2nd Grade - Gateway 2

The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for 2a.

Materials provide a well-defined teacher resource for content presentation through well-detailed lesson plans from pre-instruction to lesson videos to post-instruction. The online teacher resource contains detailed information and instructional routines that help the teacher to effectively implement all foundational skills content, with many supports found within the Professional Development library of videos. Materials contain technology that provides support and guidance for the teacher.

Materials provide a well-defined, teacher resource (teacher edition, manual) for content presentation. For example: 

• In the Program Guide, How Do Teachers Use It?, materials provide a sample lesson plan with an outline of lesson steps that include step-by-step instruction and follows the gradual release model. The Lesson Steps include: Set the Stage, which prepares students for learning; Teach, which provides explicit instructions to teach and model foundational skills; Guided Practice, which provides students practice with skills taught in the Teach section; Independent Practice which provides digital experiences for students independent practice; Closure which brings students together again and ties in language connection and knowledge building; and Reteach and Enrichment, which allows for differentiated small group instruction based on student data.

• In Lesson Plans, within the Lesson Plan section of the program, each unit contains a link to the scope and sequence for the grade level, the caregiver letter for each unit, and a link to professional development for concepts within the unit. There are tabs for the four modules within each lesson, that once you click on them, provide the five lessons within the module with videos for each lesson. The Lesson Plan section provides objectives, student objectives, pre-instruction, instruction, and post-instruction. The lesson plans provide a consistent format throughout all eight units.

The teacher resource contains detailed information and instructional routines that help the teacher to effectively implement all foundational skills content (i.e. phonological awareness, print concepts, letters, phonics, HFW, word analysis, decoding). For example: 

• In the Program Guide, How Do Teachers Use It?, materials include a section on how Foundations A-Z uses multimodal strategies. The resource lists instructional routines and what they consist of. Materials provide detailed instructional routines for the following: Handwriting routines, High-Frequency Word routines, Word-Building routines, Word Chaining, and Word Sort routines. For example, the Word-Building routine consists of students listening to a word and using bingo chips on sound mats as they say and count each sound in a word. Then students build the word by replacing the bingo chips with phoneme-grapheme cards, and finally, students read the word out loud. 

• In Professional Development, materials provide videos on instructional routines. Lesson plans also include links to the videos where applicable. For example, the Sight Words vs. HFW video in the Professional Development library provides a routine for all irregular high-frequency words: See it, Say it, Sound it, Spell it, and Write it. This video appears in Unit 8. 

Any technology pieces included provide support and guidance for the teacher and do not create an additional layer of complication around the materials. For example: 

• In Guided Walkthroughs, materials provide a menu of teacher resources for web-based tools to assist teachers with adding, transferring, deleting students, and editing their student roster for web-based practice lessons and testing. Teachers can also customize their student groups and directions on assigning foundational skills practice lessons to students. 

• For each lesson, teachers can assign students independent work to practice and apply new concepts and skills using the digital resources, which may include videos, games, or reading resources.

• In Unit 6, Module 2, Lesson 1, materials provide links to the resources needed throughout the lesson. For example, in the I Do portion of the lesson, the high-frequency words section includes directions and links to the High-frequency words flashcards, Five-sound box workmat, and Grapheme cards. In Unit 6, Module 2, materials also provide an Observational checklist. Teachers have the option to download or present the online resources.

The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for 2b. 

Materials contain complete, detailed adult-level explanations for foundational skills taught in the grade. The Professional Development library includes videos and detailed examples of grade-level foundational skills concepts to support teachers with developing and building their content knowledge. 

Complete, detailed adult-level explanations are provided for each foundational skill taught at the grade level. For example: 

• In Professional Development, materials provide a library of videos for teachers on various foundational skills concepts with filters by grade level, resource type, and topic. There are four types of videos: Listen and Learn, Read the Research, Learn from Experts, and Put into Practice. For example, materials include A Put into Practice video on sight words versus high-frequency words. The video includes the following definition for high-frequency words, “Most commonly occurring words in printed text.”

• In Unit 1, Module 3, materials provide a link for Professional Development which contains two videos: a Read the Research video on fluency and a Put into Practice video on prompting decoding. The Read the Research video answers the questions, “What is fluency?”; “How does it develop?”; and “Why is it important to teach?”

• Each lesson within all units and modules provides teacher tips along the right side of the lesson plan. These tips are designed to deepen teacher understanding of the foundational skills being taught and provide examples to assist teachers with implementing that particular foundational skill. For example, in Unit 3, Module 3, Lesson 3, the teacher tip includes grouping support for students during the phonics game for that lesson. The tip suggests pairing a struggling reader with a supportive and helpful student to help the struggling reader gain confidence with the game. 

