what is reading intervention?

when we refer to reading  intervention, it usually points to smaller groups of students receiving additional instruction because they need support with the basics of reading. often, schools are working within a remediation model, which means that students that need additional support are pulled from their tier 1, core instruction to work on skills they may not have mastered yet, while their classmates are working on grade-level skills.

research has shown us that an acceleration model is actually more effective. this means students who need additional support (outside of tier 1 instruction) are not pulled from core instruction to receive it. they receive intervention instruction in addition to their core literacy instruction–and the intervention materials and instruction are directly connected to the work they are doing in their core instruction. we know now that continuing to work on grade-level skills while providing additional intervention instruction for those students that need foundational skills support, moves the needle more effectively.

the different tiers of instruction represent who is receiving the instruction, as well as the time and intensity dedicated to the instruction. in general, all students participate in tier 1, or core instruction. students who have a need for more focused support according to diagnostic assessment data are provided with tier 2 and tier 3 instruction.

let’s explore how to identify students who will need additional literacy support.

recognizing the need for intervention

to best support all students on their path to successful literacy acquisition, it’s necessary to understand what students already know and what they need additional or in-depth instruction on.

many schools screen all students at least once a year, but  often more frequently, at the beginning of the year (boy), the middle of the year (moy) and the end of the year (eoy) using a universal screener (acadience, dibels, and aimsweb are popular universal screeners). while this is a very useful tool and offers information about whether or not a student is at risk for reading difficulty, it doesn’t give specific information, nor does it offer help with making instructional support-based decisions.

in order to have the information that truly helps teachers to understand what their students need, and how to make confident, effective instructional decisions, a diagnostic assessment is imperative. the diagnostic assessment shows whether a student has mastered a specific set of skills and then offers steps to take to provide the necessary support. importantly, a diagnostic assessment should pinpoint where on a continuum a skills intervention needs to begin and what lessons can provide that intervention. in other words, assessment, instruction, and resources should be seamlessly integrated for maximum efficiency.

95 percent group offers two different diagnostic assessments: the 95 phonemic awareness screener for intervention™ and the 95 phonics screener for intervention™—each mapping directly to specific skill lessons inside our phonemic awareness or phonics program.

reading intervention strategies

there isn’t just one way to implement reading intervention strategies. however, the success of an intervention model does depend on the shared dynamics of student needs, staffing availability and accessibility of time and space. in the popular multi-tiered systems of support (mtss) framework, this entails supporting students based on data showing whether they are reading on grade level or whether they need explicit skills instruction in addition to the core literacy instruction they are receiving.

once you know your student’s needs, you can work to figure out what the best reading intervention strategies will be.

choosing the right strategy

when you have collected and interpreted data and know which skills your students need additional support with, it’s time to choose the intervention strategies that make the most sense. a few questions to ask might include:

• what is the widespread need among our students?
  is it 20% of students reading just below grade level? do 5% of those students need even more intensive support? what if the majority of students are not meeting benchmarks with tier 1 instruction? if that is the case,do we need to re-examine our tier 1 or do we need to implement a walk-to-read model where we are providing tier 1 instruction in smaller, needs-based groups?

   

• what are we capable of in terms of staffing? 
  small groups with an interventionist? a “walk-to-intervention” model where all hands are on deck during intervention?

   

• what kind of time do we have in our school day and school week? 
  where does it make sense to offer this intervention? can there be a whole school or grade-level “walk to read,” or “what i need,” or “win” block where students spend time working on skills specific to their needs?

once you have the framework in place, and understand what students need, they can be grouped accordingly. using data to understand what type of reading intervention is necessary helps to ensure that students are receiving the explicit instruction that will offer the biggest impact on their learning. different models work well for different schools and understanding your students’ and teachers’ needs is the first step to implementing the right reading intervention strategy.

if there are students who are missing foundational literacy skills, some of the intervention strategies might include instruction in:

• phonemic awareness: helps students have a better understanding of phonemes: the smallest sound units inside of a word. effective instruction will also quickly associate sounds (phonemes) their representative letter(s) (graphemes)
• decoding and encoding: decoding is what students need to do to translate printed language into speech. doing this quickly and automatically is how students build the foundation necessary to be a successful reader. the purpose of this instruction is for students to be able to map sound-symbol relationships accurately so that words are stored for automatic retrieval, in essence, becoming “sight words.” (this process of orthographic mapping applies to all words, regular or irregular.)  decoding intervention should always include encoding as well, to secure the understanding of the code for spelling and writing.

these strategies help students read more automatically at the word level—a crucial factor in having the eventual cognitive space for comprehension and critical thinking.

for reading intervention that is focused more on reading comprehension, strategies will look a little different:

• vocabulary and word study: an increased vocabulary ultimately offers students a depth and breadth of background knowledge—something that becomes incredibly important as they tacklemore sophisticated topics in subjects like history and science. vocabulary instruction includes both intentional or direct instruction on actual words and word meanings as well as teaching students strategies for independent vocabulary-building. we also want our classrooms to be language-rich to encourage our students to become “word wizards” who savor and explore vocabulary.
• comprehension activities such as making connections and inferences, drawing conclusions, and understanding informational text features and the components of fiction are additional strategies to help students eventually be able to monitor their own understanding.

putting intervention strategies into action

when you have a tiered system of instruction, it becomes easier to ensure that each student is getting the instruction they need to be reading on grade level.

let’s look at 95 percent group’s  one95 literacy ecosystem™ and how it can provide instructional strategies and materials at all levels.

tier i

tier i instruction refers to the core literacy instruction that all students receive. the hallmark of an effective tier 1 program is a structured sequence delivered through explicit and direct instruction that offers student feedback and a scaffolded gradual release approach (i do, we do, you do). if the core instruction is effective, 80% of students should receive what they need to be grade-level readers.

tier 2

tier 2 instruction is intervention for the smaller number of students who score below the grade level benchmark and need increased time, intensity (smaller group size) and focus (targeted skills identified by diagnostic screeners) of instruction in addition to their tier 1 literacy instruction. tier 2 is also evidence-aligned enrichment and supports for students already at benchmark. it can also provide enrichment for tier 1 instruction.

tier 3

tier 3 intensive intervention instruction is evidence-aligned and supports students not responding to tier 2 instruction. it is highly individualized to already identified student needs. our tier 3 intervention instruction is based on our newly acquired product, 95 rap™— a teacher-led, small group, digital solution for struggling readers, including those with dyslexia.

additionally, tier 3 instruction can offer extension and support for students well-above benchmark.

check out this on-demand webinar for more information.

reading intervention success stories

below is an excerpt from a 95 percent group intervention success story: 

fairfax school district is located in a small community on the southeast side of bakersfield, in kern county, california. the district currently has four schools (they’re adding a fifth) with a total of 2,688 students. 

a true “walk to learn” model

q: can you talk a little more about the early implementation phase? you mentioned that when you trained all the aides, that decision wasn’t popular initially.

a: charley clark, superintendent, fairfax school district, ca: 

yes, it wasn’t a popular decision, but i asked them to trust me, and i assured them that if this doesn’t work, they can have them back. of course it worked. we knew it was going to work. we created a schedule so we have a true “walk to learn” model. from 9 to 9:30 a.m., there are four kindergarten teachers, five aides, and a reading specialist. so that’s 10 people that are all hands on deck from 9 to 9:30 for the whole kindergarten. the lowest-performing kids go to the reading lab and we also have what we’re doing with the 95 phonics core program®, and this is a great enrichment time for our higher-performing kids.

then, there’s a 15-minute break and from 9:45 to 10:30 a.m., it’s first grade and the whole team travels. now you have first grade teachers, those same aides, the reading specialist. with the model we did, working out details with schedules was always challenging, but it was a really focused way for teachers to get intervention for their kids as opposed to “send your five lowest-performing kids” to our reading specialists.

