K-3 Reading Initiative Program

The K-3 Reading Program provides services to schools in School Improvement and to schools with a high concentration of low-performing students.

During the 2004-2005 school year a District Reading Leadership Team was established.  This team is composed of educators, K-12 teachers, administrators, supervisors, and community leaders.  During the 2005-2006 school year the team developed a plan using multiple funding sources to ensure that the essential components of reading instruction are embedded into the instructional program.

The Core Reading Program being used in Livingston Parish is Houghton Mifflin:  A Legacy of Literacy.  The Houghton Mifflin program is based on scientifically research-based practices.  It supports the five dimensions of reading and research-based strategies summarized in “Put Reading First:  The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read”.  It includes instructional strategies and content supporting reading instruction as descried in Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children.  The Houghton Mifflin Program addresses all five of the essential elements of effective reading instruction:  phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.  The Livingston Parish Public Schools policy guiding reading instruction requires that teachers follow the Louisiana Core Curriculum, all Content Standards, Benchmarks, and Grade Level Expectations.    The parish provides teachers with Core Reading Program materials and various literacy aids to assist them in planning and meeting Content Standards and Grade Level Expectations.

To ensure a scientifically based, comprehensive program the district is continuing to address gaps that were identified by the Critical Elements Analysis Survey given to K-3 teachers.  These gaps are in the areas of instructional grouping, intervention for students needing extra support, and acceleration for students that need to be challenged.  The district continues to offer job-embedded professional development opportunities that address these gaps.

Assessment is used throughout the parish to guide instruction.  An assessment tool provided by the Core Reading Program, Diagnostic Reading Assessment (DRA), and Dynamic Indicators of Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), is used to monitor the progress of kindergarten, first, second and third grade students.

Reading intervention in the five DIBEL schools is provided to K-3 students identified by DIBELS.  Classroom teachers or other highly qualified personnel pull small groups of students at least three times per week for intervention instruction.  Research based, state approved Cognitive Concepts Earobics Literacy Launch, and Harcourt Achieve Elements of Reading is used as a resource to provide quality instruction to intervention groups.  Intervention groups are adjusted as needed throughout the year according to the data received from the DIBELS assessment.  Student progress is reported on the DIBELS data system.

K-3 Facilitators provide intervention instruction three times a week at non-DIBELS schools with a high concentration of low-performing students that are using DRA.  Reading intervention is provided to first grade students identified by DRA as below level.  Intervention groups are adjusted as needed throughout the year according to performance based assessments.  DRA and DIBELS results are reported to the state.

Livingston Parish Public Schools Central Office is located in Livingston, Louisiana.
It is a K-12 public school district comprised of 40 schools and 22,236 students.
The purpose of this site is to support the efforts of our teachers and staff as they attempt to
improve student learning through the use of technology. 
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