Tools and Tips for School-Wide Literacy Interventions
A school-wide literacy intervention plan can provide a larger roadmap towards literacy development throughout a student’s elementary school journey.
By Kimberly Copeland, Riddhi Divanji and Sydney Parker
The Interventions Team at foundry10 supports students’ academic and social emotional skill-building through collaborative partnerships with educators and program developers who are creating innovative tools and programming to address students’ needs.
Over the years, our partner educators, administrators, and program staff have expressed a consistent need for quality literacy materials. Foundry10 has supported and run take-home book programs, provided evaluation support for in-school reading intervention programs, supported teacher-led book clubs, and helped schools purchase literacy materials to meet the unique needs of their individual student populations.
One of our key partners for this work is Kim Copeland, a literacy intervention specialist at Cedar Valley Community School. A literacy intervention specialist is someone who works with teachers, students, and administrators to build connections between pull-out reading intervention groups and students’ regular classroom learning. Cedar Valley’s investment in outside literacy support and resources speaks volumes about the high value they place on boosting literacy at their school.
At Cedar Valley, Copeland has been working to expand the school’s literacy program in a way that holistically integrates literacy support into students’ everyday learning. This allows for students to practice the literacy skills they need throughout the school day, during pullout intervention groups and in their general education classrooms.
In order to do that, Kim works with the school administration team to create a professional development plan for school-wide and small group learning. That plan includes learning about the Science of Reading through whole staff professional development and in small groups, implementing curricula and working to build a common language teachers can use in intervention groups and in the classroom. Kim also works to scaffold teacher learning by modeling literacy lessons and works to gradually release responsibility to teachers. Finally, Kim’s role as coach at Cedar Valley entails working with classroom teachers to interpret literacy test data, so they can provide students with more targeted support in their classrooms.
Read below for Copeland’s tips and resources for other educators looking to boost their school-wide culture around literacy and provide more holistic literacy support for students.
Design a School-Wide Literacy Building Plan
Literacy-building happens across various settings and activities throughout a student’s school day. Students could be working on literacy skills during a portion of their regular classroom time, while in the library or media center, and in a reading intervention group. It is important for each of these pieces of the puzzle to be in communication with each other to create a more cohesive and comprehensive program around literacy across the school. A school-wide plan can provide a larger roadmap towards literacy development throughout a student’s elementary school journey and throughout the various spaces and activities they engage in throughout the average school day.
Form a Literacy Team
A school-wide plan needs an execution team, and Cedar Valley has a great team of folks who are working together to boost literacy efforts across the school. There are currently a mix of five Title reading teachers (some full time and some part time staff) working towards this goal and they collaborate with K-6 teachers, the special education teacher, English language or multilingual teachers and paraeducators. Paraeducators can be a particularly important piece of the puzzle because of the individual time and attention they are able to give students who may need additional literacy support.
Invite Administrative Support
If school administrators are not already leading the initiative to build literacy skills across the school, then encouraging their buy-in to a school-wide literacy plan is essential. Administrators can allocate resources and time towards literacy development at the school level. They can invest in, and support, professional development, purchase necessary materials, and hold teachers accountable for implementing practices and curriculum in the classroom.
Build Teacher Buy-In
Similarly, teachers’ willingness to work with literacy specialists is also vital. It takes time to build the relationship and trust between teachers and literacy support staff, and while this is something administrators can help with, it is also something the literacy team can prioritize. If even one or two teachers are willing to participate in the literacy initiative, this can help the relational outreach of the literacy team to other teachers in the school.
Focus on Inclusive Professional Development
Finally, schools that are looking to boost literacy skill development need to focus on continuous and robust professional development across school staff. Professional development for teachers is not enough, and teachers cannot be expected to carry literacy development on their own. Adding professional development for administrators, reading teachers, special education teachers, multilingual/EL teachers and paraeducators can help to build school-wide alignment around literacy efforts and reduce the burden on classroom teachers alone.
The Best Tools for Elementary Literacy Intervention
Below you will find a curated list of literacy support materials that Kim has used at Cedar Valley and recommends for other schools looking to build up their students’ foundational literacy skills.
