iStation Reading Grade 1

Evaluation for 2.1
Materials include systematic, year-long plans for phonics instruction.

The materials partially meet the criteria for this indicator. Materials partially include systematic, year -long plans for phonics instruction.

Materials include a cohesive, TEKS-aligned scope and sequence that outlines the essential knowledge and skills that are taught throughout the year. Materials demonstrate vertical alignment that shows some progression of skill development from year to year. Lessons follow a developmentally appropriate, systematic progression from simple to more complex concepts (e.g., CVC words before CCCVCC words and single syllable words before multisyllabic words).

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials include a cohesive, TEKS-aligned scope and sequence that outlines the essential knowledge and skills that are taught throughout the year.

• The materials provide a scope and sequence chart. Kindergarten and Grade 1 are bundled together in the scope and sequence along with Grade 1 and Grade 2. The Istation “Reading Curriculum Correlated to Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading” document found on the Istation website contains a document by grade and TEKS that has a column to note Digital Student Experiences and another column for Teacher Resources based on lessons/activities aligned with the TEKS. In this document, resources are categorized by the specific grade-level TEKS.
• The Scope and Sequence provides a document by skill (phonological awareness and phonics are included) and subskill to note which cycles the skill/subskill is taught (a checkmark is noted if the skill/subskill is taught in that Cycle) and the specifics of what is in that Cycle if needed. Grade 1 is in two separate documents. It is both in the kindergarten and Grade 1 Scope and Sequence and the Grade 1 and Grade 2 one. The documents list the available cycles of instruction, which in grade 1 are Pre Reading and Cycles 1–8, yet the Istation Program Guide for TEA lists grade 1 as Cycles 3–10 (with Cycles 9–10 showing up on the Grade 2–3 Scope and Sequence document). The scope and sequence chart for grade 1 indicates that students learn to identify and blend CVC words with specific letters during Cycle 4 ( f, e, h, g) and additional letters during Cycle 5 (b, u, j, w). In Cycles 6–8, students learn to decode words with CVCe and CVVC patterns. In Cycles 9–10, students learn to decode words with vowel combinations and r-controlled words.

Materials clearly demonstrate vertical alignment and that shows the progression of skill development from year to year.

• The materials provide a “Scope and Sequence” document in which grade 1 has two charts. The first chart contains the scope and sequence for kindergarten-grade 1, and the second chart contains the scope and sequence for grade 1-grade 2. Phonological and phonemic awareness skills are listed on the left-hand side of the document, and a checkmark under a cycle indicates what cycle will present students with that skill. Based on the Istation Program Guide for TEA, Grade 1 covers Cycles 3–10, with Cycles 9–10 showing up on the Grade 2–3 Scope and Sequence document.
• Although the materials do not provide a phonological awareness timeline by age group, the materials show that lessons overlap across grade levels. For example, the scope and sequence charts show that kindergarten, grade 1, and grade 2 students complete phonological awareness lessons in which students listen and participate in animated rhymes. This indicates that students review and build upon the previous year’s lessons.
• There is no evidence of a vertical alignment document. Materials include a breakdown of which cycles are taught in which grade. Cycles 3–10 are listed for grade 1. Cycles 0–7 are listed for kindergarten, and Cycles 5–11B are listed for grade 2. Cycles 3–10 overlap between the grade level above and below grade 1.
• Materials show a progression of skill development from cycle to cycle. In Cycle 4, students apply letter-sound correspondence to blend and decode short vowel /e/ with CVC and long vowels /ee/, /ea/ with CVVC and CCVVC words. In Cycle 5, students apply letter-sound correspondence to blend and decode short vowel /u/ with CVC and long vowels /a_e/, /i_e/ with CVCe and CCVe words.
• The Istation Program Guide shows grade 1 utilizes Cycles 3–10 and overlaps part of kindergarten that utilizes Cycles 0–7 and also overlaps part of Grade 2 that utilizes 5–11B. Five cycles overlap, and three cycles are unique to Grade 1. A vertical alignment and progression of skill development from year to year are not clear when cycles overlap grade levels.

Lessons follow a developmentally appropriate, systematic progression from simple to more complex concepts (e.g., CVC words before CCCVCC words and single syllable words before multisyllabic words).

• Grade 1 objectives begin with a review of previously taught phonological awareness skills. Students review skills such as blending spoken phonemes to form one-syllable words. The objectives progress to segmenting spoken one-syllable words of three to five phonemes into individual phonemes, including words with initial and/or final consonant blends. Lessons also transition from decoding blends and digraphs to decoding blends, digraphs, and trigraphs.
• The materials follow lessons that move from simple to more complex foundational literacy skills. The scope and sequence provides the progression of foundational literacy skills. Grade 1 lessons begin with an overlap of skills taught in kindergarten and then focus on decoding and encoding one-syllable words with common phoneme-grapheme correspondences, such as initial and final consonant blends and digraphs with short vowel sounds. Then objectives progress to vowel-consonant-e syllables with long vowel sounds and vowel digraphs.
• The Grade 1 Scope and Sequence lesson objectives progress from simple to more complex concepts by applying sound/letter correspondence to blend and decode CVC, CVCe, and CVVC, CCVCe words to include vowel teams such as ie, ay, ey, and oe. 

Evaluation for 2.2
Materials provide direct (explicit) and systematic instruction in developing grade-level phonics skills within and across lessons.

The materials partially meet the criteria for this indicator. Materials provide some direct (explicit) and systematic instruction in developing grade-level phonics skills within and across lessons.

Lessons include detailed guidance for each component of the gradual release of responsibility model. Materials do not contain a teacher edition; however, materials contain some ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Lessons include detailed guidance for each component of the gradual release of responsibility mode.

• Lessons include detailed guidance for each component of the gradual release of responsibility model. For example, formatted (bolded, italicized) text distinguishes between scripting for teachers, teacher directions, and potential student responses.
• Lessons assist teachers in using the gradual release of responsibility and include specific and precise terms, phrasing, and statements that teachers can use during core instruction to guide students’ practice and application of new phonics skills. For example, in “Skill: Phonics – Lesson 32,” students learn to decode words with the beginning consonant blends squ, sw, and tw. The lesson follows the gradual release of responsibility model. Under the first subtitle, “Teach,” the lesson prompts the teacher to say, “Listen and repeat: (one at a time) /sw/, /sw/, swim, sweep, swift.” Using the word sweep, the teacher models how to blend it. As prompted by the script, the teacher says, “This word is sweep. Sweep the floor. Sweep starts with /sw/, the letters sw.” The teacher continues to model blending words that contain swi The lesson provides a short list of words to use (swift, swig, swirl). Under “Guided Practice,” the script prompts the teacher to say, “Let's practice reading words that begin with sw, tw, or squ. I will show you a word. You read it to yourself and then aloud to me.” The students read the word, and the teacher affirms correct responses. The teacher continues to show words to the students. The lesson provides examples of words that the teacher can use during “Guided Practice.” These words include: squeak, twist, twig, swell, swift, and squeeze. Under “Monitor Progress through Independent Practice,” the teacher uses the “Decoding Page,” which is provided in the lesson. The script prompts the teacher to say, “Now you can practice reading the words on this page. I will come to you, and you will whisper-read the words on this page to me. You can practice with a partner until I get to you.” As students work on this page, the teacher notes and charts students’ progress. If students require more instruction and practice, the teacher uses the “Reteach” section of the lesson. This portion of the lesson is intended to be taught in a small group. During “Reteach,” students focus on the ending rhyme, then add tw to its beginning. For example, “in-win-twin,” “ig-wig-twig," and “ist-wist-twist."

Materials contain a teacher edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student materials.

• Istation Reading does not contain a Teacher Edition. Teachers are given access to the programs’ website (www.istation.com) and have access to “Teacher Resources,” where all lessons are found in PDF format. The lessons contain limited annotations and suggestions in the narrative of the lesson for teachers on how to present the content in the materials. There are no margins in the lessons with annotations or suggestions. All lessons are scripted but do not contain notes anywhere along the margins that provide teachers with more details on how to support students during instruction.
• Materials include some teacher notes throughout the lesson. For example, in Cycle 5, “Lesson 10 Vowel Sound, Silent e, Pattern o_e,” the lesson puts notes in parenthesis or unbolded print for teachers. During the teaching portion, some of the notes are, “show the word hop, add silent e back to the end of hop, and blend it quickly.”
• Some notes and teacher tips are in the narrative of teacher PDF materials. In “Skill: Phonics, Lesson 19,” students blend words that contain short a and short i, and teacher guidance says, “Note: If student response was weak, repeat this process for the same word to confirm learning. Repeat this teaching process for the word lit. (We lit the candles—lit).” The Monitor Progress through Independent Practice says, “Note: Although reading and spelling are not the same at this stage, with only eight letters from which to select, the student should be able to spell these words. If the student cannot spell these words, see if he or she can read them from a list.” The Reteach section says, “Note: Provide explicit instruction in small groups. Provide modeling, guided practice, and immediate feedback. Gradually build toward independence.”
• The teacher materials contain useful annotations and suggestions for teachers on how to present the content in the materials. In Cycle 5, “Consonant Blends,” in Reteach (for students requiring more instruction and practice), it says, “Note: Provide explicit instruction with modeling and guided practice in small groups. Use the independent practice page as a teaching tool.” 

Evaluation for 2.3
Materials include detailed guidance that supports teacher’s delivery of instruction.

The materials partially meet the criteria for this indicator. Materials include some guidance that supports teacher’s delivery of instruction.

Guidance for teachers includes some information about common phonics pattern misconceptions and guiding principles related to specific phonics skills. Guidance for teachers provides detailed, specific instructional strategies with consistent routines for teaching each phonics skill. Materials include some specific guidance for providing students with immediate, corrective feedback. Materials provide some detailed guidance for connecting previously taught phonics skills to new learning. Materials include some guidance on how to pace each lesson, including specific time suggestions for each component of the gradual release model.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Guidance for teachers includes information about common phonics pattern misconceptions and guiding principles related to specific phonics skills.

• Guidance for teachers includes limited information about common phonics pattern misconceptions and guiding principles related to teaching specific phonics skills, as it is not seen in each lesson. In “Phonics Lesson 19 Blending with short i and a,” during the Teach portion, there is a for teachers when blending the word sit, “lead students in saying /sss/ (not /suh).”
• The materials include some information for teachers about common misconceptions related to specific phonics skills. For example, in Cycle 5, “Lesson 5: Ending Sounds Letter b Review,” the lesson script emphasizes the correct phonetic pronunciation of the letter b. The script states, “Pronounce it /b/, not /buh/.” Additionally, the script continues to emphasize the correct pronunciation by stating notes such as “Ensure /b/, not /buh/” and “Provide corrective feedback to ensure /b/, not /buh/).”
• The materials include inaccurate guiding principles. In High Frequency Words Cycle 5, words such as what, said, for, and her are taught to be learned by visual memory. For example, the students spell each high-frequency word by snapping each letter and counting the number of letters and syllables. Students are then encouraged to visualize the word. The script states, “When we picture a word in our mind, it helps us spell that word. Remember, this game will help us create a visual picture of the word.” The lesson does not guide the students to decode the parts of the word that are decodable.
• In Cycle 7, students decode words that contain a soft g (/j/) followed by the letter e. Within the Teach section of the lesson, materials direct the teacher to say, “One way to spell the /j/ sound is with the letter j as in jam (show the word jam). There is another way to spell the /j/ sound in words. That is with the letters g-e. Usually, when the letter g is followed by the letter e, the g makes its soft sound /j/.” While the intended audience is students, the embedded guidance can also support teachers in how to teach the skill.

Guidance for teachers provides detailed, specific instructional strategies with consistent routines for teaching each phonics skill.

• Guidance for teachers provides detailed, specific instructional strategies with consistent routines for teaching each phonics skill. Cycle 3, Lesson 15, “Phoneme Substitution, Beginning Sound” provides a script the teacher follows to conduct a lesson on phoneme substitution. The teacher uses four brightly colored sticky notes and four square boxes. The teacher models and says, “Listen and repeat: mat. Sit on the mat. The word mat has three sounds. The first sound in mat is /mmm/ (place a sticky note inside the first box). The second sound in mat is /aaa/ (place a sticky note inside the second box). The third wound in mat is /t/ (place a sticky note inside the last box).” The teacher repeats this process with the words sat, mop, and top. The materials do not include an explanation or overview of the instructional routines used consistently throughout the program.
• The materials include a variety of instructional strategies with consistent routines for each phonics skill. For example, the kindergarten and grade 1 materials consistently use the Sound and Letter Boxes page to help segment and blend letter sounds, such as in Lesson Cycle 6, Lesson 7. Additionally, students place counters on the sound boxes to represent each sound. Then students say the names of the letters and write them inside each box.
• The teacher resources do not include a handbook or overview that explains instructional routines such as a routine of dictation. The materials include a regular routine for using sound boxes to practice encoding and decoding words. The routines are found in the lesson plans. The teacher demonstrates with the first few words, guides practice for the next few words, and then asks students to continue independently with the remaining words as the teacher provides immediate, corrective feedback. Such is the case in Cycle 6, Lesson 7. The script prompts the teacher to say, “Say the letter names to spell the word y-e-t, yet. Reading and spelling is simply blending letter sounds together. Watch me.” The teacher points to each box and says the letter sound to “sound out” each word. Then the teacher says the sounds together quickly: /y/, /e/, /t/, yet. The teacher follows this same routine in Guided Practice and Independent Practice.

Materials include specific guidance for providing students with immediate, corrective feedback.

