One of Shelby Mason’s kindergarten students was struggling last year to adjust to full-day school. Reading and writing were obstacles, and there were many tearful days.
But a small writing victory helped boost the student’s confidence.
She had been struggling to write her name — especially the pesky letter S, which she kept writing backwards. But then Mason showed her a trick that made all the difference. She drew the S correctly once, then twice, and eventually, every time.
“The look on her face was … the biggest smile and sense of accomplishment that I had ever seen,” said Mason, who teaches at A.H. Bush Elementary in Idaho Falls.
To adults, it may seem like a simple step forward, but to the student, “it was the world,” Mason said.
Mason learned the helpful trick from a reading coach who visited her classroom monthly — part of a two-year professional development program informed by the science of reading that K-3 teachers at A.H. Bush opted into in the fall of 2024.
The program is now funded to be put in place for all K-3 teachers in Idaho, thanks to Senate Bill 1069, a pet project of State Superintendent Debbie Critchfield and Gov. Brad Little, which allocates $5 million to the effort.
Education leaders have called it one of the only bright spots for public education in the 2025 legislative session, where private school tax credits became the centerpiece.
While the science of reading program, called SMART or Striving to Meet Achievement in Reading Together, already existed in Idaho, the new law strengthens and expands it. Schools like A.H. Bush that have already embraced it give a preview for what’s to come for others across the state.
And so far, it’s looking good.
In kindergarten and first grades, students’ reading abilities have improved in leaps and bounds since the training was implemented, said Tes Fields, principal at A.H. Bush. Before the training, kindergarten students’ reading skills improved by just 11 percentage points from fall to spring — as compared to 57 percentage points once the training began being implemented. First graders’ growth similarly took off, from 2% in 2023-24, to 25% in 2024-25.
“It’s really amazing, and it shows me that with the right instruction, every student can learn to read,” Fields said, noting that A.H. Bush is a title-one school serving an at-risk student population.
The school’s second and third graders also showed “significant growth,” Fields said, but not as many hit the grade level mark — yet — because they were further behind so it will take longer to catch up.
A.H. Bush is one of several Idaho Falls elementary schools where staff went all in on the training and are seeing results. It was enough to catch Crtichfield’s attention, and she touted their successes as a shining example at the State Board of Education’s June meeting.
The ultimate goal, Critchfield told the State Board, is for all K-3 educators to receive SMART training within the next three years.
“It’s not being provided because it sounds good and might work – it has been proven to work, and proven solutions are what Idaho teachers and students deserve,” Critchfield wrote in an op-ed.
Helping teachers help students yields ‘tremendous’ results
Fields, the A.H. Bush principal, used to be a kindergarten teacher and said she brought the SMART program to her school last fall because she’s seen firsthand how struggling to read impacts students later on.
“I really wanted to help kids be successful — unlock doors for them and give them opportunities,” Fields said. “And not being a strong reader really does … prohibit them from being able to do whatever they want.”
Fields said her staff has embraced the training, and the veteran teachers have been especially adept at it since it mirrors how they initially taught reading at the beginning of their careers — with a focus on phonics.
What the SMART program entails
The SMART program takes two years and has two main parts:
A monthly book study: Teachers get a monthly professional development session centered around reading and discussing Louisa Moats’ “Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers.” Moats lives in Sun Valley and is a national authority on literacy — read more about her here.
And monthly in-class support: A coach visits each teacher’s classroom once a month to observe and support the teacher’s efforts to implement SMART literacy practices. The observation is followed by time to reflect and give feedback.
Educators say the one-on-one classroom sessions set the training apart from other professional development sessions, such as “sit-and-gets” where a speaker addresses the staff, but does not assist with implementation.
“None of us can really change or improve what we’re doing just from learning about something from one day,” Karla LaOrange, the superintendent for Idaho Falls School District said.
Sarah Childers, the principal at Temple View Elementary, agreed and said the literacy coaches “really dig in and partner with teachers. And that just made such a huge difference.”
By the end of the school year, the SMART coach has visited each teacher’s classroom about nine times, and comes to know the students. Plus, because the coach is an outside contractor, as opposed to being a building principal who evaluates them, teachers tend to feel more comfortable being vulnerable and asking for help.
Childers said Temple View’s two third-grade teachers completed the second year of the program last spring and saw outstanding results: 78% of their students were reading at grade level or higher in the fall, and by the spring, that figure jumped to 94%.
LaOrange said she is seeing similar trends throughout the district: “We’ve seen tremendous results.”
