Literacy

Literacy Curriculum Review and Selection Process (Updated January 2025)
NPS is in the midst of a Literacy Review and Selection Process for our Tier I (Core) Program. Below, please find the description of our current Literacy Program, as well as information about our review process.

 
Literacy Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in the Needham Public Schools
The Needham Public Schools provides a comprehensive literacy program to best meet the needs of all students. Through our programming, students develop critical foundational skills such as phonemic awareness, word recognition, phonics and decoding as well as engage in authentic reading and writing to develop their stamina, ability to understand and critique increasingly complex texts, and nurture their identities as readers and writers. Our Kindergarten and Grade 1 learners receive direct instruction and practice in the critical area of phonemic awareness through the Heggerty Program. Students in Kindergarten through Grade 3 receive explicit instruction in phonics, word study, and spelling in the Fundations program (K-3). Additionally, students receive reading and writing instruction through the workshop model that includes core instructional practices, such as read aloud, small group instruction, shared reading, conferring, and independent reading and writing with support from the teacher. Students see reading and writing modeled, share in the reading and writing with the teacher, practice independently, and reflect on their learning through discussion with peers. Our literacy curriculum is aligned with the MA Curriculum Frameworks and the Common Core.

Reading and Writing Units of Study
Our Units of Study in Reading and Writing aim to prepare students for any reading and writing task they will face and help them develop into life-long, confident readers and writers who display agency and independence. Our workshop approach to instruction is designed to help teachers address each child’s individual learning through a variety of methods: explicit strategy instruction, small-group work and conferring with multiple opportunities for personalizing instruction, a power of a learning community, and opportunities for choice and assessment-based learning built into the very design of the curriculum. Workshop routines and structures are kept simple and predictable so that teachers can focus on the complex work of teaching in a responsive manner to accelerate achievement for all learners.

Phonemic Awareness Instruction
The Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Program in Grades K and 1 provides explicit, systematic instruction of Phonemic Awareness for our youngest learners. The Heggerty program was adopted for Kindergarten in the 2020-21 school year and in Grade 1 in the 2022-23 School Year.

Phonics, Word Study, & Spelling Instruction
The Wilson phonics program, FUNDATIONS, provides explicit, systematic instruction in phonological/phonemic awareness, phonics, and spelling in all K-3 classrooms. The program consists of research-validated instructional strategies incorporated into daily 30-minute lessons. The district provides professional development to teachers who are new to Needham or to a grade level, as well as ongoing coaching and professional learning keep our practice current. FUNDATIONS includes a handwriting program in K-2. The district is currently exploring the best methods to continue a systematic approach to Word Study/Spelling Instruction in Grades 4 & 5.

Literacy Assessment
Ongoing assessment is at the heart of sound practice. Our approach to assessment reflects our commitment to assessing if students have the foundational skills to be successful readers, as well as monitoring their progress in terms of comprehension and critical reading of complex texts as they move up the grades. Our current model is as follows:

  •  The DIBELS literacy screener is administered 2-3 times per year in Grades K-5 to provide information on critical foundational skills so that we may instruct students effectively and minimize any risk of developing reading difficulties.
  •  The Heggerty program (K-1) provides daily formative data on how students are interacting with the various skills and hand motions used in the multi sensory approach.
  •  Ongoing FUNdations assessments (K-3) ensure that students are taking on the learning in our systematic phonics program.
  •  Kindergarten assessments are given in fall and spring and include letter sound knowledge, phoneme segmentation, word reading, and concepts of print.
  •  The F&P Benchmark assessment in grades 1-5 provides another opportunity for teachers to sit and read with individual students to better understand how they comprehend texts on multiple levels – a literal level, an inferential level, and a critical level including their understanding of author’s craft.
  •  Our literacy specialists are trained in multiple assessments that they can use to dig deeper when we need more information on students.
  •  The use of ongoing formative assessments to record anecdotal evidence, observational notes, and comments to document performance as well as to inform instruction is also an expectation.

 Our goal is to use all of these varied assessments to understand a reader’s profile so that we can build on their strengths and instruct in their areas that need support.

Professional Development
The district provides a comprehensive professional learning support system for educators in the area of literacy teaching and learning. Literacy Coaches are available to help with matters of literacy curriculum, instruction & assessment through consult and individual and group coaching cycles. Teachers engage in district-designed professional learning sessions and have opportunities to participate in off-site learning experiences. Teams also collaborate and reflect on practice in a variety of settings, such as school-based common planning time and data meetings with coaches.

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