In December of last year, Sprig Learning published 46 Stories of Improving Early Literacy Achievement in Schools. If you haven’t had the chance to read it yet, it is highly recommended. It features 46 amazing stories that offer valuable insights and inspiration for improving literacy in schools and preschools.

Out of the 46 stories, 7 were showcased in the early learning centers/preschool section, while the remaining 39 were highlighted in the school/school districts/school boards section.

These 39 cases revealed several common themes that are worth noting, summarized as follows:

• Effective Implementation of Full-Day Kindergarten

• Appropriate Utilization of Learning Recovery Funds

• Personalized Learning through One-on-One Tutoring

• Ample Professional Learning Opportunities for Educators

• Facilitating Teacher Collaboration

• Focusing on Biliteracy

• Creating New Schools and Gradually Adding Grade Levels

• Providing Summer Learning Opportunities

In total, these themes add up to 8 key themes for promoting literacy excellence.

Sprig compiled these stories from its newsletter, Root to Fruit, and there’s more to explore! 

Additional stories from past editions of the newsletter have been organized into 5 more themes, each offering valuable insights for early literacy achievement.

The 5 themes are as follows…

Theme 1: Increasing Access to Early Childhood Education Centers and Programs.

In the quest to provide high-quality early childhood education, schools, non-profit organizations, and universities are all opening preschool programs and early learning centers. Additionally, some states have official initiatives, like transitional kindergarten, aiming to enhance ECE accessibility universally. The crucial link between preschool attendance and kindergarten readiness has prompted various institutions to proactively establish such programs, either independently or through collaborative partnerships.

• Reading Area Community College (RAAC) in Reading, PA, is planning to build a $33 million state-of-the-art childcare center on its campus,which will provide early childhood education for more than 150 children. Many educational institutions operate similar early learning centers, which provide an education for the community, and serve as a training ground for educators. It’s a tried and tested model to advance early education.

• The Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning is a nonprofit organization that will be launching 6 early learning centers to provide free high-quality education to children from low-income families. The project will cost $350 million.

• In Indiana, the On My Way Pre-K program serves 14,000 preschoolers. Over 300,000 preschool-eligible children, however, remain unserved. Non-profit organizations like Early Learning Indiana have to step in to provide programs to cover the demand. Maureen Weber, CEO of Early Learning Indiana, says: “We know that access to high-quality early learning services is really foundational to children’s success.” 

• Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) is expanding its transitional kindergarten (TK) facilities, expecting a large increase in enrollment in the following two years. OUSD will be adding 5 new TK classes and adopting a TK curriculum for the first time. California will make TK universal by the 2025-2026 school year. Thus, many school districts are taking appropriate steps to welcome new students. 

• To replace Evergreen Elementary School, Marion County Public Schools in Ocala, Florida, will reopen the building as Fordham Early Learning Academy. The goal for the academy is to boost early literacy. It will admit pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students, and add Grade 1 and 2 in successive years. 

• In its 2020 strategic plan, the Yakima School District (YSD) in Washington, wanted to increase kindergarten readiness for its preschool students from 20% to 95% by 2026. Recently, the school district was successfully able to consolidate many of the early learning services in the district. YSD Early Learning Principal, Jamie Johnson, says that “consolidating preschool services makes it easier for teachers to collaborate as they focus on their students’ burgeoning social and academic skills”. 

• Harrisburg School District in South Dakota passed a $30 million bond to build a new elementary school. When the new yet-to-be named school will be completed, it will house the elementary grades, and the current elementary school will be converted into an early learning center, housing Pre-K, Head Start, Kindergarten and possibly Grade 1 programs. The project is set to finish in the fall of 2024. 

• After undergoing a $27.7 million renovation, the Marygrove Elementary School opened in Detroit, welcoming K-2 students on campus. The opening of the school is a part of the P-20 partnership in the community, which opened an early learning institution last year, called the Marygrove Early Education Center. It plans to add grades 3, 4  and 5 in the next three years to become a full K-5 institution. 

