One Utah school is being held up as an example for dramatically moving the needle with its students’ reading scores: Mona Elementary in the small, rural town by the same name. Here’s what they did.
State leaders are pushing this legislative session to see a big J-U-M-P in students’ test scores after a dire new report noted that only about half of the kids in kindergarten through third grade are reading at their age level.
That leaves Utah far off the mark of hitting the 70% reading goal it had set to reach by 2027. Gov. Spencer Cox is suggesting, to help accomplish that, having schools hold back students a year if they’re not achieving.
But already, there are a few Utah schools who are having success without that step — which some in the education community worry is extreme.
At least four charter schools and one district — North Summit — had reached the 70% mark for reading by 2023. And another school, which joined the list in 2025, is now being held up as an example for dramatically moving the needle through other efforts.
That’s Mona Elementary School in the small, rural town of Mona in central Utah.
Last year, the school saw a 20 percentage point increase in third grade students reading on grade level, to now 70% in total hitting the mark.
“That type of achievement and growth doesn’t happen by chance,” said Rich Nye, senior education advisor for Cox and a former superintendent of both Ogden and Granite school districts.
The governor’s office highlighted the school during a literacy conference it held earlier this month.
The principal of Mona Elementary, Brandi Webster, along with two teachers at the school, Jennifer Schaugaard and Megan Montoya, spoke on a panel about their efforts. Part of it was getting all of their teachers certified in the science of reading and revamping their curriculum to match.
But it really started, Webster said, when she first took on the role of principal and noticed the school’s reading scores had been stagnant for about a decade, stuck at about 50% of students hitting the mark for their grade level — the same as the state average.
“Teachers were working so hard,” she said. “And I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I couldn’t figure out what else they could do.”
Mona Elementary is small, with about 280 students in kindergarten through fifth grade; and there are two teachers per grade.
Webster said those teachers had already been coming in early and staying late to help students with tutoring.
That’s when she decided to dig further into the data on a student-by-student level, Webster said. And she realized each student needed individualized plans that accommodate their specific needs.
The school worked to create student profiles for every kid in the school to track their progress throughout the year — not just at the end with final exams. They set check-in points throughout the year, as well as individual progress monitoring every Friday where the teacher would sit down with each student one-on-one while an instructional assistant watched over the class.
“We have seen so much progress in the kids,” Schaugaard said.
“It’s knowing the individual student,” Montoya added, and building a relationship there.
Students have been excited about their growth, both teachers said.
Each class spends at least 180 minutes a day working on reading — with 30 minutes of targeted intervention — and there’s movement between grade levels, too. For instance, if a third grader is reading on a first grade level, that student can be sent to a first grade classroom to get more tailored teaching that is specific to their needs.
Webster also said that the school decided to make it a community effort — with every employee involved, as well as parents. It couldn’t solely be on teachers, she said. The school engaged bus drivers, lunch workers and paraprofessionals to all help in different ways.
Mona Elementary held a meeting, too, that almost every parent in the community attended to talk about what could be done at home to help students read better. The school even made videos for parents to help instruct them on best practices — beyond just reading more books to their kids.
“They want their children to be good readers. But they don’t know how,” Webster said.
She said now the school doesn’t feel that 70% is good enough. They are pushing to have 100% of students reading on grade level.
Some concerns about matching that success
Webster acknowledged that it’s helpful to have the small class sizes they do in Mona, which makes a huge difference. The classrooms there have an average of 25 kids.
Utah, on average, though, tends to see K-12 classrooms with as many as 40 or 50 students.
Tiffany Hall, executive director of teaching and learning for Salt Lake City School District, said that’s a concern for her as others try to replicate that success — and might not find it as easy.
What schools need, Hall said, is more money to hire additional teachers or provide more training.
During his conference, Cox said he also saw that as a problem. And he emphasized that he doesn’t see the reading levels as “a failure of our teachers.”
He also promised that a bill this legislative session would provide more funding.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) First lady Abby Cox, left, and Gov. Spencer Cox speak with children following a news conference on the 2027 fiscal budget at Kearns Library in Kearns on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025.
Montoya at Mona Elementary said without resources, more demands from the state won’t amount to changes in reading levels. It took her school leadership setting aside the money and time, she said, to make the changes there.
“You can give us the policy all you want,” she said, “but if you’re not giving us the help to get there, it’s not going anywhere.”
Correction • Jan. 28, 9:48 a.m.: This story has been updated to correct Mona Elementary‘s student enrollment.
Source: Utah News
