In response to gaps in elementary literacy skills, MCPS is launching a shift to structured literacy beginning in the 2022-2023 school year. This shift will be supported with new instructional materials, widespread professional development and support to schools, and a new literacy assessment for Kindergarten through Grade 2.
Structured literacy centers on the systematic and cumulative teaching of the five components of reading—phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension, as well as writing. This shift is supported by research on improving how MCPS teaches reading and writing. Instruction will be differentiated for individual student needs.
In Kindergarten through Grade 2, the Measures of Academic Progress–Reading Fluency (MAP–RF) assessment will be replaced by the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) assessment. This change will provide teachers with reliable, predictive information about student progress on specific skills that allow for targeted instruction.
Training on the structured literacy approach and the DIBELS assessment for teachers, school-based reading specialists and administrators began during the 2021-2022 school year, and will continue this summer and throughout the 2022-2023 school year.
