Research-based reading curriculum aims to amplify skills

November 4, 2024 | School News Network

What CKLA has brought to us is a very comprehensive resource in which there is explicit teaching in phonemic awareness and phonics,” she said. “There is direct, explicit instruction in building background knowledge and vocabulary for scholars.”

In a new article, Erin Albanese spotlights new efforts in Wyoming, MI to adopt the Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) curriculum for students in pre-kindergarten to fifth grade.

“Knowing what we know now about the science of teaching reading, there are strategies we can teach children to learn how to decode words,” says longtime Leading Educators partner Dr. Jennifer Slanger, Wyoming Public Schools executive director of elementary teaching and learning. . “You have to look at the word. You have to sound out the word. What letters do you recognize? What sounds do those letters make?”

Teaching in this way is a shift for many educators, so seventy WPS elementary teachers participated in professional learning led by Leading Educators on the science of reading and providing equitable scaffolds for students at different places with literacy. This led to a pilot with 25 educators that helped prepare the district for the rollout of CKLA.