First, it’s essential to assess your students with a universal screener like Acadience or DIBELS to determine which students are at risk for falling behind. Then based on the results, assess those students who are at risk with a diagnostic screener to determine specific needs. At Cedar Valley, we use the Phonological Awareness Screener for Intervention in addition to the Phonics Screener for Intervention developed by the 95% Group. These tests align with the lessons reading teachers and classroom teachers use. There are other free diagnostic screeners such as the PAST developed by David Kilpatrick and foundational skill surveys by Really Great Reading. Our team assesses students’ foundational skills and then shares this data with classroom teachers several times a year.
Tier 1 Phonics Core Program with Phonological Awareness Lessons
It is important for primary classroom teachers to have a strong tier 1 phonics curriculum that has an explicit, systematic scope and sequences and incorporates daily phonemic awareness. Phonemic Awareness is the understanding that spoken words are made up of individual sounds, which are called phonemes. Research shows that students must have phonemic awareness in order to become strong readers. During intervention groups, our reading teachers begin each lesson with a phonological awareness warm up. However, when we started our literacy journey not everyone understood the importance of this skill nor did they have the materials to teach it.
The Outcome:
Since Cedar Valley adopted the 95% Phonics Core Program for classroom teachers this year, all primary teachers, K-3, have access to phonological awareness lessons so students can practice these skills throughout the day in whole group or small group lessons. Each lesson begins with a phonological awareness warm up. Teachers also have access to phonological awareness lessons in the Phonemic Awareness Lessons books from Heggerty. Classroom phonics lessons also align with Intervention lessons. We are all using the same scope and sequence now and the same language.
Hot Tip: Heggerty developed a phonemic awareness curriculum that is easy to use for classroom teachers in primary and beyond. Make sure teachers understand the importance of this skill in learning to read and that these lessons are auditory.
The Phonics Lesson Library
Based on the results of the diagnostic screeners, we determine how best to support our students in intervention groups. The Reading Team has several curricula they use from the 95% Group to address phonological awareness and phonics needs. The Phonics Lesson Library focuses on word recognition, specifically on phonics skills. This resource was great during the pandemic because the materials could be shared online. This allowed for consistent use in terms of scope and sequence across all the Title I/LAP teachers.
The Outcome: All intervention teachers had access to high quality intervention materials with an explicit, systematic scope and sequence of phonics and phonological awareness skills. All the components of effective phonics instruction were incorporated in the lessons and skills were ordered by increasing difficulty. It was easy when we had to reshuffle groups based on student growth. It was also easy to share students’ needs and growth with teachers when Title I/LAP teachers were consistent with skills they were teaching.
Hot Tip: It was helpful to work with the consultant from the 95% group that developed the materials. It was also helpful to discuss the importance of consistency in language, lesson objectives, and activities used with students.
Choose High/Low Books
Classroom libraries that are used for independent reading typically consist of books around a grade level. Many of our older readers at Cedar Valley are still learning English and are reading well below grade level. Unfortunately, the books at their independent reading level are typically picture books written for younger children.
High/Low books give kids the opportunity to read fiction chapter books or non-fiction books that are highly engaging with age-appropriate subject matter at a low reading level for beginning readers or struggling readers. This allows students to build background on grade level subject matter and read about topics similar to their peers who are reading at grade level. They also build vocabulary and fluency and get kids interested in reading. These books include illustrations to support the text.
The Outcome: Cedar Valley 4th and 5th grade teachers were given high/low fiction and non-fiction texts for their classroom libraries. They look like the other books in the library, so students aren’t embarrassed and don’t feel like they are reading books for young kids.
Hot Tip: Make sure teachers understand who would benefit from these texts and their purpose. Create a study group of teachers to look at the books and choose the ones that they think kids will enjoy.
Decodable Books
Students who are learning to read need practice reading connected text like decodable books that focus on the skills and rules they are learning in phonics lessons. Many of the books that teachers have in their classrooms are trade books from leveled libraries. The vocabulary in these books is not controlled and does not offer the necessary practice some students need to become fluent readers.
The Outcome: Cedar Valley 2nd through 6th grade classrooms will receive decodable texts. Teachers will learn about the books and their purpose. Then they will be given a list of students who would benefit from the books based on Title reading groups.
Hot Tip: Newcomer students who are not reading at the same reading level as their peers need quality reading materials that help them practice the skills they are learning and that are interesting.
To learn more about the Interventions Team at foundry10, visit our website.
