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Database of Evidence-based Strategies

As Compiled By

Evelyn Egan, M.Ed.

I. Topic 1: Evidence-based strategies of structured multisensory instruction to teach decoding and sound-symbol correspondence

TNCore ELA Standards:
Reading Standards
Foundational Skills K-5
Evidence-based Strategy Title Evidence-based Strategy Description
1. (Kindergarten): Print
Concepts

Demonstrate understanding
of the organization and basic
features of print
Instant letter recognition 1. A beginning readers instant letter recognition is a strong predictor of
reading success.

2. Knowing the names of the letters can facilitate the learning of the letter
sounds as many sounds are embedded in the letter names.

3. All letters have four properties: name, sound, shape, and feel. The name
is the only property that does not change. The name of the letter is an
anchor to which the reader can attach the other properties of the letter.

4. Automatic letter recognition allows the reader to see words as groups of
letters instead of as individual letters that must be identified.
2. (Kindergarten): Phonological
Awareness

Demonstrate understanding
of spoken words, syllables,
and sounds (phonemes)
Phonemic awareness 1. A beginning readers ability to segment a word into its phonemes (i.e.,
phoneme segmentation) is one of the best predictors of reading success.
2. A phoneme is the smallest unit of speech that makes a difference in the
utterance of a word.
3. Thus, the readers awareness of individual sounds in a word increases
his or her understanding of the role of the individual letters in words and
how the written letters can be mapped onto sounds.
3. (Kindergarten):
Phonological Awareness

Demonstrate understanding
of spoken words, syllables,
and sounds (phonemes)
Blending 1. Once students have identified the letter-sound relationships of a word,
they must meld the sounds to produce a word.
2. Blending sounds in word is a critical component of learning sound-
symbol correspondences.
3. Fluid blending of letter sounds aids students in producing recognizable
words.
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4. Before students begin reading words, they should have opportunities to
blend sounds together orally by using manipulatives (e.g., blocks, buttons,
math counters, pennies).
5. When introducing any of the blending activities for reading, it is
desirable to begin blending words that have continuant initial sounds (e.g.,
/f/, /l/, /m/, /n/, /s/).
6. The continuant sounds allow students to slide into the vowel sound.
4. (Kindergarten):
Phonics and Word Recognition

Know and apply grade-level
phonics and word analysis
skills in decoding words
Structural Analysis 1. Knowing sound-symbol correspondences enables a reader to
successfully read one-syllable base words.
2. Once the reader has established a few sound-symbol correspondences
and can blend them together successfully to form words, information about
structural analysis is taught concurrently with new sound-symbol
correspondences.
3. Structural analysis of the syllabic and morphemic segments of language
facilitates the recognition of longer words.
4. Awareness of syllables helps the reader perceive the natural divisions of
words to aid recognition.
5. Awareness of syllable types gives the reader a way to determine how to
pronounce the vowel sound in a syllable (e.g., the vowel in a closed
syllable is short; the vowel in an open, accented syllable is long).

II. Topic 2: Four evidence-based assessment measures, one for each of the following categories: (1) screening measure, (2) diagnostic
measure, (3) progress monitoring measure, (4) outcome measure

TNCore Response to Instruction and
Intervention
Evidence-based Strategy Title Evidence-based Strategy Description
5. Skills-based universal screener (Screening
measure)

Brief screening assessment of academic
skills (i.e., basic reading skills, reading
fluency, reading comprehension, math
calculation, math problem solving,
written expression)
Universal screening reveals which
students are performing at or above the
easyCBM Lite Edition Tier 1
easyCBM provides benchmark and progress
monitoring assessments for all students.

Provides a benchmark system that allows you
to screen students up to three times a year
fall, winter and spring.

Includes alternate forms that enable you to
track growth (AYP accountability) and make
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level considered necessary for achieving
long-term success (general outcome
measures).
This data can also serve as a benchmark
for measuring the improvement of a
group, class, grade, school, or district.
In grades K-8, it is recommended that the
universal screener be administered three
times a year: at the beginning, middle,
and end of the school year. The same or
parallel screeners are used at each
administration and those measures are
always at the students grade-placement
level. In grades K-8, a record review may
also provide important information such
as grades, attendance, and behavioral
concerns that may provide early warning
signs for intervention.

instructional decisions with confidence.

Provides a snapshot of an entire school, grade,
or classroom.

Provides progress-monitoring assessments that
effectively facilitate differentiated instruction.

Delivers item-level data to pinpoint student
strengths and weaknesses within a content area.

Tier 2
easyCBM provides real-time data to
efficiently and effectively connect each student
with valid interventions.

Features progress-monitoring measures and
item analysis reports ensuring you can pinpoint
instructional areas of concern for each student
or group.

Eases the task of assigning small-group
instruction and focuses instructional
interventions with more accuracy.

Provides instant access to results, eliminating
the need for data entry.

Includes rate-of-growth information needed to
determine instructional progress.

Tier 3
easyCBM provides focused, reliable data at an
item level to help customize interventions and
enhance the rate of student learning.

Allows you to strategize a program of frequent
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progress monitoring.

Provides the detailed data required to target an
individual students needs.

