Wisconsin schools are required to provide science-based early literacy instruction in both universal and intervention settings. Science-based early literacy instruction is defined as the following:

• Instruction that is systematic and explicit and consists of all of the following: 
  • Phonological awareness
  • Phonemic awareness
  • Phonics
  • Building background knowledge
  • Oral language development
  • Vocabulary building
  • Instruction in writing
  • Instruction in comprehension
  • Reading fluency

*School boards retain the independent authority to select the early literacy instructional materials they will adopt and implement. Those instructional materials are required to meet the definition of “science-based early literacy instruction” found in ACT 20.

*ACT 20 does not require schools to change their curriculum. It does require schools to implement science-based early literacy instruction as defined in the statute and prohibits schools from implementing three-cueing instruction as defined in the statute.

• Throughout the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years Belleville Elementary staff actively reviewed highly rated curricular materials to best align with current research.
• In the spring of 2024 Collaborative Classroom: Being a Reader and Being a Writer were adopted by the Board of Education. 

Being a Reader

• • Being a Reader follows a continuum of reading development to meet each student at their instructional point of need and take them to their next level of literacy.
  • Grounded in reading research, the program is informed by many years of experience working alongside classroom teachers.
  • Each grade level includes either seven or eight instructional units organized around two instructional strands: Reading and Word Study.
  • The strands work together to develop comprehension, fluency, decoding strategies, word analysis, spelling, vocabulary, and independent reading. Progress monitoring and other assessment tools help teachers make informed, targeted instructional decisions to ensure reading success for every child.

Being a Writer

• • Research is clear that when students learn the writing process—from planning to publication—they gain proficiency in developing their ideas and creating effective pieces. With its predictable lesson structure, Being a Writer lessons include explicit opportunities for students to hear, discuss, and analyze mentor texts, and incorporate elements of author’s craft, genre, and organization into their own writing.

• SIPPS - A K-12 accelerative foundational skills program that is proven to help both new and striving readers.
• Rime Magic - An innovative word recognition instruction kit that’s raising the achievement and building the confidence of readers in grades K–8. This research-based, classroom-proven program focuses on the rime, the key part of a word that indicates its structure— for example, the /ip/ in “slippery” or the /at/ in “splattered”. 
• Collaborative Classroom Small Group Sets - These lessons build and practice phonics and foundational skills, improve language comprehension, and develop independent thinking skills. 
• Reading Recovery - Intensive intervention to develop reading, writing, and foundational literacy skills. This intervention is systematic, individualized instruction based on daily evidence of children’s performance and is provided in addition to a high-quality classroom reading, writing and phonics program. 
• Wilson Reading System - This is a Tier 3 Structured Literacy program based on phonological-coding research and Orton-Gillingham principles.