Elementary Reading Guidelines:
Grades 1 to 5
May 2012
For Initial Implementation in SY 2012-13
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Elementary Reading Task Force
In August 2011 representatives from each of the elementary schools came together to form the
Elementary Reading Task Force. During the course of school year 2011-12 they completed two major
projects. First they reviewed research-proven reading solutions that might be used by some of the ACPS
elementary schools at which reading outcomes were in great need of an intervention. They completed a
root cause analysis of the issues, after which they then developed a rubric to be used when reviewing
solutions to ensure the solutions were in fact addressing the issues identified in the root cause analysis.
The task force then reviewed research-proven solutions including those on the What Works
Clearinghouse and the Best Evidence Encyclopedia. This review and rating of solutions led to the
selection of the Success for All reading solution for immediate implementation at three schools in ACPS.
The next task undertaken by the Elementary Reading Task Force was the development of reading
guidelines, using the root cause analysis, to provide common structures to all ACPS elementary reading
classes for the instruction of reading. These guidelines address the issues identified in the root cause
analysis conducted in the fall with the exception of identifying a specific intensive, job embedded
professional development model for how to teach reading. There are a variety of instructional models
being used for teaching reading across the division and limited consensus on which instructional model
should be used. The instructional content and the need for explicit instruction is agreed upon, but the
particular pedagogy has limited consensus. However, the need for ongoing and embedded professional
learning is recognized. The division will begin this summer to provide ongoing professional learning
around metacognition in elementary literacy. In addition, the division will continue to encourage each
school to provide professional learning that matches their instructional model as long as their reading
outcomes for their students continue to improve and achievement gaps are closing.
The Division thanks the Elementary Reading Task Force for their relentless work to date in shining a light
on the need to improve our outcomes in reading for many of our students and boldly conducting a root
cause analysis to highlight the areas of needed improvement.
Thanks to the Task Force Members:
Rachel
Becky
John
Katherine
Christina
Sara
Ron
Scott
Dawn
Alicia
Athelia
Stacy
Blumenthal
Bohn
Brown
Carey
Davin
Diaz
Eanes
Elchenko
Feltman
Foley
Graham
Hoeflich
Matthew Maury
Samuel Tucker
Curriculum and Instruction
John Adams
Special Education Office
John Adams
Patrick Henry
Mount Vernon
Patrick Henry
Samuel Tucker
William Ramsay
John Adams
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Margaret
GwenCarol
Greg
Karrie
Juliette
Suzanne
Tanisha
Cynthia
Robert
Jodie
Rosalyn
Nancy
Viky
Micki
Carol
Kevin
Nikavah
Hoffer
Holmes
Hutchings
Kay
Kopp
Lank
Martin
McDougal
Offterdinger
Peters
Rice-Harris
Ritter
Sosa-Kirpatrick
Suchenski
Vasilenko
West
Wyatt
Jefferson-Houston
Curriculum and Instruction
Curriculum and Instruction
Lyles-Crouch
Matthew Maury
Curriculum and Instruction
Curriculum and Instruction
Patrick Henry
James K Polk
Curriculum and Instruction
Jefferson-Houston
William Ramsay
ELL Office
ELL Office
Charles Barrett
George Mason
Patrick Henry
In addition, thank you to the many elementary principals and teachers that joined the task force at various
points as ad hoc members to share their expertise related to specific parts of the work.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ELEMENTARY READING TASK FORCE ........................................................................................... 2
THE DEFINITION OF READING........................................................................................................... 5
PURPOSE AND OVERVIEW OF GUIDELINES .................................................................................. 6
Non-Negotiables for Reading Instruction, grades 1 to 5 ...................................................................... 7
INSTRUCTIONAL COMPONENTS ....................................................................................................... 8
PHONEMIC AWARENESS:........................................................................................................................... 8
PHONICS .................................................................................................................................................... 8
FLUENCY: .................................................................................................................................................. 9
VOCABULARY ......................................................................................................................................... 10
TEXT COMPREHENSION AND METACOGNITION: ..................................................................................... 11
TYPES OF TEXT: ...................................................................................................................................... 15
INSTRUCTIONAL STRUCTURES ....................................................................................................... 16
INSTRUCTIONAL CYCLE .......................................................................................................................... 18
INSTRUCTIONAL TIME ............................................................................................................................. 19
GROUPING OF STUDENTS FOR INSTRUCTION .......................................................................................... 19
PEDAGOGY .............................................................................................................................................. 23
Explicit Instruction.............................................................................................................................. 25
Cooperative Learning and Peer Discussion ....................................................................................... 25
ASSESSMENT AND FEEDBACK ......................................................................................................... 26
CLASSROOM DATA – STUDENTS MONITORING THEIR OWN PROGRESS ................................................. 26
CLASSROOM DATA – DIAGNOSTIC DATA FOR INSTRUCTIONAL DECISION MAKING ............................. 27
PROGRESS MONITORING – SCHOOL AND DIVISION LEVEL ..................................................................... 27
Instructional Reading Level Conversion Chart ............................................................................... 29
SST AND RTI CONNECTIONS ............................................................................................................. 32
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING ............................................................................................................... 33
PARENT ENGAGEMENT ...................................................................................................................... 34
BUILDING LEADERSHIP ..................................................................................................................... 35
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................................... 37
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ACPS Elementary Reading Guidelines
Learning to read and reading to learn are two of the most critical competency students must develop in
elementary grades in order to have success in school and be on the pathway to graduation from high
school. In fact students must learn to read and then transition to reading to learn by the end of third grade
or the risk of dropping out of school is extremely high. The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s report Early
Warning! Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters states that “millions of American children get
to fourth grade without learning to read proficiently. And that puts them on the dropout track.” (p. 7)
Reading proficiently by the end of third grade is a critical milestone for student success in school.
Students who are learning to read are able to decode words and read with appropriate fluency. Students
who have transitioned to reading to learn are able to access information, solve problems, think critically
and act upon their learning. Reading to learn is the basis of mastering the college competency of reading
complex text.
Students who are not proficient readers (as measured by NAEP) and not able to read to learn by the end of
grade three are unable to access over half of the curriculum at grade four. They are more likely to have
behavior and social problems in school. They are more likely to be retained in school and unlikely to
graduate from high school let alone obtain a post-secondary degree or technical training (Casey
Foundation, 2010).
This stark reality of the importance of learning to read makes it our moral imperative to ensure the
children entrusted to ACPS for their education learn to read proficiently by the end of grade three. These
guidelines provide the structure that will be used by all ACPS elementary and PreK to 8 schools to
provide reading instruction in the elementary grades 1 to 5 and ensure all of our children learn to read for
success in school and life.
The Definition of Reading
The Institute for Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education published the practice
guide, Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten through 3rd Grade, which defines reading as
“the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement
with written language. Extracting meaning is to understand what an author has stated, explicitly or
implicitly. Constructing meaning is to interpret what an author has said by bringing one’s ‘capacities,
abilities, knowledge, and experiences’ to bear on what he or she is reading. These personal characteristics
also may affect the comprehension process.”
The comprehension skills and metacognitive strategies are the critical competencies that define the
successful reader. Ensuring our children are deeply steeped in these competencies are drivers in
developing these guidelines for reading instruction in the elementary grades in ACPS.
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Purpose and Overview of Guidelines
This document provides the guidelines or framework for how reading instruction is provided at the
elementary level in grades 1 to 5 in Alexandria City Public Schools. The guidelines are focused on
accomplishing the following:

Increasing significantly time for reading instruction that includes student and teacher interaction.

Increased time for student interaction with authentic text.

Foundational skills in reading applied in context immediately and frequently.

Increased opportunities for elaborate discourse by students around text.

Reading instruction provided at students’ instructional levels with urgency for moving students to
grade level and beyond.

Division and school accountability for student reading growth.
The guidelines do not include kindergarten structures as reading readiness and oral language are
incorporated throughout the school day in an integrated curriculum. However, this does not preclude a
limited number of kindergarten students from participating in a reading group if their instructional level
calls for this type of support to meet their needs.
The instructional components, instructional structures, and assessment and feedback frameworks are
outlined. The guidelines should be used in tandem with the ACPS English Language Arts curriculum. The
themes and essential questions in the ACPS Curriculum guides for English Language Arts provide a
guide for ensuring students read a wide variety of text and practice with a wide range of comprehension
skills and strategies.
In addition supports to the reading program such as SST and RtI connections, professional development,
leadership, and parent engagement are addressed. The guidelines provided in this document are the nonnegotiables for elementary reading instruction in ACPS. However, within the guidelines the specific
grouping, scheduling, and instructional models will vary to meet the needs of each individual school. The
instructional components and the structures identified are derived from the research on instructional
models that have been proven effective. They are key to ensuring all ACPS students are reading on or
above grade level by third grade with excellent comprehension and metacognitive skills.
It is also important to note that these are the guidelines for the reading portion of English Language Arts
instruction. They are not the guidelines for the writing portion of ELA which also includes grammar and
spelling. For that portion of the ELA instruction, elementary schools should continue to use the
framework from the Teachers College Writing Project.
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Non-Negotiables for Reading Instruction, grades 1 to 5

Instructional Components: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, Comprehension,
and Metacognition.

Use of authentic texts, both narrative/literary (60-45%) and expository/informational (40-55%)

Comprehension instruction is the primary focus of reading instruction.