Theme 2: Supporting Teachers With Specialist Positions.

In a bid to help teachers provide the best possible educational experience for their students, many specialist positions in both literacy and numeracy are being hired in schools. Given that teachers have such busy schedules, it helps to have a larger literacy team that can work together for the benefit of every young student. 

• Anderson Community Schools in Indiana is employing six literacy instructional coaches to collaborate with teachers to implement areas of emphasis from the Science of Reading. This hiring is being funded by the Indian Department of Education’s two-year grant to provide coaching to teachers in research-based instruction in reading, or science, technology, engineering and math subjects. 

• Olentangy Schools in Ohio, has added a math specialist position at each of the district’s 16 elementary schools for the new school year. Dr. Jack Fette, the district’s chief academic officer, says that the new specialists will “support teachers in their instruction of math in the classroom and improve consistency in math curriculum and instruction throughout the district”.

• Rainbow District School Board in Northern Ontario has approved its budget for 2022-2023. The $225.8 million budget is an increase from last year, and it allows the board to achieve the priorities in its Strategic Directions 2022-2027 plan. Student Success and Achievement, and Literacy and Numeracy are two priorities listed in the plan. Two new literacy coaches are being hired and additional funding has been allocated for assistive technology in special education.

Theme 3: Focusing On Evidence-based Literacy Improvement Initiatives for the Foundational Years

The growing recognition of the critical early schooling years is driving schools to adopt evidence-based instruction focused on foundational reading skills, particularly phonics and phonological awareness, which previously did not receive adequate explicit instruction. Schools are now dedicating more time to teach and assess these skills, but  in a fun and engaging manner, ensuring that students remain enthusiastic about their reading journey.

• Holly Prine is a Grade 1 teacher at Clear Fork Elementary School in Lockhart, Texas. She says how a year of virtual kindergarten is creating behavioral and social difficulties for students attending school for the first time in Grade 1. Students are not able to fully master foundational reading and writing skills, and Holly is spending extra time with students teaching these skills. 

• Dr. Monifa McKnight, Superintendent of Montgomery County Schools, identified impacts on students’ academic performance that needed to be addressed post-pandemic. In particular, one of the realizations was that Grade 2 and Grade 3 students, whose learning was interrupted in their foundational school years of kindergarten and Grade 1, require literacy support. Among other things, she calls for a return to “equitable teaching and learning”.

• Longview Schools in Washington is trying several research-based teaching strategies to help address the lower state testing scores. According to Brian Mitchell, principal of Mint Valley Elementary School, students are learning phonics and multiplication using more engaging techniques where they take the lead during classes. They are expected to actively participate in the lessons and ask questions.

• The Grass Valley School District (GVSD) district and school site teams have discovered that their youngest students require more educational and behavioral help to succeed in school. The Preschool through Third Grade Coherence Collaboration has been introduced, which aims to better align the preschool services to the early grades. As a part of the program, the district has created new phonics reading assessments and daily phonics-focused instructional lessons.

• In Massachusetts, Grade 1 teacher Lisa Hannifan found great success by focusing on phonemic awareness. She works on early literacy by picking those reading materials that use phonics patterns and represent her community of students. Additionally, she has her students sound out high-frequency words phonetically.

Theme 4: Comprehensive Summer Learning For All Student Situations

Summer learning programs have always been offered by schools, but now they are becoming essential to address the learning disruptions caused by the pandemic. These programs are utilized to provide instruction for students at risk of retention, offer one-on-one tutoring and group classes for targeted interventions, and even offer enrichment programs for students looking to prepare for the next grade.

• Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) is combining traditional classes with enrichment programs in its new summer program. IPS says that it has made huge academic gains in 2021-2022 and wants to continue that by not just repeating classes, but also offering more intense one-on-one instruction. It is also offering an online resource for after-school programming, where parents can stay updated on all extracurricular options and get access to enrichment programming at no cost. 

