Welcome

Many of you know me from my work as a Prek-4 consultant for Staff Development for Educators for almost 20 years and the founder of thesmartiezone.com. Wow – life’s path has changed a great deal over the years! In 2013 I decided to become an embedded reading consultant in a high-needs school district. I spent six years with the district and am so proud of all the administrators, teachers and students who have truly “turned their schools” into successful learning environments for all students. It is here that I discovered my true gift. That of helping schools increase reading and writing achievement and turning classrooms into student-centered places of success.

That work began my career “off stage” and into schools/classrooms and what an adventure it has been. I work as a long-term reading specialist and management consultant with nine districts (with a 10th presently in negotiation). Each has produced results beyond my expectations. My work has contributed to higher reading scores, lower disciplinary referrals, and more overall success for ALL students than I ever envisioned.

With that change in my direction, thesmartiezone.com needed a facelift and a major update. So welcome to www.donnajwhyte.com! This NEW website is a way to showcase my work in PreK-12 classrooms and begin to build a new and updated resource for teachers. To the districts that believe in my ability to aide them in transforming their schools – I say, “THANK YOU”! We have a lot of work to do! Our students are depending on us!

Reading

Transforming the World
of at Risk Readers
One Child at a Time.

Reading is not a set of Pre-K, K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and higher grade level skills. Reading occurs on a continuum and classrooms must be built to assess and teach where each student is on that continuum. As a result of working with some of the lowest performing schools in the nation, Donna developed the Reading Aptitude Continuum in 2016 to assess and address the needs of struggling readers. It has been exciting to watch as research has confirmed her philosophy that drove her to develop the Reading Aptitude Continuum to address the area of teaching phonics.

Classroom 
Engagement

Build Community,
Motivate Learners,
and Meet Standards

Build a community of focused, energized, and enthusiastic learners while meeting your instructional goals. Discover how Donna has shown how this is possible by using easy, effective and practical suggestions.

Classroom 
Management

Is This Education or
Crowd Control?

You can have the best lesson plans in the world, but when your students are playing desk-to-desk leapfrog in the middle of the classroom, lesson plans aren't much help. You need solutions. Solutions that work. Solutions you can use now.