• The materials include some specific guidance on providing immediate, corrective feedback within the lesson. For example, in Cycle 5, Lesson 14, the lesson plan script explicitly states, “Affirm or provide corrective feedback” when students are asked to read the assigned word. However, the materials do not provide specific examples of how to provide immediate, corrective feedback. “Affirm or provide corrective feedback” is not followed with information that prompts the teacher on how to provide the corrective feedback.
• Materials include limited guidance for providing students with immediate, corrective feedback. In Cycle 6, Lesson 12, “Blend Sounds to Read & Spell Words,” the guided practice instructs the teacher to “ensure /w/, not /wuh/.” In Cycle 6, Lesson 20, “Spelling CVCe with i_e and u_e,” the guided practice instructs the teacher to “affirm or provide corrective feedback as necessary.” Materials do not provide guidance on how teachers should provide students with immediate, corrective feedback. It is stated in the materials to provide corrective feedback, but it does not provide information about how.
• The materials do not include specific guidance on providing immediate, corrective feedback within the lesson, and the materials do not provide specific examples for how to provide immediate, corrective feedback. Feedback is more generic, as seen in Cycle 6 vowel sounds “affirm responses” and “Note responses and provide guidance and modeling until everyone is proficient.”

Materials provide detailed guidance for connecting previously taught phonics skills to new learning.

• The materials include some references in lesson plans and scripts to previous learning. In “Phonics Lesson 26 Decoding with Long Vowel /oa/,” the materials start the lesson by saying, “We know that the letter o can stand for the sound /o/ as in Ron. We know that the letter a can stand for the sound /a/ as in ran. Now watch what happens when we put the letter o and the letter a together. The sound we say for the letter team oa is /O/.” Materials lack detailed guidance for connecting previously taught phonics skills to new learning. Materials do not contain consistent cumulative review within the lessons. Materials do not provide sufficient opportunity to review previously taught phonics skills before learning new skills.
• Lessons do not refer to detailed guidance for connecting previously taught phonics skills to new ones and specific references in lesson plans and scripts to previous learning. After reviewing multiple phonics lessons, there are no references to previous learning of like skills. For example, in “Skills Phonics Lesson 62 Blend Sounds to Read Words with Digraph th,” the lesson doesn’t reference anything in regard to digraphs as learned in “Skills Phonics Lesson 61 Blend Sounds to Read Words with Digraph sh.”
• In Cycle 5, Lesson 20, previously-learned patterns are mentioned in the teaching script. Materials direct teachers to say, “You have learned that the letters o and a sometimes partner together to make the long /O/ sound as in roam. You also learned that the letters a and i sometimes partner together to make the long /A/ sound as in aim. Did you know there are other ways to spell the long /A/ and the long /O/ sound? Today you will learn a new way to spell the long /A/ sound and the long /O/ sound.”

Materials include clear guidance on how to pace each lesson, including specific time suggestions for each component of the gradual release model.

• The materials include some guidance on the recommended length for each lesson. The materials do not provide specific guidance on how much time to spend on each lesson component. The lesson is clearly divided into the following components: Teach, Guided Practice, Monitor Progress Through Independent Practice, and Reteach. Some lessons contain a visual for how long each section should take, which helps teachers know exactly how to pace a lesson. Under each section in these lessons, there is a circle with the amount of time each part of the overall lesson takes.
• Materials include a “Parent Guide: How to Use Ipractice Effectively” document that includes a pacing guide for how to use Ipractice at home with specific time suggestions.
• The materials include guidance on the recommended length for each lesson for the online learning, but there was no noted length for each PDF teacher lesson. Istation recommends students log in to the program to work through the interactive instruction on the student’s individualized learning paths for the following amounts of time:
  • 30 + minutes per week: Suggested for Level 3, 4, & 5 students (Tier 1 students)
  • 40+ minutes per week: Suggested for Level 1 & 2 students (Tier 2 & 3 students)

Evaluation for 2.4
Materials include frequent and distributed review of phonics skills with cumulative practice opportunities with decodable text.

The materials partially meet the criteria for this indicator. Materials include some distributed review of phonics skills with cumulative practice opportunities with decodable text.

Materials include some review and practice activities throughout the span of the curriculum. Practice opportunities include only phonics skills that have been explicitly taught. Decodable texts incorporate some cumulative practice of taught phonics skills.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials include intentional cumulative review and practice activities throughout the span of the curriculum.

• Lessons use consistent routines to introduce phonics skills that include different modalities. For example, in Cycle 2, “Lesson 18 Blend Sounds with Letters to Read Words,” the teacher script prompts the teacher to say, “When we read words, we blend letter sounds together to say the word. Let's learn to blend letter sounds to say words. Place your letter cards in this order: s, i, t, and space them apart. The cat can sit. Say the word with me, sit. The beginning sound in sit is /sss/. Touch the letter s and say /sss/.” This same instructional routine is consistent in Cycle 1, “Lesson 13 Blend Sounds to Read Words.” The teacher script prompts the teacher to say, “When we read words, we blend letter sounds together. Let's learn to blend letter sounds to say words. Place your letter cards in this order: c, a, p. Space them apart. Say the word cap. We blend the sounds of letters to read words. We can read the word cap.” Both of these lessons are consistent in the use of materials such as letter cards. Lessons do not include intentional cumulative review.
• Lessons use consistent routines to introduce and review phonics skills that include different modalities. Lessons utilize Elkonin boxes for blending and unblending sounds in words. Lessons also utilize different colored sticky notes to demonstrate manipulating sounds in words to form new words. Lessons do not include intentional cumulative review.
• The materials include some practice and review of decoding and encoding using previously learned and newly learned phonics skills throughout the year. For example, the Word Masters Card Game is for students to spell words using previously taught phonics skills. The game includes cards illustrated with a letter or letter combinations and characters called Fantastic Phonics. The card deck contains current/previous phonic skills and can begin being used after Cycle 3 through Cycle 10. Students draw five cards and try to form words from the cards they have. Each word formed scores a point. If the player cannot form a word, they draw a card from the deck. The game ends when the player has no remaining cards in his or her deck or cannot spell a word with the cards in his or her hand. Materials do not include intentional cumulative review and practice activities throughout the span of the curriculum.

Practice opportunities include only phonics skills that have been explicitly taught.

• Practice opportunities include only phonics skills that have been explicitly taught. For example, in Cycle 7, “Decoding -or,” the teacher script prompts the teacher to say, “Today we will learn about another kind of Bossy R beside the -ar and the -are Bossy R. Bossy R -or and -ore says /or/, /or/. You say it.” During guided practice, the teacher distributes letters and phonogram cards. The students use these to blend and read each word that contains -or and -ore. The lesson provides additional practice words such as corn, fork-forks, horn-horns, storm, more, sore, store-stores.
• Students apply the focus skill for the lesson during guided and independent practice. In Cycle 8, “Lesson 9 Blending the Digraph sh,” during the teach section, the teacher and students listen for /sh/ and spell /sh/ with the digraph sh as they spell and then read the word ship by unblending sounds to write the word and then blending the sounds to read the word while focusing on the two letters that make the sound /sh/. In guided practice, the students listen to the teacher reading words, and if they hear the /sh/ sound, they put their fingers on their lips. The teacher has some words and sentences written, such as shell, shade; Bart dug a shell from the sand. Tim sat in the shade of the tree. Together the teacher guides the students to highlight the digraph sh in the words. During independent practice, the students use the Ship-Shape Reader’s page with sentences to highlight the sh letter pattern, such as The hard stone had a flat shape. “Where did my dish go?” said the dog. Students then practice reading each sentence.
• Practice opportunities include only phonics skills that have been explicitly taught. In the lesson plan “Phonics – Lesson 39 Decoding with ar,” in the teach section, the teacher shows students how to decode words that contain the Bossy R (-ar phonogram). In guided practice, the students join in building words with Bossy R. In the independent practice section, students draw pictures. Each student gets a Bossy R Sketch It page and writes each word in a square, copying from the board. Each student reads the word in the box silently to themselves and then draws a picture in the box to match it.

Decodable texts incorporate cumulative practice of taught phonics skills.

• The lesson plans do not refer to resources such as decodable passages, poems, or books. Lessons such as “Skill: Phonics - Lesson 24 Decoding with Soft g” include a Decoding Practice page which consists of reading words in isolation that follow the phonics skill covered in the lesson. The materials provide “Istation Books and Passages” resource documents in which decodable texts are listed. The title of the decodable texts is followed by the type of text, Lexile measure, and phonics/reading skill. Using this document, the phonics skill presented in the lesson is matched with the corresponding decodable text. This document also provides a table with the Lexile range and the approximate grade level.
• Decodable texts incorporate cumulative practice by increasing complexity. I Ride Home, a decodable book, features the long /o/ vowel sound. Decodable words are included in the readers from previous lessons in addition to words covering the phonics skill noted for each decodable reader. The lessons do not reference which decodable reader to utilize in the “Istation Books and Passages” resource document in which decodable texts are listed. The title of the decodable texts is followed by the type of text, Lexile measure, and phonics/reading skill. Using this document, the phonics skill presented in the lesson is matched with the corresponding decodable text. This document also provides a table with the Lexile range and the approximate grade level.
• Decodable texts incorporate cumulative practice of taught phonics skills. The Cycle 3 decodable reader In the Rain practices short o and long vowels ai and oa. The Cycle 4 decodable reader My Dog Has Fleas practices short e and long vowel teams ee and ea. The Cycle 5 decodable reader Fun At Home practices short u and long vowel a_e and o_e. Decodable words are included in the readers from previous lessons in addition to words covering the phonics skill noted for each decodable reader. The lessons do not reference which decodable reader to utilize in the “Istation Books and Passages” resource document in which decodable texts are listed. The title of the decodable texts is followed by the type of text, Lexile measure, and phonics/reading skill. Using this document, the phonics skill presented in the lesson is matched with the corresponding decodable text. This document also provides a table with the Lexile range and the approximate grade level.

Evaluation for 3.A.1
Materials provide systematic and direct (explicit) instruction, practice, and review related to alphabet knowledge.

Evaluation for 3.A.2
Materials provide systematic and direct (explicit) instruction, practice, and review related to the alphabetic principle.

The materials meet the criteria for this indicator. Materials provide systematic and direct (explicit) instruction, practice, and review related to the alphabetic principle.

Materials systematically introduce letter-sound relationships in an order that quickly allows for application to basic decoding and encoding. Materials provide scripted direct (explicit) instruction for connecting phonemes to letters within words. Materials incorporate a variety of activities and resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce (through cumulative review) their understanding of applying letter-sound correspondence to decode simple words both in isolation and in decodable connected text.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials systematically introduce letter-sound relationships in an order that quickly allows for application to basic decoding and encoding.

• Materials systematically introduce letter-sound relationships in an order that quickly allows for application to basic decoding and encoding. In the spelling/decoding part of the Scope and Sequence, Cycle 3 has r, o, n, and d Cycle 4 has f, e, h, and g; Cycle 5 has b, u, j, and w; Cycle 6 has k, z, v, and y; and Cycle 7 covers q and x. Blends and short vowels are in Cycles 3–5, along with long vowels through CVCe and vowel teams. R-Controlled vowels are in Cycles 7–10. Digraphs and diphthongs are in Cycles 9–10.
• It is noted that Cycle 1 covers m, a, p, and c; Cycle 2 covers t, i, s, and l, which are cycles covered in kindergarten.

Materials provide scripted direct (explicit) instruction for connecting phonemes to letters within words.

• Lessons contain explicit instruction. In Cycle 6, “Spelling Lesson Letter Focus: Z, K, Y, V,” Teach, the teacher explains they will learn how to spell some words with these letters that we know. The teacher gives each student letter tiles and a student page with Elkonin boxes and says, “First, we will begin by spelling the word kid. Let’s stretch out the sounds and count the sounds that are in the word kid. Listen as I stretch the sounds first: /k/ /ĭĭĭ/ /d/. Which sound did you hear first? (/k/) That’s right. The /k/ sound came first. Which sound did you hear in the middle? (/ĭ/) That’s right, the /ĭ/ sound. Which sound did you hear at the end? (/d/) That’s right. The /d/ sound came at the end of the word. Listen as I say the sounds in the word again: /k/ /ĭĭĭ/ /d/. Which letters do you think I will use to spell the word kid? Find the letter K, letter I, and letter D in your letter tiles. (The teacher displays the letter tiles.) Now let’s stretch the word kid again together this time: /k/ /ĭĭĭ/ /d/. Which sound comes first in the word kid? (/k/) Yes! /k/ comes first in the word kid. Which of your letter tiles has the /k/ sound? (K) The letter K makes the /k/ sound. Which box will we place the letter K in to spell the word kid? That’s right. Let’s place the K in the first box. Now let’s stretch the word kid again together this time: /k/ /ĭĭĭ/ /d/. Which sound do you hear in the middle of the word kid? (/ĭ/) Yes! /ĭ/ is in the middle of the word kid. Which of your letter tiles has the /ĭ/ sound? (/I/) Yes, that’s right! The letter I makes the /ĭ/ sound. Which box will we place the letter I in to spell the word kid? That’s right. Let’s place the I in the middle box. Now let’s stretch the word kid one last time: /k/ /ĭĭĭ/ /d/. Which sound do you hear at the end of the word kid? (/d/) Yes! /d/ is at the end of the word kid. Which of your letter tiles has the /d/ sound? (D) Yes, that’s right! The letter D makes the /d/ sound. Which box will we place the letter D in to spell the word kid? Let’s spell the word together: K-I-D. Now let’s read the word: kid. K-I-D spells kid.” This process is repeated with the words van, kit, vet, yet, yam, and zip.
• The materials contain explicit instruction. In Phonics - Lesson 18, “Blending with Short a," there is a scripted lesson to help students read words with the short vowel sound /a/. The lesson follows the gradual release of responsibility model. The lesson begins with the teacher explicitly stating the lesson objective; the teacher says, “When we read words, we blend letter sounds together. Let's learn to blend letter sounds to say words.” During the initial teaching, the teacher models to the students by giving each one a set of letter cards for the letters m, a, p, and c. The lesson script prompts the teacher to say, “Say the word cap. We blend the sounds of letters to read words. We can read the word cap. The beginning sound in cap is /k/ (not /kuh/). Touch the letter c and say /k/. The vowel sound in cap is /aaa/. Touch the letter a and say /aaa/. The ending sound in cap is /p/ (not /puh/). Touch the letter p and say /p/. Watch me say each sound when I touch each letter.” The teacher demonstrates blending by touching each letter and saying each sound, /k/ /aaa/ /p/, cap). Next, the teacher moves to “Guided Practice.”
• There is explicit instruction on connecting phonemes to letters in words. In Skill: Phonics - Lesson 22, “Decoding with Short u,” the lesson begins with the teacher explicitly stating, “When we read words, we blend letter sounds together.” The teacher displays the letter cards g-u-m, spaced apart. The teacher says, “Look at this word. The letters are g, u, m. Watch me touch each letter and slowly say its sound.” The teacher touches each letter and says its sound. Next, the teacher says, “Now watch me push my letter cards closer together. I’ll blend the three sounds faster.” The teacher pushes the cards together and points to each letter while blending to say gum. Then, students follow the same routine with the letters s, u, and m. The teacher demonstrates how to use the letter cards to represent the sounds in sum. The students practice touching each letter card as they say each sound to read the word.