Provides data that directs the process of
intensive intervention needed for students at this
RTI level.
6. Formative assessment data at least 3 times
per year to determine instructional needs
(Diagnostic measure)
easyCBM Lite Edition easyCBM was first developed at the
University of Oregon in 2006 with a federal
grant for a Model Demonstration Project on
Progress Monitoring in Early Literacy in a
Response to Intervention Framework. Since
then, easyCBM has grown to encompass both
Reading and Mathematics for Grades K8,
delivering instructionally relevant data for
students, educators, and administrators. Many
districts have adopted easyCBM due to the
testimonials and excitement initially generated
by their own local educators.

The University of Oregon and its College of
Education are nationally respected institutions
dedicated to instruction and research that meet
the needs of children and families across the
country.

Riverside, part of the Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt Education Group, is a global leader in
educational assessment. Chosen as the exclusive
distributor of the easyCBM platform, Riverside
is dedicated to bringing this product to schools
and districts around the world.

easyCBM was developed and continues to be
developed through a number of federal grants.
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Those grants are listed below:

Reliability and Validity Evidence for Progress
Measures in Reading. U.S. Department of
Education, Institute for Educational Sciences,
Budget $1,596,638 from June 2010 June
2014.

Developing Middle School Mathematics
Progress Monitoring Measures. U.S.
Department of Education, Institute for
Educational Sciences, Budget $1,631,401 from
June 2010 June 2014.

Response to Intervention with Reading
Curriculum-Based Measures. U.S. Office of
Special Education Programs, Steppingstones of
Technology Innovation for Children with
Disabilities. Budget $396,736 from May 2009
April 2011.

Assessments Aligned with Grade Level Content
Standards and Scaled to Reflect Growth for
Students with Disabilities (SWD) and Persistent
Learning Problems (PLP). U.S. Department of
Education, Institute for Educational Sciences.
Budget $1,525,552 from May 2007 April
2011.

Model Demonstration Centers on Progress
Monitoring (CFDA 84.326M). U.S. Department
of Education. Budget: $1,189,790 from January
2006 December 2008.
7. Progress monitoring is used to assess
students academic performance, to quantify
a student rate of improvement or
easyCBM Lite Edition Reporting
The data utilization system within easyCBM
produces rich reports that provide Response to
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responsiveness to instruction, and to evaluate
the effectiveness of instruction. Progress
monitoring can be implemented with
individual students or an entire class.
Intervention data and fulfills a number of
instructional functions including:

Identify students at risk
Monitor effectiveness of interventions
Organize students into intervention groups
Progress monitor groups or individual students
Diagnostic display of error analysis
Target aim lines for improvement
Movement of students across instructional tiers

Individual Student Report At-a-glance view
of progress monitoring and interventions every
member of an educational team can use to assist
students.

Risk Rating - Analyze risk ratings across
student, class, grade, and building based on
your customized risk levels.

Item Analysis Review detailed item level
information helpful for grouping students and
planning instructional interventions.

History of Intervention Document a students
detailed history of intervention to provide
educators and parents with the knowledge to
effectively plan for student improvement.
8. TNCore Assessments (Outcome Measures)
K-2 assessment that measures basic
reading and math skills. It is a norm-
referenced assessment designed to
measure individual student achievement
compared to national norms. The K-2
assessment provides a benchmark of how
students perform on the foundational
easyCBM Lite Edition Outcome measures:

Reading
K-1: Phonemic awareness, letter sounds, letter
names, word fluency

1
st
: Passage fluency

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skills required for success in future
grades.
Grades 3-8 TCAP Achievement Test: The
TCAP Achievement test is a timed,
multiple choice assessment that measures
skills in reading, language arts,
mathematics, science and social studies.
English Linguistically Simplified
Assessment (ELSA): ELSA is an
accommodated version of the TCAP
Achievement Test available during
Spring TCAP Achievement testing. It is
intended for English Language Learner
(ELL) students. The content areas tested
on TCAP ELSA are Reading/Language
Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies.
Test questions are the same as ACH test
questions but feature simplified language
to reduce linguistic barriers. Allowable
ELL accommodations can be given to
students taking the ELSA.

2-3: Word fluency, passage fluency,
vocabulary, reading comprehension

4-8: Passage fluency, vocabulary, reading
comprehension

CCSS Alignment
(Read to perform a task, informational text,
short literacy text) 3-8

Math
K: Numbers and operations, geometry,
measurement
1
st
: Numbers and operations, geometry, algebra
2
nd
: Numbers and operations, measurement,
algebra
3
rd
: Numbers and operations, geometry, algebra
4
th
: Numbers and operations, measurement,
algebra
5
th
: Numbers and operations, geometry,
geometry, measurement, algebra
6
th
: Numbers and operations, algebra, ratios
7
th
: Numbers and operations, geometry,
measurement, algebra
8
th
: Numbers and operations, geometry,
measurement, data analysis, algebra
Note: Edmodo which is a free learning management system offers Snapshot which is a frequent, formative assessment tool that allows
teachers to gain real-time insight into student mastery. Snapshot provides teachers with pre-populated quizzes containing standards-
aligned questions. Users are able to assign Snapshot quizzes to students as often as they like. Upon completion of the quizzes, a report
will instantly be created with feedback as to student and overall class progress.







