Reading, Writing, and Communicating

Important News, Announcements, and Updates 

State Board extends deadline for READ Act teacher training

The State Board of Education granted a six-month extension for kindergarten through third-grade teachers to complete the training requirements in evidence-based reading instruction required by the READ Act. Teachers will now have until Jan. 31, 2022 to complete their training requirements. The extension is contingent upon districts notifying all K-3 teachers of the requirement by Dec. 1, 2020.  The department anticipates including an assurance that districts, BOCES, and charters schools have communicated the requirement as part of the annual READ data collection this spring.  Districts, BOCES and charters that do not meet the requirements will be ineligible for READ Act funds for the 2022-23 school year. Teachers have various avenues for completing the teaching requirement, including a no-cost option provided by the Colorado Department of Education.  

For more information about the training requirement, check out the CDE website, or contact Andreia Simon, in the P-3 Office, at Simon_A@cde.state.co.us. 

CDE Launches Campaign on Importance of Reading to Children at Home

DENVER – To increase awareness of the importance of early literacy, the Colorado Department of Education today launched a public information campaign to encourage and empower parents to make reading part of their daily routine with their children. The campaign is required by legislation passed in 2019 to revamp the Reading to Ensure Academic Development (READ Act) -- a statewide initiative enacted in 2012 to improve literacy for children in kindergarten through third grade with the understanding that the ability to read, digest information and think critically is foundational to future academic success. 

U.S. Department of Education awards Colorado a five-year, $16 million grant for literacy advancement

DENVER - The U.S. Department of Education awarded Colorado a $16 million grant to implement the Colorado Comprehensive Literacy Project, which aims to advance literacy skills for children from birth to grade 12 with special emphasis on disadvantaged children, including children living in poverty, English learners and children with disabilities. The Comprehensive Literacy State Development Program is a competitive federal grant that seeks to improve literacy in the state by using evidence-based practices, activities and interventions, including pre-literacy skills. The grant will span five years and will provide funding to districts through a competitive grant process. 

New READ Act UIP Requirements 2020-21

What are the new READ Act UIP Requirements?

• Beginning in the 2020-21 school year, districts must report K-3 literacy programming in their UIPs. Learn more about these requirements.
• Districts may use this template (XLS) to submit information about their K-3 instructional literacy programs.
• If a district is not submitting a 2020-21 UIP due to biennial flexibility or participation in a Local Accountability System grant, use this template to submit the 2020-21 READ Act reporting requirements​.
• The following instructions have been provided as a tool to support districts in reporting K-3 literacy instructional program data as described in the READ Act. See this document for detailed guidance on the new district READ Act Requirements. 

2020 Colorado Academic Standards and Colorado Measures of Academic Success: Students to Read and Comprehend Independently and Proficiently

The 2020 Reading Colorado Academic Standards (CAS) expect students to read (decode a printed or tactile code) and comprehend (make meaning of) literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.  In accordance with the full implementation of the 2020 Reading, Writing and Communicating CAS in the 2020-2021 school year, Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) will mirror the standards’ expectation that students combine their phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary and text comprehension reading skills to demonstrate mastery of the 2020 CAS independent reading expectations. Assessment administration adjustments that change this expectation, such as reading the text from the CMAS English language arts assessment to the student, should not be used and will result in an invalid administration starting in spring 2022. Students may continue to use accommodations that do not change this expectation. 

Accommodations generally refer to adjustments to standardized testing materials or procedures which allow students to demonstrate their learning without changing what the assessment intends to measure. Accommodations maintain the expectations and rigor of the content of the assessment. Scores resulting from accommodated administrations are considered valid and may be interpreted the same way as results from non-accommodated assessments. Adjustments to the administration of an assessment that change what the assessment measures are considered modifications rather than accommodations because they fundamentally change the assessment’s intended measure and therefore do not result in valid scores. Modifications produce scores that cannot be interpreted through the same lens, compared or aggregated together. Because the CMAS English language arts assessment measures the reading and writing components of the CAS, providing auditory presentation of printed text changes the assessment’s focus from reading and comprehension of text to listening and comprehension of text, which falls under different, unassessed listening standards.

Information relating to the use of accommodations during instruction is found on the CDE Office of Special Education webpage.