Act 20 and Early Literacy Remediation Plan

Act 20 Requirement

All K-3 teachers, principals where there are grades K-3, and reading specialists must begin training on science-based literacy instruction by July 1, 2025. This must be from an approved list.

Bristol School District #1 Approach

All 4K - 5th Grade Literacy teachers (including special education teachers and teachers of multilingual learners) and school principals have begun Early Literacy Instruction training through Cox Campus. Grade 4K - 2 teachers will complete the training by the end of the 2025-2026 school year. 3-5th grade teachers will complete the required training by the end of the 2026-2027 school year. 

The the 4K-4th Grade Principal and a team of early literacy teachers completed the Early Literacy Leadership training through CESA 6 in 2024.

ACT 20 Requirement

What type of early literacy instruction and intervention do schools need to provide?

Act 20 states that all Wisconsin schools are required to provide science-based early literacy instruction in both universal and intervention settings. Science-based early literacy instruction is defined as the following.

Instruction that is systematic and explicit and consists of all the following:

• Phonological awareness
• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics
• Building background knowledge
• Oral language development
• Vocabulary building
• Instruction in writing
• Instruction in comprehension
• Reading fluency

See the Wisconsin Reads website for more information

*School boards retain the independent authority to select the early literacy instructional materials they will adopt and implement. Those instructional materials are required to meet the definition of “science-based early literacy instruction” found in Act 20.

Bristol School District #1 Approach

Bristol School District #1 Literacy Vision

To cultivate self-motivated learners with strong reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills, fostering a love of literacy, supporting achievement, and empowering meaningful communication.

Standards and Curriculum:

Bristol School has adopted the Wisconsin Standards for English Language Arts (grades 5K-8) and the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards (4K). The district adopted Wonders (2023) and Heggerty Phonemic Awareness as core curricular resources teachers will use to plan and provide literacy instruction based on the adopted standards in grades 4K-5. Our teachers deliver daily, grade-level explicit reading instruction focused on building essential literacy skills. These lessons utilize evidence-based, high-quality instructional materials aligned with the science of reading to make learning both effective and engaging.

Act 20 Requirement

4K Assessment: Students are to be assessed twice during the school year using a fundamental skills screening assessment selected by the DPI. The first is to be completed by the 45th school day and the second by 45 days before the end of the school year.

5K-3 Assessment: Administer at least 3 universal screenings during the school year.  The first must be before the 45th day of the school year, the second in the middle of the school year, and the third by 45 days left in the school year.  Universal screenings must include phonemic awareness, decoding, alphabet knowledge, letter-sound knowledge, oral vocabulary

A diagnostic assessment must be used when a universal screening assessment indicates a pupil is at-risk (below 25th percentile). This occurs no later than the second Friday of November for the Fall assessment or within 10 days after the 2nd universal screening.  Diagnostic assessments must also be given within 20 days when a teacher or parent suspects a student has characteristics of dyslexia and submits a request

Bristol School District #1 Approach

 

Screeners:

What is a Screener?

You might be wondering, "What is a "screener?" It's not a big, formal test that will have a grade. Instead, it's a short activity or set of questions that helps teachers and specialists see if a child might need a little extra support.

Think of it as a way to catch things early. If a screener suggests a child might be struggling in a specific area, it doesn't mean there's definitely a problem. It just means we might want to take a closer look with more specific assessments (diagnostics) to understand their needs better and provide the right kind of help.

Screeners are a normal part of making sure all our students are getting what they need to thrive! If you ever have questions about a specific screener your child is participating in, please don't hesitate to reach out to their teacher or our support staff.

We use Pearson aimswebPLUS as our screener for early literacy. Below is an overview of how and when we use the screeners in different grade levels:

4K Fundamental Skills Screening:

• Phonemic awareness and letter-sound knowledge
• 2 screening windows:
  • Fall: within 45 days of the first day of school
  • Spring: April

5K-3rd Grade Universal Screener:

• Phonemic awareness, letter-sound knowledge, alphabetic knowledge, decoding & oral vocabulary
• 3 screening windows:
  • Fall: within 45 days of the first day of school
  • Winter: December 1 - January 31st
  • Spring: April

Diagnostic Assessments

 

What are Diagnostic Assessments?

Think of a diagnostic assessment as a more in-depth look. If a screener gives us a general idea and suggests a possible area where a student might need support, a diagnostic assessment helps us pinpoint exactly what's going on. It's like when a doctor does more tests to figure out the specific cause of an issue after a general check-up. This assessment provides detailed information about a student's strengths and weaknesses in a particular skill, helping us tailor the best support for them.

