As the school leader accountable for your students’ reading results, you know that reading proficiency measured in third and fourth grade is the product of a foundation built in kindergarten. You may have already adopted the Science of Reading but you know that you only have so many tools in your toolbox and so many professional development and coaching hours to achieve the effective and consistent implementation that you want. You worry that when the vision of Science of Reading collides with the reality of the classroom management, there is only so much you can do to move the needle.
Children are cognitively ready to learn how to read in kindergarten and first grade. Once successful, they learn more quickly, require less intervention, and become easier to teach in all of their academic subjects in each grade.
Once is designed to be turnkey for the school leader. You have enough on your plate with all that you do. Let Once take High-Dosage Tutoring in reading in kindergarten and first grade off your plate. Specifically:
• Our instructors are your current support staff members (ie. co-teachers, paraprofessionals, aides, resource teachers, SPED teachers, literacy specialists, or other staff).
• We work with your team to create a schedule that allows every student to get 15 minutes daily 1 on 1 instruction while also not sacrificing core instructional time.
• Students sit next to, and work with their instructor 1 on 1 for 15 minutes each day.
• Sessions are recorded so Once coaches can remotely provide feedback, coaching, and guidance to each school based instructor and to guarantee the curriculum is being implemented with fidelity to maximize student reading growth.
• Once coaches meet with your staff members each week to provide feedback and to practice key components of their instruction. Over the course of a year they receive over 20 hours of coaching in the Science of Reading provided by an expert coach and are eligible to receive graduate credit at partnered universities.
Each instructional session is 15 minutes each day. If a staff member is dedicated to the program full time, the staff member could work 20 students over the course of a day (taking breaks for lunch, gym, etc.)
You can start with a small number of students in a grade and grow over time. A district may start by using Once with just Tier III students. Once your district is comfortable with the approach, we recommend using this program as a Tier I intervention with all of your kindergarten students, so that they enter 1st grade reading fluently and independently well above grade level.
Unlike many High-Dosage Tutoring programs, Once is in-person and one-on-one. We believe that the relationships necessary to motivate sustained academic growth are best built in that setting. Once is also more affordable than many High-Dosage Tutoring programs because Once instructors are existing staff members at your school.
Once augments the Science of Reading-based instruction already happening in your classrooms. Most Science of Reading curricula have similar progressions, because they are drawing from the same research base. If a student learns a phoneme first in Once, the student will be even more prepared for whole group instruction with the lead teacher. If a student learns a phoneme first in whole group instruction with the lead teacher, the student will move through Once even more quickly.
The Science of Reading is more than just phonics. Here at Once we are huge advocates for reading authentic texts. Every lesson in Once (we call lessons Cycles because the instructional content is spiraled) contains an opportunity for students to read and engage with authentic text by asking questions, drawing connections, and making inferences and predictions.
No, the Once program provides staff members with all of the training and coaching they need to become highly effective instructors. Staff members who serve as instructors in the program may be eligible to receive college credit at participating universities.
Once is being used in public elementary schools in California, Hawaii, New York, Ohio, Texas and Washington D.C.
Once costs $385/student for a 1 year license. We don't provide discounts because most of the cost of a license goes toward the coaching service we provide.
Yes.