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III. Topic 3: Instructional strategies that could be used to remediate struggling readers in at least four of the core cognitive processes

TNCore Application to students with
disabilities

In order for students with disabilities
to meet high academic standards and
to fully demonstrate their
conceptual and procedural knowledge
and skills in mathematics, reading,
writing, speaking and listening
(English language arts), their
instruction must incorporate supports
and accommodations, including:

supports and related services
designed to meet the unique needs of
these students and to enable their
access to the general education
curriculum (IDEA 34 CFR 300.34,
2004).

An Individualized Education
Program (IEP)1 which includes
annual goals aligned with and chosen
to facilitate their attainment of grade-
level academic standards.

Teachers and specialized
instructional support personnel who
are prepared and qualified to deliver
high-quality, evidence-based,
individualized instruction and
support services.

Promoting a culture of high
expectations for all students is a
Evidence-based Strategy Title Evidence-based Strategy Description
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fundamental goal of the Common
Core State
Standards. In order to participate
with success in the general
curriculum, students with disabilities,
as
appropriate, may be provided
additional supports and services, such
as:

Instructional supports for
learning based on the principles of
Universal Design for Learning
(UDL)2
which foster student engagement
by presenting information in multiple
ways and allowing for diverse avenues
of action and expression.

Instructional accommodations
(Thompson, Morse, Sharpe & Hall,
2005) changes in materials or
procedures which do not change the
standards but allow students to learn
within the framework of the Common
Core.

Assistive technology devices and
services to ensure access to the
general education curriculum and the
Common Core State Standards.
9. Working memory Graphic organizers Students with limited working memory benefit
from their use as memory aids during
instructions; students with attention or listening
problems also benefit from having a completed
graphic before, during, and after reading; and
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using a graphic organizer while students are
reading stimulates interest, keeps students
actively thinking, and organizes information for
them so that they retain it longer.
10. Higher-order processes Multi-strategy approach: picture walk
(inferencing), comprehension monitoring
through rereading and summarizing
Cain, Oakhill, & Bryant (2000); Cain et al.,
(2004a); and Nation & Snowling (1998) state
that even when decoding basic language skills,
and working memory are controlled, deficits in
reading comprehension still arise because of
difficulties with discourse-level skills involving
inferencing, comprehension monitoring, text
integration, and other metacognitive skills
related to comprehension

1. Picture walk or text walk is a technique
whereby the teacher guides students through a
piece of literature to be read, using the pictures,
illustrations, or other graphics to develop the
big idea of what the text is all about. This
technique sets the reader up to succeed with the
text by developing key concepts, vocabulary,
and a general picture of the text before it is
read. Clay in 1985 says that carrying out this
type of procedure before reading ensures that
the child has in his head the ideas and the
language he needs to produce when prompted in
sequence by printed cues.

2. Cataldo & Cornoldi in 1998 explained that
successful comprehension monitoring requires
the reader to identify inconsistencies in the text,
gaps in understanding, or the need to seek
information from other parts of the text.

[Some] strategies employed by good readers to
improve understanding are called "repair" or
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"fix-up" strategies. Specific repair strategies
include rereading, reading ahead, clarifying
words by looking them up in a dictionary or
glossary, or asking someone for help.

3. Summarizing: The two strategies of
summarizing and synthesizing involve the same
basic processes and can therefore be taught
together, even though you may teach each
separately before students can move from one
to the other smoothly. Summarizing is the
process of pulling together the essential
elements in a single longer passage of text.
Synthesizing is combining elements from
multiple sources and integrating them into a
new whole. When a reader synthesizes, he or
she begins with the knowledge in his or her
head, and then continually adds new
information and recombines the old and the
new.
11. Listening comprehension Collaborative strategic reading According to the Colorado Department of
Education, Listening comprehension refers to
the understanding of the implications and
explicit meanings of words and sentences of
spoken language. Fountas & Pinnell (2001)
wrote that four decades of research has
established oral language as the foundation of
reading and writing development (p.21).
Furthermore, they said that we learn language in
3 ways conversation, experience, and text. We
acquire 4 types of vocabulary and listening
vocabulary is the largest. This is not surprising
since we learn most of our vocabulary indirectly
by having conversations with others, being read
to, and while doing our own reading.

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In collaborative strategic reading, four strategies
are taught to students: (1) a preview component,
in which students essentially attempt to activate
background knowledge, (2) comprehension
monitoring during reading by identifying
difficult words and concepts in the passage and
using strategies that address what to do when
text does not make sense, (3) restudying the
most important idea in the paragraph, and (4)
summarization/question asking.
12. Phonological processing and phonemic
awareness
Multisensory methods Historically prominent remediation approaches
used with disabled readers have been
characterized as multisensory in nature, were
provided in individualized fashion, and were
used to develop spelling and writing skills as
well as reading skills.

As outlined in Birsh (1999), the content of
multisensory structured language instruction
involves six components: (1) phonology and
phonological awareness, (2) sound-symbol
association, (3) syllable instruction, (4)
morphology, (5) syntax, and (6) semantics.