Detailed examples of the grade level foundational skill concepts are provided for the teacher. For example: 

• The Five Elements of Skilled Reading video defines the science of reading and its implications for reading instruction. The video discusses the large body of research conducted over the past several decades across many disciplines that tells us about how people learn to read, how the research has informed us about the cognitive processes and instructional approaches that best support children in becoming skilled readers, and how teachers can incorporate these approaches into their instruction. 

• In Unit 2, Module 2, materials provide a link for Professional Development which contains the Put into Practice: Six Syllable Types video. The video explains what syllables are and provides a chart with each of the six syllable types. The chart includes examples for each syllable type and explanations as to how vowel sounds are impacted for each syllable type. For example, closed- tug, ends in VC- short vowel sound and vowel team-goat, two vowels together-long or new vowel sound. 

• In Unit 4, Module 1, materials provide a link for Professional Development which contains the Put into Practice: Phoneme-Grapheme Mapping video. The video provides definitions for phonemes and graphemes, as well as what the concept of phoneme-grapheme mapping is. The word light is used as an example, breaking the word into three phonemes and its matching graphemes l-igh-t. The word send is also used to model phoneme-grapheme mapping by showing it has four sounds and four graphemes s-e-n-d.

The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for 2c. 

Materials contain lesson plans that utilize effective, research-based lesson plan design for early literacy instruction. The pacing of each component of daily lesson plans is clear and appropriate and contains an outline with detailed sections of the lesson plan and times for each lesson plan section. The program contains 160 lessons, can reasonably be completed in one school year, and should not require modifications to do so. The effective lesson design structure includes suggestions for both whole-group and small-group instruction. 

Lesson plans utilize effective, research-based lesson plan design for early literacy instruction. For example: 

• In Research and Rationale, materials provide a Research Summary. The Research Summary begins by referencing Scarborough’s Rope, where in order to become a skillful reader, students must engage in both word recognition skills and language comprehension skills simultaneously. It states, “Word recognition requires decoding skills, including alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, phoneme-grapheme associations and sight recognition.” In the Predictors of Reading Achievement section, it states, “When measured in preschool and kindergarten, foundational skills such as alphabetic knowledge and phonological awareness predict word recognition skills in the first and second grades (NICHD 2005, Storch and Whitehurst, 2002) when decoding is the major reading challenge.” The Research Summary also references the Simple View of Reading: “A similar view of skilled reading is evident in Simple View of Reading (1986), which suggests reading comprehension includes both decoding and language comprehension (see Figure F2). According to Gough and Tunmer, if either process breaks down, comprehension cannot occur: “In other words, in order for students to be skilled readers, it requires deliberate instruction to both sides of the equation: decoding (word reading)and understanding the nuances of spoken language (listening comprehension).”

• In Research and Rationale, the Research Summary states, “Based on the scientific reading research and development by educators, the Foundations A-Z literacy program is unique in that it offers explicit, systematic foundational skills from kindergarten through grade 5.” The summary states that the program contains grade-level scope and sequences with a continuum of foundational skills which go from simple to more complex skills, starting at the alphabetic phase and ending with the polysyllabic and morphemic phase. It also states that the program and scope and sequence are aligned to both state and national standards.

• Lesson plans follow a research-based design appropriate for early literacy instruction. For example, in Unit 2, Module 2, Lesson 2, the lesson follows an I Do, We Do, You Do gradual release model, working from simple to complex skills. The beginning of the lesson connects to the module question related to characters in a text. The lesson then progresses to practice previously learned phonics skills -ck and -y spelling rules. The lesson then moves from the word level to sentence level reading and then finally text level reading. The lesson plan is finalized by asking students to write compound sentences related to the connected text for this lesson.

The effective lesson design structure includes both whole group and small group instruction. For example:  

• In the Program Guide, How Do Teachers Use It?, in Frequently Asked Questions, one of the recommendations provided for teachers with limited time in grades kindergarten through grade 2 is as follows: complete 30 minutes of whole group instruction four days a week, with independent practice assigned as homework and the Reteach and Enrich be used for small group instruction.

• In the Program Guide, How Do Teachers Use It?, in Frequently Asked Questions, one of the recommendations provided for teachers with limited time in grades kindergarten through grade 2 is as follows: complete the 10–15 minute Teach lesson in a whole group setting, followed by the 10–15 minutes of Guided Practice in a small group setting during reading center time, and use the 10–15 minutes of Independent Practice within center rotations.

The pacing of each component of daily lesson plans is clear and appropriate. For example:  

• In the Program Guide, How Do Teachers Use It?, materials provide a sample lesson plan with duration suggestions that list the total suggested time as 45–60 minutes for kindergarten through grade 3. This time includes 25–30 minutes for explicit instruction through Teach and Guided Practice, 10–15 minutes for independent practice, and 15 minutes for the optional lesson plan components found in Set the Stage, Closure, and Reteach and Enrich. 

