March 2022
ORTIi News & Updates
Trees with cherry blossoms
Spring is always a time of hope and renewal. As we make our way out of winter and look forward to a more "normal" spring, we come to you this month with hope that the remaining months of school will be a bit easier for everyone.

To celebrate spring we are gathering our friends and colleagues for the ORTIi Annual Conference with an opportunity for two days of virtual learning grounded in instructional best practices that support each and every learner. We hope you can make time to join us this year. Please see our program and registration below.  

Finally, as Classified Employee Appreciation Week comes to a close here in Oregon, we'd love to give a big THANK YOU to our extraordinary classified team member, Christie Rivas. If you have ever contacted ORTIi or been to any of our in-person events as an attendee or presenter, you have likely met Christie. She is a master of organization and has vast historical knowledge of all districts and individuals that have worked with the project. We could not do the work we do without her!

From the ORTIi team,

Lisa, Jon, Beth, Nicole, Brad, and Christie
photos of anita archer and maryanne wolf

Now Available!

The ORTIi Annual Conference
Digital Program

Are you getting excited about the Annual Spring Conference? Curious to see what our presenters have for you to learn? Check out the session titles and descriptions in the digital program by clicking here. The Zoom links for the sessions will be added about a week before the conference. After the event, the YouTube links for the recorded sessions will also be available on the digital program (at the end of the first week in May). In other words, the program is your key to the whole conference, whether you attend live or in the weeks and months after!

The ORTIi staff will also provide a small number of facilitated team times, held each afternoon of the conference. Look for an announcement at the end of the month regarding how to sign up a district team to talk about scaling the work of improving reading instruction in your setting.

Shining a (Glaring) Light on Educational Inequities in Reading
(Audience: All - including State, Higher Ed, School Leaders, Teachers and Families

We have watched a lot of webinars this past two years, but this one from the National Center on Improving Literacy is one of the best we have seen. Moderator Dr. Hank Fien (BU Wheelock, National Center on Improving Literacy) and panelists Dr. Lakeisha Johnson (Florida State University), Dr. Lillian Duran (University of Oregon), and Dr. Kymyona Burk (ExcelinEd) discuss the gap in reading outcomes and talk about efforts being made across the country to systematize the use evidence-informed reading instruction to give all students what they need to become proficient readers. There is a lot of wisdom and actionable items in this hour!

Episode 149: Literacy & Beyond
The 8 Black Hands
(Audience: ALL)

This episode has so many great moments covering topics ranging from assessment, evidence-informed instruction and specific reading-related questions families should be asking schools (and we should be able to answer!). The hosts of the 8 Black Hands Podcast welcome Miah Daughtery, who is the literacy director of content advocacy and design at NWEA. There is something for everyone in this episode - schools, families and broader communities.
3 years of winter DIBELS data
More Than 1 in 3 Children Who Started School in the Pandemic Need ‘Intensive’ Reading Help
(Audience: K-6 All)

The winter reading data in this Ed Week article by Sarah D. Sparks is very interesting. Even if you don't use DIBELS as your screener, your winter data over the past 3 years likely looks similar. One part about this article that is especially relevant for districts with multi-tiered systems of support for reading is the quote from Susan Lambert, “We need to make sure that as districts and schools, we’re creating a system—not individual student interventions—but a system whereby we’re monitoring the data,” she said, and that “we’re providing the intervention in multiple ways and getting creative about that so that we can close those gaps for kids as quickly as possible.” In these challenging times, at least you already have that system in place!
Picture of wordle squares
Just for fun!
Phonics & Wordle: How Two Teachers Are Using the Viral Word Game
(Audience: All)

This is a fun article about how a couple of elementary teachers are using Wordle to keep word study relevant and engaging. Who says phonics is boring?
ORTIi's
MTSS Component Modules
(Audience: ALL)

As district teams begin to think about reflecting on the state of MTSS after two tough years of interrupted school, the ORTIi rubrics and accompanying modules may be a good place to turn to remind your team what it looks like to have a solid system in place to recover from this crisis. The modules could also be useful for you as you bring in new staff, especially school and district leaders through the spring, summer and fall.