read the whole story on the blog!

the final word

the goal for literacy instruction remains that all children are receiving what they need in their tier 1 reading instruction. but the reality is that there will be students who need, with certainty, more support than that instruction can offer. for these reasons, having a tool box of reading intervention strategies and intervention materials that are backed by the science of reading and based on evidence of efficacy is one way to make sure you are meeting the needs of all students you serve.

if you are interested in any of the intervention resources we have at 95 percent group, including the new and exciting digital literacy intervention system platform, and our extensive professional learning and coaching offerings, please contact us today!

resources

1. moats, l. (n.d.). whole-language high jinks: how to tell when “scientifically-based reading instruction” isn’t. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ed498005
2. liberman, i. y., shankweiler, d., & liberman, a. m. (n.d.). the alphabetic principle and learning to read. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ed427291
3. accelerated learning. (n.d.). michigan department of education. retrieved march 8, 2024, from https://www.michigan.gov/-/media/project/websites/mde/flexible-learning-options/accelerated-learning/al-vs-remediation/al_v_remediation.pdf?rev=535e57d7df0b498cae22789fd9d34f24
4. teaching sight words as a part of comprehensive reading instruction. (2023, may 16). iowa reading research center – the university of iowa. https://irrc.education.uiowa.edu/blog/2018/06/teaching-sight-words-part-comprehensive-reading-instruction
5. pendharkar, e. (2023, october 13). mtss: what is a multi-tiered system of supports? education week. https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/mtss-what-is-a-multi-tiered-system-of-supports/2023/

a little background

can you share what you learned in that initial tier 2 implementation and the tier 2 best practices that emerged?

david mack:

we’re including mr. charley clark in this conversation because charley was instrumental in our school district’s 95 percent group tier 2 implementation. today, he is our assistant superintendent. he runs the entire instructional side of the district. i’m now on the business side. charley is currently in the middle of his dissertation, so i picked his brain a lot for my dissertation. [see the post “research-based best practices for implementing a tier 1 phonics program” for details on dr. mack’s dissertation on implementation with fidelity.] charley has a wealth of knowledge on implementation in general and on tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 strategies for reading intervention.

in the 2014-2015 school year, charley was the principal of a brand new school, zephyr lane elementary, and he had the opportunity to open it. in 2016, i got my first site as principal at shirley lane elementary, so we were principals at the same time. charley had brought 95 percent group’s tier 2 curriculum to his new school right out the gate.

my site had an intervention program that, in my opinion, was not very effective. but given the culture of my school at the time, to go in and change it to something new, especially something that zephyr lane was implementing, would not have gone over well with the staff. that’s always a difficult spot when you come in as a principal and you want to implement change. so i had a year where i got to watch charley implement it, and i could also take my staff members to go watch and talk with the zephyr lane team and see how the program was going.

then, in my second year, i implemented it at my school, so we were a year behind charley. it all started with us really wanting to have a universal screener for our students to get more information—at the time we went with dibels. we now use acadience.

goals for year 1

can you tell us about your initial goal for a tier 2 implementation and your goal for student reading improvement?

charley clark:

the first year was the 2014-15 school year when i started with this school district, and as dr. mack mentioned, i got to open up a new school. in my previous district, we used dibels and i was a dibels trainer. we did dibels “to the t” in our sites and we really used that data.

when i came to this new district, they were using dibels, but it was not done to any kind of fidelity. one of my key tenets is: everything we do is data-driven. we always make sure we have the correct data to look at, so i was definitely planning on doing dibels, but starting at a new school, you don’t want to be this outsider who comes in and just changes everything.

so i said, “we’re going to start with kindergarten.” at that time, the reading program had teachers identifying their lowest-performing kids, but there was no data to drive the decision-making. so we started using dibels with kindergarten to really dig in to get specific groups. as dr. mack said about his school site, it was a culture shift that had to happen.

then, when we started having data teams, it was exactly what i hoped would happen—first grade wanted it, then second grade, and third grade. before i knew it, the whole school wanted to use dibels because they were seeing us talk about data that they had never seen before.

dibels—before and after

in your experience, what is the strength of dibels that led you to want to shift to using it at your new school?

charley clark:

before dibels, we had zero ways to tell how our kids were doing. everybody did their own thing. some people did rigby. some people did star. there was nothing universal. the district 10 years ago was not data-driven whatsoever in my opinion, and so we needed something. dibels gives you nice reports, and the result is like, “wow! we can really track growth!”—it’s a great product.

the big shift for change—my kids versus our kids

charley clark:

the effort steamrolled into getting targeted groups, and so now, instead of just “send me your five lowest-performing kids,” we had to make the shift from “my kids” to “our kids.” if you just say, “send me your five lowest-performing kids,” what if the 10 lowest kids are in one class? that “five lowest kids” approach doesn’t work.

after my first year, we got to the point where we had a reading specialist and our teacher on special assignment. we all attended an “i’ve dibeled, now what?” conference. and that’s where we got to see and meet dr. susan hall, who was presenting 95 percent group and showing what you can do with it. we were all in from the get-go. it was such an amazing product. it just worked seamlessly with dibels.

and it wasn’t hard to sell because it was so grounded with the dibels levels. the best analogy i heard eight years ago that we still use is “dibels tells you that there’s a fire. 95 percent group tells you what floor the fire is on, what room the fire is in, and what you need to put the fire out.” that’s been our elevator pitch on what 95 percent group is ever since.

realizing we had a tier 1 problem

charley clark:

so we started. i wanted a true intervention room. before that, all of our kindergarten teachers had their aides. my first unpopular decision when i became a principal was to pull all those kindergarten aides and put them in a reading lab. we trained them on how to use 95 percent group. today, we have this system-wide at all schools.

our tier 2 system was solid at this point, but kids kept coming in. the floodgates were just opened, and we realized that while we have a really good intervention program, our problem is really with tier 1.

that’s when we adopted tier 1—dr. mack brought that in. he was the first one to jump on the 95 phonics core program®. we implemented it, and we are in our second full year with it. it’s seamless now from tier 1 to tier 2. we really cut down on the number of kids who are going into tier 2 because we’re catching them with the solid tier 1 program.

when you brought in 95 percent group’s tier 2 solutions, how did you structure your goals for the implementation and your goal for student reading improvement? and how did teachers respond?

charley clark:

i still have the presentation i gave to my superintendent and assistant superintendent at the time on why we needed 95 percent group. the plan was very structured—we had six-week cycles of intervention, not just “you’re in intervention for life.” we’re going to do six-week cycles. we’re going to pre-test. we’re going to post-test. our goals were to meet the individual needs of the students.

as i said, students were doing great in intervention and would exit. well, they’d come right back into intervention once the gap got wide enough again. but at the time, i didn’t think about it as a tier 1 problem. we were focusing so much on tier 2 that it wasn’t until recently that we stepped back and asked, “if our system is so dialed in, why are kids still going into intervention at the rate they’re going in?”

our special education director always said that in those early years at zephyr lane, if a kid was recommended for special education, 95 percent of the time, they qualified because we really went through the intervention process. whereas before that, the mentality in the district was, “oh, you’re failing. we recommend you for special ed,” which now we know is not a scientifically-driven way to identify students. 95 percent group closed the gap on most of our kids, and with ones who we referred, they genuinely had learning disabilities.

screeners were key in creating groups

were you using the 95 percent group screeners in the six-week cycles?

