If your organization has less than a semester to decide on and implement instructional materials for your early literacy tutoring program, please use this Expedited Process that condenses Phases 1 and 2 from the Robust Process. The key difference between the Robust and Expedited Processes is the former involves significant stakeholder collaboration. Nonetheless, the Expedited Process outlined below includes the critical steps to reach a strong decision and plan appropriately for implementation.
Similar to the Robust Process, this Expedited Process for selecting and implementing strong early literacy instructional materials includes three phases.
- In Phase , you will select or create strong instructional materials for tutors. A key decision in this phase is whether to align tutoring materials with Tier 1 English Language Arts classroom materials.
- In Phase , you will prepare to implement selected materials. Important steps in this phase include establishing an Implementation Plan and determining how you will monitor student progress once tutoring begins. You will also develop plans for tutor professional learning, so that tutors can implement well the instructional materials you have selected.
- In Phase , tutoring begins, and you will work the plans you developed in Phase 2. A highlight of this phase is that you will collect data on implementation, reflect, and adjust in response.
The chart below outlines the core work in each phase.
| Select/Create Materials | Prepare | Tutor and Learn |
| No: |
Select Strong Early Literacy Instructional Materials
1.1 Set Expectations for Student Learning and Tutor Instruction (see Template here)
WHY? The goal of this step is to ground yourself in what research has demonstrated about how young children learn to read and what adults can do to support all children to do so most effectively. This step will clarify the expectations for students at each grade level your program serves, as set forth in state standards, and your vision for culturally responsive and sustaining education.
WHAT ARE THE KEY ACTION STEPS?
- If your organization doesn’t have staff with deep expertise on how young children learn to read and what adults can do to support all children to do so most effectively, spend some time studying materials that will bring you up to speed. You may find the resources offered in the Accelerator’s Early Literacy Tutor Training Training Recipe Book helpful, specifically those related to How Children Learn to Read and Adults Teach Them to Do So.
- Identify goals for student learning. Tutoring providers should get upfront input from district/schools about the most critical needs students have at each grade-level you serve. For example:
- What are the core goals that students in each grade are struggling to meet that would move them most rapidly toward grade-level reading? (In Kindergarten, that could be mastering letter names and their primary sounds and reading texts that contain them. In first grade, that could be mastering all short vowel and common long-vowel patterns and being able to read texts fluently that contain them. Etc.)
- Name the core beliefs that will anchor your instructional materials, including your vision for culturally responsive and sustaining education. Tutoring providers should align with district/schools on this vision.
- Define the specific student and tutor practices that you would expect to see enacted in tutoring sessions that met your vision. Concretely, this might lead you to develop an observation checklist.
- Reading Corps’ Phoneme Blending Intervention Integrity Observation Checklist is a 10-item checklist that coaches use when observing tutors implementing one intervention.
1.2 Decide Whether to Align with the District’s Tier 1 Instructional Materials
WHY? The goal of this step is to determine whether you will develop your program’s instructional materials to align with the district’s/school’s curriculum or whether you will select your own materials. Though research is not yet conclusive, anecdotal reports support the idea that students benefit when tutoring aligns with and builds from what they experience daily in their classrooms. However, those benefits are only seen in some circumstances and take significant effort to reap.
WHAT ARE THE KEY ACTION STEPS?
- Determine whether students’ classrooms use high quality instructional materials (HQIM) for Tier I instruction. EdReports is one source of curricular evaluations.
- If classrooms use HQIM, it is worth considering whether to align your tutoring materials. If your district’s Tier 1 ELA curriculum comes with corresponding intervention materials, using them is a good choice.
- However, many curricula do not have such corresponding materials. Developing your own aligned materials is a time-intensive process, therefore, in most cases you should move forward with selecting new materials.
- Even while using new materials, you can take simple steps to find synergies between those materials you choose and the HQIM students experience in the classroom.