Materials incorporate a variety of activities and resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce (through cumulative review) their understanding of applying letter-sound correspondence to decode simple words both in isolation and in decodable connected text.

• Materials include activities for students to develop, practice, and reinforce their understanding of applying letter sound-correspondence to decode simple words in isolation. For example, in Cycle 3, “Lesson 19: Words with Ending Blends /nd/ and /nt/,” students practice reading CVCC words with short vowels in isolation. Using letter cards, students build, blend and read the words: land, sand, pant, tint, mint, and land.
• Materials include activities for students to develop, practice, and reinforce their understanding of applying letter sound-correspondence to decode simple words in decodable connected texts. Materials provide students with practice of applying letter sound-correspondence to decode in connected texts through the decodable fiction books. For example, in In the Sand, students practice reading short vowel words with consonant blends.
• Materials include decodable books, short stories, sentences, poems, and songs, for students to practice applying their knowledge of letter-sound correspondences with support from the teachers and independently. For example, in the teacher resource section, various decodable books are available to be downloaded and printed off for students to use. Examples of decodable books are Sam Tips the Lamp, which focuses on CVC words with short /a/ and short /i/ sounds, and My Dog Has Fleas, which focuses on words with the blends fl and gr.

Evaluation for 3.B.1
Materials provide systematic and direct (explicit) instruction, practice, and review to support the development of oral syllable awareness skills, as outlined in the TEKS.

Materials do not provide systematic and direct (explicit) instruction, practice, and review to support the development of oral syllable awareness skills, as outlined in the TEKS.

Materials do not provide a systematic sequence for introducing oral syllable awareness activities that begin with simple skills (detecting, blending, and segmenting syllables) and gradually transition to more complex skills such as adding, deleting, and substituting syllables. Materials do not include scripted direct (explicit) instruction for teaching oral syllable awareness skills. Materials do not include a variety of activities and resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce skills (through cumulative review).

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials provide a systematic sequence for introducing oral syllable awareness activities that begins with simple skills (detecting, blending, and segmenting syllables) and gradually transition to more complex skills such as adding, deleting, and substituting syllables.

• According to the Scope and Sequence identifying, segmenting, and blending syllables in spoken words is in the kindergarten cycles. Materials include an “Istation's Indicators of Progress (ISIP) ER Phonological Awareness: Blending Syllables Tier 2” lesson where students practice blending syllables into words with pictorial support. Materials include a “Phonological/Phonemic Awareness: Manipulating Syllables” lesson where students practice manipulating syllables in multisyllabic words by adding, deleting, and substituting syllables. It is not clear when or in what order these lessons are taught.
• The materials provide “Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Skill Trace” lessons. These lessons guide teachers to plan for building phonological and phonemic awareness skills, such as oral syllable awareness. Note that there is no document to show when to use lessons outside of the cycle lessons (for example, Skill or Phonemic Awareness Lessons). 

Materials include scripted direct (explicit) instruction for teaching oral syllable awareness skills.

• Materials include scripted direct (explicit) instruction for teaching oral syllable awareness skills. In “Syllables 3: Segmenting Spoken Words with More Than Three Syllables,” students recognize and identify up to four syllables in spoken words. The teacher begins the lesson by saying, “We know that when we hear words, they have beats in them called syllables and that words have different numbers of syllables in them. Remember, some words are very short and have just one syllable. Other words are longer and have two or more syllables, like pumpkin and computer. (Say words and clap the syllables.)” In the Teach portion of the lesson, the teacher models clapping syllables in the words pumpkin, computer, helicopter, cafeteria, and harmonica. During the guided practice, students play Syllable War to practice counting syllables. The teacher calls two students at a time to the front to play a round. In the game, each student chooses a face-down card, turns over the card, names the picture on the card, and claps the syllables in the word. The student with the higher number of syllables wins that round. During the independent practice, the teacher distributes the independent practice page. Students say each picture’s name and clap the syllables for the word; then students circle the correct number of syllables in that word. The lessons lack explicit instruction in adding, deleting, and substituting syllables.
• The materials include scripted instruction for teaching oral syllable awareness skills. For example, in the lesson “Blending Syllables Tier 2,” the teacher script is, “Words are made up of parts, and if we listen carefully, we can hear these parts. This can help us when we are reading and writing big words. Today, we will practice listening to word parts to hear what the ‘mystery’ word is. I’ll show you what I mean. I will say a word in parts that are like beats, just like drumbeats. These beats are called syllables. If you use your best listening skills to listen for each syllable, then you will hear the mystery word I want you to hear. When you know it, raise your hand instead. Listen: tea | cher. Raise your hand if you know what the mystery word is. That’s right! The mystery word is teacher. If you listen to the beats of the word carefully and put the beats together, you will hear the whole word. Say it with me this time on the beats: tea | cher. It is helpful to raise a finger with each syllable that is enunciated as a visual for students but do not focus on segmenting by clapping.” This process is repeated with the words flower and principal. The lessons lack explicit instruction in adding, deleting, and substituting syllables.

Materials incorporate a variety of activities and resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce skills (through cumulative review).

• Materials incorporate a variety of activities and resources for students to develop and practice skills. In the “Phonemic Awareness Manipulating Syllables in Multisyllable Words” lesson, the students use sticky notes to practice syllable addition, deletion, and substitution. Activities and resources were not seen in regard to cumulative review.
• In “Syllables 3-Segmenting Spoken Words With More Than Three Syllables,” students have activities and resources to practice oral syllabication skills. The lesson provides picture cards to support students’ vocabulary of spoken words. Additionally, the students play a game called Syllable War. In this game, each student chooses a face-down card and takes turns naming the picture on the card and clapping the syllables. Students may choose to clap, stomp, snap or touch their chin to segment syllables. Students have an Independent Practice page. On this handout, students look at the picture on each row and select the number of syllables found in the word. For example, in the first row, students see a picture of an octopus. Students select whether the word contains two, three, or four syllables. The materials do not contain cumulative review.
• Materials incorporate a variety of activities and resources for students to develop and practice skills. For example, in “Blending Syllables Tier 2,” the teacher has some pictures of zoo animals that need to get on the train to a new zoo. The teacher says each animal’s name in beats for each animal identified to get on the train. The materials do not contain cumulative review. 

Evaluation for 3.B.2
Materials provide systematic and direct (explicit) instruction, practice, and review to support the development of phonemic awareness skills, as outlined in the TEKS.

The materials partially meet the criteria for this indicator. Materials provide some systematic and direct (explicit) instruction, practice, and review to support the development of phonemic awareness skills, as outlined in the TEKS.

Materials provide a systematic sequence for introducing phonemic awareness activities that begins with identifying, blending, and segmenting phonemes (the smallest unit of sound) and gradually transitions to more complex manipulation practices such as adding, deleting, and substituting phonemes. Materials include scripted direct (explicit) instruction for teaching phonemic awareness. Materials include direct (explicit) detailed guidance for connecting phonemic awareness skills to the alphabetic principle, helping to transition students from oral language activities to basic decoding and encoding. Materials incorporate some activities and resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce skills (through cumulative review). Materials do not incorporate cumulative review.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials provide a systematic sequence for introducing phonemic awareness activities that begins with identifying, blending, and segmenting phonemes (the smallest unit of sound) and gradually transition to more complex manipulation practices such as adding, deleting, and substituting phonemes.

• Materials provide a systematic sequence for introducing phonemic awareness activities. The “Grade 1 Content At a Glance” document states that the blending of sounds to create nonsense and real words is done before the identification of initial, medial, and final phonemes.
• The materials provide a scope and sequence document which lists the phonological and phonemic awareness skills checked off under the cycle that they are presented in. The document introduces phonemic awareness activities that begin with identifying, blending, and segmenting phonemes (the smallest unit of sound) in Cycle 3 and gradually transition to more complex manipulation practices such as adding, deleting, and substituting phonemes in Cycles 4 through 10. The Cycle 3 Phonemic Awareness lesson set gives instruction on substituting phonemes in spoken words to create new words. In Cycle 3, “Lesson 15: Phoneme Substitution, Beginning Sound,” students practice phoneme substitution at the beginning of spoken words. In the “Phonological/Phonemic Awareness: Manipulating Phonemes Lesson,” students practice manipulating initial and final phonemes in base words. In Cycle 10, “Lesson 1 Phoneme Deletion (Initial)” and “Lesson 2 Phoneme Deletion (Final),” students practice deleting phonemes from a word and identify the new word.
• Materials teach all skills in the grade 1 TEKS. Materials provide recognizing spoken alliteration or groups of words that begin with the same spoken onset or initial sound; distinguishing between long and short vowel sounds in one-syllable words; recognizing the change in spoken word when a specified phoneme is added, changed, or removed; blending spoken phonemes to form one-syllable words, including initial and/or final consonant blends; manipulating phonemes within base words; segmenting spoken one-syllable words of three to five phonemes into individual phonemes, including words with initial and/or final consonant blends.

Materials include scripted direct (explicit) instruction for teaching phonemic awareness.

• Materials provide clear, precise instructions and directions for reinforcing the correct articulation of phonemes. For example, in the lesson “Magical Miss Mousley Identify Word Pairs with Same Initial Phoneme,” the Teach section teacher script is, “The first phoneme, or sound, in a word is the first sound you hear. Look at my mouth while you listen for the first phonemes again. Point to your mouth while you again stretch the first phoneme in each word as you say: Mmmagical Mmmiss Mmmousely. What sound did my mouth make first in Mmmagical Mmmiss Mmmousely? (/m/) That’s right! My mouth made the /m/ sound first. The first phoneme, or sound, in Magical Miss Mousely is /m/!”
• Materials include scripted direct (explicit) instruction for teaching phonemic awareness. In “Skill Lesson 33 Phoneme Blending,” students practice blending phonemes to make words. The teacher begins the lesson by saying, “Words are made of sounds. Today we will practice blending sounds together to make a word. I am going to use this slide to help me.” The teacher models blending phonemes to make the words leg and mask. During the guided practice, the teacher distributes a picture of a Slide Game with Tab and says, “Let’s play a game blending sounds together to make a word. I will say the separate sounds of a word. You blend the sounds together, and then you will tell me the picture for the word.” The words used are zoo, key, fan, and tail. During the independent practice, the teacher says, “Now let’s see how well you have learned to blend sounds together to make a word.” The students follow the same procedure from the guided practice section with a new group of words.
• The lessons employ a gradual release of responsibility model while also including words. Materials provide clear, precise instructions and phrasing for teaching with minimal pairs during phonemic awareness instruction. In Cycle 4, “Phonemic Awareness lesson,” during the initial teaching, the teacher draws two boxes on the board. As prompted by the script, the teacher says, “Listen and repeat: be. The word be has two sounds. The first sound in be is /b/. The second sound in be is /E/.” The teacher replaces b for m. The teacher says, “Everyone say /mmm/. Now we have /mmm/, /E/. What is the new word? : Yes, the word is me! We changed the word be to the word me by saying /mmm/ in place of /b/.” During Guided Practice, the teacher gives each student colored squares or counters in four different colors. The teacher guides the students through the same process shown in the initial teaching phase and provides immediate feedback and assistance. Gradually, the students become independent with this skill. During Independent Practice, the script prompts the teacher to say, “I will say two words. You repeat the two words. Then, tell me which sound has changed. Let’s do the first one together for practice. Ready? Listen and repeat: cat—fat. (pause) Which sound has changed, first sound, middle sound, or last sound? Affirm: Yes, the first sound has changed.” The teacher continues with the following pairs: hat—bat, cat—rat, am—at, man—mad, sad—sat, sit—sat, and Tim—Tam.

Materials include direct (explicit) detailed guidance for connecting phonemic awareness skills to the alphabetic principle, helping to transition students from oral language activities to basic decoding and encoding.

• Materials identify the skills to be learned and communicate clear objectives. For example, in Cycle 6, Lesson 6, the teacher says, “Today we will learn how to listen to a word, sound it out, then spell the word aloud. We will use our hand signs to show the letters when we name them.”
• Materials include direct (explicit) detailed guidance for connecting phonemic awareness skills to the alphabetic principle, helping to transition students from oral language activities to basic decoding and encoding. In Cycle 6, “Lesson 12: Blend Sounds to Read and Spell Words,” students practice blending phonemes to decode and encode words. The teacher begins the lesson by saying, “When we read words, we blend letter sounds together. When we spell words, we listen to each sound and name the letter for that sound.” The teacher models touching each letter and slowly saying its sound before blending the sounds together. The teacher ends the Teach portion of the lesson by saying, “You are reading by blending letter sounds together to say the word! You are learning to spell the words by saying the sounds and naming each letter. Great job!” During the guided and independent practice, students use letter cards to create CVC, CCVC, and CVCC words to decode and encode.

Materials incorporate a variety of activities and resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce skills (through cumulative review).