We give diagnostic assessments to to students who score below the 25th percentile on the universal screener or who are referred for additional testing by a teacher or parent/caregiver. Act 20 requires that a diagnostic assessment include all of the specific literacy subskills enumerated in Act 20 and meets the technical specifications in Act 20. 

What is assessed?

When we assess, we are checking to see how well students are doing in different reading skills. There are five skills that are the building blocks of reading. They help children recognize, understand, and pronounce words correctly, which is essential for becoming a successful reader. Without these foundational skills, it’s difficult for children to read fluently and understand what they’re reading.

• Phonemic Awareness: This skill involves recognizing and manipulating the individual sounds in words. Tasks might include identifying the first or last sound in a word or blending sounds together to make a word (e.g., /c/ + /a/ + /t/ = "cat").
• Oral Vocabulary: Oral vocabulary refers to knowing the meanings of words when heard or spoken. Tasks might include learning new words through conversation, storytelling, or picture books and understanding these words in different contexts.
• Alphabet Knowledge: This involves recognizing and naming letters, both uppercase and lowercase. Tasks usually include matching letters with pictures or playing games that involve identifying letters.
  Letter Sound Knowledge: This skill is about knowing the sounds that each letter or combination of letters makes. Tasks might include saying the sound when shown a letter, matching letters to their sounds, or practicing with flashcards.
• Decoding Skills: Decoding is the ability to sound out and read words by connecting letters to their sounds. Tasks might include reading simple words, sounding out new words, and practicing reading short sentences. 

These skills help children learn to read by teaching them how to hear, say, recognize, and understand words. For example, they learn the sounds that letters make, how to blend those sounds together to read words, and what those words mean when they hear or say them. By practicing these skills, children can become better readers.

After assessments, educator teams will monitor the results of screening assessments. Students who perform below the 25th percentile will be assessed using diagnostic assessments to gather further information about the next steps for learning.  A diagnostic assessment evaluates a student’s skills relative to grade-level expectations for the areas below:

• Phonological Awareness
• Phonemic Awareness
• Letter Sound Knowledge
• Alphabet Knowledge
• Rapid Naming
• Decoding
• Word Recognition
• (Oral) Vocabulary
• Spelling
• Listening Comprehension
• Oral Reading Fluency
• Reading Comprehension

Diagnostic assessment includes an opportunity for a student’s parent/guardian to complete a family history survey to provide additional information about learning difficulties in the student’s family.  

A legal guardian has the right to submit a request for diagnostic assessment at any time, including the right to request an evaluation for special education. 

Act 20 Requirement:

Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year, provide parents and families with the results of the reading readiness screener no later than 15 days after the assessment is scored in an understandable format that includes all of the following:

• The pupil's score on the reading readiness assessment.
• The pupil's score in each early literacy skill category is assessed by the reading readiness assessment.
• The pupil's percentile rank score on the reading readiness assessment, if available.
• The definition of “at-risk” and the score on the reading readiness assessment that would indicate that a pupil is at-risk.
• A plain language description of the literacy skills the reading readiness assessment is designed to measure.
• If a child is promoted to 4th grade without completing their personal reading plan, parents must be notified in writing along with a description of the reading interventions that child will continue to receive.

Bristol School District #1 Approach

Families will receive notification and information throughout the assessment process.  Families are notified of assessment windows prior to testing and results are shared within 15 days of assessment score availability.  When diagnostic assessments are utilized, additional information specific to those results and subsequent instructional support (personal reading plans) will also be shared.

Act 20 Requirement

If students are identified as at-risk (below the 25th percentile) on a universal screening assessment or diagnostic assessment, a personal reading plan must be created that includes:

• The specific early literacy skill deficiencies
• Goals and benchmarks for the pupil's progress toward grade-level literacy skills
• How progress will be monitored, a description of interventions and additional instructional services being provided
• The science-based reading programming the teacher will use
• Strategies for the parent to support grade-level literacy skills, and any additional services available and appropriate

Local education agencies (public schools and independent charter schools) will provide a copy of the personal reading plan to parents as well as provide progress updates after 10 weeks.

Bristol School District #1's Approach

To accelerate their growth, the student that has been identified “at risk” in early literacy will be placed on a Personal Reading Plan. The Personal Reading Plan includes: 