charley clark:

absolutely. that’s what drove our groups. we took all of our red kids from dibels, then gave them all the 95 phonemic awareness screener for intervention™ (pasi™) or the 95 phonics screener for intervention™ (psi™), depending on their needs. and from there, we developed our groups. that’s the way we still do it. we’re looking now at using screeners for progress monitoring.

we just had a great in-person training for two weeks with 95 percent group to help us learn more about implementing an ongoing progress monitoring piece.

a true “walk to learn” model

can you talk a little more about the early implementation phase? you mentioned that when you trained all the aides, that decision wasn’t popular initially.

charley clark:

yes, it wasn’t a popular decision, but i asked them to trust me, and i assured them that if this didn’t work, they could have them back. of course, it worked. we knew it was going to work. we created a schedule so we have a true “walk to learn” model. from 9 to 9:30 a.m., there are four kindergarten teachers, five aides, and a reading specialist. so that’s 10 people that are all hands on deck from 9 to 9:30 for the whole kindergarten. the lowest-performing kids go to the reading lab and we also have what we’re doing with the 95 phonics core program®, which is a great enrichment time for our higher-performing kids.

then, there’s a 15-minute break, and from 9:45 to 10:30 a.m., it’s first grade, and the whole team travels. now you have first-grade teachers, those same aides, and the reading specialist. with the model we did, working out details with schedules was always challenging. still, it was a really focused way for teachers to get intervention for their kids instead of “send your five lowest-performing kids” to our reading specialists.

a universal language across tiers and classrooms

how did you help all your teachers and students get on the same page?

charley clark:

we knew that we needed a tier 1. initially, we took the 95 phonics chip kits™ and the 95 tier 2 intervention program, and we made our own scope and sequence to use in tier 1. our reading specialist did all of that. so, we had chip kits in every classroom. it was all about using that universal language. we finger stretch—we don’t say “tricky e,” and we don’t say “when two vowels go walking, the first one doesn’t talk to you.” we don’t say any of that. we use the same language across the district and the classes. so when the kids go from tier 1 to tier 2 or tier 3, they don’t have to learn somebody else’s vernacular.

coaching is key

how did professional learning work?

charley clark:

we trained all of our reading specialists and teachers on special assignments. there were two at every site. the aides were trained, and then the reading specialists trained the teachers. the teachers were all in.

it sounds like you had some professional learning with 95 percent group and then your reading specialist took it from there.

charley clark:

if it wasn’t for our first 95 percent group coach, we wouldn’t have this conversation. she was the most dynamic coach i’ve ever seen in 20 years of education, and she had people hooked. when she was talking, everybody was just leaning forward, listening. she was so engaging, with low affective filters and low threat, that our teachers just ate it up. we all did. mack and i would sit in the training on the edge of our seats because she was so smart and so knowledgeable on how the brain works. then, she could teach us how to use the program. we kept our instructional aides in there and had her as a coach for two or three years. she’s retired, but she should be on a wall of fame.  the quote about the fires is from her.

when we rolled out tier 1, a negative training experience set us back. due to covid-19, the initial professional learning experience was online. teachers were not engaged. when that didn’t work, we had someone come out and we took more steps backward. why? the trainer didn’t deliver on promises made.

the big thing was that the teachers were concerned that the program was impossible to do in 30 to 45 minutes. the literacy coach told me she was going to show them how to do it, and she didn’t. that’s what the teachers hung their hats on.

now, we have a phenomenal literacy coach. we just started with a three-year contract moving forward for ongoing coaching. but my caveat was that as long as she’s employed, we have to have her because she got all our teachers back on board.

ready for part 2?

read part 2 of the interview here.

about 95 percent group

95 percent group is an education company whose mission is to build on science to empower teachers—supplying the knowledge, resources and support they need—to develop strong readers. using an approach that is based in structured literacy, the company’s one95 literacy ecosystem™ integrates professional learning and evidence-based literacy products into one cohesive system that supports consistent instructional routines across tiers and is proven and trusted to help students close skill gaps and read fluently. 95 percent group is also committed to advancing research, best practices, and thought leadership on the science of reading more broadly.

for additional information on 95 percent group, visit: //www.egbmusic.com.

professional learning best practices

what have you learned through the successes and failures about training and professional learning best practices?

david mack:

a big thing with any tier 1 and tier 2 implementation is ensuring that the school culture is understood and the ongoing training is sensitive to that culture. high-quality training needs to deliver what is promised because no one likes to waste their time.

anytime you’re talking about implementation or starting something new, the teachers’ first impression will be that initial training. so, getting that first impression of the program to make sure that it’s a positive experience is so important. in our experience, it has to be in person. we had a less-than-optimal experience with online training on zoom during covid. you don’t get that engagement. you don’t get that understanding, right?

professional learning has to be engaging. you have to have the experts in the room because teachers are smart, and they’re going to ask hard questions, and you need to be able to answer those questions confidently. when teachers with resistance ask questions, you have someone who can positively assertively give that response in the right way at the right time. that immediate feedback is so key.

of course, literacy coaches have to actually deliver on their promises. for example, if they say they will show how to deliver the program in 30 to 45 minutes, they need to deliver on that promise. if or when they don’t, they can return all the progress made. trust is key.

walking the walk for literacy

charley clark:

i’ll also add: the second most important part to having a dynamic trainer with sensitivity to the culture is to have a leader who is learning side-by-side.

so, when i talked about how i wanted that steamrolling mentality to happen with dibels, part of my approach was i tested with our reading lab. so they always had a table for me—i would go in there, and the teachers would bring their classes in. we told teachers, “you can just sit in the back and watch. you don’t have to test. we’ll test them.” but when they saw me come in and test, they were encouraged and confident they could.

when bringing in 95 phonics core program®, dr. mack did the same thing. i remember going through a session with kim dale, our superstar literacy coach, and she wanted to talk to one of the aides or a teacher in the training. dr. mack jumped in, sat at the table, and completed the lesson because he knew how to do it. that gets so much buy-in with your staff if you have a leader who walks the walk. it’s easy to say we need you to do this program, but when they see us doing it with them, they’re much more inclined to jump on board.

could you share some aha! moments you experienced with the tier 2 implementation?

charley clark:

oh, definitely. i was only a principal at the site for four years before i came over to the district office. and at the beginning of my fifth year, i returned to the school. i was talking to a group of third grade teachers—this was before covid. these kids have had 95 percent group for four years—kindergarten, first, second, and third. they said this is the first year they’ve ever had a class that can read. they come in and they are reading. so, this was in 2019. that was probably our highest achieving year—our caaspp scores were starting to soar because those kids in the early phases were getting into those testing grades.

our whole philosophy as a school was: we’re going to teach them how to read in k-3 so we can teach them the content in 4-6. we stopped worrying about things like adverbs in first grade because who cares what an adverb is if you can’t read?

we took many curriculum-type things and asked what was non-negotiable and what was not. many negotiable things exist if your kids aren’t reading because reading is the number one priority. seeing it sustained over a few years, we saw some killer results. we had a reset from covid for fill-in-the-blank reasons—kids are different after covid. and we’re starting over, but now, with tier 1 being done to fidelity, we’re beginning to trend back up in the right direction.

this morning, dr. mack and i reviewed our acadience data for the last three years of quarter two. we’re seeing our kids return to where they should be. and i attribute that 100% to 95 percent group from tier 1 and tier 2. i mean, it’s without a doubt.

shared passion and mindset for structured literacy

what kind of impact has your work at your school had on other schools in the district? being named a title 1 model school must have been influential. how is that playing out?

david mack:

well, i have to say, when you wanted to have a conversation about tier 2, i knew we could not have this conversation without bringing in charley because we would not have had success at any of our schools if it wasn’t for charley at the beginning. we were very fortunate. charley, one of our other district administrators who was in charge of special education today, and i were all principals at the time. it was a heyday because the three of us all had the same mindset of how we wanted to see reading programs go and we all had this passion for working alongside our teachers and our staff and getting in the weeds. it was a lot of fun to be a principal at that time.