• In Cycle 0, Lesson 6, students listen to a segmented spoken word and then blend the sounds together to hear a word that has a pictorial representation. The lesson provides a Sounds Picture page which consists of illustrations with sound boxes below each illustration. As students identify the sounds in spoken words, they touch each box to represent a sound. Using the same Sounds Picture page, the teacher says a word broken into individual sounds, and the students find the picture with those sounds and color it.
• Materials provide a variety of activities and resources for students to develop and practice but lack these for cumulative review. For example, in Cycle 3, “Lesson 16 Phoneme Substitution: Middle Sound,” the independent practice section provides a Sound Squares page. This page is used by the student to color in the square where they hear a sound change, a skill they learned earlier in the lesson.
• Materials include Elkonin boxes in lessons. In Cycle 8, “Lesson 2 Segmenting and Blending Sounds /th/,” students use Elkonin boxes to segment and blend phonemes in words containing the /th/ sound. There is no cumulative review. 
• In the “Phonological/Phonemic Awareness Manipulating Medial Phonemes Lesson,” students manipulate sounds in base words by adding, deleting, and substituting initial and final phonemes. The lessons instruct the teacher to “Use sticky notes or Elkonin boxes to model phonemic order while saying each phoneme distinctly. Repeat the word fluently as you run your finger under the sticky notes or Elkonin boxes.” During the independent practice, students use sticky notes to practice adding, deleting, and substituting phonemes. These activities are based on the current skill and not cumulative review.

Evaluation for 3.C.1
Materials provide systematic and direct (explicit) instruction, practice, and review to develop students’ knowledge of grade-level sound-spelling patterns, as outlined in the TEKS.

The materials meet the criteria for this indicator. Materials provide systematic and direct (explicit) instruction, practice, and review to develop students’ knowledge of grade-level sound-spelling patterns, as outlined in the TEKS.

Materials provide a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level sound-spelling patterns, as outlined in the TEKS. Materials provide scripted direct (explicit) instruction for grade-level sound-spelling patterns. Materials incorporate a variety of activities and resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce skills (through cumulative review). Materials provide a variety of activities and resources to decode and encode words that include taught sound-spelling patterns in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text that builds on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts).

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials provide a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level sound-spelling patterns, as outlined in the TEKS.

• There is a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level sound-spelling patterns. For example, Grade 1 students study vowel teams /ai/ and /oa/ with CVVC and CCVVC words before long vowels /a_e/ and /i_e/ with CVCe and CCVCe words.
• Materials provide a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level sound-spelling patterns, as outlined in the TEKS. In “Teacher Resources,” there is an “Istation Scope and Sequence.” In the scope and sequence, the objectives for Grade 1 are in two charts. The first chart bundles kindergarten and Grade 1 objectives that vertically align, and in the second chart, Grade 1 and Grade 2 objectives are together. Cycles 3–6 teach long vowels (CVVC - ai, oa, ee, ea, CVCe). As the year progresses, the sound-spelling patterns become more complex. Cycles 7–8 teach r-controlled vowels, long vowels (ay, ey, ie, oe), and digraphs. Cycles 9 and 10 focus on decoding words with variant vowels au, aw, at and diphthongs /oi/ oy/oi and /ou/ ow and ow. 
• In the toolbox component, a state correlations document (PDF) offers a list of research-based instruction that aligns with the TEKS. It lists the TEK 1.2 Bi decoding words in isolation and in context by applying common letter-sound correspondence. The column on the left lists the student digital components offered in the program, such as a student decoding subtest, interactive books, and lessons. The column on the right lists the teacher resources offered for that standard, such as a starting lesson on blending beginning, middle, and ending sounds and an ending lesson with phonographs ow, oll, olt, old, and olk.

Materials provide scripted direct (explicit) instruction for grade-level sound-spelling patterns.

• Materials provide scripted direct (explicit) instruction for grade-level sound-spelling patterns. In Cycle 5, Lesson 9, “Vowel Sound, Silent e, Pattern a_e,” the teacher begins by reminding students of short vowel sounds. The teacher models how adding an e at the end changes the vowel sound. The script says, “Now the word tap turns to tape. WOW! How did it do that? The Silent letter e did it. When a word ends in Silent e, the e tells the vowel to say its name, and the e is quiet. It gives all its power to the first vowel, so the first vowel can say its name; The first vowel in the word tape is named a, so it say /A/.” In the lesson, the teacher is told to “(Touch letter h, say /h/, touch letter o/e together at once, say /O/, touch letter p, say /p/. Put your fingers over your lips to show that the Silent e is quiet).” The lesson contains a teach, guided practice, and independent practice portion.
• In the teacher resources, the program provides lessons with scripted direct (explicit ) instruction for teachers to follow. For example, in Cycle 5, “Lesson 20: Spelling CVCe with a_e and o_e,” the teach portion provides a script for the lesson; it also spirals back and connects the new pattern to previous sound-spelling patterns, saying, “You have learned that the letters o and a sometimes partner together to make the long /O/ sound as in roam. You also learned that the letters a and i sometimes partner together to make the long /A/ sound as in aim. Did you know there are other ways to spell the long /A/ and the long /O/ sound? Today you will learn a new way to spell the long /A/ sound and the long /O/ sound.”
• The materials include specific and precise terms, phrasing, and statements that teachers can use during core instruction. For example, in Cycle 9, Lesson 16, the script directs the teacher to say, “The letters /ai/ make the /A/ sound because when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking, and the second letter is silent. Letter A is first, so you hear the long vowel sound /A/.” While the materials use this generation, this generalization is not consistently accurate.

Materials incorporate a variety of activities and resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce skills (through cumulative review).

• In Grade 1, The materials include a variety of activities to develop, practice, and reinforce students’ knowledge of sound-spelling patterns. For example, Cycle 10, Lesson 4, introduces the vowel teams ee and ea. Students use letter cards with the teacher saying, “‘Now I will say each sound in a word. Help me push the letters together to spell the word. Ready? Listen and repeat: team. Where do you hear the long vowel sound /E/?’ (in the middle) Provide corrective feedback, modeling it with students until everyone responds correctly; continue with these words: lean, teen, meat, seam.”
• Materials include “The Word Masters Card Game Player’s Guide,” which is included with each cycle starting after Cycle 3. The Player’s Guide states, “The Word Masters Card Game is designed for students to spell words using previously taught phonics skills. The game includes cards illustrated with a letter or letter combinations and characters called the Fantastic Phonics. Word Masters may be played individually or multiplayer.” Each cycle has a different set of playing cards depending on phonics taught in that cycle. For Cycles 3–10 in Grade 1, the cards contain all consonants and vowels along with ee, ea, ie, oe, oa, ai ar, or, ir, er, ur, ch, tch, ow, oy, oi, ay, ey, ph, wh, aw, all, ou, alk, ly, and ed for students to draw and form words with.
• The materials provide activities for students to practice sound-spelling skills. On the student learning app, the students see three words (for example, smile, smoke, smog) and see a picture of a smile. The narrator asks the student to click on the word that says smile. If the student chooses the word correctly the narrator says, “Yes, that is the word smile,” and the word is added to the word wall on the screen. If the student does not choose the word correctly, the narrator says, “No that is not the word dime” and the narrator says the correct word while it is highlighted in the list and then reads sound by sound “/d/ /long i/ /m/” while the word is highlighted letter by letter as the sounds are read by the narrator sound by sound. There are pictures that show the vowels such as a picture of a covered mouth for silent e. The student is again asked to “Click on the word dime.” Once the correct word is clicked, the student clicks on the green button for the next word and the process repeats for a new word/set of words.

Materials provide a variety of activities and resources to decode and encode words that include taught sound-spelling patterns in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text that builds on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts).

• The materials have opportunities for students to encode in connected text. In “Cycle 5, Lesson 20, Spelling CVCe with a_e and o_e,” the teacher reads a sentence, and the students write down what they hear. The teacher tells the students that some of the words they hear will have the new vowel pattern learned today and blends that were learned in previous lessons. The teacher reads the following sentences, “Nate is late. The dome is her home. Pam made this plate. The note has her name on it. They hope the bug is tame.” After the students write the sentences, the teacher asks the students to underline the long /o/ or the long /a/ vowel pattern that was learned. The teacher asks the students to circle any words that begin with a blend.
• The materials contain opportunities for students to decode and encode in isolation. In “Cycle 7 Spelling Lesson Letter Focus: Silent E,” students focus on spelling CVC and CVCe words. Through varied activities and resources, students practice the focus skill. Students use letter tiles at the beginning of the lesson to review the names of the letters. Students build on previously learned knowledge to apply the letter-sound association to build CVC and CVCe words. The materials include the “Sound Boxes” and “Spelling Page” documents. Using these handouts, the student decodes and encodes words that follow the specific lesson word pattern. The lesson provides a list of words that the teacher may use during the lesson to practice with the students. The suggested words are kit/kite, at/ate, can/cane, tub/tube, hug/huge, kit/kite, at/ate, and can/cane.
• Materials provide a variety of activities and resources to decode words with taught sound-spelling patterns in isolation (e.g., word lists). Materials include “Skill Word Lists” for each cycle. Materials include a “Suggested Uses for Skill Word Lists” in the Teacher Resources. The suggested uses are Highlighting, Category Replication, Spelling Lists, Webbing, and Reverse Webbing. The materials provide guidance for highlighting, “The teacher provides copies of the decodable words category from the Skill Words list for each student. Students search through the list for particular spelling patterns, blends, word endings, etc. When they find the particular item, they use a highlighter to highlight it.” The Cycle 6 word list contains i_e, u_e and consonant blends (sc, sk, scr).
• Materials contain decodable readers for students to decode taught sound-spelling patterns in connected text that builds on previous instruction. In The Blue Blimp, students practice decoding long vowels /A/ and /O/ while reviewing consonant blends and short vowel /u/.

Evaluation for 3.C.2
Materials provide systematic and direct (explicit) instruction, practice, and review related to accurately identifying, reading, and writing regular and irregular high-frequency words.

The materials partially meet the criteria for this indicator. Materials provide some systematic and direct (explicit) instruction, practice, and review related to accurately identifying, reading, and writing regular and irregular high-frequency words.

Materials provide some sequence for introducing regular and irregular high-frequency words. Materials provide some scripted direct (explicit) instruction for decoding and encoding regular and irregular high-frequency words. Materials incorporate some activities and resources for students to develop and practice skills (through cumulative review).. Materials provide some activities and resources for students to recognize, read, and write high-frequency words in isolation (e.g., word lists) and to recognize and read in connected text (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts).

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials provide a systematic sequence for introducing regular and irregular high-frequency words.

• Materials include 40 High-Frequency Words in Cycles 3–10. This does not meet the TEKS of identifying and reading at least 100 high-frequency words from a research-based list. Additionally, Cycles 3–7 are also a part of the kindergarten materials, so only 18 new high-frequency words are learned in Cycles 8–10.
• According to the Istation Reading Curriculum Correlated to Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for ELA and Reading, Grade 1 Content at A Glance and the Scope and Sequence, students learn the following high-frequency words in the following sequence:
  • Cycle 3: here, are, you, they
  • Cycle 4: my, where, with, to
  • Cycle 5 what, said, for her
  • Cycle 6: was, that, from, she
  • Cycle 7: do, come, there have, of, some
  • Cycle 8: does, your, when, could, give, want
  • Cycle 9: who, goes, put, why, because, thought
  • Cycle 10: good, many, their, too, would, look

Materials provide scripted direct (explicit) instruction for decoding and encoding regular and irregular high-frequency words.

• Materials provide scripted direct (explicit) instruction for decoding regular and irregular high-frequency words. “High-Frequency Words Cycle 5—what, said, for, her” contains three lessons. The teacher starts the lesson, “Today we will learn four new high-frequency words or sight words. Remember, high-frequency words are words that we see a lot in our reading and use a lot in our writing.” The teacher shows the first word what and says, “Let’s snap and clap the letters in the word what.” Materials do not provide scripted direct (explicit) instruction for encoding regular and irregular high-frequency words. Materials lack the intertwining of decoding and encoding since they do not provide instruction for encoding.
• The materials provide scripted instruction for teaching students how to decode regular and irregular high-frequency words but do not contain direct instruction for encoding. In Cycle 7, Lesson 15, the teacher shows the students high-frequency words in isolation. The teacher reminds students that high-frequency words do not always follow spelling patterns. The teacher reads the word and uses it in a sentence before having students read them. During guided practice, the teacher gives students the Fluency Practice page. The teacher instructs students to point to the word that he/she says. Students then read the word. The script says, “I will say a word. You find my word in the box at the top of your page, touch it and say it. Ready? Touch the word do. Read the word aloud.”
• The materials provide scripted instruction for teaching students how to decode regular and irregular high-frequency words but do not contain direct instruction for encoding. “Cycle 8 High-Frequency Words: does, your, when, could, give, want” encompasses three instructional plans for the words does, your, when, could, give, and want. The lesson set notes that the procedure in this lesson should be used when introducing high-frequency words. Students should understand that this routine is used for new words. Because students may not achieve mastery with this one lesson, it is important to do the other lessons after this initial one. The teacher script prompts the teacher to say, “Today, we will learn six new high-frequency words, or sight words. Remember, high-frequency words are words that we see a lot in our reading and use a lot in our writing. The first word is does. Let’s snap and clap the letters in the word does. The word does has four letters and one syllable.” The teacher explicitly states that does can be tricky because the o-e in the middle makes the /u/ sound, and the s at the end makes the /z/ sound. The teacher reminds the students about the spelling of the word: d-o-e-s and not d-u-z.

Materials incorporate a variety of activities and resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce skills (through cumulative review).

