RSU 73 Board Reviews Reading Gains, Facility Upgrades and Efforts to Reduce Dropouts
The Maine Monitor, syndicated via News Center Maine (NBC), reported on RSU 73's school board meeting in Jay, Maine, where district leaders reviewed first-year outcomes from a new K–5 literacy curriculum — including third grade reading proficiency climbing from 60% to 73%, and the number of students requiring targeted reading support dropping from 35 to 9. The district adopted HMH as its primary curriculum and used Really Great Reading (RGR) as a complementary program to close foundational phonics gaps, particularly in early grades.
RGR CEO Karl Rectanus has described exactly this pattern of Science of Reading-aligned intervention working as designed: students closing foundational gaps so they can access grade-level content, then graduating out of supplemental support as a sign of success. The district's literacy coach attributed the gains to consistent, structured implementation and noted that students in grades 4 and 5 had reached the national norm — meaning the targeted phonics intervention had delivered the outcomes it was designed to produce. The board's review of specific outcome data reflects a district culture of evidence-based accountability that RGR works to build with every partner district.