One Utah school district is outpacing the rest of the state when it comes to reading scores. Here’s how.

On a recent afternoon at Paradise Canyon Elementary, students sat on colored dots on the floor, ready to begin an activity called the Big Word Challenge. Their kindergarten teacher, Michelle Bryner, taught the 5- and 6-year-olds how to spot familiar words within bigger ones to make reading easier.

In a room covered in colorful posters with high-frequency words and vowel sounds, Bryner’s kindergarteners pick out words like “cat” and “sun” within the words “catnap” and “suntan.” The children open and close their fists to represent open and closed syllables.

Kindergarten is no longer a gentle introduction to school. When Bryner started teaching 24 years ago, the classes had a kitchen set, playhouse and Play-Doh, discovery and play focused items. Now, the expectations have risen.

“This month, we’ve been crafting narrative stories with a clear beginning, middle and end, and their excitement when sharing with classmates is contagious,” Bryner said. “They beam with pride.”

Moments like these in kindergarten classrooms throughout Washington County are why the youngest students in the school district are learning to read at a quicker rate than most of the state. District officials and teachers credit teacher trainings, full-day kindergarten, setting high goals and celebrating student success.

At the beginning of the school year last year, about 56% of Washington District kindergarten students could read at or above the benchmark on the Acadience Reading screener test. By the end of year, 89% could. By comparison, statewide kindergarten students’ scores jumped from 56% to 78%.

District officials and teachers credit teacher trainings, full-day kindergarten, setting high goals and celebrating student success.

That accomplishment in reading is crucial to learning other skills, underscoring the value of getting students on track for literacy as soon as possible, says Jennifer Beck, a kindergarten teacher at Santa Clara Elementary, also in the Washington School District.

Beck notices the confidence in her students when they realize they can read and sound out words. “​​So when we’re doing something in math that might seem a little bit tricky, they’re like, ‘No, I can do this. I’ve got this.’ So I feel like reading is such a gift and it translates into everything else that we do.”

LETRS training focused on early reading skills

According to a new statewide report, only 53% of Utah kindergarteners read at grade level. It’s about the same for third graders (50%). And the literacy rate is even lower for eighth graders (43%). The state’s goal is for 70% of third graders to read at grade level by 2027.

Boosting literacy rates is part of Gov. Spencer Cox’s proposed budget, which will be discussed by Utah lawmakers during the 2026 Legislature, which ends in March. As part of his proposal, Cox is calling for a $500,000 public literacy awareness campaign. He also seeks $60 million for “targeted behavioral interventions” in kindergarten through third grade; and $20 million for reading support in elementary schools with fewer than 70% of students reading at grade level.

In the Washington County School District, all students in elementary are improving in reading, but it’s the kindergarteners who’ve made the biggest improvement, said Kathy Hall, the district elementary literacy coordinator. She supports teachers, administrators and students from K-5th grade in all things reading, writing, speaking and listening.

“We focused really hard on kindergarten the last few years,” she explained. “It was all about building teachers’ understanding of how students learn to read.”

She credits the program Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling, or LETRS, a professional learning opportunity that was initially funded through federal COVID-19 relief funds and continued with state funding.

Elementary principals, special educators, coaches, reading interventionists and a number of fourth and fifth grade teachers participated in the two-year training about the science of reading and how to best teach students.

“It was intense,” Hall said. “It had in-person classes, online, a textbook, it was a lot.”

All-day kindergarten makes a difference

Another reason the district was successful: the district started to offer full-day kindergarten during the 2023-24 school year instead of only half-day. Bryner explained that a few years ago, Utah’s HB 477 made full-day kindergarten funding available statewide.

She knew more time in class would make a difference: Washington County already had an optional extended day kindergarten, in which students with the lowest reading scores received additional instructional time. Those students often outperformed their peers in half-day kindergarten classes.

“We have more time now for more practice, more repetition,” Beck said.

Still, kindergarten is not mandatory in Utah. Bryner understands that some parents have a difficult time sending a 5-year-old to school, but she says it’s an investment in their future. “If [students are] missing, they’re going to be behind. It’s really important that they’re here.”

Hall also credits teachers. “Our kindergarten teachers have really led the way in showing that we can set a goal, that’s a very high goal, like all students knowing their letters and sounds by November 1, and then the schools meet that goal,” Hall said.

Teachers used to teach a letter a week. Now students learn a letter a day in what Beck describes as a “perky pace” in ABC Boot Camp. At the end of boot camp, students are assigned a letter, and they make and decorate vests with items that start with their letter in an ABC fashion show. Parents are invited.

Beck said parent involvement makes a difference in literacy proficiency. Beck and Bryner also credit administration, like Hall, and their kindergarten grade level specialist Charise Gardner, who has taken kindergarten curriculum and made teaching slideshows, like the Big Word Challenge slides Bryner was using to instruct her students. Bryner said the help of a paraeducator in her class creates the opportunity for more specialized attention for students.

Helping students who struggle

The district knows it needs to help students who continue to struggle, including students learning English, whose on-grade reading scores through third grade was 18%, according to state data.

Bryner said English language learners often face the biggest hurdles, as they are learning to read and write while also acquiring English. Still, she said her ELL students continually amaze her, with many starting the year barely able to form sentences in English and ending it far more confident in speaking, reading and writing. She uses turn-and-talk partners for practice, visuals, videos and music to connect students’ background knowledge and experience.

Plus, district reading specialists and aides are trained to help teach small groups or one-on-one.

Hall said once kindergarteners are able to decode three-letter words like “mom,” “dad” or “son,” it’s like a light bulb goes on for them. “I think sometimes there’s a worry that we’re pushing these kids too hard, they’re only in kindergarten, but anyone who feels that way just needs to go and observe in a kindergarten class and see that it’s a very loving, kind environment.”

Beck’s class calls the alphabet “the code.” She teaches that reading is not guessing. When students are writing and see a word they don’t know, they tap the sounds on their fingers. Students listen to the word, use “the code” and write out the letters. Beck also teaches what their mouths look like when they say the letter sounds.

“So no longer are we handing them a book, and expecting them to guess to read it,” Beck said. “It’s either a decodable word or it’s a high frequency word that we have taught them. That’s something that also makes them feel successful because they’re reading real books. The first time they read a sentence to me and then look up and have a grin from ear to ear, like, ‘I just did that!’ It’s the coolest thing ever.”

“It’s entrenched in the schools,” Hall explained. “They have a parade, they do a fashion show when students join the ‘Letter Club,’ the principal comes in and cheers and gives them a certificate, and their names are announced.”

“Literacy is foundational for all other content areas, science, social studies, math and how important it is that we keep that in the front of our minds,” Hall said. “If we’re going to put money someplace, I would sure hope it would be in supporting the literacy learning for our students.”