Smarty Ants

The Role of Foundational Skills

in an Era of Challenging

Curriculum

P. David Pearson

UC Berkeley

Achieve 3000 will make these slides available

2

Goals for the Talk

Discuss the place of foundational skills in

the post NCLB world.

Review what we know about the best ways

to get young readers and writers off to a

good start

Background for understanding the logic and

affordances of Achieve 3000’s Smarty Ants

learning environment

Four parts to this presentation

I. What do we know about foundational

skills in general and the principles that

should guide early reading?

II. What do we know about the guiding

principles of Smarty Ants?

III. How does Smarty Ants map onto the

research base?

IV. Where does Smarty Ants fit into a

comprehensive ELA curriculum? 3

Why this focus on foundational

skills in this current policy

climate?...

4

Bottom Line: Reading

Foundational skills are just that:/ PA

/ LS Knowledge

/ Accurate decoding of words

/ Automatic reading of words

/ Fluency reading of text

/ Comprehending what you read

/ Critiquing what you read

/ Productive citizens, consumers, workers, friends.

5

Bottom Line: Writing

Foundational skills are just that:/ PA

/ SL Knowledge

/ Accurate spelling of word parts

/ Fluent spelling/writing of text

/ Effective composition—saying what you want

/ Critiquing what you and others write

/ Productive citizens, consumers, workers, friends.

6

Part I: Key Principles Derived from an Extensive

Research Base that is Independent of Smarty Ants

Phonemic awareness is the foundation of solid phonics

instruction

Teach phonics first and fast

Kids learn to read by reading

Writing and spelling reinforce what kids are learning in

reading

Build a progress monitoring system based on solid

formative assessment tools

Kids learn more when motivational conditions are optimal

Family engagement enhances literacy growth.

7

Research Base

National Reading Panel Report 2000

National Early Literacy Panel 2010

Handbook of Reading Research (2000 and

2011)

Recent articles and chapters relevant to

these issues

8

9

A special nod to the 2000 NRP Report

18 month effort

Distinguished National Panel

Selective review of research

/ Experimental or quasi-experimental

/ Control group

/ Other methodological standards

Meta-analysis

/ (Mexp - Mcont) )/ sdcont

/ Report effect sizes (sd units)

10

What the report says about

phonics

Overall, phonics instruction had a significant effect on reading

achievement.

The effect was greater on measures of decoding or word recognition

than on measures of comprehension or oral reading.

Phonics instruction proved more effective in kindergarten and first

grade than in grades 2-6.

The same general trend (effective for younger but not older children)

was also found for children with reading problems.

No particular approach singled itself out—what mattered was

coherence and systematicity.

A variety of text types were associated with successful programs,

including decodable, predictable, and ordinary texts

11

What the report says about

phonemic awareness

Phonological awareness instruction is

effective in kindergarten and first grade.

Phonological awareness instruction is

especially effective when combined with

letter training and as part of a total literacy

program

A modest number of total hours—closer to

20 than to 100 in K.

Other NRP Findings

Fluency matters: but the goal is reading

with expression not speed.

Comprehension matters: support it with

useful strategies and rich talk about text.

Vocabulary matters:

/ Access to the words you know but cannot read

/ And the words you don’t yet know.

12

13

Utility of the Report

It was incredibly useful to be able to assert,

with greater confidence, what we know

about teaching reading effectively.

So that we can turn our energies to other

less well understood issues

BUT….. There is still the hard work of

making this all happen..

14

So what does this mean for you

as a educator?

Make sure that your primary grade reading

programs provide for systematic instruction

in phonics.

Teach children to use phonics as one of

several tools (including context and sight

words) for reading words, especially

unknown words.

15

So what does all this mean for

you as an educator

In kindergarten, begin to teach phonemic

awareness in conjunction with letter-sound

instruction.

But also promote it though oral language

activities, such as rhyming and alliteration

songs and games, and invented spelling

activities (encouraging children to spell

words the way they sound)*.*a key role for Smarty Ants

16

Some more (free) advice about

teaching phonics and other word

recognition strategies

17

Take a broad approach to word

recognition: Word reading is

supported by... letter-sound decoding (buh-ah-tuh=/bat/)

decoding words by analogy with known

words (mother looks like brother so it must

sound like it)

sight word learning

context clues (it must have something to do

with birds because that is what the story is

about). [the controversial one].

18

Keep the goals of phonics

instruction clearly in mindImmediate: to allow initial word identification

of unknown words;

Long term: to help students move words into

their sight word repertoire, where they can be

recognized instantly, without arduous analysis.

Ultimate: to get to word meaning on the way to

understanding what is read.

19

Quote from the late Steve Stahl

We do not teach phonics so that students

can decode words, we teach it so that they

can recognize words automatically.

20

Learn to appreciate what phonics

and other word learning

strategies can do for readers

21

Conserving Our Natural Resources

The need for conservationThe earth is full of natural resources that we use every day.However, we have to be careful how we use these valuableresources.

If we cut down too many trees, the forests willdisappear. Then there will be no trees to use to buildhouses or to make paper. There will be no place for wildanimals and wild birds to live and hide. People will not beable to camp in the forests.

If we dump trash and garbage into the rivers andoceans, the waters will become polluted or dirty. The dirtywater will be unhealthy for people to use. It will also beharmful to the fish and other water animals.

If we let factories pour smoke into the air, our air willbecome polluted. Polluted air can make our eyes sting andfill with tear. It can make paint on buildings fade and eeloff. It can eat away metal. It can kill trees and hurt otherplants. Polluted air hurts almost everything it touches.

Trees, water, and air are some of our most importantnatural resources. We need to take care of them so they willnot be spoiled and wastes. This good use of naturalresources is called conservation.

From a 4th grade state test

22


The need for conservation

The earth is full of natural resources that we use every day. However, we have

to be careful how we use these valuable resources.

If we cut down too many trees, the forests will disappear. Then there

will be no trees to use to build houses or to make paper. There will be no place

for wild animals and wild birds to live and hide. People will not be able to

camp in the forests.

If we dump trash and garbage into the rivers and oceans, the waters

will become polluted or dirty. The dirty water will be unhealthy for people to

use. It will also be harmful to the fish and other water animals.

If we let factories pour smoke into the air, our air will become

polluted. Polluted air can make our eyes sting and fill with tear. It can make

paint on buildings fade and peel off. It can eat away metal. It can kill trees and

hurt other plants. Polluted air hurts almost everything it touches.

Trees, water, and air are some of our most important natural

resources. We need to take care of them so they will not be spoiled and wasted.

This good use of natural resources is called conservation.

Green = 100 high frequency

Here’s what you could read if you knew the 100 most

common sight words in English.

23



The earth is full of natural resources that we use every day. However, we have

to be careful how we use these valuable resources.

If we cut down too many trees, the forests will disappear. Then there

will be no trees to use to build houses or to make paper. There will be no place

for wild animals and wild birds to live and hide. People will not be able to

camp in the forests.

If we dump trash and garbage into the rivers and oceans, the waters

will become polluted or dirty. The dirty water will be unhealthy for people to

use. It will also be harmful to the fish and other water animals.

If we let factories pour smoke into the air, our air will become

polluted. Polluted air can make our eyes sting and fill with tear. It can make

paint on buildings fade and peel off. It can eat away metal. It can kill trees and

hurt other plants. Polluted air hurts almost everything it touches.

Trees, water, and air are some of our most important natural

resources. We need to take care of them so they will not be spoiled and wasted.

This good use of natural resources is called conservation.

Green = high frequency Purple = common pattern

Blue = both high frequency and common pattern

Here’s what you could read if you could also decode

the most common word family patterns

24



The earth is full of natural resources that we use every day. However,

we have to be careful how we use these valuable resources.

If we cut down too many trees, the forests will disappear.

Then there will be no trees to use to build houses or to make paper.

There will be no place for wild animals and wild birds to live and

hide. People will not be able to camp in the forests.

If we dump trash and garbage into the rivers and oceans,

the waters will become polluted or dirty. The dirty water will be

unhealthy for people to use. It will also be harmful to the fish and

other water animals.

If we let factories pour smoke into the air, our air will

become polluted. Polluted air can make our eyes sting and fill with

tear. It can make paint on buildings fade and peel off. It can eat away

metal. It can kill trees and hurt other plants. Polluted air hurts almost

everything it touches.

Trees, water, and air are some of our most important

natural resources. We need to take care of them so they will not be

spoiled and wasted. This good use of natural resources is called

conservation.

Green = high frequency Purple = common pattern

Blue = both hf and cp Red = uncommon words

25



The earth is full of natural resources that we use every day. However, we

have to be careful how we use these valuable resources.

If we cut down too many trees, the forests will disappear. Then there will

be no trees to use to build houses or to make paper. There will be no place for wild

animals and wild birds to live and hide. People will not be able to camp in the

forests.

If we dump trash and garbage into the rivers and oceans, the waters will

become polluted or dirty. The dirty water will be unhealthy for people to use. It will

also be harmful to the fish and other water animals.

If we let factories pour smoke into the air, our air will become polluted.

Polluted air can make our eyes sting and fill with tear. It can make paint on

buildings fade and peel off. It can eat away metal. It can kill trees and hurt other

plants. Polluted air hurts almost everything it touches.

Trees, water, and air are some of our most important natural resources.

We need to take care of them so they will not be spoiled and wasted. This good use

of natural resources is called conservation.

Green 100 high frequency Purple = common pattern

Blue = both hf and cp Light Green = 300 HF

Magenta= more patterns, but less common

Underlined Red = more even less common patterns

Brown = syllables and affixes

Here’s what you could read if you knew more sight words,

could also decode the less common patterns, and could attend

to word parts.

26


The need for conservationThe earth is full of natural resources that we use every day.However, we have to be careful how we use these valuableresources.

If we cut down too many trees, the forests willdisappear. Then there will be no trees to use to buildhouses or to make paper. There will be no place for wildanimals and wild birds to live and hide. People will not beable to camp in the forests.

If we dump trash and garbage into the rivers andoceans, the waters will become polluted or dirty. The dirtywater will be unhealthy for people to use. It will also beharmful to the fish and other water animals.

If we let factories pour smoke into the air, our air willbecome polluted. Polluted air can make our eyes sting andfill with tear. It can make paint on buildings fade and eeloff. It can eat away metal. It can kill trees and hurt otherplants. Polluted air hurts almost everything it touches.

Trees, water, and air are some of our most importantnatural resources. We need to take care of them so they willnot be spoiled and wastes. This good use of naturalresources is called conservation.

So…

If we can be thorough and systematic about

equipping kids with a kit of word reading

tools and some way of monitoring for

meaning,

They should be able to make their way

through a lot of tough texts, including those

that come to us in this era of text

complexity and close reading.

27

Principle 3: You gotta’ play the

game: Kids learn to read by reading

NRP: Fluency findings

Book Flood and Reading Log studies:

reading time predicts growth.

Library studies

Reading Recovery findings

Shared reading research with pre-schoolers

and parents

28

My analogy with summer

basketball camp

Kids want to play the game

29

Why? Because kids want to play the game.

Principle 5: Writing and spelling

reinforce what kids learn in reading*

At the letter level :/ Spelling sound correspondences

/ Sound spelling correspondences

At the word level:/ Reading words

/ Writing/making words

At the text level/ Reading stories

/ Composing your own stories

30*Clarke, 1987; Winsor & Pearson, 1992

Principle 6: Build a progress monitoring

system on solid formative assessment tools

Formative assessment: using curriculum-embedded

assessments to make curricular and pedagogical decisions

has a greater effect on learning than most interventions.

Data-based decision-making, as a part of school reform, is

a consistent characteristic of highly effective schools and

classrooms.

Two kinds of assessments:

/ Proximal: are the kids learning what I thought I was teaching

/ Distal: does what they are learning transfer to any more global

indicators of literacy growth

31

Principle 7: Kids learn more when motivational

conditions are optimal.*

32

Kids read better, write better, and learn more when they are engaged.

They are more engaged when teachers and programs apply these principles of engaged learning/ Choice/Autonomy (you get to make choices for yourself,

usually within some boundaries)

/ Interest (+ knowledge)

/ Self-efficacy (you get a sense of improving, meeting your goals, and recognition among your peers and family)

/ Collaboration (doing it with others)

/ Coherence (the tasks and the progression make sense)

*Guthrie and Wigfield, 2012.

Principle 8: Family engagement

enhances literacy growth

Characteristics of effective parent

involvement*

/ shared reading with kids, especially of kids’

work

/ teacher–parent partnership and communication

4 Frequent notes and even phone calls

/ checking homework

/ New kid on the block: digital interfaces with

parents33

*Jeynes, 2013

Part II. So what are the key principles

guiding Smarty Ants?

Provide a systematic approach to teaching key foundational skills on

the way to fluent reading with comprehension.

Provide everyday opportunities to apply what you are learning to

reading and writing text.

Constantly assess and re-assess placement and progress.

Build in motivational tools at every possible opportunity

Engage the family (and if you can, the community)

Take advantage of every possible affordance of the digital environment

34

35

Principle #1: Provide a systematic approach to

teaching key foundational skills on the way to fluent

reading with comprehension.

Instruction is systematic and cumulative. This creates a learning environment where children are always prepared for the next step.

• Smarty Ants gets children reading as soon as possible; once they’ve learned a few consonant and a single vowel sound, they use the letter sounds to build words, and the words they build to make sentences and stories.

Principle #2: Provide everyday opportunities

to apply what you are learning to reading and

writing text.

Also promotes synergy between reading

and writing. They are using their letter

sound and sound letter knowledge to create

text.

Pre-K

Early Literacy Skills► Letter Names

► Introduce Letter Sounds

► Phonemic Awareness

► Phonological Awareness

► CVC Word Building

Joy of Reading/Authentic Literature► Fluency

► Prosody

► Active Listening

► Comprehension Skills

Even in Pre-K, skills are

put to work immediately

to allow kids to engage in

authentic reading and

listening activity

Smarty Ants is a data rich environment

Every move, every response, every click a

student makes is part of the data base used

to assess progress toward mastery on all of

the skills in the system.

38

Principle #3: Constantly assess and reassess

placement and progress

Establish placement and monitor

progress at every level

The individual

The class

The school

The district

39

This capacity to monitor at every level from

student to district is the real power of Smarty

Ants

More than anything else, Smarty Ants is a

data management system for progress

monitoring that leads to highly

differentiated instruction.

There are many pathways to success. Our

job as educators is to ensure that

/ ALL pathways are open

/ We find just the right one for each kid.

40

New Reports: Individual Initial Placement,

Progress & Prescription

New Reports: Class/School/District

Initial Placement, Progress & Prescription

Analysis of progress of students grouped by initial assessment placement.

Choice

/ Pathways through the program

/ Level of Challenge and Scaffolding

Interest

/ Topics, animals, animations

Self-Efficacy

/ Accomplishments are recognized

/ Students are consulted about their responses43

Principle #4: Build in motivational

tools at every possible opportunity.

• Students navigate their own learning path. • They are given choices which allow them to

match their learning temperament, including their own risk tolerance/aversion profile.

• They can adjust their path as they gain confidence and progress through the program.

• In every learning mode there are 1,056 different paths they can choose.

• The Research: When students are given the opportunity to develop their path, they own it and are much more likely to stay engaged.

Providing Students Choice

Providing Students Choice

Treadmill Climbing Wall Race Cars

Hoops Dog Park Race Snowboarding

Teaching Video Teaching Video

Guided Practice Dance Studio

Rewards

►Reward Time

►Smarty Store

►Student Feedback

►Graduation Ceremonies

►Diplomas

►Story Printouts

►Award Necklaces for all targets

earned

►Daily Woof Newspaper Articles

►Super Ant/Animal Rescue

►Ant of the Week Awards

Awards

Rewards

Story Printout

Smarty Coins/Shopping in Ant Store

Student Feedback

Graduation

Graduation Certificate

Categories► Most Time Played

► Most Uppercase Letters

► Most Lowercase Letters

► Most Words Built

► Most Stories Built

► Most Stories Recorded

► Most Chapters Completed

► Most Science Books Completed

Ant of the Week Awards

In print, conversational, and digital

communication, the family is fully engaged.

57

Principle #5: Engage the family

Family ParticipationStory Printouts

Family Participation

Daily Woof email updates

Parent Letter

Family Participation

Daily Woof email updates

Parent Letter

Every curricular and pedagogical feature of

Smarty Ants is enhanced by the digital

environment through which it is delivered.

61

Principle #6: Take advantage of every

possible affordance of the digital

environment

Without the digital environment,

we could not have...

6 different skill practice environments

4 different kinds and 3 different levels of

scaffolding

The myriad forms of recognition

Easily generated reports for individuals,

classes, schools, and districts

The pizzazz of the different environments

for skill teaching and practice62

Part III: Mapping Smarty Ants principles onto

the principles from the research base…

The research base

1. Phonemic awareness

2. Phonics first and fast

3. Reading everyday

4. Writing reinforces reading

5. Progress monitoring

6. Motivation

7. Family engagement

Smarty Ants

Systematic Foundational

Skills

Apply FS to Real Reading

Constant assessment

Motivational tools

Engage the family

Digital affordances

63

Part IV: So where does SmartyAnts fit in a

curricular portfolio?

64

65

Think about foundational skills of Smarty

Ants as being a part of a larger curricular

enterprise

A part of the literacy puzzle

A link in the literacy chain

A basic “food group” in a balanced literacy

diet

A key player in preserving the ecological

harmony of literacy instruction

66

Balance of Nature

Ecological Balance

A Comprehensive Literacy

Curriculum: What will the research

support? (from Raphael & Au)

Language Conventions

Comprehension Composition Literary Aspects

Background Knowledge:

prediction

Text Processing:summarizingsequencingidentifying

importance

Monitoring:clarifyingplanning

Sound/Symbol

Grammar

Usage

Interaction

Process:planningdraftingrevising

Writing as a Tool

Writing from Sources

On-Demand Writing

Literary Elements:themeplotcharactersetting

Response to Literature:

personalcreativecritical




prediction


importance


Sound/SymbolProcess:

planningdraftingrevising

Writing as a Tool


On-Demand Writing




Excluding Aspects of the Curriculum

Grammar

Usage

Interaction



Background Knowledge

predictionText Processing:summarizingsequencingidentifying

importanceMonitoring

clarifyingplanning

Sound/Symbol

Grammar

Syntax

Interaction


Writing as a tool

Writing from sources

On-demand writing

Literary Elementsthemeplotcharactersetting

Response to Literature


Privileging Aspects of the Curriculum

A Balanced Literacy Curriculum:

What will the research support?




prediction


importance


Sound/Symbol

Grammar

Usage

Interaction


Writing as a Tool


On-Demand Writing




A Balanced Literacy Curriculum is even

better when we attempt to emphasize

synergies among the parts




prediction

Text Processing:

summarizingsequencingidentifying

importance

Monitoring:

clarifyingplanning

Sound/Symbol

Grammar

Syntax

Interaction

Process:

planningdraftingrevising

Writing as a Tool


On-Demand Writing

Literary Elements:theme

plotcharactersetting



72

Ecological symbiosis

Interactive Harmony

73

Embrace the opportunity we have to use

phonics in a way that promotes cognitive

clarity

We help kids unpack the mystery of the

cipher for the same reason that we

/ Share the agonies and ecstasies of our writing

/ Make our thinking about reading public

To help them make sense of a pretty messy,

ambiguous set of tasks out there

To help them achieve some cognitive

clarity

Great Opportunity for both

Smarty Ants and Achieve 3000

Common Ground

/ Commitment to differentiated instruction

/ Embedded formative assessments

/ Differential scaffolding

/ Help students achieve some cognitive

clarity

/ Success for all students

74

Great Opportunity for both

Smarty Ants and Achieve 3000

Complementarity

/ Achieve 3000 has the bases covered for the

levels at which we assume kids are aleady

pretty good at getting the words off the page.

4 Focus on building models of meaning for the texts

of the disccipines

/ Smarty Ants covers the bases needed to ensure

that kids can get those words off the page so

they can do their magic of comprehension and

composition. 75

Another common vision that you

share

Not a one size fits all

But a one size fits few, if any

It takes a lot of sizes, a lot of pathways, to

fit everyone.

76

Kids are who they are

They know what they know

They bring what they bring

Documents

Smarty Ants