• Materials incorporate activities and resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce skills through decoding, but not encoding. Cycle 7, “Lesson 15: Read High-Frequency Words,” students read sentences with high-frequency words. The teacher begins the lesson by saying, “Today we will practice reading some words that we see a LOT in books. These words do not always follow our letter patterns.” During the guided practice, the teacher distributes the fluency page to each student. Students practice as a class and then with partners reading the words and sentences on the paper. 
• The materials include activities and resources that cumulatively reinforce the decoding of high-frequency words but not through cumulative review. “Cycle 8 High-Frequency Words: does, your, when, could, give, want” gives students practice with high-frequency words in isolation and in context as well as rapid reading. The materials provide decodable books that include high-frequency words for students to practice reading in context. Some book titles include My Hands and Feet, which includes the high-frequency words my, to, where, and with, and Hide and Seek, which includes the high-frequency words do, have, some, there, of, and come. There are no activities that provide cumulative review.
• The materials include activities and resources for practicing decoding high-frequency words. For example, in Cycle 10, “Lesson 19 – Read High-Frequency Words in Sentences,” the materials include a printable sheet of sentences that emphasize the high-frequency words look, good, many, would, their, too, friend, and water. The teacher begins by reading the words in the sentences with students as practice. Then guided practice occurs where the teacher says a word from the sentence, and students find it on their sheet. Then students whisper the words in the sentences to themselves. Then they read the sentences in unison with the teacher. This continues for each sentence; then students practice reading the same sentences with a partner. During this time, the teacher walks around to each student, has them read the sentence to them, and provides immediate feedback to students. Some of the sentences are, “It was hot at the park. The children drank many cups of water. It would be nice if my brother would come. My brother is my best friend.”

Materials provide a variety of activities and resources for students to recognize, read, and write high-frequency words in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in connected text (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts).

• Materials provide a variety of activities and resources for students to recognize and read high-frequency words in isolation. Materials provide Word Bank Cards for Cycles 1–11. Teachers can print word cards and provide them for students to practice. The teacher explains to students that they will set a timer for one minute and see how many words they can read during that time. The teacher then models this to students, and students practice with the teacher. Materials do not provide a variety of activities and resources for students to write high-frequency words in isolation (e.g., word lists).
• Students read high-frequency words in isolation and connected text. In “Cycle 2 High-Frequency Words: this, is, his, go,” the lesson prompts the teacher to model snapping for each letter as they spell the word this aloud. The lesson prompts the teacher to say, “Let’s snap and clap the letters in the word this. Watch me as I model for you.” The teacher follows this routine with the students to snap each letter in this and then clap the number of syllables. The teacher says, “The word this has four letters and one syllable.” In this lesson, students use This is the Way to practice reading the learned high-frequency words in context.
• Materials provide a variety of activities and resources for students to recognize and read high-frequency words in connected text (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts). Materials provide decodable readers that focus on high-frequency words. In Cycle 5, the decodable reader, The Bun for Us, focuses on high-frequency words for, her, said, and what. The materials do not provide activities and resources for students to encode in connected text.
• In Cycle 7, “Lesson 15—Read High-Frequency Words,” students decode high-frequency words in connected texts. Students practice reading high-frequency words do, come, there, have, of, and some in sentences on the Fluency Practice Page. Some example sentences from the Fluency Practice Page are “Barns do have some cats and some pups” and “Come see a box of pups in the barn.”

Evaluation for 3.C.3
Materials include systematic and direct (explicit) instruction, practice, and review related to using knowledge and application of syllabication to decode and encode one-syllable or multisyllabic words.

The material partially meets the criteria for this indicator. Materials include some systematic and direct (explicit) instruction, practice, and review related to using knowledge and application of syllabication to decode and encode one-syllable or multisyllabic words.

Materials provide a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level syllable types and syllable division principles, as outlined in the TEKS. Materials provide scripted direct (explicit) instruction for applying knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles to decode and encode one-syllable or multisyllabic words. Materials incorporate some activities and resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce skills (through cumulative review). Materials provide some activities and resources for students to practice decoding and encoding one-syllable or multisyllabic words, using knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles, in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text that builds on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts).

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials provide a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level syllable types and syllable division principles, as outlined in the TEKS.

• Materials provide a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level syllable types and syllable division principles, as outlined in the TEKS. Lesson objectives progress from easier to more complex skills. For example, materials begin with closed syllables in “Skills Phonics Lesson 14 Syllables,” then gradually introduce open syllables in “Skills Phonics Lesson 15 Open Syllables” before other syllable types like vowel teams in “Skills Phonics Lesson 25 Read Words with Long Vowel.”
• The sequence for introducing syllable types and syllable division principles is aligned to grade-level TEKS. Materials focus on decoding and encoding single-syllable words with closed syllables, open syllables, VCe syllables, vowel teams, and r-controlled syllables. Lesson objectives progress from easier to more complex skills, as seen in the Scope and Sequence. Cycles 5–10 cover using letter-sound patterns to read and spell one-syllable words. Cycles 9–10 cover using syllabication rules to segment two-syllable words.
• The materials provide a scope and sequence document. The grade 1 scope and sequence is included with kindergarten and grade 2. In grade 1, students use letter/sound correspondence to decode and encode closed syllable patterns starting in Cycle 3 and then proceed to spell CVCe pattern words. In Cycle 1, students begin to decode and blend single syllable words which are identified as closed syllables, encoding CVVC and CCVVC (vowel teams) in Cycle 3, VCe patterns beginning in Cycle 5, and R-controlled patterns appear in Cycles 7 and 8. However, the progression of the skills is not clearly outlined in the scope and sequence.
• The materials provide “Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Skill Trace” lessons. These lessons guide teachers to plan for building phonological and phonemic awareness skills, such as oral syllable awareness. Note that there is no document to show when to use lessons outside of the Cycle lessons (for example, Skill or Phonemic Awareness Lessons).

Materials provide scripted direct (explicit) instruction for applying knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles to decode and encode one-syllable or multisyllabic words.

• Materials provide scripted direct (explicit) instruction for applying knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles to encode one-syllable or multisyllabic words. In Cycle 5, “Lesson 20: Spelling CVCe with a_e and o_e,” students apply knowledge of syllable types to encode words. During the lesson, the teacher reviews the CVCe pattern with the students and introduces the objective of the lesson. The teacher says, “You have learned that the letters o and a sometimes partner together to make the long /O/ sound as in roam. You also learned that the letters a and i sometimes partner together to make the long /A/ sound as in aim. Did you know there are other ways to spell the long /A/ and the long /O/ sound? Today you will learn a new way to spell the long /A/ sound and the long /O/ sound.” During the guided practice, students play a game to practice spelling words with the two long vowel patterns learned in the lesson. During the independent practice, the teacher reads a sentence and asks the students to write down what they hear. Some of the words have the new vowel patterns, and other words review previously learned concepts.
• Materials provide scripted direct (explicit) instruction applying knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles to decode and encode one-syllable or multisyllabic words. In Cycle 7, “Lesson 8 Open Syllables (me, go, by),” students decode words that contain one final vowel. The teacher models decoding one-syllable words that contain an open vowel at the end. During the guided practice, the teacher distributes one Open Vowel Decoding Practice page per student and says, “We will sound out these words and read them together. Some of these are silly nonsense words, but we sound them out the same way.” During the independent practice, the students whisper-read the words on the practice page with a partner. The lesson contains a spelling portion. The teacher says, “Now that we can read words that end with a vowel sound, let’s practice spelling them. Distribute letters to students. The first word I want to spell is he. Let’s stretch the sounds in the word to see which letters we will need to spell the word. /hhh/ /eee/, he. Which letter is at the beginning of the word he? Pause for responses. That’s right! The letter h is at the beginning of he. Let’s pull that letter down. What letter is at the end of the word he? Pause for responses. That’s right! The letter e is at the end of the word he. Let’s pull that letter down. Now we need to read the word that we spelled. Read the word with me. He.” The teacher continues this process with the words be, we, my, fly, and try.
• The materials include specific and precise terms, phrasing, and statements that teachers use during core instruction. For example, in Cycle 5, “Lesson 20: Spelling CVCe with a_e and o_e,” the teacher says, “You have learned that the letters o and a sometimes partner together to make the long /O/ sound as in roam. You also learned that the letters a and i sometimes partner together to make the long /A/ sound as in aim. Did you know there are other ways to spell the long /A/ and the long /O/ sound? Today you will learn a new way to spell the long /A/ sound and the long /O/ sound. First, what vowel sound do you hear in the word name? That’s right, you hear the long /A/ sound in the word name. I will use the letter cards to spell the word name. Place the letter cards n-a-m-e on the table. Name is spelled n-a-m-e. The long /A/ sound is made with the a and the e (point to the a and e cards). The first vowel a says its name, and the e is silent. The letter m goes between a and e. How do you think we spell the word made? Made is spelled like name. Remove the n and m cards from name and replace them with the m and d cards to spell the word made. The letters m-a-d-e spell made. See, the a says its name and the e is silent.”

Materials incorporate a variety of activities and resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce skills (through cumulative review).

• The materials include a variety of resources to develop, practice, and reinforce syllabication skills but lack cumulative review. Materials include decodable multisyllabic words presented through lists, sentences, and books that can be used to practice and reinforce using syllable division rules to decode words. In “Skill: Phonics Lesson 13 Decoding Multisyllabic Words,” students practice decoding two-syllable words that follow the VCCV pattern using a word list. Materials include decodable readers The Hero, The Mother Cat and Her Kittens, Spiders, Mitch’s Big Fish Tales, and Naptime for students to practice reading multisyllabic words in books. Materials include passages for students to decode in sentences. In the Cycle 9 Passage, “Joel and Kay’s Best Day,” students practice decoding multisyllabic open-syllable words. In the Cycle 10 Passage, “The Water Cycle,” students practice decoding multisyllabic open-syllable words. In “Cycle 10 - Pet Parade,” students practice decoding multisyllabic closed-syllable words.
• The materials include a variety of resources to develop, practice, and reinforce syllabication skills but lack cumulative review. In “Skill Phonics Lesson 14,” students decode closed syllables with -le and -y. The lesson provides activities to help develop, practice, and reinforce the identification of syllable types and the application of syllable division principles to decode and encode multisyllabic words but does not include cumulative review. In the first lesson activity, the students break the word into syllables by drawing a line between the parts of the word. For each syllable, the student writes the letter v under each vowel sound. In another activity, students use the word cards handle and candy and the –le and -y Syllable Words Card Page. Students draw a card and place it under the word that has the same pattern as the last syllable. Students continue reading the word cards until all cards have been read and placed in the appropriate column successfully. As the final activity for this lesson, students use the –le and –y Independent Practice Syllable Word Cards page. Students practice reading the words with a partner.

Materials provide a variety of activities and resources for students to practice decoding and encoding one-syllable or multisyllabic words, using knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles, in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text that builds on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts).

• Materials provide a variety of activities and resources for students to practice decoding one-syllable or multisyllabic words, using knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles, in isolation (e.g., word lists). However, it lacks activities that build on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts). In the “Istation Reading Spelling Closed Syllables,” students practice decoding and spelling multisyllabic words with closed syllables. Students decode word cards in isolation and use those word cards to practice spelling multisyllabic words.
• Materials include decodable readers with multisyllabic words but lack building on previous instruction. Students read The Hero, The Mother Cat and Her Kittens, Spiders, Mitch’s Big Fish Tales, and Naptime. Materials include passages for students to decode in connected texts. In the Cycle 9 Passage, “Joel and Kay’s Best Day,” students practice decoding multisyllabic open-syllable words. In the Cycle 10 Passage, “The Water Cycle,” students practice decoding multisyllabic open-syllable words. In “Cycle 10 - Pet Parade,” students practice decoding multisyllabic closed-syllable words.
• Materials include encoding in connected text but lack building on previous instruction. Materials contain Word Bank Cards for each cycle and a teacher resource for suggested uses for word bank cards. Cycles 7–11 Word Bank Cards contain multisyllabic words. One suggested use is Fish for a Sentence. In this activity, the teacher draws three word bank cards and writes them on the board. The students must use all three words to write a sentence.
• In Cycle 5, Lesson 20, students spell CVCe words with a_e and o_e. The lesson script guides the teacher to build on students’ prior knowledge by saying, “You have learned that the letters o and a sometimes partner together to make the long /O/ sound as in roam. You also learned that the letters a and i sometimes partner together to make the long /A/ sound as in aim. Did you know there are other ways to spell the long /A/ and the long /O/ sound? Today you will learn a new way to spell the long /A/ sound and the long /O/ sound.” The teacher uses Letter Cards to spell the word name. The teacher says, “The first vowel a says its name, and the e is silent. The letter m goes between a and e.” In this lesson, students play a game to practice spelling words with the two long vowel patterns learned. The teacher says a word slowly, and students use the Letter Cards to spell the words.

Evaluation for 3.C.4
Materials connect phonics instruction to meaning by providing systematic and direct (explicit) instruction, practice, and review related to developing morphological awareness.

The materials partially meet the criteria for this indicator. Materials connect some phonics instruction to meaning by providing systematic and direct (explicit) instruction, practice, and review related to developing morphological awareness.

Materials provide some sequence for introducing grade-level morphemes, as outlined in the TEKS. Materials provide some direct instruction for supporting the recognition of common morphemes. Materials provide some direct (explicit) instruction for using the meanings of morphemes (e.g., affixes and base words) to support decoding, encoding, and reading comprehension. Materials incorporate some activities and resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce skills. Materials do not include cumulative review. Materials provide a variety of activities and resources for students to decode and encode words with morphemes in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text that builds on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts).

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials provide a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level morphemes, as outlined in the TEKS.

• The Grade 1 program begins with less complex morphology lessons and progresses to more complex lessons, as outlined in the TEKS. Students begin learning compound words in Cycle 7, Lesson 13. Then in Cycle 9, students begin learning inflectional endings. Cycle 9, Lesson 13, teaches base words and inflected ending -s. Cycle 9, Lesson 15, teaches base words and inflected ending -ed. Materials are missing a lesson on inflected ending -es, which is included in the TEKS.
• The program begins with less complex morphology lessons in grade 1 and progresses to more complex objectives in grades 2 and 3. For example, students use knowledge of base words and inflectional endings to decode one- and two-syllable words. In Cycle 9, students learn the inflected ending -ed. In Cycle 9, Lesson 15, students use sentence strips to practice decoding words with the -ed ending.
• The lessons are taught in a logical order. For example, grade 1 students learn to decode words with inflectional ending -ed and -s beginning in Cycle 9. However, the grade 1 TEKS state that students learn words with endings -ed, -s, and -es.
• Cycle 9 contains a set of lessons on inflected ending -ing and -ed. Due to the overlap of cycles, these are the same lessons that are utilized in Grade 2. The one lesson found in Cycle 9, Lesson 15, only focused on when suffixed makes the /t/ sound.

