Assessment can sometimes feel like that pile of puzzle pieces—which ones fit together? How do data fit together to create a comprehensive picture of a school, classroom, or individual student? Much is now known regarding which skills are highly predictive of later reading outcomes, and several excellent tools are available for this purpose. In kindergarten and first grade, timed tasks including letter naming, basic phonemic awareness, and rapid automatized naming (RAN) provide insight into who is at risk and to a certain extent; why.

The science of reading ... has allowed me to transition from a traditional classroom teacher to a virtual classroom teacher. Anyone can open a reading program and read the scripted text, but what happens when you do not have that reading program? LETRS provides you with the why (science) and the how (science) to teach reading, no program needed. LETRS teaches the science of reading which can be applied to any student, while being based on their individual level.

After time away from live classroom instruction and what middle schoolers knew as the “norm,” how can we make the transition back to school easier, to engage students in learning immediately, and to effectively create literacy success for all students?

Writing your own items is one way to gather evidence from students about their knowledge and skills. This evidence can support inferences you make about student learning to help with decisions about the next unit of instruction, placement in learning groups, needs for remediation, and other classroom choices. For writing TEIs, there are some special considerations. Here are five tips to writing your own TEIs.

Learning to read in a language you are simultaneously learning to speak and understand is more complicated than learning to read in a language you already know. This is the challenge faced by millions of English learners (ELs) whose English proficiency is low and school achievement generally poor. What do we know about teaching English learners to read and write and develop as English readers and writers?

In 2018, Alabama provided a professional learning opportunity for teachers of preK—3 students to learn about the science of reading. The response to the blended course of face-to-face training and online modules was overwhelmingly positive and well received. After just one face-to-face training, teachers openly expressed this new knowledge was vital to their success in reaching struggling readers. Teachers acknowledged they wanted quality professional learning that would help them to better teach their children by understanding the what, why, and how of the science of reading in teaching early literacy skills. Funds were invested in the pilot early literacy initiative LETRS® (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) training. This initiative is a joint collaborative partnership with the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education and the Alabama State Department of Education. Both have been committed to supporting further implementation of the pilot.