Transforming literacy at Rome City School District: A data-driven approach to equity and engagement

When district leaders encounter inconsistent curricula and literacy gaps across a diverse student body, the solution often requires more than just new textbooks—it demands a strategic reimagining of student engagement and data utilization. For Rome City School District (RCSD) in New York, transforming reading outcomes meant building a cohesive ecosystem where assessment, instruction, and personalized practice work in tandem.

Serving approximately 5,600 students—60% of whom come from economically disadvantaged families—RCSD faced significant hurdles. Following a budget crisis and the disruptions of the pandemic, the district identified deep inconsistencies in how reading was taught and assessed. By partnering with Renaissance to implement a suite of integrated literacy tools, RCSD has successfully shifted from a fragmented system to a model of personalized growth, achieving remarkable results for their most vulnerable student populations.

Developing a cohesive literacy strategy

In 2018, RCSD reached a critical juncture. Budget cuts reduced the number of instructional coaches and intervention providers, leaving classroom teachers solely responsible for supporting a wide range of reading abilities—often without adequate resources. This challenge was compounded by a “check-the-box” approach to assessment, where data was collected but rarely used to drive instruction.

“We realized that our pyramid was completely inverted,” said Dana Benzo, Director of Elementary Programs. “We had huge chunks of curriculum missing, and our teachers were plagued with deficit thinking—believing the work was too hard for our students.”

Significant curriculum gaps led to more students needing reading intervention than the district could serve. To help address this, district leaders moved to better align assessment with instruction using the Renaissance ecosystem. “We really started to shift into more of a small-group instruction model: individualized, targeted instruction partnered with that adaptive practice,” Benzo noted.

As part of this process, the district established clear “lanes” for intervention to streamline resources and reduce decision fatigue for teachers:

• Tier 1: All students are screened with Star Assessments and then use Lalilo (early elementary grades) or Freckle (upper elementary and middle grades) for targeted and adaptive skills practice.
• Tier 2: Students receive targeted monitoring and specific skill reinforcement.
• Tier 3: Intensive interventions are tracked within eduCLIMBER, Renaissance’s comprehensive data management platform.

This structure ensures that every student, regardless of their proficiency level, receives targeted support appropriate to their needs.

Leveraging technology for personalized reading pathways

To address literacy gaps that often stretched back years, RCSD integrated adaptive tools including myON, Freckle, Lalilo, and Accelerated Reader (AR) in concert with Star Assessments and eduCLIMBER to track interventions and manage data. These solutions allowed the district to move beyond one-size-fits-all instruction to personalized learning pathways.

Bridging assessment and practice

A key shift involved using Star Reading assessments not just as benchmarks, but as diagnostic tools that directly informed daily practice. Teachers could identify specific skill gaps—whether in phonics, vocabulary, or comprehension—and assign targeted practice in Lalilo or Freckle. This ensured students were working on the exact skills they needed to master, rather than general grade-level work that might be too easy or too difficult.

Increasing access to texts

With myON, students gained access to a vast digital library of enhanced digital books. This was particularly crucial for increasing reading volume and engagement outside of traditional classroom hours. The platform’s ability to provide audio support and dictionary lookups made grade-level texts more accessible to struggling readers and English Language Learners (ELLs).

Unlocking potential: The Million Word Reading Challenge

The impact of these tools was most visible during a districtwide initiative: The Million Word Reading Challenge. Designed to boost engagement and build students’ reading confidence ahead of state testing, the challenge revealed surprising and encouraging data about student potential.

Empowering ELL and special education students

The challenge results upended traditional expectations about who the “top readers” in a district might be. At Gansevoort Elementary, the district’s highest-poverty building and home to many newcomer ELL students, reading engagement soared.

“The top readers in our entire district were all special education and English Language Learner students,” Benzo reported.

Two students in particular highlighted the power of accessible literacy tools, Benzo added. “The top two readers were a brother and a sister from Gansevoort [Elementary] who had just come to the country in December. From January to June, they read more than any other kid in our entire district.”

Through the audio support and engagement features of myON, these students were able to overcome language barriers and engage deeply with English texts, accelerating their language acquisition and literacy growth.

Real-world results at Gansevoort Elementary

The focus on reading volume had tangible academic impacts. Gansevoort Elementary, previously identified for comprehensive support and improvement (CSI) due to performance gaps across multiple subgroups, saw significant improvements. High student growth percentiles (SGPs) in reading directly correlated with the usage of the Renaissance solutions.

Consequently, the school saw nearly all of its flagged subgroups drop off the state’s warning list, proving that rigorous engagement leads to rigorous results.

Driving growth through data-informed instruction

RCSD’s success is built on a foundation of rigorous data analysis. By moving away from viewing data as a compliance task, educators began using insights to celebrate growth and refine strategies.

An analysis of Bellamy Elementary, another high-poverty Title I school, showed that 63.2% of students made typical or better growth, surpassing the district average. When initial automated insights suggested a need for early literacy support in second grade, a deeper dive into the data revealed a more positive trend: students weren’t stalling; they were graduating out of the Star Early Literacy assessment—designed for pre-readers—and were ready for the standard Star Reading assessment. This demonstrated that foundational gaps were being closed effectively.

Overall, the district has seen steady gains in proficiency:

• Proficiency growth: Third-grade reading proficiency on state exams jumped from 15% to 31% as the cohort moved to fourth grade, showing steady progress.
• Surpassing goals: The district surpassed its internal growth goals for reading, with special education students showing significantly higher growth rates than the general education population in some metrics.

RCSD’s continuing journey

Rome City School District’s journey illustrates that literacy transformation is possible even amidst budget constraints and demographic challenges. By implementing a connected ecosystem of tools—myON for access and engagement, Lalilo and Freckle for targeted skill practice, and Star Assessments for reliable data—RCSD has leveled the playing field for its students.

The district’s experience proves that when students are given the right tools and personalized pathways, barriers related to language or disability can be overcome. As RCSD continues to refine its Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) and integrate broader data through eduCLIMBER, they remain focused on a singular goal: ensuring every student has the literacy skills required for lifelong success.

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