Elevating Middle School Literacy with Research-Based ELA Instruction

Mesa County Valley School District 51 is situated in Grand Junction, Colorado, a sunny, high‑desert region surrounded by towering red rock mesas, vineyards, and orchards. Its idyllic climate makes it the perfect location for year-round outdoor recreation.

“It's really a beautiful area,” said Kristin Gross, the district’s ELA Curriculum Specialist/Learning Design. “Culturally, we just have a really robust community. We go all the way from rural areas to our little downtown area of Grand Junction that still has that suburban feel. But really we're a broad valley.”

The district serves over 20,000 students over 46 schools, and is the largest school district between Salt Lake City, Utah, and Denver. According to Kristin, the district’s vision is to engage, equip, and empower every one of those students daily. So, two years ago, when she, along with other district leaders, recognized that their literacy scores weren’t where they should be and, therefore, not meeting the district’s vision, they sprung into action.

“With the program that we had in place prior, we weren't seeing the evidence that it was growing kids in a measurable way,” said Audrey Moralez, assistant principal of Redlands Middle School. “And so it was time to make a change.”

Realizing that student success hinges on supporting teachers with the right tools and training, the district set out to transform literacy instruction for its middle schools. Their transformation included an overhaul of English Language Arts (ELA) instruction by switching to a Science of Reading-based instruction, which led them to adopting Savvas Learning Company’s myPerspectives® English Language Arts curriculum to help them deliver that instruction.

These moves are now resulting in raised test scores and a boost in teacher confidence and collaboration — but it was no simple task getting there. Their journey started well before any new materials were in the hands of teachers and students.

The Need for Change

Low test scores weren’t the only driver that prompted a change. The district in 2023-24 turned to Science of Reading-based instruction for its elementary grades due to the recently adopted Colorado Reading to Ensure Academic Development (READ) Act. The legislation mandated that districts, in order to receive funding for K-3 ELA resources, must use materials from an approved list of programs that are grounded in the Science of Reading. This shift at the elementary-school level prompted Mesa’s leadership team to reevaluate the way they were delivering ELA instruction across their middle schools.

“The shift really came because of our elementary schools. They dedicated a change in instruction the year before us,” said Amanda Belden, 8th grade teacher at Orchard Mesa Middle School. “We wanted to follow suit because we knew that what they do impacts us and what we do impacts high school.”

Using strategies from the elementary adoption, district leaders did an analysis of where they were falling short in terms of instruction. They found a few key areas to focus on, starting with the inconsistencies in instruction across classrooms with their previous ELA curriculum. Some educators embraced it enthusiastically, while others avoided it altogether. This inconsistency translated into a patchwork of experiences for students, with a wide variety in how effectively reading and writing were taught.

“I had a mentor say it is eliminating the educational lottery,” said Emily Lintott, 7th grade teacher at Fruita Middle School. “If you went to one school, you got a great education, great teachers, great classes, but if you were at a different school, you had an entirely different experience. And so I think a challenge was addressing some inequities that were happening across the district.”

Also, persistent reading gaps remained evident in student performance data long after the fallout from COVID-19. In fact, approximately one in four sixth graders still carried READ plans designed for struggling readers and a significant number of students continued to grapple with literacy challenges well into high school.

This all indicated to district leaders that they needed to incorporate “learning to read” strategies, namely Science of Reading-aligned strategies, into their ELA instruction. But many middle and high school educators, trained primarily to facilitate “reading to learn” strategies, found themselves less prepared to teach students how to read, especially when it came to foundational literacy skills like decoding.

“I did have a couple ELA teachers say, well, we became middle school ELA teachers because we didn't want to teach reading. We wanted to teach literature,” said Director of Secondary Curriculum and Professional Learning Nikki Johnston. “Yes, we want to teach literature, but there is a need for kids to know and understand the concrete processes that they need in order to access the literature.”

With the need to improve test scores, the district saw an urgency to provide middle school teachers with high-quality resources and the knowledge to deploy them effectively, so they set out to find high-quality instructional materials that would fit their needs.

A Proactive, Inclusive Adoption Process

Originally scheduled several years down the line, the adoption timeline was accelerated by about two years to address pressing literacy gaps. District leaders started by constructing a robust selection process grounded in transparency, collaboration, and data.

District leaders prioritized building a diverse curriculum review and selection team that represented multiple stakeholders, including classroom teachers, instructional coaches, special education staff, and building administrators. This approach ensured that decisions reflected the practical realities of classroom teaching while aligning with broader district goals.

“There was a lot of discussion about what makes a good resource versus not,” said Audrey. “The team was also very intentional about soliciting teacher feedback, so they got everyone's voice, not just the curriculum team.”

