School Reading Plan

At Spann Elementary, literacy instruction and assessment for all students in PreK–5ᵗʰ grade are strongly aligned to the Science of Reading, Structured Literacy, and Foundational Literacy Skills. Instruction is intentionally designed to build and strengthen all components of word recognition, including phonics, phonemic awareness, and sight word recognition, which are essential for developing fluent and proficient readers.

In PreK, students are taught using the On My Way curriculum by Scholastic, which emphasizes the development of early literacy and language skills through structured, play-based, and interactive learning experiences. To monitor progress, teachers administer the myIGDIs assessment three times a year to measure growth in key areas of early literacy and language. In addition, the District PreK checklist is administered quarterly to provide further data on readiness and progress toward foundational literacy skills. These assessments allow teachers to identify students who may need early interventions and ensure a smooth transition into kindergarten literacy expectations.

In grades K–2, students receive explicit, systematic, and cumulative instruction through UFLI Foundations and Heggerty/Bridging the Gap. These research-based programs, grounded in the Science of Reading, provide targeted instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, and early word recognition to ensure that students develop a strong foundation in decoding and encoding.

In grades 3–5, instruction continues with HMH Into Reading, which delivers structured literacy through a clearly defined scope and sequence in phonics, word study, and morphology. Instruction at these levels emphasizes decoding, structural analysis, and word recognition skills that enable students to read and comprehend increasingly complex texts.

Across all grades, teachers implement explicit, diagnostic, and systematic practices consistent with the principles of structured literacy, ensuring that instruction is both responsive and aligned to students’ developmental needs.

Assessment practices are equally aligned to foundational literacy and provide valid, reliable measures for screening and progress monitoring. Spann Elementary uses Foundational Skills Surveys (FSS) from Really Great Reading to assess the skills taught through HMH, Heggerty, and UFLI. In 

kindergarten, FSS measures pre-decoding and early decoding skills, including functional vocabulary, phonological and phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, decoding, and high-frequency word reading. In first grade, FSS assesses simple and complex single-syllable words, decodable two-syllable words, and select sight words. In second grade and beyond, Advanced Decoding FSS is administered to students who need additional support, targeting complex single-syllable words as well as decodable two- and three-syllable words, using both real and nonsense words. Additional assessments such as AIMSweb provide early identification and progress monitoring of foundational literacy skills, while MAP Growth assessments are used school-wide to track overall reading proficiency. Furthermore, common assessments on the FORMATIVE platform give teachers actionable, real-time data that allow them to adjust instruction and provide targeted support as needed.

Together, these instructional practices and assessments demonstrate strong alignment to the Science of Reading and Structured Literacy. By combining explicit, systematic instruction with valid and reliable assessments beginning in PreK, Spann Elementary ensures that all PreK–5 students develop foundational literacy skills in word recognition, fluency, and comprehension. This comprehensive approach guarantees that instruction is both high quality and responsive, allowing all students to make measurable progress toward meeting grade-level English/Language Arts standards.

At Spann Elementary, a comprehensive system is in place to help parents understand how they can support their child as a reader and writer at home. Teachers communicate regularly through ParentSquare and Schoology, which serve as primary platforms for sharing classroom assignments, updates, and resources that families can use to extend learning at home. In addition, both classroom and school-wide newsletters provide families with timely information, highlight literacy activities aligned with the curriculum, and foster a strong home-school connection for literacy development.

Each fall, parent-teacher conferences are held to provide parents with the opportunity to ask questions, review their child’s progress, and gain a deeper understanding of grade-level standards and expectations. To further support families, Spann hosts a Literacy Night each fall, where parents engage in interactive sessions focused on reading and writing strategies they can use at home. Beyond this, monthly parent trainings are offered for specific grade levels, focusing on English Language Arts standards, the Science of Reading, and practical strategies parents can implement to support their child’s literacy growth outside of school.

Through these consistent communication tools, structured events, and targeted training opportunities, Spann Elementary ensures that parents are well-equipped to play an active role in their child’s reading and writing development at home.

At Spann Elementary, the monitoring of reading achievement and growth occurs systematically at both the classroom and school level to ensure all students in PreK–5ᵗʰ grade are making progress toward grade-level proficiency. MTSS sessions are held bi-monthly, where teachers and administrators review student data, monitor growth, and analyze achievement trends. These meetings allow staff to identify patterns across classrooms, determine the effectiveness of core instruction, and make decisions about targeted interventions.

Students receiving intervention in grades K–5 are progress monitored regularly to determine growth and to evaluate whether program instruction is improving student outcomes.

In grades K–2, the 95 Percent Group intervention program and Heggerty Phonemic Awareness is used to diagnose deficits in phonemic awareness and phonics. This diagnostic approach enables teachers to group students effectively for precise, skill-specific intervention. Ongoing progress monitoring provides evidence of skill mastery and generates student-level data that is shared with literacy stakeholders, ensuring that interventions are adjusted as needed and that school-level decisions are informed by accurate data.

In grades 3–5, students receive targeted intervention through Read 180, which incorporates daily instructional tasks within the ReaL Book. Embedded formative assessments in the ReaL Book monitor student understanding in real time and pace instruction appropriately, while summative assessments measure mastery of new skills taught during whole- and small-group lessons. Results from these assessments are used to guide instructional planning, progress monitoring, and grading. The ReaL Book Comprehension component monitors skills in comprehension, vocabulary/word study, close reading, writing, and conventions, while the ReaL Book Code Foundations component monitors phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling and word automaticity, vocabulary, oral reading fluency, comprehension, and writing.

Through this comprehensive system of bi-monthly MTSS meetings, consistent progress monitoring, and the use of reliable intervention programs, Spann Elementary ensures that data-driven decisions are made at both the classroom and school level. This process allows staff to respond to student needs quickly, refine instruction, and provide targeted support so that every child has the opportunity to reach grade-level reading proficiency.