- For example, you might be able to use the mnemonic devices displayed on cards that are used to teach letter-sound patterns or incorporate specific types of blending or spelling routines from students’ Tier 1 curriculum into the program you choose. Though it won’t give you perfect alignment, it will provide small wins in that students can experience some familiar terminology and routines between their classroom and the tutoring context.
If aligning with high-quality school curricula proceed to 1.3a.
If selecting new instructional materials, proceed to 1.3b.
1.3a Obtain and Distribute Materials
WHY? The goal of this step is to obtain all necessary materials from the intervention program associated with the high-quality instructional materials the district/school uses and get them into the hands of tutors before their training. It is much easier to learn how to implement instructional materials when they are in your hands than when you are hearing them described or seeing screenshots or photocopies only. If you aren’t able to make that happen, knowing in advance will allow you to set realistic expectations with tutors (e.g., when materials will arrive, how you expect them to prepare in the meantime, etc.).
WHAT ARE THE KEY ACTION STEPS?
- Determine an internal division of labor and timeline for all procurement and delivery responsibilities (e.g., can the district work with the HQIM vendor to procure what you need or will you need to; developing materials lists needed for all materials; soliciting and reviewing bids for and selecting printers for any material printing needs; etc.)
- List all materials needed, including:
- specific materials needed from the HQIM’s intervention program that you are using for tutoring
- any additional materials needed to implement this program (e.g., progress monitoring tools; data capture systems; guidance for tutors on any adjustments in how they implement the intervention program, relative to how the materials suggest teachers or interventionists should)
- any enabling materials needed to implement the tutoring that are not included in the HQIM’s intervention program (e.g., technology; white boards; manipulatives like letter tiles; etc.)
- Get the total count of materials needed, including extras in the order to account for students who will move through the program over the year (if materials are consumable)
1.3b Establish Selection Criteria and Prepare for Reviews
WHY? The goal of this step is to establish criteria by which you will review and select the instructional materials your program will use for tutoring. Establishing objective selection criteria, before you look at materials, helps build trust across stakeholders in the process and helps hold you accountable to the vision for student learning and tutor instruction that you already established.
WHAT ARE THE KEY ACTION STEPS?
- Develop your criteria. Use input from the district, obtained in step 1.1. Consider the following criteria for strong early literacy-specific tutoring materials that are culturally responsive and sustaining:
- The program uses an organized, systematic, and cumulative scope and sequence of instruction, beginning with basic concepts and building on learned skills.
- The content in the scope and sequence is aligned to standards.
- The program offers (a) assessments that pinpoint students’ needs and determine the appropriate placement of students in the scope and sequence, (b) resources and tools to collect ongoing data about student progress, and (c) strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so that they demonstrate independent ability with grade-level standards.
- Program materials include a consistent set of instructional routines for tutors to use with students in each session, to support students’ self-regulation, focus, and risk-taking in learning and to lower the burden for tutor preparation.
- Those instructional routines include:
- explicit instruction that is direct, precise, and unambiguous
- student application of what was taught in connected text (words, phrases, sentences, books)
- cumulative practice, so students practice new items along with items already learned
- reading, writing &/or drawing, listening, and speaking about texts, using evidence from the text as support
- Materials are culturally diverse, such that students of all backgrounds read texts that include the historical and contemporary heritages, experiences, and contributions of various ethnic groups and individuals.
- Materials are inclusive and not reliant on assumptions about particular groups of people that were widely accepted in the past but rejected today (e.g., materials are inclusive of transgendered people; children living in a variety of family configurations and not just with a mom and dad, including gay families, single parent households, grandparents, etc.; free from gender or racial stereotypes, etc.).
- Materials and instruction build on the language, literacies, and cultural practices students bring with them to the tutoring program.
- Materials and instruction support students to understand, embrace and respect their identities (e.g., racial, gender, ethnic, linguistic, religious), and the similarities and differences between themselves and others, as a natural part of humanity. (For age-appropriate specific examples, refer to the grade-level outcomes in the Identity and Diversity domains of Teaching Tolerance’s Social Justice Standards.)