• In Unit 5, Module 1, Lesson 1, the lesson plan provides an outline with detailed sections of the plan and times for each plan section. Instruction includes the following sections: Set the Stage (5 minutes) during which the model question is introduced and there is a preview of the Shared reader; I Do: Teach (15 minutes) which includes Phonics: decode words and Phonics: build words activities, and high-frequency words; We Do: Guided Practice (15 minutes) which includes a phonics and phonics and fluency activity; You Do: Independent Practice (15 minutes) which includes digital resources for students; Closure (5 minutes) which includes a language connection; and Reteach and Enrich (5 minutes for each).

The suggested amount of time and expectations for maximum student understanding of all foundational skill content (i.e. phonological awareness, print concepts, letters, phonics, HFW, word analysis, decoding) can reasonably be completed in one school year and should not require modifications. For example:

• In the Program Guide, How Do Teachers Use It?, materials state that there are 160 lessons per grade level K–5, which includes 960 foundational skills lessons within the program.

• In Lesson Plans, materials provide a Grade 2 Scope and Sequence. The scope and sequence includes the following foundational skills: phonics, high-frequency words/phonograms, fluency, word study/language connection, and handwriting (print and cursive). The scope and sequence provides detailed information for each foundational skill over the span of eight units, each of which includes three modules of lessons and Module 4, which includes a review of Modules 1–3 within the unit. 

For those materials on the borderline (e.g. approximately 130 days on the low end or 200 days on the high end), evidence clearly explains how students would be able to master ALL the grade level standards within one school year. For example: 

• The materials do not fall on the borderline.

The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for 2d.ii.

Materials contain a clear and evidence-based explanation for the expected hierarchy for teaching phonics skills, and the materials contain a Grade 2 phonics scope and sequence of instruction and practice based on the expected hierarchy. The materials contain phonics instruction based on high utility patterns and/or common phonics generalizations. The patterns and generalizations are carefully selected to provide a meaningful and manageable number of phonics patterns and common generalizations for students to learn deeply, incorporating review and repetition.  

Materials clearly delineate a scope and sequence with a cohesive, intentional sequence of phonics instruction and practice to build toward application of skills. For example: 

• The Grade 2 Scope and Sequence contains the following sequence for phonics in each unit for Modules 1–3, with Module 4 used for review: 

  • Unit 1: CVC spelling pattern; jobs of the y; closed syllables; FLoSS rule; VCe spelling pattern; VCe syllable; consonant digraphs: ch variants, ck, ng, ph, sh, th, wh; consonant blends: s-blends, sk, sm, sn, sp, st, sw; r-blends br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr; l-blends bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl; blends: shr, squ, the, tw; final n-blends and other blends: ct, ft, ld, lk, lp, mp, nd, nk, nt, pt; final consonant blend with digraph nch and trigraph tch; closed syllables and VCe syllable; contractions: he’ll, she’ll, they’ll, we’ll, can’t, don’t, he’s, I’m, I’ve, she’s

  • Unit 2: inflectional endings es, s, d, ed; regular and irregular plural nouns and verbs; long vowel patterns that look like short vowel patterns: ild, ind, o, old, oll, olt, ost; spelling changes before inflectional endings; long vowels and open syllables; open syllables ending with y: by, dy, fy, ly, ny, py, sy, vy; inflectional endings ed, est; derivational suffixes ful, less, ly, ment, ness; contrast open and closed syllables; vowel digraphs and diphthongs; long a digraph ei; long e digraph ei; short e digraph ea; vowel team syllables; derivational suffixes ful, less, ly, ment, ness

  • Unit 3: consonant doubling, drop silent e rule, change y to i rule

  • Unit 4: variant vowel /o͞o/ and /yo͞o/: ew, oo, ou, u, ue, u_e, ui; variant vowel /o͝o/: oo, oul, u; read words with vowel teams and syllable types; variant vowel o: a, au, aw, augh, ough; read words with vowel teams syllable types; spellings for /f/ including gh; variant vowel /o͝o/: oo, oil, u; read words with vowel teams and syllable types; different spellings for the /y/ sound: eu, ew, i, u, y; s stands for /z/ between two vowels

  • Unit 5: r-controlled vowel sounds: /är/, /ûr/, /ôr/, /îr/; other spellings of r-controlled vowel sounds: air, are, eer, re, our, ure; spellings of /ôr/: ar, oar, or, ore, our; r-controlled syllable type; irregular plurals; change y to i before adding es; review syllable types: closed, open, VCe, vowel teams; r-controlled vowels; irregular plurals; change y to i before adding es

  • Unit 6: three-syllable words; multisyllabic words; three-syllable closed compound words; spellings that contains silent consonants: b in mb, gh in ght, h in gh, k in kn, n in mn, t in stle, w in wr; multiple spellings for final consonant sounds: /f/, /j/, /k/, /m/, /s/, /z/

