June 2023
ORTIi News & Updates
Welcome Summer!

The end of the school year always seems a little like New Year's Eve. It is an opportunity to sit for a minute and reflect on the school year that has just zipped by. What celebrations do you have from the 2023-2024 school year? Here are just a few of ours:

  • The Cadre 11 and Middle School districts finished their final year with ORTIi! These districts persevered for 6 years of really challenging implementation work. Building all the components of a multi-tiered system of support is never easy (and never really "done") but doing so during a global pandemic was extra challenging. Thank you to all those amazing District and Building Implementation teams for sticking with the work!

  • Our Virtual Reading Symposium and other video content reached a huge number of participants. Our YouTube channel had over 55,000 views this year and was mostly accessed from the US, Canada and Australia. We are proud to provide content that educators across the world can use to grow their learning about MTSS and evidence-based reading instruction.

  • The in-person conference that we hosted along with NWPBIS was also a huge success. It was terrific to get everyone together in Portland to provide really amazing sessions on all things MTSS - Social Emotional Learning, PBIS, Reading Instruction and more.

We also have exciting things to look forward to for 2023-2024.

  • We have hired 3 new coaches and will introduce them in the September newsletter!

  • We have selected new school districts for Cadre 12 as well as those that will receive targeted support from ORTIi. We are looking forward to supporting a new group of folks who are focused on building an equitable MTSS for reading to ensure ALL students become readers in their setting.

We hope you all have a terrific summer!

The ORTII Team
Ryan, Beth, Lisa, and Matt
Save the Date!
Oregon Response to Instruction and intervention's

Annual Conference

April 4th and 5th, 2024

The Graduate Hotel and Conference Center
Eugene, Oregon
Look for registration information coming in the fall.
TIME SENSITIVE
Another Chance to Watch
The Right To Read
(Audience: All)

Have you been wanting to watch The Right To Read? The upcoming holiday weekend is a great time to take an hour for this terrific movie. There will be a special free Juneteenth viewing opportunity from 12:00 AM ET to 11:59 PM ET on June 19th. You can access the movie directly on the Right to Read website that day or register below to get a reminder.
Science of Reading
Summer Reading List
(Audience: All)

Looking to spend some of your summer reading time on increasing your knowledge about evidence-aligned reading instruction and/or MTSS? Check out Stephanie Stollar's Summer Reading List. Maybe you could share the list with friends who are on this journey with you and each pick one to report back on - kind of a Science of Reading book club.

Integrating the Science of Reading and Culturally Responsive Instruction as a Path to Equity
(Audience: ALL)

This webinar with Zaretta Hammond is amazing. It is worth watching multiple times because there is so much to consider. Among the topics she covers are:
  • The natural synergy between the Science of Reading and culturally responsive instruction
  • The top three misconceptions about the Science of Reading and culturally responsive instruction
  • Why just having more diverse literature isn’t enough and what’s also needed
  • How to set up older striving readers for success and accelerate reading development using three basic culturally responsive teaching techniques
Check out this (new to us) website
(Audience: All)

You may already know about this great resource but a colleague recently shared The Barksdale Reading Institutes's website that has information for anyone interested in reading instruction. Here are just two items that really stood out:

Click here to find the interactive chart that describes the essential components of reading and what structured literacy instruction looks like in that area. They are in the process of revising this website, but it is still really good and one worth coming back to again and again.

Click here to find the 10 Maxims by Reid Lyon Want a short summary of what science tells us about how reading works and how we should teach students to read? This is a good resource.
ORTIi Resources
For Your Professional Learning Needs
MTSS Components

Does your PD plan for next year include staff training on the components of MTSS? We've got you covered!
We now have facilitation guides for ALL modules!
Got some down time this summer and want to learn more about effective reading instruction? Looking for some learning to sprinkle in with your beach reads?
Check out the ORTIi Video Resource Page for access to 3 years of amazing content.

Visit our video resource page HERE.
Science of Reading
Professional Learning

Have you been asked to present some introductory information to your staff about the Science of Reading and don't know where to start? We created slide decks you can use to build an understanding about what science tells us about how we learn to read and how to teach it. These are not videos, so you will need to lead the sessions yourself and can customize them for your setting, but everything you need to get started is here. The topics include:
  • What is the Science of Reading Anyway?
  • Word Recognition
  • Language Comprehension
  • Explicit and Systematic Instruction
  • Reading Assessment