Guided Reading Plus is evolving to provide enhanced support for both educators and students. This article delves into the latest features and improvements designed to address skill gaps, increase student motivation, and provide educators with better tools to track progress and facilitate instruction. Get ready to explore the new capabilities within Guided Reading Plus that aim to optimize the reading experience and accelerate learning outcomes.
A Warm Welcome Back to Reading Plus
Students returning to Reading Plus will be greeted with a personalized message acknowledging their accomplishments from previous years. They will also find their previously earned avatars and wallpapers immediately accessible, creating a sense of continuity and encouraging engagement.
Addressing Skill Deficiencies with Skills Coach
The Skills Coach feature, coupled with a comprehensive set of printable skills activities, is now directly accessible from both student and educator dashboards. These integrated resources support differentiated instruction at the whole class, small group, and individual levels. Skills Coach directly addresses specific comprehension skills that students may find challenging to master. When a student struggles with a particular comprehension subskill, the system automatically assigns appropriate offline remediation skill lessons and Skills Coach activities. Students can download Offline Skill Practice Activities and Skills Coach videos directly from their Student Dashboard. Educators retain control over whether these activities are automatically assigned.
Empowering Students with Choice and Control
Guided Reading Plus empowers students by giving them greater choice and control over key aspects of their reading experience:
- Text presentation
- Genre selection (fiction and nonfiction)
- Reading rate
- Answer submission
Customizable Text Presentation: Students who have met their grade-level rate goal can now customize how they read text within Reading Plus. They can choose to read selections entirely in independent mode, entirely in the Guided Window, or split the selection between the two formats. This flexibility allows students to select the presentation style that best suits their learning preferences.
Fiction and Nonfiction Filters: Students can now easily find texts aligned with their interests by filtering between fiction and nonfiction categories, alongside other high-interest categories offered by Reading Plus. Educators also gain visibility into the types of texts students are choosing.
Personalized Reading Rate: A new rate slider tool allows students to adjust their guided reading rate (G-Rate) within individualized parameters. This control enhances motivation as students progress toward their grade-level rate goals.
Submit Button for Answers: Students now have the ability to finalize their answers to comprehension questions by clicking a “Submit” button. This extra step provides students with increased control over when their answers are submitted for evaluation.
Improved Navigation: The Combo Bar is now scrollable, providing a clearer view of the Combos required for each level. This eliminates potential confusion and improves navigation.
Redesigned Awards: Reading awards now incorporate icons representing all Awards & Achievements earned by the student while working toward completing the level.
Accelerating Independent Reading Proficiency
Guided Reading Plus emphasizes independent reading by giving students more opportunities to practice without the support of the Guided Window. This practice encourages students to transfer skills to reading activities encountered outside the program. Students can now read independently in every lesson. Typically, students read the first three segments of a selection in the Guided Window, followed by the fourth segment in independent (I-Rate) format.
Modified Comprehension Checks at Advanced Levels
At Levels L and M, the highest levels within Reading Plus, students now receive five comprehension questions instead of ten. This adjustment allows students working at advanced levels to focus on reading longer fiction and nonfiction texts, leveraging their already developed comprehension skills.
Enhanced Support for Diverse Learners
Guided Reading Plus offers improved support for students at various reading levels and those who may be struggling with comprehension.
Lowest Reading Levels: Students at early-1st-grade through 2nd-grade readability levels now benefit from a new comprehension scaffold. They answer comprehension questions after each text segment to facilitate a gradual introduction to sustained memory and attention while reading, thus assisting the sequencing of information processing.
Struggling Students: Students in Support Mode receive enhanced scaffolds to aid comprehension. Placement in Support Mode occurs when a student consistently struggles to achieve comprehension scores of 80% or higher. These expanded scaffolds include the option to read the entire text in the Guided Window, utilize additional ReReads, read at a slower rate, read at a lower level, reread previous lessons, and answer questions interspersed between segments.
New Educator Features
Predicting Growth and Tracking Progress
The new Projected Growth Report assists in predicting student growth throughout the school year, based on progress within Reading Plus. Educators can use this report to identify students on track to meet end-of-year goals and make informed decisions regarding support for students at risk of falling behind.
Text Lexile® Ranges for Personalized Instruction
Reading Plus benchmark reports now include Lexile ranges for each student. These ranges help educators match students with instructional content at appropriate levels of difficulty and provide another method for measuring student growth.
Conclusion
Guided Reading Plus continues to evolve, providing educators and students with enhanced tools and features designed to promote reading comprehension and accelerate growth. The new updates focus on personalization, student agency, and data-driven insights, fostering a more engaging and effective reading experience. These enhancements to Guided Reading Plus promise a more impactful and successful learning journey for all students.
