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Read to Succeed Reading Plan

LETRS Questions:

●      How many teachers in your school have completed Volume 1 ONLY of LETRS?  6 teachers

●      How many teachers in your school have completed Volumes 1 and 2 of LETRS?  22 teachers

●      How many teachers in your school are beginning Volume 1 of LETRS this year?  2 teachers

●      How many teachers in your school are beginning Volume 2 of LETRS this year?  6 teachers

●      How many CERDEP PreK teachers in your school have completed EC LETRS? 2 teachers

●      How many CERDEP PreK teachers in your school are beginning EC LETRS this year? 0 teachers

 

Section A: Describe how reading assessment and instruction for all PreK-5th grade students in the school includes oral language, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension to aid in the comprehension of texts to meet grade‑level English/Language Arts standards.

 

Throughout our literacy block each day, students participate in instructional activities that encompass communication skills, foundations of literacy, vocabulary, and comprehension opportunities. Oral language is developed through read-alouds, speaking and listening lessons in our CKLA curriculum, and the use of Kagan Cooperative Learning structures to promote equitable student interactions and participation. Students also have opportunities to build their oral language skills by asking and answering questions while listening to or reading texts, as well as during the launches of our IB units, where students are asked to notice, wonder, and make connections between the central ideas, vocabulary, content, and standards of the unit. Our PreK teachers use the Creative Curriculum’s read-alouds and questions of the day, and shared writing to promote oral language skills in their students. Teachers are able to assess these skills through formative assessments and observational checklists. In kindergarten through second grade, students have multiple occasions each day to learn and practice the phonological and phonemic awareness standards during instruction from the Heggerty curriculum and the skills block of the CKLA curriculum during whole-group instruction and with UFLI Foundations during small-group instruction during our What I Need (WIN) time. During this instruction, students participate in recognizing, counting, manipulating parts of words and sounds in syllables, onsets and rimes, and phonemes. Heggerty is also used with our PreK students as part of their phonological and phonics instruction. Students in grades 3rd – 5th receive instruction in phonological awareness when data shows that they are in need of those supports. Phonics instruction is also provided during the skills block of CKLA for primary grades. The relationship between letters and sounds is taught explicitly and systematically across these grade levels with lesson components such as the introduction of letter sound correspondence and sound spellings, building of sound walls and spelling trees with alternate spellings, word chaining, and dictation activities. The use of a tricky word wall in K-2 classrooms also supports students' decoding and encoding of words. Advanced academic code and morphology are taught in grades 3 -5. These skills are assessed during our beginning, middle, and end-of-year benchmarks on Fastbridge and iReady assessments, CKLA placement and unit assessments, and through progress monitoring with Fastbridge assessments. There is also an opportunity for students to apply those phonics skills and improve their fluency with the use of the decodable readers in kindergarten – second grade. Students in first, second, and third grades were given a spelling screener to determine their ability to spell regular phoneme-grapheme correspondence and orthographic patterns. Teachers then use this data to plan their whole group and small group instruction and track student progress towards grade level proficiency. Students, in grades 3rd – 5th, have opportunities to reread grade-level texts as well as connected fluency passages. Fluency in all grade levels is monitored through the use of grade-level CBMs in Fastbridge and/or CKLA reading fluency assessments. Vocabulary instruction has been a focus for us, and after most of the staff received LETRS training, we began implementing the vocabulary routine from unit 5 in addition to a visual and oral language component where students are shown a few images that embody the vocabulary word, and students use their prior knowledge and discussion to infer what word will be taught through the routine. The CKLA curriculum also has a vocabulary routine and word work around emphasized words from the unit. Vocabulary knowledge is measured in the CKLA unit assessments as well as the beginning, middle, and end of the year iReady diagnostics. All grade levels have knowledge units in the CKLA curriculum in which they read, write, discuss, interact, and dissect multiple texts on a specific topic or genre. Students in third grade also have a speaking and listening portion of their CKLA lessons, where students build their oral language skills. Students in first through fifth grades who demonstrate above-grade-level achievement/abilities on district or state assessments also receive instruction around vocabulary and comprehension skills using the Jr. Great Books curriculum during our What I Need (WIN) time instruction. Comprehension skills are assessed on the curriculum unit assessments as well as the iReady diagnostics. Students at our school also have many chances throughout the day to apply what they are learning in the CKLA knowledge domains to our cross-curricular IB units of study. All of these elements of word recognition and language comprehension come together to assist our students in being able to comprehend grade-level texts.