Instruction includes: a) explicit/direct instruction and modeling by the teachers, b) guided practice
with immediate feedback, c) peer/team practice or cooperative learning or reciprocal teaching,
and d) independent assessment and feedback

Intense reading instruction (see pages 21-24) is to be provided daily on a child’s instructional
reading level (p. 28) for a minimum of 60 minutes/day. Students should be grouped for reading
by their instructional level and frequently re-assessed and accelerated.

Intense reading instruction involves high levels of interaction with the teacher and peers in rich
engagement with text or multiple texts and only short periods of time in independent practice.

Schools will monitor students for instructional reading level growth at least quarterly. Quarterly
data on student reading levels will be analyzed at student, class, school, and division levels.

The ACPS ELA Curriculum Guides provide guidance for the types of texts, comprehension
strategies, and essential questions to be included in instruction.
This document is organized into seven parts. The first part includes the key components that should be
included in the instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, text comprehension and
metacognition, and text structures. The ability to create meaning from text or to understand what is read is
the very essence of reading and therefore the component that should receive the primary focus during
instruction. The guidelines do not prescribe specific materials or programs. The ACPS English
Curriculum Guides should provide guidance to the type of texts, comprehension strategies, and essential
questions to be focused on each quarter. Students should be engaged with authentic and engaging text of a
wide variety including expository, narrative, poetry, technical, and persuasive text. The variety of texts
should be reflective of a wide variety of cultures and peoples. In addition, each school should use a
structured and comprehensive approach for teaching phonics and basic sight words/vocabulary at a grade
one reading level to ensure students are provided a comprehensive base for beginning reading.
The second part of the document speaks to instructional structures. This part of the document speaks to
the amount of time and how the time is used for reading instruction. The critical point of this part of the
document is the requirement that each student receive an intense 60 minutes or more a day of explicit
reading instruction on their instructional level. This will require schools to carefully group students during
the reading block so that students are engage in explicit instruction for the entire block and not spending
time in less intense activities while waiting their turn for instruction. Examples of ways to engage
students in a meaningful way with rich text are provided.
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The third section of the document speaks to assessment and feedback. The constant monitoring of student
data is critical to daily instruction as well as monitoring progress at the class, school and division level.
Each school will be expected to report quarterly at a division level their student’s instructional reading
levels. This reporting will be a way of monitoring school and division growth towards ensuring every
student is reading on or above grade level.
The last four sections make connections to various additional supports for student reading development:
a) the Student Support Team and Response to Intervention, b) professional learning for staff, c) parent
engagement in their child’s reading development, and d) building leadership.
Instructional Components
The National Reading Panel in April of 2000 identified key components of teaching young children to
read: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. ACPS elementary
reading instruction includes these building blocks of reading instruction as well as explicitly adding
instruction in metacognition.
Phonemic Awareness: ability to discriminate and combine individual sounds in spoken words.
Segmenting words into separate sounds as well as combining individual sounds into words in spoken
language is a key skill that must be in place to facilitate the development of phonics when the child begins
to interact with written text. Phonemic awareness should be a prominent component of instruction in the
Prekindergarten and kindergarten classroom. Word play with spoken words continues as students move to
a first grade reading level, however, the amount of emphasis on phonemic awareness declines as students
move to interacting with written as well as spoken words.
According to Virginia SOLs students should be able to:
K.4 The student will hear, say, and manipulate phonemes (small units of sound) of spoken language.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Identify orally words that rhyme.
Identify words orally according to shared beginning or ending sounds.
Blend sounds orally to make words or syllables.
Divide one-syllable words into sounds (phonemes).
Divide words into syllables.
1.4 The student will orally identify and manipulate phonemes (small units of sound) in syllables and
multisyllabic words.
a) Count phonemes (sounds) in syllables or words with a maximum of three syllables.
b) Add or delete phonemes (sounds) orally to change syllables or words.
c) Create rhyming words orally.
d) Blend sounds to make word parts and words with one to three syllables.
Phonics: is the ability to understand and use the relationships between phonemes/sounds and
graphemes/written letters to read and write words. Phonics instruction should be systematic with direct
and explicit instruction in letter-sound relationships in a clearly defined sequence in the major
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sound/spelling relationships of consonants and vowels with instruction in applying this knowledge to
reading, including books that contain a large number of words that children can decode by using the
letter-sound relationships they are learning. The time spent practicing and applying the ability to use these
relationships in reading text should outweigh the time spent on applying this knowledge to individual
words. Study of sounds and words in isolation such as word study or similar type of activities should be a
part of a quick, explicit skill lesson that moves rapidly to students reading the same or similar words in
text. Students should not spend precious instructional time cutting and pasting word cards, etc. Such
activities do not contribute directly to students learning to read.
Phonics instruction should be a part of reading instruction for students on a kindergarten to grade 2
reading level. Once a child is reading on a grade three reading level phonics instruction should be phased
out as vocabulary instruction and clarifying skills become the predominant means of learning to read new
words.
According to Virginia SOLs students should be able to:
K.7 The student will develop an understanding of basic phonetic principles.
a) Identify and name the uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet.
b) Match consonant and short vowel sounds to appropriate letters.
c) Identify beginning consonant sounds in single-syllable words.
1.6 The student will apply phonetic principles to read and spell.
a) Use beginning and ending consonants to decode and spell single-syllable words.
b) Use two-letter consonant blends to decode and spell single-syllable words.
c) Use beginning consonant digraphs to decode and spell single-syllable words.
d) Use short vowel sounds to decode and spell single-syllable words.
e) Blend beginning, middle, and ending sounds to recognize and read words.
f) Use word patterns to decode unfamiliar words.
g) Use compound words.
h) Read and spell common, high-frequency sight words, including the, said, and come.
2.4 The student will use phonetic strategies when reading and spelling.
a) Use knowledge of consonants, consonant blends, and consonant digraphs to decode and spell
words.
b) Use knowledge of short, long, and r-controlled vowel patterns to decode and spell words.
c) Decode regular multisyllabic words.
3.3
The student will apply word-analysis skills when reading.
a) Use knowledge of all vowel patterns.
b) Use knowledge of homophones.
c) Decode regular multisyllabic words.
Fluency: is the ability to read with appropriate speed, accuracy and expression. Fluency is important
because it allows the reader to focus cognitively on making meaning of the text rather than decoding and
stringing together the words of the text. Improving fluency requires explicit instruction and opportunities
for students to read the same text multiple times while working to improve against a specific fluency
rubric, as well as ample time spent reading in general. Fluency instruction is primarily focused at students
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reading on a first grade reading level to a third grade reading level with continuing reinforcement of
fluency instruction at the fourth and fifth grade reading level but with reduced emphasis.
According to VA SOLs students should be able to:
1.8
The student will read familiar stories, poems, and passages with fluency and expression.
2.7 The student will read fiction and nonfiction, using a variety of strategies independently.
c) Read stories, poems, and passages with fluency and expression.
d) Reread and self-correct when necessary.
3.4 The student will use strategies to read a variety of fiction and nonfiction materials.
e) Read fiction and nonfiction fluently and accurately.
f) Reread and self-correct when necessary.
4.3
The student will read fiction and nonfiction with fluency and accuracy.
5.4
The student will read fiction and nonfiction with fluency and accuracy.
Vocabulary: The larger a reader’s vocabulary (oral and written) the easier it will be for the reader to
understand the text. Vocabulary must be taught both directly and explicitly as well as indirectly through
exposure to a large vocabulary through rich classroom discourse. Vocabulary instruction begins as oral
language development in the Prekindergarten classrooms. A focus on oral language development should
continue throughout the elementary grades. Once a child begins reading at a first grade level, vocabulary
development also takes on instruction in sight words. By a second grade reading level vocabulary should
be an explicit part of daily reading instruction not only in the reading class period but in all content areas
as students begin to learn to read the text types specific to the various content areas. When a child reaches
a third grade reading level, vocabulary instruction should be a central part of reading instruction on a
daily basis as well as a central part of instruction in each of the content areas. Marzano (2004)
summarizes the impact of vocabulary instruction in his meta-analysis of impact of explicit vocabulary
instruction as “having an impressive track record of improving student’s background knowledge and the
comprehension of academic content.” The characteristics of effective vocabulary instruction include:









