Read to Succeed

Section A: Five Pillars of Reading Instruction

PreK reading instruction is through Frog Street curriculum, and within the curriculum, they are engaged in oral language, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. 

The kindergarten through second-grade instructional curriculum is Open Court, and throughout Open Court, students receive instruction in oral language, phonological awareness, and phonics through the green band of Open Court. The red band of Open Court provides students with fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Both the green and red bands of Open Court provide instruction at grade level, targeting our South Carolina English/Language Arts standards. 

Third through Fifth grades are using HMH Into Reading curriculum, which also focuses on phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension throughout the content. 

Kindergarten through Fifth grade provide instruction that consists of oral language, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension through differentiated small groups that are designed to support students’ individual learning skills. 

Reading A-Z is used in grades kindergarten through fifth grade for differentiated small group instruction to focus on vocabulary, comprehension, phonics, and grammar. Reading A-Z fluency is also used to gain an understanding of where students are fluently reading for their grade level.

Assessments that are used for students in Pre-K focus on phonological awareness and phonics skills. Assessments in grades Kindergarten through Fifth grade are EasyCBM and pertain to the grade level and the benchmark period students are assessed on Phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills. MAP assessments are used to determine students’ understanding of the English/Language Arts standards in First through Fifth grades.
 

Section B: Foundational Literacy Skills

Teachers’ knowledge of the science of reading is evolving. As more teachers are engaging in LETRS more are learning about the science of reading and applying the Bridge to Practice from LETRS in their classrooms, they are better able to see how the word recognition assessment is beneficial to their students. The curricula, Open Court and HMH, for Kindergarten through Fifth grades are both developed to allow students the opportunity to implement the practices of science of reading. Students are engaged in word recognition, decoding, and encoding which helps them to develop their phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills. Assessments are also aligned to these foundational skills.
 

Section C: Intervention

Our entire student body (K-5th) is administered EasyCBM at the beginning of the year to gain knowledge of their academic performance. Students in 1st-5th grade are administered the MAP assessment. This data is also used to help with gauging the students’ academic performance at the beginning of the year. We also conducted the PAST and Orton-Gillingham (IMSE) assessments on all Kindergarten students, Orton -Gillingham Reading and Spelling with all First through third grade students, as well as our students in fourth and fifth grades who were in the 25th% or below. If students in First and Second grade scored in the bottom quartile of EasyCBM, we administered the PAST with them. When determining which students needed intervention, they were placed in Response to Intervention (RTI) to receive additional services with RTI interventionists. First and Second grade students will be administered the MAP assessment in Fall, Winter, and Spring. Throughout the year students are progress monitored using EasyCBM.  MTSS meetings, data meetings with administration and with Reading Coaches are conducted to gain more insight into the students’ performance and additional resources needed to support their growth. Reading A-Z is used throughout the year to determine students’ reading ability. 
 

Section D: Supporting Literacy at Home

Parents are made aware of ways to support their students’ literacy growth through our monthly newsletters provided by our Reading Coaches, which offers a plethora of resources and activities families can engage in to practice literacy skills together outside of school. Additionally, throughout the school year we host Literacy Night, Literacy Cafe, Math Night, Open House, Read to Succeed Information Sessions (3rd grade families), Book Fair, family book study, and PTO/SIC/Title One Meetings. First through fifth grade students who are in our 21st Century Program engage in family activities that provide ways for them to engage in reading and writing activities at home. Families are encouraged to participate in and attend these events in order to further support their student’s literacy progress. Parent-teacher conferences are also held at various points throughout the school year where parents are made aware of their student’s literacy progress in relation to grade level literacy expectations. Our parent educator works closely with our families and provides resources to support the whole child.  
 

Section E: Progress Monitoring

Student data is consistently monitored by classroom assessments and from work that is intentionally prepared to meet students' individual needs within small groups. Teachers and RTI interventionists monitor students’ growth through progress monitoring of EasyCBM throughout the school year. Teachers are also meeting with administrators, Reading Coaches and the Response to Intervention Team to discuss their students’ progress and develop a plan to further their learning. These meetings are held individually or collectively as a grade level. Teachers and the MTSS team also come together to look at data and address the progress of the students who are receiving additional services and it is also a place where conversations are had about the potential of new students entering into RTI for additional support. The administration conducts regular classroom walkthroughs to monitor teaching and learning at all tier levels. 
 

Section F: Teacher Training

Our school provides teacher training (K-3rd, selected 4th, ESOL, RTI, SPED Resource, and Multicat teachers) based on the science of reading through state-mandated LETRS training, Lit Tuesday (professional development conducted by our Reading Coach), Coaching Cycles (based on teacher needs), principal grade-level data meetings, faculty meetings, and school level PLC goals driven by ELA data.
 

Section G: Analysis of Data

Strengths:

• Comprehensive curriculum (Frog Street, Open Court, HMH) covers all key literacy components PreK–5.
• Strong assessment system (EasyCBM, MAP, PAST, Orton-Gillingham) guides instruction and interventions
• Ongoing teacher training (LETRS, Lit Tuesdays, coaching cycles) supports use of science-of-reading practices.

Possibilities for Growth:

• Maximize the use of current curricula, tools, and resources by ensuring they are implemented with fidelity in every classroom.

How many eligible teachers in your school have completed Volume 1 ONLY of LETRS?         11

How many eligible teachers in your school have completed Volumes 1 and 2 of LETRS?     19

How many eligible teachers in your school are beginning Volume 1 of LETRS this year?      8

How many eligible teachers in your school are beginning Volume 2 of LETRS this year?     11

How many CERDEP PreK teachers in your school have completed EC LETRS?                          0

How many CERDEP PreK teachers in your school are beginning EC LETRS this year?            2

Section H: 2024-25 School SMART Goals and Progress Toward those Goals

Previous Goal #1 (Third Grade Goal): Reduce the percentage of third graders scoring Does Not Meet in the spring of 2024, as determined by SC READY, from 46% to 42% in the spring of 2025.

Goal #1 Progress:  We met our goal for reducing our Does Not Meet from 46% to 42% by receiving 29.5% of students scoring Does Not Meet. 

Goal #2:  Decrease non-scoreable TDAs in grades 3rd-5th from 37.8% in the spring of 2024 to 35% in the spring of 2025 as measured by SCReady 
Goal #2 Progress:   We met our goal for decreasing non-scoreables from 37.8% to 23.7%.  

Section I: 2025-26 School SMART Goals and Action Steps Based on Analysis of Data

Goal #1 (Third Grade Goal):  Increase the percentage of third graders scoring Meets and Exceeds in the spring of 2025 as determined by SC READY from 34.3% to 37.3% in the spring of 2026.

Goal #1 Action Steps:  

• The coach will work with all third-grade teachers by supporting small-group instruction, focusing on grouping, documentation, and assessment.
• Conduct PD sessions with Reading coach-Lit Tuesdays are aligned with ELA standards, Literacy Reflection Tool, and LETRS.
• Reading coach and teachers will engage in coaching cycles (modeling, co-teaching, debriefing, and planning).
• Creating cross-grade-level lab experiences where teachers can observe best practices and debrief to apply what was learned/observed.  

Goal #2:  Students in grades 3rd-5th will decrease TDW non-scorable from 23.3% to 18.3%.

Goal #2 Action Steps:

• To help improve student performance and reduce the number of non-scores on assessments, we are giving students in grades K–5 access to structured practice in typing skills.

• During grade-level planning, focus on supporting writing across the curriculum —including ELA, Social Studies, and Science — with students.

• MLP and RTI teachers will work with students on responding to reading during small group instruction.

• Intentional Walk through observations of reading and writing instruction with specific and abundant feedback of instruction in all PreK-5th-grade classrooms.

• Conduct PD sessions with Reading Coaches-Lit Tuesdays are aligned with text-dependent writing with an emphasis on decreasing copies and insufficient writing.