Materials provide direct (explicit) instruction for supporting recognition of common morphemes.

• Materials provide direct (explicit) instruction for supporting the recognition of common morphemes through the gradual release model. In Cycle 9, “Lesson 13—Inflected Ending -s,” the teacher begins the lesson by teaching students how to decode words with inflected ending -s, as in jumps. The teacher writes the word jump on the board and says, “We add the letter s to the end of the word jump (add to word) to make the new word jumps. Jumps ends with the sound /s/ - jumps. He jumps.”
• The program includes direct (explicit) instruction on specific morphemes. For example, in Cycle 10, Lesson 4, “Inflected Ending –ed,” the teacher reads one-syllable words (stop, drag, shred). The teacher begins with, “Now, we are going to add –ed to these words. If a word has one syllable and ends with a short vowel and a consonant, then double the last consonant before adding –ed. The first word is stop. I will double the consonant p and add –ed. The new word is stopped. Point to stop. Read this word. Point to stopped. Now read this word. Very good. –ed makes the sound /t/ in this word. The car stopped at the red light.” This continues with the remaining words.
• Materials are missing a lesson on inflected ending -es, which is in the TEKS.

Materials provide direct (explicit) instruction for using the meanings of morphemes (e.g., affixes and base words) to support decoding, encoding, and reading comprehension.

• The materials provide direct lessons on morphemes with scripted language that emphasize word meaning. For example, in Cycle 9, “Lesson 15—Inflected Ending –ed,” the lesson directs the teacher to write and say jumped, then read it aloud, “We add the ending -ed to jump. We will say /t/ for the ending –ed. Say /t/. Now, say jumped. Jumped ends with the sound /t/ … jumped. Adding /ed/ to the end of a word means that something has already happened.”
• In Cycle 9, “Lesson 13—Inflected Ending -s Teach: Decode words with inflected ending -s,” teachers say, “Listen and repeat: ‘I jump. He jumps. (pause) I help. She helps. (pause) I pack. Mom packs.” The teacher writes jump on the board and says, “We add the letter s to the end of the word jump (add to word) to make the new word jumps. Jumps ends with the sound /s/ - jumps. He jumps.” The teacher writes the word jumps on a sentence strip. “Look at the word, jumps. I can fold back the ending -s and jump is left. (demonstrate). Repeat for the words rocks, stacks, bumps, asks, barks, tricks.”
• Materials are missing a lesson on inflected ending -es, which is included in the TEKS. 

Materials incorporate a variety of activities and resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce skills (through cumulative review).

• The materials provide a variety of activities and resources to reinforce morphological awareness skills. For example, in Cycle 9, Lesson 14, students use sentence strips to emphasize the change in words when adding inflected ending -ing. The teacher shows the word kicking on a sentence strip, folds the -ing ending back, and asks the students to read the base word. This lesson includes a “Folding Fun” page. Students practice the teacher’s demonstration of folding back the inflected ending of each word to read the base word. Additionally, the “Folding Fun” page also contains a reading passage where students read the newly learned words with inflected ending in context. For grade 1, the “Istation Reading Curriculum Correlated to the Texas Knowledge and Skills for ELA and Reading” chart indicates that the titles for fiction stories to use are “Power for the Planet” with the words powered, plugs, and cord, and “Rain Forest Howlers” with the words dipped, landing, and monkeys. Materials are missing cumulative review opportunities.
• The materials provide a variety of activities and resources to practice morphological awareness skills. For example, grade 1 materials provide decodable books that include words with inflected endings. The decodable text “Camping” includes words with the -ed, -ing inflected endings (e.g., sleeping, checked, asked, bumping, etc.)
• The materials provide a variety of activities and resources to reinforce morphological awareness skills but do not provide cumulative review. In Cycle 9, Lesson 13, students practice listening for the ending sound /s/ in picks, parks, camps, helps, and jumps. Using paper strips, students read the parts separately, then push them together to blend them into one word. Students blend each word, touching each letter and saying its sound, ensuring that they pause between sounds.

Materials provide a variety of activities and resources for students to decode and encode words with morphemes in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text that builds on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts).

• Materials provide activities and resources for students to decode words with morphemes in isolation. For example, in Cycle 9, “Lesson 15—Inflected Ending -ed,” students read words in isolation on the Folding Fun page with words such as asked, parked, and peeked. Students then fold back the ending to decode the word with and without the ending. The materials do not provide activities for the TEKS-aligned grade 1 suffix -es.
• Materials provide activities and resources for students to decode morphemes in decodable connected text. For example, in the Cycle 9 Passage “Going on a Ride,” students practice reading inflected endings -s, -ed, and -ing in words such as rocked, screaming, flasking, and times in a fictional narrative about a themed boat ride. In the Cycle 9 Decodable Reader Mitch’s Big Fish Tales, students practice decoding inflected endings -s, -ed, and -ing in words such as tales, fishing, and stretched.
• There are lessons with encoding which is not a part of the grade 1 TEKS, such as in Cycle 9, “Lesson 13—Inflected Ending -s Spelling: Words with inflected ending -s,” as in jumps. The teacher distributes whiteboards and markers to students and says, “Now that we have learned how to read words that have the ending -s, let’s spell them! The first word I want to spell is packs. Let’s spell the word pack first, then we can add the ending. Let’s say the word pack slowly so we can hear the sounds. /p/ /ă/ /k/. What sound do you hear in the beginning of the word? That’s right! /p/. I will write my p on the whiteboard. What sound do you hear in the middle of the word pack? Pause for responses. I hear the /ă/ in the middle as well. I am going to write that on my whiteboard. The last sound is a little tricky. I hear a /k/, but the /k/ in this word is made up of two letters instead of one. Do you know two letters that make the /k/ sound when they sit together? In this word, the /k/ sound is made by ck. I will write that on my whiteboard. I am not finished spelling the word yet. The word I want to spell is packs, what do I need to put at the end of pack for it to become packs? That’s right! I just need to add the s at the end of the word. I will write the s next to pack so that it becomes packs. Now we need to read the word that we wrote. Place your finger under the word and read it aloud while sweeping your finger under the word. Have students do the same.” Repeat with the word feels.

Evaluation for 3.D.1
Materials provide frequent opportunities for students to practice and develop word reading fluency, by using knowledge of grade-level phonics skills to read decodable connected texts with accuracy and automaticity.

The materials partially meet the criteria for this indicator. Materials provide some opportunities for students to practice and develop word reading fluency, by using knowledge of grade-level phonics skills to read decodable connected texts with accuracy and automaticity.

Materials include some practice with word lists and practice with decodable connected texts in the lessons. Materials do not include embedded modeling and practice with decodable phrases/sentences or connected text. Materials provide practice activities for word reading fluency in a variety of settings (e.g., independently, in partners, in guided small groups, etc.). Materials provide a variety of grade-level decodable connected texts that are aligned to the phonics scope and sequence.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials include embedded modeling and practice with word lists, decodable phrases/sentences, and decodable connected texts in the lesson.

• The lesson plans include explicit modeling and demonstration of skills with word lists but do not contain decodable phrases/sentences or decodable texts for modeling. For example, in Cycle 2 Lesson 18, students blend sounds to read words with short vowel sounds /i/ and /a/. The lesson guides the teacher to print the lowercase and capital letter cards for Cycles 1–2 and create words in the lesson. As instructed in the lesson, the teacher uses the letter cards to make these words: sit, Pip, and lit. The teacher uses the letter cards to demonstrate blending. The teacher pushes the cards together and points to each letter while blending the sounds to say sit. During Guided Practice, students make more words by blending sounds together. The students and the teacher continue to use the letter cards to read words in the lesson (it, sit, lit, lip, tip, Pip, sip, pit, Tim). Students continue to practice reading words with short vowel sounds /i/ and /a/ using decodable books such as See Sam Sit and Tim and Sam. The materials do not include embedded modeling and practice with phrases or sentences.
• Materials include embedded word reading fluency practice with word lists and decodable connected texts. Materials do not contain decodable sentences. In Cycle 6, “Lesson 10: Vowel Sounds and Letter Patterns i_e, u_e,” students practice decoding and reading words with the vowel patterns i_e and u_e. The teacher introduces the VCe vowel pattern by modeling using letter cards to blend letter sounds to say words. The teacher starts with r i p and shows the students how adding the e at the end changes the vowel sound. For guided practice, the teacher distributes the Vowel Letter Patterns i_e, u_e practice page. Students practice changing the vowel sound in words by adding an e to the words cub, cut, bit, kit, us, and hid. For independent practice, the teacher says, “Now I will come to you, and you will whisper-read the whole page to me. You may practice with a partner until I get to you.”
• Materials contain decodable readers for students to decode in connected text. In the fiction book, Wake Up!, students practice decoding silent e vowel words. The materials provide an “Istation Books and Passage” document that states what books go with which cycle, but they are not assigned to specific lessons.

Materials provide practice activities for word reading fluency in a variety of settings (e.g., independently, in partners, in guided small groups, etc.).

• The materials provide practice activities for students to complete with a partner and independently. In Cycle 5, Lesson 13, students decode and spell words with consonant blends, br, tr, sm, sl, br, tr, bl, such as brim, blim, trip, smip, slit, brit, trap, and blend. This lesson includes a “Decoding Page.” As stated in the lesson plan, this activity may be completed with a partner. Students use the “Decoding Page” to read across each row of beginning blends, sounding out each real or nonsense word to practice word fluency. The lesson plan suggests that students use this activity during Independent Practice.
• Materials provide practice activities for word reading fluency in a variety of settings (e.g., independently, in partners, in guided small groups, etc.). In Cycle 6, “Lesson 10: Vowel Sounds and Letter Patterns i_e, u_e,” students practice decoding and reading words with the vowel patterns i_e and u_e. The lesson contains a “Reteach” section that says, “For students requiring more instruction and practice. Note: Provide explicit instruction with modeling and guided practice in small groups.” For independent practice, the teacher says, “Now I will come to you, and you will whisper-read the whole page to me. You may practice with a partner until I get to you.”
• Materials provide practice activities for word reading fluency in a variety of settings (e.g., independently, in partners, in guided small groups, etc.). Materials include “Skill Word Lists” for each cycle and a “Suggested Uses for Skill Word Lists” in the Teacher Resources. The suggested uses are Highlighting (individual student practice), Category Replication (small group), Spelling Lists, Webbing (small group or whole class), and Reverse Webbing (small group or whole class).
• Materials provide practice activities for word reading fluency in a variety of settings (e.g., independently, in partners, in guided small groups, etc.). Materials include “Word Bank Cards” for each cycle. Materials include “Suggested Uses for Word Bank Cards” in the Teacher Resources. The suggested uses are Fish for a sentence (individual or whole class), Part of speech sort (partners or whole class), Segmenting Practice (small groups), Blending Practice (small groups), Compound word sticks (small groups), Syllable Clap (small groups), Cloze (small groups), and Word Scramble (small groups or whole class).

Materials provide a variety of grade-level decodable connected texts that are aligned to the phonics scope and sequence.

• Materials provide a variety of grade-level decodable connected texts that are aligned to the phonics scope and sequence. Materials provide an “Istation Books and Passages” document linked in the Istation Program Guide For TEA slides and on the Istation website once logged in by using the search bar and typing “decodable” or clicking on the search filter “book” on the left side. For example, Cycle 4 contains the decodable text The Green Team, which focuses on the short vowel /e/, long vowel /e/, and consonant blend /sp/. The “Istation Books and Passages” document is aligned to the phonics scope and sequence. The Scope and Sequence shows that short vowel /e/ with CVC and long vowel /ee/, /ea/ with CVVC and CCVVC words are specifically taught in Cycle 4.
• This document includes a list of the books in each cycle and the skill taught within the book. For example, in Grade 1, students may practice phonics skills by reading decodable books such as Fun at Home and Homes for Sale to target the skill of decoding word patterns with long vowels a, e, and o. Although decodable books and passages are available, the lessons do not reference when to use which decodable book.

Evaluation for 4.1
Materials include developmentally appropriate diagnostic tools (e.g., formative and summative) and guidance for teachers to measure and monitor student progress.

The materials meet the criteria for this indicator. Materials include developmentally appropriate diagnostic tools (e.g., formative and summative) and guidance for teachers to measure and monitor student progress.

Materials include a variety of diagnostic tools that are developmentally appropriate. Materials provide clear, consistent directions for accurate administration of diagnostic tools. Materials include data-management tools for tracking individual and whole-class student progress.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials include a variety of diagnostic tools that are developmentally appropriate.