This content is embedded in five principles of
instruction: (1) simultaneous, multisensory
teaching to all learning modalities (visual,
auditory, kinesthetic) to enhance memory and
learning; (2) systematic and cumulative
organization of material; (3) direct teaching
through continued teacher-student interaction;
(4) diagnostic teaching involving continued
assessment of individual needs; (5) both
synthetic (putting parts of language together to
form a whole) and analytic (presenting the
whole and breaking it into constituent parts)
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instruction.

IV. Topic 4: Strategies meant to address each of these word learning components: orthography, morphology, word origins, structural
analysis, and contextual analysis

TNCore ELA Standards: Language
Standards
Evidence-based Strategy Title Evidence-based Strategy Description
13. Orthography

Conventions of Standard English:
Demonstrate command of the conventions of
standard English capitalization, punctuation,
and spelling when writing
Phonics Orthography refers to the rules that govern how
words are represented in writing. The spellers
task is to determine how the phonemes of oral
language are transcribed into the graphemes.

Phonics is an instructional method that teaches
the use of written symbols to represent speech
sounds for reading and spelling. Phonics
provides a visual representation of the
phonology of spoken language. In order for
students to be successful with phonics, they
must be aware of the sounds in spoken words.
14. Morphology

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use:

Determine or clarify the meaning of
unknown and multiple-meaning words and
phrases based on grade (appropriate grade
level) reading and content, choosing flexibly
from a range of strategies
Vocabulary from Classical Roots Morphology is the study of morphemes, the
smallest units of language that carry meaning
(prefixes, suffixes, roots, and combining forms).
According to Adams in 1990, study of
morphemes not only facilitates decoding but
also provides a springboard for vocabulary
development and spelling and Foorman &
Schatschneider in 1997 attest that the study of
morpheme bridges the gap between alphabetic
reading (i.e., word-level reading) and
comprehension.

Vocabulary from Classical Roots is a
vocabulary curriculum used in many schools
that follow the classical curriculum and it is also
used by many homeschooling parents. The
skills addressed by this curriculum are Greek
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and Latin roots, word origins and etymologies,
synonyms and antonyms, analogies, word
usage, word forms, critical thinking, dictionary
and glossary use, test taking/assessment, editing
sentences, homophones, multiple-meaning
words, parts of speech, prefixes, suffixes,
spelling, syllables, and writing

A typical lesson would look like this:
Day 1 of a typical vocabulary instruction is an
activation of prior knowledge. The 10 key
words are presented as well as the 2 Latin
and/or Greek roots found in the 10 key words.
Usually, the students list down as many English
words that they can think of that contain the 2
Latin and/or Greek roots being studied. Days 2-
3 are spent on direct instruction in which the
students learn the pronunciation, parts of
speech, definition, and how each word is used
in a sentence. Day 4 is spent on exercises
synonyms, meaning in context, and extension.
Day 5 is spent on a quiz.

The lessons are structured in such a way that
they target all types of learners. The lessons:
1. Help students to access prior knowledge,
thereby enabling them to make connections
between familiar words & new words that share
the same classical root. For example, the
familiar word aquarium, with its root aqua, can
provide scaffolding for learning the related
word aquatic.
2. Provide a variety of oral activities as well as
additional written activities on reproducible
worksheets. Discussions and games (classroom
contests, synonym tic-tac-toe, charades, word
puzzles, and syllable sorts) lead students to
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incorporate the new words into their oral and
written vocabularies.
3. Expand students understanding of classical
roots, which is the unique focus of vocabulary
instruction from grades 5 to 8. They provide the
teacher with a sensible and effective way to
teach vocabulary from a roots-based
perspective, even when a background in
classical-language roots is not part of the
teachers own experience. Knowledge of Latin
and Greek roots can give students a head start
on unlocking the meanings of innumerable
words they will meet in the intermediate and
secondary grades.
15. Structural analysis

Conventions of Standard English:
Demonstrate command of the conventions of
standard English grammar and usage when
writing or speaking

Demonstrate command of the conventions of
standard English capitalization, punctuation,
and spelling when writing

Knowledge of Language:
Use knowledge of language and its
conventions when writing, speaking, reading,
or listening.

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use:
Determine or clarify the meaning of
unknown and multiple-meaning words and
phrases based on grade (appropriate grade
level) reading and content, choosing flexibly
from a range of strategies.
Explicit and systematic instruction Structural analysis is the study of meaningful
word parts such as endings, prefixes, suffixes,
base words, and root words. The instruction in
and acquisition of phonological and phonemic
awareness leads directly to teaching letter-
sound associations. A systematic system
ensures that no skills are overlooked and works
best for most children.

The following general guidelines should be
helpful in developing an appropriate sequence
for teaching phonics and structural analysis
skills:
1. Teach and develop phonemic awareness
skills.
2. Teach one short vowel and a few consonants
that will make a word or words for example,
short a and the consonants s, t, and m. These
letters can be used to make words.
3. Teach a few high frequency words.
4. Continue teaching consonants and vowels
until all have been taught.
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5. Continue adding high frequency words.
6. Teach other phonic elements, such as
blends/clusters and digraphs.
7. Teach students a strategy that will assist them
in applying the decoding skills being taught.
8. Teach structural elements such as endings,
prefixes, and suffixes.
9. Continue teaching all phonic and structural
elements until students are able to apply their
knowledge independently while reading.