have other schools been inspired by what you’re doing?

charley clark:

we’re a pretty small school district. there are only three elementary schools and one junior high. but the data speaks for itself. and so when we would look at district data and the scores at my school were skyrocketing, and the other two were pretty flat, it didn’t take much convincing for other people to ask, “hey, what are you doing?”

and so, the other school jumped on board quickly.

branding our programs

one great thing we did was we branded the effort by our sites. we called our team “our time, win time, what i need.” dr. mack called it amp, which stood for “at my pace.” one of our other schools now calls it pop—pursuit of progress.

we branded it and made it a part of what we do. it’s not like it was before we started when the approach was, “oh, go to your intervention room. you three kids go over.” there wasn’t any kind of stigma. it was, “oh, we all walk to a different classroom.”

when they heard about the successes, dr. mack brought over some key people who needed to see it. good leaders can always identify your movers and shakers, and if you get them on board, that’s more than half the battle. he brought over a very key player, and i had all my key players in the room. then we both sat back and listened. the conversation, when it’s teacher-driven, spreads like wildfire. no one cares what an administrator tells you. when they hear it from another teacher, someone they respect, then it’s much more well-received.

building a data culture for reading intervention

what obstacles led you to begin with kindergarten in bringing in tier 2?

charley clark:

on the outside, it looks like, “oh, it makes sense to start in kindergarten.” but i had the most supportive team in kindergarten. so that’s what made me choose kindergarten. and they respected our reading specialist at the time so much that we could have done anything. and so we said, “okay, we’re going to start with you guys.”

then, we started this culture of having data teams regularly. we had to teach them that you don’t need to keep your data to yourself. we’re at a point now where we can go into a grade level, share scores from classes with each other, and have a true discussion about the data. so, there was a lot of work on making people feel comfortable. but once we started shifting our mindset to “they’re our kids and not my kids,” they were more willing to talk about data. you get the class that you’re dealt. you can’t control how they come in. you certainly can control some things that impact their growth. once we overcame that hurdle, they were more willing to discuss data. and then it was like, “okay, we’ve identified that they’re low. now what?”

and that’s where 95 percent group has come in. susan hall’s book is called i’ve dibeled, now what? this is the “now what.”

needed: dynamic literacy leaders

would you like to share any other lessons learned or best practices?

david mack:

i will say that for modern schools to be successful, the old adage that principals or site administrators are just managers has to change. if you want a successful school, you need a dynamic instructional leader. and these leaders need to be experts in the field. you need to be a math expert. you need to be an ela expert.

you have to stay abreast of the changes, right? if you’re anything worth your salt, you understand the science of reading and that there’s a lot of tension in approaches to reading instruction. you understand the different controversies so that you can manage them. your staff gets so influenced by tiktok and instagram feeds now, and they don’t always get all the facts from those social media feeds.

you need to be a data scientist and know how to interpret real data in real-time. you have to make sure that you motivate your teachers to make those data-informed decisions and that the data you’re collecting is clean and meaningful.

charley and i were just looking at something on attendance today. it’s about us going through and cleaning up bad data because we had some bad data in there that would have made us make some difficult choices that wouldn’t have been correct based upon the data. you have to make sure that all your details are entered in correctly.

you need to be a jack of all trades, right? you may not be a master of all, but a master of some is better than none, right? so you need to have all those things down pat and be involved, engaged, and excited about what you’re implementing. you need to have a passion behind it.

getting in the weeds

charley clark:

i agree a hundred percent with dave. we have very similar philosophies on site leadership and leadership in general about how you have to walk the walk. it’s really easy for teachers to dismiss administrators with, “oh well, you’re just an administrator, you’re not in the classroom, you don’t know.”

david and i can talk about nonsense word fluency and reading rates and retell quality. we know what a cvc word is, we know how to finger stretch, we know what all the different colored chips are. we can talk about all those things.

when you have a principal who is leading data talks, when you can get in the weeds and have those kinds of conversations, people listen, and then they’re so much more inclined to follow. i think you see a lot of programs fall flat at school sites because principals or district leaders would say, “okay, we’re using 95 percent group’s literacy ecosystem. your trainers come in the day before school starts. go do it.” nothing is going to work if you’re not consistently in the room. i think the reason why 95 percent group has been so successful is because dave and i have been so passionate about the program and because we’re so passionate about early literacy in general.

you need to have a mindset of leading by doing and leading by having high expectations. dave’s rule was, “we are not going to cancel. i don’t care what’s going on. we are not canceling our reading lab for anything.” at another school site, one of the challenges was they had some community-type events come up, and then it seemed like some of the program would stop for a couple of weeks or a month at a time. and then you have to get everybody back into it.

the biggest takeaway as a leader from this whole program is: how is it rolled out? is it organized? our schedules were really dialed in, and very organized. we thought of everything that could go wrong and how to plan for it. for example, what happens if two of your aides call in sick that day? what do you do with groups? you don’t cancel and this is how we’re going to shift. we got in the weeds and figured out all of those kinds.

funding? it’s all about having clear priorities

money can be a huge concern when trying to help a district make change. what advice do you have for schools with budgeting concerns?

charley clark:

it’s all about your district priorities. so, there was a district that i’m still close with—i almost went back to work for them recently, but their focus is not on reading. they spend their dollars on another important area. it’s all about what your district priorities are. and if you look at what your students need and it is their behavior, maybe you put all your eggs in that pbis basket.

funding is there. dr. mack loves to say “we can do everything. we just can’t do it all.” and so it really depends on what your priorities are. and then, if it’s important to you, you’ll find the money for it. you may have to cut something else, but you take care of your priority.

david mack:

i will say this, this entire backbone of our program, our aides, are multi-funded. we use both federal and state funds to fund our instructional aides. all of our schools are title one funds, so we receive extra federal dollars to support students with need, which the majority of students in our school district are, and we also have centralized goals in our lcaps—that’s a specifically california term, which stands for local control and accountability plan, where we set aside supplemental concentration dollars.

we’ve set specific goals. we take federal dollars, and we mix them with state dollars, right? we do have to do some special accounting and submit that to auditors. in my opinion, a lot of school districts are leaving money on the table because they aren’t willing to have staff fill out the daily accounting time cards that have to be submitted for federal reporting. they need to do some extra work and set up a system. title one funds aren’t enough to do this program. so if we marry with another fund, we have the resources to do that. but with that, there’s some red tape that’s necessary to deal with. we do that. absolutely.

i see a lot of people who are always cutting or scratching to find that extra dime. i’m going to step over a dime to find a dollar. i’m not going to sit there and see what i can cut when there’s plenty of times i can go find dollars out there. it’s much easier to affect your revenue than try and make a cut.

but no doubt, the smaller your school district, the more challenges you will have to engage because we have the same amount of paperwork that we have to submit as los angeles unified, right? but they have a whole team of people to do it. you know, they’ll have a team of 20 people for their lcap. we have a team of 3 for ours, right? we’ve figured out how to make it work because our priorities are clear.

missed part 1 of this 2-part conversation?

read it here.

and make sure to read or revisit the conversation with david mack, edd, about the fairfax school district tier 1 implementation. you’ll find it here!

about 95 percent group

95 percent group is an education company whose mission is to build on science to empower teachers—supplying the knowledge, resources and support they need—to develop strong readers. using an approach that is based in structured literacy, the company’s one95™ literacy ecosystem™ integrates professional learning and evidence-based literacy products into one cohesive system that supports consistent instructional routines across tiers and is proven and trusted to help students close skill gaps and read fluently. 95 percent group is also committed to advancing research, best practices, and thought leadership on the science of reading more broadly.

