Read to Succeed
Read to Succeed Primary and Elementary Exemplary Literacy Reflection Tool 2025 - 2026
Narrative Responses
The narrative responses will guide the school in creating one to three goals
and developing action steps based on the overall assessment of progress toward implementing Read to Succeed.
Section A: Five Pillars of Reading Instruction
Describe how reading assessment and instruction for all students in the school includes oral language, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension to aid in the comprehension of texts to meet grade‑level English/Language Arts standards.
School Description of Instruction and Assessments Aligned to the Five Pillars of Reading Instruction
The Fort Mill School District has updated its Assessment Plan to align with the Five Pillars of Reading Instruction.
Grades K-1: Students take the STAR Early Literacy Assessment three times a year as a universal screener. Grades 1-5: Students take the STAR Reading Assessment three times a year as a universal screener. This data helps identify students who may need further diagnostic assessments for Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions.
Additional Foundational Skill Assessments Include:
Grades K: Students complete the CORE Phonics and Word Reading Survey three times a year.
Grades K-5: Students complete the LETRS Spelling Screener three times a year.
Grades 1-5: Teachers will administer additional diagnostics based on universal screening and oral reading fluency
Examples might be phonological awareness, phonics screeners including decoding and encoding, concepts about print.
For Comprehension and Oral Reading Fluency:
Grades K-5: Comprehension assessments are created in professional learning teams based on state standards and driven by HMH curriculum.
Grades 2-5: Students complete the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency three times a year. Grade 1: Students take the STAR CBM (Curriculum-Based Measurement) to monitor oral reading fluency three times a year.
Vocabulary: Vocabulary assessments are currently done formatively by teachers at each school. We have included the Vocabulary indicator as an essential standard for grades 3-5.
Teachers will use the data from these assessments to guide instruction using the HMH Into Reading curriculum. During Professional Learning Team (PLT) meetings, teachers will analyze this data to make instructional decisions for Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions, and will inform Tier 3 interventions.
Section B: Foundational Literacy Skills:
Document how Word Recognition assessment and instruction for PreK-5th grade students are further aligned to the science of reading, structured literacy and foundational literacy skills.
School Description of Alignment for PK-5th Grade Students:
Springfield Elementary dedicates 90 to 120 minutes to English Language Arts (ELA), which includes reading, writing, and foundational skills. Through our state adopted curriculum, HMH Into Reading, we use the reading, vocabulary, and writing components for grades K-5. For foundational literacy skills, we use Heggerty for phonological awareness and UFLI for additional foundational skills. The assessments from HMH, UFLI, and those listed in Section A align with the science of reading, structured literacy, and foundational literacy skills. They support the components of Scarborough’s Rope for language comprehension and word recognition.
Section C: Intervention
Document how the school uses universal screener data and diagnostic assessment data to determine targeted pathways of intervention (word recognition or language comprehension) for students in PreK-5th grade who have failed to demonstrate grade‑level reading proficiency.
School Description of Intervention for PK-5th Grade students Not on grade level
Springfield Elementary follows a systematic approach to determine student interventions using Universal Screeners and additional diagnostics as needed. All K/1 students participate in STAR Early Literacy, all first grade students complete the STAR CBM, and all 1-5th grade students take the STAR Reading assessment. Based on these results, we decide if further diagnostics are necessary to determine Tier 2 or Tier 3 interventions.
Some of the additional assessments we use to guide instructional decisions include DIBELS, Core Reading Phonics Assessments, Writing CBM, and STAR CBM. In certain grade levels, Foundational Skills. Assessments are also administered to all students, providing another tool to inform intervention needs. Our school's MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) team reviews this data to recommend appropriate Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions. To provide targeted support, Springfield has three ELA Interventionists who are trained to deliver intervention to students who are not yet reading on grade level.
Section D: Supporting Literacy at Home
Describe the system in place to help parents in your school understand how they can support the student as a reader and writer at home.
School Description of System to support literacy in the home
Our school keeps parents informed about ways to support literacy at home through information shared at curriculum night and through ongoing teacher and principal newsletters. We also share information about students through parent-teacher conferences which are held in the fall. Interventionists who work with students receiving Tier 3 support communicate student progress toward goals with parents regularly.
In addition, we will share district-created parent support documents for grades K–2 to help families better understand standards-based grading. These documents include quarterly proficiency scales and student work samples for each indicator reported on the report card, giving parents a clear picture of what students are expected to demonstrate each quarter.
Section E: Progress Monitoring
Document how the school provides for progress monitoring of reading achievement and growth at the school level with decisions about intervention based on all available data to ensure grade-level proficiency in reading.
