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Hello,
It is hard to believe it is May! School will be out later this month and I want to thank each of you for your dedication to the teaching profession and wish you a very happy teacher appreciation week. What you do each and every day has the opportunity to truly changes the lives of those you teach. Whether in Kansas or across the globe- learning to read is life-changing.
Thank you for choosing the teaching profession (or allowing it to choose you)- literacy changes lives!
If you have questions for our team, just ask. Our Literacy Lifeline is available any time!
Laurie
Dr. Laurie Curtis
KSDE Early Literacy/ Dyslexia Program Manager
Information for Promising Practice
I heard in a meeting recently that some were wondering how the Kansas State Department of Education "officially" defines structured literacy. I have included below not only how we define it, but the research and supporting documents we rely on to support that definition. We will be continuing to use this definition in presentations and professional devlopment provided by the KSDE Early Literacy/ Dyslexia team.
Structured Literacy refers to the explicit, systematic, diagnostic, and cumulative approach to teaching literacy that acknowledges the value of both word recognition and oral and written language comprehension as evidenced in all grades and disciplines.
Instruction should be based on the 2023 ELA standards and additional guidance regarding the specific elements and principles for structured literacy are found in in the Kansas Dyslexia Handbook, KSDE Structured Literacy Components Checklist with accompanying recorded webinar and the International Dyslexia Association Structured Literacy infographic, that provides additional guidance and clarification for Tier 1,2,and 3 support for reading instruction, including the content (what is taught) and principles (pedagogy) based on the science of reading.
KSDE Definition of Structured Literacy
KESA/ Four Fundamentals of School Improvement
Have you hit a plateau with student progress?
Are you seeking additional ideas related to what to do for those students who are not making the progress you were hoping for?
This article from the Science of Reading Toolbox was developed by the National Center for Improving Literacy in partnership with The Reading League Journal and may provide some additional guidance!
Clarifying the misunderstandings around the science of reading...
When you hear someone say they are implementing the science of reading, are you clear about exactly what they are doing? Are you sure we have a clear understanding what implementation at the classroom level looks like?
This information and recorded webinar, Misunderstandings of the Science of Reading, by Dr. Sharon Vaughn is a great review and gives us plenty of good information to ponder!
NEW RESOURCE to assist with curriculum decisions:
You may be familiar with EdReports that can help to inform your curricluar decisions when you are looking to adopt new core curriculum. It is important to not just look for a "green on EdReports", but read carefully the reports to identify specific strengths and needs of any curriculum and how it will specifically meet the needs of your students and compliment any other resources/ supports you have in your district.
A new resource was just launched May 1st by the Reading League. The reports they provide are referred to as Curriculum Navigation Reports. While they have a limited number of reviews, what is there may help you make informed decisions related to how aligned a curriculum is to structured literacy.
This request/ question came from our Literacy Lifeline:
Are you looking for some ideas for working with your 3rd-5th grade students to guide interventions to support literacy gaps in their core curriculum. I would suggest revisiting the practice guide for grades 4-9, with a specific recommendation below to support the reading of multisyllabic words on page 11!
Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4–9 (ed.gov) , see page 11
For other grade level supports, don't forget our Dyslexia Literacy Resources by Grade Level | Kansas Teaching & Leading (kansasteachingandleadingproject.org) which provides suggestions by grade level and/ or topic!
Professional Learning Opportunities
The Time is Now! LETRS®
I have had several people contact me wondering if LETRS training will be required for elementary license renewel. While a decision for this has not been voted upon, KSDE does provide a wonderful opportunity for educators to have their license for the course paid for...but the deadline for the final cohort on this contract is upon us. Currently we have 10 state cohorts registered and 21 district cohorts already registered to start this fall... with more signing up each day!
Over 6,600 state licenses have been provided for educators...If one of these licenses belong to you...and you haven't finished- make a committment to stay on track for completion! Once you log in, the time for completion (2 years) begins!
LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) is a course to help improve instruction aligned with the science of reading including structured literacy. This course is a hybrid training with the majority being self-paced online training. The few live training days can be done virtually via Zoom.
LETRS is a 2-year Commitment designed for teachers of students in kindergarten and older. Next cohort begins August 2024.
LETRS for Early Childhood is a semester Commitment designed for teachers of students in preschool and kindergarten. Next cohort begins August 2024.
LETRS for Administrators is a 2-year Commitment designed for instructional leaders who are supervising the provision of structured literacy and making decisions for the system about core curriculum, assessment systems and instruction. Next cohort begins August 2024. If you are directly supervising teachers who are providing reading instruction, the regulary LETRS course would be recommended over the LETRS for Administrators.
The deadline for registration for LETRS training- 3rd Edition for Educators, LETRS for Early Childhood, or LETRS for Administrators is May 31, 2024.
For questions and/ or to register, please contact:
Kevin Davis (TASN) kddavis@ksde.org
Mark your calendar! Virtual professional learning!
All you need is a book and some time... PD hours documented via KSDE certificate. If you get your book this summer, you can be ready to roll...
Our recent text-based virtual PLC: Structured Literacy Interventions: Teaching Students with Reading Difficulties K-6 was well-received and comes with an amazing Padlet of resources to support your practice of providing interventions to enhance student learning. Sign up yourself or get a group of colleagues to join you as a building-level cohort!
The Early Literacy/ Dyslexia Team will be offering it again via Zoom but on a different week night this coming Fall/Winter. The dates are below. Please mark your calendar! This ten-week study (plus an introductory week) will begin September 18th and meet every other week via Zoom on Wednesdays from 4:00 - 5:00 pm, CST.
Registration will be out this summer- at the beginning of school!
DATES for the study:
September 18
Oct. 2nd, 16, 30
Nov. 13th- no study the week of Thanksgiving
Dec. 4, 18
January 8, 22
February 5, 19
Last year many of you joined us for a study on Wiley Blevins' book called A Fresh Look at Phonics. We will be exploring his brand new book, called "Differentiating Phonics Instruction for Maximum Impact: How to Scaffold While-Group Instruction So all Students Can Access Grade-Level Content (Corwin Literacy) this fall. If you want a preview about what this book is about, check out his quick video introduction.
Differentiated Phonics for Maximum Impact
This study will be held weekly for 10 weeks via Zoom, starting September 16, 2024. There is no cost, except for the purchase of the book prior to the study.
Mark your calendar! All are welcome!
Registration will be out at the beginning of the school year!
Dates will include:
September 16, 23, 30
October 7, 14, 21, 28
November 4,11,18
Reasons to Celebrate!
Sharing Literacy Learning!
First graders at Wheatland Elementary School in Valley Center, Kansas put their literacy skills to work by researching animals and presenting their knowledge at an animal wax museum. What a colorful, informative and fun way to listen, speak, read and write!
Top left: Zeke Holcomb shares his writing, smiles all around!
Top right: Brenlee Minihan
Bottom left: Jesse Crumrine
Bottom right: Chad Price Jr.
Celebration of Completion of LETRS Unit 8 Cohort in Lawrence, USD 497 Lawrence Public Schools
What a fun evening celebrating these dedicated teachers!
Part of the celebration was offered by USD 497 Superintendent, Dr. Anthony Lewis, who helped make the evening wonderful for those present, showing appreciation to the teachers for their hard work and dedication-doing the best for their students! Thank you, Denise Johnson, for facilitating this lovely event!
Below you will see Shawnee Mission School District teachers and district leaders, who are committed to growing their professional knowledge through LETRS training!
We congratulate the educators below who completed Unit 8 of their training and represent secondary ELA teachers and special education teachers in the Shawnee Mission School District. Congratulations on a job well done! Thank you Kristin Ridgway for the invitation to visit and the great photos of their journey! Thank you Robyn Rogers for providing those amazing LETRS cookies!
"Thank you to Kim Dale, who was excited, willing, and knowledgeable to bring a secondary lens to the LETRS work for us. She was truly fantastic!"- quote by Kristin Ridgway
If you have or are currently in LETRS training, THANK YOU! I know it takes a lot of time and commitment and kids of Kansas will benefit from your hard work and the time you spent honing your literacy pedagogy!