Knowing that whatever resource they chose would likely be a departure from the way most of their ELA teachers had taught historically, district leaders began laying the groundwork through professional learning sessions focused on evidence-based practices. Topics like literacy accelerators, effective reading interventions for upper grades, and strategies for integrating reading and writing were woven into in-service sessions.

This early focus on professional development allowed teachers to build shared understanding and begin refining their instructional approaches even while the resource search was underway.

The team initially reviewed nine potential resources, eliminating those that fell short of the district’s evolving vision. After narrowing the list down to four finalists, the team in February, 2024, ultimately selected myPerspectives.

“One of our teachers described the whole process as the most impactful professional learning experience of her career — being on that team and making those decisions and being so thoughtful about what she needed as a teacher to help move kids [forward],” said Audrey.

Choosing myPerspectives

The team was drawn to myPerspectives, an evidence-based print and online language arts program, because of its blend of literature-driven themes, diverse genres, and the integration of reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills.

Teachers appreciated that myPerspectives offered a balance between rich literary experiences and the building of essential background knowledge — a shift from older materials that often relied on thematic organization alone.

The flexibility of the program also allowed teachers to adapt content to their students’ unique needs, alleviating concerns about rigid pacing guides and overwhelming workloads.

“Once they saw the scaffolds that were in place and the way that they could teach all kids in eighth grade rigorous text and still be able to scaffold for everyone without going back to parts of speech and sounds and phonemes and all of those things, they were overjoyed,” said Nikki, director of secondary curriculum and professional Learning. “They saw it and they dug into it. They really did.”

Strategic Implementation

Since the decision to adopt myPerspectives was finalized seven months before the start of the next school year, well ahead of the next school year, the district 51 took the opportunity to plan a thoughtful rollout. Mesa County teachers received sample materials as early as March, giving them time to explore the resource and engage in hands-on learning sessions long before students returned in August.

They followed that up with a two-day summer institute to keep up the momentum. This early exposure to the new curriculum helped reduce anxiety, allowing teachers to acclimate to the new curriculum and collaborate on planning.

“We had so many teachers participate in that summer institute,” said ELA Curriculum Specialist/Learning Design, Kristin Gross. “We really leveraged the power of learning communities.”

They also built in ongoing support opportunities to the calendar throughout the school year, carving out time and space for problem-solving and collaboration, as well as a robust support system that included collaborative planning sessions, regular check-ins, and continuous learning opportunities in order ease any first-year-implementation frustrations.

Teachers were also encouraged to adapt the curriculum to fit their classroom contexts while still honoring district-wide non-negotiables around prioritized standards and skills.

Many educators who participated in the resource selection process and the summer institute have also become in-building champions for myPerspectives and teacher leaders. These leaders now serve as peer mentors, guiding colleagues through questions, sharing strategies, and helping refine unit plans based on classroom experiences. This peer-to-peer model has proven invaluable, leveraging the expertise and enthusiasm of teachers themselves to drive sustainable change.

“At this point, we have great buy-in across the team. We're seeing that increased collaboration,” said Audrey. “The way that this is going to work best is if we're all doing the same work. And when we do that, we can see kids have more growth over time.”

Early Wins and Lasting Impact

While Mesa County Valley School District 51 is still in the early phases of its middle school literacy transformation, signs of progress are already emerging.

Preliminary data shows encouraging gains in reading proficiency across several schools, suggesting that students are benefiting from the new instructional approach. Beyond the numbers, teachers are noticeably more confident in the delivery of their instruction. Educators who once felt uncertain about teaching foundational literacy skills now report feeling more equipped and supported.

“After having myPerspectives for basically four and a half months, my students took their most recent standardized test, and they are all in that top right quadrant of high growth and high achievement, and that's never happened before,” said Amanda. “And it's so cool.”

The shift to a collaborative, transparent adoption process has also strengthened trust between the district’s leadership and teachers. Rather than being handed a curriculum, teachers were actively involved in this change, ensuring a sense of autonomy and pride in the work.

“I think what I'm most proud of is just how much the teachers really felt like their voice was heard in this,” said Kristin. “This one has felt very teacher owned, and I think that's led to a lot of teacher confidence.”

Through rigorous analysis, exemplary decision-making, and a steady focus on evidence-based practices, the district is charting a new path for middle school literacy — one grounded in research, community, and an unwavering belief in every student’s potential.

“We have phenomenal teachers that love kids and that are very passionate about getting results with kids,” “I'm excited to see their passion renewed and to feel more supported with a resource,”said Audrey. “At the end of the day, it's teachers that make the difference for kids.”