• The materials include a variety of diagnostic tools for measuring phonological awareness and phonics skills. Istation's Indicators of Progress (ISIP) is an automated computer adaptive testing (CAT) system that automatically assigns a monthly assessment to each student. It can be given more often if desired through the On Demand Assessment option. ISIP Assessments can be used as benchmarks and as continuous progress monitoring tools. ISIP Reading (PreK-3) assesses all critical areas of early reading literacy and measures students’ overall reading ability using grade 1 subtests of Letter Knowledge, Phonemic Awareness, Vocabulary, Alphabetic Decoding, Reading Comprehension, Spelling, Text Fluency, and Oral Reading Fluency.
• The Phonemic Awareness subtest consists of two types of items: Beginning, Ending, and Rhyming Sounds, and Phonemic Blending Alphabetic Decoding measures the ability to blend letters into nonsense words in which letters represent their most common sounds. Materials state nonsense words are used because students differ in their sight word recognition skills. By using nonsense words, the test more accurately assesses the ability to match letters to sounds and the ability to decode an unknown word when it is presented. For this subtest, four items appear on the screen. The student is asked to identify the non-word that is orally pronounced by the narrator. Items for this subtest have been carefully constructed to move from easier to harder, so that the subtest is appropriate across several grade levels.
• The diagnostic tools reflect the continuum of phonological awareness and phonics skills as explained in the grade-level TEKS. The document titled ISIP ER (Early Reading ) Istation Teacher Resource Lessons ISIP Phonological/Phonemic Awareness shows the following continuum of what is assessed through a digital means of a student interacting via a computer: “There are six item types used to measure a student’s Phonological and Phonemic Awareness, as detailed below. Identifying initial sounds: Students are shown four pictures that the narrator identifies as each picture is highlighted. The narrator then asks students to click on the picture that begins with the same sound as a given word and sound. Identifying final sounds: The same procedure is followed as identifying initial sounds. Recognize and Identify rhyming words: The same procedure is followed as identifying initial and final sounds. Blending phonemes: Students are again shown four pictures that the narrator identifies. The narrator says the target word in segmented phonemes while an animated head produces each sound. The student is asked to choose the word that was spoken in segmented phonemes. Blending syllables: The same procedure is followed as blending phonemes. Blending component words into compound words: The same procedure is followed as the other blending activities.”
• The materials include a variety of diagnostic tools for measuring phonological awareness and phonics skills. For example, the ISIP Early Reading assessment provides assessments for Phonemic Awareness. In the second part of the subtest, four pictures appear on the screen with a box in the middle that contains an animated side view of a head. Then the narrator says the name of each picture as the box around it highlights. The narrator says one of the words by pronouncing each phoneme or syllable while the animated head demonstrates the specific sounds. The student is asked to click on the picture showing the word that has been spoken.

Materials provide clear, consistent directions for accurate administration of diagnostic tools.

• The materials provide an Assessment Day Script. This script provides guidance to help the teacher efficiently administer the assessment. The script helps ensure consistent and standardized administration across examiners. For example, the script prompts the teacher to say, “Today, we will be using the computer to play some games that will assess your skills in reading. It is important that you listen carefully, follow the instructions, and do your very best. This is a test, so keep your eyes on YOUR computer. Work as quickly as possible without guessing. If you need help, raise your hand.” Additionally, the directions recommend how and where to begin. The script prompts the teacher to pass out login cards and model the login steps on the computer. As stated in the script, the teacher says, “Let’s get started. In the first blank box, type your user name. In the second blank box, type your password. Put your headphones on and click OK.” The directions continue to clearly specify when to move to the next task and when to discontinue the assessment. The script states, “If students need assistance or must take a break, FIRST press the Pause key on the keyboard. Failure to pause will result in the assessment continuing to run while assistance is being provided. When the student is ready to return to the assessment, press the Pause key again.”
• Materials provide clear, consistent directions for accurate administration of diagnostic tools. Materials state an ISIP assessment will be given automatically each month. Additional On Demand assessments can be given at any time during the school year. Teachers can assign assessments to individual students at the Istation website at www.istation.com. The student logs in to the assessment, and it is automatically administered.
• Materials provide a Teacher and Lab Manager Preparation Manual. The manual contains Administration Guidelines for the online assessments. The first guideline is, “Orient the student to the assessment area and explain the assessment process and the setting before the test is begun. Encourage a positive attitude toward the test.” The manual instructs the teacher to say, “Today, we will play some reading games on the computer that will show how well you are learning to read. Smart Alex Treebeack and his friend Batana White will help you. It is important that you listen carefully, follow the instructions and do your very best!” The manual provides information on each assessment and what the teacher should expect. For example, Phonemic Blending assesses a student’s ability to blend up to six phonemes into a word. Four items appear on the screen, with a box in the middle of the items that contains an animated side view of a head. The narrator says the name of each picture as the box around it highlights. The narrator says one of the words, phoneme by phoneme, as the animated head produces each sound. The student is asked to click on the picture showing the word that has been said phoneme by phoneme.
• The materials include detailed information that supports the teacher’s understanding of the diagnostic tools in the curriculum and the scoring procedures. The Istation website, under the header toolbox, has information for the teacher on the ISIP assessment in regard to pillars of reading that are assessed by grade. This page explains that ISIP is computer adaptive with questions that range from easy to hard for each subtest that adjusts the level of difficulty based on how students are responding to the questions. There is additional information on the national norms and ability index that are a part of the student assessment. The ISIP Early Reading Technical Manual provides teachers with information in regard to the ISIP assessment in the areas of The Need to Link Early Reading Assessment to Instructional Computer Adaptive Testing, ISIP Early Reading Assessment Domains, ISIP Early Reading Items, ISIP Early Reading Subtests, Description of Each Subtest, and Understanding ISIP Early Reading Scores.

Materials include data-management tools for tracking individual and whole-class student progress.

• The materials include online reports that document individual and whole-class data regarding progress on taught phonological awareness and phonics skills. The ISIP Early Reading Technical Manual provides descriptions of the different reports in the materials. Because scoring is done automatically, the teacher can retrieve individual and class reports to determine what additional instruction is needed as soon as students complete the assessment.
• The data management tools help teachers understand the data and how to use it to track student progress. For example, the program color codes student data by level of mastery and suggests multi-tiered supports for student progress. For example, the program color codes student data by level of mastery and suggests multi-tiered supports for student progress. Tier 1 performance is depicted by green, Tier 2 yellow, and Tier 3 red.
• Materials include data-management tools for tracking individual and whole-class student progress. Teachers are able to access the reports online.
  • The Skill Growth Reports show each skill assessed and the progress made by the students through the current month as they mature against performance goals. Teachers can customize the report for Phonemic Awareness or Alphabetic Decoding.
  • The Priority Report alerts teachers of students who need additional support and provides lessons based on demonstrated weaknesses.
  • The Student Summary Handout provides performance data from the most recently completed ISIP assessment.
  • The Standards Report groups the standards that relate to each ISIP skill and provides actionable steps to help improve each skill. 
  • The Classroom Summary Report shows the performance data from the most recently completed ISIP assessment.
• The Istation's Indicators of Progress (ISIP) Early Reading Technical Manual and the Istation website under the tab reports have a visual of each report that can be printed and a few sentences explaining the purpose of the report. The reports are titled Summary, Skill Growth, SKill Growth by Tier, Tier Movement, Distribution, Priority, Student, Summary Handouts, Lexile Trend, Rate of Improvement, Classroom Summary, and Standards Report. These programs have a color coding system based on student performance. The green “get help” question mark at the top right of the page gives additional information and videos to explain in more detail what you are currently viewing on the website/webpage. 

Evaluation for 4.2
Materials include integrated progress monitoring tools, with specific guidance on frequency of use.

The materials partially meet the criteria for this indicator. Materials include some integrated progress monitoring tools, with specific guidance on frequency of use.

Materials include some progress monitoring tools that systematically and accurately measure students’ acquisition of grade-level skills. Materials do not include specific guidance on determining frequency of progress monitoring based on students’ strengths and needs.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials include progress monitoring tools that systematically and accurately measure student’s acquisition of grade-level skills.

• The materials include progress monitoring tools such as ISIP, which contains various subtests such as phonemic awareness, alphabetic decoding, spelling, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and fluency. This tool routinely and systematically assesses students’ acquisition of grade-level skills at the beginning of every month. For example, in grade 1, ISIP continues to monitor students’ development of phonemic awareness and alphabetic knowledge and skill because struggling students may continue to have difficulty in these areas.
• Materials include built-in assessments on the online program. ISIP integrates computerized adaptive testing that reflects the reading ability level of each student and measures growth over time. These assessments can be used for progress monitoring. Materials state an ISIP assessment will be given automatically each month. Additional On Demand assessments can be given at any time during the school year. Teachers assign assessments to individual students at the Istation website at www.istation.com. The student logs in to the assessment, and it is automatically administered.
• The materials do not recommend embedded systematic observations of students’ everyday activities and interactions to track progress and assess skills in authentic situations. The materials do not contain guidance on noticing and tracking students’ demonstration of syllabication during authentic situations such as read-alouds, songs, games, or centers. The materials do not include checklists for documenting progress and observational forms for anecdotal notes regarding specific phonological awareness or phonics skills observed during literacy centers, small group instruction, writing workshops, and other daily activities. At the end of a few lessons, the general Teacher Observation Page contains an Observation chart for teachers to make anecdotal notes about reading behaviors, skills, strategies, and needs or to take a short running record of reading accuracy.

Materials include specific guidance on determining frequency of progress monitoring based on students’ strengths and needs.

• ISIP Early Reading provides monthly assessments of early reading skills. Assessments can be run more frequently by teacher assignment on the Istation website at www.istation.com. The materials do not guide teachers to monitor progress for age and for skill development.
• Materials state an ISIP assessment can be given each month, but it does not give guidance on the frequency of progress monitoring based on students’ strengths and needs. For example, if a student logs in on September 1st, an ISIP assessment will be given, but if the student doesn't log in until September 15th, an ISIP assessment will still be given because it is the first time the student has logged in for the month. This schedule results in 8–12 automatic assessments per year, depending on the length of each district's school year. Additional On Demand assessments can be given at any time during the school year. The Student Detail report displays information about student performance by skill. Each skill is broken down into the specific activities where the student received instruction. Clicking on available tabs provides further detailed information for specific skills.
• On Demand assessments can be given at any time during the school year, but there is no specific guidance on determining frequency based on a student's strengths and needs. Teachers can assign assessments to individual students at the Istation website at www.istation.com. The student logs in to the assessment, and it is automatically administered.
• The materials include suggested timelines for checking progress that align with the TEKS and the scope and sequence of the materials, which is considered formative/summative assessment and not progress monitoring.

Evaluation for 4.3
Materials include guidance for teachers to analyze and respond to data from diagnostic tools.

The materials meet the criteria for this indicator. Materials include guidance for teachers to analyze and respond to data from diagnostic tools.

Materials support teachers’ analysis of diagnostic data to inform response to individual students’ strengths and needs. Diagnostic tools provide teachers with guidance on how to plan and differentiate instruction based on student data. Materials include a variety of resources that align to data, allowing teachers to plan different activities in response to student data.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials support teachers’ analysis of diagnostic data to inform response to individual students’ strengths and needs.

• ISIP Early Reading delivers a real-time evaluation of results and immediate availability of reports on student progress upon assessment completion. Assessment reports automatically group students according to the level of support needed as well as skill needs. Data is in both graphical and detailed numerical format on every measure. Reports provide summary and skill information for the current and prior assessment periods that can be used to evaluate curriculum, plan instruction and support, and manage resources.
• The assessment tool results in data to be analyzed and interpreted. The color coding of both class and individual student reports and the way in which they are laid out in bar graphs and charts help teachers to determine student areas of strength and growth to help with instructional/intervention planning. Istation has defined a three-tier normative grouping to guide educators in determining the level of instruction for each student.
  • Tier 1 (above the 40th percentile) students are on track and performing at grade level. This tier is color-coded in green.
  • Tier 2 (between 21st and 40th percentile) students are at some risk, are performing moderately below grade level, and are in need of intervention. This tier is color-coded in yellow.
  • Tier 3 (20th percentile and below) students are at risk, are performing seriously below grade level, and are in need of intensive intervention. This tier is color-coded in red.
• Materials include an Istation’s Indicators of Progress (ISIP) Early Reading Technical Manual that provides support to teachers and explains all the assessments and how to understand the data. A visual of each report is available, along with a description/explanation of each report and how the report can be utilized to guide instruction/intervention. In the manual, Chapter 3 is about using and interpreting ISIP ER Reports. In Chapter 3, teachers find information on understanding ISIP Early Reading Scores, using and interpreting ISIP Early Reading Reports, and navigating the reports. Teachers find information about accessing downloadable lessons.
• Teachers access reports online. The Skill Growth Reports show each skill assessed and the progress made by the students through the current month as mature against performance goals. Priority Reports alert teachers of students needing additional support and provide lessons based on demonstrated weaknesses. Standards Report that groups the standards that relate to each ISIP skill and provides actionable steps to help improve each skill. Teachers customize the report for Phonemic Awareness or Alphabetic Decoding.

Diagnostic tools provide teachers with guidance on how to plan and differentiate instruction based on student data.

• The data-management tools allow teachers to color-code or organize student data to differentiate phonics instruction and easily group students according to assessment results. Istation materials provide various reports that teachers may use to help plan their core phonics instruction. For example, the Summary Report shows the number and percentage of students at each of three instructional tiers: Tier 1 — no risk (above the 40th percentile), Tier 2 — some risk (between the 21-40th percentile), and Tier 3 — at risk (20th percentile and below). Additionally, the teacher may also use the Skill Growth Report to monitor the progress made by the students through the current month as measured against performance goals. The teacher has the option to look at specific phonics skills, such as alphabetic decoding and letter knowledge, to gain a better understanding of the areas of needed improvement for each student. The Priority Report is also available to teachers and helps identify the skill weaknesses of students.
• Diagnostic tools provide teachers with guidance on how to plan and differentiate instruction based on student data. Materials include a Priority Report that alerts teachers of students needing additional support and recommends teacher-directed lessons based on demonstrated weaknesses. The lessons are listed on the report, along with the difficulties the student had with the identified skill or skills. Additional teacher-directed plans of instruction and downloadable lessons and materials are in the Teacher Resources section of the Istation Reports website.
• The materials include teacher guidance for differentiating instruction based on the students’ demonstrated understanding of specific phonological awareness or phonics skills. In the document Early Reading Istation Teacher Resource Lessons ISIP Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, there is a chart labeled Procedure for Managing Teacher Resource Lessons. The chart guides teachers to review student data using ISIP Reports and establish small groups. For Tier 1 students, administer the Tier 2 versions of the focus skill based on the ISIP report/small group to ensure proficiency. From the group of lessons, select the lesson that best meets the needs of each small group. After teaching each lesson, teachers chart the progress of students. If a student has difficulty with the lesson that was chosen, then deliver the Tier 3 version. If a student demonstrates mastery at that particular level of instruction, then deliver the next appropriate lesson, advancing toward the most sophisticated skill.

Materials include a variety of resources that align to data, allowing teachers to plan different activities in response to student data.

