District 4193-07
Rise Academy
LITERACY PLAN (2023-2025)

LITERACY GOAL
Our primary goal is to ensure that all students will be reading and writing at or above grade level by the end of third grade, and to diagnose and accelerate the reading performance of all students in all grade levels.  We must provide a K-6 literacy program that ensures that all students continue to develop and strengthen the essential literacy skills they need to be successful as they progress from grade to grade and move on to the career or college of their choice. Assessment and Intervention are integral parts of this goal. At all grade levels professional development will focus on effective, best practices for literacy instruction. Our three year reading goal is for all students at each grade level to make 1.5 years of growth.


INTENT OF THIS LITERACY PLAN
The intent of this literacy plan is to assist teachers and staff in their efforts to:

  •  Align all instruction with the Minnesota State Academic Content Standards for Language Arts.

  • Insure the sequence and consistency of instruction by teachers collaborating with colleagues in grade levels above and below their grade level.

  • Engage students and allow sufficient, critical time on task.

  • Teach reading in a manner which reflects quality research-based teaching practices.

  • Assess regularly to inform instruction, and plan and implement interventions to ensure that all students demonstrate progress toward mastering the MN State Academic Content Standard for Language Arts. 

  • Intervene and remediate continuously and consistently by using both formative and summative data to differentiate instruction.

  • Implement Really Great Reading program in all classrooms.

  • Implement Amplify curriculum in all classrooms.

  • Maintain a balanced approach that integrates language and literature-rich activities in all curricular areas.

  • Teach strategies for reading complex content area texts.


COMPONENTS OF THE CPE’S PLAN FOR “READING WELL BY THIRD GRADE” (MN Statue 120B.12)
District Literacy Leadership Team Component
The District Leadership Team is made up of the Education Lead, the Executive Director, Title I Lead, Special Education, ELD Coordinator, and all the teachers.  We work together to develop and implement the Literacy Plan to ensure that our students grow as successful readers and writers.

Curriculum and Instructional Components

  • Phonemic Awareness, Word Recognition and Fluency – Students will learn to recognize and decode printed words in order to develop the skills that become the foundations for independent reading. All students will discover the alphabetic principle (sound-symbol match) and learn to use it in figuring out new words. All students need to learn basic high frequency/ sight words to help them read quickly and accurately with comprehension. By the end of the third grade, all students will demonstrate a proficiency in fluent oral reading, varying intonation and phrasing as appropriate for the text.

  • Phonics Instruction – Students will receive in explicit, systematic phonics instruction using Really Great Reading program. Systematic phonic instruction leads to significant, positive benefits (decoding, encoding and comprehension) for all students in the primary grades and for older students who demonstrate difficulty in learning to read.

  • Acquisition of Vocabulary – Students will work on building their vocabulary through exposure to language-rich situations, such as reading books and other texts and conversing with adults and peers. Students will learn how to use context clues, as well as direct explanations to gain new words. All students will learn to apply word analysis skills to build and extend their own vocabulary. As students progress through the grades, they will become increasingly proficient in applying their knowledge of words (origins, parts, relationships, meanings) to acquire specialized vocabulary that aids in comprehension.

  • Concepts of Print, Comprehension Strategies and Self-Monitoring Strategies – Students will develop and learn to apply strategies that help them to comprehend and interpret information and literary texts. Reading and learning to read are problem solving processes that require strategies for the reader to make sense of written language and remain engaged with the texts. Beginning readers will develop basic concepts about print (e.g., that print holds meaning) and how books are organized and used. As students develop into fluent readers, they will learn to analyze and evaluate texts to demonstrate their understanding of text. Additionally, all students will learn to self-monitor their own comprehension by asking and answering questions about the text, self-correcting errors and assessing their own understanding. All students will apply these strategies effectively to assigned and self-selected texts that are read in and out of the classroom.

  • Literary Texts – Students will, by reading literary texts that represent a variety of authors, genres, cultures and time periods, enhance their understanding of the world.  By the end of 6th grade all students will be able to:

    1. Apply the reading process to various genres of literature, including fables, folk tales, short stories, novels, poetry and drama;

    2. Demonstrate their comprehension by describing and discussing the elements of literature (e.g., setting, character, and plot);

    3. Analyze an author’s use of language (e.g., word choice and figurative language) comparing and contrasting texts;

    4. Infer theme and meaning and respond to text in critical and creative ways;

    5. Explain, analyze and critique literary text in order to achieve a deeper understanding of the text.

  • Writing Process – Students will, on a daily basis, engage in the writing process. The writing process, as is appropriate for each grade level, will include pre-writing, drafting, revising and editing, and when appropriate, publishing. Students will learn a variety of methods for planning their writing for different purposes and audiences. Students will apply their writing skills with increasing sophisticated ways to create and produce compositions that reflect effective word and grammatical choices. All students will develop revision strategies to improve the content, organization and language of their writing. All students will develop editing skills to improve writing conventions.

