1st Grade - Gateway 3
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Teacher and Student Supports
| Score | |
|---|---|
Gateway 3 - Meets Expectations | 88% |
Criterion 3.1: Teacher Supports | 11 / 13 |
Criterion 3.2: Student Supports | 4 / 4 |
Criterion 3.3: Intentional Design |
The IMSE’s OG+ materials meet expectations for Gateway 3 by providing coherent teacher supports, embedded student supports, and intentional design features that facilitate effective implementation of foundational skills instruction. Materials include point-of-use guidance, explicit routines, and adult-level explanations that support consistent delivery of phonemic awareness, phonics, word recognition, syllabication and word analysis, and fluency. Lessons follow a structured, research-based design with defined pacing and built-in review, though pacing is fixed and standards alignment is not explicitly identified. Student supports include small-group guidance, embedded differentiation, and visual and oral-language scaffolds, including supports for multilingual learners, while representation in texts is primarily surface-level with limited guidance for incorporating students’ cultural and community backgrounds. Digital tools and visual design features support instruction through teacher-directed, customizable resources and consistent layouts, though student interactivity and ease of access across platforms are limited.
Criterion 3.1: Teacher Supports
Materials include embedded guidance to support effective implementation of foundational skills instruction and build teacher knowledge of grade-level expectations.
The IMSE’s OG+ materials meet expectations for Criterion 3.1 by providing embedded guidance that supports effective implementation of foundational skills instruction and strengthens teacher understanding of grade-level expectations. Materials include point-of-use annotations, explicit scripting, and clearly defined instructional routines that guide daily phonics instruction and the use of student and ancillary materials. Teacher-facing resources provide detailed adult-level explanations of foundational literacy concepts, including phonemic awareness, phonics, word recognition, syllabication and word analysis, and fluency, grounded in established reading research. Instructional tools are consistently identified within lessons and aligned to specific instructional purposes, with clear guidance for use. Materials also include accessible, jargon-free family resources that explain instructional approaches and provide strategies to support foundational skills development at home.
Foundational skills lessons follow a consistent, research-based structure organized around multi-day concepts with defined objectives, structured routines, and coordinated whole-group and small-group instruction. Materials include built-in review and consolidation opportunities; however, pacing remains fixed across lessons and does not consistently account for instructional variability or reteaching needs. While the sequence is designed for completion within a school year, materials do not clearly explain how all grade-level foundational skills standards are mastered within that timeframe. Overall, the materials provide strong, coherent support for instructional delivery and teacher understanding, with some limitations in pacing flexibility and clarity around standards mastery.
Indicator 3a
Materials provide teacher guidance with useful annotations and suggestions for how to enact the student materials and ancillary materials, with specific attention to supporting students’ foundational literacy development.
The teacher guidance in IMSE's OG+ meets the expectations for Indicator 3a. Materials provide useful annotations and suggestions for how to enact student and ancillary materials, with specific attention to foundational literacy development. Program resources clearly outline instructional routines and lesson components that structure daily phonics instruction. Lessons include explicit scripting, point-of-use annotations, and routine-specific error correction guidance using the PIMS (Pause and Praise, Identify the error, Model the correction, Student practice the correction) procedure to support consistent implementation. Instructional routines are clearly defined and grounded in explicit, systematic, and sequential phonics instruction.
Materials provide a well-defined, teacher resources for presenting content and instructional routines.
The OG+ Fidelity Companion provides a quick-reference guide for the instructional routines connected to the IMSE's OG+ core foundational skills curriculum. The Fidelity Companion corresponds to the teacher guides for Grade 1 through color-coded alignment of lesson components. Each instructional routine within the Fidelity Companion provides unbolded text that supports teachers in understanding the purpose of each step of a routine and how to implement the routine effectively. The Fidelity Companion also includes bold text as a script for the teacher as an additional support.
Each routine has a section that provides specific examples of the IMSE's OG+ error correction procedure for likely errors related to that routine. The IMSE's OG+ error correction routine is explained with the acronym PIMS:
P: Pause and Praise
I: Identify the error
M: Model the correction
S: Students practice the correction
The OG+ Manual provides guidance on the key components of an IMSE's OG+ lesson. For example, in the section “Part Three: Phonics Instruction”, the materials highlight key terminology, findings on the importance of explicit, systematic, and sequential phonics instruction, and more. When introducing a new phonics concept, the materials guide the teacher in following the same steps and provide reminders to the teacher for more effective implementation (e.g. “For students who are developing vocabulary, consider providing images of the word with the target sound during brainstorming.”). This guidance is representative of the support provided for understanding the components of an IMSE's OG+ lesson.
Materials include annotations and suggestions to support implementation, presented in the context of specific learning objectives.
In Concept 38, Day 1, Phonics: Teaching a New Concept, the materials include Teacher Tips that support the learning objective of reading and spelling words and sentences with two-consonant beginning S blends. One of the Teacher Tips, the materials highlight that there are two ways to spell /sk/. The materials then direct the teacher to the cat/kite rule and state that the rule “applies to the sound that comes after the second letter in these two blends.” This tip supports the learning objective for the concept.