• The District School Board of Niagara (DSBN) has approximately 5,000 K-4 students participating in its DSBN Summer HEAT program, to work on their literacy and numeracy skills. Leanne Smith, DSBN Superintendent of Secondary School Curriculum and Student Achievement, says that summer school has something for every student, whether it is learning recovery or preparing for the next grade. 

• Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) says that 56% of Grade 2 students are at risk of being retained because of a new policy aimed at increasing literacy skills. Most of these students are attending classes this summer. The policy requires them to attend 90% of summer school in order to progress to Grade 3. Jaron Carson, Chief Academic Office of MSCS says that after-school tutoring was offered during the school year and now additional interventions are offered via summer learning.

• The Waterloo Region District School Board will nearly double the number of students in its summer learning program this year, from 620 to almost 1,200. The focus will be on early literacy intervention for Grades K-2 and early numeracy intervention for Grades 3-5. The program includes opportunities for group learning and even individualized learning where necessary, as well as speech and language support.

Theme 5: Long-Term Strategic Initiatives for Lasting Impact

At a time when reading proficiency rates are not up to par across North America, school districts are taking a proactive approach to improve early literacy by considering new learning approaches, expanding schools, and acquiring valuable literacy resources. They are formulating long-term strategic plans that consider fresh perspectives capable of significantly raising the bar for reading proficiency.

• Hillsborough County school district in Florida is working on improving reading and math scores for grades 3, 4, and 5. The 2021-2022 school improvement plan aimed to address teacher vacancies, lack of learning intentions, lack of understanding learning outcomes, and the lack of grade-appropriate rigorous educational materials in the 14 lowest performing schools.

• Boston Public Schools (BPS) has reached an agreement with the Massachusetts Department of Secondary and Elementary Education, whereby BPS will receive $10 million in the next 3 years to address long-standing deficiencies in language instruction, among other things. It’s a systemic improvement plan that seeks to eliminate systemic barriers to educational opportunities.

• Polly Smith, Kindergarten Teacher at Pilgrim Lutheran School (PLS) in Chicago, is in favor of a holistic approach to teaching in early childhood education. She says that at PLS, the teachers look out for basic literacy and numerical skills but recognize that all children progress differently. A whole-child approach meets each child where they are in terms of academic social-emotional development and focuses on the cognitive growth of each child by teaching important concepts.

• Allentown School District in Columbus Ohio, has submitted their district comprehensive plan to the Department of Education. It states the goal to increase the percentage of Kindergarten and Grade 3 students reading at grade level by 21.2% and 30% respectively, by 2025. Furthermore, in the next three years, the district wants to increase its number of schools meeting the statewide average in English language growth and attainment from 50% to 80%.

• The Warrensville Heights City School District and Cleveland Metro School Districts have been devoting additional resources, such as extra staff, and providing instructional time to students, to improve early literacy. Early literacy is one of the five performance measures in state school district report cards released by the Ohio Department of Education. The other four are achievement, progress, gap closing, and graduation.

Need More Ideas to Improve Early Literacy Education?

If these stories have been helpful in inspiring action for your school or confirming existing ideas, there’s more in store for you! 

Stay tuned for our next article, which will feature 5 more themes!

At Sprig Learning, we are committed to supporting teachers and school leaders in the realm of early education, with a special emphasis on early literacy. Through our articles, we aim to shed light on the current landscape of early literacy in Pre-K to Grade 3.

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Literacy instruction is a multifaceted endeavour that involves a diverse range of roles, each contributing to the success of early learning and primary education. 

From Pre-K to Grade 3, educators, specialists, and support staff collaborate to build strong foundations in early reading and writing.

Sprig has previously written on the need to create the right team of literacy professionals in schools, whose contributions are invaluable to the ultimate reading success of every child in the classroom. 

This article in particular, focuses on the literacy aspect of early learning, and how all the different roles work together to increase the likelihood of children reading proficiently by Grade 3, regardless of their circumstances.