  • Writing Applications – Students will understand that writing serves many purposes across the curriculum and takes various forms. Beginning writers will learn about various purposes of writing. Developing writers will learn how to select text forms to suit purpose and audience. They will be able to explain why some text forms are more suited to a purpose than others and begin to use content – specific vocabulary to achieve their communication goals. Proficient writers will control effectively the language and structural features of a  variety of text forms. They will learn to choose vocabulary to enhance the text and structure of their writing according to audience and purpose.

  • Writing Conventions – Through exposure to good models and daily opportunities for practice, all students will be able to master writing conventions. Writing conventions include spelling, punctuation, grammar and other conventions  associated with forms of written text. All students will learn the purpose of punctuation: to clarify sentence meaning and help readers know how writing might sound aloud. All students will develop and extend their understanding of the spelling system, using a range of strategies for spelling words correctly and using newly learned vocabulary correctly. All students will grow continually more skillful at using grammatical structures of English to effectively express themselves and communicate their ideas in writing.

LANGUAGE ARTS CURRICULUM AND MATERIALS/RESOURCES
We have a developed curriculum in all subject areas based on Minnesota Standards and Benchmarks. Our curriculum, Amplify aligns is used in all grades.  This curriculum contains Core Objectives written for every subject in every grade level, along with  Curriculum Map and Guides.   These standards for each subject can be found at the MN Department of Education website under “Academic Standards.” http://education.state.mn.us/mde/index.html

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS USED TO MEET STANDARDS AND BENCHMARKS:
Reading/Language Arts                    

  • Amplify Curriculum

  • Reading A to Z/Writing A to Z

  • Really Great Reading


    ASSESSMENT COMPONENT
    Valid and reliable reading assessments are used to determine student progress toward meeting our primary reading goal. Our decision making model is grounded in scientific research and utilizes outcome based measures, progress monitoring, in program assessments, skill inventories, standardized assessments and statewide testing.

     Types of Assessments

  •  Screening /Diagnostic Assessments are for evaluating what the student has learned in the past. They are used by educators to ascertain a student's proficiency or to serve as a baseline of student comprehension of past instruction. Diagnostic assessments provide the teachers with information about student's prior knowledge and misconceptions before beginning instruction.  These assessments are usually implemented at the earliest stages of a learning cycle, although they are also sometimes used in the middle of a learning cycle to gather information regarding student learning levels.

  • Summative Assessments are cumulative evaluations used to measure student performance over a substantial period of time.  Standardized tests are an example of summative assessments.

  • Formative Assessments give the teachers feedback to evaluate the student’s comprehension of new material.  This feedback helps to guide future instruction.

Students in grades K-6 are assessed three times a year (Fall, Winter and Spring) using the FastBridge test to determine if they are at grade level and showing growth.  Developmental Reading Assessments (DRA) are used to monitor student growth in their reading levels throughout the school year.  Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCA) are taken by Grades 3-6 every year in Reading and Math and Grade 5-Science.  All incoming kindergarteners are screened in August and September using the Pre-Kindergarten Inventory of Demonstrated Skills (Pre-KIDS).  All assessment data is used by teachers to guide their lesson planning, instruction, and planning for interventions.


INTERVENTION COMPONENT
Response To Intervention Program
We have a Response to Intervention practice which will provide high quality instruction/intervention matched to student needs, and use the learning rate over time and the level of performance to make important educational decisions. 

All students in Tier 1 receive high-quality, content- and standards-based instruction that uses strategies and methods based in scientific research. The foundational core of instruction is SIOP with instruction differentiated to meet the learners’ needs.  All students are screened on a periodic basis to identify struggling learners who need additional support. This is done in the classroom using a variety of assessment instruments, both formal and informal, qualitative and quantitative. Teachers keep running records, chart progress on core objectives and standards, create exit and unit/chapter assessments as well as retain a permanent product assessment of student work. All teachers keep logs and anecdotal records on their students progress.

In Tier 2, students not making adequate progress in the core curriculum are provided with increasingly intensive instruction matched to their needs on the basis of levels of performance and rates of progress. All teachers follow principles that stress the importance of clear, conceptually-oriented instruction that eases the learning challenge, while also emphasizing the importance of drill, practice, and cumulative review.

At Tier 3 level, students receive individualized, intensive, research based interventions that target the student’s skill deficits for the remediation of existing problems and the prevention of more severe problems.   A self-questioning process is used to guide decision making at Tier 3. For each step of the process, references to additional resources are provided for further exploration.