• Materials provide a variety of research-based student resources that teachers can choose from to respond to student data. For example, the materials provide Priority lessons that provide interventions for certain skills. The materials may include games or word sorts.
• The Priority Report helps identify skill weaknesses for students. Teachers can access recommended teacher-directed lessons by clicking links to lessons under the Recommended Teacher-Directed Lessons headings on the Priority Report. Additional teacher-directed plans of instruction and downloadable lessons and materials are available in the Teacher Resources section of the Istation Reports website. The materials included in the teacher-directed plans provide a variety of research-based student resources that teachers can choose from to respond to student data. For example, in grade 1, “Skill Phonics-Lesson 35” is designed to be delivered in a small group setting. The materials provide Words Cards, cut-out letters, and a chart with a list of words to use during the lesson.
• Materials provide a variety of research-based student resources that teachers can choose from to respond to student data. For example, in “Phonics—Lesson 30 Beginning Blends with sm, bl, br,” in the teach section, the teacher models reading and spelling words with beginning consonant blends sm, bl, and br. In the guided practice section, both teacher and students practice reading words that begin with sm, bl, and br. The reteach section (for students requiring more instruction and practice) includes a note for the teacher: “Provide explicit instruction with modeling and guided practice in small groups. Use the independent practice page as a teaching tool.”
• Materials provide a variety of research-based student resources that teachers can choose from to respond to student data. On the homepage, under the heading reports, it shows that teachers can utilize the Priority Report to alert teachers of students needing additional support and provide lessons based on demonstrated weaknesses. There are Tier 2 and Tier 3 ISIP Early Reading Phonological Awareness PDF lessons for teachers to utilize based on various Phonological Awareness skills.

Evaluation for 5.1
Materials include guidance, scaffolds, supports, and extensions that maximize student learning potential.

The materials partially meet the criteria for this indicator. Materials include guidance, scaffolds, supports, and extensions that maximize student learning potential.

Materials provide some targeted instruction and activities to scaffold learning for students who have not yet mastered grade-level foundational phonics skills. Materials provide some targeted instruction and activities to accelerate learning for students who have achieved grade-level mastery of foundational phonics skills. Materials provide some enrichment activities for all levels of learners.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials provide targeted instruction and activities to scaffold learning for students who have not yet mastered grade-level foundational phonics skills.

• Materials include some guidance for scaffolding instruction and differentiating activities based on targeted areas which students have not yet mastered. Materials include a Reteach section within the lessons. It is extra modeling and practice within a small group setting, not differentiated activities. In Lesson Plan 24, students decode words that contain a soft g (/j/) followed by the letter e, the reteach section includes the note, “Provide explicit instruction with modeling and guided practice in small groups. Give students each word, written in large letters, on a word card. Have them underline the e that follows the g and write the letter j above the g to show when it makes the soft sound.”
• Materials do include an online program that personalizes learning based on the student’s score and ability on the ISIP assessment. If needed, the online learning has lessons and games to review previous learning that has not been mastered. In addition, teachers can assign certain digital activities to students based on their learning needs.
• The materials do not include research-based guidance that supports teachers in understanding developmental continuums across foundational phonics skills. Materials include some guidance for scaffolding instruction and differentiating activities based on targeted areas that students have not yet mastered. For example, after students complete their initial placement assessment, teachers have access to the Priority Report, which lists the areas that students have not yet mastered. In this report, the teacher finds suggestions for skills that need to be retaught. These suggested lessons are titled as Recommended Teacher-Directed Lessons. For a student struggling with spelling patterns, the teacher may be prompted to deliver the lesson titled, “Istation Teacher Resource Lessons ISIP—Spelling," where students receive instruction and practice with various spelling patterns, including vowel diphthongs, inflected endings, silent e, and phonetic spelling of three phoneme words. Furthermore, the materials include differentiated instructional approaches. The lesson includes resources such as Letter Cards and Practice Pages to differentiate instructional approaches.

Materials provide targeted instruction and activities to accelerate learning for students who have achieved grade-level mastery of foundational phonics skills.

• ISIP online learning lessons provide additional activities and resources to support student choice and to extend and explore new learning in collaborative groups or independently. The online materials adjust based on student mastery of the phonics skills. For example, once students have mastered high-frequency words and, see, the, and has, students move on to Cycle Two and receive instruction on a new set of high-frequency words. However, it should be noted that students do not choose the pathways and activities they participate in. It is determined by their performance on the ISIP assessment.
• The Istation student digital learning app is based on how the students do on the monthly ISIP assessment so that the online learning is personalized. Students that score well on the monthly ISIP assessment may be placed in higher-level learning experiences (Cycle Lessons beyond what other students are working on) on the app, which is seen more as moving on in content instead of enrichment and extension of current skills. As stated in the parent ISIP letter, “Based on assessment results, students then receive instruction based on their individual needs through Istation’s online interactive curriculum. The interactive reading curriculum provides instruction and practice in all of the critical reading areas. Students receive this instruction in a fun, animated format that motivates students to learn.”
• Materials do not include guidance for teachers on including targeted instruction and activities for students who have mastered grade-level foundational phonics skills. The computer component of the program continues to advance students through lessons and cycles as students show mastery of the skills; however, the lessons do not include recommendations on upward scaffolding to support the extension and application of learning. The online materials include a variety of student activities that can be assigned based on the achievement of students’ grade-level mastery of phonics skills. For example, the teacher can assign specific assignments for students to explore new learning independently. Under “Classroom,” teachers have the option to select “Assignments.” The teacher may create an assignment for the selected students to do independently. For example, the teacher may assign additional lessons to extend and explore new learning through lessons such as “Rhyming Ralph,” “Clapping Clara,” “Magically Miss Mousely,” or “Tab.” Additionally, books may also be assigned to students under “Assignments.” These books would support the extension and application of learning. For example, after students have learned about short a and short i, the teacher may assign books such as Pip and His Lips or Tim and Sam.

Materials provide enrichment activities for all levels of learners.

• Materials provide some enrichment activities for all levels of learners in foundational phonics skills as activities such as word sorts and games that are not differentiated but rather played based on current phonics skills and one level of learners. For example, the Word Masters Card Game is designed for students to spell words using taught phonics skills. The game includes cards illustrated with a letter or letter combinations and characters called the Fantastic Phonics. The card deck contains current/previous phonic skills and can begin after Cycle 3 through Cycle 10. Students draw five cards and try to form words from the cards they have. Each word formed scores a point. If the player cannot form a word, they draw a card from the deck. The game ends when the player has no remaining cards in his or her deck or cannot spell a word with the cards in his or her hand.
• Materials provide some enrichment activities for all levels of learners in foundational phonics skills. For example, the materials provide writing extensions. Grade 1 materials have an extension lesson to decodable text Three Little Bugs.The materials provide three different writing prompts along with graphic organizers to help students organize their prompts. One example of the prompt says, “Use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the stories The Three Little Pigs and The Three Little Bugs. Use the information from your Venn diagram to write about how the two stories are the same and how they are different. What is the moral, or the lesson that was learned, in the two stories? Make a poster illustrating the moral of the two stories. As you revise and edit your story, look for places to add coordinating conjunctions to connect words, phrases, or clauses.” Writing extension activities are not foundational literacy activities.

Evaluation for 5.2
Materials include a variety of instructional methods that appeal to a variety of learning interests and needs.

The materials meet the criteria for this indicator. Materials include a variety of instructional methods that appeal to a variety of learning interests and needs.

Materials include a variety of developmentally appropriate instructional approaches to engage students in mastery of the content. Materials support a variety of instructional settings (e.g., whole group, small group, one-on-one).

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials include a variety of developmentally appropriate instructional approaches to engage students in mastery of the content.

• Materials engage students in mastery of the content through a variety of instructional approaches. For example, the materials provide games that can be played at home with parents. The Words Masters Spelling Game provides activities for students to practice previously taught phonics skills. The materials provide instructions for a solitaire game as well as a multiplayer game. The instructions explain that the students should only play using word cards from cycles that the student has already completed.
• Materials engage students in mastery of the content through a variety of instructional approaches. For example, the materials include letter cards for introducing letters and sounds, which continue to be utilized when making words and manipulating letters in words to make new words. Elkonin boxes are utilized when unblending sounds in words to match sounds to letters. Different colored sticky notes are utilized to represent different sounds and letters when making words and manipulating sounds/letters in words to make new words. Songs, videos, and other multimodal engaging learning experiences are not seen in the teacher lessons. Multimodal experiences are in the student online learning app.
• Materials engage students in mastery of the content through developmentally appropriate instructional approaches. For example, lessons include the teacher “thinking aloud” about a new concept. The lesson plan “Phonics – Lesson 39 Decoding with ar” includes “When we see the letter r, we say /r/ (not ruh, not er). Listen and repeat: /r/.”

Materials support a variety of instructional settings (e.g., whole group, small group, one-on-one).

• Materials support a variety of instructional settings. In “Lesson 30 Beginning Blends with sm, bl, br,” the Teach and Guided Practice sections are whole group while the independent practice is partners, and reteach is small group. In the Teach and Guided Practice sections, blends/letter combinations are explained, and the teacher and students practice blending sounds in words such as smog, smile, smell, Brad, brag, brim, blame, blob, and blimp. In independent practice, students work in partners to decode words on a sheet that contains blend words such as slit, trap, blend, and brim. In Reteach, the teacher breaks down the reading task sound by sound while working with students to blend sounds to read words.
• Materials support a variety of instructional settings (e.g., whole group, small group, one-on-one). Core lessons are provided to the whole group in a gradual release model. Materials provide independent practice activities after the teach and guided practice within each lesson as part of the gradual release model. Materials contain suggestions for reteaching within the lessons for small group. Cycle 6, “Lesson 11 Blending Sounds to Say Words,” contains a reteach section. It notes that for students requiring more instruction and practice, teachers should “Provide explicit instruction with modeling and guided practice in small groups.” Materials do not contain center activities, one-on-one activities, or leveled activities (below, on-level and advanced).
• Materials support a variety of instructional settings. There are suggestions for small group activities during guided practice or independent practice. Lesson plans contain a “Reteach” lesson component. For example, in Cycle 11, “Lesson 8 – Variant Vowel /ŏŏ/,” the teacher begins core instruction in a whole group setting; then, in Guided Practice, the students use the Secret Word Handout to decide whether the underlined word makes the /ŏŏ/ sound. The teacher models and guides the students as they complete the activity. The lesson component labeled “Reteach” instructs the teacher to provide explicit instruction with modeling and guided practice in small groups. Lastly, in Independent Practice, students practice reading and identifying words that make the /ŏŏ/ sound on their own. The teacher annotates the progress observed.

Evaluation for 5.3
Materials include supports for Emergent Bilinguals to meet grade-level learning expectations.

The materials do not meet the criteria for this indicator. Materials do not include supports for Emergent Bilinguals to meet grade-level learning expectations.

Materials do not include linguistic accommodations (communicated, sequenced, and scaffolded) commensurate with various levels of English language proficiency as defined by the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS). Materials do not encourage strategic use of students’ first language as a means to linguistic, affective, cognitive, and academic development in English.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials include linguistic accommodations (communicated, sequenced, and scaffolded) commensurate with various levels of English language proficiency as defined by the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS).

• Materials do not include linguistic accommodations (communicated, sequenced, and scaffolded) commensurate with various levels of English language proficiency as defined by the ELPS. Materials provide an ELPS correlation guide showing how activities in the program align to listening, speaking, reading, and writing, but activities are not tiered for various levels of English language proficiency. Lessons do not have any information in regard to teaching and scaffolding for Multilingual Learners (MLs). The only item located for use with MLs was a document titled Suggest Use for Vocabulary category cards and cut-out cards of position images (inside, below, after). The document states, “This document gives instructors suggested activities to do with students using the Vocabulary Category Cards. These activities are particularly helpful for building categorical vocabulary of ELLs.” The ELPS are not referenced for this activity.
• In the teacher resources on the left-hand side, there is a filter option with ELs beginner but these are the same lesson available to all students, and there is no reference to ELs or ELPS in the lesson. There was nothing in the teacher toolbox drop-down or the teacher help section in regard to English language proficiency.
• The materials provide tips for teachers regarding how to adjust speech and enunciation to promote understanding of letter-sound correspondence. For example, in the Istation reading lesson Blending Onset and Rime, the lesson materials give suggestions for the teacher to help with pronunciation. The script says,
  • When pronouncing the words in segmented form, it is important to make a clear break between the onset and rime. 
  • When pronouncing the onset, do not add a vowel sound to the end of consonants. For example, the sound for d should not be pronounced /dŭh/.
  • When modeling how to blend the segmented words together, first say the word with a one-second pause between the onset and rime. Then say the onset and rime with a shorter pause between them. Finally, say the word fluently.
• It should be noted that the notes do not specifically suggest this for ELs and do not reference the ELPS.
• Materials do not include linguistic accommodations commensurate with various levels of English Language Proficiency as defined by the ELPS. The materials do not provide tips for teachers regarding how to adjust speech and enunciation to promote understanding of letter-sound correspondence. The materials do not suggest that teachers rephrase, repeat, or slow down directions when necessary. The materials do not include blackline masters or online activities to support various levels of English Language Proficiency.

Materials encourage strategic use of students’ first language as a means to linguistic, affective, cognitive, and academic development in English.

• Materials do not encourage strategic use of students’ first language as a means of linguistic, affective, cognitive, and academic development in English. Lessons do not contain any information or guidance in regard to using a student’s first language as a means to linguistic, affective, cognitive, and academic development in English. There was nothing in the teacher toolbox drop-down or the teacher help section in regard to the use of students’ first language as a means to linguistic, affective, cognitive, and academic development in English.
• Materials do not encourage strategic use of students’ first language as a means of linguistic, affective, cognitive, and academic development in English. The materials do not include information about language transfer in a handbook, a side-by-side chart, or within lesson plans. The materials do not include videos for professional development about how and why to promote and build first language proficiency. However, the materials include family letters explaining the instructional objectives. The Parent Letters for ISIP are available in Spanish. This is an informational letter in Spanish for teachers to communicate with parents about which reading areas need improvement based on the most recent ISIP data for their child.