The Catholic Schools Center of Excellence (CSCOE), a nonprofit organization with a two-part mission of achieving excellence and increasing student enrollment in Catholic elementary schools has named St. Dominic School a Believe and Read school.
Believe and Read seeks to transform the lives of thousands of students by bringing a best-in-class literacy program to 20 Catholic elementary schools across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Powered by CSCOE, and in partnership with Groves Academy, a national expert in reading instruction, and Cretin-Derham Hall Catholic High School, the goal of Believe and Read is to ensure every student is at or above grade level reading – because we believe that God calls every child to greatness!
How Believe and Read works:
● Literacy coaches from Groves Academy will work with our teachers (K-2 in 2019-20, and K-3 starting
2020-21) over a three-year period using a “train the trainer” model.
● In addition to building students’ vocabulary and comprehension skills through their regular reading
lesson, teachers will be tasked with incorporating a daily 30-minute phonics-based lesson to ensure
students are grasping the reading rules they’ll need to one day achieve fluency.
● Many of the lesson plans are scripted, so teachers will know exactly how and when to introduce
leach letter, along with its sounds, and how to build up to words from there.
● Our teachers will also get weekly check-ins with a literacy coach from Groves Academy, along with
support tracking student progress through routine assessments.
As with any new change or new initiative, we understand that you may have questions. Feel free to contact the school office at 507-645-8136 to learn more about the program.