Current through all regulations passed and filed through September 16, 2024
(A)
This rule
contains the minimum standards requiring the use of phonics as a technique in
the teaching of reading in grades kindergarten through three. Phonics
instruction is necessary for fluent reading and directly supports the
comprehension of text but is not sufficient on its own to develop proficient or
advanced readers. Instruction is also needed to advance student knowledge of
vocabulary, background knowledge, language structures, verbal reasoning and
literacy knowledge.
(B)
Definitions
(1)
"Advanced phonics" means the knowledge and strategies
used to decode multisyllabic words, including syllabication, morphology and
information about the meaning, pronunciation and parts of speech of words
gained from knowledge of prefixes, roots and suffixes.
(2)
"Decodable text"
means texts with highly controlled vocabulary that are carefully sequenced to
include letter sound relationships and high frequency words that have
previously been taught.
(3)
"Differentiated" means designing and delivering
instruction to meet individual needs.
(4)
"Explicit
instruction" means a teacher directed and systematic instructional approach
that includes specific components of delivery and design of instruction such as
review of previous content, step by step demonstrations, clear language,
adequate range of examples, frequent student responses, monitoring of student
progress, feedback to students and multiple opportunities for practice, both
guided and independent. This practice includes distributed and cumulative
practice. This practice does not make assumptions that learners will acquire
skills and knowledge on their own.
(5)
"Intervention-based diagnostic measures" means assessment
used to identify where a student is on an instructional continuum and specifies
next steps in instruction. These assessments may be placement tests within an
instructional program or may be informal measures not associated with a
specific instructional program.
(6)
"Phoneme grapheme
mapping" means evidence-based practice and instructional activity that helps
the reader build word recognition skills by connecting the sounds (phonemes) to
the letters (graphemes) in printed words.
(7)
"Systematic
Phonics" means directly teaching children that letters represent the sounds of
spoken language and that there is an organized, logical, and predictable
relationship between written letters and spoken sounds. When children are
explicitly taught the relationship between sounds (phonemes) and the letters
(graphemes) that represent those sounds, they can apply these principles to
both familiar and unfamiliar words.
(8)
"Phonics" is a
way of teaching reading that stresses the acquisition of letter-sound
correspondences and their use in reading and spelling.
(C)
Phonics shall be used as a technique in the teaching of
reading in grades kindergarten and one. This technique is also required in
grades two and three, and recommended in grades four and five, for students in
need of continued systematic phonics instruction. Systematic phonics
instruction is informed by screening and intervention-based diagnostic measures
and differentiated to meet student needs. Systematic phonics instruction
includes the following components:
(1)
Phonemic awareness connection and
review;
(2)
A logical scope and sequence from simpler to more
complex skills with the inclusion of six syllable types;
(3)
Blending practice
using multiple blending routines with teacher modeling, student guided
practice, and independent practice of blending words using the pattern(s) in
the instructional sequence;
(4)
Dictation of
words, phrases, and sentences using the phonics pattern(s);
(5)
Use of connected
text (such as decodable texts) to practice fluency and build
automaticity;
(6)
Teaching high frequency words using phoneme grapheme
mapping, whether spelled regularly or irregularly;
(7)
Connection to the
meaning of the words decoded, with explicit instruction in the meanings of
unknown words when necessary;
(8)
Extended
opportunities for practice;
(9)
Advanced phonics,
as applicable to a student's decoding development.
(D)
For some students
who are deaf or hard of hearing, traditional phonics instruction and strategies
may be less effective. Educators may use other evidence-based practices to
support the reading development of deaf or hard of hearing students to meet
their individualized needs, consistent with the student's individualized
education program.
(E)
The state board of education will provide in-service
training programs for teachers on the use of systematic phonics as a technique
in the teaching of reading in grades kindergarten through three, and for older
readers identified with reading difficulties.
Replaces: 3301-33-01
