# Next STEPS in Literacy Instruction

## Connecting Assessments to Effective Interventions

Includes guidance on using screening, diagnostic, and progress monitoring assessments!

**Authors:**  
Susan M. Smartt, Ph.D.  
Deborah R. Glaser, Ed.D.

## Contents

- About the Downloads
- About the Authors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments

# I Introduction

## 1 Introduction to Next STEPS  
- Becoming a Judicious Teacher  
- Understanding Response to Intervention and Multi-tiered Systems of Support  
- Assessments in Next STEPS  
- Screening Assessment  
- Progress-Monitoring Assessment  
- Evidence-Based Programs and Multi-tiered Systems of Support  
- Using the Core Reading Program With Struggling Readers  
- Next STEPS Design: How We Teach to Reach  
- Conclusion

## 2 Using Next STEPS to Teach Struggling Readers  
- What We Teach  
- How We Teach  
- How We Teach to Reach: Effective Models and Instructional Elements  
- How We Teach to Reach: Effective Teacher Behaviors  
- Motivation  
- Using Data to Create Small Groups

## II Applying STEPS to the Components of Reading

### 3 Phoneme Awareness  
- Introduction to Phoneme Awareness  
- Teaching Phoneme Awareness  
- Assessing Phoneme Awareness  
- Here We Go: Ready to Teach!  
- Phoneme Awareness Practice Activities  
  - Phoneme Isolation Activities  
  - Phoneme Segmentation Activities  
  - Phoneme Blending Activities  
- Summary

### 4 Phonics: Decoding, Encoding, and Word Recognition  
- Introduction  
- Reading Research: What Is Orthographic Mapping?  
- Word Recognition  
- Assessments for Word Recognition Phases  
- Planning Letter Recognition Instruction  
- Early Phonics Practice Activities  
  - Teaching Letter Recognition  
  - Improving Letter-Naming Fluency

### 5 **Fluency**  
- Introduction  
- Here We Go: Ready to Teach!  
- **Fluency Practice Activities**  
  - Repeated Readings  
  - High-Frequency Words  
  - Encoding With High-Frequency Words  
  - Reading Fluency  
- Conclusion: Checking Progress Using Oral Reading Fluency Norms

### 6 **Reading Comprehension**  
- Introduction: Comprehension—Processes and Product  
- The Text, the Reader, and the Activity  
- Descriptions of Measures of Comprehension  
- The Role of Listening Comprehension in Reading Comprehension  
- Here We Go: Ready to Teach!  
- **Comprehension Practice Activities**  
- Monitoring Comprehension  
- Sentence Comprehension

### 7 Vocabulary

## III Weaving It All Together

### 8 Weaving Elements Together for a Lifetime of Reading  
- Planning Integrated Component Instruction  
- Instructional Planning Guidelines: Integrate the Components

## Appendices 
- Appendix A: Quick Reveal Phoneme Awareness Tool  
- Appendix B: Acadience Reading Diagnostic CFOL Checklist  
- Glossary  
- References  
- Index

## About the Authors

**Susan M. Smartt, Ph.D.** holds a doctorate in school psychology from Tennessee State University and has extensive experience in educational consulting services and teacher training.

**Deborah R. Glaser, Ed.D.** is known for helping teachers bring reading science into their instruction, advocating for effective literacy practices.

## Foreword

Teaching students how to read is widely acknowledged as a complex and challenging task. This book provides evidence-based practices essential for teaching struggling readers, highlighting how to utilize effective strategies for literacy instruction.

## Preface

This edition aims to equip teachers with updated information on assessment and instruction to help students become proficient readers. It emphasizes the importance of responsive instruction, especially during challenging times like the pandemic.

## What’s New in This Edition?

- Detailed implementation strategies for multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS).
- Updated assessment charts and explanations for choosing the right assessments.
- A focus on the “big five” components of reading: phoneme awareness, phonics, fluency, reading comprehension, and vocabulary.