Kindergarten - Gateway 3
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Teacher and Student Supports
| Score | |
|---|---|
Gateway 3 - Meets Expectations | 88% |
Criterion 3.1: Teacher Supports | 11 / 13 |
Criterion 3.2: Student Supports | 4 / 4 |
Criterion 3.3: Intentional Design |
The IMSE's OG+ materials meet expectations for Gateway 3 by providing coherent teacher supports, embedded student supports, and intentional design features that facilitate effective implementation of foundational skills instruction. Materials include point-of-use guidance, clear instructional routines, and adult-level explanations that support consistent delivery of phonemic awareness, phonics, word recognition, and fluency. Lessons follow a structured, research-based design with defined pacing and built-in review, though pacing is fixed and standards alignment is not explicitly identified. Student supports include small-group guidance, embedded differentiation, and visual and oral-language scaffolds, including supports for multilingual learners, while representation in texts is primarily surface-level with limited guidance for cultural responsiveness. Digital tools and visual design features support instruction through teacher-directed, customizable resources and consistent layouts, though student interactivity and ease of access across platforms are limited.
Criterion 3.1: Teacher Supports
Materials include embedded guidance to support effective implementation of foundational skills instruction and build teacher knowledge of grade-level expectations.
The IMSE's OG+ materials meet expectations for Criterion 3.1 by providing embedded guidance that supports effective implementation of foundational skills instruction and strengthens teacher understanding of grade-level expectations. Lessons include point-of-use annotations, scripting, and consistent routines that guide instructional delivery and clarify how to use student and ancillary materials. Materials also include detailed adult-level explanations of foundational literacy concepts and instructional approaches, supporting teacher understanding of phonemic awareness, phonics, word recognition, and fluency. Instructional tools are clearly identified and aligned to specific purposes within lessons, and family-facing resources are written in accessible, jargon-free language to support understanding of foundational skills and ways to reinforce learning at home.
Foundational skills lessons follow a consistent, research-based structure organized around multi-day concepts with defined time allocations and coordinated whole-group and small-group instruction. Materials include built-in review and consolidation opportunities; however, pacing is fixed across lessons and does not consistently account for variability in instructional time or reteaching needs. Materials do not include alignment to specific foundational skills standards within assessments or lesson-level documentation. Overall, the materials provide strong, coherent support for instructional delivery and teacher understanding, with some limitations in pacing flexibility and standards alignment.
Indicator 3a
Materials provide teacher guidance with useful annotations and suggestions for how to enact the student materials and ancillary materials, with specific attention to supporting students’ foundational literacy development.
The teacher guidance in IMSE's OG+ meets the expectations for Indicator 3a. Materials provide useful annotations and suggestions for how to enact student and ancillary materials, with specific attention to foundational literacy development. Program resources clearly outline instructional routines and lesson components that structure daily phonemic awareness and phonics instruction. Lessons include explicit scripting, point-of-use annotations, and corrective feedback guidance that support accurate implementation. Instructional routines follow a consistent gradual release model, ensuring students build toward accuracy and automaticity through modeling, guided practice, and independent application.
Materials provide a well-defined, teacher resources for presenting content and instructional routines.
The OG+ Fidelity Companion provides a quick-reference guide for the instructional routines connected to the IMSE's OG+ core foundational skills curriculum. The Fidelity Companion corresponds to the teacher guides for Kindergarten through color-coded alignment of lesson components. Each instructional routine within the Fidelity Companion provides unbolded text that supports teachers in understanding the purpose of each step of a routine and how to implement the routine effectively. The Fidelity Companion also includes bold text as a script for the teacher as an additional support.
Each instructional component is guided by the principle of gradual release. The teacher should model the core skill or concept the routine is meant to convey through 1-2 repetitions; the teacher and student should do the routine together through 5-8 repetitions; and the students should do the routine independently through 5-8 repetitions with teachers providing immediate feedback through the IMSE's OG+ error correction procedure.
The Teacher Guide provides guidance on the key components of an IMSE's OG+ lesson. For example, in the section “Phonemic Awareness: Word Chaining (Phoneme Manipulation)”, the materials explain that the word chaining procedure will aim to change one phoneme at a time, but that “certain concepts (e.g. ‘x’, ‘qu’) involve more than one sound.” The section provides further guidance that once students “demonstrate understanding and accuracy [of phoneme manipulation], all teacher support should be removed to allow for independent practice.” This guidance is representative of the support provided for understanding the components of an IMSE's OG+ lesson.
Materials include annotations and suggestions to support implementation, presented in the context of specific learning objectives.
In Concept 2, Day 1, Phonemic Awareness: Blending and Segmenting, the materials include a Teacher Tip that supports the specific learning objective of students’ demonstrating understanding of the short /ă/ sound. In the Teacher Tip, the materials instruct the teacher to tell students to “use their off-hand” when pounding their fist at the part of the routine when the students say the whole word together. The Teacher Tip advises that the teacher tells students to use their dominant hand when pushing tiles and physically running their fingers under the tiles from left to right. This physical connection to the oral activity supports the implementation of the Blending and Segmenting routine, as well as the specific learning objective of the concept.
In Concept 13, Day 1, Phonics: Teaching a New Concept, the materials include a Teacher Tip that supports the specific learning objective of students’ demonstrating understanding of the /p/ sound. In the Teacher Tip, the materials instruct the teacher to remind students to limit their isolation of /p/ and to not include the “uh” when making the sound. The Teacher Tip states that “this will aid students with encoding and decoding words with this spelling and sound.” This guidance supports the specific learning objective of the concept.