In Concept 52, Day 2, Phonics: Spelling, the materials include a Teacher Tip that supports the learning objective of blending and segmenting four to seven-phoneme words with suffixes -s and -es. In the Teacher Tip, the materials state that when encoding, “students should fingertap the base word” and then add the suffix. This guidance supports the learning objective for the concept.
Indicator 3b
Materials contain full, adult-level explanations and examples of the foundational skills concepts included in the program so teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject.
The adult-level explanations in IMSE's OG+ meet the expectations for Indicator 3b. Materials contain full, detailed explanations and examples of foundational skills concepts so teachers can strengthen their knowledge of the subject as needed. Teacher-facing resources describe the research base of the program and outline each foundational skills component taught at the grade level, including phonemic awareness, phonics, word recognition, syllabication and word analysis, and fluency. The materials explain how these skills develop and connect to established reading research.
Complete, detailed adult-level explanations are provided for each foundational skill taught at the grade level.
According to the OG Plus Manual, the materials include a comprehensive Research and Theory Foundations section that provides adult-level explanations of the research base underlying the program. This section begins with an explanation of the science of reading, clarifying that the science of reading is not a specific program or approach, but a body of research derived from multiple disciplines, including cognitive psychology, communication sciences, developmental psychology, education, implementation science, linguistics, neuroscience, and school psychology.
The Simple View of Reading as a research-supported framework for understanding reading comprehension. The materials explain that reading comprehension is the product of word recognition and language comprehension and describe how these components interact to support skilled reading.
A detailed explanation of Scarborough’s Reading Rope, describing how multiple strands of language comprehension and word recognition are woven together over time to result in skilled reading. The materials explain the language comprehension strands, including background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge, as well as the word recognition strands, including phonological awareness, decoding, and sight recognition.
Ehri’s four phases of word reading development, including the pre-alphabetic, partial alphabetic, full alphabetic, and consolidated alphabetic phases. The materials describe how students progress through these phases as their word reading skills develop.
A section on orthography, orthographic memory, and orthographic mapping that explains how phonemic awareness, letter–sound knowledge, and pronunciation work together to support the development of orthographic memory and sight word vocabulary.
The materials reference key findings from the National Reading Panel and explain how those findings inform instructional design across foundational skills instruction.
The materials include dedicated sections for each component of foundational skills instruction taught in the IMSE's OG+ program, including phonemic awareness, phonics, irregular word instruction, syllabication and word analysis, and fluency. Each section provides background knowledge and supporting research to explain why the component is critical to reading development.
Detailed examples of the grade-level foundational skills concepts are provided for the teacher.
According to the OG Plus Manual, the phonemic awareness section includes detailed examples and instructional implications related to phonological awareness and phonics, including explanations of the 44 sounds of the English language. The materials describe phoneme blending and segmenting and include key findings that inform instructional practice in Kindergarten. Additional sections include, but are not limited to the following:
The Phonics instruction section includes examples that explain how phonics concepts are applied through instruction, including cross-linguistic connections, sound scenes, spelling as application through words and sentences, and instruction that progresses toward multisyllabic words.
The Irregular Word instruction section provides detailed explanations and examples for the teacher related to irregular words, high-frequency words, sight words, and commonly referenced word lists such as Dolch words and Fry words, supporting teacher understanding of how and why these words are taught.
The Syllabication and Word Analysis section includes detailed explanations and examples of multisyllabic word instruction, including the six syllable types—closed, open, Magic e, vowel team, Bossy R, and consonant-le—as well as the four syllable division patterns VC/CV, V/CV, VC/V, and V/V. The materials also include examples related to morphology instruction, including affixes and bases.
The Fluency section provides detailed examples and instructional explanations related to fluency development, including the role of modeling and practice, the use of intonation and prosody, reader’s theater, and additional strategies for supporting fluency. The materials also explain levels of reading ability, including independent, instructional, and frustration levels, and include considerations for English learners related to fluency development.
Indicator 3c
Foundational skills lessons are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing. Content can reasonably be completed within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding.
The lesson design and pacing in IMSE's OG+ partially meet the expectations for Indicator 3c. Materials use a consistent, research-based lesson structure organized around five-day concepts that systematically introduce, practice, and apply foundational skills through coordinated whole-group and small-group instruction. Daily lesson plans include clear objectives, structured routines aligned to early literacy components, and defined time allocations that support consistent implementation. However, pacing remains fixed across lessons regardless of instructional complexity, and flexible time for reteaching is referenced rather than explicitly embedded within daily plans. Although the Grade 1 sequence is designed for completion within a traditional school year, materials do not clearly explain how all grade-level foundational skills standards are mastered within one year.
Lesson plans utilize effective, research-based lesson plan design for early literacy instruction.
According to the Teacher Guide, daily lesson plans are organized around concepts. Each concept has five days of instruction devoted to it. Within each concept, there are clear learning objectives, ideas for incorporating objects and keywords that illustrate the concept, and literature connections that go beyond the connected text provided in the curriculum. Each day of instruction has materials listed, additional support for the teacher and students, and suggested language for effective implementation of routines. Over the course of the five days of instruction for each concept, lessons will address the key components of early literacy instruction through various routines. Examples of those routines in the Grade 1 sequence are listed below next to the corresponding early literacy skill they are meant to support.