School Description of MTSS Progress Monitoring for PK-5th Grade Students
As part of our process for identifying students in the MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) framework, we also implement consistent progress monitoring for students in Tiers 1, 2, and 3. Tier 1 and Tier 2: Teachers will use a combination of tools such as STAR, HMH curriculum assessments, Oral Reading Fluency, UFLI, and other standards-based assessments to monitor progress in grade appropriate reading skills, supporting overall proficiency.
Tier 3: Literacy interventionists have additional tools for progress monitoring, including DIBELS, Heggerty’s Bridge the Gap, CORE Phonics Literacy Library and STAR. Throughout the year, teams will meet regularly during Professional Learning Team (PLT) and MTSS team meetings to analyze data and make instructional decisions for all students.
Section F : Teacher Training
Explain how the school will provide teacher training based in the science of reading, structured literacy, and foundational literacy skills to support reading achievement for all students.
School Description of PLO Opportunities
Currently, all K-3 and several 5th and 5th grade teachers as well as administrators, interventionists, the literacy coach, lead teacher, ESOL, and SPED teachers are participating in LETRS training. The school literacy coach also provides school-based professional development as needed, through weekly PLT meetings, coaching cycles, and monthly newsletters.
Section G: Analysis of Data - Strengths
On SC Ready, vocabulary was considered a strength as a result of our focused efforts of including more intentional focus on word learning in our instruction. We were also very mindful of including a more comprehensive approach to all parts of writing, which was evident in our increase in writing scores. Additionally, with TDW being an entirely new format, we were pleased to see that our efforts in including this type of writing in our existing units paid off.
Section G: Analysis of Data - Possibilities of Growth
We will continue to focus on vocabulary instruction this school year, as this is paramount to reading comprehension. We will place greater emphasis on building vocabulary and background knowledge in content areas, as reading informational text is a weak point, with only 41% of third graders scoring in the meets range, and 53.7% in the exceeds range.
With the move to a new phonics curriculum last year, our STAR early literacy data has decreased by over 4%, so our K/1 teams will work this year to incorporate greater opportunities to read and write text than the curriculum prescribes.
Section H:
2024-25 Previous School SMART Goals and Progress Toward those Goals
Please provide your previous school goals from last school year and the progress your school has made towards these goals. Utilize quantitative and qualitative data to determine progress toward the goal (s). As a reminder, all schools serving third grade were required to use Goal #1 (below)
Previous Goal #1
Reduce the percentage of third graders scoring Does Not Meet in the spring of 2024 as determined by SC Ready from 32.6% to 31% in the spring of 2025.
Progress of Goal #1
Cut scores for each SC Ready category were changed in spring of 2025 in comparison to where they were in previous years. In spring of 2025, 3.7% of 3rd graders scored in the Does Not Meet category.
Previous Goal #2
Increase the percentage of k-1 students scoring proficient on the 2025 STAR Early Literacy assessment. We would like to see an increase from 79.3 % to 85 % in the spring of 2025.
Progress of Goal #2
Unfortunately, we did not meet this goal. In reality, 74.83% of students scored "proficient" on the 2025 STAR Early Literacy Assessment.
Section I:
2025-26 School SMART Goals and Action Steps Based on Analysis of Data
All schools serving students in third grade MUST respond to the third grade reading proficiency goal. Note the change in language for the 3rd grade goal to align with the 2030 vision of 75% of students at or above grade level. Schools that do not serve third grade students may choose a different goal. Goals should be academically measurable. All goals should align with academic growth or achievement. Schools must provide a minimum of two goals.
Schools are strongly encouraged to incorporate goals from the school renewal plan. Utilize a triangulation of appropriate and available data (i.e. SC READY, screeners, MTSS progress monitoring, benchmark
assessments, and observational data) to set reasonable goal(s) for the current school year.
Current Goal #1 (3rd Grade Reading Proficiency Goal Required)
Third Grade Goal: Increase the percentage of third graders scoring Meets and Exceeds in the spring of 2025 as determined by SC READY ELA from __% to __% in the spring of 2026.
Increase the percentage of third graders scoring Meets and Exceeds in the spring of 2025 as determined by SC READY ELA from 82.1% to 83% in the spring of 2026.
Actions Steps for Goal #1
Continue to focus on vocabulary instruction
Continue to focus on all aspects of writing instruction
Current Goal #2
By the Spring 2026 benchmark, 77% of kindergarten and first-grade students will score at or above proficiency on the STAR Early Literacy assessment. This reflects an increase from 74.83% of students who scored at or above proficiency on the Fall 2025 benchmark.
Action Steps for Goal #2
Increase opportunities to apply taught phonics skills to text through reading and writing beyond what the newly mandated curriculum prescribes.