Indicator 3b
Materials contain full, adult-level explanations and examples of the foundational skills concepts included in the program so teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject.
The adult-level explanations in IMSE's OG+ meet the expectations for Indicator 3b. Materials contain full, detailed explanations and examples of foundational skills concepts so the teacher can strengthen their knowledge of the subject as needed. Teacher-facing resources describe the research base of the program and outline each foundational skills component, including phonemic awareness, phonics, irregular word instruction, syllabication and word analysis, and fluency. The materials explain how these skills develop and connect to broader reading research, including frameworks such as the Simple View of Reading and Scarborough’s Reading Rope. Detailed examples and instructional explanations deepen teacher understanding of grade-level concepts and instructional rationale. Although print concepts are not explicitly defined, this does not impact the overall score for this indicator.
Complete, detailed adult-level explanations are provided for each foundational skill taught at the grade level.
According to the OG Plus Manual, the materials include a comprehensive Research and Theory Foundations section that provides adult-level explanations of the research base underlying the program. This section begins with an explanation of the science of reading, clarifying that the science of reading is not a specific program or approach, but a body of research derived from multiple disciplines, including cognitive psychology, communication sciences, developmental psychology, education, implementation science, linguistics, neuroscience, and school psychology. Additional sections include, but are not limited to the following:
The Simple View of Reading as a research-supported framework for understanding reading comprehension. The materials explain that reading comprehension is the product of word recognition and language comprehension and describe how these components interact to support skilled reading.
A detailed explanation of Scarborough’s Reading Rope, describing how multiple strands of language comprehension and word recognition are woven together over time to result in skilled reading. The materials explain the language comprehension strands, including background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge, as well as the word recognition strands, including phonological awareness, decoding, and sight recognition.
Ehri’s four phases of word reading development, including the pre-alphabetic, partial alphabetic, full alphabetic, and consolidated alphabetic phases. The materials describe how students progress through these phases as their word reading skills develop.
A section on orthography, orthographic memory, and orthographic mapping that explains how phonemic awareness, letter–sound knowledge, and pronunciation work together to support the development of orthographic memory and sight word vocabulary.
The materials reference key findings from the National Reading Panel and explain how those findings inform instructional design across foundational skills instruction.
The materials include dedicated sections for each component of foundational skills instruction taught in the IMSE's OG+ program, including phonemic awareness, phonics, irregular word instruction, syllabication and word analysis, and fluency. Each section provides background knowledge and supporting research to explain why the component is critical to reading development.
Although the materials provide adult-level explanations for the majority of foundational skills components, print concepts are not explicitly defined within the program. This omission does not impact the overall score for this indicator.
Detailed examples of the grade-level foundational skills concepts are provided for the teacher.
According to the OG Plus Manual, the phonemic awareness section includes detailed examples and instructional implications related to phonological awareness and phonics, including explanations of the 44 sounds of the English language. The materials describe phoneme blending and segmenting and include key findings that inform instructional practice in Kindergarten. Additional sections include, but are not limited to the following:
The Phonics instruction section includes examples that explain how phonics concepts are applied through instruction, including cross-linguistic connections, sound scenes, spelling as application through words and sentences, and instruction that progresses toward multisyllabic words.
The Irregular Word instruction section provides detailed explanations and examples for the teacher related to irregular words, high-frequency words, sight words, and commonly referenced word lists such as Dolch words and Fry words, supporting teacher understanding of how and why these words are taught.
The Syllabication and Word Analysis section includes detailed explanations and examples of multisyllabic word instruction, including the six syllable types—closed, open, Magic e, vowel team, Bossy R, and consonant-le—as well as the four syllable division patterns VC/CV, V/CV, VC/V, and V/V. The materials also include examples related to morphology instruction, including affixes and bases.
The Fluency section provides detailed examples and instructional explanations related to fluency development, including the role of modeling and practice, the use of intonation and prosody, reader’s theater, and additional strategies for supporting fluency. The materials also explain levels of reading ability, including independent, instructional, and frustration levels, and include considerations for English learners related to fluency development.
Indicator 3c
Foundational skills lessons are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing. Content can reasonably be completed within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding.
The lesson design and pacing in IMSE's OG+ partially meet the expectations for Indicator 3c. Materials use a consistent, research-based lesson structure organized around five-day concepts that systematically introduce, practice, and apply foundational skills through coordinated whole-group and small-group instruction. Daily lesson plans include defined time allocations and clearly structured routines that support systematic implementation. However, pacing remains fixed across lessons regardless of instructional complexity, and flexible time for reteaching is referenced rather than explicitly embedded within daily plans. While the sequence is outlined across 36 weeks and includes assessment and review, the total instructional days approach or exceed a typical 180-day school year. As a result, Kindergarten pacing appears ambitious within a single school year.
Lesson plans utilize effective, research-based lesson plan design for early literacy instruction.
According to the Teacher Guide, daily lesson plans are organized around concepts. Each concept has five days of instruction devoted to it. Within each concept, there are clear learning objectives, ideas for incorporating objects and keywords that illustrate the concept, and literature connections that go beyond the connected text provided in the curriculum. Each day of instruction has materials listed, additional support for the teacher and students, and suggested language for effective implementation of routines. Over the course of the five days of instruction for each concept, lessons will address the key components of early literacy instruction through various routines. Examples of those routines in the Kindergarten sequence are listed below next to the corresponding early literacy skill they are meant to support.
Phonological Awareness: Cumulative Review (Three-Part Drill and Vowel Intensive Drill)
Phonics: Phonics (Teaching a New Concept)
High Frequency, Irregular Word Recognition: Irregular Words (Red Words)
Writing: Spelling (Written Application of a New Concept)
Fluency, Vocabulary, Comprehension: IMSE's OG+ Decodable Readers
The effective lesson design structure includes both whole group and small group instruction.
According to the Teacher Guide, lessons include both whole group and small group instruction. Lessons can be implemented within various time scales (30 minutes to 90 minutes or more) segments depending on if the curriculum is used as a core foundational literacy skills curriculum or a supplemental curriculum. When used as a core foundational literacy skills curriculum, whole-group instruction lasts between 30 and 40 minutes. Small group activities are used for practicing and reinforcing skills that have been introduced in whole-group instruction, such as practicing lowercase letter formation, engaging with the Rapid Word Chart for decodable readers, as well as other extension activities.
The pacing of each component of daily lesson plans are sometimes clear and appropriate.
In Concept 1, Day 2, each lesson component has clear timings (listed below). Extension Activities, meant as small-group or independent work, are clearly labeled. While a pacing guide is not provided for the Extension Activities, this omission aligns with the approach that these activities can be flexible depending on the needs of a particular teacher in a particular classroom.
Review the New Concept: 5 minutes (marked as optional)
Irregular Words: Red Words: 10 minutes
Reading: 15 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes for whole-group instruction
In Concept 32, Day 1, each lesson component has clear timings (listed below).
Phonemic Awareness (Blending and Segmenting): 3 minutes
Cumulative Review (Three-Part Drill): 8 minutes
Cumulative Review (Vowel Intensive Drill): 2 minutes
Phonics (Teaching a New Concept): 15 minutes
Phonics (Spelling): 10 minutes
Total time: 38 minutes for whole-group instruction
Although daily lesson components include clearly defined timed segments that support consistent implementation, pacing remains fixed across lessons regardless of instructional complexity. While guidance is provided for reteaching based on student performance, materials do not consistently build in flexible time within daily plans to accommodate concepts that may require extended instruction. This does not prevent completion within a school year but may limit responsiveness to student need within individual lessons.
The suggested amount of time and expectations for maximum student understanding of all foundational skills content can reasonably be completed in one school year and should not require modification.
According to the OG+ Manual, the Kindergarten sequence is structured across 32 concepts, each designed for five days of instruction, with additional time identified for assessment and review. The full sequence is outlined across 36 weeks. The materials state there is “intentional space to spend time reviewing concepts, teaching complex concepts, adjusting for instructional calendar days, or accommodating unique schedules based on assessment data.”
For those materials on the borderline (e.g., approximately 130 days on the low end or 200 days on the high end), evidence does not explain how students would be able to master ALL the grade-level foundational skills standards within one school year.
Not observed
Although the program provides a structured five-day sequence for each concept and includes designated assessment weeks, the total number of instructional days outlined for Kindergarten exceeds a typical 180-day school year. The pacing assumes instruction begins immediately and does not clearly account for reteaching, interruptions, or extended review. While the materials indicate that additional days may be used for reteaching, this time is not explicitly built into the yearly pacing guidance. As a result, Kindergarten pacing appears ambitious within a single school year.
Indicator 3d
Materials contain strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the foundational skills program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.
Materials contain jargon-free resources and processes to inform stakeholders about the foundational skills taught at school. Family-facing letters in English and Spanish explain the program’s instructional approach and how foundational skills develop in clear, accessible language. Materials also direct caregivers to additional online resources that describe the instructional framework and research base. Resources provide stakeholders with strategies and activities to support foundational skills practice at home. Caregiver materials explain the essential components of reading in non-technical language and offer grade-band–appropriate guidance for reinforcing phonemic awareness, phonics, word recognition, and fluency. Together, these materials support stakeholders in understanding and reinforcing foundational literacy development.
Materials contain jargon-free resources and processes to inform all stakeholders about foundational skills taught at school.
According to the OG Plus Manual, the materials include a Dear Parent letter provided in both English and Spanish that explains the foundational skills program and instructional approach in accessible, family-friendly language. The letter describes why the program is being implemented, outlines the professional learning completed by the teacher, and explains how instruction differs from traditional spelling workbook approaches. The explanation focuses on helping families understand that instruction is multisensory, systematic, structured, sequential, cumulative, and success-oriented, without relying on technical or instructional jargon.
The Dear Parent letter also explains how phonetic and irregular words are taught, how concepts are reviewed and applied over time, and how assessments are used to monitor mastery. The letter is written to help caregivers understand how students learn to read and spell within the program and how skills are intended to transfer to long-term reading and writing success.
The materials also include a second family-facing letter titled Dear Partners in Education, which directs families to additional support resources through a QR code. The QR code links to the IMSE's OG+ website page Resources for Parents, providing an accessible entry point for families to learn more about the instructional approach and foundational skills development.
Materials provide stakeholders with strategies and activities for practicing print concepts, phonemic awareness, phonics, word recognition, and fluency that will support students in progress toward and achievement of grade-level foundational skills standards.
