What type of early literacy instruction and intervention do schools need to provide?

Act 20 states that all Wisconsin schools are required to provide science-based early literacy instruction in both universal and intervention settings. Science-based early literacy instruction is defined as the following.

Instruction that is systematic and explicit and consists of all the following:

• Phonological awareness
• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics
• Building background knowledge
• Oral language development
• Vocabulary building
• Instruction in writing
• Instruction in comprehension
• Reading fluency

Phonics is defined as the study of the relationships between sounds and words; this includes alphabetic principle, decoding, orthographic knowledge, encoding, and fluency.

Note that the Wisconsin Standards for ELA 2020 defines fluency as being comprised of accuracy, automaticity, and prosody.

What reading information are school districts required to share with families?

Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year, provide parents and families with results of the reading readiness screener no later than 15 days after the assessment is scored in an understandable format that includes all of the following:

• The pupil's score on the reading readiness assessment.
• The pupil's score in each early literacy skill category assessed by the reading readiness assessment.
• The pupil's percentile rank score on the reading readiness assessment, if available.
• The definition of “at-risk” and the score on the reading readiness assessment that would indicate that a pupil is at-risk.
• A plain language description of the literacy skills the reading readiness assessment is designed to measure.

If a child is promoted to 4th grade without completing their personal reading plan, parents must be notified in writing along with a description of the reading interventions that child will continue to receive.

The Wisconsin Reads link is available through the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) website. Please refer to this page for additional information and updates regarding ACT 20.

2023 ACT 20 Requirements

All K-3 teachers, principals where there are grades K-3, and reading specialists must receive training on science-based literacy instruction by July 1, 2025. This must be from an approved list.  

CCSD's Training Plan

All 4K through Grade Five teachers, reading teachers, instructional coaches, special education staff, and administration will participate in training through AIM Institute for Learning & Research. 

Our professional teaching staff (Early Childhood and 4K Teachers) will complete Steps to Literacy Early Childhood Pathway training during the 2024-2025 school year. 

Our professional teaching staff (5K through Grade 5 and selected Special Education teachers) will complete Pathways to Proficient Reading during the 2024-2025 school year. 

Our Elementary Principal and Reading Specialist will complete Pathways to Literacy Leadership during the 2024-2025 school year. All administrators and reading specialists will complete the leadership training before July 1, 2025.

Early Literacy Curriculum Council's List of Recommended Early Literacy Curricula 12/6/24

The Department of Public Instruction has adopted the following list of early literacy curricula as required by Wisc. §§118.015(1m)(b). This list includes the two curricula recommended by the council for use in school year 25-26 (marked with *) and the four curricula previously recommended by the council.

• Bookworms Reading and Writing K-3 (Open Up Resources, 2022)
• Core Knowledge Language Arts K-3 (CKLA, Amplify Education, 2022) 
  • Current curriculum resource for CCSD
• EL Education K-3 Language Arts (Open Up Resources, 2017) 
• * HMH Into Reading with Amira (HMH, 2023) 
• * Wit and Wisdom with Geodes (Great Minds, 2023) and Fundations® (Wilson Language Training®, 2020)
• Wit and Wisdom with Geodes (Great Minds, 2023) and Really Great Reading (Countdown 2017, Blast Foundations 2014, HD Word 2015)

2023 ACT 20 Requirements

Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year, provide parents and families with results of the reading readiness screener no later than 15 days after the assessment is scored in an understandable format that includes all of the following:

The pupil's score on the reading readiness assessment.

The pupil's score in each early literacy skill category is assessed by the reading readiness assessment.

The pupil's percentile rank score on the reading readiness assessment, if available.

The definition of “at-risk” and the score on the reading readiness assessment that would indicate that a pupil is at-risk.

A plain language description of the literacy skills the reading readiness assessment is designed to measure.

If a child is promoted to 4th grade without completing their personal reading plan, parents must be notified in writing along with a description of the reading interventions that child will continue to receive.

CCSD's Implementation

All families will receive their child's results on all universal assessments, not just the required Early Literacy Assessment. These results will be printed reports from the assessment and a letter explaining the results and all other required information related to special education and dyslexia. All communication will be translated into the family's preferred language. 

*This is our practice on all universal and state-required assessments 4K-12 as we value our partnership with families.

The United States Department of Education, State of Wisconsin, and the Clinton Community School District each require a variety of assessments for a variety of purposes. Below is a list of the assessments, their subject matter, purpose, mandate, and if possible, time spent to schedule and take the assessment, and distribute results. Please direct any questions you have on these or other assessments to our District Assessment Coordinator: Mrs. Belinda McCarthy (bemccarthy@clintonwis.com) 

Assessment Schedule for CCSD