Kindergarten - Gateway 2

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for scope and sequence clearly delineate the sequence in which phonological awareness skills are to be taught, with a clear, evidence-based explanation for the expected hierarchy of phonemic awareness competence.

The Fountas & Pinnell materials delineate a hierarchy for teaching phonological awareness skills by early, middle, and late Kindergarten. The Master Lesson Guide indicates the order in which phonological awareness skills should be taught. While the program cites some research, in general, supporting the explicit teaching of these phonological awareness skills, the program does not present a research-based or evidence-based explanation for the teaching of these skills or for the particular hierarchy in which the skills are presented. 

Examples of materials that include a cohesive phonological awareness sequence include but are not limited to the following:

• Materials do not contain a clear, evidence-based explanation for the expected hierarchy for teaching phonological awareness skills.  For example, in Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, page 3, it provides a clear definition of the terms phonological awareness and phonemic awareness and their relationship to early literacy skills. No specific research is cited for the phonological sequence used in the materials.
• Materials contain a phonemic awareness sequence of instruction and practice based on the expected hierarchy.
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, there are 26 phonological awareness lessons taught based on early, middle, or end of year student knowledge.
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, it contains the Master Lesson Guide with suggestions on the order in which the phonological awareness lessons should be taught. 
• In Comprehensive, Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Guide, it identifies a hierarchy for teaching phonological awareness skills in Kindergarten. On pg. 18 to 20, the progression is clearly sequenced on an instructional chart as the following: rhyming words, words, syllables, onsets and rimes, and phonemes.
• Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonemic awareness instruction based on the expected hierarchy to build toward students’ application of the skills.
• Within the Kindergarten Phonological lessons in Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, the instruction builds toward students’ application of skills by providing an Apply section within each of the 26 lessons. 
• In Phonological Lesson 3, in the Apply section: “Have sheets of picture cards for children to cut, say, match, and glue on a two-way sort” (page 119).
• In Phonological Lesson 8, in the Apply section: “Have the children use two-way sorts to say and sort pictures representing two- and three-syllable words. Alternatively, give them two-column sorting sheets and pictures to say, sort, and glue. They should read their final lists to a partner” (page 139). 
• In Phonological Lesson 18, in the Apply section: “Children can extend this activity by drawing another picture that stands for a word with either the /a/ or /i/ sound in the middle and adding it to the correct column” (page 179).

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for scope and sequence clearly delineate an intentional sequence in which phonics skills are to be taught, with a clear explanation for the order of the sequence. 

Fountas & Pinnell Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K delineates a suggested intentional sequence for the teaching of phonics skills. The Master Lesson Guide explains the order phonics lessons should be taught. The teacher references The Fountas and Pinnell in Literacy Continuum for specific Letter-Sound relationships, Spelling Patterns (which include phonogram patterns such as: CVC, VC patterns), Word Structure, and Word Solving Actions. While Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K cites studies supporting explicit teaching of phonics skills, the program does not present a research-based or evidence-based explanation for the sequence of phonics. 

Examples of materials that include a scope and sequence with a cohesive, intentional sequence of phonics instruction and practice to build toward application of skills include but are not limited to the following:

• Comprehensive Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Guide Grades PreK-8, identifies a progression for teaching Letter-Sound Relationships (LSR), Spelling Relationships (SP), Word Structure (WS), Word-Solving Actions (WSA) in Kindergarten. On pages 26-83, the progression is sequenced on an instructional chart as the following: consonants, vowels, and letter-sound representations. Within each of the categories of phonics, behaviors and instructional language is provided to pinpoint specific standards and expectations.
• Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, page 57, #32-36, there are 5 LSR lessons for students to learn to recognize beginning consonant sounds and the letters that represent them.
• Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, page 63, #60-63, there are four SP lessons for students to learn to recognize CVC pattern and use phonograms (-an, -at, -ay).
• Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, page 67, #79-81, there are three LSR lessons for students to learn to recognize beginning consonant sounds and ending sounds and the letters that represent them. 
• Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, pages 68-70, #86-96, there are four Word-Solving Actions (WSA) lessons, three Sound Pattern (SP) lessons, and three Word Structure (WS) lessons. 
• In WSA 6-9, students learn:
• Use onsets and rimes in known words to read and write other words with the same parts.
• Change the ending sounds or sounds to make and solve a new word.
• In SP 5-7, students learn:
• Recognize and use phonograms with a VCe pattern: -ake.
• Recognize and use phonograms with VCe pattern: -ine.
• Recognize letter patterns.
• In WS 2-4, students learn:
• Understand the concept of a contraction.
• Understand the concept of a plural.
• Recognize and use plurals that add -s. 

