Unionville-Chadds Ford School District launches students to success through research-backed literacy instruction

At the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, the research-backed approach called the Science of Reading is playing a larger role in literacy learning this year. And, for UCFSD parents, it might look nothing like the education of their own youth. 

Cracking the Code

Gone are the days of memorizing whole words or guessing the ones they don’t know based on pictures. Instead, students are starting with phonemic awareness and phonics as a systematic approach to reading. By teaching them how to hear sounds and to connect them with specific letters or sequences of letters, Unionville educators are equipping students with a toolkit that can be used to decode almost anything. 

At the center of this work are UCFSD Reading Specialists like Melissa Huber from Pocopson Elementary School. Huber contends that literacy development extends far beyond the primary years, with foundational phonics evolving into more advanced word study as students mature. She views morphology as an essential toolkit for older learners: “When you understand a word’s building blocks—its roots, prefixes, and suffixes—you unlock a significantly deeper level of comprehension.”

Tools for Success

All Unionville educators were trained in the Science of Reading during the 2024-25 school year. 

“It was important that we not only provide training, but also materials to help with the transition,” added Huber, who shared that a committee informed UCFSD’s decision to implement Heggerty and Fundations programs for use by students in Grades K-3 this year. The district remains committed to expanding its literacy curriculum, with plans to implement more advanced programs for intermediate students.

Huber and the district’s eight other Elementary Reading Specialists continue to provide expert support in literacy instruction for all full-day Kindergarten classrooms while also conducting a combination of whole class, small group, and individual intervention from first grade on. 

Seeing the Results

She and others say they have already observed significant differences in student outcomes. “For example, a huge adjustment for elementary classroom teachers, especially at the Kindergarten level, was a delay in teaching sight words. But the research says that children were just memorizing the shape of those letters,” she reflected. “A lot of us were skeptical that students would be behind. But, by delaying sight words, our children are actually memorizing them a lot faster because they're not just memorizing the shape, they're really thinking about their sounds.” 

Parents as Partners

UCFSD emphasizes that literacy is a partnership between school and home. Parents can jumpstart their child’s journey by: 

1. Reading aloud to model fluency and to foster a love of literacy, 
2. Playing games to sound out words they see, and 
3. Practicing recognition of letters. 

With science-backed instruction, world-class educators and supportive families, our community can ensure that, for every student, the future is an open book.

All members of our community are invited to save-the-date and learn more during a special Parent University on Literacy with Huber and her colleagues on Tuesday, April 14 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Pocopson Elementary School. The event is being hosted by UCFSD’s Family Outreach Committee, FOCUS. 

About the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District

The Unionville-Chadds Ford School District is a high-performing public school system serving approximately 4,000 students in southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. The District consists of four elementary schools, one middle school and Unionville High School, consistently ranked among the top public schools in Pennsylvania.