for additional information on 95 percent group, visit: //www.egbmusic.com.

what are reading disorders?

reading disorders encompass a range of learning difficulties that affect an individual’s ability to read fluently and comprehend written text. they can stem from various factors, including neurological differences and genetic factors. most reading disorders result from specific differences in the way the brain processes written words and text. people with reading disorders often have problems recognizing words they already know and understanding text they read. a reading or language disorder can also impact a person’s spelling. it is important to note that not everyone with a reading disorder has every symptom.

it’s critical to understand that reading disorders are not a type of intellectual or developmental disorder, and they are not a sign of lower intelligence or laziness. it’s common that individuals with reading impairments may have other learning disabilities, including problems with writing (dysgraphia) or numbers (dyscalculia), or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd).

the most common reading disorders include dyslexia, dysgraphia, and specific reading comprehension deficits.

signs of a reading disability

identifying signs of a reading disability is crucial for early intervention and support. with early identification of students that are at-risk for a reading disability (especially dyslexia), intervention can begin immediately—significantly increasing the chances that all students can be reading on grade-level by 3rd or 4th grade. research shows that if children are not reading at grade level by 4th grade, the chances of becoming a confident, fluent reader are far less.  these signs may appear differently for different people, but often include challenges with phonological and phonemic awareness skills, decoding words, fluency, and ultimately, comprehension. additionally, a reluctance or avoidance of reading-related tasks can indicate an underlying issue.

with younger children, one of the first signs is often a working memory deficit. for example, being unable to quickly identify shapes or well-known objects may be a first indication of a reading impairment. this is why a rapid automatic naming (ran) screen can be so useful—it offers a way to collect information before children fully know letter names and shapes (another common screen for dyslexia).

types of reading disabilities

a large percentage (around 70-80%) of struggling readers have weaknesses or gaps in phonological processing, and often have problems in tandem concerning fluency and comprehension. these individuals have trouble learning how sounds relate to written symbols, affecting their ability to both sound out words and spell correctly.

another subgroup of struggling readers can decode words and still have trouble making meaning or deriving information from a text. unlike those who are often considered to have dyslexia, these individuals can read words quickly and with accuracy. their challenges, however, sometimes lie in difficulties related to social knowledge or social reasoning (social knowledge is one of the most important social competences and could be defined as the ability to analyze and reason about social situations in relation to social rules), abstract verbal reasoning, or language comprehension.

reading impairments are sometimes broken down into three subcategories:

• phonological deficit: affecting the processing of oral language sounds
• processing speed/orthographic processing deficit: impacting the speed and accuracy of recognizing printed words
• comprehension deficit, often observed in children with social-linguistic disabilities (e.g., autism spectrum), vocabulary weaknesses, language learning disorders, and difficulties in abstract reasoning and logical thinking

these can exist singularly or a person can be dealing with more than one of these deficits.

here are some of the most common reading disabilities:

• dyslexia one of the most common reading disorders, dyslexia involves difficulties in accurate and fluent word recognition along with inability to recognize and incorporate grammar and syntax. individuals with dyslexia may have trouble with decoding words, spelling, and often with writing as well. most have normal, or even sometimes above average intelligence but read at levels significantly lower than expected. this is one of the more common indicators if it is not identified early on. although the disorder varies from person to person, there are common characteristics: people with dyslexia often have a hard time sounding out words, understanding written words, and naming objects quickly.
• alexia most reading impairments are present from the time a child learns to read. but some people lose the ability to read after a stroke or an injury to the area of the brain involved with reading.
• hyperlexia this particular reading disorder is where people have advanced reading skills but may have problems understanding what is read or spoken aloud. they may also have cognitive or social problems.

reading disorders can also involve problems with specific skills:

• word decoding people who have difficulty sounding out written words struggle to match letters to their proper sounds. this becomes especially pronounced in upper elementary when multisyllabic words are more common in texts.
• fluency when people struggle to read with fluency, it is usually in large part because they are still expending a lot of effort on decoding words. one of the foundations of fluent reading is automatic word recognition. without this, it’s difficult to connect ideas to background knowledge which is a necessary part of deep reading comprehension.
• poor reading comprehension people who struggle with reading comprehension have trouble connecting to what they are reading. comprehension requires the mind to be free of the labor of decoding.

how to help students with reading disabilities

supporting students with reading disabilities involves a multifaceted approach that combines patience, understanding, and targeted strategies. here are some effective tips:

• screening to identify risk: children can be screened for risk of reading disabilities as early as preschool and kindergarten. the earlier you know, the sooner you can help.
• early intervention: identify and address reading difficulties as early as possible to provide tailored interventions suited to individual needs.
• multisensory learning: implement teaching methods that engage multiple senses, such as sight, sound, and touch, to reinforce reading skills.
• structured literacy programs: utilize evidence-aligned programs that systematically teach phonics, decoding, and comprehension skills.
• assistive technology: introduce tools like digital intervention programs, text-to-speech software, or specialized reading apps to aid in reading and comprehension.

additional resources

finding additional support and resources for individuals with reading disabilities and those assisting them is essential. here are some valuable resources:

• webinar: introducing the 95 literacy intervention system
• webinar: tier 3 in the one 95™ literacy ecosystem™: proven instruction that works!
• webinar: i have beginning-of-the-year data, now what?
• webinar: introducing the 95 phonemic awareness suite
• webinar: how the brain reads: highlighting the work of dr. stanislas dehaene
• webinar: achieving success with mtss: supporting all students in tiers of instruction
• the reading league: on a mission to make sure all children can learn to read and all teachers can learn to teach them. offers conferences, 世界杯足球2022亚洲预选赛 , and downloadable resources
• international dyslexia association (ida): offers information, resources, and support for individuals with dyslexia and their families
• understood.org: provides comprehensive information, tools, and a supportive community for parents and educators dealing with learning and attention issues

the final word

understanding and supporting students with reading disabilities is a collaborative effort that involves strong partnership and commitment among educators, parents, and the community. by recognizing the signs, understanding the types, and implementing effective strategies, we can create an inclusive environment where every student has the opportunity to thrive in their reading journey.

with early identification, effective interventions, and a supportive network, individuals with reading disabilities can develop the necessary skills to become proficient readers and achieve their full potential.

resources

1. hulme, charles, and margaret j snowling. “reading disorders and dyslexia.” current opinion in pediatrics, february 1, 2017. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc5293161/.
2. “what are some signs of learning disabilities?” eunice kennedy shriver national institute of child health and human development, september 11, 2018. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/learning/conditioninfo/signs#dyscalculia.
3. “types of reading disability.” reading rockets. accessed january 9, 2024. https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/struggling-readers/articles/types-reading-disability.
4. moats, l, & tolman, c (2009). excerpted from language essentials for teachers of reading and spelling (letrs): the challenge of learning to read (module 1). boston: sopris west.
5. barisnikov k, lejeune f. social knowledge and social reasoning abilities in a neurotypical population and in children with down syndrome. plos one. 2018 jul 20;13(7):e0200932. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200932. pmid: 30028865; pmcid: pmc6054403.
6. “stroke.” eunice kennedy shriver national institute of child health and human development, february 1, 2022. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/stroke.
7. “traumatic brain injury (tbi).” eunice kennedy shriver national institute of child health and human development, november 24, 2020. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/tbi.
8. ostrolenk, alexia, baudouin forgeot d’arc, patricia jelenic, fabienne samson, and laurent mottron. “hyperlexia: systematic review, neurocognitive modelling, and outcome,” may 3, 2017.
9. cherney, leora  reiff. “aphasia, alexia, and oral reading – pubmed.” national center for biotechnology information, 2004. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=14872397.

