Read to Succeed Reading Plan
South Carolina Department of Education
Read to Succeed Elementary Exemplary Literacy Reflection Tool
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?: NA
· How many eligible teachers in your school have completed Volumes 1 and 2 of LETRS?: 3 (2 general education teachers, 1 reading coach)
· How many eligible teachers in your school are beginning Volume 1 of LETRS this year (or have not yet started or completed Volume 1)?: 6 (2 general education teachers, 1 special education teacher, 1 interventionist, 2 administrators)
Section A: Describe how reading assessment and instruction for all PreK-6th 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.
Jane Edwards uses high-quality curriculum materials for instruction of all Prek-6th grade students in the school. These curriculum materials target the major pillars of literacy including oral language, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
The Creative Curriculum program for the Child Development PreK classroom encourages early critical thinking skills for our youngest scholars and delivers language and literacy content in a research-backed, play-based manner. Students develop rich vocabulary through hands-on lessons and early literacy skills in the areas of rhyme, letter sounds, letter identification, onset sounds, and more. Daily read-alouds build background knowledge and provide models of fluent reading. This curriculum is aligned with the South Carolina Early Learning Standards. Additionally, PreK uses the Heggerty curriculum to target phonological awareness skills.
All elementary grades, K-5, deliver a content-rich curriculum grounded in the science of reading with the Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) curriculum aligned to South Carolina ELA Standards. CKLA provides lessons for instruction in the areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.
The 6th grade curriculum StudySync uses contemporary and classic literature with integrated reading and writing lessons to primarily target vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension skills. Additional resources for phonics and word work are available for those students who need support in those areas.
Teachers use formative and summative assessments within each curriculum to assess student learning. Additionally, myIGDIs/iReady/FastBridge/MAP benchmarks, and SC Ready state assessments evaluate mastery of the grade-level state standards.
Section B: Document how Word Recognition assessment and instruction for PreK-6th grade students are further aligned to the science of reading, structured literacy and foundational literacy skills.
Instruction of the Word Recognition skills of phonological awareness, decoding, and sight word recognition is explicit and follows a systematic scope and sequence. Word learning instruction follows a speech-to-print approach focusing on the individual phonemes within the words. Evidence-based instruction focuses on blending, segmenting, phoneme manipulation, and phoneme-grapheme mapping. Practice material for Word Recognition skills follows the scope and sequence taught therefore eliminating three-cueing or guessing techniques. Teachers instruct using a gradual release of responsibility model (e.g., I do, we do, you do). Word Recognition skills are assessed with a combination of the following materials: CKLA, FastBridge, iReady, and/or the LETRS Phonics and Word-Reading Survey. Additionally, teachers may use other materials from UFLI (University of Florida Literacy Institute) and/or FCRR (Florida Center for Reading Research) for Word Recognition instruction.
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-6th grade who have failed to demonstrate grade‑level reading proficiency.
Universal screeners are administered three times a year to students in Prek-6th grade. Jane Edwards administers myIGDIs to prekindergarten students and iReady to students in grades kindergarten through fifth. Additionally, the FastBridge: Early Reading Screener is administered to kindergarten and first-grade students. Students in 6th grade are screened using MAP. Teachers collaborate with others during PLCs (Professional Learning Communities) to analyze the data to make instructional decisions for groups of students and individuals. Students in K-6th have personalized digital content instruction using iReady and Achieve3000. Students are placed on an Individualized Instructional Pathway and receive additional support from their classroom teacher, special education teacher, or an interventionist if they have failed to demonstrate grade-level reading proficiency.
Within the MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Support) model at Jane Edwards, students who perform at the 25th percentile and below recieve support from the reading interventionist. These students receive further diagnostic testing using FastBridge CBMreading in order to obtain an Oral Reading Fluency measure. When accuracy is low on this measure a phonics diagnostic is administered to determine skill deficits. A further diagnostic targeting phonemic awareness may be administered if phonics skills are low. The CBMreading measure also evaluates comprehension abilities through story retell and comprehension questions. Depending on the results of all these measures, intervention may target more word recognition skills or comprehension skills. Students have their own Literacy Intervention Plan complete with an individual literacy goal. Students who perform within the 14th to 25th percentile receive push-in support from the interventionist within their homeroom classroom in a small group. Students at the 13th percentile and below receive pull-out services from the interventionist in a one-on-one or one-on-two setting.
