The Science of Engaging Literacy Instruction

Jeffrey Bradbury (00:12)

Hello and welcome to the TeacherCast Educational Network. My name is Jeff Bradbury. Welcome to the fourth and final episode of our special summer professional development series, Literacy with Laura. A quick series of episodes meant to get you ready for back to school, which for many of us is right around the corner. Please welcome back to the show our friend, Ms. Laura Stewart, the Chief Academic Officer for the 95 Percent group. Laura, how are you today?

Laura Stewart (00:38)

Jeff, I'm doing great. I'm kind of sad that this is coming to an end. This has really been a lot of fun. Thanks for collaborating on this.

Jeffrey Bradbury (00:44)

It has been

great to have you on the show. And of course, over the last couple of weeks, we have hit topics such as the science of reading, professional learning, instruction, assessment. Now today, we're going to be wrapping up with a very heavy topic, something about intervention and implementation. What do you think of when you hear those two words?

Laura Stewart (01:05)

Well, I think when we think about intervention, we're really thinking about how do we look at our students who are not meeting benchmark and how do we intervene to make sure to accelerate progress and catch them up. Implementation ⁓ is really about putting research into practice. What does practice look like? How do we implement a program?

or implement an initiative. So kind of two different topics, but go together pretty well when we think about, again, just how are we meeting the needs of our kids? That's what it's all about.

Jeffrey Bradbury (01:39)

Now on today's episode, we're going to be asking you three questions that came in from our audience. And for more information on this subject, can visit teachercast.net slash literacy with Laura to check out this and all of our episodes of this series. Laura, you ready for question number one? We have worked hard on creating a reading intervention period in our K-6 school. What do the students who are not in an intervention group do?

Laura Stewart (01:56)

Ready Jeff?

Jeffrey Bradbury (02:08)

during that time.

Laura Stewart (02:11)

That's a great question. So when we think about our multi-tiered systems of support, that's what we really want to think about the holistic framework in our schools. How are we providing multi-tiered systems of support for today's topic, I mean, specifically in literacy? So when we think about that as an overall structure within our literacy block,

One of the most successful models within that structure is what we call walk to intervention. And I'm guessing that's what this question is really about is if we have a K-6 multi-tiered system of support for literacy, how are the kids moving into intervention groups during that block? And what are kids who are not in intervention doing? Now, I mentioned earlier that when we think of intervention,

We typically think of kids who are below benchmark and accelerating them up. So if you think of intervention as only that, then you are gonna have some kids who are at benchmark or above benchmark that are not going to need intervention. However, what I want us to really think about is if we're gonna take that dedicated intervention time based on data, how do we move everyone into an intervention group?

Now some of those students will be in an intervention group that requires them to catch up to benchmark, but some of those kids will be in an intervention group at benchmark. Some of those kids will be in intervention group above benchmark. So it's expanding our idea of intervention and making sure everyone is moving during that intervention time and walking to whatever they need, whether it's intervention.

reinforcement at benchmark or enrichment and extension. This model, this really what many people call is a walk to read model. This can work beautifully within a grade level. It can even work across grade levels, which I'm guessing this listener was asking about because they have this intervention period across K6. So everyone is going somewhere for instruction during this intervention block.

What this requires is really an all hands on deck approach where we utilize all teachers, all reading specialists, interventionists, special educators, in addition to other staff, librarians, music teachers, administrators. In other words, everyone during our intervention time is a reading teacher. Now let's contrast that with a more typical model where some students go to intervention and other students are doing something independently.

⁓ This is a much stronger model because everyone is getting instructional time. As I mentioned before, because of the nature of that, I've seen it called things other than walk to intervention. It might be called walk to read or might be called when, what I need. Everybody based on the data is getting instructional time during this block. ⁓

I would encourage people if you have not listened to Emily Hanford's APM reporting, American Public Media reporting. She has done ⁓ some really high quality reporting around education, literacy, education over the last several years. ⁓ Her series, Sold a Story, the latest episode profiles a school where they have achieved what we're all striving for. They have achieved that all their students are reading and they use this walk to model.

And so I encourage people to listen to that for more information about that. All staff is involved. All students are receiving instruction from a teacher during that time, and it's working.

Jeffrey Bradbury (06:02)

You mentioned putting together the strategy, and I think that goes along with the questions we had in our last episode, which were supporting new teachers, new interventionists, and a lot of times new staff members are put into a program and they need to create that strategy. That leads us into our next question here, which is, according to the research, how much time should we be allotting for each tier of instruction in the MTSS model? And can you define MTSS?

