Great Leaps Reading 

1. Log in, select your student from the dashboard and connect with the student’s device using your username and student code. 

2. One-minute timing in phonics. The program will highlight the correct exercise to work on. Remember to start the timer when the student begins and stop it if the student finishes the exercise before time runs out. 

• As the student reads, click/tap any errors and immediately correct the student out loud by stating the proper word or phrase. 

• Double tap the last word read to record the word count (responses) after time’s up or they have finished. 

• Pick 2 lines that contain errors and practice them with the student. First, the instructor reads the lines, then the instructor and student read the lines together and lastly the student reads the lines correctly out loud on their own. 

3. One-minute timing in the Sight Phrases section 

• Click and immediately correct errors 

• Double-click the last word read for the word count (responses) 

• Choose a section to practice with the student 

4. One-minute timing in the Stories section 

• Click and immediately correct errors

•  Double-click the last word read for the word count (responses) 

• Choose a section to practice with the student 

5. 3 or more minutes of Depth of Knowledge Questions after each story timing 

• Each level of questions requires more in-depth thinking, 1 being the easiest and 4 the most difficult.

• Ask 2 or 3 questions provided and come up with some follow-up questions based on the student’s response. The goal is to get more in-depth responses from the student and start a short conversation about it. 

Adding a New Student

•  Select Manage Students on the top menu bar (or under the three-bar button if you are working on a smaller screen). Click the Add Student button. 

• Enter the student’s name, their birth date, select the appropriate program they will be working in then click Add. You will now see the student on your student roster and on your dashboard. 

Linking the Teacher and Student Devices 

To work Great Leaps Digital, both instructor and student devices need to be connected to the Internet. Any combination of tablets, laptops, or desktop computers can be used to work the program. As a last resort, the instructor may use a cell phone, but there are too many potential distractions for students to work from a cell phone. 

• Go to www.digital.greatleaps.com on the teacher's device and log in with your username and password. 

• Select your student from the Dashboard immediately visible after logging in.

  • A five-digit Student Code will show at the top of the screen. 

  • Now log into the student device by first selecting Log In and then selecting Student. 

  • Enter your username into the teacher username space and enter that 5-digit code into the student code space. 

  • Select Log In and you are ready to go! When the instructor opens an exercise, the student will then have the option to open the same exercise on their device. 

Placement (Where to Start with Your Student) 

In Great Leaps, we intentionally place students lower than their instructional level to allow them to ease into the program while celebrating goals made with their instructor. This is a critical behavioral decision to boost the confidence of our struggling readers EARLY and give them time to build a relationship with their instructor before diving into challenging exercises at their instructional level. 

Alphabet: DO NOT Continue to Phonics, Phrases, and Stories until your student has mastered their letter names and sounds.

• If your student does not know their letter names, begin them on Section - 1 Letter Recognition

• If your student does not know their letter sounds, begin them in Section - 2 Sounds in Isolation

Phonics: DO NOT work with a student on Phrases or Stories unless your student is placed beyond Exercise 11 in Phonics. 

• Complete the Placement Exercises provided at the beginning of phonics recording their time and errors. Once a student makes an error or is unable to finish a placement exercise in under 1 minute, the program will highlight the appropriate exercise in blue to begin with the student on your next session. 

Phrases: 

• Begin on Exercise 1 of Phrases, and our program will skip ahead the appropriate amount of exercises after each session based on the student's performance. 

Stories: 

• Begin on Exercise 1 of Stories, and our program will skip ahead the appropriate amount of exercises after each session based on the student's performance. 

Completing a Lesson

Using Great Leaps Digital daily consists of a one-minute timing in each of three sections: Phonics, Sight Phrases and Stories. The stories are followed by Depth of Knowledge (DOK) Questions. All three exercises and the DOK questions are done every session with a student. For the best results, you should use the program five days a week and never less than three. Here are the steps involved: 

1. With the student and instructor devices connected, the instructor selects the highlighted exercise (in blue), which will then appear on the student’s device waiting to be selected. The student selects the exercise and it opens on their device. All students start on the first exercise of each section. 

2. The instructor makes sure the student is ready to read, instructs the student to begin and then clicks start on the timer at the bottom. 

3. The instructor follows along with the student, immediately correcting errors and clicking/tapping on them so they appear highlighted in red on the instructor’s device. If the student does not know the word after a few seconds the instructor will say the word and mark it as an error. You will notice that the student’s errors from previous timings are highlighted in a lighter shade of red. 

4. When the student finishes the exercise, the instructor selects Stop at the bottom of the exercise. If the timer runs out before the student is finished the instructor tells the student to stop reading and double clicks (or taps) the last word read by the student to record the word count (responses). 

5. The instructor models a line or two with the student (as shown below), selects Submit and repeats the procedure for the next two exercises. 

6. At the end of the Stories exercise when the instructor selects submit the program will open to the DOK Comprehension Development Questions. The instructor picks a question or two and asks them of the student. The goal is to elicit expressive language through additional follow up questions, check their comprehension of the story and work in some vocabulary words. If the student does not respond well to the question the instructor can choose to move on to another question that is more engaging or perhaps more simple. Not all questions will resonate with all students!  

Immediate Correction

When a student makes an error, immediately correct the error by saying the correct word or phrase aloud right after the wrong word is said. If the student is pausing on the word, quickly prompt them to attempt to sound the word out OR give them the word after up to 2 seconds.

