C-M adapts literacy curriculum for elementary students
The Canon-McMillan School District is adopting a new literacy curriculum for grades K-6.
Previously, the district adopted a “balanced literacy” approach in 2007, which assessed students’ reading levels, employed cueing techniques and sight word memorization and taught reading comprehension skills in isolation. However, it became evident that confining students to specific reading levels hindered their skill growth over time.
The district introduced a “structured literacy” curriculum in the past school year to address this issue, emphasizing group learning and teacher-led discussions. This cross-curricular approach dives deep into select concepts to establish a solid foundation of knowledge and vocabulary. The core of the structured literacy program lies in explicit instruction delivered by teachers before employing other instructional strategies.
Dr. Greg Taranto, assistant to the superintendent for K-6, shared, “This past school year, we were quite intentional with our research to find the best way to approach literacy instruction. I am excited to say that we have the training and materials in place to have a complete structured literacy program in place at our elementary and intermediate schools. All students will have a uniform and systematic literacy experience. This means a strong emphasis on word recognition and decoding in grades K-2 and a shift in grades 3-6 to reading to learn rich content where the text serves a purpose. We will also have varying levels of reading interventions in place for students who show a need for additional help. Canon-McMillan will truly be a model school district for offering structured literacy in this upcoming school year.”
The transition to a structured literacy curriculum for grades K-6 promotes numerous benefits for students. By adopting this approach, students will develop stronger reading abilities and improve their comprehension of intricate texts more effectively than in previous years. The structured literacy program equips students with the essential skills needed to seamlessly transition from K-6 to the secondary level while fostering their continued growth and expansion of core knowledge.