Structured Small Group Literacy

Hours: 2+

Audience: K-3

PD Description: Structured Small Group Literacy is a professional learning session designed to support educators in delivering high-impact, data-driven small group literacy instruction grounded in the Science of Reading. The course focuses on how to plan and implement targeted decoding and fluency instruction for early elementary students—particularly those at risk for reading difficulties—using aligned, research-based routines. Participants explore how to increase instructional intensity through purposeful grouping, explicit teaching, systematic practice, and the use of decodable and readable texts, while maintaining coherence across tiers of instruction.

Course Objectives:

• Understand and apply settled Science of Reading research related to small group instruction.

• Explain why explicit, systematic literacy instruction is essential for all learners, and especially for students at risk for reading impairment.

• Design small group instruction that increases intensity through targeted skills, smaller group size, increased practice, and immediate feedback.

• Use assessment data (e.g., universal screeners and diagnostics) to group students and determine instructional focus.

• Implement research-based routines for decoding, word building, fluency, and connected text reading.

• Select and use decodable and “readable” texts to support skill transfer, fluency, and comprehension.