Sacramento City Unified School District: Wanda Roundtree

To Whom It May Concern:

It affords me a welcome avenue to write this letter of recommendation on behalf of Accelerated Literacy Learning (A.L.L.) and Andy Hess, Literacy Consultant.

I was introduced to the extraordinary work of the A.L.L. consulting firm a little more than two years ago. As Director of the Child Development (CHDV) Department for Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD), I have had the distinct privilege and honor of working very closing with A.L.L. During the academic school year of 2013-2014, SCUSD’s CHDV department brokered its very first contract with A.L.L., which entailed the delivery of professional development and support for the implementation of Balanced Literacy in preschool classrooms. This contract is still in existence during this current school year (2014-2015) but the deliverables delineated in the contract have now expanded in scope to include classroom observations, modeling, curriculum development, mentoring and coaching support. It is important to note that since July 2013, A.L.L. has provided unprecedented professional development experiences for 31 SCUSD CHDV teachers, 1 transitional kindergarten teacher, 8 resource teachers and 7 lead/management staff.

I simply cannot boast enough about the very effective, professional and ground breaking work in the realm of preschool Balanced Literacy implementation that CHDV has been engaged in, working alongside the consultant assigned to us by A.L. L., Andy Hess. Andy Hess’ professional knowledge, skill level and expertise in the areas of children’s emergent literacy, preschool curriculum (literacy) development, planning and assessment as well as professional learning delivery are extraordinary, to say the least. Based on my extensive experience in the field of early childhood education and care, it is extremely rare to find a trainer or professional developer that possesses just the right set of complementary skills. Not only does Andy possess the ability to speak with authority relative to children’s literacy learning but she also possesses a very unique ability to adapt her presentations, coaching and mentoring support to address the varied learning styles and range of knowledge and literacy understandings that typically exist among the early childhood education workforce. Also, Andy is never found lacking in mature judgment and she is always very patient, validating and affirming. Needless to say, these are character and behavior traits that have been found to be very instrumental in spurring adult learning. It has already become quite evident, based on CHDV lead staff’s observations, that teachers’ understanding of children’s literacy development and the effective implementation of Balanced Literacy in the preschool classroom have improved tremendously. Under Andy’s direction and in conjunction with a very talented pool of CHDV lead staff, teachers’ delivery of exceptional literacy instruction is quickly becoming a part of their repertoire of behaviors. I can’t begin to tell you, as overall lead of the department, how very happy and proud I am of the progress made thus far relative to CHDV’s literacy initiative; we have made tremendous strides over the course of these past two years!

It is because of the reasons delineated above that I offer my unqualified support of Consultant Andy Hess and I rate A.L.L. as a "first class" company in the educational consulting arena. I am more than convinced that any entity that forms an alliance with A.L.L. and/or Consultant Andy Hess will be more than satisfied as a result of the many benefits that will soon be realized.

With children and families in mind,
Dr. Wanda Roundtree, Director
SCUSD CHDV Department