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Read to Succeed Reading Plan

Directions:  Please provide a narrative response for Sections A-I.

LETRS Questions:

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

o   We have 3 eligible teachers that have completed Volume 1 and are working through Volume 2.

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

o   We have 21 eligible teachers that have completed Volumes 1 and 2.

●      How many eligible teachers in your school are beginning Volume 1 of LETRS this year (or have not yet started or completed Volume 1)?:

o   We have 8 teachers that are beginning Volume 1.

 

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 both the Heggerty curriculum as well as in the skills block of the CKLA curriculum. 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 introducing 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 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 though 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 first through fifth grades that demonstrate above grade level abilities on district or state assessments also receive instruction around vocabulary and comprehension skills using the Jr. Great Books curriculum. 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 around building knowledge around specific content with an 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 students would receive intervention with the SPIRE 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 push-in 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 breaks 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 that 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.

 

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 that 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

●      An advanced academic component in grades 1 – 5 that strengthens vocabulary and comprehension skills.

 

●      Use of the LETRS vocabulary routine across Knd – 5th grades.

 

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

Possibilities for Growth

 

●      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.

 

●      Use of the Growth Monitoring assessment in iReady for students not receiving tier 3 or tier 2 intervention or academic enrichment to ensure a strong tier 1 reading instruction implementation.

 

 

Section HPrevious 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

Goal #1 (Third Grade Goal): Reduce the percentage of third graders scoring Does Not Meet in the spring of 2023 as determined by SC READY from 43.2 % to 35% in the spring of 2024.

Progress

The goal was not met because we only had 37% of our third graders score Does Not Meet in the spring of 2024 which was just off of our goal of 35%. We were able to improve the percentage of third graders scoring Does Not Meet by just over 6 percentage points.

 

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. Schools that do not serve third grade students may choose a different goal. Schools may continue to use the same SMART goals from previous years or choose new goals. Goals should be academically measurable. The Reflection Tool may be helpful in determining action steps to reach an academic goal. Schools are strongly encouraged to incorporate goals from the strategic plan.

 

Goals

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.

Progress

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

 

●      Analysis of formative assessment and progress monitoring data to drive instructional decisions.

 

 

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