What is Literacy?

We believe literacy is a message-getting and message-sending, problem-solving activity, which increases in power the more it is practiced. The Eastern Upper Peninsula ISD Literacy Team advances literacy by equipping educators and administrators with effective practices for all students from birth to grade twelve.

Development and Support

Comprehensive Daily Literacy Framework

Comprehensive literacy is based on key principles that are firmly rooted in decades of research about language, learning, teaching, assessment, and curriculum and shaped by extensive classroom testing on multiple continents. Components refer to the broad category of instructional approaches that are part of a comprehensive literacy framework. The components include reading aloud, shared reading, guided reading, independent reading, writing aloud, shared writing, interactive writing, guided writing, independent writing, and word study.

Learning opportunities for diverse learners include whole-group, small-group, and individual instruction that builds on each child’s strengths and focuses on active and independent learning. Extensive experiences in reading and writing high-quality texts are necessary within good classrooms.

Comprehensive Daily Literacy Framework - K-3

Comprehensive Daily Literacy Framework - 4-5

Alignment and Selection Process

Developed by the ISD and research-based to support district-level decision-making, the Alignment and Selection Tool is used by local and regional education agencies to identify the core components of existing and prospective Effective Innovations (EIs): programs, practices, initiatives, and systems.  After identifying the core components of EIs, a decision to select or deselect one or more EIs should be made by following the process and guidance outlined in the tool.

Alignment and Selection Tool

Selection Tool only 

Online Curricula

ELA Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

Site provides parents, educators, policy makers, journalists, and others easy access to the Common Core State Standards, as well as supporting information and resources.

Common Core State Standards 

MAISA ELA Common-Core-Aligned Units

Oakland Schools led the development of the MAISA ELA Common Core-aligned units of study that were piloted and reviewed by teachers statewide. This multi-year project resulted in a comprehensive K-12 curriculum that is aligned not only to the standards, but also across grades. These units are not scripts but are guidelines for teachers; we encourage educators to adapt them for their population and context.

MAISA Units

Macomb ISD Literature Units

The elementary resources that follow have been included to fit into a rich Literacy Block with reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language instruction. It is understood that this unit will comprise only a part of a literacy block.  The secondary teaching plans are designed to be a framework for discussing the fiction, informational, and media selections and will help teachers model for students how to read, think critically, discuss, and write effectively and successfully. 

Macomb Units (Please contact Lindsay Brindley at brindley@eupschools.org for login/password information.)

Literacy Essentials

These documents were developed by the Early Literacy Task Force, a subcommittee of the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators (MAISA) General Education Leadership Network (GELN), which represents Michigan's 56 Intermediate School Districts. Research suggests that each of these ten practices can have a positive impact on literacy development.

• Birth to age 3
• Pre-Kindergarten
• K to 3
• 4 to 5
• 6 to 12

Reading/Writing Workshop

An instructional model providing daily instruction in reading and writing processes and strategies consisting of a mini lesson, mid teaching point, and teacher share. During independent reading and writing teachers utilize one: one and small group conferencing to inform instruction.

• Teachers College
• Workshop model within a Comprehensive Literacy Framework (Link one page document)
• BluePrint documents (Link documents)

Reading Apprenticeship

Teachers using the Reading Apprenticeship framework regularly model disciplinary-specific literacy skills, help students build high-level comprehension strategies, engage students in building knowledge by making connections to background knowledge they already have, and provide ample guided, collaborative, and individual practice as an integral part of teaching their subject area curriculum.

• Reading Apprenticeship Approach (general)
• Reading Apprenticeship Framework (four dimensions)
• Publications and Downloads

Reading Recovery / Literacy Lessons / Literacy Support

Reading Recovery is a research-based intervention designed to reduce the number of first-grade students with reading and writing difficulties. In addition to regular classroom reading instruction, low-achieving students receive daily individual instruction designed to accelerate reading and writing achievement to average grade level. 

"Reading Recovery has one clear goal: To dramatically reduce the number of learners who have extreme difficulty with literacy learning and the cost of these learners to educational systems."

Marie M. Clay

Balanced Assessment

Establishment of a Balanced Assessment System includes engaging in reliable, systematic, and ongoing observation and multidimensional assessment that provides feedback to improve instruction and identifies and directs steps to meet the needs of all students.  The system is comprised of several key components, including the following:

Formative Assessment

Throughout the formative assesment process, the teacher prioritizes observation during authentic reading and writing and employs formative and diagnostic assessment tools to inform specific instructional targets. All assessment is collected and analyzed to inform instruction and document student change over time. Formative assessment first needs to “identify the gap,” or evaluate a where a student currently is with respect to some pre-determined goal for learning activity.  Formative assessment also has to include feedback, and this feedback needs to be geared towards helping the student move closer to the learning goal. 

Summative Assessment 

Summative assessment is assessment OF learning, which is often contrasted with assessment FOR learning.  Summative assessments are used to evaluate student learning, the acquisition of identified skills, and/or general academic achievement at the end of a pre-determined period of instruction.  The period of instruction might be a content-based unit, a semester, a school-year, or even the entirety of a high school course of study.  Summative assessments are characterized by three main criteria:

• They are designed to determine if students successfully met established learning objectives.
• They are evaluative as opposed to formative or diagnostic because they occur at the end of instruction.
• The scores on summative assessments are typically recorded and used in some way to measure achievement at some level.

Visit this page for more information regarding assesments in use throughout our region, including state-level assessment support.

Leading for Literacy

This companion to the landmark Reading for Understanding guides teacher leaders, coaches, and administrators through the nuts and bolts of implementing the Reading Apprenticeship Framework. Reading Apprenticeship practitioners across the country address how to:

• Generate authentic buy-in from teachers and administrators
• Create Reading Apprenticeship communities of practice that sustain an institutional focus on a student-centered culture of literacy
• Use formative assessment to promote teacher and student growth
• Roll out systemwide plans for implementation
• Use the Reading Apprenticeship Framework to turn reform overload into reform coherence

Literacy Essentials

These documents were developed by the Early Literacy Task Force, a subcommittee of the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators (MAISA) General Education Leadership Network (GELN), which represents Michigan's 56 Intermediate School Districts. Research suggests that each of these ten practices can have a positive impact on literacy development.

• Essential School-wide and Center-wide practices in Literacy
• Essential Coaching Practices for Elementary Literacy

Supporting Literacy at Home

EUPISD Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Read By Grade Three

 https://youtu.be/vMnR2fC_pRE

On October 6, 2016, Michigan became the 37th state to adopt third grade reading legislation; Public Act 306. Public Act 306 of 2016 (now referred to as MCL 380.1280f) attempts to ensure that more pupils will achieve a score of at least proficient in English language arts on the grade 3 state assessment. The retention component of Michigan’s Read by Grade Three Law will begin in the fall of 2020 based on that spring’s state assessment scores.

MDE Parent and Distric Resources 

Read by Grade Three Law Frequently Asked Questions (Updated February 2018)

All EUPISD sponsored professional learning sessions can be found in Wisdomwhere by clicking on the "Events" link at the top of the page. This feature will allow you to view the professional learning sessions that are available by month. You may also use the Advanced Search function to search by keywords such as "Reading", "Writing" or "Essential Literacy Practices".