what is phonemic awareness?

phonemic awareness is the ability to identify, say, and manipulate the smallest sounds in words—the phonemes. phonemes are represented in the written language by graphemes. graphemes can be individual letters or groups of letters that represent single sounds. for example, sheep has three sounds or phonemes /sh/ /ē/ /p/ represented by the graphemes: sh, ee, and p. phonemes and syllables are not the same thing—the word salt is one syllable but has four phonemes (/s/ /a/ /l/ /t/).

phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness. these terms are frequently confused. the guide how children learn to read (world bank group, 2022) suggests thinking of a nested set of concepts—with phonemic awareness nested within phonological awareness, and phonological awareness nested in the broader term, phonological processing. here’s the set of definitions they provide:

• phonological processing: many aspects of speech and language perception and production, such as perceiving, interpreting, storing (remembering), recalling or retrieving, and generating the speech sound system of a language.
• phonological awareness: conscious awareness of all levels of the speech sound system, including word boundaries, stress patterns, syllables, parts of syllables, and phonemes
• phonemic awareness: conscious awareness that words are made up of segments of our own speech that are represented with letters in an alphabetic writing system

think of phonemes as the sound of speech that can be represented with letters rather than the sounds that letters make. 

• here is a short video that demonstrates the 44 phonemes in the english language.

why phonemic awareness matters

teaching students to identify and manipulate the sounds in words helps build a strong foundation for phonics instruction. research in the science of reading over many years has shown that a child’s success with phonemic awareness is a powerful predictor of later reading success.

in the report phonemic awareness and phonics for reading and spelling, the authors write:

“the us national reading panel (nichd, 2000) showed that for students of all abilities, teaching phonemic awareness leads to improvement in reading, and that it is most effective when students are explicitly and systematically taught to manipulate phonemes with letters.”

supporting prior knowledge and sequence of instruction

the report continues (p. 10): “there is also evidence that shows a positive relationship between student’s knowledge of larger sound elements and later success in reading and spelling (lonigan, 2006). teaching awareness of words, syllables, and rhyming is important at the earliest levels as it helps students attend to and work successfully with words and larger parts of words, before they are able to work at the phoneme level. knowledge of syllables and rimes is also important later on for developing the reading, spelling and word study abilities of all students.”

although mastery of those larger units is not required to teach at the phoneme level, important prior knowledge and learning experiences include:

• experience of a rich oral language and literacy environment
• participation in a variety of experiences involving songs, rhymes, oral language games, storytelling, and book sharing sessions
• some knowledge of phonological awareness: words, syllables, and rhyming

phonemic awareness can be broken down into a hierarchical set of related skills. the skills are ordered from easiest to most difficult:

• alliteration – the ability to identify words that begin with the same phoneme: bat, big
• isolation of the first phoneme – the ability to identify and say the initial phoneme in words: for example, /c/ in cat, car
• isolation of the final phoneme – the ability to identify and say the final phoneme in words: for example, /g/ in dog, pig
• isolation of the medial phoneme – the ability to identify and say the middle phoneme in words: for example, /o/ in cot, dog
• phoneme blending – the ability to merge phonemes together to articulate a word: /c/ /a/ /t/ makes cat
• phoneme segmentation – the ability to break up and articulate the individual phonemes in a word: the phonemes in cat are /c/ /a/ /t/
• phoneme manipulation – the ability to delete or substitute a given phoneme in any position within a word: take away the /i/ in slip and replace it with /a/

source: pdlp1001. phonemic awareness and phonics for reading and spelling. pre-primary and year 1 © department of education 2010 revised 2017

how can teachers and parents help children strengthen phonemic awareness?

mastering phonemic awareness involves a developmental progression for young children. for example, research shows that identifying beginning and ending phonemes is easier than identifying medial phonemes (inverizzie, 2003). the nrp research review emphasizes the need for explicit, sequential, systematic, and comprehensive phonemic awareness instruction.

phonemic awareness instruction typically spans kindergarten and first grade. oral activities in kindergarten focus on simple tasks such as rhyming, matching words with beginning sounds, blending phonemes into words (“blend these phonemes together /m/ /a/ /n/), and segmenting words into phonemes (“what are the phonemes in man?). in first grade, phonemic awareness tasks become more advanced, continuing a focus on blending and segmentation, while adding the substitution and manipulation of phonemes (e.g., change the first phoneme in man to /r/. what word do you have?”). phonemic awareness activities are done orally, with a gradual introduction of the graphemes that represent them.

most of these activities can be adjusted for older students in second grade and up who need to develop their phonemic awareness skills. reading rockets offers specific guidelines for planning developmentally appropriate phonemic awareness activities in sequence here.

tips for making phonemic awareness activities fun

use a multisensory approach to make it fun and interactive for all ages of students. for example, you can use:

• rhyming games
• songs
• movement activities
• storytelling and role-play
• soft toys*

research shows that phonemic awareness activities for students should be kept short and engaging (10-20 minutes).

*note: many educators recommend using soft toys instead of puppets so that children can watch the adult’s face and mouth articulate the sounds directly.

a few basic terms defined

• phonograms: phonograms are the common elements in word families (e.g., the letter sequence “and” in sand, hand, band, and land).
• onset and rime: the initial consonant that changes the meaning of the word is called an onset and the following vowel/consonant combination that remains constant is called a rime.

an awareness of syllables, onsets, and rimes develops before an awareness of phonemes (goswami, 1994, p. 36), so the first activities focus on ways to expose children to these through various forms of word play.

source: reading rockets

phonemic awareness activities

in planning phonemic awareness activities, it’s important to consider the developmental requirements. edwin s. ellis writes in a reading rockets post:

“for example, when teaching children to partition words into parts, segmenting a compound word into its two parts (“what two words do you hear in cowboy?”) precedes segmenting syllables and sounds.

similarly, identification tasks (“which one doesn’t rhyme — cat, hat, sun?”) are generally easier than production tasks (“tell me the first sound in car”). the difficulty level of most activities can be manipulated by changing the input or response modes. for example, “find the picture that starts with /r/” will be easier than “what sounds do you hear in robe?”

you’ll find a set of guidelines to keep in mind when planning instructional activities in the post, how now brown cow.

here are 20 fun and engaging activities for young children, as well as several activities for older students that can be adapted for home or school.

1. speech sounds through music and rhymes

songs and children’s literature and poetry can offer a playful way to expose children to the sounds in speech. edwin s. ellis writes, “simple rhyme patterns are easily recalled after repeated exposure, and children will get the idea of creating new rhymes…some books include music to go with the rhymes, such as down by the bay (raffi, 1987), in which two children try to outdo one another in making up questions that rhyme, such as “did you ever see a goose kissing a moose?”

source: edelen-smith, p. j. (november, 1997). how now brown cow: phoneme awareness activities for collaborative classrooms. intervention in school and clinic, volume 33, number 2, pp. 103-111. copyright by pro-ed, inc.; reading rockets.

2. syllable awareness—syllable shopping

while at the grocery store, have your child tell you the syllables in different food names. have them hold up a finger for each word part. eggplant = egg-plant, two syllables. pineapple = pine-ap-ple, three syllables. show your child the sign for each and ask her to say the word.

• to adapt for the classroom, bring in some fruit and vegetables in advance.
• then, you can say “let’s pretend we’re at the grocery store.”
• carry on from there.

source: reading rockets

3. syllable awareness—stomp and say

stomp and say helps students practice segmenting and counting syllables in words. use hands to “stomp” each syllable of a word. kids listen, watch, and count the stomps. then have kids do it with you. and last, have kids do it themselves.

• watch this video demo from reading universe here.

4. onset-rime—rime house

in this activity a parent and child sort words into rime families using several rime house workboards and picture cards. the fcrr “at home” series was developed especially for families.

• watch the video here
• download the work boards and picture cards on the activity sheet here
• see all fcrr phonological awareness activities here

source: florida center for reading research (fcrr)—from the “at home” series for families

5. onset-rime—guessing game

students work in pairs using picture cards and onset and rime clues to guess words. students alternate drawing picture cards. the student who draws the card gives the clues one at a time  (e.g., “it begins with /r/ and rhymes with bug”) until student guesses a word (i.e., “rug”). then they reverse roles.

• download instructions and picture cards here.
• see all fcrr phonological awareness activities here.

source: florida center for reading research (fcrr)

6. initial phoneme identification—treasure box

send students on a treasure hunt around the classroom or the outside area looking for objects starting with a particular sound, for example /t/, and saying /t/, /t/ as they look. when they have found something they think starts with /t/, they place it in a treasure box. with the teacher (or parent or caregiver), they decide if each object begins with /t/ and should stay in the treasure box.

source: pdlp1001. phonemic awareness and phonics for reading and spelling. pre-primary and year 1 © department of education 2010 revised 2017

7. phoneme isolating—sound quest game

students sort pictures according to initial, medial, and final sounds. using double-picture cards, students individually determine if the two pictures share the same initial, medial, or final sound.

• download instructions and picture cards here.

source: florida center for reading research (fcrr)

8. phoneme blending—blending i-spy

this is a very common game that you can adapt in a number of ways for different ages. a teacher or parent/caregiver begins by modeling, “i spy a /h/ /a/ /t/. what do i spy? yes, it is a hat!”

adjust the level of difficulty as the student’s blending skills develop.
in the home, this game could be played in the kitchen (i spy a /c/ /u/ /p/) or on a walk (i spy a /dog/, i spy a /c/ /a/ /t/).

source: scholastic red and reading rockets

9. blending—blend baseball

divide the class into two teams. say aloud a word in parts (syllable by syllable, onset/rime, or phoneme by phoneme). for example, say “/s/ /a/ /t/.” if the child that is “up at bat” can blend the word, he or she advances to first base. the next batter comes up, and the game continues just like baseball.

source: scholastic red and reading rockets

10. blending—shout it out song

students sing to the tune of “if you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.”

if you think you know this word, shout it out!
if you think you know this word, shout it out!
if you think you know this word,
then tell me what you’ve heard,
if you think you know this word, shout it out!

after singing, the teacher says a segmented word such as /k/ /a/ /t/ and students provide the blended word “cat.”

source: (see yopp, m., 1992) via reading rockets

11. blending and segmenting—robbie the robot

this activity uses a picture of a robot as a stimulus for explaining the concepts of blending and segmenting. robbie the robot can only say words one sound at a time, which requires students to blend sounds to figure out what he said. he can also only “understand” words when the student says them one sound at a time, which requires the child to segment sounds. for young children, this explanation of blending and segmenting tends to be very accessible.

• download lesson (pdf) with image (google slides and powerpoint) of robbie here

source: university of florida literacy institute

12. phoneme segmenting—bead slide tool

this activity can be adapted from simple to more complex (2 phoneme words to 6 phoneme words). children move a bead on a string from one side to the other for every sound they hear in a word.

pdf with x and instructions to make your own bead slide in the video 3:13

• watch the video to make your own bead slide here
• download a “cheat sheet” with 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 phoneme words here

source: julie van alst of make, take & teach

ufli provides a digital version of the bead slide tool.

• watch a video tutorial here.
• download slides (powerpoint and google slides).

source: ufli

13. phoneme segmenting—segmentation cheer

write the “segmentation cheer” on chart paper, and teach it to children. each time you say the cheer, change the words in the third line. have children segment the word sound by sound. begin with words that have three phonemes, such as ten, rat, cat, dog, soap, read, and fish.

the cheer 

listen to my cheer.
then shout the sounds you hear.
sun! sun! sun!
let’s take apart the word sun.

give me the beginning sound. (children respond with /s/.)
give me the middle sound. (children respond with /u/.)
give me the ending sound. (children respond with /n/.)

that’s right!
/s/ /u/ /n/—sun! sun! sun!

source: scholastic red via reading rockets

14. segmenting phonemes—elkonin boxes for 2, 3, 4, 5 phonemes

an elkonin box is a tool that helps children segment words into phonemes. d.b. elkonin, a russian psychologist, pioneered their use. students count sounds in each word first, and move a chip into each box to represent each sound.

you’ll find a tutorial, sample lesson, and google slides and powerpoints here.
source: ufli

15. segmenting and blending—phoneme detective

this detective game is played with a partner to practice segmenting and blending. students take turns being the “segmenter,” whose job is to say the individual phonemes of a word out loud for the other student, and the “blender,” who blends the sounds together to guess the word.

• download the pdf with instructions and picture cards here

source: reading universe

16. phoneme manipulation—deletion, addition, substitution

phoneme manipulation is an advanced phonemic awareness skill that follows blending and segmenting. begin with playful deletion activities, followed by addition, and then substitution. you’ll use manipulatives like felt squares to represent phonemes. this avoids distracting students with printed letters and words initially. use an “i do, we do, you do” gradual release process. download lesson plans here:

• deletion
• addition
• substitution

you’ll find a video of substitution in the classroom here.

source: reading universe

17. phonemic awareness practice—say it-move it

say it-move it is an instructional routine that can be used at all levels of phonemic awareness development. for beginners, have the student simply move a chip for each sound (as with elkonin boxes). for more advanced students, present challenges by having them manipulate sounds within a word (e.g., lip → lips → slip → slap → laps).

• watch the video tutorial here
• download google slides and powerpoint here

source: university of florida literacy institute

18. sound-chaining routine for initial sounds

sound-chaining activities promote more accurate reading and spelling. here is an example for sound-chaing initial sounds in words. say “dot.” now say the word slowly, stretching out the sounds. place one chip down as you say each sound. change the /d/ to /g/. point to the sound that changes. what sound is leaving? what is the new sound? blend the sounds to make the new word. student says “got.” now change the /g/ to /l/. point to the sound that changes. what sound is leaving? what is the new sound? blend the sounds to make the new word. student says “lot.” once students can sound chain words with three-phoneme words confidently, sound chaining activities with four-sound words can help them perceive sound differences among similarly spoken words (e.g., fright, flight, and fight).

source: teaching phoneme awareness in 2023: a guide for educators

19. phonemic awareness practice—4th & 5th grade

north carolina department of public instruction offers several activities for parents to support 4th and 5th grade students in phonemic awareness. activities include phoneme isolation of initial and final sounds, onset and rime, phoneme blending, and adding, deleting, and substituting phonemes.

download a google slide deck here for activities here.

source: north carolina department of public instruction

20. phoneme-grapheme connection—sound walls

many educators are transitioning from sound walls to word walls. word walls are organized alphabetically, from a to z and focus on letters. sound walls, like the name, are organized around the sounds in speech, and focus on phonemes and articulation. educator marjorie bottari writes about making the transition from her word wall to a sound wall: “asking students to recall how to read and spell a word based on letter names rather than sounds was like asking them to memorize a suggested password. there is nothing to anchor the learning, and that’s not the way our language works.”

marjorie offers detailed instructions on how to create a sound wall here.

putting phonemic awareness activities into action

according to the authors of teaching phoneme awareness in 2023: a guide for educators (ashby, j., mcbride, m., naftel, s., o’brien, e., paulson, l. h., kilpatrick, d. a, & moats, l. c., 2023):

“phonemic awareness activities strengthen and sharpen phonological processing and, therefore, are crucial for many students who are beginning to read as well as struggling readers. phonemic awareness instruction helps readers perceive the sound sequences in words accurately, which is necessary for learning the letter-sound patterns in phonics and for remembering decoded words. comparisons of present research indicate larger reading gains for students when lessons include phonemic awareness as well as phonics…students who identify sounds in spoken words easily can learn the phonics skills that support accurate decoding and spelling, which, in turn, supports memory for written words.”

95 phonemic awareness suite™—research-based phonemic awareness instruction

95 phonemic awareness suite™ is a new, comprehensive phonemic awareness solution that includes tier 1 instruction, assessment, differentiated tier 2 instruction, and professional learning—all aligned to provide a consistent instructional dialogue for teachers and students. aligned with the latest research on phonemic awareness, it’s everything needed to build critical foundational skills and set students up for reading success!

95 phonemic awareness suite components include:

• tier 1: 95 pocket phonemic awareness™, 50 weeks of lessons, each 10 minutes per day (k-1)
• assessment: 95 phonemic awareness screener for intervention™
• tier 2: 95 phonemic awareness intervention resource™, lessons cover alphabetic & phonemic awareness, with kid lips instruction built-in
• professional learning for teachers and reading specialists

learn more

are you interested in learning about how you can bring an effective and efficient structured literacy approach, grounded in the science of reading, to your school or district? contact us today.

about 95 percent group

95 percent group is an education company whose mission is to build on science to empower teachers—supplying the knowledge, resources and support they need—to develop strong readers. using an approach that is based in structured literacy, the company’s one95™ literacy ecosystem™ integrates professional learning and evidence-based literacy products into one cohesive system that supports consistent instructional routines across tiers and is proven and trusted to help students close skill gaps and read fluently. 95 percent group is also committed to advancing research, best practices, and thought leadership on the science of reading more broadly.

for additional information on 95 percent group, visit: //www.egbmusic.com.

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third and fourth grade students were missing the mark on literacy

over the years, schools in franklin county, north carolina have seen low reading scores. as some school leaders realized the skill gaps present—particularly in their 3rd and 4th grade students—they knew they needed a more targeted intervention program. students were missing interconnected, foundational skills like phonemic awareness and phonics, and this was causing larger issues with reading comprehension once students entered the upper elementary grades.

explicit and systematic: 95 rap is closing gaps in reading skills

now, students in kindergarten through 5th grade at louisburg elementary in franklin county are receiving intervention instruction using 95 percent group’s teacher-led, learning platform, 95 rap. louisburg ela specialist, amber bottoms, weighed in on why 95 rap is such a good fit for her students.

“there is an explicit, systematic scope and sequence, and instruction is differentiated in order to meet the needs of every student in the group. the 4:1 teacher ratio is helpful—but even in small groups of 4 students,” bottoms continued, “even if they all have similar needs, it can be difficult to ensure each student is getting the instruction they need in order to reach their full potential.”

louisburg elementary really honed in on 3rd and 4th graders last year with 95 rap. “it was something students could do,” bottoms asserted. “they felt successful and confident because it was on their level, and they were continually progressing through skills they hadn’t previously grasped in their reading instruction.”

95 rap targets each learner’s area of need, and doesn’t allow them to move on to the next skill until they have mastered the one they are working on. this aspect was something that really stands out for ms. bottoms as an intervention instructor. “this means there are no questions about whether they have a deep understanding of the material; it makes it easy to communicate with teachers where each student is and what skills they still need to work on.”

a tale of two schools & their phonics curricula

on the east side of franklin county, lynn zellmer is an intervention instructor for 1st through 4th grade students at youngsville elementary. ms. zellmer is using 95 rap with her 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade intervention students for the second year in a row. she loves the very linear approach to each component of reading instruction.

“i definitely like how once you do that assessment, it sets the word list for you—so you know they’re working on exactly what they need to work on.” she continued, “it’s very systematic. it’s linear. they’re building on each skill, and the program really ensures that if there was a digraph or a blend students struggled with, they are able to focus on that and then build from there.”

ms. zellmer says it’s exciting to see her students feel success and increased confidence. “one student in particular really excelled last year. “the systematic nature of 95 rap really helped to fill all the gaps for him. i think all of the different components—marking up and reading the words and understanding all the language rules—has really helped him build confidence. teachers have let me know that they are seeing progress in the classroom with the students i’m working with. not just in isolated skills, but in the big picture, in their overall reading and writing.”

learning at all skill levels

95 rap’s 世界杯足球2022亚洲预选赛 is comprehensive, and it’s embedded right in the product. bottoms commented on the initial training, “it was a lot of training in the beginning—very explicit—and gave me great strategies to share with other teachers at our plc meetings.” zellmer, who is currently engaged in the letrs® training (language essentials for teachers of reading and spelling) has also been pleased with the professional learning provided by 95 percent group.

“the awareness i have about the importance of timely student feedback has been really helpful to me in our group work. because it’s part of the program, i’m so much more aware of when i need to be offering corrective feedback or further explanation on something.” she also feels she can easily connect the dots between her science of reading training in letrs and the intervention materials with 95 rap. “they really work in tandem. i hear it in letrs and then i see it in 95 rap. it’s all coming together.”

student confidence is soaring in reading and beyond

data and teacher feedback from both schools tell us that 95 rap is working for tier 3 intervention students. according to ms. bottoms, at louisburg elementary, nine out of her 38 tier 3 students were able to meet their goals and move out of tier 3 at the end of the last school year. and out of five students that she’s worked with for two consecutive years, two of them scored a 4 on their end of grade assessments (you must score a 3, 4, or 5 to pass the grade).

“i’m excited to make better use of the real time insights and progress monitoring this school year now that i feel more confident with the program,” she said.

over at youngsville elementary, ms. zellmer believes 80% of the students she was working with last year had improved reading scores or hit benchmarks on their end of year assessments and m-class. “my 3rd graders made a lot of progress,” she said excitedly. “i’m only working with two of them now that they are in 4th grade—out of a group of 10 students. most of the group met their intervention goals and were able to move out of tier 3 intervention.”

both educators were excited to be starting the year with more experience and knowledge about how to help their students with 95 rap. bottoms noted, “it’s such a great program. it’s very individualized so you don’t get caught up on any one skill. each student has their own path, and if they get stuck or you notice they are slipping, you can add in materials or strategies for reteaching to help. it really fits the needs for tier 3 intervention.”

“give yourself grace,” zellmer added. “95 rap will turn into a nice routine for both students and teachers.”

to learn more, download our latest insight, experts corner: champions for better, wiser tier 3 instruction.

about 95 percent group

95 percent group is an education company whose mission is to build on science to empower teachers—supplying the knowledge, resources and support they need—to develop strong readers. using an approach that is based in structured literacy, the company’s one95 literacy ecosystem integrates professional learning and evidence-based literacy products into one cohesive system that supports consistent instructional routines across tiers and is proven and trusted to help students close skill gaps and read fluently. 95 percent group is also committed to advancing research, best practices, and thought leadership on the science of reading more broadly.

for additional information on 95 percent group, visit: //www.egbmusic.com.

bringing a ripple effect

reading improvement in fulton county has been remarkable so far (and in just a short period of time since implementing solutions from the one95 literacy ecosystem). looney wants other schools and students to experience that success, too.

recently dr. looney was named to atlanta magazine’s prestigious list of 500 most powerful leaders. watch dr. looney’s story today.

learn more

are you interested in learning about how you can bring an effective and efficient structured literacy approach, grounded in the science of reading, to your school or district? contact us today.