Special Education Program 
Each student’s situation will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the school’s Student Study Team.  After a teacher conducts initial observations and collects evidence, a student is referred to the Student Study Team to discuss possible interventions. If the interventions are not successful after a determined time, a student may be referred for screening and evaluation by the special education department. If a child is found eligible for special education services, the Child Find Team will then develop an individualized program of services (IEP) to meet the needs of the child.

Title III Program (English Learners):
Using instructional strategies connected to each of these components, teachers are able to design and deliver lessons that address the academic and linguistic needs of English learners. We provide support in a variety of ways. Services include push-in EL language instruction by EL teacher(s) or EL instructional paraprofessional(s) as well as push-in bi-lingual support.   Below is the Recommended Services Guidelines as established by CPE:

  • Consultation/Collaboration: Integrated Setting

  • Collaboration on appropriate instructional and assessment strategies

  • Implementation of instructional principles for all lessons

  • Emphasis on making classroom language comprehensible

  • Extensive curricular and classroom modifications and accommodations: Push-in services for intensive language and literacy skill development with specialized EL and content curricular materials.  Students with limited formal schooling may require additional time.

  • Additionally, Federal Title III requirement: Yearly notification of student’s participation in EL education programming, including: - reasons for identification - level of English proficiency - how the program will help their children learn English - exit requirements.


Title 1 Schoolwide Program 
Federal funds provide our school with extra support staff, supplies for supplemental instruction and books, and family involvement activities.  As a Schoolwide Title I Program, all students benefit.  Students are given extra instruction in small groups, either within the regular classroom or in a quieter setting outside the regular classroom.  Students are moved in and out of learning groups based on their academic needs.  The additional Title I staff also provides assessments and or/screenings of the students to aid in their literacy instruction.  The purpose of a Schoolwide Title Program is to generate high levels of academic achievement in reading for all students, especially those students most in need.

Parent Notification and Involvement Component
Parents or guardians will be notified of student results on assessments in a timely manner and throughout the school year. Progress Cards will be sent out at the end of each trimester. Results of the FastBrdige tests, and other assessments will be discussed with parents/guardians at the Parent Teacher Conferences.  Parents/guardians are encouraged to contact the school at any time with concerns or questions.

Here are websites for parents/guardians to support literacy practices at home:

  1. Ixcel (reading): https://www.ixl.com/ela/

  2. Book Adventure: http://www.bookadventure.com/Home.aspx

  3. Little Bridge: http://www.littlebridge.com/

  4. PBS Kid Between the Lions: http://pbskids.org/lions/

  5. PBS Parents, Reading and Language: http://pbs.org/parents/readinglanguage

  6. Poetry for Kids: http://poetry4kids.com/

  7. Study Island: http://www.studyisland.com

  8. Tumblebooks: http://www.tumblebooks.com

  9. Vocabulary Games and Resources: http://www.vocabulary.co.il/

Professional Development Component
We have professional development throughout the year to maintain our efforts with our curriculum programs and practices. Our focus remains on all students growing and learning. We work diligently on providing quality reading.

Another area of concern with our EL population and the increase of Level 1 New - To - Country students is the need to provide professional development in cultural awareness of the Hmong and Karen people. This will help in our communication with the students and their families, so we can coordinate the educational needs and instruction of their children in reading and writing.

A pressing need for professional development is to provide teachers with quality training in meeting the instructional needs of our EL students in reading.    The instructional staff receives high-quality professional development. This is accomplished during staff development days, as well as through opportunities to attend workshops and conferences sponsored by professional organizations. As the number of English learners increases in schools across the United States, educators are seeking effective ways to help them acquire the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the classroom and beyond. Professional development helps teachers plan and deliver lessons that allow English learners to acquire academic knowledge as they develop English language proficiency.  We use current and advanced technologies for the classroom to improve reading scores. All students in grades K-6 have a consistent program for the students to aide in their instruction and practice in reading and language arts.

Our EL Teachers, Title I Teachers and paraprofessionals, as they work in the classrooms with the grade level teachers, will be familiar with and trained in the same procedures for teaching language arts.

EL teachers attend workshops on WIDA, fall and spring MDE conferences and other additional workshops. Information from these activities are presented to the staff. With MDE adoption of WIDA standards, it is critical that the ELD Coordinator receive this training. Staff development related to Title III funding. We encourage our staff to take part in other professional development opportunities as they arise during the year. Those attending workshops, outside of school, bring back what they have learned and share with other staff members.

ACCOUNTABILITY

We submit annually to the Minnesota Department of Education the post assessment methods and data used for that school year, including the objectives of the assessments, test names, and grade levels.  This information, which is part of the Literacy Plan for all students in Kindergarten through Grade 3, will be disseminated to our authorizer and will be available for our families.