Linking of vocabulary to background knowledge and/or schema
Providing descriptions, explanations, and examples (not definitions)
Opportunities for the student to restate in his/her own words
Creation of nonlinguistic representations of the term
Multiple exposures to the vocabulary words
Multiple opportunities for students to discuss the vocabulary with each other
Opportunities for word play and use of word games.
Uses students’ native languages as a bridge to vocabulary development.
Continually developing and explicitly teaching content-specific academic language.
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According to VA SOLs students should be able to:
1.7
The student will use meaning clues and language structure to expand vocabulary when reading.
a) Use titles and pictures.
b) Use knowledge of the story and topic to read words.
c) Use knowledge of sentence structure.
d) Reread and self-correct.
2.5
The student will use meaning clues and language structure when reading.
a) Use information in the story to read words.
b) Use knowledge of sentence structure.
c) Use knowledge of story structure and sequence.
The student will use language structure to expand vocabulary when reading.
a) Use knowledge of prefixes and suffixes.
b) Use knowledge of contractions and singular possessives.
c) Use knowledge of simple abbreviations.
d) Use knowledge of antonyms and synonyms.
2.6
3.4 The student will use strategies to read a variety of fiction and nonfiction materials.
c) Apply meaning clues, language structure, and phonetic strategies.
d) Use context to clarify meaning of unfamiliar words.
4.3
The student will read fiction and nonfiction with fluency and accuracy.
a) Use context to clarify meanings of unfamiliar words.
b) Explain words with multiple meanings.
c) Use knowledge of word origins; synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms; and multiple
meanings of words.
d) Use word-reference materials, including the glossary, dictionary, and thesaurus.
5.4
The student will read fiction and nonfiction with fluency and accuracy.
a) Use context to clarify meaning of unfamiliar words.
b) Use knowledge of root words, prefixes, and suffixes.
c) Use dictionary, glossary, thesaurus, and other word-reference materials.
Text Comprehension and Metacognition: is the primary function of reading. The
construction of meaning by the reader through relating the text ideas to the readers own ideas and
experience other text, and engaging in problem solving and critical thinking is the very definition of
reading. Readers must be engaged in making meaning and applying comprehension strategies to the
reading process before the reading begins, during the reading process, and after the reading of the text has
concluded.
Metacognition is the ability to think about your own thinking and realize when comprehension is breaking
down and then take strategic steps to repair your thinking in order to restore comprehension. Strong
reading comprehension and metacognitive skills are essential to academic and post-secondary success.
Strong reading comprehension and metacognitive skills provide the vehicle for becoming an independent
learner. These literacy skills apply to all types of text including media.
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Students should be taught to use specific cognitive strategies through direct and explicit instruction.
Teachers demonstrate or model these strategies very explicitly, then prompt, guide, and coach students in
using the strategies for a gradual release of responsibility for the use of the strategies from the teacher to
the students. In addition, teaching students to use the text’s organizational structures is critical for
improving comprehension for students.
Instruction in comprehension strategies should begin before students are reading themselves as teachers
engage with students in read-alouds. Reading comprehension instruction should be a daily part of
instruction from a beginning reading level through all of the elementary grades as well as a part of daily
instruction in the content areas and across a variety of media. Readers who at an early age have strong
comprehension skills gain access to a broad range of texts and knowledge critical for success in school.
Comprehension instruction should focus from the very beginning on instruction on high-level
comprehension that requires students to analyze, synthesize and evaluate. Beginning reading instruction
should focus nearly as much time on comprehension instruction at both recall and higher levels of
comprehension as is focused on phonics and fluency. The relegating of comprehension instruction at the
primary reading levels to a small portion of the instructional block sets up a structure for students
developing strong skills in word decoding while totally missing the primary purpose of reading: making
meaning.
Once a child has reached a second grade reading level, comprehension instruction is the largest block of
the reading period. Reading comprehension strategies must be taught explicitly and practiced throughout
the day, not only during the instructional reading block, but in all the content areas and all types of media.
Students must leave the elementary years with the ability to make meaning with text in the mathematics,
science, social studies, and the arts.
The IES in a review of research identified the importance of teaching reading comprehension strategies to
students beginning in the primary grades. The specific comprehension strategies identified as key and
producing positive effects on comprehension when measured by standardized tests include:







Activating Prior Knowledge or Predicting: Student think about what they already know about a
topic and use that knowledge with clues from the text to predict what will happen in the text or
what the text will be about. As students read and gain more information they confirm or modify
their predications.
Questioning: Students develop and work to answer questions about the important ideas in the
text. Questions include those that require students to apply, analyze, synthesize and evaluate.
Visualizing: Student develop mental images or ‘mind-movies’ of what is described in the text.
Clarifying or Fix-up Strategies: Students pay attention to whether they understand what they are
reading and know when they do not understand. When understanding breaks down, students use a
fix-it strategy as they re-read the text to restore their understanding.
Inferencing: Students construct meaning that is not explicitly stated in the text by using clues in
the text in combination with their own background knowledge.
Retelling/Paraphrasing: Students retell what the text said in their own words.
Summarizing: Student briefly retells the main and most important points or ideas of the text.
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
Text Structures: Students understanding how text is organized. This helps students to distinguish
between major and minor events or details, extract meaning, and anticipate what will come next
in the text. Narrative text structures include characters, setting, goal, problem, plot or action,
resolution, and themes. Informational text structures include description, sequence, problem and
solution, cause and effect and compare and contrast.
Each of these strategies should be taught explicitly during reading instruction as well as in the content
areas. For example, when students are in science class and engaging with text, the appropriate reading
comprehension strategies should be taught and reinforced. Daily engagement with text in the content
areas should include daily instruction in reading comprehension through the content areas.
According to VA SOLs students should be able to:
K.8
The student will demonstrate comprehension of fiction and nonfiction.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
Use pictures to make predictions about content.
Retell familiar stories, using beginning, middle, and end.
Discuss characters, setting, and events.
Use story language in discussions and retellings.
Identify what an author does and what an illustrator does.
Identify the topics of nonfiction selections.
1.9
The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of a variety of fiction and nonfiction.
a) Preview the selection.
b) Set a purpose for reading.
c) Relate previous experiences to what is read.
d) Make predictions about content.
e) Ask and answer who, what, when, where, why, and how questions about what is read.
f) Identify characters, setting, and important events.
g) Retell stories and events, using beginning, middle, and end.
h) Identify the topic or main idea.
2.8
The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of fiction and nonfiction.
a) Make predictions about content.
b) Read to confirm predictions.
c) Relate previous experiences to the topic.
d) Ask and answer questions about what is read.
e) Locate information to answer questions.
f) Describe characters, setting, and important events in fiction and poetry.
g) Identify the problem, solution, and main idea.
3.4
The student will use strategies to read a variety of fiction and nonfiction materials.
e) Preview and use text formats.
f) Set a purpose for reading.
g) Apply meaning clues, language structure, and phonetic strategies.
h) Use context to clarify meaning of unfamiliar words.
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3.5
The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of fiction.
a) Set a purpose for reading.
b) Make connections between previous experiences and reading selections.
c) Make, confirm, or revise predictions.
d) Compare and contrast settings, characters, and events.
e) Identify the author’s purpose.
f) Ask and answer questions.
g) Draw conclusions about character and plot.
h) Organize information and events logically.
i) Summarize major points found in fiction materials.
j) Understand basic plots of fairy tales, myths, folktales, legends, and fables.
3.6
The student will continue to read and demonstrate comprehension of nonfiction.
a) Identify the author’s purpose.
b) Make connections between previous experiences and reading selections.
c) Ask and answer questions about what is read.
d) Draw conclusions.
e) Organize information and events logically.
f) Summarize major points found in nonfiction materials.
g) Identify the characteristics of biographies and autobiographies.
h) Compare and contrast the lives of two persons as described in biographies and/or
autobiographies.
4.4
The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of fiction.
a) Explain the author’s purpose.
b) Describe how the choice of language, setting, and information contributes to the author’s
purpose.
c) Compare the use of fact and fantasy in historical fiction with other forms of literature.
d) Identify major events and supporting details.
e) Describe the relationship between text and previously read materials.
f) Identify sensory words.
4.5
The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of nonfiction.
a) Use text organizers, such as type, headings, and graphics, to predict and categorize
information.
b) Formulate questions that might be answered in the selection.
c) Explain the author’s purpose.
d) Make simple inferences, using information from texts.
e) Draw conclusions, using information from texts.
f) Summarize content of selection, identifying important ideas and providing details for each
important idea.
g) Describe relationship between content and previously learned concepts or skills.
h) Distinguish between cause and effect and between fact and opinion.
i) Identify new information gained from reading.
4.6
The student will demonstrate comprehension of information resources to research a topic.
a) Construct questions about a topic.
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b) Collect information, using the resources of the media center, including online, print, and
media resources.
c) Evaluate and synthesize information.
5.5
The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of fiction.
a) Describe the relationship between text and previously read materials.
b) Describe character development in fiction and poetry selections.
c) Describe the development of plot and explain how conflicts are resolved.
d) Describe the characteristics of free verse, rhymed, and patterned poetry.
e) Describe how an author’s choice of vocabulary and style contributes to the quality and
enjoyment of selections.
5.6
The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of nonfiction.
a) Use text organizers, such as type, headings, and graphics, to predict and categorize
information.
b) Identify structural patterns found in nonfiction.
c) Locate information to support opinions, predictions, and conclusions.
d) Identify cause-and-effect relationships.
e) Identify compare-and-contrast relationships.
f) Skim materials to develop a general overview of content and to locate specific information.
g) Identify new information gained from reading.
5.7
The student will demonstrate comprehension of information from a variety of print resources.
a) Develop notes that include important concepts, summaries, and identification of information
sources.
Types of Text: If the goal of reading is to extract and construct meaning through the involvement
with text, the large range of types of texts must be considered and explicitly taught to ensure students are
able to comprehend the wide variety of text they will encounter in school and post-secondary life.
Students should from the very beginning be exposed to both narrative and expository/technical text with
instruction on constructing meaning from both (Shanahan et al., 2010). By the time a student is reading at
a third grade reading level students should interact during instruction with a 50/50 mixture of narrative
and expository/technical text. By the time a child is reading at a fifth grade level instruction should be
based on a mixture of 45/55 of narrative and expository/technical text (2009 National Assessment of
Educational Progress). When a student reaches grade four, the ability to construct meaning from
expository text is key to success in school. Students need to be strategically prepared for success in grades
4 and above when learning and success in school is heavily dependent on the ability to derive meaning
from text.
Instructional
Reading Level
1st grade reading level
3rd grade reading level
5th grade reading level
Narrative/Literary
Text
60%
50%
45%
Expository/
Informational Text
40%
50%
55%
15
While specific texts, materials, or programs are not prescribed, students should be engaged with authentic
and engaging texts of a wide variety including expository, narrative, poetry, technical, and persuasive
text. In addition, the variety of texts should be reflective of a wide variety of cultures and peoples. It is
also important to note that text may be in a variety of forms from the printed book to electronic media.
In addition, each school should use a structured and comprehensive approach for teaching phonics and
basic sight words/vocabulary at a grade one reading level to ensure students are provided a
comprehensive base for beginning reading. A comprehensive phonics instructional sequence ensures
students have all of the decoding tools at the ready.
Once a child leaves the elementary grades, his/her ability to read and comprehended expository and
technical text is critical to his/her success in the middle and high school grades. Therefore it is critical that
elementary reading instruction include not only instruction during the explicit reading instructional block,
but that reading instruction continue in the content areas with explicit instruction in how to read and make
meaning from a variety of texts, informational resources, and technical documents. Reading must be
explicitly taught in the sciences, social sciences, and mathematics classes as well.
Instructional Structures
Giving the importance of success in reading, it is critical that reading instruction for ACPS students be the
most effective possible. This section provides the basic guidelines about how the reading instructional
block should be structured including the amount of time for explicit instruction, the grouping of students
to maximize the instructional time, the amount of time to spend on the various instructional components,
and meaningful ways to engage students with text. These instructional structures speak to the core reading
block. Some students may also receive interventions in addition to the 60 minutes or more of the core
reading block.
From the day a child begins elementary school until they graduate from the fifth grade, their success in
becoming skillful and strategic readers is key to their development not only in the elementary grades, but
through-out their education. It greatly impacts their chances of successful graduation from high school
and finding success in post-secondary education and careers. Those that do not succeed in becoming
proficient readers face long odds in achieving success in school and life.
In several national studies of the effects of Reading First on reading instruction across the county Gamse
et al (2008) and Moss et al (2008) found that teachers were in fact doing more phonics instruction yet
outcomes were disappointing with small effects seen on decoding measures and no impact on
comprehension measures in grades 1 to 3. A similar study on the reading skills of second graders (Garet
et al., 2008) found despite intensive professional development focused on phonics there was no effect on
reading skills of the students. While phonics instruction is important to helping students learn to decode
words, it is not sufficient to improve student reading abilities. “Children in grades two and above must
become strategic comprehenders of increasingly sophisticated text,” (Slavin et al., 2010).
Reviews conducted by Johns Hopkins University (Slavin et al., 2010) and the IES, point to instruction in
comprehension as producing significant positive effect sizes in improving reading outcomes for students.
Consistent positive effects were found in a family of cooperative learning approaches that focus on
16
professional development in structured activities that engage children from a second grade reading level
and on in discussions about reading and metacognitive strategies. These programs are characterized by
extensive professional development in classroom strategies intended to maximize student engagement
while teaching metacognitive strategies for comprehending text. Another promising category of
programs emphasized metacognitive strategy instruction in which students were taught structures for
employing such strategies
The U.S. Department of Education on its What Works Clearinghouse also has recognized the importance
of teaching reading comprehension early in the elementary reading instructional process in their practice
guide Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through Third Grade (Sept. 2010). In their
review of the literature they found strong positive effects for explicit instruction of reading
comprehension strategies and moderate effects for teaching students to use text structures to aid
comprehension and in engaging students in text through high-quality discussions. The IES practice guide
for Improving Adolescent Literacy: effective Classroom and Intervention Practices (Aug. 2008) finds
strong effects for providing explicit vocabulary instruction, direct and explicit comprehension strategy
instruction, and moderate effect for engaging students in text through high-quality discussions.
Based on a synthesis of this research on effective reading instruction, the ACPS instructional model for
reading places an emphasis on phonics instruction that includes application of phonics in the reading of
text that allow students to practice the rules they are learning.
Once students have reached a second grade reading level, the ACPS instructional model for reading
places an emphasis on reading comprehension being the dominate portion of instruction. Phonics
instruction continues, but declines throughout the second grade reading level. Vocabulary instruction and
fluency instruction are also part of the instruction block, but are provided as a means to assisting in
comprehension of text. Once a child has reached a second grade reading level, reading comprehension
should be the major focus of instruction. Instruction in reading comprehension strategies should be
explicit with the teacher modeling for students then providing guided support for students, opportunities
for students to practice with a peer, and then finally practice the strategy independently. The components
of reading instruction are listed below in order from the component to receive the greatest amount of
instructional time to the least.
Degree of
Instructional
Focus
Most
Least
Beginning Reading Instruction
Phonics instruction with extensive
opportunities to practice phonics
while reading text.
Comprehension
Fluency
Vocabulary
Text Structures
Reading Instructional Level 2.0
and Above
Comprehension and metacognitive
strategies practices while reading
text
Vocabulary
Fluency
Text Structures
Limited Phonics Instruction at the
lower instructional levels.
17
Instructional Cycle
Since instruction in comprehension strategies is key to developing independent readers, it is appropriate
to define what is strategy instruction. A strategy is a deliberate mental act during the reading of text that
improves the readers comprehension. A teacher provides a description of the strategy, then models for
students the use of a strategy by engaging in a ‘think-aloud’ so that students have access to the mental
acts the teacher is performing while engaging with the text. The students model for each other and
collaboratively practice the strategies explaining their thinking to a teacher or peer with support or cues
from the teacher or peer. Finally the student is able to use the strategy independently when engaging with
text. Instruction in a strategy is not having students complete worksheets or engaging in isolated
comprehension skills such as sequencing, finding details, etc. Instruction in discrete comprehension skills
can assist students later when they merge a variety of comprehension skills in order to engage in a
strategy. However discrete practicing of comprehension skills provides for limited transfer and should be
used only in small amounts and with great care.
Teachers can provide instruction in a strategy and allow students time to practice and gain some
independence before introducing the next strategy. As more strategies are introduced students come to
master multiple strategies and teachers should encourage students to use any and all the strategies they
have learned as they read. During the instructional cycle it is important to remember that students need
time to process their learning. Therefore explicit instruction from the teacher should not exceed 10
minutes before students are given time to process and/or practice with their teammates. This would be
using the principle of 10-2 from Skillful Teacher (Saphier, Haley-Speca, & Gower, 2008). In many of the
forms of cooperative learning, student talk and/or processing of the learning with their peers should equal
the amount of teacher talk for a 50-50 principle of teacher talk/student talk (Slavin, 2009).
Instructional Cycle
Stages
Actions
Explicit/direct instruction:
Teacher reads text. Teacher provides
description of process and modeling description and models. Teacher may
by an expert reader
also solicit a student who has
mastered the skill/strategy to model
for peers as well.
Guided practice with immediate
Student reads text. Teacher prompts
feedback
and cues students as they initially
practice the skill/strategy. Teacher
provides in the moment feedback for
immediate correction if needed.
Peer/Team Practice or Reciprocal
Student reads text. Students practice
Teaching or other forms of
with a partner or team while teacher
cooperative learning.
monitors the partners or teams.
Students provide each other
feedback on their use of the
skill/strategy. Teachers provide
partners/teams feedback on their use
of cooperative learning strategies as
well as their use of the skill/strategy
being practiced.
18
Independence/Assessment and
Feedback
Individual assessment and feedback
to student. Student charts progress.
Teacher provides opportunities for
further practice or re-teaching if
needed.
Instructional Time
Developing proficiency in reading to learn is a primary function for the elementary grades. This
proficiency is critical for the student’s success in school and life as it enables them to access knowledge in
all of the content areas. Reading instruction is the primary job of the elementary school. Students should
receive a minimum of 60 minutes of instruction and ideally 90 minutes of reading instruction daily.
Assigned work without access to the modeling and support of the teacher and/or peers is not instruction.
Sustained silent reading can be a valuable part of the school day as practice and developing a love of
reading. However, it is not instruction and should not be counted as part of the instructional block.
Additional English Language Arts instruction (writing, spelling, and grammar) should be provided
outside of the reading block so that the entire ELA block might be 130 to 150 minutes.
Grouping of Students for Instruction
Daily instruction in reading comprehension and metacognitive strategies must be provided given that they
are the most critical component of reading instruction. In order to maximize this instruction, students
must receive explicit instruction daily at their instructional reading level, not their enrolled grade level.
This means students will be working primarily on standards at their instructional level. If students are
working below grade level it is important that teachers model the standards for their enrolled grade level
and provide the acceleration needed to quickly move students up to an instructional level that matches
their enrolled level. However, the students will be working primarily on standards at their instructional
level.
Students need to be engaged in daily, intensive reading instruction during which their teacher models the
skills and strategies and then supports the students as they collaboratively model and practice these skills
with their peers and finally move to independence in using comprehension skills and metacognitive
strategies. Students must be highly engaged with rich text during reading instruction. Much of the
traditional student seatwork, work sheets, and sorting activities that students are assigned to do while
waiting their turn for explicit instruction with the teacher do not support this type of learning for students
or engage students with rich text. Therefore, students must be grouped in ways that maximize the
opportunities for explicit and collaborative instruction around rich text with their teacher and peers for a
60 to 90 minutes instructional block and minimize the need to provide work to keep students occupied
while another group is working with the teacher.
In order to provide students with a minimum of 60 minutes of intense and explicit instruction in reading
with no time to fill while students wait their turn with the teacher, schools will need to group students
according to reading levels for instruction so that teachers can work with one or at most two reading
19
groups during the 60 minute block. Several possible ways of grouping students are listed below. In
addition, schools are encouraged to maximize their staff during the instructional block. If reading
teachers, ELL teachers and/or special education teachers are working with the grade level teams in a
collaborative manner during the reading block, these staff can also be assigned an instructional reading
group, facilitating smaller instructional groups or serve in a co-teaching manner, whichever best serves
the needs of the students.
Student groups that are working on or above grade level may be larger groups so that student groups
working below grade level have the availability of more teachers to construct smaller groups to facilitate
even more intensive instruction for these students. If a student has an IEP, the provisions of the IEP will
determine the instruction and the location of those services. However, in general, if a student’s IEP calls
for them to receive reading instruction in an inclusive setting then they would be a part of one of the
groups working at their instructional level. As in all classes, consideration also needs to be given to the
composition of the group to ensure groups are inclusive and heterogeneous outside of the grouping factor
of instructional level. Grouping across two grade levels provides for greater heterogeneous groups as
discussed below in regards to the Joplin plan.
One way to ensure students have access to high quality instruction with a teacher for 60 to 90 minutes a
day is to use the Joplin Plan for cross-grade ability grouping for reading only. Research particularly
supports this plan with a meta-analysis median effect size of +.45. (Cushenbery, D. C., 1967; Slavin, R.
E. 1987; Grossen, B. 1996). The evidence does not support assignment of student to self-contained
classes according to ability, but rather re-grouping across grade levels and classrooms for one or two
subjects with students remaining in heterogeneous classes for the rest of the day. In addition, it is critical
that group assignments frequently be reassessed and students moved to new and higher level groups as
rapidly as possible. The cross grade grouping is a critical component as it provides, for example, a nine
year old with a strong verbal ability and work habits to be in the same group with an 11 year old student
that is struggling and therefore provides a strong role model for the struggling student. This across grade
group provides for varied levels of aptitude while creating a level proficiency group. This model provides
for flexible group with frequent assessment and frequent movement of students to higher instructional
groups. Additional licensed staff in the building such as reading teachers, ELL teachers, or special
education teachers can also be used to teach a reading group and reduce the size of the various
instructional groups even more. There must always be an urgency to move students to higher levels of
instruction. Sensitivity is required when using cross grade-level grouping to not span too large of an age
range.
In order to provide students with 60 to 90 minutes of intensive reading instruction at their instructional
reading level (not enrolled grade level) cross class groupings will most likely be necessary. It is
recommended that grouping happen across grade levels as well in order to provide for a greater range of
instructional reading levels and needs. Several examples of how students could be grouped for reading are
included below. The primary considerations in re-grouping students for reading include:
 Providing explicit instruction for 60 to 90 minutes to students on their
instructional reading level. (Reducing the need for seatwork while the teacher
works with other instructional groups.)
20

