L1 - The district has established mission and goals.
L2 - There is a clearly articulated district/school vision for student achievement in literacy.
L3 - The district/school has allocated financial and human resources for the technology component of this initiative, including sufficient bandwidth, devices, and technology staff including funding for one coach and one school-wide literacy facilitator.
L4 - District and school strategic plans specify literacy targets, action steps, metrics, timelines, and responsible personnel.
L5 - District/school leaders monitor the implementation of the action steps articulated in the literacy plan and make adjustments, accordingly.
L6 - All PreK-3 teachers know and understand the district’s vision, goals, and implementation metrics, and are accountable for them.
L7 - Each school has a leadership team to lead literacy initiatives and ensure teachers are supported in the professional development model (Human, Financial, and Material).
L8 - Each school has a literacy coach that spends 100% of his/her time supporting teachers and staff to implement the literacy plan.
L9 - Substitutes are provided for coaching, data meetings, and other required PD activities.
L10 - A school master schedule has been created to support staggered academic blocks for small group instruction within Tier 1, a separate intervention block and grade-level teacher planning time (common planning time).
L11 - Collaborative time for each grade-level team is allocated weekly (45 min) for analysis of student work, data analysis, and development of instructional strategies.
L12 - Teachers use established practices (e.g., agendas, timelines, protocols etc.) for collaborative time and to ensure accountability.
Tiered Instructional Model
TI 1 - The school allocates at least a 90-minute literacy block for Tier 1 Instruction.
TI 2 - The 90-minute literacy block includes at least an hour for small group instruction.
TI 3 - Small group instruction within Tier 1 is differentiated based on data to meet student needs.
TI 4 - Tier 1 instruction includes evidence-based materials that are used to teach all components of literacy, including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing.
TI 5 - Instructional reading materials of multiple genres exist for a range of reading abilities and includes various text types (e.g., decodable, Lexile-leveled).
TI 6 - For all staff delivering Tier 1 instructional programs, on-going training in how to effectively use instructional materials is provided in collaboration with the publisher.
TI 7 - All staff responsible for providing Tier 1 instruction are monitored for fidelity of implementation.
TI 8 - The school schedule maximizes how human resources are allocated throughout the day for Tier 2 and Tier 3 instruction (e.g., staggered intervention block).
TI 9 - Tier 2 and Tier 3 small group intervention is differentiated based on data to meet student needs.
TI 10 - Tier 2 and Tier 3 intervention program and materials are evidence-based, and supplement Tier 1 instruction.
TI 11 - On-going training in how to effectively implement the use of instructional materials is provided in conjunction with the publisher for all staff delivering Tier 2 and 3 instructional programs.
TI 12 - All staff responsible for providing Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions are monitored for fidelity of implementation (e.g., implementation checklists).
TI 13 - Intervention delivery, including interventionist, time, intensity, materials, attendance and student engagement, is documented.
TI 14 - Reading intervention plans are coordinated with all service delivery personnel including general education, special education, English language, speech and language through collaborative planning time.
TI 15 - The school notifies families of intervention plans for their child including how their child’s progress will be monitored and communicated.
TI 16 - The norms, protocols and plans of the school are consistent with the District/School Literacy Plan.
Professional Development
PD 1 - Professional development is purposely selected based on each school’s strategic plan, data, and professional learning/Professional Learning Communities (PLC) outcomes. Results can be found in your Teacher Knowledge Survey Data (SDE).
PD 2 - Evidence-based professional development is offered on a regular basis, ideally monthly.
PD 3 - PreK-3 teachers receive on-going evidence-based training in the essential components of literacy (i.e., phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension), as well as other relevant literacy topics (e.g., differentiated instruction, classroom management, etc.).
PD 4 - After each professional development session, teachers are expected to apply their new knowledge and practice new strategies with their students.
PD 5 - Coaches provide embedded support to all PreK-3 teachers on a regular basis (i.e., at least twice a month).
PD 6 - Coaches have successful teaching experience, knowledge of research-based literacy programs, and demonstrate the ability to teach adult learners.
PD 7 - Coaches ensure that each component of comprehensive literacy is taught thoroughly so that teachers understand the content knowledge associated with each component and are able to apply that knowledge in their classrooms.
PD 8 - Coaches use a coaching cycle that includes a planning conference, a model lesson, and a reflection conference to engage teachers in the coaching process.
PD 9 - Coaches employ the gradual release of responsibility model with teachers – that is, they first model lessons, then co-teach lessons, and finally observe teachers’ lessons in order to provide feedback to ensure mastery of techniques.
PD 10 - After each coaching cycle, administrators look for the application of professional learning to be applied to classroom instruction.
PD 11 - Administrators attend all professional development sessions and meet regularly with coaches to support them in their embedded coaching.
PD 12 - The norms, protocols and plans of the school are consistent with the District Literacy Plan for professional development.
Assessment
A 1 - Each school has a comprehensive assessment framework that includes reliable and valid universal screening measures for all components of literacy (i.e., phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension) that are administered at least 3 times per year.
A2 - The comprehensive assessment framework includes formative assessments that are used for monitoring students’ progress in all components of literacy. (This Literacy Assessment Survey may help you to determine what assessments teachers are using and why.)
A3 - The comprehensive assessment framework includes diagnostic assessments for all components of literacy that are used to clarify and target the difficulties of individual students.
A4 - Teachers are provided with ongoing training on how to administer, score, and analyze all assessments.
A5 - An assessment schedule, including a suggested frequency for progress monitoring, is established for each grade level and shared with teachers.
A6 - Data is collected and entered consistently, accurately, and in a timely manner across grade levels and schools.
A7 - Each school has a data system for managing assessment information to make decisions at the district, school, grade, classroom, and student level. These decisions are driven by well-articulated, clear, and explicit rules that are data-driven.
A 8 - A well-articulated process for analyzing data, determining the instructional focus for students based on those data, and creating student groups through grade level data meetings every 8-10 weeks is implemented consistently.
A 9 - Reports are generated based on assessment data and their analysis and used by teachers both individually and during collaborative data team meetings.
A 10 - The evidence-based diagnostic assessment measures (from the comprehensive assessment framework) are used across all grade levels and utilized to plan supplemental (Tier 2) and tertiary (Tier 3) support.
A 11 - Principals and other school-level administrators attend data meetings and provide assistance with data analysis and determining resource allocation to support the student groupings and associated interventions based on students’ needs.
A 12 - The district/school meets to support the data-driven decision making process and monitors the percentage of students in each of the 3 tiers of instruction at least 3 times per year.
A 13 - The norms, protocols, and plans of the school are consistent with the District/School Literacy Plan.
Family Engagement
FE 1 - Families understand the district’s or school’s vision, plan, and principles for student achievement in literacy.
FE 2 - All materials and communications are translated into Spanish and/or any other languages that are dominant in the school/district.
FE 3 - Families receive information on their children’s reading progress on a regular basis.
FE 4 - Workshops are held on a regular basis to provide tips on what families can do at home to help their children acquire literacy skills. Workshops are presented in dominant languages, if possible.
FE 5 - School personnel (i.e., administrators and teachers) explain to families what the reading scores mean and how to read the data reports that are sent home.
FE 6 - Parent-teacher conferences occur at least twice a year and provide accessible, useful, and current information for families related to their children’s assessment data, literacy skills, and suggestions for home support.
FE 7 - Parents who are unable to attend parent-teacher conferences are provided an alternative meeting time and place to review their child’s reading data and progress.
FE 8 - The norms, protocols, and plans of the school are consistent with the District Literacy Plan for Family Engagement.