According to the Digital IMSE's OG+ platform, the Resources for Parents webpage provides caregivers with explanations of the five essential components of reading instruction, including phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Each component is described in clear, non-technical language to support caregiver understanding of how reading skills develop.
The parent resources include guidance on how families can support literacy development at home through age- and grade-level appropriate activities. The materials organize suggested activities by developmental bands, including Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten–Grade 2, and Grade 3 and beyond, allowing caregivers to select activities aligned to their child’s current stage of reading development.
The parent resources include guidance for supporting struggling readers, including recommended steps for addressing reading challenges at home and in coordination with school instruction. The materials encourage caregivers to use structured practice and to access additional supports when needed.
The materials provide links to free parent resources, instructional videos, and activity materials that support practice with foundational skills at home. These resources include opportunities for practicing phonemic awareness, phonics, word recognition, and fluency through repeated exposure and application.
Lastly, the materials also connect families to external support options, including information about IMSE's OG+-trained tutors and partnerships with organizations such as Learning Ally, offering additional pathways for families to support student reading development beyond the classroom.
Indicator 3e
Note: Content for this indicator is fully addressed in 3b, which covers adult-level explanations and examples of foundational skills concepts. No separate scoring is required.
Indicator 3f
Materials embed consistent teacher guidance for the use of instructional tools and supports necessary for foundational skills instruction.
The teacher guidance for using instructional tools in IMSE's OG+ meets the expectations for Indicator 3f. Materials consistently identify the physical and digital tools used across foundational skills lessons and reference them directly within routines so the teacher knows what to use and when. Tools are aligned to specific instructional purposes across phonological awareness, phonics, encoding, and fluency. Teacher-facing resources provide clear guidance on how and when to use these tools within daily instruction.
Materials consistently identify tools (e.g., Elkonin boxes, letter tiles, sound walls, mirrors) within lesson routines and instructional steps.
The Teacher Guide provides an overview of the materials that can be found through IMSE's OG+ LAB (e.g. Sound Scenes, presentation slides for core instructional routines like the Three-Part Drill).
Tools required are consistently identified within the context of lesson routines and instructional steps.
In Concept 4, Day 1, Phonemic Awareness: Blending and Segmenting, materials necessary for students and teachers are clearly marked in the margins of the resource. Within the script provided for the routine, directions on when and how to use tiles to support blending and segmenting are clearly noted (e.g. “Push up one tile at a time while saying each sound: /ŏ/ /d/.”).
In Concept 15, Day 1, Phonics: Teaching a New Concept, materials necessary for students and the teacher are clearly marked in the margins of the resource. The materials also prompt the teacher in several places to use particular tools to support the introduction of the phoneme /b/ as represented by the letter b and B (e.g. “Show the new concept card (Card #15)”; “Now let’s pull out our mirrors. Which part of your mouth is working to make the sound?”; “Use the Sound Scene in IMSE's OG+ LAB to help brainstorm words and build vocabulary related to the new concept.”).
Materials provide teacher-facing guidance on how and when to use these tools to support instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, and encoding.
The Fidelity Companion provides teacher-facing guidance on how to use letter tiles or other manipulatives in supporting the Phonemic Awareness: Blending and Segmenting Activity. For example, the materials guide the teacher with written and visual cues to push tiles up in the second step of the blending activity and to slide fingers underneath the tiles to blend each sound into the word. The materials also guide the teacher to use IMSE's OG+’s Word-Building Kits (i.e. Elkonin Boxes with tiles) if students inconsistently represent the number of sounds in a word with segmenting or blending as a point of differentiation. All instructional routines within the Fidelity Companion provide guidance on how to use tools to support instruction.
In the IMSE's OG+ LAB digital resource, each concept has a Sound Scene–a visual of people, items, and activities that can be named or described using the targeted concept–along with a Sound Scene Guide. For Concept 15 (Bb, /b/), the Sound Scene Guide directs the teacher to review the resource prior to implementing the Sound Scene with their students. The Sound Scene Guide goes on to describe the scene by highlighting the targeted concept, supporting the teacher to effectively use the tool during instruction.
Indicator 3g
Materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessments and assessment materials clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.
Materials do not include denotations of the foundational skills standards being assessed in either formative or summative assessments. Alignment documentation is not provided for assessment tasks, questions, or items. Materials also do not contain foundational skills standards correlated to specific lessons.
Materials do not include denotations of the foundational skills standards being assessed in the formative assessments.
Materials do not include denotations of the foundational skills standards in formative assessments.
Materials do not include denotations of foundational skills standards being assessed in the summative assessments.
Materials do not include denotations of foundational skills standards in summative assessments.
Alignment documentation is not provided for all tasks, questions, and assessment items.
Materials do not provide alignment documentation for tasks, questions, or assessment items.
Alignment documentation does not contain specific foundational skills standards correlated to specific lessons.
Materials do not contain foundational skills standards correlated to specific lessons.
Indicator 3h
This is not an assessed indicator in ELA.
Indicator 3i
This is not an assessed indicator in ELA.
Criterion 3.2: Student Supports
Materials are designed for each child’s regular and active participation in grade-level foundational skills content and include embedded supports for student access, engagement, and differentiation.