Teachers can help children begin to practice
structural analysis in the same ways as for onset
and rime. The idea to get across to students is
that whenever a good reader comes to a word
he/she cannot identify through context and
phonics alone, he/she looks within the word for
a recognizable base (root) and its accompanying
prefix, suffix, or endings.
16. Contextual analysis

TNCore College and Career Readiness
Anchor Standards for Reading

Key Ideas and details
1. Read closely to determine what the text
says explicitly and to make logical inferences
from it; cite specific textual evidence when
writing or speaking to support conclusions
drawn from the text.
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text
and analyze their development; summarize
the key supporting details and ideas.
3. Analyze how and why individuals, events,
and ideas develop and interact over the
course of a text.
Explicit instruction that includes teacher
modeling, guided practice, independent practice
Edwards, Font, Baumann, & Boland (2004)
stated that context can be broadly interpreted
as any meaning cues within context, including
linguistic (e.g., words, phrases, sentences) and
nonlinguistic information (e.g., illustrations,
typographic features that surround the
unfamiliar word), that can be used to infer the
words meaning. Generally, research studies
have focused on using linguistic cues.
Blachowicz & Fisher (2010) suggested that the
following are representative of necessary
metacognitive processes for using context:
1. Students must know why and when to use
context.
2. Students must have a general idea about clues
that may be provided by context.
3. Students must know how to look for and use
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Craft and Structure
4. Interpret words and phrases as they are
used in a text, including determining
technical, connotative, and figurative
meanings, and analyze how specific word
choices shape meaning or tone.
5. Analyze the structure of texts, including
how specific sentences, paragraphs, and
larger portions of the text (e.g., a section,
chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other
and the whole.
6. Assess how point of view or purpose
shapes the content and style of a text.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
7. Integrate and evaluate content presented
in diverse media and formats, including
visually and quantitatively, as well as in
words.
8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and
specific claims in a text, including the validity
of the reasoning as well as the relevance and
sufficiency of the evidence.
9. Analyze how two or more texts address
similar themes or topics in order to build
knowledge or to compare the approaches the
authors take.

Range of Reading and Level of Text
Complexity
10. Read and comprehend complex literary
and informational texts independently and
proficiently.


these clues.

Baumann, Edwards, Boland, Olejnik, &
Kameenui (2003) directly explained and taught
middle school students to use different types of
context cues, including:
1. Definition: The author explains the meaning
of the word in the sentence or selection.
2. Synonym: The author uses a word similar in
meaning.
3. Antonym: The author uses a word nearly
opposite in meaning.
4. Example: The author provides one or more
examples of words or ideas.
5. General: The author provides several words
or statements that give clues to the words
meanings.

Another method developed by Lubliner (2005)
uses a context cue card that prompts students to
use the following clues that have been
previously taught:
1. Consider the context (read the sentence,
paragraph, or passage for clues)
2. Look for comma clues (meanings sometimes
hide within commas [e.g., definition])
3. Look for explanation clues (explanation is
sometimes provided in adjacent sentences)
4. Look for feeling clues (other words that
represent a feeling or emotion)
5. Look for opposition clues- words such as
adversative or conditional conjunctions (e.g.,
but, even, though, however)
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Topic 5: Modified strategies in terms of frequency, intensity, and explicitness to meet the needs of students with phonologically-based
reading disorders

TNCore Application to students with
disabilities

In order for students with disabilities to meet
high academic standards and to fully
demonstrate their conceptual and procedural
knowledge and skills in mathematics,
reading, writing, speaking and listening
(English language arts), their instruction
must incorporate supports and
accommodations, including:

supports and related services designed to
meet the unique needs of these students and
to enable their access to the general
education curriculum (IDEA 34 CFR
300.34, 2004).

An Individualized Education Program
(IEP) 1 which includes annual goals aligned
with and chosen to facilitate their attainment
of grade-level academic standards.


Teachers and specialized instructional
support personnel who are prepared and
qualified to deliver high-quality, evidence-
based, individualized instruction and support
services.

Promoting a culture of high expectations
for all students is a fundamental goal of
Evidence-based Strategy Title Evidence-based Strategy Description
19

the Common Core State Standards.

In order to participate with success in the
general curriculum, students with
disabilities, as appropriate, may be
provided additional supports and
services, such as:

Instructional supports for
learning based on the principles of
Universal Design for Learning
(UDL)2
which foster student engagement
by presenting information in multiple
ways and allowing for diverse avenues
of action and expression.
Instructional accommodations
(Thompson, Morse, Sharpe & Hall,
2005) changes in materials or
procedures which do not change the
standards but allow students to learn
within the framework of the Common
Core.

Assistive technology devices and
services to ensure access to the
general education curriculum and the
Common Core State Standards.
17. Phonological processing and phonemic
awareness
Excellence in Spelling or Phonetic Zoo The Excellence in Spelling or Phonetic Zoo
rationalizes that auditory input and then spelling
the word out loud, letter by letter, ensures
accurate storage of the correct sequence in the
brain, which allows for correct retrieval and
accurate spelling.