Phonological Awareness: Word Chaining (Phoneme Manipulation)
Phonics: Syllable Division/Word Analysis
High Frequency, Irregular Word Recognition: Irregular Words (Red Words)
Writing: Spelling (Written Application of a New Concept)
Fluency, Vocabulary, Comprehension: IMSE's OG+ Decodable Readers
The effective lesson design structure includes both whole group and small group instruction.
According to the Teacher Guide, lessons include both whole group and small group instruction. Lessons can be implemented within various time scales (30 minutes to 90 minutes or more) segments depending on if the curriculum is used as a core foundational literacy skills curriculum or a supplemental curriculum. When used as a core foundational literacy skills curriculum, whole-group instruction lasts between 30 and 40 minutes. Small group activities are used for practicing and reinforcing skills that have been introduced in whole-group instruction, such as practicing lowercase letter formation, engaging with the Rapid Word Chart for decodable readers, as well as other extension activities.
The pacing of each component of daily lesson plans are sometimes clear and appropriate.
In Concept 33, Day 4, each lesson component has clear timings (listed below).
Word Chaining (Phoneme Manipulation): 3 minutes
Irregular Words (Red Words): 3 minutes
Phonics (Spelling): 6 minutes
Reading: 20 minutes
Total time: 32 minutes for whole-group instruction
In Concept 53, Day 2, each lesson component has clear timings (listed below). Extension Activities, meant as small-group or independent work, are clearly labeled. While a pacing guide is not provided for the Extension Activities, this omission aligns with the approach that these activities can be flexible depending on the needs of a particular teacher in a particular classroom.
Review the New Concept: marked as optional with no timing suggestion
Phonics (Spelling): 6 minutes
Irregular Words (Red Words): 10 minutes
Reading: 15 minutes
Total time: 31 minutes for whole-group instruction
Although daily lesson components include clearly defined timed segments that support consistent implementation, pacing remains fixed across lessons regardless of instructional complexity. While guidance is provided for reteaching based on student performance, materials do not consistently build in flexible time within daily plans to accommodate concepts that may require extended instruction. This structure supports systematic delivery but may limit responsiveness to student need within individual lessons.
The suggested amount of time and expectations for maximum student understanding of all foundational skills content can reasonably be completed in one school year and should not require modification.
According to the OG+ Manual, students are introduced to 25 concepts throughout the Grade 1 sequence. Each concept has five days of instruction devoted to that concept alone. The materials state that there is "intentional space to spend time reviewing concepts, teaching complex concepts, adjusting for instructional calendar days, or accommodating unique schedules based on assessment data.” The instructional schedule reflects this intention, as the entire sequence, with time for assessment and review, is designed to be completed in 31 weeks.
For those materials on the borderline (e.g., approximately 130 days on the low end or 200 days on the high end), evidence does not explain how students would be able to master ALL the grade-level foundational skills standards within one school year.
Not observed
Indicator 3d
Materials contain strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the foundational skills program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.
Materials contain jargon-free resources and processes to inform stakeholders about the foundational skills taught at school. Family-facing letters in English and Spanish explain the program’s instructional approach and how foundational skills develop in clear, accessible language, and direct caregivers to additional online resources for further support. Materials also provide stakeholders with strategies and activities to reinforce foundational skills at home. Caregiver resources describe the essential components of reading in non-technical language and offer grade-band–appropriate guidance for supporting phonemic awareness, phonics, word recognition, and fluency. Together, these materials support stakeholders in understanding and reinforcing Grade 1 foundational literacy development.
Materials contain jargon-free resources and processes to inform all stakeholders about foundational skills taught at school.
According to the OG Plus Manual, the materials include a Dear Parent letter provided in both English and Spanish that explains the foundational skills program and instructional approach in accessible, family-friendly language. The letter describes why the program is being implemented, outlines the professional learning completed by the teacher, and explains how instruction differs from traditional spelling workbook approaches. The explanation focuses on helping families understand that instruction is multisensory, systematic, structured, sequential, cumulative, and success-oriented, without relying on technical or instructional jargon.
The Dear Parent letter also explains how phonetic and irregular words are taught, how concepts are reviewed and applied over time, and how assessments are used to monitor mastery. The letter is written to help caregivers understand how students learn to read and spell within the program and how skills are intended to transfer to long-term reading and writing success.
The materials also include a second family-facing letter titled Dear Partners in Education, which directs families to additional support resources through a QR code. The QR code links to the IMSE's OG+ website page Resources for Parents, providing an accessible entry point for families to learn more about the instructional approach and foundational skills development.
Materials provide stakeholders with strategies and activities for practicing print concepts, phonemic awareness, phonics, word recognition, and fluency that will support students in progress toward and achievement of grade-level foundational skills standards.
According to the Digital IMSE's OG+ platform, the Resources for Parents webpage provides caregivers with explanations of the five essential components of reading instruction, including phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Each component is described in clear, non-technical language to support caregiver understanding of how reading skills develop.
The parent resources include guidance on how families can support literacy development at home through age- and grade-level appropriate activities. The materials organize suggested activities by developmental bands, including Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten–Grade 2, and Grade 3 and beyond, allowing caregivers to select activities aligned to their child’s current stage of reading development.
The parent resources include guidance for supporting struggling readers, including recommended steps for addressing reading challenges at home and in coordination with school instruction. The materials encourage caregivers to use structured practice and to access additional supports when needed.