- Materials and instruction support students to build age-appropriate sociopolitical consciousness so that they are able to critique the larger norms, values, policies, and institutions that have produced and maintain inequities. (For age-appropriate specific examples, refer to the grade-level outcomes in the Justice and Action domains of Teaching Tolerance’s Social Justice Standards.)
- Review the options profiled in the At-a-Glance Profiles of Strong Early Literacy Materials. Ensure you spend time reviewing options that are within your budget; one profiled option is open-source.
WHY? The goal of this step is to come to a decision about the materials that will best support student learning and tutor instruction and to communicate that decision to all stakeholders.
WHAT ARE THE KEY ACTION STEPS?
- Conduct the reviews and choose the materials that are the best match for student strengths and needs, your budget, the setting in which you tutor (virtual vs. face-to-face), and the profile of your tutors.
- Communicate the decision to stakeholders, emphasizing rationale.
WHY? The goal of this step is to obtain all necessary materials from the vendor you have selected and get them into the hands of tutors before their training. It is much easier to learn how to implement instructional materials when they are in your hands than when you are hearing them described or seeing screenshots or photocopies only. If you aren’t able to make that happen, knowing in advance will allow you to set realistic expectations with tutors (e.g., when materials will arrive, how you expect them to prepare in the meantime, etc.).
WHAT ARE THE KEY ACTION STEPS?
- Determine an internal division of labor and timeline for all procurement and delivery responsibilities (e.g., working with the vendor to determine pricing options for materials and secure best value for the investment; developing materials lists needed for all materials; soliciting and reviewing bids for and selecting printers for any material printing needs; etc.). Though this step will most likely involve you making a purchase, there are some materials available open-source, including one featured in our At-a-Glance Profiles of Strong Early Literacy Materials. If you go that route, you’ll need to budget for printing and distributing and possibly for enabling materials to support implementation.
- List all materials needed, including:
- specific materials needed from the instructional materials you’re purchasing/obtaining
- any additional materials needed to implement the tutoring program that are not included in the purchase (e.g., progress monitoring plans; data capture and sharing systems)
- any enabling materials needed to implement tutoring that are not included in the purchase (e.g., technology; white boards; manipulatives like letter tiles; etc.)
- Get the total count of materials needed, including extras in the order to account for students who will move through the program over the year (if materials are consumable)
Prepare to Implement
2.1 Develop Implementation Plan (see Template here)
WHY? The goal of this step is to articulate what will make a successful implementation effort through an Implementation and Progress Monitoring Plan and to determine the people in your organization who are responsible for putting those plans into motion.
WHAT ARE THE KEY ACTION STEPS?
- Create an Implementation Plan including:
- the scope and sequence tutors will follow and how it relates to placement assessments;
- the instructional routines tutors will use or select from and how those decisions relate to progress monitoring;
- what individualization decisions tutors can make and guidance for how they should make them;
- a framework for professional learning, including tutor training and ongoing continuous development, and the role instructional materials play in that;
- how staff and coaches will understand the instructional materials
- Make a clear division of labor, so that all decisions and the work that flows from them have an owner.
- Develop goals for successful implementation of the instructional materials. You might consider goals related to stakeholder (tutors, principals, district leaders, students) investment in the materials; tutor skillfulness in implementation; and student outcomes on progress monitoring tools. Consult the Measures & Data Collection section of the Accelerator’s Toolkit for Tutoring Programs for guidance. Additionally, Instruction Partner’s resource Goals for Implementation might be useful to adapt to the tutoring context.
- For each goal, determine when and how you’ll know whether you are on track. Consult the Measures & Data Collection section of the Accelerator’s Toolkit for Tutoring Programs for guidance. Additionally, Instruction Partner’s resource Progress Monitoring Plan and Approaches might be useful to adapt to the tutoring context. Determine what data you need and who is responsible for getting it.
- Set dates for step-backs on progress toward goals and determine who should be invited to those.
2.2 Establish Assessment and Progress Monitoring Plan (see Template here)
WHY? The goal of this step is to clarify how diagnostic assessments will determine where students are placed in a sequence of instruction, what their goals will be, and how student progress will be monitored. This step helps you ensure that students are receiving instruction targeted to their needs for the appropriate length of time and helps you check the quality of tutoring instruction.
WHAT ARE THE KEY ACTION STEPS?
- Examine the diagnostic assessments in your selected instructional materials. Determine if they provide you the level of targeted information needed to place students appropriately in a scope and sequence of instruction (e.g., student has mastered these 8 letter-sound relationships only vs. student is in the pre-alphabetic stage or at a particular lexile or reading level). The goal is to ensure that tutoring is focused on the skills with which students need instruction and practice. For tutoring providers:
- If using an intervention aligned to Tier 1 HQIM, take this step collaboratively with the district.
- If using other instructional materials, consult the district about diagnostic assessments administered to students to determine if data-sharing might be viable.
- Select external diagnostic assessments only if there are none that will serve your purpose within your selected materials or within what the district/school administers.
- Reading Rockets’ Reading 101: Assessment In Practice offers guidance on what is measured with each literacy skill assessment, the age/grade when a skill should be mastered, sample assessment questions and videos of those being administered to students, and links to widely used diagnostic assessments.
- Determine if those same assessments can also serve to monitor student’s progress over time, or if other assessments are needed.
- Determine who will administer diagnostic and progress-monitoring assessments (e.g., tutors or other school staff). Tutoring providers should take this step in coordination with partner districts/schools.
- Locate any progress monitoring tools within your selected instructional materials. Determine if those are sufficient or you need to find/develop others. Your purpose is to be able to track and report out student goals and progress toward them over time in a user-friendly way and to be able to “roll-up” data so that you can see trends at different levels (across groups of tutors, by coach; across grade-levels; at the school-level; etc.).
- Organize progress monitoring tools so they are easily accessible to all users.
- Establish the frequency with which progress monitoring will happen and how decisions about student progress will be made. Though all decisions will be made based on data, you might decide to equip tutors to make decisions themselves. Alternatively, you might have tutors review data with their coaches before making decisions. Or, your program may be set up so that teachers or other school-level staff make all data-based decisions and instruct tutors on how students should progress.
- Determine how student progress will be communicated with stakeholders (between tutor & teachers; with caregivers). Tutoring providers should take this step in coordination with partner districts/schools.
- Develop any systems to facilitate stakeholder communication, paying careful attention to that communication happens in the home languages of the students you tutor.
2.3 Develop Professional Learning Plan
WHY? The goal of this step is to make a plan for how all forms of professional learning your organization (tutoring provider or district) employs will support tutors to learn about and use instructional materials to tutor effectively. We recommend you include practice-based formal learning, feedback and individualized coaching, and a community of support and social learning as three methods by which you train and continuously develop tutors, as outlined in the Accelerator’s Framework for Professional Learning. This step will help you decide how the instructional materials feature in your professional learning plan.
WHAT ARE THE KEY ACTION STEPS?
- Understand -- or make decisions about -- the methods of professional learning, both initial training and continuous development, your organization (tutoring provider or district) uses.
- Determine how each method of professional learning can help tutors to understand and build capacity to implement instructional materials with students in culturally responsive and sustaining ways. For example:
- Practice-based formal learning: Place the instructional routines, activities, or interventions that are taught through your materials at the center of practice-based formal learning opportunities.
- Feedback and individualized coaching: Ensure observation tools prompt coaches to look for the evidence of implementation of the materials that is meaningful to your program and aligned to your instructional vision.
- Community of support and social learning: Offer digital communication and networking tools that allow tutors and coaches to prepare lessons, share videos of practice, and give & receive feedback.
- Consult the resources in relevant sections of the Framework for Professional Learning for more ideas and support.
- Plan for the training of coaches and trainers, so that they understand the materials and are prepared to support tutors.
Tutor and Learn
3.1 Implement Tutoring and Gather Data
WHY? The goal of this step is to implement the plan you developed in Phase 2, using your Implementation Support Team or advisory group. Plans can be beautifully written and then sit in digital or physical binders, only loosely supporting action. The goal of this step is to put the plan in motion, with a focus on supporting tutors and monitoring progress.
WHAT ARE THE KEY ACTION STEPS?
- Implement your plan for professional learning. Pay attention to how you’re tracking toward deadlines and what support is needed to implement the plan with excellence. Problem-solve any matters that are diverting your focus.
- See the work happening. Observe at all levels of implementation to get a full picture. Note what is going well and what needs work.
- Listen to questions and concerns and seek to understand where they are coming from. Determine which concerns you can address easily -- and do so -- and which will require deeper problem-solving.
- Hold regular meetings and celebrate your successes. Refine and adjust as needed.
3.2 Reflect and Adjust (see Checklist and Template here)
WHY? The goal of this step is to examine progress to goals, determine what’s working, and learn from and solve for significant challenges. Your team will meet regularly to check on how the work is progressing and address issues that arise. But having a meeting set aside at longer intervals (suggested quarterly) to step away from daily challenges and look at the big picture of how implementation is going will support deeper reflection and more effective problem-solving.
WHAT ARE THE KEY ACTION STEPS?
- Gather all quantitative and qualitative data needed to measure progress toward goals. Disaggregate data to evaluate your progress for particular subgroups of students (students of color, students in low-income households, English learners, students with disabilities), to monitor how equitably you’re serving all students. Consult the Measures & Data Collection section of the Accelerator’s Toolkit for Tutoring Programs for guidance.
- Prepare an agenda for the data reflection meeting, ensure facilitators are prepared, and share the goals and agenda, and any pre-work to participants, if relevant.
- Conduct the meeting so that you step-back to reflect on progress and challenges.
- Get clear on your current progress to goals and analyze what’s leading to successes and what’s inhibiting progress.
- Celebrate successes!
- Identify a small number of priorities for change. Uncover the root causes of the problems. Determine action steps needed to make change.
- Determine how you’ll know if the changes were successful.
- Adjust the Implementation Plan and communicate changes to all relevant stakeholders.
WHY? The goal of this step is to reflect back on the year, celebrate growth, name areas for improvement, and determine the work ahead. The end of a year of tutoring allows for reflection on how effectively short-cycles of progress monitoring have worked and for consideration of a broader swath of data, including students’ overall growth as a result of tutoring. Also, it may allow for more significant adjustments, given new possibilities for tutors, a longer runway for adjustments to materials or training, etc.
WHAT ARE THE KEY ACTION STEPS?
- Gather all quantitative and qualitative data needed to report on how the organization (tutoring provider or district) performed against goals. Disaggregate data to evaluate your progress for particular subgroups of students (students of color, students in low-income households, English learners, students with disabilities), to monitor how equitably you’re serving all students. Consult the Measures & Data Collection section of the Accelerator’s Toolkit for Tutoring Programs for guidance.
- Prepare an agenda for a Reset Meeting, ensure facilitators are prepared, and share the goals and agenda, and any pre-work to participants, if relevant.
- Conduct the meeting so that you step-back to reflect on wins and misses.
- Identify the goals you met. What enabled success? Celebrate!
- Identify the goals you missed. What held you back?
- Discuss what you’d like to be different next year and identify a few areas of priority and focus.
- Discuss goals for the coming year, in light of wins and areas of priority focus for change.
- Solidify goals for the upcoming year, building off of discussions in the step-back.
- Adjust the Implementation and Progress Monitoring Plans for year 2 to reflect new goals, priority areas of focus, and any changes to how you’ll manage implementation to reach goals.
- Determine division of labor for year two work, particularly work that is different than in year one.
- Celebrate success and invest others in the next year of implementation.
- Determine the best ways to communicate your annual successes and priority areas of focus for the coming year. This communication might differ slightly for different stakeholders. For example, caregivers and school staff may receive a one-page overview while district leadership may get more in-depth materials.
- Find a way to appreciate the hard work of all team members who worked on early literacy tutoring instructional materials in year one.