  • Unit 7: consonant le spelling pattern: ble, cle, dle, gle, ple,tle, ze; consonant le syllable type; silent consonants in spelling: gh, gn, kn, wr, lf, lk, mb, mn, sc, wh, schwa and its spellings 

  • Unit 8: hard and soft c and g- final soft g spelled dge, ge; final soft c spelled ce; review open and closed syllable types; review vowel team and r-controlled syllable types; review VCe and consonant le syllable types 

• The Grade 2  Scope and Sequence illustrates a simple to complex progression within phonics lessons in Unit 6. In Module 1, students work with three-syllable words; in Module 2, students work with multisyllabic words; and in Module 3, students work with three-syllable closed compound words. 

Materials have a clear research-based explanation for the order of the phonics sequence. For example: 

• In Program Guide, Research and Rationale, materials provide their full Research Base. The Phonics section states, “To be effective, phonics instruction should follow a systematic scope and sequence, moving from simple to more complex skills. Scope refers to instructional content; sequence refers to the order in which letter-sound correspondences are taught Mesmer & Griffith (2005). The sequence should start with the correspondences with the greatest utility in making and reading words (Adams, 1990; Moats, 2009). It also states that high-frequency consonants  such as /m/,/n/, and /are usually found at the onset of phonics instruction “... because they appear frequently in common words and are not prone to mispronunciation (Adams, 1990; Stahl et al., 2006). Short vowel sounds should follow high-use consonants, allowing students to segment and blend the sounds in simple CVC words such as mat. As students gain proficiency with more common phonics elements, they can move on to digraphs, inflectional endings, and long vowels (Moats, 2009).”

• In Program Guide, Research and Rationale, the Phonics section states that within the Reading A-Z program, “The program progresses from simple phoneme-grapheme correspondence (sound spellings) to complex morphology and incorporates frequent regular spiral review and repetition. Instruction is explicit and cumulative and includes sample dialogue to teacher and model skills and concepts using research-based, multimodal instructional routines.” 

• In the Professional Development Library, the Phonics Read the Research article contains research from various cited evidence that supports the scope and sequence selected for Grade 2, emphasizing the simple to complex approach. An embedded video also explains practical strategies to support foundational skills that can be implemented immediately in the classroom.​​

Phonics instruction is based in high utility patterns and/or common phonics generalizations. For example:

• In Lesson Plans, the Grade 2 Scope and Sequence provides the information for Unit 1. In Modules 1, 2, and 3, students work on closed syllables and VCe syllables.

• In Unit 7, Module 1, instruction includes the high utility pattern of consonant -le spelling patterns with spelling patterns -ble, -cle, -dle, -fle, -gle, -kle, -tle, and -zle. In Lesson 1, students decode and build words with consonant -le. In Lesson 2, students decode words with the consonant -le syllable type. In Lesson 3, students decode and build words with consonant -le syllable type.  

Patterns and generalizations are carefully selected to provide a meaningful and manageable number of phonics patterns and common generalizations for students to learn deeply. For example:  

• The Grade 2 Scope and Sequence includes information for inflectional endings taught and reviewed. In Unit 2, Module 1, students work on inflectional endings for plurals -es and -s, along with inflectional endings -d and -ed, as well as spelling changes before inflectional endings when doubling consonants and dropping silent e. In Unit 2, Module 2, students work with inflectional endings -ed, -ing, -er, and -est. 

•  In Unit 5, Module 1, students learn about r-controlled vowel sounds /är/, /ûr/, /ôr/, /îr/ and r-controlled vowel spellings: air, are, eer, re, our, ure. In Module 2, students review the spelling of /ôr/: ar, oar, or, ore, our, as well as, r-controlled syllable types. In Module 3, students review closed, open, VCe, vowel teams, and r-controlled vowel syllable types. 

The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for 2f.i.

Materials include a variety of decodable texts that contain grade-level phonics skills aligned to the program’s scope and sequence to ensure that students secure newly-taught phonics skills and materials provide ample opportunities to review previously-taught phonics skills. Students have opportunities to read decodable texts with the teacher and with the teacher’s support. Students also have opportunities to independently read decodable texts during the Independent Practice portion of the lesson. Every fourth module in a unit includes a decodable text that includes most of the unit’s phonics elements to help secure phonics skills. 

Materials include decodable texts to address securing phonics. For example: 

• In Unit 3, the materials include four decodable texts, one for each module within the unit. Module 4 includes the decodable text Movement Reshapes the Land, which reviews the unit’s phonics elements, including prefixes dis-, non-, and re-, inflectional and derivational suffixes, consonant doubling, dropping silent e, contractions, and the unit’s target phonograms.  

• In Unit 8, Module 2, Lesson 3, students read the decodable text Our Changing Earth, which includes the suffixes -able, -ish, -ar, -er, and -or, r-controlled and vowel team syllables, and the phonograms -edge and -idge. 

Decodable texts contain grade-level phonics skills aligned to the program’s scope and sequence. For example: 

• In Unit 1, Module 3, Lesson 3, students read the decodable text Leader for a Day, which includes final n-blends and other final blends, final consonant blends with trigraphs -nch and tch, initial three-letter blends, contractions, and phonograms -atch and -ing. These phonics skills match the Grade 2 Scope and Sequence for Unit 1, Module 3. 

• In Unit 6, Module 3, Lesson 3, students read the decodable text Strange Animals, which includes three-syllable words, closed compound words, and phonograms -in, -ip, and -it. These phonics skills match the Grade 2 Scope and Sequence for Unit 6, Module 3. 

Materials include detailed lesson plans for repeated readings of decodable texts to address securing phonics skills. For example: 

• In Unit 2, Module 2, Lesson 4, students engage in a second read of the decodable text Bear Gets Lots. The teacher connects the text to the day’s phonics lesson by drawing attention to the suffixes -less, -ness, -ful, -ly, and -ment and the phonograms -ack and -ick. The teacher reads the first page of the text with students and draws students’ attention to newly-taught phonics patterns. Students whisper read the rest of the book. 

• In Unit 5, Module 1, Lesson 4, students engage in a second read of the decodable text The Best I Can Be! The teacher connects the text to the day’s phonics lesson by drawing attention to bossy r patterns. The teacher reads the first page of the text with students and draws students’ attention to newly-taught phonics patterns. Students whisper read the rest of the book. 

The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for 2f.ii.

Materials include 32 decodable texts with high-frequency words that align with the program’s scope and sequence and provide students with multiple opportunities to encounter the words and the decodable texts. Each decodable book includes an Instructional Focus Chart highlighting the newly and previously taught high-frequency words. Every fourth module in a unit includes a decodable text that includes most of the unit’s high-frequency words.  

Materials include decodable texts that utilize high-frequency/irregularly spelled words. For example: 

• In Unit 4, the materials include four decodable texts, one for each module within the unit. Module 4 includes the decodable text The Fall Fair, which reviews the unit’s high-frequency words, including blue, book, draw, few, food, good, laugh, new, push, room, saw, school, soon, took, use(d), and water. 

• In Unit 7, the materials include four decodable texts, one for each module within the unit. Module 4 includes the decodable text Our Classroom Folktale, which reviews the unit’s high-frequency words, including about, across, again, along, around, away, enough, ever, never, people, song, sound, talk, together, upon, walk, and warm. 

Decodable texts contain grade-level high-frequency/irregularly spelled words aligned to the program’s scope and sequence. For example: 

• In Unit 3, Module 1, Lesson 3, students read the decodable text Let’s Move, which includes the decodable high-frequency words point, tree, and wood and irregularly spelled words could, should, and would. These high-frequency words match the Grade 2 Scope and Sequence for Unit 3, Module 1. 

• In Unit 5, Module 2, Lesson 3, students read the decodable text Make a Difference, which includes the decodable high-frequency words after, number, and under and the irregularly spelled word friends. These high-frequency words match the Grade 2 Scope and Sequence for Unit 5, Module 2. 

Materials include detailed lesson plans for repeated readings of decodable texts to address securing reading high-frequency words/irregularly spelled words in context. For example: 

• In Unit 1, Module 1, Lesson 4, students engage in a second read of the decodable text Why Do We Vote?, which includes the decodable high-frequency words car, every, spell, story, and year and irregularly spelled words carry and very. The teacher reads the first page of the text with students. Students whisper read the rest of the book. 

• In Unit 6, Module 3, Lesson 4, students engage in a second read of the decodable text Staying Alive, which includes the decodable high-frequency words almost and always and irregularly spelled words above, another, buy, guy, other, and two. The teacher reads the first page of the text with students. Students whisper read the rest of the book.

The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for 2g.iii. 

Materials include regular assessment opportunities in phonics in and out of context. Assessments include daily Observation checklists and digital Practice Interactivities, formative Unit Assessments, and summative Interim Assessments. Scoring criteria provide teachers with information about students’ present performance levels and indicate which Reteach and/or Extend activities and lessons to use to help students progress toward mastery. 

Materials provide resources and tools to collect ongoing data about students’ progress in phonics. For example: 

• Each lesson includes a daily Observation checklist linked to the lesson’s Check for Understanding. Observation checklists include observations of decoding and encoding tasks, both in isolation and in the context of phrases and sentences. For example, in Unit 7, Module 3, Lesson 4, teachers collect observational data about how well students are progressing in reading words with the phonograms -unk and -ank.

• Each lesson includes a game-style Interactivity in the Independent Practice portion of the lesson. These Interactivities function as student practice and as a formative assessment. Interactivities include decoding and encoding tasks that practice and assess newly-taught phonics skills. Interactivities include word-level phonics tasks and tasks that occur in the context of sentence and sentence building. 

Materials offer assessment opportunities to determine students’ progress in phonics that are implemented systematically. For example: 

• In the Assessment Administration Guide, the materials describe how the Observation checklists, Practice Interactivities, Unit Assessments, and interim Assessments work together as a system to help teachers determine students’ progress and make instructional decisions.

• In the Assessment Administration Guide, the materials indicate that teachers should use the formative Observation checklists and Practice Interactivities daily in the context of lessons. 

• In the Assessment Administration Guide, the materials indicate that the teacher should administer Unit Assessments eight times per year after each unit. 

• In the Assessment Administration Guide, the materials indicate that the teacher should administer the first Interim Assessment at the beginning of the year, the second Interim Assessment after Unit 4, and the third Interim Assessment after Unit 8. 

Multiple assessment opportunities are provided regularly for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence with phonics. For example: 

• Units 1–8 include a formative Unit Assessment. Unit Assessments include items that assess encoding words, decoding words, and decoding sentences and short passages in Units 1–8. For example, in Unit 1, Module 4, Lesson 5, the Unit Assessment includes questions related to differentiating between and decoding long and short vowel sounds in words, decoding words with CVCe spelling patterns, decoding words with various consonant patterns, and decoding words with contractions.

• The program includes three Interim Assessments. The Interim Assessments include encoding words, decoding words, and decoding short passages. Interim assessments are taken three times a year—at the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, and the end of the year.

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information about students’ current skills/level of understanding of phonics. For example: 

• In the Observation checklist, the teacher records observations of student practice. Teachers describe students as approaches, meets, or exceeds in specific skills. 

• Digital Interactivity games at the end of each lesson and digital Unit and Interim Assessments generate automatic formative assessment information. Student results are color coded. Red indicates a score of 0–69% correct and signals a reteach opportunity. Yellow indicates a score of 70–79% correct and signals a reinforce opportunity. Green indicates a score of 80–100% correct and signals an enrich opportunity. 

• In the Assessment Administration Guide, the Scoring and Reporting section details how the digital assessments provide data to teachers in multiple ways. The reports for the assignments, Unit Assessments, and Interim Assessments answer questions such as:

  • “How are students performing, and what are their domain-specific (foundational category) needs?

  • What misconceptions might students have based on their answers?

  • For each standard, did students make progress or show growth?”

Materials genuinely measure students’ progress to support teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in phonics. For example: 

• The program includes an option to assign auto-recommended resources. Based on formative assessment data, the program recommends independent practice activities tailored to individual students that teachers can choose to assign. 

• The materials indicate that daily Observation checklists should be used to inform instruction in the Reteach/Enrich portion of the lesson and to select lessons for the Lesson 5 “stretch day.” The “stretch day” lesson offers teachers a menu of review options, including both reteach and enrich options. Teachers also use Observation checklists to select target review activities for Module 4 of each unit, the unit review module. 

The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for 2g.iv.

Materials include regular assessment opportunities in word recognition and analysis. Assessments include daily Observation checklists and digital Practice Interactivities, formative Unit Assessments, and summative Interim Assessments. Scoring criteria provide teachers with information about students’ present performance levels and indicate which Reteach and/or Extend activities and lessons to use to help students progress toward mastery. 

Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence of word recognition (high-frequency words or irregularly spelled words) and analysis. For example: 

• Each lesson includes a daily Observation checklist linked to the lesson’s Check for Understanding. Observation checklists include word analysis skills and high-frequency words.  

• Each lesson includes game-style Interactivity in the Independent Practice portion of the lesson. These Interactivities function as student practice and as a formative assessment. Interactivities include reading and spelling high-frequency words, identifying and reading phonograms, contractions, identifying syllable types and reading words with those syllable types, reading two-syllable and three-syllable words, reading homophones and homographs, and identifying and reading words with base words and affixes. 

• Units 1–8 include a formative Unit Assessment. Unit Assessments include items that assess identifying word families in Units 1–8; identifying and analyzing contractions in Units 1 and 3; reading high-frequency words in Units 1–8; analyzing affixes and base words in Units 2–8; analyzing homophones and homonyms in Unit 6, and syllabication in Unit 8. 

• The program includes three Interim Assessments. Interim Assessment 3 includes reading high-frequency words, analyzing and reading words with prefixes and suffixes, and analyzing compound words. 

• In Unit 2, Module 4, Lesson 5, students take an online assessment that assesses the skills learned throughout the unit, including decoding words with inflectional endings, decoding words with vowel digraphs, and reading and spelling high-frequency words.

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of word recognition and word analysis. For example: 

• In the Observation checklist, the teacher records observations of student practice. Teachers describe students as approaches, meets, or exceeds in specific skills. 

• Digital Interactivity games at the end of each lesson and digital Unit and Interim Assessments generate automatic formative assessment information. Student results are color coded. Red indicates a score of 0–69% correct and signals a reteach opportunity. Yellow indicates a score of 70–79% correct and signals a reinforcment opportunity. Green indicates a score of 80–100% correct and signals an enrichment opportunity. 

• In the Assessment Administration Guide, the materials instruct teachers on using Observation checklists and digital reports to determine instructional next steps. The materials state that teachers can use the information they collect on the Observation checklists “to prioritize reteach opportunities for struggling students and to plan enrichment opportunities for students who have exceeded expectations.” The digital reports help teachers answer the following questions:

  • “How did my students perform on the foundation standards in this program in each of the three interim assessments?

  • Which items are my students struggling with or performing well on?

  • Which standards do my students need more practice with based on each of the three interim assessments?

  • For each standard, did students make progress or show growth?”

Materials support teachers with instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in word recognition and word analysis. For example: 

• The program includes an option to assign auto-recommended resources. Based on formative assessment data, the program recommends independent practice activities tailored to individual students that teachers can choose to assign. Based on students’ performance on the unit assessment at the item level, the reports will auto-recommend “instructional recommendations to reteach important foundational skills that students are struggling with, reinforce student understanding to ensure progress, or enrich student learning by providing appropriate challenges to expand their skills.”

• The materials indicate that daily Observation checklists should be used to inform instruction in the Reteach/Enrich portion of the lesson and to select lessons for the Lesson 5 “stretch day.” The “stretch day” lesson offers teachers a menu of review options, including both reteach and enrich options. Teachers also use Observation checklists to select target review activities for Module 4 of each unit, the unit review module. 

• In Unit 7, Module 3, Lesson 1, the teacher reviews the inflectional ending -ing and how to add that ending to the base word. Students then practice decoding the base word, adding the suffix back, and reading the word. While students practice, the teacher records observational data about students’ progress on the Observation checklist for this unit. Based on the observational data, the materials direct teachers to “Take more time as needed to review the rules on dropping the silent e and doubling the consonant. It may help to go back and write the original base word and model, taking away the letter e before adding -ing or doubling the consonant.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for 2h.

Materials include standards correlation information within daily lessons and attached to specific questions, tasks, and assessments. Each lesson lists the standards addressed within it, and the games and Interactivities students complete during Independent Practice also include standards alignment information. Each Unit and Interim Assessment includes a standards alignment document that details standards alignment at the item level.

Materials include denotations of the standards being assessed in the formative assessments. For example: 

• Digital Interactivity assessments include correlation for Common Core State Standards and state-specific standards. 

• In Assessments, Unit Assessments, all Unit Assessments contain a Standards Alignment for Unit Assessments document that cites the Common Core standard assessed for each item. For example, in the Unit 1 Assessment, students record a verbal response that correctly blends the sounds given, which aligns to standards RF.1.2b, “Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends” and Rf.1.3b, “Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.”

• In Unit 4, Module 3, Lesson 4, students play a game called “Correct Mistakes and Read Fluently” during Independent Practice. This interactive game is aligned to standards L.2.4a, RF.2.4a, RF.2.4b, and RF.2.4c.

Materials include denotations of standards being assessed in the summative assessments. For example: 

• In the Program Guide, How Do Teachers Use Foundations A-Z?, Assessments, the materials provide standards alignment documents for each interim assessment that details what standard each item on the assessment is aligned to. 

• In Interim Assessment 3, students answer a multiple-choice question about a short text, which aligns to standard Rf.2.41, “Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.” 

Alignment documentation is provided for all tasks, questions, and assessment items. For example: 

• In the Program Guide, How Do Teachers Use Foundations A-Z?, Assessments, the materials provide standards alignments documents for each Unit Assessment and Interim Assessment that details what standard each item on the assessment is aligned to.

• In the Independent Practice section of each lesson, students have various activities they can complete, like watching instructional videos related to the day’s lesson, playing interactive games, and reading decodable texts. Each of these activities includes standards correlation information.

Alignment documentation contains specific standards correlated to specific lessons. For example: 

• Each lesson contains a standards alignment box at the top of each lesson that lists the Common Core or state standards addressed in the lesson. For example, in Unit 8, Module 3, Lesson 1, the materials list the following standards: L.2.1f, L.2.2d, Rf.2.3c, RF.2.3e, and RF.2.3f. 

The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for 2i.ii.

