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This story is part of our SPOTLIGHT series focusing on the state of education in Missouri. Read more here.

Kindergarten teacher Wittney Swyers knew it was impossible when her colleagues said her students should be entering first grade prepared to write sentences independently.

That was roughly a decade ago, when the kindergarten and first grade teachers at Harry S. Truman Elementary School in Rolla, Missouri, were discussing what reading skills students should have by the end of the year. 

Swyers, who was in her first few years of teaching in the district at the time, realized there was a gaping disconnect between what state standards required and what her students could realistically achieve.

鈥淭hey would tell us these expectations, and I’m thinking, 鈥極h my God, how are our kids able to even do that?鈥� 鈥� she said. 鈥淚 was like, 鈥楾his is a nightmare 鈥� they are coming into [first grade] not knowing all their letters and sounds, but then they’re going to expect them to sound out and write two or three sentences within the first quarter.鈥欌��

Swyers began several years of research into the science of reading, and in fall 2023 she started using a phonics program from the . But because she was the sole teacher at her school using the materials, she felt unsure about how well she implemented them. (Truman Elementary was recognized as a Bright Spots school by 社区黑料 for its work in third grade literacy that year.)

But the next year, Swyers received support that she鈥檇 yearned for. Truman Elementary became one of seven schools in the . The program, funded by local donors, brought in literacy coaches to help 50 kindergarten and first grade teachers with their reading instruction. The coaches met in person and virtually with educators on a monthly basis.

The collaborative involved five school districts in rural Phelps County: Rolla, Newburg, St. James, Phelps R-III and Dent-Phelps R-II. All experienced large jumps in student reading proficiency by the end of the program鈥檚 first year. By spring 2025, 97% of Rolla kindergartners were , compared with the 68% recorded in fall 2024.

The program is run by , formerly known as The New Teacher Project. It鈥檚 a national nonprofit that鈥檚 implemented similar coaching initiatives in New Jersey, California and Tennessee. In Missouri, the five Phelps County school districts are beginning their final year in the collaborative.

鈥淭he third year of our partnership with Phelps County looks a lot different than it has the last two years,鈥� said Kim Davidson, who manages TNTP’s work in Missouri. 鈥淪o the last two years have really been an infusion of support with our coaches working on the ground. [Now] we’re partnering with them to make sure that they have the skills to carry that forward.鈥�

The reading progress of Swyers鈥� students was a 鈥渘ight and day difference鈥� from before the coaching program, she said. Parents started to tell her how their children sounded out everything they saw at home and asked how to spell words.

鈥淢y kids were writing multiple sentences and sounding things out. They could not get enough,鈥� she said. 鈥淲riting 鈥� because it [involves] so many processes for the brain 鈥� always felt like pulling teeth. They’d cry. It just took a lot of time. I feel like once we started doing [the coaching program], writing was fun. Reading was fun. It made it a lot more enjoyable to come in and do my job.鈥�

Swyers said the knowledge she gained from the coaching program helped her create better game- or play-based activities that taught her kindergartners reading skills. The advice she received from her mentor gave her more confidence in the classroom.

Kelly Martin, a TNTP coach from Arizona, partnered with teachers in three of the Phelps County districts. It was her first time coaching in such a rural area, and she said the small, tight-knit community made it easier to work closely with students and teachers. Her past stints were in cities like Portland and Las Vegas. 

When visiting schools in person, coaches observed classroom teachers as they explained foundational reading skills, such as phonics, fluency and comprehension. Martin debriefed with each one to suggest ways to improve or add to their instruction for next time. 

Martin checked in with the teachers two weeks after visiting in person to answer questions and see how they were doing. Educators also received professional development about reading instruction a few times a year.

鈥淭he community and the school were just so open to the support and help, and they were so welcoming, so it was easy for me to build a relationship with them and even with their students,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 felt like I was part of the community itself, and I think that’s important 鈥� especially in rural communities where everybody knows everybody 鈥� that was a big piece of why it was so successful.鈥�

Martin said the schools she worked with made increasing progress after making specific changes. Newburg Elementary School, for example, didn鈥檛 have a consistent reading curriculum when Martin first began coaching teachers there. 

