In 2021, Robin Poynter, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction and Assessments at Hancock County Schools, spearheaded a major shift in the district’s literacy instruction with crucial support from Superintendent Robby Asberry. After a change in administration, Poynter, Asberry, and their team spent a year analyzing the district’s literacy curriculum and confronted a discouraging fact: Hancock teachers were working hard, but they weren’t seeing improvements in literacy outcomes.

With over half of the students unable to read at grade level, the urgency for change was clear. Poynter was determined to reverse this trend, and in her search for solutions she discovered IMSE’s Structured Literacy approach, rooted in the Orton-Gillingham methodology and supported by the science of reading. Her intuition and experience told her this approach had the potential to change the story at Hancock County. 

Poynter and Asberry developed a plan to train the district’s teachers using IMSE’s evidence-based literacy methods. Asberry’s unwavering support for the project was instrumental in bringing it to life. Having watched his own son struggle with dyslexia for years before finding help at an outside learning center, he knew that having access to the right instruction early on could have a decisive effect for HCS students over their lifetimes. He gave HCS’s literacy program his full support throughout the implementation phase and got creative to find funds for hiring and training. 

The district has now sent all of its pre-K to 5th-grade teachers through IMSE’s Comprehensive Orton-Gillingham Plus course, with North Hancock Elementary School adding the Morphology Plus course for additional support. As a result, Hancock County Schools has seen dramatic improvements, including a 28% reduction in deficient readers and a 23% increase in proficient readers. The results were especially noteworthy at North Hancock Elementary, where the percentage of strong readers in 4th and 5th grades skyrocketed.

“I’ve been so fortunate to be a part of a new outlook on literacy training in Hancock County. I know we can achieve that change for all students around the country.”

 

Robin Poynter | Assistant Superintendent of Instruction and Assessments | Hancock County Schools

This transformation didn’t happen by itself—Hancock County’s story attests to the power of individual educators’ passion, professional development, and an evidence-based approach to literacy. By providing its teachers with the right tools and training, the district was able to implement an effective curriculum and set students up to thrive.

Read the case study to learn how the Reader Leaders at Hancock County Schools transformed their literacy program with IMSE. 

 

 

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