BUSD’s Literacy Action Plan
At BUSD, we have the opportunity to continue building a comprehensive literacy program that is aligned with research and will support every student in reaching grade-level proficiency. The goal of the literacy action plan is to provide universal access to core curriculum, reduce inequities, align our systems, and promote partnerships between families and the school so that every student can flourish.
As part of a settlement agreement related to literacy support for students with reading-related challenges and disabilities, BUSD is required to take certain steps to refine and improve policies and practices to better serve students with and suspected to have reading disorders, in particular students identified with dyslexia or students who may have phonological processing challenges.
Four Goals of BUSD’s Literacy Action Plan
Goal 1: Develop Programs to Improve General Education Reading and Language Arts Achievement for all Students, especially those Students with or at risk for Reading Disabilities, including Dyslexia
Goal 2: Increase the Systematicity and Intensity of Tier 2 and 3 Reading and Language Arts Intervention of the MTSS Framework to Reduce the Achievement Gap for Students at risk for Reading Disability
Goal 3: Ensure Fidelity of Literacy Improvement Program Implementation through District Monitoring of Literacy Improvement Program and Staff Engagement. (Fidelity and Evaluation)
Goal 4: Special Education Programs: Increase Reading Achievement by Improving the Quality of IEP Goals and Section 504 Plan Development, Progress Monitoring, and use of appropriately intensive, Research-based Interventions. (SPED)
2022-23 Highlights
- Provided professional learning K-5 and exploration around literacy acquisition with shared book study of Shifting the Balance
- Provided training and support for administrators to cultivate data driven culture
- Increased assessment completion rates for STAR and DIBELS
- Monitored implementation and effectiveness of current curriculum with data and observation
- Began development of BUSD MTSS Process Guide
- Began core program curriculum review
CORE Learning Professional Development
This year, all Tk – 5th grade teachers will participate in the CORE Reading Academy to continue building our foundational understanding around early literacy and the scientifically backed strategies that support early reading.
The first session was held in August 2023 and focused on:
- Understand the Reading Challenge and how it relates to types of learners
- Identify the five essential components of scientifically based reading instruction
- Identify the types of assessments and purpose for each
- Understand the difference between phonemes and graphemes and their relationship to one another
Middle school Humanities teachers (English Language Arts and History) as well as science teachers will participate a science of reading aligned two-day training called Adolescent Literacy Solutions.
Literacy Assessments
BUSD is committed to helping each child become a powerful reader. As part of this commitment we assess all K-8 students three times per year with a quick reading test. The results provide a snapshot of each child’s development as a reader. School teams use this information to inform monitoring and additional support that might be needed in reading. For more information on reading screeners, and why they are important check out this link.
Getting More Information on Literacy Assessments
DIBELS
Click the image to view a readable pdf.
Click the image to view a readable pdf.
The front shows scores and descriptions of each subtest, and the back has support activities you can do at home.
- Parent Guide to Dibels Assessment English/Spanish
- Home Connect with Activities for families to do
- Dibels Tips for Families: explains risk categories & percentiles, gives tips on what parents can do if child is in risk category, Resource links & Terminology
STAR
Click the image to view a readable pdf.
- STAR Reports for Caregivers
How BUSD’s K-2 Students Learn to Read
As part of a comprehensive evidence-based literacy program, for our youngest readers in K-2 we target three important areas of early reading development; Phonemic Awareness, Phonics and High Frequency Word work. Our K-2 teachers are using the Fast Track Phonics program and Heggerty to provide this explicit instruction. Below are definitions of these skills and ways you can support your student in continuing to build them at home!
What does Phonemic Awareness mean? |
What is Phonics? |
What are High Frequency Words? |
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Phonemic Awareness is the ability to hear, isolate and manipulate individual speech sounds (phonemes). This is an important building block skill for reading and writing. For example being able to hear the first sound in “cow” as /c/. Or say the sounds in bat as /b/, /a/, /t/. |
Phonics is instruction in the relationship between letters and sounds, so that students are able to read and spell words. | High Frequency Words are words that show up all the time in texts (books, articles, etc). If students can learn these words, which sometimes have irregular spellings, this unlocks a lot of printed text for them! |
| Heggerty: Phonemic Awareness Video Links for Families (English & Spanish)
What is Phonemic Awareness in Spanish |
Fast Track: FTP Home Links
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Recommended Lists to support students at home |
Recent Literacy Action Plan Reports
- Quarter 1 Report on October 12, 2022
- Monitoring Report on November 20, 2022
- Quarter 2 Report on February 1, 2023
- Quarter 3 Report on April 26, 2023
- Monitoring Report on June 7, 2023
- Quarter 4 Report on August 23, 2023
- Quarter 5 Report on October 18, 2023
Literacy News
On November 2, Superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel had the opportunity to speak at the California Reading Coalition’s Reading Summit. Over 1,000 educators, advocates, and other change-makers came together to learn from leading experts, practitioners, and each other. The recap of the summit is here.
BUSD Reading Lists
(Click the image to access reading lists).