鈥淭he [principal] decided they needed a curriculum, and once they had that, it was amazing 鈥� the progress both them and their students had once the teachers had a systematic process of teaching foundational skills,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he confidence that the teachers [got] was incredible.鈥�

From fall 2024 to spring 2025, the percentage of Newburg first graders who read at or above grade level increased from 30% to 78%. Both kindergarten and first grade students made gains that more than doubled typical annual growth, according to .

Ashley Wood was one of Martin鈥檚 mentees at Newburg Elementary School. She became a full-time teacher, holding only an associate degree, the year her district began the rural literacy collaborative. She worked on earning her bachelor鈥檚 while in the classroom.

鈥淸Martin] visited the school once a month to watch us teach our reading, and since I was new, I needed some extra help with the curriculum because it was our first time using this curriculum, so she modeled it for my class and for me,鈥� Wood said. 鈥淲e would meet with her during our planning period, and she would [ask], 鈥楬ow’s it going? What’s working? What’s not working?鈥� She always had something new to bring to us.鈥�

One strategy Martin helped Wood implement was using flashcards daily to help students practice the alphabet. The flashcards weren鈥檛 part of a curriculum, but they helped her class associate letter sounds with pictures and review them quickly.

In the Dent-Phelps district, the of first graders reading at or above grade level jumped from 21% in fall 2024 to 82% in spring 2025.

Jessica Kiser began teaching kindergarten in the Dent-Phelps district when the literacy program was launched in 2024. She previously taught in Wisconsin, where schools were further ahead in teaching the science of reading and foundational literacy skills.

鈥淚 had been used to a little bit more rigor and different literacy initiatives that already had a foothold in the schools in Wisconsin,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 noticed that upon receiving the coaching, not only myself, but other members of my school, were feeling a lot more confident with implementing different phonics curricula and the knowledge of what best practice is.鈥�

Kiser said Martin coached her, helping her find data trends that showed which skills specific kids were missing. Martin brainstormed strategies to implement in the classroom, such as an activity that involved finger laser lights that students used to trace letters of the alphabet.

鈥淚 would set out a white piece of paper and they could draw their little laser letters on the white paper, and we could turn the lights off so that it was so much more magical,鈥� Kiser said. 鈥淭hat was just a little strategy to help get them more excited.鈥�

Kiser also learned to have her classroom focus for a whole week on one 鈥� books that help readers match letter-sound relationships 鈥� instead of trying a different version every day. 

Rural Missouri schools that are not part of the collaborative are catching on to the benefits of literacy coaching. 

For the past two years, a literacy coach has helped teachers in the Salem R-80 School District with reading instruction in the classroom while staff interventionists pulled students out for one-on-one support. 

It鈥檚 a model that鈥檚 helped Salem Upper Elementary achieve Bright Spots status, like nearby Truman Elementary. But Principal Brendan Piatt said he wants to adopt a system that鈥檚 more like the TNTP model in Phelps County.

鈥淭hat is something that we are planning to really look into this year because we’ve heard really good things about our neighboring county,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he cost of that was not reasonable for us, but I think that our local professional development center is hoping to get some of those strategies in place for us, which is more cost-effective for our school.鈥�

The state is expanding the Phelps County coaching model to reach other school districts, said Heather Knight, the Missouri education department鈥檚 literacy coordinator. The work is part of Missouri鈥檚 overarching , which is funding literacy programs with $25 million in state and $35 million in federal dollars. 

With the help of the federal money, the education department created the Missouri Coaching Model, a program that will deploy 15 coaches into 37 elementary schools this year to help teachers with reading instruction, similar to the effort in Phelps County.

鈥淭his is a way for us to scale that work,鈥� Knight said. 鈥淚n addition to that, we are starting the Literacy Coaching for Success initiative, and that is the exact same Missouri coaching model, only it’s outside of that federal grant. So we have an additional 27 schools that have agreed to take part in that work, and those schools will receive literacy coaching this school year.鈥�

Swyers said she has a solid foundation to incorporate literacy strategies into her classroom this year because of the coaching program. The activities she will try include some old-school techniques: writing letters on a chalkboard with chalk or organizing the alphabet with magnets on tables. 

鈥淚鈥檝e been taking a piece or adding a piece here and there, and then kind of shifting what I’ve already done and how I can make it better,鈥� she said.

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