READ Act Related Resources

These competencies from the State Board Rules can be used to support classroom instruction and as a tool to assist teachers in writing reading goals for students on a READ plan. The READ Act Minimum Reading Competency Skills serve as a guide for the end of year skills necessary to indicate a student is on track for acquiring basic grade-level reading skills.

The competencies are from the Colorado Academic Standards (CAS) and broken down by grade level (K-3) in the following documents:

The READ Act states specific processes and elements to be part of READ Plan creation and ongoing student support. The resources on the READ Plans webpage provide educators with support for the effective implementation of a READ Plan.

Some Elements of the Colorado Literacy Framework:

• The integration of the five components of reading must inform CDE’s literacy initiatives.

• Research-based instructional approaches fostering communication skills, including oral and written language, promote access, opportunity and academic achievement.
• Purposeful, direct, explicit, and systematic instruction is valuable for continuous literacy achievement.

The Elementary Teacher Literacy Standards are part of the Elementary Education Endorsement (K-6) outlined in the Colorado State Board of Education Rules. In 2016, the endorsement was updated in State Board Rules to ensure alignment to both to the Colorado Academic Standards as well as the Reading to Ensure Academic Success Act (READ Act). The Elementary Teacher Literacy Standards outline and describe practices and competencies for all K-6 teachers to teach students to read proficiently. 

The Selecting Scientifically and Evidenced-Based Instructional Programs webpage includes information and resources for selecting scientifically and evidence-based instructional materials. 

Meeting the Need of All Students
The Colorado READ Act Rules define attributes for instruction at the universal instruction and targeted intervention levels. These resources can be used to support instruction for all students.

• Tiers of Instruction at a glance
• Tier 1 Instruction - Guidelines for first/best literacy instruction
• Tiers II and III

Guiding Questions in the outcomes-driven model is a problem-solving model for reviewing student and system-level data.

The Literacy Evaluation Tool should be used by consultants and specialists outside of the education program or by school district personnel to evaluate the literacy program used for increasing literacy outcomes at the elementary level.

• Literacy Evaluation Tool (EXCEL)