Ensuring instructional level groups contain strong students as well as students
needing extra support.
 Ensuring that students are engaged with rich text during the entire 60 to 90
minute instructional block.
Three examples are given below of how schools might elect to group their students for reading. The
decisions will vary from school to school depending on the number of certificated staff available during
the reading block and the needs of their students. The critical factor is once again: a minimum of 60
minutes of explicit reading instruction at a student’s instructional level.
Example 1:
A school could group students across grade 1 for instruction and then combine grades 2 and 3 for cross
grade grouping and grades 4 and 5 for cross grade grouping. Assuming there are 4 teachers at each grade
level the following groups might be formed at the beginning of the school year with groups changing as
students progress.
Each teacher has one instructional level reading group for the entire reading block.
Enrolled Grade
Instructional Reading Level Groupings of 60 to 90 minutes
T = Teacher
1st
T1: Reading Level T2: Level 1.3 to
T3: Reading Level T4: Reading Level
1.1. to 1.2
1.4
1.5 to 1.7
1.7 to 1.9
2nd and 3rd
T1: Reading Level
1.7
T5: Reading Level
2-2
T2: Reading Level
2-1
T6: Reading Level
3-1
T3: Reading Level
2-1
T7: Reading Level
3-1
T4: Reading Level
2-2
T8: Reading Level
3-2
4th and 5th
T1: Reading Level
3-1
T5: Reading Level
4-2
T2: Reading Level
3-2
T6: Reading Level
5-1
T3: Reading Level
4-1
T7: Reading Level
5-1
T4: Reading Level
4-1
T8: Reading Level
5-2
Example 2:
A school could group students across grades 1 and 2 for instruction and then across grade 3, 4, and 5.
Assuming there are 4 teachers for each grade level the following groups might be formed at the beginning
of the year with groups changing as students progress.
Each teacher has one instructional level reading group for the entire reading block.
Enrolled Grade
Instructional Reading Level Groupings of 60 to 90 minutes
T = Teacher
1st and 2nd
T1: Reading Level T2: Level 1.3 to
T3: Reading Level T4: Reading Level
1.1. to 1.2
1.4
1.5 to 1.7
1.7 to 1.9
T5: Reading Level T6: Reading Level T7: Reading Level T8: Reading Level
2-1
2-1
2-2
2-2
21
3rd, 4th, and 5th
T1: Reading Level
2-1
T5: Reading Level
3-3
T9: Reading Level
4-2
T2: Reading Level
2-2
T6: Reading Level
4-1
T10: Reading
Level 5-1
T3: Reading Level
3-1
T7: Reading Level
4-1
T11: Reading
Level 5-1
T4: Reading Level
3-1
T8: Reading Level
4-1
T12: Reading
Level 5-2
Example 3:
A school could group students across a single grade for instruction with each teacher having two groups
for reading instruction. The teacher could teach both groups together a mini-comprehension lesson,
modeling the skills and strategies to be used. The teacher could then support the students in guided
practice as the students worked in teams of three or four students each working in the same level text.
This might mean that there were some teams using leveled text A and some using level text B as there
would be two instructional reading groups in the class. After guided practice instructional level A would
continue to work in their team with the text for team practice, while instructional level B would work with
the teacher for another mini-lesson on vocabulary, etc. specific to the leveled text they were reading. Then
the two groups would switch so that instructional level A was working with the teacher on a mini-lesson
while instructional group B was working as a team with their leveled text. This format would use a
workshop model that would allow the teacher to work with two groups and ensure each group was
engaged with rich text throughout the lesson, avoiding the assigning of worksheets, lengthy word sorts,
and other less text dependent tasks. The following example assumes one teacher working with two groups
on different instructional reading levels.
Each teacher has two instructional level reading groups for the entire reading block.
Segments would
repeat as many
times as need for a Segment I
Segment II
Segment III
full 60 minutes of
instruction.
Instructional Level
Guided practice
Lesson with
A
with
teacher specific to
comprehension
instructional level
skill with Text A
A
Teacher models
mini
comprehension
Instructional Level lesson that is
Guided practice
Team/partner
applicable to both
B
with
practice or
groups
comprehension
reciprocal teaching
skill with Text B
or other CL
structure for rich
engagement with
text B.
Segment IV
Team/partner
practice or
reciprocal teaching
or other CL
structure for rich
engagement with
text B.
Lesson with
teacher specific to
instructional level
B
22
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is where the art and science of teaching meet. Pedagogy is the instructional strategies used to
ensure that students learn the specific content and obtain the ability to use their learning in new ways to
problem solve and create new knowledge. Since this document provides guidelines for the reading
instructional block, the pedagogy discussed here is a discussion of what explicit instruction and rich
engagement with text might look like during the 60 to 90 minutes reading instructional block.
It is critical that students are engaged with text in meaningful ways during the reading instructional block.
Students just beginning to decode words need to spend time practicing those decoding skills in the context
of text such as sentences with words reinforcing their new skills or controlled text that provide multiple
opportunities for students to practice their new skills.
Students reading at an instructional level of 2-1 or higher should spend significant amounts of time in the
purposeful reading of text and interacting with that text with peers. Accountability systems for checking
for understanding as students read must be built into the short blocks of time in which are engaging with
text either individually or as a team. Students engaged in cooperative groups to clarify, paraphrase,
questions, predict, and summarize around the text they are reading is a powerful and engaging learning
strategy. Students can be taught cooperative learning routines that involve questioning each other and
asking their peers to explain or justify their thinking. It is this rich discourse around both basic
comprehension questions and high order thinking questions that develops student comprehension and
metacognition. After students have had rich discussion around text, students may then be asked to
respond in writing to one or two high level questions.
The goal is to engage students in meaningful ways around text. Work that is focused on drilling skills in
isolation should be avoided such as most worksheets and many word sorts. Word sorts can be quite
effective when used for short periods in the teaching of spelling or phonics patterns. Word sorts used for
teaching phonics should be a part of explicit instruction that is intense and fast paced. After a fast paced
word sort, students should then immediately use the phonics rules and or patterns in text to prevent the
word sort from being a decontextualized phonics practice. Students spending time cutting out cards and
pasting them in notebooks consumes a good deal of instructional time that is not intense or fast paced.
Word sorts used for teaching spelling should be a part of the writing instructional block and kept intense
and fast paced as well.
In the same way, sustained silent reading is in most cases not appropriate for the instructional reading
block. While sustained silent reading is an effective practice activity, the focus during the minimum 60
minutes instructional block is on explicit instruction. Students may engage in silent reading in short
blocks of time followed by guided practice, team practice, reciprocal teaching around comprehension or
metacognitive strategies. All short periods of silent reading should be paired with an accountability
activity to ensure students are learning to process information gained in the reading process like excellent
readers and problem solvers. Sustained silent reading for pleasure and listening to books for pleasure,
while encouraged, should be outside of the intense 60 minute instructional block.
23
Meaningful Work in Reading Instruction
Meaningful Engagement with Rich Text
Making predictions and reading to confirm or deny
predictions.
Reading to use the context to help determine the
meaning of a new word.
Reading to determine author purpose and
discussing with a partner what the author might
have done to better accomplish the purpose.
Reading to obtain knowledge that is then used by
the student to solve a problem.
Reading to find clues to justify an inference to a
partner.
Supporting claims and assertions with evidence
from text.
Expressing insights, etc. with graphic organizers
and other structures for accountable responses to
the text.
Responding to higher order thinking questions with
probes from a partner.
Students explaining the compelling why for the
activity for which they are engaged.
Comparing of texts and explaining their
comparison with a partner.
Analyzing text and justifying their thinking behind
the analysis.
Summarizing text orally or in writing.
Recording fix-up strategies used.
Sketching (very quick) the picture in your mind
from the text.
Less Meaningful Work to Be Avoided
Coloring a picture of what you think will happen
next. Extended time spent coloring with no
conversation about the picture.
Filling in the blank with a new word.
Worksheet matching author purpose statements to
types of text.
Silent reading in isolation with no structured
responses or low level comprehension questions.
Reading a two or three paragraph text on a
worksheet and then writing the answer to 3 or 4
basic comprehension questions.
Decontextualized phonics practice.
Rainbow words.
Copying of words.
Cutting of word cards.
Copying sentence answers to questions.
Word bingo.
Popcorn reading or round robin reading.
A review of effective reading instructional programs on the What Works Clearinghouse
(http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/ ) and the Best Evidence Encyclopedia
(http://www.bestevidence.org/index.cfm )reveal commonalities of the pedagogy of these effective
programs.
The kindergarten and first grade reading level is distinct from other levels of reading development
because this is the level where students are learning the basics of turning print into meaning.
Commonalities among these proven programs include extensive professional development and follow-up
for teachers focused on explicit instruction with cooperative learning where peers assist each other in
obtaining mastery in structured activities; including a strong focus on teaching phonics and phonemic
awareness with extensive practice in using their phonics skills with reading and comprehending text. The
programs that taught phonics in isolation with frequent use of worksheets, sorting and other activities
showed no positive effects for student achievement.
24
Beginning at a second grade reading level the primary focus of instruction becomes helping students
make meaning of the text. A review of proven programs at this level reveals several commonalities. All
programs contain strategy instruction that teach students cognitive and metacognitive skills such as
summarization, prediction and text structures to help them comprehend the text. This strategy instruction
is combined with methods of cooperative learning or peer tutoring that allow students to engage in
frequent discourse around their comprehension. These proven programs use a cooperative learning
approach that engage students in discussions about reading, providing them with opportunities to help
their teammates learn and use metacognitive skills. Lastly these proven programs are steeped in job
embedded continuous professional development to support teachers in providing explicit strategy
instruction in the framework of cooperative learning.
For both beginning reading (levels K and 1) and upper-elementary reading (instructional reading level of
2.0 and above) there is extensive evidence that effective reading instruction is based on strategies that
maximize student engagement such as cooperative learning in which students support each other in their
learning that is primarily focused on making meaning of text through explicit instruction in
comprehension and metacognitive strategies. While phonics instruction is necessary, it is not enough to
increase reading achievement. The use of direct, explicit instruction especially related to how good
readers unlock new words and create understanding with the text with plenty of opportunities for students
to practice with their peers is critical for an effective reading program.
Explicit Instruction
Explicit instruction is systemic and direct. It provides clear descriptions of processes and thorough
modeling and thinking-aloud of cognitive processes so that students can observe the mental workings of a
good reader. Students learn possible ways of problem solving by observing the teacher and/or a peer as
he/she thinks out loud when working through problems and therefore demonstrating the processes being
used. This instruction is followed by guided practice in which the teacher prompts the student in using the
strategies to problem solve for themselves. Explicit instruction is one of the defining characteristics of
proven reading instruction (Slavin, 2010; Sporer, Brunstein, & Kieschke, 2009; Foorman et al., 1998;
Fuchs, Fuchs, Mathes, & Simmons, 1997). Explicit instruction is also one of the key components of
providing clarity as identified by Research for Better Teaching as necessary for instruction resulting in
academic gains (Saphier, Haley-Speca, & Gower, 2008).
Cooperative Learning and Peer Discussion
The cooperative learning formats of proven effective instruction includes the key components of wellstructured groups that include frameworks for a) team interdependence, b) individual accountability, and
c) equal opportunities for success and/or celebration (Slavin, 2009; Webb, 2008). These cooperative
learning teams are taught very clear behaviors for how they interact in a group such as:





Active listening
Everyone participates
Everyone complete tasks
Teammates require each other to explain their answers and tell why
Teammates encourage each other.
25
The cooperative learning groups provide a vehicle for student engagement as peers are used to encourage
participation of all students, provide an opportunity for all students to be heard, and to have a critical
friend that demands they explain their thinking or tell why. Because it will take time for students to learn
how to work effectively in groups, it is important that the teacher explicitly model the behaviors expected
and positively reinforce the behaviors desired, including the cooperative behaviors mentioned above.
What learning and/or strategies the team practices as well as what their discussion is focused on is critical
as well. The work done in the teams must be of a high level. Team members must support each other in
using higher level comprehension and metacognitive strategies such as questioning, predicting,
visualizing, clarifying, and summarizing. The discussion around the text must be at a high level and
include high order questions such as:










Why did
?
What do you think
?
If you were the author
?
What does
remind you of and why?
What makes you say that?
What happened in this book that makes you think that?
Can you explain what you meant when you said
f?
Do you agree with what
said? Why or why not?
How does what you said connect with what
already said?
How does this text compare with (another text)? Explain your analysis.
Assessment and Feedback
Assessment and feedback to guide students and teachers in the classroom must be frequent and specific.
Students should be partners with their teachers in monitoring their instructional reading level and tracking
their progress. In addition, teachers must be savvy data collectors and users, collecting data daily during
instruction which guides their instruction both in the moment and as they plan for future instruction. In
addition, schools and the division need to monitor student reading data to determine growth and to
provide direction to the continuous improvement efforts at both the school and division level.
Classroom Data – Students Monitoring Their Own Progress
Students from grade one and on, should be aware of their reading level, set goals with their teacher for
improvement and then chart their progress. Students’ full participation in monitoring their reading growth
increases student engagement and academic progress (Bangert-Drowns, Kulk, &Morgan, 1991). This
might take the form of individual student and teacher conferences. In this conference the teacher and
student note the student’s reading level, set a goal for what reading level the student should get to and by
when (such as the next quarter), as well as, noting the student’s strengths in reading and a couple of next
steps for improving his/her reading abilities. This should be a part of a student’s IAP if he/she has one.
For example for a beginning reader that is reading at a 1.6 reading level, the goal might be that by the end
of the next quarter the student wants to be reading at the 1.8 reading level. The student can chart his/her
26
progress on graph paper. As a part of the conference, the student and teacher could talk about what the
student does well (i.e. decodes unknown words) and what the student could work on improving (i.e.
reading with smoothness – fluency) in order to improve his/her reading level. These conferences could be
held in conjunction with the quarterly progress reporting.
An example for a student reading at an intermediate level might be, the student notes that he/she is
reading at a lexile level of 450 and wants to increase to a 525 by the end of the quarter. The student can
chart his/her progress on graph paper. The teacher and student identify what the student does well when
reading such as identifying details. They then discuss what the student could improve on such as using the
details to make predictions or inferences. These conferences could be held in conjunction with the
quarterly progress reporting.
Classroom Data – Diagnostic Data for Instructional Decision Making
In addition, teachers need to be collecting data on a daily basis in order to modify instruction as needed to
ensure all students are successful. This data should be collected by the teacher providing the reading
instruction to the student. Data for instructional decision making comes from end of unit assessments as
well as the daily observation of students as they read and apply skills and strategies. Teachers may use
running records or the daily observation of students reading and discussing to record notes on student use
of clarifying strategies or cause and effect. This information guides instruction as teachers modify
instruction in the moment; if the teacher notes that students are struggling to clarify at the paragraph level
the teacher immediately models for students how to clarify at the paragraph level and then provides for
additional guided practice. In addition, this daily collection of data guides teachers in lesson planning.
Noting that students are able to use details to predict with narrative text, but unable to use details to make
inferences with expository text would guide a teacher to plan a series of lessons with expository text using
details to help develop inferences.
Teachers should regularly meet in collaborative teams to review student data across the grade(s) level so
that all teachers working with a specific student are able to support the student in their use of reading
strategies across the content areas. This is particularly important as teachers work together to serve teams
of students.
Progress Monitoring – School and Division Level
At least quarterly, all students in the school should be assessed for their instructional reading level. This
information will allow for progress monitoring and the frequent regrouping (at least quarterly) of students
for instruction. A student’s instructional reading level should be determined by multiple data points:
classroom data combined with more formal data from SRI and the CRTs. Students should be provided
with daily instruction at the top of their instructional reading level in order to challenge and advance their
growth as quickly as possible. School staff must maintain an urgency to move students as quickly as
possible ahead on their instructional reading levels. The formation of reading groups across the school can
be determined by a building reading teacher, an assistant principal, grade level teams, a literacy or
instructional coach, or whomever the building leadership designates to coordinate this work.
Students working in groups that are at an instructional level below their enrolled grade level should be
carefully monitored. These students need to make more than a semester’s progress each semester in order
to close the achievement gap. Teachers should particularly monitor these students’ data carefully, and
27
aggressively move these students to the highest reading group at which they can perform with scaffold
support from the teacher.
Each elementary school will administer the SRI quarterly to students reading at a 2-2 instructional level
and above. In addition, the PALs assessment will be administered fall, mid-year, and spring for students
as required by VDOE guidelines.
Each quarter, schools will determine an instructional reading level for each student in grades 1 to 5. These
reading level data will be used at both the school level and the division level to monitor progress. At the
school level the data will be used to:





Regroup students for the next quarter’s reading instruction. (If student data indicates a need to
move a student to different instructional level during the quarter this should be done without
waiting for the formal end of the quarter.)
Identify students who made at least a quarter’s worth of gain and need to be celebrated.
Identify students who did not make at least a quarter’s worth of gain and may be in need of
additional supports.
Identify students, who are already behind, that did not make more than a quarter’s gain and
therefore are not making enough progress to close their achievement gap. These students should
be receiving additional supports.
Report to parents/guardians the student’s instructional reading level.
A student’s instructional level will be determined by the teacher providing reading instruction to the
student. The teacher should consider the students PALs or SRI scores as well as any additional classroom
and/or diagnostic data available. A student’s instructional level should not be based on a single data point
such as just an SRI score or a running record score as this can more often lead to errors in judgment. The
following serves as a definition of an instructional reading level.


Instructional Reading Level: student reads with some teacher support with approximately 90-95%
word identification accuracy and 70% comprehension. Text should be easy enough to develop a
student’s confidence, but difficult enough to challenge (Clay, 1992).
Independent Reading Level: student reads with no support from the teacher and independently
solves problem while reading for a comprehension level of 85% or higher.
Schools will report each quarter to the division the number of students receiving reading instruction on or
above grade level as well as the number of students making a quarter’s or more growth. For the SY201213 this data may have to be reported in a rudimentary fashion. However, in SY2013-14 it is expected that
this information will be reported automatically as student reading instructional levels are pulled from
student progress reports and compiled at the school and division level. In addition, due to the variety of
reading measures used across the division, instructional reading levels will be reported in the traditional
grade equivalent format.
28
Instructional Reading Level Conversion Chart
Instructional
Lexile/SRI
Fountas and
Grade Equivalent
Pinnell
Readiness
BR
A, B, C
(Kdgn.)
1.1
BR
D
1.2
100
E
1.3
150
E
1.4
175
F
1.5
200
G
1.6
250
G
1.7
275
H
1.8
300
I
1.9
325
I
2-1
350-450
J, K
2-2
450-550
L, M
3-1
550-625
N, O
3-2
625-700
P
4-1
700-750
Q, R
4-2
750-800
S, T
5-1
800-850
U, V
5-2
850-900
W
6
900-975
X, Y
7
975-1025
Z
8
1025-1100
NA
9+
1100+
NA
DRA
PALS
1, 2, 3, 4
Roots
(SFA)
Readiness/PP1 K1-3
5, 6
7
8
9, 10
11
12
13, 14
15, 16
17
18, 19, 20
28
30, 34
38
40
44
50
50
60
70
80
NA
PP2
PP3
PP3
Primer
Primer
Primer
First Reader
First Reader
First Reader
Second, 2-1
Second, 2-2
Third
Third
Fourth
Fourth
Fifth
Fifth
Sixth
Seventh
Eight
NA
1-5
6-10
11-15
16-20
21-25
26-31
32-37
38-42
43-48
NANA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
Reading assessments that are used across the division and would contribute to the data to be reviewed
when determining a student’s instructional reading level include:









SRI (Scholastic Reading Inventory) – beginning in SY 2012 all schools in ACPS should be using
this assessment as part of the division’s RtI plan.
PALS – in grades K to 3 as required by VDOE
AIMSWeb
Fountes and Pinnell
DRA
Roots Assessment
IRIs from various publishers or teacher developed.
Teachers College Reading Assessments
Rigby
The reporting format allows reporting at the beginning of the school year (B, baseline) and at the end of
each quarter. In addition, data is reported by the students enrolled grade level (vertical axis) so that the
number of students instructed below grade level versus those instructed on or above grade level can be
determined and progress noted. Each student is listed/counted in the column that represents the reading
level at which he/she is being instructed at the baseline and at the end of each quarter. The highlighted
29
box in each row represents the level at which the student should be instructed if they are being instructed
on grade level. Students counted to the left of the highlighted box are being instructed below grade level.
Students counted to the right of the highlighted box are being instructed above grade level. At the first
grade reading level, the levels are marked by monthly increments: 1.1 = grade 1, first month reading
level; 1.5 = grade 1, fifth month reading level. Once a student achieves a second grade reading level,
reading levels step up at the semester mark: 2-2 = grade 2, second semester reading level; 5-1 = grade 5,
first semester reading level. Finally once a student achieves a middle school or high reading level reading
levels step up on a grade level basis only. Tallies are compiled by totaling for each grade level the number
of students reading below grade level (BGL) as well as those reading on or above grade level (GL).
The school level data analysis of how many students are reading on or above grade level should be shared
with all stakeholders as a part of a ‘no secrets’ data communication between the students, school staff,
parents and the division. All stakeholders should be aware of reading levels of the students within the
school and a part of monitoring and supporting the progress. Students can be made aware of the number
of students within the school reading on or above grade level and then participate in quarterly data
reviews and celebrations as the number of students reading on or above grade level grows. In addition,
students and parents should be a part of reviewing and progress monitoring their individual student data.
Students can graph their reading level growth over time and set goals and/or targets for future
accomplishments.
30
B
1st Q
First
2nd Q
Total
9+
8
7
6
5-2
5-1
4-2
4-1
3-2
3-1
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9
5 15
3
2
1
1
1 17
3
2
1
1
1
1 16
4
1
1
2-2
Date:
2-1
School
Readiness
Grade
Level
Reading
Level
Reading Instructional Level Reporting Form
%
on
GL
#
BGL
#
GL
5
2
3
21
23
22
26
25
25
81
92
80
6
4
1
19
21
24
25
25
25
76
84
96
3rd Q
4thQ
B
1st Q
Second
2nd Q
2
1
2
3 18
2 18
1
14
1
2
6
1
3
1
3rd Q
4thQ
B
1st Q
Third
2nd Q
3rd Q
4thQ
B
1st Q
Fourth
2nd Q
3rd Q
4thQ
B
1st Q
Fifth
2nd Q
3rd Q
4thQ
31
SST and RtI Connections
Student Support Teams (SST) in particular need to carefully monitor student reading level data, noting the
names of the students reading below grade level. This team should monitor the interventions being
provided to these students to ensure they are in fact helping students to close the achievement gap. The
Student Support Team may be a part of the interventions provided to students struggling to read. This
team should review other factors in addition to instruction that might be involved in the student’s
struggles such as attendance, health, emotional, or behavior issues. When any of these factors are found to
be a contributing cause to the student’s struggles, the Student Support Team should provide the
appropriate interventions to mitigate the contributing factors.
A solid core instructional reading program will serve 80% or more of the students successfully without
further intervention. Schools that find that more than 20% of their students are in need of additional
academic intervention (Tier II or Tier III) should examine their core reading instruction to determine if
instruction is rapidly improving and moving towards the goal of supporting successfully 80% or more of
the students. If not, the core instructional reading program should be re-examined for major adjustments
or change in instruction in order to ensure student success.
Students in need of Tier II interventions should receive the appropriate interventions, including
instruction over and above the core reading instructional block. The interventions may be in the area of
attendance, health, emotional, behavior, or academic. If the interventions are academic in nature, great
care should be taken to ensure the additional instruction is tightly aligned with the core instruction to
provide scaffolding and reinforcement of the core instruction rather than instruction that is separate and
apart from the core and confusing to the learner. These academic interventions will be provided outside of
the core instructional reading block. Instructional interventions may be offered by the classroom teacher,
other teachers on the team, a reading teacher, an ELL teacher, or a special education teacher. Most ACPS
elementary schools have a variety of materials that can be used for intervention. If schools are in need of
additional support in planning for or securing interventions, they should contact the RtI coordinator in the
department of Curriculum and Instruction.
Students in need of Tier III interventions have the most severe needs in regards to reading instruction.
These students who could benefit from a very intense intervention could be a general education student,
an ELL student, or a student with disabilities. Many of these students are students with disabilities and are
served as identified in their Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) by the appropriate members of the
special education team, including the special education teacher, the general education teacher, and any
other specialists as needed.
In addition, some students may benefit from receiving both Tier II and Tier II interventions and be
scheduled as such. Schools in need of additional support in planning for and securing the appropriate
interventions for Tier III students should contact the Office of Special Education in the Department of
Curriculum and Instruction.
32
Professional Learning
Improving elementary reading outcomes has been identified as a priority by the board of education. In
addition, literacy has been identified as one of the ACPS competencies. This focus will mean a growing
range of opportunities will be provided for professional learning around effective reading instruction. A
focus will be provided on offering opportunities that can provide points through ERO for licensure
renewal or graduate credit. However, to get the implementation of the ACPS Reading Guidelines started
the following opportunities will be provided immediately:



