Category: Reading, Department OverviewsDescription: All students must have strong literacy skills to ensure academic success, future economic opportunities, and the development of self-sufficiency to thrive in the 21st Century. Our courses are designed to provide intensive and explicit instruction for students struggling to master basic reading skills. Students are placed in courses based on their performance on the SRI (Scholastic Reading Inventory) and SPI (Scholastic Phonics Inventory) standardized tests, their score on the ELA portion of the MCAS exams, diagnostic assessments, as well as their academic history and teacher recommendations.
We use five placement levels:
- Students with Lexile levels below 300, with scores below Advance Decoder on SPI testing, are placed in System 44;
- Students with Lexile levels below 500 are placed in Read 180 Lab;
- Students with Lexile levels between 500 and 700 are placed in Read 180B;
- Students with Lexile levels between 700 and 900 are placed in Read 180A;
- Students who have completed Read 180A or Read 180B but still score below 900 are placed in Read 180 2.
The Reading Department curriculum is aligned with the current Massachusetts State Curriculum Frameworks.