The IMSE’s OG+ materials meet expectations for Criterion 3.2 by supporting students’ regular and active participation in grade-level foundational skills content and including embedded supports for access, engagement, and differentiation. Materials include guidance for organizing small-group instruction and provide embedded differentiation within core routines, including additional practice, phonemic awareness warm-ups, and visual and tactile scaffolds. These supports allow students to continue engaging with grade-level skills while receiving targeted instruction, enabling multiple pathways toward mastery.
Materials include visual and informational representation of varied cultural, racial, gender, and ability backgrounds in decodable and connected texts. Representation is primarily surface-level, as cultural and community contexts are not developed beyond these depictions. Supports for multilingual learners include visual scaffolds, oral-language routines, and cross-linguistic connections that link phonics instruction to meaning, with many supports designed for Spanish-speaking students. Guidance for incorporating students’ cultural, social, and community backgrounds into foundational skills instruction remains limited.
Indicator 3j
Materials provide strategies and supports for students in special populations to work with grade-level content and to meet or exceed grade-level standards.
The strategies and supports for students in special populations in IMSE’s OG+ meet the expectations for Indicator 3j. Materials provide guidance for organizing small group instruction and include embedded differentiation within instructional routines to support reteaching. Small group and Tier 2 and Tier 3 supports include additional practice, phonemic awareness warm-ups, and visual and tactile scaffolds to reinforce skill development. Materials also include guidance for adapting instruction to address specific learning needs, supporting students in accessing grade-level foundational skills content.
Materials provide opportunities for small group reteaching.
The Kindergarten Teacher Guide provides suggestions for how to incorporate small group activities.
For example, if the OG+ instruction occurs within the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) Framework, the materials suggest that “students should be placed in homogeneous, strategic small groups that match their skill level” with the lowest-performing students receiving “additional instructional minutes…of instruction during this small-group time.” IMSE's OG+ LAB provides grouping suggestions based on assessment results.
Although the materials are clear that the “components included within each weekly lesson plan are appropriate for whole-group teaching”, there are examples of suggestions of adjustments that should be made based on the needs of students that include small group instruction.
In Concept 9, Day 4, Reading, the materials suggest that the decodable reader should be practiced in a small group setting.
According to the OG+ Fidelity Companion, differentiation guidance is embedded within instructional routines for Small Group and Tier 2 and Tier 3 instruction.
For example, in Phonics: Spelling Application of New Concept (Word Dictation), materials direct the teacher to “dictate additional words” and “continue the use of visual cues for students as needed.” Materials further guide the teacher to “start with a phonemic awareness warm-up” and “use tiles and sound boxes to practice phoneme segmentation before the dictation process begins.” Students are prompted to segment sounds using sound boxes while stating each phoneme, and the teacher is guided to “be sure the students repeat each word correctly and fingertap the sounds before writing.”
Materials provide guidance to the teacher for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support students who read, write, speak or listen below grade level in accessing grade-level foundational skills standards.
In Concept 16, Day 1, Phonics: Teaching a New Concept, the materials provide guidance for additional support that a teacher could provide students. The focus of this concept is on the letters Rr and the sound /r/. If a student pronounces /r/ as /er/, the materials guide the teacher through a speaking exercise to isolate the /r/ phoneme in the word rip. Additionally, the materials guide the teacher to the IMSE's OG+ video, The “R” Sound (found on the Orton-Gillingham Literacy Training YouTube page), that demonstrates how to articulate the /r/ sound.
In Concept 26, Day 1, Phonics: Spelling, the materials provide guidance for additional support that a teacher could provide students. The focus of this concept is on qu and the sound /kw/. If students are struggling to differentiate between b, d, p, and q, the materials suggest that the teacher reviews the strategy of “Make Your Bed Pretty Quickly.” This strategy provides a visual cue where students place the knuckles of each hand together while making a thumbs up symbol. The thumbs up symbol in the left-hand position looks like b and says /b/ as in bed. The thumbs up symbol in the right-hand position looks like d and says /d/ as in the final phoneme of bed. Then the students flip their hands to the thumbs down position. The thumbs down symbol in the left-hand position looks like p and says /p/ as in pretty. The thumbs down symbol in the right-hand position looks like q and, with u, says /kw/ as in quickly.
Indicator 3k
This indicator is not assessed in reviews of K-2 ELA foundational skills supplements.
Indicator 3l
This indicator is not assessed in reviews of K-2 ELA foundational skills supplements.
Indicator 3m
This indicator is not assessed in reviews of K-2 ELA foundational skills supplements.
Indicator 3n
This indicator is not assessed in reviews of K-2 ELA foundational skills supplements.
Indicator 3o
Materials provide a range of representation of people and include detailed instructions and support for educators to effectively incorporate and draw upon students’ different cultural, social, and community backgrounds to enrich learning experiences.
The IMSE's OG+ materials include decodable and connected texts that provide representation of people from varied cultural, racial, gender, and ability backgrounds. Representation is primarily visual and informational, with limited development of characters’ cultural identities beyond these depictions. Materials include general guidance acknowledging the role of students’ cultural, social, and community backgrounds in literacy development; however, they do not provide explicit strategies or routines for incorporating these backgrounds into foundational skills instruction.
Decodable and connected texts provide a range of representation of people, ensuring a broad range of cultural, racial, gender, and ability backgrounds are accurately and authentically represented.