 

Section B: Document how Word Recognition assessment and instruction for PreK-5th grade students are further aligned to the science of reading, structured literacy and foundational literacy skills.

 

Word recognition assessment and instruction at our school is aligned to the science of reading, structured literacy and foundational literacy skills because we use a systematic and explicit program that is based on research to teach these skills. Teachers base instruction around both strands of Scarborough’s reading rope, word recognition and language comprehension, to build skilled readers. In the primary grades, the emphasis is on the foundational skills along with building vocabulary and speaking and listening skills around a topic. In the upper elementary grades, the emphasis is on building knowledge around specific content with the addition of word recognition skills when needed. As students become more proficient readers, the emphasis shifts from those word recognition skills to language comprehension skills which is evident in the interventions and enrichments that are provided to our students.

 

 

Section C:  Document how the school uses universal screener data and diagnostic assessment data to determine targeted pathways of intervention (word recognition or language comprehension) for students in PreK-5th grade who have failed to demonstrate grade‑level reading proficiency. 

 

 Our school uses Fastbridge as our universal screener and iReady as our diagnostic assessment each fall, winter, and spring benchmark period. My IGDIs is given three times a year to our PreK students. After each of these assessments, we look at the data to determine what supports are needed for students who are performing below grade level. For those students who are performing below grade level, we take a closer look at the phonological awareness and phonics domains. If those domains are determined to be the weakness, we will follow a flow map of further assessments to find the intervention curriculum that will best support their needs. For example, if a student needs more support with phonemic awareness, that student would be placed in the Sound Sensible curriculum. If a student needs access to phonics or fluency remediation, they would receive intervention with the UFLI Foundations or Magnetic Reading Foundations curriculum. In the upper elementary grades, if a student needs support with fluency, vocabulary or comprehension, they would receive intervention using the Magnetic Reading curriculum to target those language comprehension weaknesses. Tier 3 students receive pull-out services that focus primarily on the word recognition strand. Tier 2 students receive pull-out services that focus either on word recognition or language comprehension, depending on what the student needs.

 

 

Section D: Describe the system in place to help parents in your school understand how they can support the student as a reader and writer at home.

 

After each assessment window, parents are notified of student progress through family or individual skills reports. In these reports, parents are notified of the students’ performance on the test with an overall placement as well as students’ current levels within the domains of phonological awareness, phonics, high frequency words, vocabulary, and literal and informational comprehension. Our kindergarten and first-grade parents are also given individual skills reports that break down students’ phonological awareness, phonics, and sight word recognition knowledge even further. Teachers conference with parents around these reports so that families are aware of what is being done in the classroom to support or stretch student understandings, as well as what can be done at home to strengthen students’ skills. Students who receive reading intervention, special education services in reading, as well as academic enrichment or gifted and talented services also have progress reports that go home to families to inform them of students’ progress.   All K-3 parents also receive a Read to Succeed Family Letter, translated into 10+ languages, that outlines in family-friendly language: What is the Science of Reading?, What does the South Carolina Read to Succeed Act mean for my student?, How will the school keep me informed about my student’s reading development?, How can I help my student become a good reader?, in addition to a direct link to the CCSD Read to Succeed webpage, which includes even more ideas for supporting readers at home.

 

Section E: Document how the school provides for the monitoring of reading achievement and growth at the classroom and school level with decisions about PreK-5th grade intervention based on all available data to ensure grade-level proficiency in reading.

 

At the classroom level, reading achievement and growth is monitored through grade-level curriculum-based measures such as the CKLA unit assessments. Students in grades one through five who receive academic enrichment or gifted and talented services also have their growth and achievement monitored through the use of the Jr. Great Books curriculum measures.  In kindergarten and first grades, teachers use Fastbridge progress monitoring tools to track student growth. In grades 2 – 5, teachers also use the iReady Standards Mastery assessments to monitor progress towards mastery of specific reading standards.  Intervention teachers also monitor student growth with Fastbridge progress monitoring in sight words, nonsense words or CBMs with comprehension questions, depending on the student. They also use the SPIRE and Magnetic Reading curriculum assessments to monitor growth. At the school level, iReady diagnostics and Fastbridge earlyReading screeners are used to monitor reading achievement in the fall, winter, and spring windows.