Materials do not contain a clear research-based explanation for the order of the phonics sequence.  

• Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, page 3, it states, “We have identified nine areas of learning about phonics, spelling, and word study; for each area of learning, lessons are provided in this book. The continuum is based on research in language and literacy learning; we have asked linguists, researchers on literacy education, and many teachers to provide feedback on the phonics and word study section. We found surprising agreement on the knowledge needed to become an expert word solver.” 
• Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, pages 2-3, the materials generally cite researchers to support the need for explicit teaching of phonics skills identified in the nine areas of learning about phonics, spelling, and word study.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials include decodable texts with phonics aligned to the program’s scope and sequence and opportunities for students to use decodables for multiple readings.

The Fountas & Pinnell materials contain poems from Sing a Song of Poetry Grade K for students to read during Shared Reading in lessons of the Nine Areas of Learning about Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study. Poems are suggested in each lesson, but the poems are not consistently aligned to the program’s scope and sequence and do not consistently provide practice of the decodable element from the lesson. Poems can be used for repeated readings for the following reasons: expand oral language and/or help students to notice features of print such as letters, letter patterns, or words. The materials do not suggest when to reuse poems for repeated readings.

Materials include some decodable texts to address securing phonics. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 1, page 350, students read the poem, “I Can Do It Myself, which has CVC words in it. 
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 2, pages 351-354, students recognize and use the phonogram -an when decoding words. The lesson uses poems, “This Old Man”, “We Can”, and “The Muffin Man”, from Sing a Song of Poetry as texts for practicing decoding words with -an.  
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Word Structure 2, students read “Skip to My Lou,” “Color Song,” or “Fuzzy Wuzzy.” The poems contain contractions, which is the focus of Word Structure 2.

Some decodable texts contain grade-level phonics skills aligned to the program’s scope and sequence. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Letter Knowledge 15, page 274, students read the poem “A Tisket, a Tisket,” or “Here is a Bunny.” After reading the poem, students use highlighter tape to find words with the same letter in various locations of the poem since the lesson is about finding connections among words by noting the position of a letter.
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Letter-Sound Relationships 4, page 328, students read the poem, “Two Little Black Birds.” Students read up to the word with the sticky note and then try and predict the first letter of the word that is covered by the sticky note.
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Word-Solving 2, page 462, students read the poem, “Bouncing Ball.” Students predict a word or two and determine if it is right or not. 

Materials include some detailed lesson plans for repeated readings of decodable texts to address securing phonics skills. 

• In Sing a Song of Poetry, page 12, there is a grid to help teachers think about how to use five poems as a text to revisit.
• A teacher could revisit “Hey Diddle Diddle” to focus on:
• Phonogram Patterns: -at, -ow, -an, -ay.
• Letter-Sound: Beginning with h, d, th, c, f, j, m, l, t, s, r, w. 
• Letter-Sound: Ending with y, l, t, d, w, r, n, g, ch, sh, th.
• One- and two-syllable assonance.
• -ed ending, action words.
• A teacher could revisit “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” to focus on:
• Phonogram Patterns: -ow, -ot.
• Letter-Sound: Beginning t, l, s, h, w, y, d.
• Letter-Sound: Ending l, r, w, t, p, v, d, k, n.
• One- and two-syllable words.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials include decodable texts with high-frequency words aligned to the program’s scope and sequence and opportunities for students to use decodables for multiple readings.

The Fountas & Pinnell materials include poems with high-frequency words for students to read during Shared Reading in the High-Frequency Words Lessons. The decodable texts/poems align to the scope and sequence of the Master Lesson Guide. While there are poems for high-frequency word reading in decodable texts, there are a limited number of prepared lesson plans for repeated readings of the poems. 

Materials include decodable texts that utilize high-frequency words. Examples include, but are limited to:

• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 2, page 384, students read the poem, “Did You Ever See a Lassie.” There are one-, two-, and three-letter high-frequency words in the text. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 5, page 396, students read the poem, “Clap Your Hands” and use highlighter tape to point out one or two high-frequency words. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 7, page 404, students read the poem, “Little Red Apple” and use highlighter tape to point out one or two high-frequency words. 

Decodable texts contain grade-level high-frequency/irregularly spelled words aligned to the program’s scope and sequence. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, page 380, High-Frequency Words 1, students read the poem, “To Market, To Market.” The poem contains one high-frequency word from the lesson, to.
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 3, page 388, students read the poem, “Puppies and Kittens.” The poem contains three high-frequency words from the lesson: in, a, up.
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 4, page 396, students read the poem, “Pease Porridge Hot.” The poem contains one high-frequency word from the lesson, like.

Materials include some detailed lesson plans for repeated readings of decodable texts to address securing reading high-frequency words/irregularly spelled words in context.

• In Sing a Song of Poetry, page 12, there is a grid to help teachers think about how to use five poems as a text to revisit.
• A teacher could revisit “Hot Cross Buns” to focus on High-Frequency Words: you, have, no to, your.
• A teacher could revisit “I Love Chocolate” to focus on High-Frequency Words: I, in, my.
• A teacher could revisit “Pat-a-cake" to focus on High-Frequency Words: me, a, you, can, it and, with, in, the, for.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress through mastery of print concepts (K-1), letter recognition (K only), and printing letters (as indicated by the program scope and sequence) (K-1). 

In Fountas and Pinnell Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K materials, there are daily opportunities to assess students’ skills of print concepts during Assess. There are curriculum-based assessment protocols provided in the online resources, which are directly correlated to the nine areas of literacy instruction included in the program. Each assessment explains what is being tested, why it is important, and how to complete the assessment. These opportunities provide the teacher with information about students’ skills; however, there is no guidance or next steps based on assessment results provided for the teacher once the teacher has conducted the assessment. There are Extend learning sections the teacher can do if a student has mastered a content area or if a student needs reteaching. 

Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence of print concepts.

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Early Literacy Concepts 3, page 89, the teacher is directed to observe children in shared reading and notice whether students are reading left to right and match word to word. It then suggests to conduct a quick assessment by asking individuals to point to the words as the teacher reads a couple of sentences. There is also a suggestion that the teacher could use Early Literacy Concepts Assessment E, G, H, and J. 
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Letter Knowledge 5, page 233, the teacher selects a familiar text from Sing a Song of Poetry. Individual students point to or circle a specific letter in the text. The teacher is to assess a selection of up to 5 different letters with each child. 
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Letter Knowledge 23, page 305, the teacher is prompted to observe students as they put upper and lowercase letters cards in alphabetical order on a long strip of paper. 

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of print concepts. 

• In Letter Knowledge Assessment A, Reading the Alphabet, the teacher is provided with what letters each student can identify. 
• In Letter Knowledge Assessment B, Writing the Alphabet, the teacher is provided with what letters (uppercase and lowercase) students can write.
• In Early Literacy Concepts Assessment H Individual Record, the teacher is provided with the following information about students’ skills: 
• Writing a Name (# Letters first name, # Letters last name, # Uppercase, # Lowercase, Reversals, Substitutions, Locates name on list, Locates name in text)
• Locating Words/Locating Letters (M, B, S, T, n, p, r, o, Matches word by word while reading, Locates first letter of a word, Locates last letter of a word)

Materials do not support teachers with instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in print concepts.

• In Early Literacy Concepts Assessment G (Matching Word by Word), after administering the assessment and recording the students' results on Assessment H (Individual Record), the teacher is to place a checkmark if the task is under control. 
• In Letter Knowledge Assessment A, after administering the assessment and recording each student’s response on Assessment D (Individual Record), the teacher can view the What to Notice section of the assessment. The teacher is to notice the following, but there are no steps for what the teacher should do next based on the assessment and What to Notice:
• Number of letters named accurately
• Unknown letter names
• Speed in letter recognition
• Letter confusions and substitutions
• Sound recognized without knowledge of letter names
• In Letter Knowledge Assessment B, after administering the assessment, the teacher is to compare children’s knowledge of uppercase and lowercase letters and use this assessment to help him/her plan lessons on letters as well as handwriting lessons.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of phonological awareness (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). (K-1)

In Fountas & Pinnell Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K materials, there are opportunities to assess students’ skills in phonological awareness during the Assess portion of the Phonological Awareness lessons. There are curriculum-based assessment protocols provided in the online resources, which are directly correlated to the nine areas of literacy instruction included in the program. Each assessment explains what is being tested, why it is important, and how to complete the assessment. These opportunities provide the teacher with information about students’ skills; however, there is no guidance or next steps based on assessment results provided for the teacher once the teacher has conducted the assessment. There are Extend learning sections the teacher can do if a student has mastered a content area or if a student needs reteaching. 

Examples of materials that include phonological awareness assessments include but are not limited to the following:

• Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence in phonological awareness.
• There are 10 assessments and an individual record form found in the Online Resources for Phonological Awareness. A teacher is prompted during Assess to use particular assessments. The assessments are:
• Assessment A: Hearing Rhymes
• Assessment B: Hearing Syllables
• Assessment C: Identifying Sounds in Words
• Assessment D: Segmenting a Word into Sounds
• Assessment E: Identifying Beginning Consonant Sounds
• Assessment F: Identifying Ending Consonant Sounds
• Assessment G: Blending Sounds to Make Words
• Assessment H: Blending Word Parts
• Assessment I: Removing Sounds from Words
• Assessment J: Segmenting Word Parts
• Assessment K: Individual Record
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Phonological Awareness 9, page 143, during Assess, the teacher is to say five words and notice if students can hear and clap one and two syllables. The teacher could use Phonological Awareness Assessments B or K.
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Phonological Awareness 15, page 167, during Assess, the teacher is prompted to notice whether children are able to hear the end sound. The teacher places a few picture cards on a chart and asks individual students to name the picture and then match it to a card in the pocket chart according to the ending sound. 
• Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information concerning  students’ current skills/level of understanding of phonological awareness.
• In Phonological Awareness Assessment A, Online Resources, it states that the assessment will help the teacher learn the degree to which children can hear and make connections between words that rhyme. A teacher is to notice the following about each student’s skills:
• Ability to identify and say the labels of objects represented in pictures
• Ability to listen for and identify sound patterns (rhymes) in words
• Ability to connect a sound pattern with another sound pattern that is similar
• Speed with which the child identifies similar sound patterns (rhymes)
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K,  Phonological Awareness 8, page 139, during Assess, it recommends the teacher observe to see if students are recognizing and using the syllables in writing. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Phonological Awareness 13, page 159, during Assess, it states two assessment options: 
• 1) "Notice whether the children can clearly say the last sound in a word and if they can identify the last sound in a word. A quick check of just two or three examples will tell you whether they understand the concept. 
• 2) You may wish to use Phonological Awareness Assessment K."
• Materials do not support teachers with instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in phonological awareness.
• In Phonological Awareness Assessment B (Hearing Syllables), after administering the assessment and recording the students' results on Assessment K (Individual Record), the teacher is to score the number of one-and two-syllable words the student can correctly sort into categories. Next steps are not provided.
• In Phonological Assessment C, after administering the assessment and recording each student’s response on Assessment K (Individual Record), the teacher can view the What to Notice section of the assessment. The teacher is to notice the following, but there are no steps for what the teacher should do next based on the assessment and What to Notice:
• Articulation of the word
• Ability to say the words slowly
• Ability to identify the number of individual sounds (phonemes)

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of phonics (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). (K-2)

In Fountas & Pinnell Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K materials, there are opportunities to assess students’ skills in phonics during Assess of the lessons. There are curriculum based assessment protocols provided in the online resources, which are directly correlated to the nine areas of literacy instruction included in the program. Each assessment explains what is being tested, why it is important, and how to complete the assessment. These opportunities provide the teacher with information about students’ skills; however, there is no guidance or next steps based on assessment results provided for the teacher once the teacher has conducted the assessment. There are Extend learning sections the teacher can do if a student has mastered a content area or if a student needs reteaching. 

Materials provide resources and tools to collect ongoing data about students’ progress in phonics. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Throughout the Letter-Sound Relationships (LSR), the following assessment opportunities are provided within the Online Resources: Assessment A: Matching Consonant Letters and Sounds at the Beginning of Words, Assessment B: Matching Consonant Letters and Sounds at the End of Words, Assessment C: Class Record.
• Throughout the Sound Patterns (SP), the following assessment opportunities are provided within the Online Resources: Assessment A: Matching Pictures of Words that Contain the Same Phonogram Pattern, Assessment B: Matching Words that Contain the Same Phonogram Pattern, Assessment C: Matching Pictures with Words that Contain the Same Phonogram Pattern, Assessment D: Reading Words with the CVC Pattern in Unfamiliar Text, Assessment E: Reading Words with Phonogram Patterns, Assessment F: Reading Words with Phonogram Patterns, Assessment G: Class Record (Reading Phonogram Patterns), and Assessment H: Class Record (Writing Phonogram Patterns(.
• Throughout the Word-Solving Actions (WSA) set of lessons, the following assessment opportunities are provided within the Online Resources: Assessment A: Sorting Names, Assessment B: Using Letter-Sound Relationships to Solve New Words, Assessment C: Recognizing and Reading Known Words Quickly, Assessment D: Using Onset and Rimes in Known Words to Solve New Words, Assessment E: Using Onset and Rimes in Known Words to Solve New Words, Assessment F: Individual Record (Using Parts of Known Words to Solve New Words, 1), Assessment G: Individual Record (Name Chart), Assessment H: Class Record, and Assessment I: Class Record (Name Chart).

Materials offer some assessment opportunities to determine students’ progress in phonics that are implemented systematically. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Letter-Sound Relationships, Connect to Assessment, it states, “See related [optional] LSR Assessment tasks in Online Resources.”
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Letter-Sound Relationships 1, during Assess, it states, “You may wish to use Letter-Sound Relationships Assessment A or C.”
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns, Connect to Assessment, it states, “See related [optional] SP Assessment tasks in Online Resources.”
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Word-Solving Actions 2, during Assess, it states, “You may wish to use Word-Solving Actions Assessment C.”

Multiple assessment opportunities are provided regularly for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence with phonics. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Letter-Sound Relationships 5, page 331, during Assess, the teacher observes the students and determines whether they can locate words in a text by saying the word and predicting the first letter. 
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Word Structure 1, page 439, the teacher observes whether students are able to clap out syllables of new words. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Word-Solving Actions 9, page 489, the teacher observes to see if the students can change the last part of a word that the teacher says in order to see if they are flexible and independent in this skill. 

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with some information about students’ current skills/level of understanding of phonics. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Letter-Sound Relationships 2, during Assess, the teacher is to observe the children to determine how well they are matching sounds and letters at the beginnings of words. "Have any child who seems confused match the picture cards and letter cards individually as you observe which ones cause her confusion."
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Actions 5, during Assess, the teacher is to observe children as they read to determine whether they are noticing and using the -ake pattern to solve new words.
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Word-Solving Actions 1, during Assess, the teacher is to notice whether the children can connect names with other words when reading and writing.

Materials do not genuinely measure students’ progress to support teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in phonics.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of word recognition and analysis (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). (K-2)

The Fountas & Pinnell Kindergarten materials contain assessments for word recognition and analysis in the Online Resources as well as assessments in the 100 lessons. Assessments within the lessons are administered at the end of lessons. Throughout the High-Frequency Words lessons, the following assessment opportunities are provided within the Online Resources to use over the course of the year: Assessment A (Reading Words) and Assessment B (Writing Words). For word analysis, there are Word-Solving Action assessments provided such as Assessment B (Using Letter-Sound Relationships to Solve New Words), Assessment C (Recognizing and Reading Known Words Quickly), Assessment D (Using Onset and Rimes in Known Words to Solve New Words), and Assessment E (Using Onset and Rimes in Known Words to Solve New Words). Each assessment provides recommendations for what teachers should analyze once the assessment has been administered. There are missed opportunities for assessments to provide the teacher with instructional guidance about next steps for all students. 

Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence of word recognition (high-frequency words or irregularly spelled words) and analysis. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Online Assessment A, students’ general knowledge of high-frequency words is assessed. It is recommended to use this assessment in High-Frequency Words. Students read a list of 25 words, and the teacher marks down whether the student reads the word correctly or not. 
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 1, page 379, during Assess, the teacher is to observe whether children are able to recognize high-frequency words quickly when reading. The teacher observes if students can write high-frequency words accurately. 
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, there are two curriculum based protocols for assessing a student’s letter-sound relationships: a) matching consonant sounds at the beginning of words, and b) matching consonant sound at the end of words.
• In Letter-Sound Relationships Lesson 3, pages 321-324, it suggests the teacher may want to use the Letter-Sound Relationships Assessment A or C. 
• After administering the assessment, it recommends the teacher analyze a student’s: 
• ability to identify names of objects represented by picture, 
• ability to say, hear, and identify the initial consonant sound in words
• ability to link the consonant sound to the letter that it represents
• children’s articulation patterns
• letter-sound confusions.
• In Online Assessment C, the teacher has a student read the Recognizing and Reading Known Words Quickly text. The teacher uses a duplicate copy to record the child’s reading behavior. 

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information concerning  students’ current skills/level of understanding of word recognition and word analysis.  Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Continuum, pg. 366, there are three goals for students in regards to high-frequency words:
• Recognize high-frequency words.
• Read and write approximately 25 words.
• Locate and read high-frequency words in continuous text. 
• In Online Assessment A, students read a list of 25 words. The teacher is asked to notice the following: words the child can read correctly, words the child can read almost correctly, and letter-sound relationships the child controls. 
• In Online Assessment B, students write 25 high-frequency words. The teacher is asked to notice whether students are able to do the task.
• In Online Assessment D, students are assessed on if they can use known words to solve new words. A student reads related new words (sets 2 and 3) one at a time. The teacher is asked to note a student’s accurate reading. 

Materials do not support teachers with instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in word recognition and word analysis.

• In the online Ready Resources: Assessment: High-Frequency Words Grade K, advice is provided to the teacher in the Why Use It section. It says: “This assessment will give you information about children’s general knowledge of high-frequency words as well as the particular words they know. The substitutions they make will also reveal something about their knowledge of letter-sound relationships and spelling patterns.” Further instructional suggestions are not provided.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for assessment materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment and assessment materials clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.

In the Fountas and Pinnell materials, standards alignment documentation is not available for formative and summative assessments. The assessments are aligned to the topics listed in the Nine Areas of Learning about Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study. There is limited documentation or correlation provided for specific lessons to indicate how the lessons align with standards. The documentation provided includes some example lessons that correlate to the foundational skills standards. 

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials regularly provide extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level. 

In the Fountas & Pinnell materials, all students participate in Teach, Apply, and Share for instruction and practice. No advanced opportunities are provided for students to work on while the teacher is providing reteaching to students who have not acquired the skills being taught. Each lesson contains Extend opportunities, which can provide advanced students with the opportunity to learn grade-level foundational skills at greater depth. In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Lessons Grade K, page 34, the materials describe Extend as “If children need more experience, you can repeat the lesson format using these suggestions for variation, different examples, or more challenging activities.”

Materials provide some opportunities for advanced students to investigate grade-level foundational skills at a greater depth. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, during Extend, page 164, students have the opportunity to “repeat the lesson with different pictures to practice matching other ending sounds” while gradually increasing the range of sounds children can work with at one time.
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Lessons Grade K, Letter Knowledge 6, page 238, during Extend, materials provide seven suggestions for teachers to extend learning for students once they have learned more about letters. Some of the suggestions are: start in the middle or end of the chart and read back to the beginning or read only the words under the picture. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 1, during Extend, the teacher is to ask students to look for CVC words in texts the class has read during Interactive Read-Aloud and Shared Reading. Students write each word they find on a blank word card. 

There are no instances of advanced students simply doing more assignments than their classmates. Activities presented as challenge activities are all additional assignments located in the Extend Learning section of each lesson plan.