The materials provide links to free parent resources, instructional videos, and activity materials that support practice with foundational skills at home. These resources include opportunities for practicing phonemic awareness, phonics, word recognition, and fluency through repeated exposure and application.
Lastly, the materials also connect families to external support options, including information about IMSE's OG+-trained tutors and partnerships with organizations such as Learning Ally, offering additional pathways for families to support student reading development beyond the classroom.
Indicator 3e
Note: Content for this indicator is fully addressed in 3b, which covers adult-level explanations and examples of foundational skills concepts. No separate scoring is required.
Indicator 3f
Materials embed consistent teacher guidance for the use of instructional tools and supports necessary for foundational skills instruction.
The teacher guidance for using instructional tools in IMSE's OG+ meets the expectations for Indicator 3f. Materials consistently identify the physical and digital tools used across foundational skills lessons and reference them directly within routines so the teacher knows what to use and when. Tools are aligned to specific instructional purposes across phonological awareness, phonics, encoding, and fluency. Teacher-facing resources provide clear guidance on how and when to use these tools within daily instruction.
Materials consistently identify tools (e.g., Elkonin boxes, letter tiles, sound walls, mirrors) within lesson routines and instructional steps.
The Teacher Guide provides an overview of the materials that can be found through IMSE's OG+ LAB (e.g. OG+ Originals, presentation slides for core instructional routines like Teaching a New Concept).
Tools required are consistently identified within the context of lesson routines and instructional steps.
In Concept 38, Day 2, Irregular Words: Red Words, materials necessary for students and the teacher are clearly marked in the margins of the resource. The materials also state that teachers should “[u]se IMSE's OG+ LAB or Red Word books for students” in this activity.
In Concept 53, Day 1, Phonics: Teaching a New Concept, the materials guide the teacher to use a variety of resources found digitally. First, the materials direct the teacher to “[u]se the Vowel Team Placement Chart to brainstorm words with the new concept of ea and ee spellings of /ĕ/.” Then, the materials direct the teacher to three posters found in the digital Originals that support students in using a word’s meaning to determine its spelling.
Materials provide teacher-facing guidance on how and when to use these tools to support instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, and encoding.
In Concept 43, Day 2, Reading, the materials guide the teacher to use the “Get Ready to Read” section at the beginning of a decodable reader “to practice words and phrases included in the text.” Additionally, the materials inform the teacher that a Rapid Word Chart can be created through IMSE's OG+ LAB as a warm-up to reading the text. Both of these tools are meant to support instruction and practice in fluency.
In Concept 33, Day 2, Phonics: Spelling, the materials guide the teacher to use IMSE's OG+ LAB or students’ OG+ Student Workbook B for student dictation pages for writing. Additionally, the materials refer to the CUPS Visual (provided in desktop or poster size through the digital Originals) that support students in proofreading the sentences they have written for capitalization (C), understanding (U), punctuation (P), and spelling (S).
Indicator 3g
Materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessments and assessment materials clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.
Materials do not include denotations of the foundational skills standards being assessed in either formative or summative assessments. Alignment documentation is not provided for assessment tasks, questions, or items. Materials also do not contain foundational skills standards correlated to specific lessons.
Materials do not include denotations of the foundational skills standards being assessed in the formative assessments.
Materials do not include denotations of the foundational skills standards in formative assessments.
Materials do not include denotations of foundational skills standards being assessed in the summative assessments.
Materials do not include denotations of foundational skills standards in summative assessments.
Alignment documentation is not provided for all tasks, questions, and assessment items.
Materials do not provide alignment documentation for tasks, questions, or assessment items.
Alignment documentation does not contain specific foundational skills standards correlated to specific lessons.
Materials do not contain foundational skills standards correlated to specific lessons.
Indicator 3h
This is not an assessed indicator in ELA.
Indicator 3i
This is not an assessed indicator in ELA.
Criterion 3.2: Student Supports
Materials are designed for each child’s regular and active participation in grade-level foundational skills content and include embedded supports for student access, engagement, and differentiation.
The IMSE’s OG+ materials meet expectations for Criterion 3.2 by supporting students’ regular and active participation in grade-level foundational skills content and including embedded supports for access, engagement, and differentiation. Materials include guidance for organizing small-group instruction based on assessment data and provide embedded differentiation within core routines, including adjusted word lists, repeated practice, and scaffolded supports. These structures allow students to continue engaging with grade-level skills while receiving targeted instruction, enabling multiple pathways toward mastery.
Materials include visual and informational representation of varied cultural, racial, gender, and ability backgrounds in decodable and connected texts. Representation is primarily surface-level, as cultural and community contexts are not developed beyond these depictions. Supports for multilingual learners include visual scaffolds, oral-language routines, and cross-linguistic connections that link phonics instruction to meaning, with many supports designed for Spanish-speaking students. Guidance for incorporating students’ cultural, social, and community backgrounds into foundational skills instruction remains limited.
Indicator 3j
Materials provide strategies and supports for students in special populations to work with grade-level content and to meet or exceed grade-level standards.