 

Section F: Describe how the school provides teacher training based in the science of reading, structured literacy, and foundational literacy skills to support all students in PreK-5th grade.

 

 A majority of our teachers have completed LETRS training. As new teachers come to our school or returning teachers change grade levels they are enrolled in the training as well. Teachers also meet bi-weekly in PLCs with the literacy coach to unpack foundational skills, applications of reading, and written and oral communication state standards, as well as follow-up practice of the skills and strategies learned during the LETRS training. The coaches at our school also attend professional development around the state standards and CKLA curriculum, which is then brought back to the teachers during PLCs and other professional development days.

 

Section G: Analysis of Data

Strengths

Possibilities for Growth

 

●      The use of a core reading curriculum (CKLA) with the addition of Kagan Cooperative Learning structures to strengthen student engagement, communication, and collaboration skills.

●      Teachers meet in weekly PLC planning sessions, as well as a quarterly full-day PLC planning session to unpack standards, create know & show charts, look at assessments, and plan for possible gaps in student learning.

 

●      A school-wide schedule that allows time for intervention, enrichment, special education services, and small group instruction for all grade levels, in addition to the core content instructional time.

 

●      Aligning Tier 2 and Tier 3 instruction with Tier 1 instruction to provide students with intentional support.

 

●      More explicit instruction and use of academic vocabulary used in the standards and assessments.

●       Daily opportunities for writing about reading and multiple occasions to craft writing pieces across modes.

 

 

 

Section H: Previous School Year SMART Goals and Progress Toward Those Goals

●      Please provide your school’s goals from last school year and the progress your school has made towards these goals. Utilize quantitative and qualitative data to determine progress toward the goal (s). As a reminder, all schools serving third grade were required to use Goal #1 (below).

 

Goals

Progress

Previous Goal #1 (Third Grade Goal):

Reduce the percentage of third graders scoring Does Not Meet in the spring of 2024 determined by SC READY from 37% to 30% in the spring of 2025.

 

 

We were able to not only meet this goal, but significantly surpass the goal with only 16.2% of our third graders scoring Does Not Meet on the Spring 2025 SC Ready ELA assessment. This was a decrease of more 20 percentage points.

 

 

 

Previous Goal #2:

 

 

Previous Goal #3:

 

 

Section I: Current SMART Goals and Action Steps Based on Analysis of Data

●      All schools serving students in third grade MUST respond to the third grade reading proficiency goal. Note the change in language for the 3rd grade goal to align with the 2030 vision of 75% of students at or above grade level.  Schools that do not serve third grade students may choose a different goal. Goals should be academically measurable. All goals should align with academic growth or achievement. Schools must provide a minimum of two goals.

 

●      Schools are strongly encouraged to incorporate goals from the school renewal plan. Utilize a triangulation of appropriate and available data (i.e. SC READY, screeners, MTSS progress monitoring, benchmark assessments, and observational data) to set reasonable goal(s) for the current school year.

 

Goals

Action Steps

Current Goal #1 (Third Grade Goal):

Increase the percentage of third graders scoring Meets and Exceeds in the spring of 2025, as determined by SC READY, from 62.2% to 70% in the spring of 2026.

●      Use of a comprehensive core reading curriculum that focuses on foundational skills, structured literacy, and the use of grade-level texts.

 

●      Use of the iReady Instructional Pathway Refinement strategy to accelerate student growth in those students performing more than one year below grade level. 

 

●      The use of CCSD standards-based checkpoints to monitor student progress towards standards proficiency.

Current Goal #2:

By the spring of 2026, 70% of Students in Grades K-5 will achieve Annual Typical Growth according to the i-Ready Spring Reading Diagnostic assessment.

●      A school-wide schedule that allows for all students to be present for Tier 1 instruction, as well as time for intervention and enrichment to provide targeted small group instruction for all students.

 

●      Allocating additional funds to reduce class sizes in 3rd - 5th grades and hire an additional special education teacher. \

 

●      Weekly PLCs that allow teachers to monitor student progress on iReady personalized instruction pathways, Standards Mastery assessments, and Diagnostic assessments.

Current Goal #3: