What is
Breakthrough to LiteracyTM, a product of The Wright Group®, is a research-based program developed from more than 20 years of valuable, reliable research. Breakthrough to Literacy is a comprehensive program that uses software, print, and writing materials to engage each child in classroom activities at his or her own level of language and print development. These lessons and activities allow each child to successfully make the transition from oral language to print and are designed to build a strong literacy foundation for young readers. The program integrates technology into instruction and offers opportunities for working with a computer to children who might otherwise not have one. BTL is intended for ALL children in a class but is especially successful with children who are struggling due to a lack of pre-literacy experiences before beginning school and who are learning English as their second language.
In Pulaski County Schools
The Pulaski County School System first adopted the Breakthrough to Literacy program into kindergarten classrooms in 1999. It is now in:
- All 27 kindergarten classrooms
- All 28 first-grade classrooms
- 11 preschool classrooms
- 8 second-grade classrooms
In Pulaski County Classrooms
The Breakthrough to Literacy program focuses on 4 essential practices :
- Assuring that each child gets 15-20 minutes each day on the computer curriculum
- Using a “Book-of-the-Week” language, comprehension, and engagement strategy
- Sending the “Take-Me-Home” books home
- Providing daily writing activities that focus on linking oral language to print
Emphasis is also placed on integrating the stories and lesson activities into ongoing classroom activities.
Kindergarten and first grade teachers in our district met with our BTL coach and district supervisor to develop lesson plans for each of the Big Books which correlate the question of each day, graphic organizer, and writing prompt to Bloom’s Taxonomy levels.
The level of lessons becomes increasingly harder each day.
- Day 1—Predict and Read (Knowledge)
- Day 2—Remember, Retell, and Read (Comprehension)
- Day 3—Read, Integrate (Personalize), and Read Again (Application)
- Day 4—Read and Create (Analyze and/or Synthesize)
- Day 5—Read, Summarize, Evaluate, and Celebrate (Evaluation)
Children are encouraged to read each story by themselves, both in print and on the computer. The teacher provides both whole group and small group instruction related to text, structure, and meaning. By the end of the week, children know the book well and can “read” it independently.
BTL generates monthly computer reports to monitor each child’s progress in:
- Letter recognition
- Letter-sound relationship
- Print concepts
- Phonemic awareness
Parental Involvement
Family involvement has been critical to successful implementation of Breakthrough to Literacy. BTL literacy coaches, along with the district parent liaison, have led parent workshops. Workshops offered to parents were consistent with teacher professional development and based on research.
At the initial parent introduction to the Breakthrough to Literacy program, the importance of early language and literacy development was discussed. Lap reading, the Paired Reading Program, and other reading strategies were modeled for parents. The district parent liaison has since led periodic Paired Reading and other training sessions providing specific strategies to enable parents to feel comfortable when reading with their children at home. The emphasis of the workshops has been on the parent’s role in enhancing language and literacy at home.
In subsequent workshops, parents have learned specific ways to engage their children in productive language and literacy activities. Breakthrough to Literacy provides the on-going support, materials, and training to enable parents to become their child’s most important teacher.
Home Components:- Home Connections, a guide for parents on how to help their children succeed
- Computer-generated, ongoing progress reports and parent letters
- Take-Me-Home books for children to share with parents
- A video to introduce parents to the program is available to each parent
Results
The 2001-2002 Pulaski County Assessment of Reading (PAR) and BTL individual end-of-the-year reports show:
Kindergarten:
- A gain of 72.5% (from 12.5% to 85% in auditory awareness; letter recognition of capital/lower case)
- A gain of 78% (from 5% to 83%) in phonics - letter to sound relationship
- A gain of 78% (from 7% to 85%) in phonics - sound to letter relationship
- A gain of 56% (from 32% to 88%) in concepts about print
- A gain of 45% (from 43% to 88%) in comprehension or compare/contrast
- A gain of 28% (from 68% to 96%) in critical thinking or reality/fantasy
- A gain of 47% (43% to 90%) in rhyming words
The spring PAR results further revealed at least 70% of the exiting kindergarten students showed mastery in ALL areas!
1st Grade:
- A gain of 58% (24% to 82%) in final consonants
- A gain of 53% (40% to 93%) in short vowels
- A gain of 54% (40% to 94%) in long vowels
- A gain of 68% (11% to 79%) in word list mastery
- A gain of 30% (61% to 91%) in main character recognition
- A gain of 33% (39% to 72%) in setting
- A gain of 25% (67% to 92%) in identification of beginning/ending of story
- A gain of 52% (33% to 85%) in alphabetical order
- A gain of 21% (75% to 96%) in story prediction
- A gain of 54% (9% to 63%) in arranging words to make a sentence