The materials used by a student are the
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following: small Zoo cards that include the
lesson title and animals whose names illustrate
the spelling rule and on the back of each card is
the rule or jingle that accompanies each lesson,
headphones, paper and pen, discs, and a disc
player. The Phonetic Zoo spelling words have
three levels A, B, and C.

The teacher keeps a copy of the bigger version
of the Zoo flash cards. The teacher uses the
cards to preview and review the lessons with the
students.

A typical spelling period would run like this:
a. Students bring out their flash cards.
b. The teacher reads the rule out loud (from the
back of the flash card), and have the students
read and spell out loud the three words on the
front of the card which correspond to the chosen
level.
c. The teacher briefly discusses how the animal
name shown on the front meets the rule of the
lesson. The teacher notes a deeper explanation
of the spelling rules, some history behind the
rule, and additional commentary to add to the
students understanding of spelling.
d. Each student prepares his/her spelling paper
by numbering 1-15 on the left side, double-
spaced (leaving a blank space between lines).
Students use pen and not pencil. Students go to
the A-V corner to take the spelling test. The
other students remain in their seats practicing
and studying for their turn.
e. Students who are at the A-V corner use the
headphones to listen to the rule or jingle once
again, take the spelling quiz, and make
corrections to their paper.
21

f. Students take the take the test every day until
they achieve 100 % twice in a row.

Students phonemic awareness skills are
developed while listening to the rule and their
phonic skills are enhanced when they transfer to
the paper the corresponding symbol of the
sound that they are learning.

Each spelling rule is studied for 5 days.
18. Verbal short term memory through
multisensory strategies
Vocabulary from Classical Roots Vocabulary from Classical Roots is a
vocabulary curriculum used in many schools
that follow the classical curriculum and it is also
used by many homeschooling parents. The
skills addressed by this curriculum are Greek
and Latin roots, word origins and etymologies,
synonyms and antonyms, analogies, word
usage, word forms, critical thinking, dictionary
and glossary use, test taking/assessment, editing
sentences, homophones, multiple-meaning
words, parts of speech, prefixes, suffixes,
spelling, syllables, and writing

A typical lesson would look like this:
Day 1 of a typical vocabulary instruction is an
activation of prior knowledge. The 10 key
words are presented as well as the 2 Latin
and/or Greek roots found in the 10 key words.
Usually, the students list down as many English
words that they can think of that contain the 2
Latin and/or Greek roots being studied. Days 2-
3 are spent on direct instruction in which the
students learn the pronunciation, parts of
speech, definition, and how each word is used
in a sentence. Day 4 is spent on exercises
synonyms, meaning in context, and extension.
22

Day 5 is spent on a quiz.

The lessons are structured in such a way that
they target all types of learners. The lessons:
1. Help students to access prior knowledge,
thereby enabling them to make connections
between familiar words & new words that share
the same classical root. For example, the
familiar word aquarium, with its root aqua, can
provide scaffolding for learning the related
word aquatic.
2. Provide a variety of oral activities as well as
additional written activities on reproducible
worksheets. Discussions and games (classroom
contests, synonym tic-tac-toe, charades, word
puzzles, and syllable sorts) lead students to
incorporate the new words into their oral and
written vocabularies.
3. Expand students understanding of classical
roots, which is the unique focus of vocabulary
instruction from grades 5 to 8. They provide the
teacher with a sensible and effective way to
teach vocabulary from a roots-based
perspective, even when a background in
classical-language roots is not part of the
teachers own experience. Knowledge of Latin
and Greek roots can give students a head start
on unlocking the meanings of innumerable
words they will meet in the intermediate and
secondary grades.

Aside from the modifications mentioned above,
other modifications may include using graphic
organizers, skywriting, using highlighters, and
peer-assisted learning strategies.
19. Single word identification inefficiency Visual representations and physical responses Creating visual representations of word
23

meaning can be effective with younger and
older students as well as those with individual
needs. Pictures can be accessed electronically
(clip art) or drawn by hand. A key consideration
is the students ability to explain why the
picture is representative of meaning. Following
explicit teaching of word meaning, students
write their own definitions of words, create
pictures, and generate example sentences. These
may be recorded on index cards, in notebooks,
in vocabulary logs, or on posters.
Movement can also play a role in learning word
meaning. Beck and colleagues (1982) designed
an activity that grouped specific words from a
reading passage by the semantic category How
We Move Our Legs. Students were taught a
limited set of movements for each word (e.g.,
stalk, trudge). As words were encountered
during oral reading of the passage, students
acted them out. Teachers indicated students
were enthusiastic about this activity and
researchers reports some success with putting
motions to words.

Paynter et al. (2005) described a sixth-grade
activity involving words associated with parts
of a tree such as crown, trunk, xylem, sapwood,
phloem, and bark. After instruction and creating
word cards with a definition and picture,
students thought about the position their word
would occupy in a drawing of a tree. Then,
instead of drawing it, students became the tree
by placing themselves on the floor to represent
each of their words.
20. Lack of oral word reading fluency Collaborative strategic reading through
Readers Theatre
In collaborative strategic reading, four strategies
are taught to students: (1) a preview component,
24

in which students essentially attempt to activate
background knowledge, (2) comprehension
monitoring during reading by identifying
difficult words and concepts in the passage and
using strategies that address what to do when
text does not make sense, (3) restudying the
most important idea in the paragraph, and (4)
summarization/question asking.