Laura Stewart (06:31)

Sure, so as I mentioned in the previous question, MTSS is our multi-tiered systems of support. And that's the overall framework when we think about meeting the needs of all of our kids. To really put it simply, in a literacy multi-tiered systems of support model, we wanna provide tier one core instruction to everybody. Then based on the data, tier two instruction, which is that

intervention, but remember from the previous question, intervention can mean what I need regardless of where you align on the data. So intervention can be below level. It can be on level. It can be above level. It's what I need time. It's walk to read time. And then we have tier three, which is intensive intervention. That's specifically designed to help our students who need a more specialized targeted approach. ⁓

I looked into this in anticipation of this question. I looked in to see what is the other studies around different lengths of time in terms of what one group gets versus another. And I was not able to really find a study that really looked at, know, if one group gets 30 minutes versus one group gets 45 minutes, you know, what's the data say about which group gets higher outcomes? I couldn't find that study. So I reached out to

an expert on MTSS, Dr. Stephanie Stoller, and she confirmed that she wasn't aware of any of these studies either. But we do know when we look at general MTSS guidelines that come from studies that show links of time that are effective, that really it is around that 30 to 45 minute lessons in each of the tiers. I want to caveat that though, because from experience we all know that some students need a little more time than this.

So it's important not to get too locked into specific timeframes. In general, 30 to 45 minute lessons in each tier for those foundational skills should be adequate instructional time.

Jeffrey Bradbury (08:41)

So Laura, when you were talking a little bit about the MTSS model, you had mentioned specific timeframes. Would you be able to reiterate those one more time?

Laura Stewart (08:50)

And thanks for giving me opportunity to clarify because I want to make sure I got this right. when I was referring to 30 to 45 minutes, what I was really talking about is that foundational skill instruction. And so when you think about that aspect of tier one, 30 to 45 minutes for those foundational skills, tier two intervention on those foundational skills, 30 to 45, tier three intervention, 30 to 45. So that's really, ⁓ I wasn't talking about the entire ELA block.

Jeffrey Bradbury (09:20)

So we know how to create our strategy and we know how to plan our time wisely. In our third question, we have somebody who's going into the school year that's going to be starting using the 95 Percent group resources. The question is, what curriculum do you suggest pairing with it for comprehension?

Laura Stewart (09:42)

Yes. Okay. So first of all, thank you for choosing 95 Percent group. I just have to say, I know you're going be happy with your choice. It really is the best program out there for those foundational skills and for teaching those foundational skills in an integrated, efficient, very effective way. So in my experience, I have seen 95 Percent group phonics core program, which was, I believe what the listener was asking, 95 Percent group phonics core program.

It's a K-5 foundational skills program. I have seen it paired with a variety of programs that teach, I guess what I would call the top half of Scarborough's Rope. You know, our 95 Percent group phonics core program is focused primarily on those foundational skills. So when you're looking for a program that complements it, focused primarily on text comprehension, I think that's the question. I am not a deep expert on all the options for that.

top half of the rope. So I don't really like to make specific recommendations. However, I do have a great resource for you. I would encourage you to look at the reading league, which I've mentioned previously. The reading league has a curriculum evaluation tool. And what the curriculum evaluation tool is it gives you some look-fors in programs. So it says, here's what to look for in that language comprehension area.

Here's what to look for in the foundational skills area. So you may want to check out the reading league's curriculum evaluation guidelines to ⁓ help you be a discerning consumer and make the right choice for you in terms of that top half of the reading row.

Jeffrey Bradbury (11:24)

You know, Laura, when we're working with students, it doesn't matter if you're a new teacher, somebody who's been doing this forever. There's always those adventures and there's always those challenges. In today's episode, we talked about not only creating that strategy, making sure we build time for it. And of course, you just mentioned some great curriculum tools. I'm wondering if you have time for one more question.

Laura Stewart (11:48)

You it, Jeff. Bring it.

Jeffrey Bradbury (11:49)

So this question is really interesting and something that's really near and dear to my heart being a middle school teacher. And it's all about how do you deliver the instruction? And the question is when a new curriculum is scripted, it takes too long and is sometimes boring to go through the scripts. How do you liven up academic lessons for your students to make it energizing and exciting?

Laura Stewart (12:15)

So Jeff, to be perfectly transparent, we hear this sometimes about our programs here at 95 Percent group because we specifically build programs that have very explicit, what I call instructional dialogue. ⁓ I really don't like to use the word scripted because that implies that there's a script that has to be followed word by word and line by line. And Jeff, that's not the goal. ⁓ Let's remember that the goal of any program

Any curriculum program is to serve instruction and the goal of instruction is to serve the student. So ultimately we want to use a high quality evidence aligned program curriculum program and base our instructional moves or instructor decisions on responding to the student or the students with whom we are working. Now, if that's the case, why choose a program that has that explicit instructional dialogue provided in the lessons?

Well, there's a few reasons. First of all, we provide that explicit instructional dialogue for teachers using our program because it is the best, most efficient way for a teacher to learn those repeatable, replicable routines that I talked about in a previous episode, for teachers to learn protocols for lessons like I do, we do, you do, which is a validated instructional approach, instructor literacy. And it's also the most efficient

way for her to learn about academic language. And it's really important if you adopt a program, a curriculum program, across a grade level, across a school, you want to have that consistent and aligned academic language. And you want consistent routines, and you want consistent lesson plan design. So that consistency across tiers, alignment across tiers, and alignment across grade levels in those areas is really important. So adopting a program like ours,

Let's say our phonics core program or our phonics lesson libraries in which the instructional dialogue is very explicit really helps with that alignment. So that's number one reason that it's important to think about ⁓ a program that has really explicit language for teachers. The second reason, though, that I want to point out about this, the data is clear that not all of our teachers who are put into the position of teaching reading have the background and the preparation to do so.

We talked in a previous ⁓ episode about our secondary teachers that may not be prepared at all in how to teach reading. So a teacher who comes into ⁓ teaching reading and doesn't have that strong preparation need the support that explicit instructional dialogue provides. ⁓ And I have heard teachers say to me how important it is that they have curricular programs

that actually have professional learning kind of built in. And that's what a program with instructional dialogue really does. It helps you understand the process of learning to read and the process of teaching reading. And I've actually had this is, you know, from teachers. Teachers have said to me, you know, I never really understood how children learn to read until I started using this program, or I never really understood how to teach reading until I use this program.

And that makes me feel really good because it means that our programs are providing you know that professional learning through their use and that's a really good thing. So I encourage teachers when they first adopt a program like ours that has that explicit language to use that language to the point where it becomes automatic and comfortable and natural to them. And that's going to be really helpful for them as they think about explicit instruction and.

and maximizing outcomes for students, which again is the goal of all we do.

Jeffrey Bradbury (16:06)

I think that's a really wonderful point there, Laura. When you're creating these curricular materials, you do need to create it for new teachers, veteran teachers, teachers that need all the support, teachers that just need an outline. That's gotta be rewarding though to see all of this feedback coming in from teachers from all across the world that have not only great questions, but are using the programs to support their students.

Laura Stewart (16:30)

Yeah, and I would say one more thing about that too from our from my vantage point. You know one of the things that's really strong about 95 Percent group is that you know we have developed teach. We have developed materials in response to requests directly from our our teaching base. You know the base of teachers who come to us and say you know we really need this. Can you help? Can you help? Can you develop this to help us really meet the needs of all of our kids? And so we're very teacher centric.

in our approach and I feel really good about that.

Jeffrey Bradbury (17:02)

Laura, where can we find more information at the 95 Percent group to get started with all of these resources?

Laura Stewart (17:08)

mean,

honestly, I think the best place to go, just go right to our website. It's very easy to navigate. We've got information about all of our products, all of our professional learning, which I highly encourage people to remember that when you do adopt a program, even if it has that clear and consistent lesson design, clear and consistent instructional dialogue, make sure that you invest in the professional learning and the coaching to really maximize your outcomes.

Jeffrey Bradbury (17:31)

You know, Laura, this is the ending of our series here, Literacy with Laura. Many of us have been following this series. Don't forget again to hit that like and subscribe button. But what advice do you have somebody moving into this school year? Perhaps they're teaching this for the first time. Perhaps they're teaching this for the fifth or sixth time. What advice do you have for our new school year?

Laura Stewart (17:52)

Well, first of all, again, I wanted to say something I said in an earlier episode. Thank you all, educators, for the work that you do every day. It's really important work. It's challenging work. I know it's not easy. So thank you for that. I guess the other thing I would encourage people to think about is advocate for you to have the supports that you need to reach your goals for your students.

Many times as educators, we're left to our own devices to find the right materials and to kind of figure stuff out on our own. So advocate for ⁓ an aligned and consistent and comprehensive professional learning for everyone in your buildings and schools. Advocate for the right curriculum materials that will support you in maximizing your instructional approach. ⁓ Those are things I would really encourage you to do and I wish everyone.

a great, a great school.

Jeffrey Bradbury (18:53)

resources for today can be found over at teachercast.net slash literacy with Laura and at the bottom of that we're also going to be putting links to our previously recorded videos all about the science of reading. I hope you guys have a chance to check all of that stuff out Laura. Thank you so much for spending time with us over the last few episodes. I hope you have a great school year with your team and I'm looking forward to having you back on the program in the future.

Laura Stewart (19:16)

thanks so much, Chef. It's always great to collaborate with you. Thanks again.

Jeffrey Bradbury (19:19)

And that wraps up this episode of TeacherCast on behalf of Lauren and everybody here on TeacherCast. My name is Jeff Bradbury, reminding you guys to keep up the great work in your classrooms and continue sharing your passions with your students.