Literacy Lifeline Questions/ Answers
Literacy Lifeline Question:
"I have students who are in third grade who are still struggling with phonics skills. They are still reading on kindergarten level. I am a Tier 3 reading interventionist and are looking for more information to help this student. "
The following article, from LDOnline, was written by Louisa Moats and is entitled "When Older Students Can't Read". She states that it is common for both teachers and their students to become frustrated when reading difficulties continue beyond when we anticipate the literacy foundation to be established. While our work is essential in our early/ primary grades, unfortunately we also have students in grades 3-6 who are still needing foundational assistance. This article discusses effective instruction in reading and language- to include phonological awareness and decoding, fluency and word recognition, vocabulary and comprehension... and writing.
In addition, here are some grade-level supports(resources by grade band), which includes suggestions for those older students to provide specific instructional supports for teaching and learning. The Kansas Teaching and Leading Project
We also had a question from our Literacy LifeLine this month about students with dyslexia that struggle with processing of language.
In continuation of our conversation about Developmental Language Disorder, I have included a link below as we work as a state to recognize the importance of this difficultyd to literacy development, recognizing it may affect 11% of our students.
We are planning to learn more through an upcoming webinar and panel discussion by one of the top researchers in the field, Dr. Tiffany Hogan,. This will be provided this fall, via Zoom, and will be free- although you will need to register. (Registration will be coming as dates are confirmed). This will be open to all classroom teachers, speech-language pathologist, district leaders and assessment specialists and instructional coaches. Please see future newsletters for additional information for the presentations and the opportunity to registration.
If you are interested in learning more, please see our last few issues of the newsletter and enjoy the link below as we learn more about the many "names" for DLD that you may see used in our schools and a helpful graphic that provides a framework for how DLD intersects with dyslexia.
Do you have a question?
If you have a question and would like some help in solving it...or want to consult with someone on the Early Literacy/ Dyslexia team, you can do so by completing this brief form: KSDE Literacy Lifeline Request Form
On the form you can request a day/ time to visit virtually with someone on our team or you can ask a question and receive a response to your question via email if that is better... or you are welcome to pose a question you would like addressed in this newsletter and we will try to provide that information in a future issue. Just know... we are here to help!
Important Updates from KSDE
Coming in July!
You may have heard that the KSDE Required Initial Dyslexia Modules that have been used over the past few years have been revised. These modules are required for any teacher who is new to the profession of teaching, or new to teaching in Kansas. These have been updated/ revised and were piloted this spring. The final edits are occuring right now and recording will be done in the next few weeks. Information on how to access these will be on the KSDE Early Literacy/ Dyslexia page, provided via this newsletter, listservs, and KSDE Weekly in July so you can be ready to use them in your district at the beginning of the 2024-2025 academic year.
There are five modules, which will be recorded separately. The topics are:
KSDE Requirements and District Expectations
Introduction to Dyslexia: What it is...and what it is not
How the Brain Learns to Read
Structured Literacy (choose one)
Elementary
Middle/Secondary
Combined Elementary-Secondary
Using Information for Transformation
Districts will be provided a detailed facilitation guide, handouts and slide decks to use during training. The amount of time the training takes should be comparable to the last modules...but more details will be available once the recordings have all been completed.
NEWS ABOUT THE OPTIONAL 2ND GRADE ASSESSMENT
If you took the 2nd grade optional assessment, you weren't alone! We had 3,903 students participate. The report for teachers and parents is provided quickly, so parents and teachers can have the results prior to the end of school. If you are interested in participating next year, make a note to ask your assessment coordinator to have your class rostered for the spring assessment.
“Teachers have three loves: love of learning, love of learners, and the love of bringing the first two loves together. Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today. I am not a teacher, but an awakener. The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.”
-Scott Hayden
If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, please ask them to contact me at ELitDyslexia@ksde.org to request being added to the Early Literacy/ Dyslexia listserv, or visit the KSDE Dyslexia page and select the purple HERE button and select Newsletter to see the current and past issues.
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