Formative Assessment
A large body of research demonstrates that formative assessment—the process of using ongoing assessment to inform instruction—has a large and positive impact on student achievement (Kingston and Nash 2011, National Research Council 2012). A2i includes three online assessments of children’s decoding (Letters2Meaning), vocabulary (Word Match Game), and comprehension skills (Reading4Meaning). The Word Match Game and Letters2Meaning are adaptive and focus on early elementary skills like decoding single words and reading a sentence or two, cover Grades K–3, and are administered every six weeks. They are normed to subtests of the Woodcock- Johnson III assessment (Picture Vocabulary, Letter-Word ID, and Passage Comprehension subtests) and the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, further confirming the validity of the assessments. Reading4Meaning is a passage comprehension assessment that includes more complex tasks like understanding genre and inferencing and is intended for students reading at a second- or third-grade reading level. The assessments collectively produce three data points: a developmental scale score and grade- and age-equivalent scores. The Letters2Meaning and Word Match Game assessments are connected to four grade-level algorithms (K–3). The algorithms use a student’s current grade, the time of the year, and current reading and vocabulary levels to make precise recommendations for needed daily minutes of the four types of reading instruction for each child (code-focused, meaning-focused, student-managed, and teacher-managed instruction) to advance student learning. These instructional recommendations can be used to guide instruction regardless of curricula.
Professional Learning
A2i aligns with research-based professional development practices. A2i’s professional learning is intensive, sustained, content-focused, coherent, well-defined, and strongly implemented (e.g., Borko 2004, Desimone 2009, Darling-Hammond et al. 2017). A2i offers a wide array of tools to increase the likelihood that A2i will be implemented with high fidelity: 1) literacy scan templates, literacy plans, and tools that help gauge district readiness for implementation; 2) tools that help teachers, school leaders, principals, and district leaders implement the program system-wide; 3) online training that spells out why differentiation is essential, critical components of A2i, and how to maximize results; 4) huddles and individualized coaching plans that address assessment best practices, test scores, graphs, progress monitoring, implementation, research, and differentiation; and 5) a literacy framework that helps literacy outcomes specialists and administrators reflect on, discuss, and observe instruction. A2i also offers a course that teaches educators to identify and understand the critical components of literacy instruction (phonemic awareness, phonics, encoding, decoding, vocabulary, background knowledge, comprehension, oral language, fluency, and writing), apply best practices as identified through the research, and connect and implement instructional practices discussed.
6 | A2i Summary of Research
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