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.

Kindergarten through Second grade instructional curriculum is Open Court and throughout Open Court students are receiving 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 are providing instruction at grade-level and target 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.

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 pertains 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, Continued

Depending on the grade level, teachers’ knowledge of the science of reading is evolving. As teachers are learning more 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 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 IMSE assessments on all Kindergarten students, IMSE Reading and Spelling with all First through Fifth grade students. 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 the Winter and Fall. Third-grade students will be administered MAP in the 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 student’s 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, Curriculum Night, Open House, Read to Succeed Information Sessions (3rd grade families), Book Fair, Afterschool club, family book study, and PTO/SIC/Title One Meetings which provide information about our school’s academic performance and offers literacy incentives such as board games and books through our At Risk and Title 1 funds.. 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, 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 Coaches), Coaching Cycles (based on teacher needs), principal grade-level data meetings, faculty meetings, professional development on supporting students in poverty, and teacher chosen book studies based on these book titles: Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching and Learning, Social Justice Talk, Revolutionary Love: Creating a Culturally Inclusive Literacy Classroom, Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education, and The Will to Lead and the Skill to Teach: Transforming Schools at Every Level.

Section G: District Analysis of Data

Strengths:

• Systems for Assessing- we have systematically assessed and gained important information to determine how best to support students.
• Strong communication with families and information shared with them, as well as opportunities for families to participate in events and learn how best to support their child at home.
• Having access to materials and resources to support students in whole and small group instruction.
• Title One and At Risk funds provide resources that support our students at all Tier levels.

Possibilities for Growth:

• Ensure teachers are using the necessary data to inform their instruction, which means more professional development in this area is warranted.
• Increase the number of parents who participate in the opportunities we provide.
• Having a platform for teachers to access PD on their time that also gears towards their interest, so that it does not take place during the school day.
• Increase personal and academic reading and writing skills across content.

How many eligible teachers in your school have completed Volume 1 ONLY of LETRS?:  5

How many eligible teachers in your school have completed Volumes 1 and 2 of LETRS?:  17

How many eligible teachers in your school are beginning Volume 1 of LETRS this year (or have not yet started or completed Volume 1)?:  9

Section H: 2023-24 School SMART Goals and Progress Toward those Goals

Goal #1:   Goal #1 (Third Grade Goal): Reduce the percentage of third graders scoring Does Not Meet in the spring of 2023 as determined by SC READY from ___51.2% to __48% in the spring of 2024

Goal #1 Progress:  We met our goal for reducing our Does Not Meet from 51.2% to 48% by receiving 46% of students scoring Does Not Meet.

Goal #2:  Goal #2: Decrease non-scoreable TDAs in grades 3rd-5th from 24.1 % in the spring of 2023 to 21% in spring of 2024 as measured by SCReady

Goal #2 Progress:   We did not meet this goal for non-scoreables. We had 37.8% of our 3rd-5th grade students score in the non-scoreable.

Section I: 2024-25 School SMART Goals and Action Steps Based on Analysis of Data

Goal #1:  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 Action Steps:  

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

Goal #2:  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 Action Steps:

• During grade level planning focus on supporting writing across curriculum - ELA/Social Studies with students.
• Conduct PD sessions w/Reading coaches-Lit Tuesdays are aligned with text-dependent writing with an emphasis on decreasing copies and insufficient writing.
• MLP and RTI teachers will work with students on responding to reading during small group instruction.
• Intentional Walkthrough observations of reading and writing instruction w/specific and abundant feedback of instruction in all Prek-5th grade classrooms.
• Parent engagement through Literacy Cafe` events where we engage parents and students with reading and writing activities focusing on phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and the joys of reading and writing together.