It has been an amazing launch to the 2023-2024 school year for the ORTIi team! Here are just a few things that have been happening with the project since mid August:

• We welcomed 3 new coaches! It is so great to have a full team again. Read more about them below.

• We welcomed 8 new school districts into the 4 year comprehensive support level called Cadre 12. The districts range geographically from the California border to the Columbia River!

• We welcomed 10 school districts into our new 1 year of targeted support level.

• We are busy planning not only our December Reading Symposium and April Annual Conference, but also several state-wide webinars on a variety of topics. You can register for the Reading Symposium below.

• We are renovating our website. Some of the tabs will be under construction for a week or so, but we hope the changes will make it easier to find what you are looking for. In the meantime, if you are looking for a specific MTSS tool, please just email us and we will send it to you. This time of year people look for Core Review Meeting Agendas, so those are linked below.

Phew! No wonder this first newsletter of the 2023-2024 school year is coming to you in October. We do hope you'll find the content useful. As always, the purpose of this newsletter is to share a couple of resources we found to be very aligned with our work.

You can find out more of what we are reading, watching, listening to and doing by following us on social media.

Have a terrific school year, friends!

The ORTIi Team

Ryan, Lisa, Beth, Carrie, Rachell, Sharyn and Matt

Welcome To Our New

ORTIi Implementation Coaches

Carrie Cowan

I have been an educator in Oregon since 2001. I have taught 1st -5th grades in two different school districts and four different school sites. For five years, I worked as a school-based instructional coach, working with teachers to refine their instructional practices. I am drawn to the challenges of school leadership, so in 2022 I earned my Oregon administrator's license. I have a passion for teaching reading and believe that literacy is a civil right. I live in SE Portland with my husband and two teenagers, a tabby cat, and a cockatiel named Carl. In my spare time I enjoy cooking and gardening.

Rachell Keys

For the past twenty years I have worked to improve literacy outcomes in Oregon and throughout the nation. Most recently, I have worked for the National Center on Improving Literacy. As a school psychologist, I have pursued my passion to help all kids become successful readers in a variety of ways. These have included: teaching courses on reading instruction at Portland State University, working as the Literacy Coordinator for the Tigard-Tualatin School District, supporting schools as part of the Reading First initiative and tutoring individual students. I live in Beaverton with my husband, two children and my rescue dog named Hazel. 

Sharyn Hoffert

I have been a K-5 classroom teacher in Oregon for over 25 years. During this time I earned my National Board certification and completed a MA in Educational Leadership. Most recently I have been an instructional coach, math intervention specialist, and an AVID elementary coordinator while also teaching Reading Endorsement classes as an adjunct instructor. I am passionate about partnering with educators to equip and empower them so that students are given the tools and resources they need to become engaged literate learners. My husband and I live with our two boys in Boring and enjoy traveling to explore new places.

Save the Date!

Another Exciting Event to Look Forward To!

The ORTIi Annual Conference

We are so excited to be back in person at The Graduate in Eugene in April. We hope you can join us!

Plan ahead now for two, learning filled days on April 4th and 5th. Topics include:

• The Science of Reading and effective instruction

• Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

• Leadership

• Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Supports

• District Implementation Journeys

We will launch the registration immediately after the Virtual Reading Symposium in December. Registration will be $350. We hope to see you in Eugene!

Important Reading for

Dyslexia Awareness Month

Identifying and Teaching Students with Significant Reading Problems

(Audience: ALL)

This article by Sharon Vaughn and Jack M. Fletcher from 2020 is worth reading again, or for the first time, to remind yourself of important considerations for the students you serve with dyslexia or other reading difficulties. School teams could use this article to reflect on how their systems of support work to ensure ALL students in their school learn to read.

Click here to find the article.

What Do Parents Want to Know about Literacy Instruction?

(Audience: ALL)

This short article from Redwood Literacy is intended for parents, but we see its benefit for school staff, as well. You could use it:

• As a starting point for your school to develop guidance about how you are communicating with families and the community about literacy instruction.
• As a list of potential professional learning topics - can all teachers, across all grades, explain what these thing are?
• As a tool to discuss as a grade level team on how these items are reflected in your core programs, your assessment system, and how you are supporting students who need additional tiers of support to become a reader.

Click here to find the article.

Fall Podcast Highlights

(Audience: ALL)

The ORTIi Coaches are huge podcast fans. Which episodes are our favorites from the past few weeks? Here you go!

• Amplify's Science of Reading: Interview with football star Malcom Mitchell. This one would also be great to listen to with older students who have had challenges learning to read. Click here to listen.

• Amplify's Science of Reading: Reid Lyon shares his experience in shaping literacy instruction policy for decades. There are some good lessons to consider about all the new efforts being made to improve literacy instruction to align with what science has told us for decades about how humans learn to read. How can we ensure the Science of Reading movement does not fail to improve literacy in our country? There is lots to talk about! Click here to listen.

• Literacy Talks: The interview with Dr. Matt Burns has something for teachers and leaders at every level. The conversation includes research about assessments that claim to give a reading level, MTSS, practical things you can do in the classroom. Click here to listen

• EdView 360: This podcast with Dr. Elsa Cardenas-Hagan and Dr. Antonio Feirro encourages us to reflect on the power of word understanding and how to help our students develop recognition of cross linguistic features of language. There were great examples shared of how we can do this in our classrooms. Click here to listen.

Remember these?

Reading Rev's Phonics Skills Tracker

(Elementary teachers)

We shared this page a while ago but wanted to remind you about it at the beginning of this year. As you explicitly and systematically teach the phonics skills in your core program or reading interventions, students can track their own progress of phonics skills they have mastered (not just the ones you have taught!). Choose the brain that most aligned to your grade level phonics skills. This is aligned to OG but can be used with any scope and sequence. It is also a great way to show parents what their child is working on.

To read the blog post that creator Bri Luna wrote about using these coloring pages:

Click Here

To download the page, scroll down a bit on the resources page:

Click here to find the resource

ORTIi Resources

NEW THIS FALL



Looking for a guide for reviewing your fall screening data and making a plan? We have what your team needs! Click the link below to find our folder of Core Review Agendas/Forms. The 2023 version is our most current document and comes with a facilitator guide for those leading the grade level team meeting. Feel free to edit your copy to suit your setting and data system. And we'd love your feedback!

Click here to access the folder

MTSS Components

Does your PD plan include staff training on the components of MTSS? Do you have new staff who are unfamiliar with MTSS? We've got you covered! We now have facilitation guides for ALL modules!

Click here for the module page

The ORTIi Video Resource Page

What do your current students need you to learn more about? Check out our library of content from from experts in the field of literacy instruction. View with your grade level team or as a school and discuss how what the presenter talked about relates to your school, your students and your practice.

Visit our video resource page HERE.

The Science of Reading

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 some slide decks you can use to start to build understanding about what science tells us about how we learn to read and how that science informs what and how we should teach reading and writing. 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

Click here to find the Science of Reading PL Materials