The strategies and supports for students in special populations in IMSE’s OG+ meet the expectations for Indicator 3j. Materials provide guidance for organizing small group instruction, including flexible grouping based on assessment data and targeted reteaching aligned to specific skill needs. Differentiation is embedded within instructional routines, with supports such as adjusted word lists, repeated practice, and scaffolded instruction to reinforce learning. Materials also include guidance for adapting instruction to address specific skill gaps, supporting students in accessing grade-level foundational skills content.
Materials provide opportunities for small group reteaching.
The Grade 1 Teacher Guide provides suggestions for how to incorporate small group activities. The materials state that small groups are ideal for:
Reteaching or remediation for students who need additional scaffolds
Providing more intensive instruction for students; and
Implementing IMSE's OG+’s routines at the beginning of the year, among other activities.
IMSE's OG+ LAB provides grouping suggestions based on assessment results. Students are grouped into four groups based on the results of each assessment, meaning that students can be differentially grouped based on the specific skill that needs reteaching (e.g. spelling and encoding, reading and decoding, phonemic awareness, and so on). The groups are separated as follows:
Group 1 (At Benchmark, ≥ 80%)
Group 2 (Support Needed, 70-79%)
Group 3 (Targeted Support Needed, 51-69%)
Group 4 (Intensive Support Needed, ≤ 50%)
According to the OG+ Fidelity Companion, differentiation guidance is embedded within instructional routines for small group and intervention instruction.
For example, in Irregular Words: Red Words, materials direct the teacher to “continue to work on red words based on individual assessment results” and to “consider red word extension activities and partner activities for practice in spelling and reading red words.” Materials note that “differentiated red word lists may be appropriate for students who are working on earlier phonetic concepts in the IMSE's OG+ sequence” and suggest using “spell & read red words and read-only red words that align with earlier phonetic concepts.”
Materials provide guidance to the teacher for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support students who read, write, speak or listen below grade level in accessing grade-level foundational skills standards.
In Concept 57, Day 1, Phonics: Teaching a New Concept, the materials provide guidance for additional support that a teacher could provide students. The focus of this concept is on contractions with am, is, are, has, and not. The materials recommend that the teacher underlines all contractions within a sentence to draw attention to those contractions. If students need additional support with contractions, the materials suggest that another option would be to have students represent each contraction as a word sum and provide the following example: “ is + not→isn’t”.
In Concept 48, Day 2, Phonics: Spelling, the materials provide guidance for additional support that a teacher could provide students. The focus of this concept is on the 3rd syllable type and 3rd syllable pattern of Magic E and VC/V. If students have difficulty distinguishing between i–e and y–e spellings, the materials suggest focusing on only one spelling at a time. The materials suggest to only dictate i–e words and sentences for a couple of days, then only dictate y–e words and sentences for a couple of days before returning to mixed practice. Finally, the materials suggest that these two concepts can be taught over two weeks if necessary.
Indicator 3k
This indicator is not assessed in reviews of K-2 ELA foundational skills supplements.
Indicator 3l
This indicator is not assessed in reviews of K-2 ELA foundational skills supplements.
Indicator 3m
This indicator is not assessed in reviews of K-2 ELA foundational skills supplements.
Indicator 3n
This indicator is not assessed in reviews of K-2 ELA foundational skills supplements.
Indicator 3o
Materials provide a range of representation of people and include detailed instructions and support for educators to effectively incorporate and draw upon students’ different cultural, social, and community backgrounds to enrich learning experiences.
The IMSE's OG+ materials include decodable and connected texts that provide representation of people from varied cultural, racial, gender, and ability backgrounds. Representation is primarily visual, with limited development of characters’ cultural identities beyond illustrations and brief references. Materials include general guidance acknowledging the role of students’ cultural, social, and community backgrounds in literacy development; however, they do not provide explicit strategies or routines for incorporating these backgrounds into foundational skills instruction.
Decodable and connected texts provide a range of representation of people, ensuring a broad range of cultural, racial, gender, and ability backgrounds are accurately and authentically represented.
Materials include a range of decodable and connected texts that reflect representation of people across racial, gender, cultural, and ability backgrounds. For example, In Book #35, Concept 42 Put Up a Tent (NonFiction) and Book #40, Concept 47 Sal and the Bridge (Fiction), the cover and illustrations depict characters with varied skin tones. In Book #33 Concept 40, A Dog with a Job (NonFiction), illustrations include an adult using a wheelchair, representing physical ability. This text also states, “service dogs can help people who may be visually impaired or hearing impaired.”
For Grade 1, representation is primarily visual; characters’ cultural contexts, traditions, or identities are not developed beyond illustration.
Materials provide detailed instructions and support for teachers on incorporating and drawing upon students’ different cultural, social, and community backgrounds to enrich learning experiences.
According to the OG Plus Manual, Student Factors that Contribute to Literacy Development, Environmental, Cultural and Social Factors section, states that cultural values and practices significantly impact how families engage with literacy and notes that some communities may prioritize life skills or traditional practices over formal education. The guidance emphasizes recognizing and respecting these differences and highlights the importance of culturally responsive teaching that builds on students’ strengths and experiences.
Indicator 3p
This is not an assessed indicator in ELA.
Indicator 3q
This is not an assessed indicator in ELA.
Indicator 3.MLL
Materials provide embedded supports to help multilingual learners (MLLs) develop foundational reading and writing skills. Instruction draws on oral and home language resources and reflects the interdependence of language and literacy development.