Materials include a range of decodable and connected texts that reflect representation of people across racial, gender, cultural, and ability backgrounds. For example, In Book #1 Concept 9, Tom and Tad (Fiction), the cover and illustrations depict characters with varied skin tones. In Book #2 Concept 10, Tim, Dad, and the Hog (Fiction), illustrations include a student using a wheelchair, representing physical ability. In the nonfiction text for Book #1 Concept 9, A Hat for…?, the text describes hats from multiple cultural backgrounds, including:
Panama: The Panama hat is from Panama, located in North America. It is made from tropical leaves or straw and has a wide brim.
Kenya: The Kofia hat is from Kenya. It is worn by men and has beautiful colors and patterns. It does not have a brim.
France: The beret is from France. A beret is round and flat and is made from wool to keep you warm and dry in bad weather.
Australia: A bush hat is from Australia. It is sometimes called a slouch hat or digger hat and is made of wool or fur felt with a wide brim to protect the head, neck, and ears from the hot sun of the Australian outback.
Russia: A ushanka hat is from Russia. It is made from animal fur and has flaps to cover the ears and keep you warm in very cold weather.
Materials provide detailed instructions and support for teachers on incorporating and drawing upon students’ different cultural, social, and community backgrounds to enrich learning experiences.
According to the OG Plus Manual, Student Factors that Contribute to Literacy Development, Environmental, Cultural and Social Factors section, states that cultural values and practices significantly impact how families engage with literacy and notes that some communities may prioritize life skills or traditional practices over formal education. The guidance emphasizes recognizing and respecting these differences and highlights the importance of culturally responsive teaching that builds on students’ strengths and experiences.
Indicator 3p
This is not an assessed indicator in ELA.
Indicator 3q
This is not an assessed indicator in ELA.
Indicator 3.MLL
Materials provide embedded supports to help multilingual learners (MLLs) develop foundational reading and writing skills. Instruction draws on oral and home language resources and reflects the interdependence of language and literacy development.
The IMSE's OG+ materials provide language and visual scaffolds to support multilingual learners, including guidance for building on students’ home language and using cognates and vocabulary supports to strengthen access to foundational skills. Materials include modeling and cross-linguistic comparisons of phonemes, graphemes, and sound-symbol correspondences, with supports primarily designed for Spanish-speaking students, reflecting the most commonly represented population of multilingual learners. Oral language development is embedded through routines that support speaking, listening, and vocabulary development as a bridge to literacy. Materials provide guidance for minimizing the use of nonsense words with multilingual learners and emphasize the use of meaningful language during instruction. Foundational skills instruction is connected to meaning through work with connected text and supports that build comprehension alongside decoding.
Materials include embedded language and content, and visual scaffolds (e.g., pictures, graphic organizers, anchor charts) that help MLL students access grade-level foundational skills instruction.
According to the OG+ Manual, “literacy instruction for [English Learners] should be built on the literacy skills that are already in place in their first language.” This idea is reiterated within the Teacher Guide, Additional Support for English Learners, in the support for cross-linguistic connections that “bridge a student’s first language and the language of school.” While resources, such as visual supports and scaffolds, can support explicit instruction for foundational literacy skills for all students, specific tools are available for English Learners.
For example, in Concept 13, Day 2, Reading, the materials include a table that describes the key vocabulary words, Spanish cognates, and words recommended for explicit teaching for each decodable reader option. This table also identifies which words have multiple meanings and should be explicitly taught within the context of the reader. Tables like this are representative throughout the curriculum within the Reading activity. According to the Teacher Guide, providing cognates “will help students connect English vocabulary words to equivalent words in their Spanish lexicon” and “will promote simultaneous language and literacy development.”
Materials include modeling and cross-linguistic comparisons of phonemes, graphemes, and sound-symbol correspondences where English and home language patterns differ.
In the Teacher Guide, Additional Support for English Learners, the materials provide a Spanish/English Phoneme Transfer Chart which offers a “bird’s-eye view of IMSE's OG+’s Cross-Linguistic Connections and the degrees of sound transferability between the two languages.” The table provides an example of the phonemes taught within the Kindergarten sequence and if they are fully transferable, partially transferable, or not transferable between English and Spanish.
For example, /m/ (Concept 1) is fully transferable between English and Spanish, but the English /j/ (Concept 11) is not transferable between English and Spanish.
In Concept 17, Day 1, Cross-Linguistic Connections, the materials provide connections between the sound the letter f makes in English and Spanish. The materials provide the teacher with context that the /f/ sound can be heard in the initial position in the Spanish words flor, foca, and familia and in the medial position in the Spanish words trufa, jefe, and chiflar. Although these examples are not intended to be used for spelling with the Ff /f/ concept, the materials provide these examples to support the teacher in making cross-linguistic connections with Spanish-speaking students.
Additional examples of Cognate Charts and Cross-Linguistic Connections can be found for each relevant concept in the English Learner Library on IMSE's OG+ LAB. Also, materials include cross-linguistic supports that are primarily designed for Spanish-speaking students, reflecting the program’s emphasis on the most commonly represented population of multilingual learners. Materials note that 75% of English learners are Spanish-speaking.
Materials include tasks or routines that develop oral language as a bridge to literacy (e.g., structured speaking, listening, and vocabulary development).
In the Teacher Guide, General EL [English Language] Considerations for IMSE's OG+ Lesson Components, the materials suggest that the teacher provides English Learners a picture walk to provide context for a decodable reader prior to reading. During a picture walk, the teacher provides students “with words that name objects in English to help build an understanding of the story.” The Teacher Guide provides similar suggestions for EL instruction in all of the components of an IMSE's OG+ OG+ lesson.
Materials avoid the use of nonsense words in instruction or assessment for MLLs and may acknowledge that unfamiliar real words can function as nonsense words for these students.
Throughout the IMSE's OG+ curriculum, nonsense words are used in instruction and assessment. However, the materials do acknowledge the need to note when words are nonsense words and suggest avoiding these words in particular situations.
For example, in the Teacher Guide, General EL [English Language] Considerations for IMSE's OG+ Lesson Components, the materials suggest that in “classrooms with English Learners, use only real words on the blending board to eliminate the cognitive load of deciphering between real and nonsense words” during the Cumulative Review: Three-Part Drill.
Materials support meaning-making through early literacy instruction, rather than emphasizing isolated decoding alone.
In Concept 8, Day 2, Reading, the materials provide suggestions for introducing print concepts that will support meaning-making in early literacy instruction with texts. Prior to beginning work with decodable readers, the materials provide a number of suggestions to increase students print awareness such as: pointing out “logos and signs inside and outside the classroom” and discussing “how they provide a message”; discussing “the parts of a book with students, including the front and back cover, the pages, and the top and bottom during a teacher read-aloud”; and providing “students with opportunities to follow along during a teacher read-aloud, running their fingers from left to right across the page in the text.” These examples provide scaffolds for all students to decode within the context of written English throughout the year.
Criterion 3.3: Intentional Design
Materials include a visual design that is engaging and supportively organized, and integrate digital technology, when applicable, with guidance for teachers.
The IMSE’s OG+ materials include digital technology and visual design features that support foundational skills instruction, with accompanying guidance for teachers. Digital resources available through the IMSE Lab platform provide lesson-aligned slides, visual models, and instructional materials that reinforce phonological awareness, phonics, word recognition, and fluency. These tools are used within structured routines aligned to the program’s scope and sequence and can be customized by the teacher to match instructional goals or student needs. Student engagement with digital materials occurs primarily through teacher-directed use rather than direct interaction.
The visual design of both print and digital materials supports learning without distraction. Consistent layouts, routines, and organizational features help students and teachers navigate lessons and reinforce instructional structures. Materials include guidance for integrating technology that explains the purpose of digital tools and aligns their use to instruction; however, access to these resources is distributed across multiple sections, which may require additional navigation. Overall, the integration of visual design and digital resources supports instructional clarity and engagement, with some limitations in student interactivity and ease of access.
Indicator 3r
Materials integrate technology such as interactive tools, virtual manipulatives/objects, and/or dynamic software in ways that engage students in the grade-level/series standards, when applicable.
The IMSE's OG+ materials include digital technology that supports foundational skills instruction through teacher-directed tools available in the IMSE's OG+ Lab platform. Digital slides, visual models, and lesson-aligned resources reinforce phonological awareness, phonics, and word recognition within structured routines. These tools support student engagement through teacher-led display rather than direct student interaction. Digital materials offer opportunities for customization, allowing the teacher to adapt resources such as slides and practice materials to align with instructional goals and student needs. However, the platform does not include student-interactive tools such as simulations or independent modeling features.
Digital technology and interactive tools, such as data collection tools, simulations, and/or modeling tools are available to students.
Digital technology and interactive tools are available within the IMSE's OG+ Lab platform for teacher use in delivering instruction. These tools are designed for display and customization by the teacher and include:
New Concept Slides (Google Slides) aligned to each concept in the Teacher Guide.
Slides that include:
Target letter and keyword visuals.
Alliteration slides.
Color digital images representing target phonemes.
Embedded video modeling letter sounds.
Animated lowercase and uppercase letter formation.
Visual modeling of correct letter formation.
Digital dictation slides aligned to lesson procedures.
Red Words digital slides and flashcards, including core and intervention versions.
Lesson Library: Sound Scenes, which include digital scene images used during sound practice routines.
Digital tools are available for teacher display and customization; however, students do not directly interact with digital simulations or modeling tools.
Digital tools support student engagement in foundational skills.
According to IMSE's OG+ Lab, digital tools support student engagement in foundational skills through teacher-led display of visual and animated models aligned to phoneme–grapheme correspondence, letter formation, and high-frequency word instruction. Digital slides mirror the structured lesson routines in the Teacher Guide and provide visual reinforcement of sounds, symbols, and word practice. Students engage with the content through teacher-directed use of the digital materials; however, the platform does not include student-interactive digital activities.
Digital materials can be customized for local use (i.e., student and/or community interests).
Digital materials can be customized by the teacher for local use within the IMSE's OG+ Lab platform. The teacher can:
Customize letter formation pages by selecting specific letters or digraphs, choosing uppercase or lowercase format, selecting font style such as D’Nealian or Zaner-Bloser, and choosing layout formats.
Customize Red Word materials by selecting new or review words, adding words to a list, saving customized sets, and printing flashcards.
Indicator 3s
This indicator is not assessed in reviews of K-2 ELA foundational skills supplements.
Indicator 3t
The visual design (whether in print or digital) is not distracting or chaotic, but supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.