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 every benchmark screener (myIGDIS, iReady, FastBridge, MAP), parents receive the family report. This family report includes areas of strengths and weaknesses and next steps for instruction. Teachers and parents meet in the fall for Data Conferences to review initial literacy data. The data conference sheet shared with parents has links to parent-friendly ELA standards with ways to support learners at home. Throughout the year, teachers keep open lines of communication regarding student performance and ways to help at home. Additionally, Jane Edwards hosts a Family Literacy Night each year.
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-6th grade intervention based on all available data to ensure grade-level proficiency in reading.
Teachers monitor the reading achievement and growth of students using formative and summative assessments from curriculum-based measures. This may include, but is not limited to, activity book pages, exit slips, observation notes, and end-of-unit tests. Through the Data-Driven Instruction process of PLCs, teachers work with others to analyze students’ proficiency levels on these formative and summative assessments to find gaps in skills that need to be addressed. Teachers then provide differentiated, small group instruction targeting students’ specific needs.
Students performing below the 25th percentile who also receive support from a reading interventionist are progress monitored weekly using either FastBridge: Nonsense Word Fluency or FastBridge:CBMreading (which also includes a comprehension check). The interventionist checks that students are on track to meet their literacy intervention goal and if students are not on track a “phase change” is conducted. This “phase change” may entail increasing minutes, decreasing group size, or changing the intervention materials used.
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-6th grade.
Jane Edwards provides teacher training based in the science of reading, structured literacy, and foundational literacy skills in a variety of ways. Teachers are trained in the science of reading through LETRS professional development. A literacy consultant visits three times a year for additional training. Teachers have a variety of extended learning opportunities through the Charleston Educators Symposium and CCSD-offered continuing education sessions. The work PLCs, and work with the Reading Coach.
Section G: Analysis of Data
Strengths
● Per iReady data, 89% of Kindergarteners ended the 2023-2024 school year on or above grade level
● Per iReady data, 100% of 1st-graders ended the 2023-2024 school year on or above grade level
● Per iReady data, 67% of 2nd-graders ended the 2023-2024 school year on or above grade level
● Per state assessment data, only 14% of 3rd-graders scored Does Not Meet on SC Ready ELA in the Spring of 2024
● Per iReady data, the 4th-grade class improved from 17% performing on or above grade level in the Fall to 51% in the Spring of 2024.
● Per state assessment data, 71% of 5th-graders scored Meets or Exceeds on SC Ready ELA in the Spring of 2024
● Per MAP data, 71% of 6th-graders improved or maintained on or above grade level status from Fall to Spring of the 2023-2024 school year
Possibilities for Growth
● Utilize Lesson Internalization and Data-Driven Instruction within PLCs
● Administer diagnostics to 2nd- and 3rd-grade students to identify skills gaps for those students scoring between the 26th and 40th percentile on iReady benchmark to ensure continued improvement in reading skills before reaching upper elementary grades
● Implement CKLA Writing Studio with grades 2-4 as a special area within computer lab to improve writing skills
● Schedule more peer observations giving teachers opportunities to observe teachers in their school, as well as other schools that have multiple classes of the same grade (our school currently only has one class per grade due to small school size)
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
2023-2024 Goal - 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 37.5 % to 25 % in the spring of 2024
Progress
Goal met. In the Spring of 2024, the percentage of 3rd-graders scoring Does Not Meet was 14%.
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 as determined by SC READY from 14% to 13.5% in the spring of 2025.
Action Steps
● Students performing significantly below grade level (below 25th percentile) will receive targeted reading interventions.
● Weekly lesson plan submitted by teacher and reviewed by instructional coach to ensure targeted instruction.
● Engage in daily, rigorous CKLA lessons.
● CCSD iReady specialist to visit school to meet with 3rd-grade teacher for targeted planning of personalized learning for the 3rd-grade students
● Students will consistently engage in individualized i-Ready lessons in order to receive targeted digital lessons.
● Teachers will monitor student progress and make adjustments to instruction, as needed.