The IMSE's OG+ materials provide language and visual scaffolds to support multilingual learners, including guidance for building on students’ home language and using cognates and structured supports to access foundational skills instruction. Materials include modeling and cross-linguistic comparisons of phonemes, graphemes, and sound-symbol correspondences, with supports primarily designed for Spanish-speaking students, reflecting the most commonly represented population of multilingual learners. Oral language development is embedded through routines that support speaking, listening, and vocabulary development as a bridge to literacy. Materials provide guidance for minimizing the use of nonsense words with multilingual learners while acknowledging their use in instruction. Foundational skills instruction is connected to meaning through opportunities to engage with language and text beyond isolated decoding.
Materials include embedded language and content, and visual scaffolds (e.g., pictures, graphic organizers, anchor charts) that help MLL students access grade-level foundational skills instruction.
According to the OG+ Manual, “literacy instruction for [English Learners] should be built on the literacy skills that are already in place in their first language.” This idea is reiterated within the Teacher Guide, Additional Support for English Learners, in the support for cross-linguistic connections that “bridge a student’s first language and the language of school.” There are several examples of such support within the materials.
In Concept 33, Day 2, Reading, the materials include a table that describes the key vocabulary words, Spanish cognates, and words recommended for explicit teaching for each decodable reader option. This table also identifies which words have multiple meanings and should be explicitly taught within the context of the reader. Tables like this are representative throughout the curriculum within the Reading activity.
In Concept 35, Day 1, Teaching a New Phonics Concept, the materials direct the teacher to use a poster that demonstrates the two long sounds for the letter u: /yoo/ as in unicorn and /oo/ as in ruler. With the poster as a resource, the teacher is instructed to say, “These are all vowel sounds, so we know our voice is on when we say them, the airflow keeps going and going, and our mouth is open. Let’s look in the mirror and look for what differences we notice between the short vowel sounds and the long vowel sounds.” This resource, in addition to the scripted guidance, can support English Learners access the foundational skills instruction for this concept.
Materials include modeling and cross-linguistic comparisons of phonemes, graphemes, and sound-symbol correspondences where English and home language patterns differ.
In the Teacher Guide, Additional Support for English Learners, the materials provide a Spanish/English Phoneme Transfer Chart which offers a “bird’s-eye view of IMSE's OG+’s Cross-Linguistic Connections and the degrees of sound transferability between the two languages.” The table provides an example of the phonemes taught within the Kindergarten sequence and if they are fully transferable, partially transferable, or not transferable between English and Spanish. In Grade 1, only two phonemes are presented in the chart: /ng/ (Concept 44) and /s/ and /j/ through the “soft c and g rule” (Concept 50). Concept 44 is labeled as fully transferable between English and Spanish, while Concept 50 is labeled as partially transferable between English and Spanish.
In Concept 44, Day 1, Cross-Linguistic Connections, the materials provide connections between the sound /ng/, represented by -ng and -nk, makes in English and Spanish. The materials provide the teacher with the context that the /ng/ sound can be heard in the medial position in the Spanish words banco, tronco, and vengo. Although these examples are not intended to be used for spelling with the /ng/ concept, the materials provide these examples to support the teacher in making cross-linguistic connections with Spanish-speaking students.
Additional examples of Cognate Charts and Cross-Linguistic Connections can be found for each relevant concept in the English Learner Library on IMSE's OG+ LAB. Also, materials include cross-linguistic supports that are primarily designed for Spanish-speaking students, reflecting the program’s emphasis on the most commonly represented population of multilingual learners. Materials note that 75% of English learners are Spanish-speaking.
Materials include tasks or routines that develop oral language as a bridge to literacy (e.g., structured speaking, listening, and vocabulary development).
In the Teacher Guide, General EL [English Language] Considerations for IMSE's OG+ Lesson Components, the materials suggest that the teacher uses words for syllabication that have a cognate in their first language, as there is "significant overlap between morphemes in European languages and English, creating a considerable opportunity for ELs to transfer their first language skills over to English.” The Teacher Guide provides similar suggestions for EL instruction in all of the components of an IMSE's OG+ OG+ lesson.
Materials avoid the use of nonsense words in instruction or assessment for MLLs and may acknowledge that unfamiliar real words can function as nonsense words for these students.
Throughout the IMSE's OG+ curriculum, nonsense words are used in instruction and assessment. However, the materials do acknowledge the need to note when words are nonsense words and suggest avoiding these words in particular situations.
For example, in Concept 33, Day 1, Cumulative Review: Three-Part Drill, the teacher reminds students that “the blending drill makes a lot of nonsense words, but that helps us get ready to read big words with more than one syllable.” When words are real words, students are prompted by the teacher to give the word a thumbs-up. The teacher begins the drill with the nonsense word lom and continues with lam. When students engage with lam, the materials note that some students may give a thumbs-up. The teacher is directed to state that “You’re right that lam sounds like a real word. You’re probably thinking of a baby sheep, but guess what–that lamb is spelled differently. This lam is not a real word, but you would see this spelling in the first syllable of the word laminate.”
Materials support meaning-making through early literacy instruction, rather than emphasizing isolated decoding alone.
In Concept 50, Day 1, Phonics: Teaching a New Concept, the materials guide the teacher to read aloud a poem or selected pages from a text where students can identify the target concept of the /s/ as in city and /j/ as in giraffe. The teacher is then guided to connect these oral language skills by connecting these words to either phonics, orthography, morphology, vocabulary, fluency, or comprehension concepts.
This read aloud activity is replicated throughout the Grade 1 sequence and allows students to engage in meaning-making in ways beyond isolated decoding.
Criterion 3.3: Intentional Design
Materials include a visual design that is engaging and supportively organized, and integrate digital technology, when applicable, with guidance for teachers.
The IMSE’s OG+ materials include digital technology and visual design features that support foundational skills instruction, with accompanying guidance for teachers. Digital resources available through the IMSE Lab platform provide lesson-aligned slides, visual models, decodable texts, and instructional materials that reinforce phonological awareness, phonics, word recognition, and fluency. These tools are used within structured routines aligned to the program’s scope and sequence and can be customized by the teacher to match instructional goals or student needs. Student engagement with digital materials occurs primarily through teacher-directed use rather than direct interaction.
The visual design of both print and digital materials supports learning without distraction. Consistent layouts, routines, and organizational features help students and teachers navigate lessons and reinforce instructional structures. Materials include guidance for integrating technology that explains the purpose of digital tools and aligns their use to instruction; however, access to these resources is distributed across multiple sections, which may require additional navigation. Overall, the integration of visual design and digital resources supports instructional clarity and engagement, with some limitations in student interactivity and ease of access.
Indicator 3r
Materials integrate technology such as interactive tools, virtual manipulatives/objects, and/or dynamic software in ways that engage students in the grade-level/series standards, when applicable.
The IMSE's OG+ materials include digital technology that supports foundational skills instruction through teacher-directed tools available in the IMSE's OG+ Lab platform. Digital resources such as slides, visual models, decodable texts, and structured practice materials align to lesson routines and reinforce phonological awareness, phonics, word recognition, and fluency. These tools support student engagement through teacher-led display rather than direct student interaction. Digital materials offer opportunities for customization, allowing the teacher to adjust content, formats, and word lists to align with instructional goals and student needs. However, the platform does not include student-interactive tools such as simulations or independent modeling features.
Digital technology and interactive tools, such as data collection tools, simulations, and/or modeling tools are available to students.
Digital technology and interactive tools are available within the IMSE's OG+ Lab platform for teacher use in delivering Grade 1 instruction. These tools are designed for display, download, and customization by the teacher and include:
Three-Part Drill Icon, which includes:
Core slides.
Intervention slides.
Customizable layout options including 2x2, 2x3, or 2x4 formats.
Font selection between D’Nealian or Zaner-Bloser.
Grapheme selection aligned to specific concepts.
New Concept Icon, which includes:
Animated visuals of new spelling rules or concepts.
Google Slides aligned to the lesson sequence.
Dictation Icon, which includes:
Premade dictation PDFs.
Customizable dictation materials filtered by concept.
Options to select concept type, orientation, cue size, and student or teacher version.
Ability to add words, Red Words, and sentences.
Red Words Icon, which includes:
Core Red Word Google Slides.
Intervention Red Word slides.
Premade Red Words.
Flashcards and color/number word cards.
Customizable Red Word cards with options to select new or review words, save, print, and cut.
Fluency Icon, which includes:
Downloadable PDFs of word cards and student pages.
Concept Pyramid cards.
Customizable rapid word charts aligned to selected concepts.
Decodable Text Icon, which includes:
Digital views of fiction and nonfiction decodable texts.
Accompanying student pages.
Links to additional digital formats available in the IMSE's OG+ Library.
Vocabulary Icon, which includes:
Digital Google Slides aligned to vocabulary taught throughout the concepts.
Digital tools are available for teacher display and customization; however, students do not directly interact with digital simulations or modeling tools.
Digital tools support student engagement in foundational skills.
According to the IMSE's OG+ Lab, digital tools support student engagement in foundational skills through teacher-led display of animated visuals, spelling rule modeling, concept-aligned slides, digital decodable texts, and structured drill and fluency materials. The digital resources mirror the structured routines in the Teacher Guide and reinforce phoneme–grapheme correspondence, spelling rules, dictation, fluency, vocabulary, and Red Word instruction. Students engage with the materials through teacher-directed use of digital slides and printable resources; the platform does not include student-interactive digital activities.
Digital materials can be customized for local use (i.e., student and/or community interests).
Digital materials can be customized by the teacher for local use within the IMSE's OG+ Lab platform. The teacher can:
Select graphemes and concepts aligned to instruction.
Choose layout formats and font styles.
Customize dictation materials by filtering by concept and adjusting formatting options.
Create and save customized Red Word lists.
Build rapid word charts aligned to selected concepts.
Indicator 3s
This indicator is not assessed in reviews of K-2 ELA foundational skills supplements.
Indicator 3t
The visual design (whether in print or digital) is not distracting or chaotic, but supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.
The IMSE's OG+ materials include images, graphics, and models that support student learning and engagement without being visually distracting. Visuals consistently reinforce foundational skills concepts, routines, and instructional cues, and clearly communicate information to support student understanding. Teacher and student materials maintain a consistent layout and structure across lessons, using repeated routines, formats, and design features that align across print and digital resources. Organizational features are clear and accurate, with consistent labeling and references that support ease of navigation and implementation.