Materials include extensive opportunities for reteaching. These opportunities are structured in the materials in a recurring pattern, which includes Reteach opportunities at the end of each Base Day lesson, during Lesson 5 Stretch Days, and during Module 4 Unit Review weeks. The materials instruct teachers to use formative assessment data to select appropriate reteaching lessons. Additionally, teachers may assign suggested reteaching and review digital interactivities based on digital formative and summative assessments. 

Materials provide opportunities for small group reteaching. For example: 

• In the Program Guide, Mindful Reading Teacher, Differentiating Below Grade Level, the materials outline a three-layer approach to small group reteaching for students needing additional support. The first layer occurs on Base Days (Modules 1–3, Lessons 1–4), in which the Reteach section includes instructions for small-group reteaching of lesson objectives. The second layer occurs on Stretch Days (Lesson 5 of Modules 1–3), where instruction is dedicated to reteaching or enrichment lessons based on student need. The third layer occurs in the Unit Review (Module 4 of each unit), during which the teacher reviews unit skills and concepts, with embedded opportunities for reteaching. 

• In Unit 1, Module 4, Lesson 1, the materials provide a phonics review during the We Do: Guided Practice section. A callout box indicates, “The teacher, with the help of students, applies the content of the concept being taught; may include think-alouds, whole group and small-group activities, checks for understanding, and formal evaluation.”

• In Unit 2, Module 3, Lesson 3, the Reteach & Enrich section at the end of the lesson includes opportunities for reteaching the lesson’s skills in the areas of phonics, fluency, and language. The materials instruct teachers to select reteaching lessons based on observations made using the formative Observational Checklist. 

Materials provide guidance to teachers for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support students who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level in extensive opportunities to learn foundational skills at the grade-level standards. For example: 

• In the Program Guide, Lesson Plans, the materials indicate that every fourth module is a review week, which provides pause points for review and reteaching. The materials indicate that teachers choose the activities based on the needs of each student. 

• In Unit 3, Module 3, Lesson 2, the Reteach & Enrich section includes a five-minute check for understanding “for students who need additional instruction and practice to meet a learning objective or skill.”

• In Unit 6, Module 4, Lesson 4, the Word Study section offers a Reteach Review option in which students review the homophones there/their and to/too/two. The lesson includes teacher review and a student practice sheet. The lesson includes corrective feedback support for students who struggle.

The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for 2i.iii.

Materials include extensive opportunities for enrichment lessons. These opportunities are structured in the materials in a recurring pattern, which includes Enrich opportunities at the end of each Base Day lesson, during Lesson 5 Stretch Days, and during Module 4 Unit Review weeks. The materials instruct teachers to use formative assessment data to select appropriate enrichment lessons. Additionally, teachers may assign suggested enrichment digital interactivities based on digital formative and summative assessments. 

Materials provide multiple opportunities for advanced students to investigate grade-level foundational skills at a greater depth. For example: 

• In the Program Guide, Mindful Reading Teacher, Differentiating Above Grade Level, the materials outline a three-layer approach to small group enrichment for students working above grade level. The first layer occurs on Base Days (Modules 1–3, Lessons 1–4), in which the Enrich section includes instructions for small-group extension of lesson objectives. The second layer occurs on Stretch Days (Lesson 5 of Modules 1–3), where instruction is dedicated to reteaching or enrichment lessons based on student need. The third layer occurs in the Unit Review (Module 4 of each unit), where the teacher reviews unit skills and concepts, with embedded opportunities for extension and enrichment. 

• In Unit 1, Module 3, Lesson 5, a stretch lesson dedicated to reteaching or enrichment activities, the materials provide enrichment opportunities embedded within the lesson, including “Have students draw two columns on their whiteboard for the phonograms discussed in this lesson. Ask them to work with a partner to write at least three more words for each word family. Remind them they can use two- and three-letter consonant blends to begin words.”

• In Unit 8, Module 2, Lesson 1, the Reteach & Enrich section at the end of the lesson includes opportunities for extending the lesson’s skills in the areas of phonics and language. The materials instruct teachers to select enrichment lessons based on observations made using the formative Observational Checklist. 

There are no instances of advanced students simply doing more assignments than their classmates. For example:

• In the Program Guide, Lesson Plans, the materials indicate that every fourth module is a review week, which provides pause points for review and/or enrichment. The materials indicate that teachers choose the activities based on the needs of each student. 

• In Unit 3, Module 4, Lesson 2, the Word Study section includes an Enrich option in which students ask each other questions using a contraction, then the partner must answer with a sentence that uses a contraction. The teacher challenges the students to keep the conversation going as long as possible. 

• In Unit 8, Module 3, Lesson 1, the Post-Instruction section of the lesson contains short reteaching or enrichment opportunities based on the data the teacher has recorded on the Observation Checklist. Teachers can provide enrichment opportunities for phonics, fluency, high-frequency words, handwriting, and language connection.