All of these 4 strategies may be embedded by
participation in a readers theatre. Readers
theatre has a considerable reputation as a real-
world reason to reread- the imperative to
rehearse in preparation for performance.
Readers theatre has interesting aspects that can
spur fluency and be a serious motivator for
reading and rereading. It makes use of
performance scripts and a rehearsal process but
does not culminate in a full-scale production.
Students, commonly rehearse sitting on stools
with music stands to hold their scripts. They
perform in that same format, without costumes,
sets, or interactive movement (but may be done
too). The teacher/director orchestrates
rehearsals (rereadings), urging fluency and
expression. Often, readers are taught to scan
their line, look up, and then deliver it- a practice
that promotes seeing/reading in phrases. An
interesting twist is reading lines sequentially,
rather than assigning character parts to
particular students. In this mode, each reader
delivers a line, with the next reading the next
line, and so forth down the row of readers on
their stools. Not being assigned parts requires
that everyone perform with the expression of
the character, even though characters lines are
spoken by various readers. Details and
25

variations of readers theatre can be found on
the Internet, which offers multiple resources
and video demonstrations.

Topic 6: Strategies that could be used to remediate students in the following aspects of written expression: handwriting, spelling,
organization, and composition

TNCore College College and Career
Readiness anchor Standards for Writing

Text types and Purposes
1. Write arguments to support claims in an
analysis of substantive topics or texts, using
valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient
evidence.
2. Write informative/explanatory texts to
examine and convey complex ideas and
information clearly and accurately through
the effective selection, organization, and
analysis of content.
3. Write narratives to develop real or
imagined experiences or events using
effective technique, well-chosen details, and
well-structured event sequences.

Production and distribution of Writing
4. Produce clear and coherent writing in
which the development, organization, and
style are appropriate to task, purpose, and
audience.
5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed
by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or
trying a new approach.
6. Use technology, including the Internet, to
produce and publish writing and to interact
and collaborate with others.
Evidence-based Strategy Title Evidence-based Strategy Description
26


Research to Build and Present Knowledge
7. Conduct short as well as more sustained
research projects based on focused questions,
demonstrating understanding of the subject
under investigation.
8. Gather relevant information from multiple
print and digital sources, assess the
credibility and accuracy of each source, and
integrate the information while avoiding
plagiarism.
9. Draw evidence from literary or
informational texts to support analysis,
reflection, and research.

Range of Writing
10. Write routinely over extended time
frames (time for research, reflection, and
revision) and shorter time frames (a single
sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks,
purposes, and audiences.
21. Composition Excellence in Writing Duke & Pearson (2004) write:

Gradual release of responsibility stipulates that
the teacher moves from assuming all the
responsibility for performing a task to a
situation in which students assume all of the
responsibility. This gradual release may occur
over a day, a week, a month, or a year.

Michael Graves and Bonnie Graves also write
that effective instruction often follows a
progression in which teachers gradually do less
of the work and students do more. It is through
this process of gradually assuming more
responsibility for their learning that students
27

become competent, independent learners.

Fisher & Frey (2007) further describe the
gradual release of responsibility framework for
writing instruction:

In a gradual release of responsibility
instructional framework, the teacher first
models the desired learning. Over time, students
assume more responsibility for the task as they
move from participants in modeled lessons, to
apprentices in shared instruction, to
collaborators with their peers, to independent
performers.

One instructional approach that uses the gradual
release of responsibility framework is the
Excellence in Writing Program. What is it?

The Institute for Excellence in Writings
(IEW's) unique approach provides the structure
that teachers need to move students from
imitation to innovation in all types of writing.
Students develop confidence in the speaking
and writing process while gradually guiding
them toward greater independence and
creativity. They will learn nine structural
models (note-taking, writing paragraphs,
stories, simple reports, writing from pictures,
research reports, creative writing, essays, and
critiques) to help them organize any type of
composition and the thinking skills they need to
develop and express their own thoughts.

Additionally, stylistic techniques (strong verbs,
quality adjectives, sentence openers, and more)
are taught incrementally to gently move
28

students from the basics into more sophisticated
writing. As students work through the writing
process, they use collaboration activities to
learn group listening and speaking skills as well
as public speaking skills.