Images, graphics, and models support student learning and engagement without being visually distracting. Images, graphics, and models clearly communicate information or support student understanding of topics, texts, or concepts.
Student-facing images, graphics, and models in the materials support student learning without being visually distracting. Examples include, but are not limited to:
Use of posters and other resources available digitally and referenced in lesson text
In Concept 36, Day 1, Phonics: Teaching a New Concept, the materials suggest the use of the Trail Blend Recipe and the Smoothie Recipe posters as tools for brainstorming R blends with students. These posters can be found in the digital Originals. In the Trail Blend Receipt Poster, blends are underlined in words such as cranberries, pretzels, and brown. In the Smoothie Receipt Poster, blends are not underlined.
In Concept 48, Day 1, Phonics: Teaching a New Concept, Read Aloud, the materials suggest the use of the Magic E poem. This resource can be found in the digital Originals. In the poem, Magic E is represented with a wand that has a star attached to it. This design mirrors the Magic E wands resource that is available, as a digital Original, for use during this concept, as well as the suggestion within the Teacher Guide to use stars as a visual cue to signal that Magic E is a special ending.
Decodable readers present engaging images that support student understanding. For example, the nonfiction decodable reader for Concept 42, titled Put Up a Tent!, has clear photographs of a range of individuals to represent the tools required for camping. These visuals support the vocabulary presented in the book, such as grommet and pump. Decodable readers are provided in both color and grayscale formats, allowing the teacher to determine how to present these readers to their students.
Teacher and student materials are consistent in layout and structure across lessons/modules/units.
The design and layout of teacher and student materials remain consistent across the Grade 1 program. The identification of routines through consistent color application throughout materials (e.g. Teacher Guide, Fidelity Companion) and formats (e.g. physical materials and digital resources). Lessons follow a repeated sequence, depending on the day within each concept. The scope of each lesson is as follows:
Day 1
Phonemic Awareness: Blending and Segmenting
Cumulative Review: Three-Part Drill and Vowel Intensive Drill
Phonics: Teaching a New Concept
Spelling
Irregular Words
Day 2
Review Spelling
Irregular Words
Reading
Day 3
Word Chaining (Phoneme Manipulation)
Cumulative Review: Three-Part Drill and Vowel Intensive Drill
Review Spelling
Syllable Division/Word Analysis (starting with Concept #35)
Irregular Words
Reading
Day 4
Word Chaining (Phoneme Manipulation)
Irregular Words
Review Spelling
Syllable Division/Word Analysis (starting with Concept #35)
Reading
Day 5
Cumulative Review: Three-Part Drill and Vowel Intensive Drill
Irregular Words
Spelling: Assessment
Syllable Division/Word Analysis (starting with Concept #35)
Reading
Organizational features (Table of Contents, glossary, index, internal references, table headers, captions, etc.) in the materials are clear, accurate, and error-free.
Organizational features in the materials are clear and accurate. References between resources (e.g. Teacher Manual, Fidelity Companion, and digital Originals) are consistent and accurate, making cross-referencing for instructional steps and gathering resources for students efficient. Resources, such as assessment materials, that have both student-facing and teacher-facing components are clearly labeled and designed for their intended user.
Indicator 3u
Materials provide teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning, when applicable.
The IMSE's OG+ materials provide teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support foundational skills instruction. Guidance explains the instructional purpose of digital tools and aligns them to the scope and sequence, supporting integration within lesson routines. Guidance focuses on instructional explanation rather than detailed implementation of technology-enhanced student interaction. Access to digital resources is distributed across multiple sections—My Materials, Digital Resources, and IMSE's OG+ Lab—which may require additional navigation to locate and use materials efficiently.
Teacher guidance is provided for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning, when applicable.
Teacher guidance is provided for the use of embedded technology within the IMSE's OG+ Lab platform. Each digital icon includes an explanatory description outlining the instructional purpose and how the digital materials support foundational skills instruction. Examples include, but are not limited to:
Three-Part Drill Icon, which explains that the Three-Part Drill and Vowel Intensive Drill reinforce learned sound–symbol relationships through cumulative review. The description outlines the Visual Drill, Auditory/Kinesthetic Drill, and Blending Drill, identifies required materials, and specifies that the drill should be implemented a minimum of two to three times per week. It also explains that the Vowel Intensive Drill continues until students demonstrate mastery of short vowel sounds prior to introducing more complex patterns.
Dictation Icon, which explains that students apply phoneme–grapheme correspondences, irregular words, and punctuation rules through spelling and sentence writing. The guidance describes dictation as an expressive application of learned concepts and directs the teacher to create and download dictation sheets and spelling tests to monitor progress.
Red Words Icon, which explains the purpose of high-frequency and irregular words labeled as Red Words, clarifies why they are irregular, and outlines the multimodal instructional technique used to support orthographic mapping and automatic word recognition.
Teacher guidance explains the instructional purpose of digital tools and aligns them to the scope and sequence; however, guidance focuses on instructional explanation rather than detailed implementation of technology-enhanced student interaction. Guidance for accessing and using digital resources is distributed across multiple sections such as, My Materials, Digital Resources, and IMSE's OG+ Lab, which may require additional navigation to locate and use materials efficiently.