What is an Error:

• Saying the wrong word or critically mispronouncing it (not their accent)

• Skipping punctuation 

• Skipping a word 

• Skipping a line 

What is NOT an Error:

• Words that the student corrects on their own 

• Local (dialect) pronunciations of words 

• Sounding out a word and taking a few seconds to get it (after a couple seconds you should give them the correct word and keep going) 

• Flat or expressionless reading (this will improve as the student works with you during modeling) 

• Incorrect sounding words due to a speech impediment

Modeling

After a student has completed the timing you should implement the second tool, which is modeling. Select a line or two (should be a minimum of 4 words) where your student made an error. If your student has a persistent error pattern choose a section with those errors, and do the following three things. 

1. Read the line aloud at a regular pace for the student while the student follows with their eyes. Use appropriate expression if it is a story exercise. You can also have the student use a pointer to follow along.

2. Read the line aloud with the student. Have the student begin and stay a fraction of a second behind them. The instructor is there for support this time. If you are working at a distance, have them mouth the words as you read it a second time. 

3. Have the student read the line again. This time should go better and you can praise their work as they get it right! If they still make an error, correct it immediately and have them try the section again. 

Positive Reinforcement

Learning to read is like learning to ride a bike! It involves several unsuccessful attempts but the end result can bring joy forever! Be sure to give a quick word of encouragement when your student gets things right, especially if they have previously struggled with that word or phrase. Those earned words of encouragement are an integral component of the Great Leaps program. 

WATCH THE VIDEO WALKTRHOUGH - Understanding the charts is primarily visual. 

Student Performance Chart: 

This is a standard celeration chart that will show a student's total words per minute (blue), errors per minute (red), and goals made (green). Below this, you will see the Raw Exercise Records  with every submission of a student's data with the date and time submitted. 

Fidelity: 

• Time stamps and instructors' names listed in the Raw Exercise Records help identify who to address the issues with.

• Weeks in which the student did not have 3 or more Great Leaps sessions will be highlighted in red on the chart 

• Students who did not meet the minimum 3 days per week requirement will have a red notification next to their name as a Fidelity Warning

Student Summary: 

This provides an overview of the student's growth in Great Leaps. Their grade level growth is measured by comparing the grade level difficulty of the story where a student was placed with the current exercise that the student is working on. The improvement in Reading Growth Rate as a percentage looks at the student's words per minute read of the student's first attempt on those same exercises. 

Reading Progress: 

This shows a student's instructional grade level growth over time. You can change the date range shown on the top right corner to see a student's growth through the past 9 weeks, a semester, or whatever increment of time you would like. By default, it will show a student's entire history in the program. 

To Be Done with Fidelity, Instructors Must: 

Implementing the program with fidelity is critical to maximize a student's reading growth. If you are not implementing the program as designed, do not expect to get the proven results as advertised. 

1. Work with the student in Great Leaps three or more times per week on average. 

2. Immediately correct errors, and practice through modeling. 

3. Start a student off below their instructional level if possible. 

4. Do not move on to the next exercise until a goal is made. 

Common Mistakes in Implementation: 

If you are with a school or organization with multiple instructors, we recommend someone on your staff has completed an Advanced Training to prevent these mistakes from happening in the first place. That being said, as an administrator, you can identify these implementation errors either through observing a live session OR through evaluating the student's Raw Exercise Records. 

1. The instructor moves a student along to the next exercise each day without a goal being made. 

   • Identify: Raw Exercise Records

2. The student is averaging LESS than 3 sessions per week. 

   • Identify: A. Red fidelity warning by their name on the records page B. Weeks highlighted in red on the Student Performance chart. C. Average Sessions per Week shown on the Student Summary

3. The instructor is not immediately correcting errors and/or modeling with the student. 

   • Identify: Observing a live session within the first week an instructor begins implementation

4. An instructor allows the student to have multiple attempts on the same exercise on the same day. 

   • Identify: Raw Exercise Records

5. The student is being allowed more than 1 minute to finish the exercise. 

   • Identify: In the Raw Exercise Records, you'll notice every goal that is made finishes at 60 seconds. So either the instructor forgets to stop the timer when the student finishes OR the time is up, and the instructor allows the student to keep reading until they finish and gives them the goal. 

Depth of Knowledge - Questions designed to build critical thinking, language growth, and comprehension. 

Fidelity - Use of the program 3-5 times per week by adhering to the program’s specific instructions.

 Immediate correction - Immediate interjection upon student’s verbal error. The timer does not stop as the instructor teaches the student how to say the word/phrase correctly. 

Modeling - Instructor correction through demonstration. 

Exercise - The lesson that the student reads in each of the three sections: Phonics, Phrases, and Stories. 

Errors - when a student either reads a word or letter incorrectly or when the student does not know the word. 

Phonics - the first section of Great Leaps Digital exercises. One exercise in Phonics gets done every day. 

Sight Phrases - the second section of Great Leaps Digital exercises. One exercise in Sight Phrases gets done every day. 

Stories - the third set of Great Leaps Digital exercises. One exercise in Stories gets done every day. 

Sharing a student – giving another person access to that student’s records and/or the ability to work exercises with that student. Sharing means that two or more people can help a student and see their records. 

Archiving a student – making a student inactive, freeing up their license for another student. You still have their records and, for a $25 fee you can re- activate that student.