• Specialized, targeted instruction during regular literacy blocks.
• Specific interventions designed to improve their unique skill gaps at a minimum of 4 days per week.
• Regular progress monitoring (weekly) using AimswebPlus tools by the teaching team to adjust instruction as the student grows.
• Literacy interventions for students showing characteristics of dyslexia must be:
  • Science-Based: Focuses on foundational skills (phonics, phonemic awareness) alongside fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
  • Comprehensive: Designed to directly drive reading comprehension and/or subskills to support comprehension and overall student engagement.
  • Explicit: Makes the "what" and "why" of the learning process completely transparent to the student.
  • Asset-Based: Uses individual student strengths to bridge and support instructional gaps.
  • Monitored: Incorporates regular, guided practice with active instructor oversight.
  • Coordinated: Aligns seamlessly with the pace, sequence, and instructional terminology of whole-group instruction.
  • Evaluated: Assessed routinely to dynamically guide, modify, or successfully exit the intervention.  
  • Bristol School will address these facets through carefully selected interventions and high leverage, science of reading instructional strategies which include, but are not limited to:
    • Heggerty Phonological Awareness
    • Bridge the Gap 
    • UFLI (University Florida Literacy Institute)
    • Wilson
    • Word Connections
    • SIPPs
    • Rhyme Magic
    • Alphabetic Knowledge Research Based Strategies
    • Systematic, Explicit Science of Reading Routines such as:  orthographic mapping, fluency reading strategies such choral reading and eco reading, word chaining, and written dictation

Criteria of the Personal Reading Plan

Students who score below the 25th percentile on the reading readiness screener will receive a personalized reading plan. This plan includes:
a description of the science-based early literacy programming;

• early literacy assessment data;
• overall early literacy analysis;
• student goals and support plan;
• additional services to accelerate early literacy skills;
• record of attendance and progress;
• Signature of parent/guardian recognizing the terms of the plan

The school will provide a copy to families/caregivers no later than the third Friday in November or within 10 days of a subsequent screener or diagnostic assessment requested by parent/teacher.

Families/caregivers can expect to receive updates about the student’s progress at least every 10 weeks.

Exiting a Reading Plan

The Bristol School District is committed to providing targeted, science-based early literacy interventions until a student demonstrates sustainable, independent reading proficiency. A student will exit their Personal Reading Plan when they meet the specific, data-driven milestones outlined below. 

• 5K: Score at or above the 25th percentile on the state-approved universal screener (aimswebPlus) and showing 4 consecutive data points at or above the 25th percentile during weekly progress monitoring. Demonstrated proficiency on foundational early literacy subtests, specifically focusing on Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF) and Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF). The NWF will occur again in the 1st grade year. 
• First Grade: Score at or above the 25th percentile on the state-approved universal screener (aimswebPlus) and showing 4 consecutive data points at or above the 25th percentile during weekly progress monitoring. Consistent on-grade-level performance on Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) subtests, alongside proficiency on district-approved phonics and decoding assessments. 
• Second Grade: Score at or above the 25th percentile on the state-approved universal screener (aimswebPlus) and showing 4 consecutive data points at or above the 25th percentile during weekly progress monitoring.. Consistent on-grade-level performance on Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) subtests, alongside proficiency on district-approved phonics and decoding assessments. 
• Third Grade (in effect September 2027):  Achieve a rating of "Proficient" or "Advanced" on the reading/English Language Arts (ELA) section of the Wisconsin Forward Exam. "Proficient" or "Advanced" on the reading/English Language Arts (ELA) section of the Wisconsin Forward Exam.Parental & School Agreement: Mutual consensus between the student's parents/caregivers and the school administration that the student has successfully achieved all individual growth goals outlined in their PRP. 

Act 20 Requirement

Schools must have a policy for promotion from 3rd to 4th grade, based on a DPI model policy, by July 1, 2025.  This would go into effect Sept 1, 2027.

Bristol School District #1 Approach

The Bristol School District #1 promotion policy will be effective on September 1, 2027.

ACT 20 Requirement

Act 20 requires each school district to articulate and post an early literacy remediation plan that includes all of the following. The name of the diagnostic reading assessment the school district uses; a description of the reading interventions the school district uses to address characteristics of dyslexia; a description of how the school district monitors pupil progress during interventions, including the tools used and their frequency; a description of how the school district uses early literacy assessment results to evaluate early literacy instruction; and a description of the parent notification policy that complies with Act 20.  School districts are still required to publicly post the academic standards that they use and to provide a link to Wisconsin’s Informational Guidebook on Dyslexia and Related Conditions on their school district website.

Bristol School District #1 Approach

All of the aforementioned components comprise our Early Literacy Remediation Plan. In line with state requirements, the Bristol School District #1 uses a variety of assessments to identify students who need help with reading, including those with symptoms of dyslexia. Teachers use these assessments to understand each student's needs and plan the best way to support them. Support plans include different interventions and/or instructional strategies such as teaching how to recognize sounds and patterns, practicing reading skills, and providing direct instruction on language and spelling. All students receive regular practice with reading and are given feedback to help them improve. To monitor progress students are assessed multiple times throughout the school year, and caregivers are notified of student progress following assessments. For students receiving personal reading plans, progress is reviewed more frequently to inform any necessary instructional changes to ensure student growth.