• Academics and Curriculum

  • WSSD values the science of reading as the research base informing the best practices for teaching literacy. This includes word recognition (decoding) and language comprehension. These two overarching components to literacy instruction include the teaching of word recognition skills through direct, systematic, and explicit phonics instruction as well as the teaching of literary elements that support language comprehension through the study of content that builds vocabulary, background knowledge, and understanding of language structures. These are depicted in Hollis Scarborough’s reading rope (pictured below).

    Wallingford-Swarthmore School District’s Literacy Programming

    • WSSD School Board approved materials in grades K-2:

      • Heggerty (word recognition)

      • FUNdations (word recognition)

      • Geodes (word recognition/language comprehension)

      • Interactive Read Aloud (language comprehension) 

      • Units of Study: Writing (writing)

    • WSSD School Board approved materials in grades 3-5:

      • Units of Study: Reading (language comprehension)

      • Units of Study: Writing (writing)

      • 95 Phonics Core Program (Fall 2024) (word recognition)

    Wallingford-Swarthmore School District’s Next Steps

    • The District is in the midst of program transitions in literacy (95 Phonics Core Program  in grades 3-5) and math (Reveal Mathematics). WSSD is committed to addressing the language comprehension component of literacy instruction through a language arts block that reflects the research that supports how children learn to read. This process will include a departure from Lucy Calkins’s Units of Study towards a comprehensive knowledge-building language arts program. The District’s next step is to explore a language arts program that focuses on knowledge building and addresses the language comprehension component of literacy.