The teacher guides the students through a
lesson, which will include a structural model
and stylistic techniques for the students to
practice. For example, in Lesson 2 of the
Classroom Supplement & Lesson Plans the
teacher presents a lesson modeled by Andrew
Pudewa on the Models for Imitation DVD.
Students will learn how to create a key word
outline from a non-fiction source text. After
testing the outline and the students'
comprehension by orally turning it back into
sentences, the teacher demonstrates for them
how to add a strong verb and creates a student
generated word wall of possible appropriate
verb choices. He or she gives them several
examples of how to do this, and the students are
instructed to use the outline to write a paragraph
including a strong verb. As students progress,
they will incrementally learn additional
elements to include in their compositions. As
students show proficiency, they move to
independence. The teacher continues to model
for students who need more support.
22. Organization Writing Workshop Fountas & Pinnell (2001) explain what the
writing workshop is all about:

For more than two decades, writing workshop
has been a remarkably effective structure for
supporting developing student writers. It is
commonly thought of as a portion of the school
29

day during which students write independently
on topic they choose themselves. We define
writing workshop as an interrelated
combination of writing experiences that occur
during the writing block of the language/literacy
framework. It encompasses focused writing-
both assigned and self-selected- in a variety of
genres and content areas, including longer
research projects. It also includes providing
specific writing instruction to small groups of
students.

Writing workshop provides the instructional
support students need to become effective
writers who can:
1. Conceptualize a message, story, or topic and
express it in a more or less complete form of
writing.
2. Use language with clarity and voice to
communicate meaning.
3. Think about the reader (audience) while
writing.
4. Organize a written text in a variety of ways to
fit purpose, topic, and audience.
5. Demonstrate a command of spelling,
punctuation, word usage, and sentence
structure.
6. Rethink, revise, and edit their writing.

Fountas & Pinnell (2001) suggest three
instructional contexts in teaching the writing
workshop:
1. Independent writing students work
individually and silently on their writing.
2. Guided writing a teacher pulls together
small temporary groups of writers and teach the
craft, strategies, and skills those writers need at
30

that particular time.
3. Investigations students explore a piece of
literature or a content-area topic in depth, using
reading, writing, and a variety of media
resources, including technology.
23. Spelling Phonetic Zoo The Excellence in Spelling or Phonetic Zoo
rationalizes that auditory input and then spelling
the word out loud, letter by letter, ensures
accurate storage of the correct sequence in the
brain, which allows for correct retrieval and
accurate spelling.

The materials used by a student are the
following: small Zoo cards that include the
lesson title and animals whose names illustrate
the spelling rule and on the back of each card is
the rule or jingle that accompanies each lesson,
headphones, paper and pen, discs, and a disc
player. The Phonetic Zoo spelling words have
three levels A, B, and C.

The teacher keeps a copy of the bigger version
of the Zoo flash cards. The teacher uses the
cards to preview and review the lessons with the
students.

A typical spelling period would run like this:
a. Students bring out their flash cards.
b. The teacher reads the rule out loud (from the
back of the flash card), and have the students
read and spell out loud the three words on the
front of the card which correspond to the chosen
level.
c. The teacher briefly discusses how the animal
name shown on the front meets the rule of the
lesson. The teacher notes a deeper explanation
31

of the spelling rules, some history behind the
rule, and additional commentary to add to the
students understanding of spelling.
d. Each student prepares his/her spelling paper
by numbering 1-15 on the left side, double-
spaced (leaving a blank space between lines).
Students use pen and not pencil. Students go to
the A-V corner to take the spelling test. The
other students remain in their seats practicing
and studying for their turn.
e. Students who are at the A-V corner use the
headphones to listen to the rule or jingle once
again, take the spelling quiz, and make
corrections to their paper.
f. Students take the take the test every day until
they achieve 100 % twice in a row.

Students phonemic awareness skills are
developed while listening to the rule and their
phonic skills are enhanced when they transfer to
the paper the corresponding symbol of the
sound that they are learning.

Each spelling rule is studied for 5 days.
24. Handwriting Formal handwriting instruction Research emphasizes the importance of
handwriting in developing the orthographic
skills needed for reading. According to
Berninger & Richards (2002), Research shows
that handwriting, spelling, and composition are
separable processes but that, when all these
component processes are adequately developed,
they function in concert in the functional
writing system.

There are many advantages to formal
handwriting instruction:
32

1. Beginning readers are reinforcing awareness
of letter shapes when they learn to write-
connecting symbols to letter names and sounds.
Louise Spear-Swerling said that writing focuses
attention on letter form.
2. Time spent on handwriting practice to
improve legibility and develop fluency is a time
saver for both the teacher, who spends less
effort deciphering the writing, and the pupils,
who complete written assignments more
quickly (McMenamin & Martin, 1980).
3. Spelling improves when legibility increases
(Strickling, 1974).
4. Automaticity and fluency in handwriting are
also important because they give individuals


Topic 7: TNCore alignment with evidence-based strategies

TNCore Students Who are College and Career Ready
in Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening, and Language
Strategy Number
1. They demonstrate independence. (self-directed learner) 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16, 17-20, 21-24
2. They build strong content knowledge. (base of knowledge across
content areas)
1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16, 17-20, 21-24
3. They respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose,
and discipline. (adapt communication in relation to audience, task,
purpose, discipline)
1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16, 17-20, 21-24
4. They comprehend as well as critique. (discerning readers and
listeners)
1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16, 17-20, 21-24
5. They value evidence. (use evidence to support points in oral or
written interpretation)
1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16, 17-20, 21-24
6. They use technology and digital media strategically. 5-8, 9, 14, 17, 18, 21
7. They come to understand other perspectives and cultures. 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16, 17-20, 21-24



33

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Tennessee Department of Education. (2014). Applications to students with disabilities. Retrieved from

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