leaders and teachers knew exactly what they were looking for: standards alignment, strong vertical coherence, daily exposure to grade-level text, writing structures that matched reading work, and content that built knowledge across science and social studies. They also emphasized diverse literature that reflected the district’s multicultural population.

“We wanted to make sure that since we are such a diverse district, that whatever curriculum we chose would also honor all the people in our district,” said Instructional Coach Helena Gorny.

Teachers piloted several programs using a rubric grounded in the Science of Reading as well as their unique priorities. One of the programs they piloted was myView, which quickly stood out.

Teachers appreciated that the stories were truly diverse and that they mirrored the students in their classrooms. They liked that each unit built background knowledge through science and social studies content, giving students the vocabulary and context needed to understand complex texts. And they valued the program’s strong vertical alignment, which ensured students wouldn’t experience the “wild west” of instruction they had before.

“We knew what we needed, and this helped complete the picture,” said Stickney.

Supporting Teachers Through a Major Shift

Even with the excitement around adopting a new curriculum, implementing myView represented a major instructional shift. For many teachers, it meant rethinking daily practices and relying more heavily on structured routines.

To make teachers feel supported and confident in the shift, the district provided many professional learning opportunities, including a myView coach who provided large-group professional development as well as hands-on demonstrations. Building substitutes covered classrooms so every grade-level team could attend a modeling session, see the lessons in action, and ask questions immediately afterward. Teachers planned together, co-taught lessons, and compared notes on assessments. Coaches, PLC leads, and Stickney herself supported classrooms side by side.

More importantly, teachers were encouraged to experiment with the resources that were available to them in the program.

Early Achievement Gains and Districtwide Momentum

Within a year of implementing myView Literacy, the district began seeing signs that a positive shift was taking hold. State testing results revealed that Avondale’s third- through eighth-grade students showed the highest growth in the entire Oakland County. They even outpaced statewide trends in a year when Michigan overall saw drops in reading growth.

“We weren’t prepared for it,” Stickney said, adding that they were surprised at how quickly the students made gains. “Everyone was texting each other. We were just thrilled.”

More recent NWEA data confirmed that in grades three, four, and five, student growth is solidly in the green. Leaders attribute these gains to the daily exposure to grade-level text, stronger background knowledge, and coherence across classrooms and grades.

Neighboring districts have now begun calling for advice. Board members from other communities have reached out to learn from the district’s process. Avondale has been mentioned in local media and invited to present at regional literacy symposia. What began as a teacher-led push for consistency evolved into a blueprint other districts want to follow.

“Leaders in other districts are calling us, and they want to know, ‘What did you guys do? What do you recommend?” Stickney said. “We were the first district in our area that went ahead and made this shift to a new curriculum. And now everyone is on board and they're all trying to get a new curriculum. So, I like that we were kind of out in front. We were early adopters. I think that is a huge win.”