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Making Changes to Drive Student Success With Dena Mortensen

Season 2, Episode 7 • April 16, 2024 • 55 min

In Episode 7 of All For Literacy, Dena Mortensen sits down with host Dr. Liz Brooke to discuss a boots-on-the-ground perspective of literacy education. An elementary reading and language arts supervisor for Waterbury Public Schools in Waterbury, Connecticut, Mortensen offers listeners a detailed look into how the school district is making changes to improve student literacy rates.

If you're going to spend all of this time on assessment, what are you getting out of it at the end? What have you changed for this child?

Dena Mortensen, Reading and Language Arts Supervisor for Waterbury Public Schools

All For Literacy, Season 2, Episode 7:

Making Changes to Drive Student Success With Dena Mortensen

“There's nothing that's going to change student achievement more powerfully than the teacher, but it's very difficult for the teacher to do that job if they don't have support from leadership at the top,” explains Dena Mortensen in Episode 7 of All For Literacy.

Mortensen sits down with host Dr. Liz Brooke to discuss a boots-on-the-ground perspective of literacy education. An elementary reading and language arts supervisor for Waterbury Public Schools in Waterbury, Connecticut, Mortensen offers listeners a detailed look into how the school district is making changes to improve student literacy rates. Mortensen also discusses her involvement with the documentary “Hopeville: How to Win the Reading Wars,” directed and produced by All For Literacy Episode 6 guest Harvey Hubbell V.

Mortensen and Brooke explore how to:

Encourage teachers to adopt the use of progress-monitoring data
Make a dedication to evidence front and center
Repurpose balanced literacy and whole language materials
Support teachers as they learn about the science of reading
Make in-classroom coaching accessible to all

Listen to Episode 7 and walk away with actionable steps for creating change across classrooms and districts. Subscribe to All For Literacy today and never miss an episode.

Episode Breakdown

(01:05) – How Mortensen became involved in education

(02:48) – Profile on Waterbury Public Schools

(05:37) – Participating in the documentary “Hopeville: How to Win the Reading Wars”

(08:00) – Educators as student advocates

(11:52) – Encouraging teachers to adopt the use of progress-monitoring data

(17:35) – Making evidence-backed learning front and center

(28:00) – Repurposing balanced literacy and whole language materials

(31:36) – Highlighting the importance of language and foundational word recognition skills

(37:14) – Key takeaways from the documentary “Hopeville: How to Win the Reading Wars”

(42:02) – Supporting teachers as they learn about the science of reading

(46:40) – Making in-classroom coaching accessible to all

(50:38) – Hope for the future

About Dena Mortensen

Dena Mortensen is the elementary reading and language arts supervisor for Waterbury Public Schools and one of the featured educators in the documentary “Hopeville: How to Win the Reading Wars.” After studying education during her undergrad degree and discovering she felt unprepared for literacy instruction once in the classroom, she enrolled in a master’s program to become a certified reading specialist.