The IMSE's OG+ materials include images, graphics, and models that support student learning and engagement without being visually distracting. Visuals consistently reinforce foundational skills concepts, routines, and organizational structures, and clearly communicate instructional information. Teacher and student materials maintain a consistent layout and structure across lessons, using repeated routines, formats, and design features that align across print and digital resources. Organizational features are clear and accurate, with consistent labeling and references that support ease of navigation and implementation.
Images, graphics, and models support student learning and engagement without being visually distracting. Images, graphics, and models clearly communicate information or support student understanding of topics, texts, or concepts.
Student-facing images, graphics, and models in the materials support student learning without being visually distracting. Examples include, but are not limited to:
Use of posters and other resources available digitally and referenced in lesson text.
In Concept 6, Day 1, Phonics: Teaching a New Concept, the materials reference using student letter formation pages for students to practice creating the lowercase letter g. These pages can be found in the IMSE's OG+ LAB online or in students’ OG+ Student Workbook A. These pages provide a visual cue of a house for students in forming the letter that helps students connect to the various lines on the page (e.g. the basement line, the floor line, the ceiling line, and the roof line).
In Concept 9, Day 1, Phonics: Spelling, the materials suggest that the teacher uses visual cues when introducing sentence dictation to students. For example, each phonetic word could be represented by a single underline and each Red Word could be represented by a double underline. Words within the sentence that require a capital letter could be represented by a symbol of a mountain. And punctuation could be represented by an empty box. Students can then use these visual cues to proofread their work in line with the CUPS acronym (i.e., Capitalization, Understanding, Punctuation, Spelling). use of the visual cues for sentence dictation.
Decodable readers present engaging images that support student understanding. For example, the nonfiction decodable reader for Concept 28, titled Fun, Fun, Fun!, has clear photographs of a range of individuals to present the concepts of celebrations across cultures. These visuals support the vocabulary presented in the book, such as tradition and decorate. Decodable readers are provided in both color and grayscale formats, allowing the teacher to determine how to present these readers to their students.
Teacher and student materials are consistent in layout and structure across lessons/modules/units.
The design and layout of teacher and student materials remain consistent across the Kindergarten program. The identification of routines through consistent color application throughout materials (e.g. Teacher Guide, Fidelity Companion) and formats (e.g. physical materials and digital resources). Lessons follow a repeated sequence, depending on the day within each concept. The scope of each lesson is as follows:
Day 1
Phonemic Awareness: Blending and Segmenting
Cumulative Review: Three-Part Drill and Vowel Intensive Drill (starting with Concept #4)
Phonics: Teaching a New Concept
Spelling (starting with Concept #4)
Irregular Words
Day 2
Review Spelling (starting with Concept #4)
Irregular Words
Reading (starting with Concept #9)
Day 3
Word Chaining (Phoneme Manipulation) (starting with Concept #4)
Cumulative Review: Three-Part Drill and Vowel Intensive Drill (starting with Concept #4)
Review Spelling (starting with Concept #4)
Irregular Words
Reading
Day 4
Word Chaining (Phoneme Manipulation) (starting with Concept #4)
Irregular Words
Review Spelling (starting with Concept #4)
Reading
Day 5
Cumulative Review: Three-Part Drill and Vowel Intensive Drill (starting with Concept #4)
Irregular Words
Spelling: Assessment (starting with Concept #4)
Reading
Organizational features (Table of Contents, glossary, index, internal references, table headers, captions, etc.) in the materials are clear, accurate, and error-free.
Organizational features in the materials are clear and accurate. References between resources (e.g. Teacher Manual, Fidelity Companion, and digital Originals) are consistent and accurate, making cross-referencing for instructional steps and gathering resources for students efficient. Resources, such as assessment materials, that have both student-facing and teacher-facing components are clearly labeled and designed for their intended user.
Indicator 3u
Materials provide teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning, when applicable.
The IMSE's OG+ materials provide teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support foundational skills instruction. Guidance explains the instructional purpose of digital tools and aligns them to the scope and sequence, supporting integration within lesson routines. Guidance focuses on instructional explanation rather than detailed implementation of technology-enhanced student interaction. Access to digital resources is distributed across multiple sections which may require additional navigation to locate and use materials efficiently.
Teacher guidance is provided for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning, when applicable.
Teacher guidance is provided for the use of embedded technology within the IMSE's OG+ Lab platform. Each digital icon includes an introductory paragraph explaining the instructional purpose and how the digital materials align to the lesson structure and scope and sequence. Examples include:
New Concept Icon, which explains that phonics instruction should be explicit and systematic, progressing from simple to more complex concepts. It describes how the New Concept Lesson provides direct instruction when teaching new phoneme–grapheme correspondences, spelling rules, or morphemes aligned to the Scope and Sequence.
Letter Formation Icon, which explains the instructional progression from concrete to abstract letter formation, including tracing and independent writing, and clarifies when letter formation instruction is emphasized within the sequence.
Red Words Icon, which explains the purpose of high-frequency and irregular words labeled as Red Words, describes why they are identified as irregular, and outlines the multimodal instructional approach used to support orthographic mapping and automatic word recognition.
Teacher guidance explains the instructional purpose of digital tools and aligns them to the scope and sequence; however, guidance focuses on instructional explanation rather than detailed implementation of technology-enhanced student interaction. Guidance for accessing and using digital resources is distributed across multiple sections such as, My Materials, Digital Resources, and IMSE's OG+ Lab, which may require additional navigation to locate and use materials efficiently.