Early Literacy Program

Esparto Elementary School's Early Literacy Program has a goal of every student reading at or above grade level by the end of third grade. Research shows that students who read at grade level by third grade are more likely to do well in school overall, graduate from high school on time, and have opportunities to pursue their college and career goals.

Our Early Literacy Program staff includes:

Early Literacy Teacher, who teaches Guided Reading to small groups of students in their regular classrooms throughout the school day. She also teaches intensive reading intervention in small groups to students who need extra support in reading. This teacher also provides training and professional development to school staff on Guided Reading instruction and assessment, and meets regularly with grade level teams to support the reading program.

Early Literacy Aides, who work with small groups of students during Guided Reading in the classroom in order to reduce the student to teacher ratio, and to facilitate more individualized reading support for students.

Esparto Elementary School has adopted Guided Reading as a model for delivering small group leveled reading instruction. Students are grouped by their assessed reading level, which is regularly monitored. This allows the instruction to be targeted to their specific needs and developmental stage. It also allows struggling readers to be supported, and for fluent readers to be challenged. You can read more about Guided Reading here.