Some previously mentioned roles are recapped below, with a few new roles that are particularly relevant to early reading. Concise explanations of their job descriptions are provided, emphasizing their direct relevance to early literacy instruction. 

By understanding the collective responsibilities of these roles, it’s possible to foster a comprehensive and coordinated approach to early literacy development.

The Various Positions That are Responsible for Teaching Literacy

Classroom Teachers

Classroom teachers play a central role in early literacy instruction. They design and implement comprehensive literacy lessons, incorporating skill sets such as phonics, vocabulary development, reading fluency, etc. 

Teachers provide explicit instruction and tailor classroom lessons to meet the diverse needs of their students. They are expected to teach and guide early learners from emergent or even pre-emergent literacy to reading mastery, where they learn how to read and develop a passion for reading. 

Kindergarten to Grade 3 teachers, and their teaching assistants have critical responsibilities, which when accomplished, leads to desirable student outcomes.

Literacy Coaches

Literacy coaches provide ongoing support and professional development to teachers, assisting them in implementing effective early literacy practices. 

They work with educators to analyze student data, identify instructional needs, and implement evidence-based strategies. Through modeling, mentoring and collaborative planning, literacy coaches enhance teacher’s instructional approaches.

In schools, literacy coaches can be program organizers, school leaders and also support providers.

Reading Specialists

Reading specialists are experts in diagnosing and addressing reading difficulties. They provide targeted interventions and individualized instruction to children who struggle with early literacy skills. 

These specialists assess students’ reading abilities, develop intervention plans, and work closely with teachers and families to support student progress. 

Reading specialists follow key principles by which they are able to deliver on the student’s reading potential.

Speech Language Pathologists

Speech-language Pathologists (SLPs) assess and address oral language difficulties, phonological awareness, and speech sound disorders that can impact early reading. 

School Librarians

School librarians curate a diverse collection of books, providing access to a range of genres, topics and reading levels. 

Librarians collaborate with teachers to integrate early literacy skills into various subjects. By creating a welcoming and engaging library environment, they inspire early learners to read. 

Educational Technologists

Educational technologists contribute to literacy instruction by leveraging digital tools and resources. It can include positions such as Director of Technology and Chief Technology Officer.

They assist in integrating technology into literacy lessons, supporting interactive and engaging learning experiences. 

Education technologists collaborate with teachers to identify and implement appropriate educational apps, digital reading programs, and online resources that enhance students’ reading and writing skills.

They also build robust cybersecurity systems for schools that protect the privacy and security of student information.

Early Childhood Educators

Early childhood educators, including preschool teachers and childcare providers, lay the foundation for early literacy development in Pre-K settings. They create language-rich environments, implement play-based literacy activities, and foster early language and communication skills. 

Early childhood educators focus on oral language development, phonological awareness, and pre-literacy skills, ensuring a strong start to the reading journey.

Instructional Coordinators

Instructional coordinators develop and implement curricula and maintain educational teaching standards. They collaborate with teachers to develop and align curriculum, identify effective instructional strategies, and implement evidence-based practices. 

Instructional coordinators provide professional development opportunities for reading instruction, offer feedback and support to teachers, and ensure the coherence and effectiveness of early literacy programs.

Examples of Collaboration in Literacy Instruction

To create successful Pre-K to 3 readers, effective collaboration among the various roles in literacy instruction is crucial. 

The first section of this article introduced each role and highlighted a few collaborative aspects in the descriptions. In this section, we ask…

What Are Some Examples of These Importation Roles Working Together? 

Classroom Teacher/ Literacy Coach/Reading Specialist

Classroom teachers can share student data and instructional needs with literacy coaches and reading specialists, who can then use the information to provide targeted interventions and support for individual students 

Through regular data meetings, they can exchange such information to identify specific areas of improvement. 

Classroom Teacher/ School Librarian

School Librarians can provide classroom teachers with book recommendations and other resources that align with the standards and curriculum, promoting a cross-disciplinary approach to literacy. 

They can also co-organize engaging literacy events such as author visits and book fairs.

Classroom Teacher/ Educational Technologist

Classroom teachers and educational technologists can collaborate to integrate digital tools into literacy lessons. For example, they can jointly explore interactive reading resources that help assess, monitor, and track early reading skills. 

Classroom Teacher/ Early Childhood Educators/Speech-Language Pathologists

Classroom teachers, early childhood educators, and speech-language pathologists can collaborate to support oral language and early literacy development. 

They can engage in joint planning to align classroom activities with oral language goals and phonological awareness instruction. 

Instructional Coordinators/ All roles

Instructional coordinators can facilitate professional development opportunities that bring everyone together. The professional development sessions can share best practices, but also align instructional strategies with the collective goal to ensure a cohesive early literacy program. 

Working Together for The Betterment of Early Literacy

Sprig hopes this article will inspire and motivate school-wide planning to better organize early literacy programs from pre-kindergarten and through the primary grades. 

Every school year is so crucial in the early years, and thus commensurate actions are also required in this stage of early learning, of which collaborative planning is hugely important!

The collaborative efforts mentioned in this article promote a comprehensive approach to early literacy instruction, leveraging the strengths and expertise of each role to support the development of strong readers in the early years.

Everyone has to play their part, but the classroom teacher is often at the center of any kind of collaboration, since they are the ones who spend the most time with the students and provide the direct instruction , assessment and monitoring of early literacy throughout the year.

As such, it definitely helps to have the ability to share information across the early literacy team, whereby everyone can access relevant notes about student progress and regularly monitor and intervene as needed.  

Such visibility of information allows for better collaboration, where both class-level and individual-level decisions can be taken that optimizes student success.. With such resources in place, the entire early literacy team can work together efficiently, ensuring all students are  on the path to reading mastery. 

The journey from emergent literacy to reading mastery is a crucial phase in a child’s development. Emergent literacy is the beginning. Reading mastery is the desired result.

Educators play a vital role in guiding students through this transformative process. 

By understanding the milestones and implementing effective strategies, more students can become confident and proficient readers. 

In this blog, we will delve into the path of emergent literacy to reading mastery, exploring key stages and evidence-based approaches that will take an early learner beginning to show signs of literacy to a proficient reader.

Stages of Literacy Development

There are many versions of literacy development stages, varying in complexity and the number of stages.

Every child is unique. Some learn certain skills quicker than others. Some require more rigorous practice at  certain skills than others. 

 To account for a diverse classroom,  it is helpful to have a roadmap of learning progressions across 

To keep it very simple, we can envision the reading progress of every child to evolve from an emergent reader, to an early reader, to a proficient reader. 

There can be many more progressions described in between these three stages, but in general, the expectation should be for every child to progress through these stages where they are able to demonstrate certain reading skills.

The mentioned stages and their corresponding age levels are as follows:

Emergent Reading

The emergent reader is completely new to reading. They are learning their alphabet and understanding the relationships between letters and sounds. They are also being exposed to concepts of print.

Early Reading

The early reader is able to read simple sentences and has a good understanding of phonological awareness. They would have mastered the alphabet by now. They are familiarizing themselves with a growing bank of high frequency words. 

Proficient Reading

The proficient reader is able to read fluently using all reading skills learned prior with minimal effort. They are also able to comprehend everything they are reading with their growing vocabulary, knowledge of print concepts and oral language skills.

Emergent Literacy: The Foundation of Reading

Emergent literacy lays the groundwork for future reading success. It encompasses developing alphabet knowledge, phonics, phonological skills, print awareness and vocabulary.

Let’s take a closer look at each to see what can be done in the classroom to provide the type of strong foundation every child needs for reading success.

Alphabet Knowledge, Phonics & Phonological Skills

Alphabet knowledge, phonics and phonological skills are essential to emergent readers, as they are the key building blocks for reading success.

It is important to incorporate phonological awareness instruction by introducing letter-sound correspondence and teaching basic phonetic patterns. 

Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words. It is a crucial component of emergent literacy and must be taught well in order for the student to develop strong decoding skills.

Teachers can utilize interactive activities such as sound segmentation exercises, and word blending exercises to strengthen phonemic awareness skills. 

Effective phonics and phonological skills instruction enhances students’ decoding abilities and paves the way for reading fluency.

Print Awareness

Print awareness, that is, understanding how print works, is crucial for emergent readers. 

It involves recognizing letters, words, and sentences, and can be fostered through activities like shared reading and exposure to print in the classroom environment.

Indeed, building a literacy rich environment is featured as one of the four golden rules of early literacy development. 

Read-alouds, where the teacher reads to the class, is a fun classroom activity that can be both engaging and enriching to the early learning experience for the child. 

Students familiarizing themselves with text through group, shared or individual reading sessions, are great opportunities to practice some of the taught reading skills.

Vocabulary Development

Building a strong vocabulary is vital for reading comprehension. Students with an extensive vocabulary have greater comprehension abilities. It’s important for teachers to incorporate vocabulary-building exercises and word games into lessons. 

Teachers can enhance vocabulary development by providing exposure to diverse texts and explicitly teaching new words. It’s important to offer a comprehensive approach in vocabulary that includes high frequency word instruction and advanced word study.

Building Fluency and Comprehension

Fluency, the ability to read with accuracy, speed, and proper expression, is a crucial aspect of reading mastery. But it is also needed for the emergent reader.

Teachers can support fluency development by incorporating repeated reading, modeled reading, and opportunities for oral reading practice 

Additionally, developing comprehension skills through explicit instruction in strategies like predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing enhances students’ ability to understand and analyze texts.

Early Reading: Building on The Foundation

Once a solid reading foundation has been acquired, it’s important to continue building on that foundation so children can read at-grade level with every promotion. 

Vocabulary Development and comprehension especially, has a big impact at this stage. So while these skills are n covered in the emergent reading stage, vocabulary development and comprehension will further grow in the early reading stage, where the early learner is able to combine their decoding skills and reading fluency with a larger vocabulary and language skills to result in greater reading comprehension. 

It’s interesting to note how every single foundational reading skill is used by themselves and with each other to result in becoming a stronger reader. 

Thus, it’s very important to assess all skills individually to identify  the best way to support each child in their reading. In fact, pinpointing problem areas in the early literacy journey is featured as one of the five hidden gems for teaching reading in schools.

Individualized Instruction and Assessment.

Each student progresses at their own pace. Thus, educators have to individualize instruction and tailor activities to meet their unique needs. 

Student progress should be assessed regularly using formative and summative assessments to identify areas of growth and areas that require additional support. 

This personalized approach ensures that students receive the guidance and attention necessary for their development as confident readers.

Reading Mastery: Capitalizing on The Foundation

An early reader, when taught well in line with evidence-based instruction, will graduate to a proficient reader, barring any medical or unforeseen circumstances.  

They now understand basic decoding concepts, have developed a substantial base vocabulary, and familiarized themselves with print and language concepts to come to a point where they can read and understand text at their grade level!

The journey from emergent literacy to reading mastery is a transformative process that requires intentional and evidence-based instruction. 

By focusing on emergent literacy and building a strong foundation which you can build on, teachers can nurture their students’ reading abilities and guide them towards reading mastery. 

Remember, the journey from emergent literacy to reading mastery requires patience, dedication, and a commitment to not only explicit reading instruction, but fostering a love for reading in every student. 

If you are curious about the connection between phonics and phonological awareness, or fluency and comprehension, there is an amazing event at the end of August that will precisely answer such questions. 

Learn how these foundational skills intertwine, enabling you to create a cohesive and engaging learning journey for each student. Uncover strategies for designing joyful learning experiences that seamlessly guide students through these skills. 

The event will also showcase sessions on creating dynamic practice centers, facilitating skill mastery, and invisibly integrating these approaches into the classroom. Register now to secure your spot.