Overview and Initial Planning with the ACPS Reading Guidelines for each individual elementary
and PreK to 8 school.
Metacognitive Skills in Elementary Literacy
Assistance with Schedule Development and Student Grouping
The overview to be provided this spring will assist schools in understanding what the guidelines mean for
each school so they can begin planning for SY2012 implementation. It will explore ways that students can
be grouped to ensure a minimum of 60 minutes of reading instruction each day and help the school
determine which grouping structure best meets their students’ needs. In addition, there will be a focus on
what is instruction and rich engagement with text, quarterly progress monitoring requirements, and
communicating with parents about the reading structures the school will be using. This overview will be
structured into a turn-key module that can be facilitated by the instructional coach, the principal, and/or
reading specialist as well as used in whole or individually selected components that address the specific
needs of the school.
The Overview and Initial Planning with the ACPS Reading Guidelines module will be focused on the
essential question: How can we develop structures to support reading instruction that is rich and
intensely focused to accelerate student reading outcomes? The module will begin with school assessing
what pieces of the non-negotiables are already in place and which are not and need to be planned for
implementation. Individual components for the objectives listed below will be developed as part of the
module. Schools will use the components that support their needs.





Participants will identify which non-negotiables area already in-place in their school/grade level
team and which ones need to be planned for and implemented.
Participants will practice the triangulating of student data to identify student instructional levels.
Participants will try-out several different models for grouping students in order to identity which
model might best serve their students’ needs.
Participants will develop a looks-like/sounds-like chart for explicit and intense instruction, rich
engagement with text, and students held accountable for their learning.
Participants will identify and/or create additional examples and non-examples of rich engagement
with text.
In the summer of 2012 a year-long series of work sessions on Metacognition in Elementary Literacy will
begin. These sessions will provide teachers with strategies and materials for teaching metacognition in
cooperative learning teams as well as opportunities to plan with their colleagues the lesson they will use
33
in their classrooms. In addition, participants will bring to the sessions the process and outcome data that
result from their teaching of the lessons they developed. This will allow for professional learning teams to
collaboratively share their successes and work together on the next steps for providing instruction that
develops metacognitive readers. Schools may send individuals to participate in the division-wide
sessions. Then if desired, the school’s participants in the division work sessions can turn-key the work
sessions for all staff in their building.
In this same manner of using internal expertise, the Chief Academic Officer and the Professional
Learning Developer and Coordinator will meet with building principals to identify and nominate possible
staff for facilitating professional learning teams, through a similar model as described above. Learning
teams will be formed with a teacher facilitator who is expert in providing reading instruction that includes
metacognition and comprehension. The nominated staff will be verified as good candidates to facilitate
this work through classroom observation and student outcome data. Once appropriate staff has agreed to
facilitate this type of work, the Professional Learning Developer and Coordinator will work with them to
develop professional learning teams that receive just-in-time support in reading instructional practices
combined with collaborative lesson plan development and data analysis over the course of a school year
as they learn and share their practice together.
In addition, individual schools will identify needs related to reading instruction and include professional
learning in these areas in their School Education Plan and/or their Professional Learning Plans. The
Curriculum and Instruction office is ready and willing to help schools identify resources in the areas they
might identify as opportunities for professional learning.
The Curriculum and Instruction office will be prepared to assist schools, if needed, in developing
schedules and regrouping students for instruction. Then again at the end of each quarter assistance will be
available, if needed, so that schools can progress monitor their data at a school level, identify students
needing more assistance, and regroup students aggressively for rapid student growth.
Some overarching parameters for professional learning support include opportunities that are heavy on
active and collaborative participation, focus on immediate application of learning, encourage the
collection and use of data to refine implementation, and provide scaffolding as participants incorporate
their learning into their practice.
Parent Engagement
Parents are our partners in supporting their children in developing as excellent readers. Both the division
and individual schools need to communicate with parents the expectations for reading and reading
instruction in ACPS elementary and PreK to 8 schools.
Parents need to be made aware that the goal is for all students to be reading on or above grade level by
grade three. In addition, parents need to be aware of their own child’s instructional reading level and
monitor their child’s reading level growth along with the teacher and child. This information needs to be
communicated at the very least on quarterly student progress reports. Parents of children reading below
34
grade level need to be involved in the development and progress monitoring of the child’s IAP or IEP that
addresses what is being done to bring the child to grade level.
As the 2012 school year begins, both the division and the individual schools will launch a concentrated
effort to inform parents about the basics of the ACPS Reading Guidelines and what it will mean for their
children: 1) students will receive a minimum of 60 minutes/day of explicit and intense reading instruction
on their instructional level (including what this type of instruction looks like and sounds like), 2)
facilitating this type of intensive instruction will involve students being regrouped across a team of
teachers, and 3) their child’s instructional reading level will be assessed and reported quarterly. Students
reading below grade level with have IAPs to clearly identify what is being done to bring their child to
grade level. Schools will also want to be sure parents are aware each quarter of the teacher that will be
teaching their child reading for at least that quarter.
In addition, the division will launch a parent communication campaign that is focused on the importance
of children reading every day at home 20 to 30 minutes to practice the reading skills they are developing
at home. Schools will be asked to support this effort through their own communication efforts as well.
Specific to this will be suggestions for how parents can support their children in reading at home
regardless if the parent reads English or not.
Many schools have already established parent reading nights and workshops to help parents learn how to
support their child’s development as a reader. The Curriculum and Instruction office in collaboration with
the FACE Centers will develop some workshop materials that can be used by schools and the FACE
Centers to help parents learn how to support their children as readers. In addition, efforts will be made to
develop partnerships that can support books for the home for our families that face economic challenges.
Some schools have RIF and other partnerships that already support the placing of books in the home, but
we still have many students that lack support in obtaining reading materials of their own.
Building Leadership
Building leadership is responsible for facilitating and ensuring that the Elementary Reading Guidelines
are implemented for the support of all students in accelerating their reading achievement. Building
leadership includes the school principal as well as others serving in a leadership capacity at the school
such as a leadership team, a reading goal team for the School Education Plan, and literacy and/or
instructional coaches.
Implementation of the reading guidelines includes the facilitating and monitoring of instructional time so
that all students are provided at least 60 minutes a day of intense and explicit reading instruction at his/her
instructional level along with the at least quarterly monitoring of student instructional levels to ensure all
students are making sufficient progress in reading and accelerated at a pace to close any reading gaps or
being provided with additional intensive interventions specifically designed to meet the needs of each
individual child and close the gap. Building leadership should frequently observe reading instruction to
monitor and facilitate discussion on strategies being used to ensure students are spending at least 60
minutes of rich engagement with texts. Monitoring of the core reading block should be done to verify that
or provide support to ensure that this instruction includes: a) rich engagement with text, frequent and rich
35
student discourse around texts, and c) plenty of higher order thinking tasks. In addition building
leadership should frequently analyze student data to ensure progress is being made on reading outcomes
for students. Providing frequent feedback on reading instruction and student data to celebrate
accomplishments and to note areas for growth is a critical role of leadership.
Building leadership must also ensure that professional learning opportunities are available to equip each
teacher to meet student needs through 60 minutes or more of explicit and intense reading instruction each
day. This begins with ensuring staff understand the expectation and non-negotiables of the reading
guidelines and collaborate to plan for schoolwide implementation of these guidelines. Once the structures
are in place, leadership is responsible for ensuring staff has the professional skills and competencies for
providing reading instruction that ensures the success of all students. Leaders needing assistance in
providing this type of support to their buildings will have the Curriculum and Instruction Department to
assist them in these efforts.
Meeting the needs of all students is a steep and ever changing demand and requires the continuous
improvement of practice for all school staff involved in reading instruction. The continuous improvement
of practice requires opportunities for professional learning and growth both at an individual level and at a
collaborative team or school level. Plans for professional learning can be a part of the tactics under the
reading goal in the School Education Plan or a part of an team or individual goal that is part of a
Professional Learning Plan. These professional learning opportunities should include just-in-time
workshops paired with modeling and coaching as well as time to work collaboratively with peers to
examine student data and plan for instruction in response to the data. Professional learning opportunities
should emphasize instructional strategies that can be used immediately in participants’ practices. Building
leadership can arrange for and/or facilitate these collaborative times as well as workshops specific to the
school’s instructional reading model or work with the Curriculum and Instruction office to arrange for
needed support.
36
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