Literacy is critical to economic development, individual success, and community well-being. To improve literacy achievement, school districts are responsible for creating a comprehensive plan for implementing evidence-based programs and practices.
create a working draft of a comprehensive plan to ensure all literacy components are included in the school and district-level approaches.
Step 1. Review
Review the resources linked on the Learning Objects page supporting the creation of a district-level plan for literacy.
Step 2. Determine
Determine evidence-based practices for literacy instruction in Grades K-12.
Step 3. Establish
Establish how each component of your plan will be evaluated to determine its effectiveness.
Step 4. Create
Create a 3-5-page comprehensive plan. Your draft plan will be peer-reviewed in the Module 2 discussion.
Step 5. Conclude
Conclude with a two-page reflection about this process and anticipate what barriers might prevent the plan’s implementation.
Sample Answer
District-Wide Comprehensive Literacy Plan: Building Foundational Skills for K-12 Success
I. Introduction and Foundational Philosophy
A. Vision Statement
Our vision is for every student in the district to become a proficient, passionate, and critical reader, writer, and communicator, equipped with the literacy skills necessary for economic prosperity, civic engagement, and lifelong learning.
B. Foundational Philosophy: The Science of Reading
This Comprehensive Literacy Plan (CLP) is non-negotiably grounded in the Science of Reading (SoR)—the cumulative body of research across multiple disciplines (cognitive psychology, neuroscience, educational linguistics) that defines how the human brain learns to read. This necessitates a shift from balanced literacy to Structured Literacy, which is explicit, systematic, and diagnostic.
The plan embraces Scarborough’s Rope Model to ensure instruction addresses all necessary components: Word Recognition (phonological awareness, decoding, sight recognition) and Language Comprehension (background knowledge, vocabulary, language structure, verbal reasoning, literacy knowledge).
C. Scope and Equity Statement
This plan applies to all instructional staff (general education, special education, English Language Learners, and interventionists) across all subjects and grade levels (K-12). We are committed to literacy as an equity issue, ensuring that instructional consistency and robust intervention eliminate disparities in reading proficiency across all student subgroups.
II. Evidence-Based Instructional Practices (Grades K-12)
The core instructional framework is based on the Five Essential Components of Reading Instruction (from the National Reading Panel) and the broader components of Structured Literacy.
A. The Five Pillars of Reading Instruction
Instruction at the Tier 1 (Core) level across all grades must include explicit instruction in the following: