Early Literacy Remediation Plan
MINERAL POINT UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT EARLY REMEDIATION PLAN
Publication date: most recent update March 2026
SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION
Mineral Point Unified School District Mission Statement
Grounded by our history, as one of the oldest publicly supported schools in Wisconsin, MPSD is the heart of a small community that educates and inspires our students for a bright future in a big world.
Mineral Point School District Vision Statement
● The Mineral Point School District will be a recognized leader in education.
● Students will attain higher levels of academic achievement, resulting in greater lifetime opportunities.
● Individualized learning will be embraced through innovation and technology.
● The district will provide a collaborative and professional environment for teachers to learn and develop innovative instructional strategies.
● Student learning will be enriched by cultivating family, community, and business partnerships.
Early Literacy Mission
Every child in our district will achieve higher levels of reading proficiency through evidence-based literacy instruction.
Early Literacy Vision
Our mission is to provide all students with systematic, explicit instruction in foundational literacy skills, using evidence-based practices aligned with the science of reading.
Link to the plan in additional languages:
Universal Approach to High Quality Instruction
Links to standards:
● Wisconsin Standards for English Language Arts, DPI 2020
● Wisconsin Essential Elements for English Language Arts, DPI 2022
● Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards Fifth Edition
Our universal approach to literacy learning reflects our belief that with the right instruction, all students can become proficient readers. We embrace our role as a recognized leader in education by implementing research-based practices that honor the science of reading while celebrating the diverse learners and cultures within our community.
Our literacy instruction is grounded in the five pillars of reading science: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Universal instruction provides all students with:
- Systematic and explicit instruction in foundational skills, delivered with clear learning objectives and guided practice
- Structured literacy routines that follow a logical progression, building from simple to complex concepts
- Daily small-group instruction differentiated by student need, ensuring responsive teaching
- Frequent progress monitoring to identify students requiring additional support early
Students demonstrating need access to small-group intervention and intensive individual support through an equitable multi-level system of support (EMLSS).
Our curriculum, Benchmark Advance, has been aligned with the science of reading and Wisconsin Act 20 requirements. When considering curriculum, the literacy team included culturally and linguistically responsive instruction. Texts reflect diverse characters, cultures, languages, and family structures.
Our literacy instruction is embedded within a positive, supportive classroom culture where:
- Effort and growth are celebrated, not just accuracy and speed
- Risk-taking is encouraged—students feel safe attempting challenging texts and strategies
- Peer support and collaboration are modeled and reinforced consistently
- Clear expectations and routines create predictability and allow students to focus on learning
Supporting this universal literacy approach requires a strong professional learning community. Mineral Point teachers:
- Engage in ongoing professional development in the science of reading and evidence-based practices
- Collaborate regularly to analyze student data, share instructional strategies, and problem-solve challenges
- Stay current with literacy research and best practices
SECTION 2: STRATEGIC EARLY LITERACY ASSESSMENT SYSTEM
This section includes each reading readiness screener and diagnostic assessment administered by the district, followed by the communication that parents and caregivers can expect to give and receive.
Reading Readiness Screeners
A reading readiness screener is administered to all Wisconsin 4K-Grade 3 students enrolled in a Wisconsin public school or independent charter school to provide quick information about students’ reading skills.
Statewide 4K Fundamental Skills Screening Assessment
Pearson aimswebPLUS (phonemic awareness & letter-sound knowledge)
Fall: before the 45th school day; Spring: 45 days before the end of the school year
Parents and caregivers can expect to receive a paper copy of the results within 15 days of the scoring of the statewide early literacy screener. Reports will be sent twice per year in the fall and spring. Please notify the school of your preferred language and mode of communication.
Statewide 5K-3 Universal Screener
Pearson aimswebPLUS (phonemic awareness, letter-sound knowledge, alphabetic knowledge, decoding & oral vocabulary)
Fall: before the 45th day of the school year; Winter: middle of the school year; Spring: 45 days left in the school year
Parents and caregivers can expect to receive a paper copy of the results within 15 days of the scoring of the statewide early literacy screener. Reports will be sent three times per year in the fall, winter, and spring. Please notify the school of your preferred language and mode of communication.
Diagnostic Literacy Assessments
Diagnostic assessments will be administered to students who score below the 25th percentile on the universal screener or who are referred for additional testing by a teacher or parent/caregiver. Act 20 requires that a diagnostic assessment include all of the specific literacy subskills enumerated in Act 20 and meet the technical specifications in Act 20 (i.e., a sensitivity rate of 70%, a specificity rate of at least 80%, and include a growth measure).
Fastbridge: Concepts of Print
Skill area(s): Page orientation, left-to-right word order
Technical Specifications: Show understanding of purpose, use, and contents (letters, pictures) of a book.
Fastbridge: Word Segmenting
Skill area(s): Phonological Awareness
Technical Specifications: During the Word Segmenting subtest, the examiner says a word and asks the student to say any sounds in the word.
Fastbridge: Onset Sounds
Skill area(s): Phonemic Awareness
Technical Specifications: During the Onset Sounds subtest, the teacher asks the student to identify the first sound in a pictured word.
Fastbridge: Nonsense Word Fluency
Skill area(s): Decoding Skills
Technical Specifications: The Nonsense Words subtest is timed and assesses students’ ability to read phonetically regular “words” (e.g., “vit”).
Fastbridge: Sight Words 50 or 150
Skill area(s): Word Recognition
Technical Specifications: The Sight Words 50 or 150 subtest is timed and assesses a student’s ability to recognize up to 50 or 150 of the most high-frequency English words.
Fastbridge: Letter Names
Skill area(s): Alphabet Knowledge
Technical Specifications: The Letter Names subtest is a measure of rapid automatized naming (RAN) and assesses students’ accuracy and automaticity with naming uppercase and lowercase English letters in isolation.
Fastbridge: Letter Sounds
Skill area(s): Letter Sound Knowledge
Technical Specifications: The Letter Sounds subtest is timed and assesses students’ ability and automaticity with providing the sounds for lowercase letters in isolation.
Fastbridge: Sentence Reading, CBM reading
Skill area(s): Oral Reading Fluency
Technical Specifications: This subtest is timed and assesses students’ reading rate and accuracy. A teacher listens to a student read aloud from a grade-level passage for 1 minute while recording student errors.
Fastbridge: RAN
Skill area(s): Rapid Naming
Technical Specifications: The Rapid Letter Naming assessment is timed and assesses a student’s ability to say the correct names of a set of familiar letters quickly and effortlessly.
Fastbridge: aReading
Skill area(s): Reading Comprehension
Technical Specifications: The student takes a computer-adaptive test. Most students respond to approximately 30 questions.
Aimsweb Plus: Listening Comp (5K-2)
Skill area(s): Listening Comprehension
Technical Specifications: The student looks at four pictures while listening to a one-, two-, or three-sentence prompt in English and then chooses the picture that matches what they heard.
Aimsweb Plus: Spelling
Skill area(s): Spelling
Technical Specifications: The student writes dictated words presented at 10- second (grades K-2) or 7-second (grades 3-8) intervals.
Aimsweb Plus: Auditory Vocabulary (5K and 1); Vocabulary (2 and 3)
Skill area(s): Vocabulary/Oral Vocabulary
Technical Specifications: The student chooses one of four pictures or words that best matches an target word.
SECTION 3: STUDENT SUPPORTS
Interventions
The following is a list of commonly used evidence-based interventions that provide explicit and systematic instruction and are available for students in need of additional support, including for students with characteristics of dyslexia.
Really Great Reading Countdown
Skill(s) addressed: phonemic awareness, phonics, academic vocabulary, letter knowledge, fluency
Monitoring of Progress: K-Fastbridge Nonsense Word Fluency; K-Fastbridge Word Segmenting
Really Great Reading Blast
Skill(s) addressed: decoding and fluency
Monitoring of Progress: Fastbridge CBM Reading
Really Great Reading HD Word
Skill(s) addressed: decoding, fluency, and comprehension
Monitoring of Progress: Fastbridge CBM Reading
Really Great Reading Boost
Skill(s) addressed: decoding, fluency, and comprehension
Monitoring of Progress: Fastbridge CBM Reading
UFLI Foundations
Skill(s) addressed: phonemic awareness, decoding, and fluency
Monitoring of Progress: K-Fastbridge Nonsense Word Fluency; K-Fastbridge Word Segmenting; Fastbridge CBM Reading
IMSE
Skill(s) addressed: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension
Monitoring of Progress: K-Fastbridge Nonsense Word Fluency; K-Fastbridge Word Segmenting; Fastbridge CBM Reading
Heggerty
Skill(s) addressed: phonemic awareness
Monitoring of Progress: Fastbridge Word Segmenting
Personal Reading Plan (PRP)
Students who score below the 25th percentile on the reading readiness screener will receive a personalized reading plan.
The MP Personal Reading Plan Template includes:
- a description of the science-based early literacy programming;
- early literacy assessment data;
- overall early literacy analysis;
- student goals and support plan;
- additional services to accelerate early literacy skills;
- recommendations for culturally relevant early literacy learning
- record of attendance and progress; and
- record of communication with parent/caregiver(s)
The school will provide a copy of the plan to families/caregivers within 10 days of when the diagnostic assessment was administered.
Families/caregivers can expect updates about the student’s progress at least every 10 weeks.
Dyslexia and Related Conditions
Wisconsin Informational Guidebook for Dyslexia and Related Conditions
Promotion Policy
Policy 345.41 3rd Grade Promotion Policy & Early Literacy Support Process
Summer Reading Support
Summer school programs will be made available and recommended to students in need of continued reading support. Information will be sent to parents and caregivers in May of the current school year.
Exit Criteria
If the review date coincides with the next screening window, a student who scores at or above the 25th percentile on the AimsWebPlus screener (KDG-1st: composite, 2nd-3rd: ORF rate) can exit the plan if the team believes it is best for the student.
Students continuing PRPs into 4th grade will exit when:
- The school and family agree that the PRP goals have been met.
- Adequate progress has been shown using multiple data points.
SECTION 4: FAMILY & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Family Notification Policy
State law requires this Early Literacy Remediation Plan to include a “parent notification policy.” See § 118.016(6)(e). This section (including all of the subsections in this section) serves as that mandatory policy.
What information will you receive? After each assessment, you’ll receive a paper copy of the results showing your child’s score and his performance in comparison to the grade level national average. This is called a percentile rank. Results will be sent within 15 days of the scoring of the statewide early literacy screener.
What does “at-risk” mean? “At risk” means that your 5K-3 child scored below the 25th percentile on reading skills required by Act 20.
- In 5K, a student is at-risk if their composite score (comprised of letter naming fluency and letter word sounds fluency) is below the 25th percentile
- In grades 1, a student is at-risk if their composite score is below the 25th percentile (as of August 1, 2025, comprised of nonsense word fluency, word recognition, and oral reading fluency).
- In grades 2 and 3, a student is at risk if their oral reading fluency subtest score is below the 25th percentile.
Description of the literacy skills measured: In line with the 2023 Wisconsin Act 20, students will be assessed in the following early reading skills:
- Alphabet knowledge: Recognizing the names of letters
- Letter sound knowledge: Knowing the sounds associated with letters
- Phonemic awareness: Being able to hear and work with individual sounds in words
- Decoding: Connecting sounds to letters and reading words
Oral vocabulary: Understanding and using spoken words
These skills will be tested in different ways depending on your child’s grade level.
Notice of Special Education Referral Information: If you believe that your child may have a disability that affects their ability to access, engage, and make progress in the general education curriculum, you can request a comprehensive evaluation. This request must be in writing and should include the reason(s) why you believe your child has a disability. The school will then evaluate to determine if your child is eligible for special education services. Please reach out to the Director of Special Education and Pupil Services with questions or to make a referral.
Parent Notification of Information about Dyslexia
Wisconsin Informational Guidebook for Dyslexia and Related Conditions
Family and Community Engagement Strategies
Families and communities are active partners as key collaborators in achieving the goal of literacy success for every learner. Regular communication, including newsletters, conferences, and digital progress reports, ensures transparency and collaboration. Families are encouraged and empowered during school-wide activities, including: Reading Night, Specials Spring Spectacular, Science Night, Family and School Partnership, and Family-Teacher Conferences.
Resources to assist parents in fostering literacy development at home
SECTION 5: STRATEGIC USE OF DATA
Early Literacy Instructional Evaluation Process
Act 20 revised the required responsibilities of the district reading specialist to the following
- Implement a reading curriculum in grades 5K through 12
- Act as a resource to classroom teachers to implement the reading curriculum
- Work with administrators to support and implement the reading curriculum
- Conduct an annual evaluation of the reading curriculum
- Coordinate the reading curriculum with other reading programs and other support services within the school district.
Using multiple assessment results (screeners, diagnostics, observations, longitudinal grade-level assessments, etc.), the district reading specialist, along with literacy leaders, will complete an annual evaluation of the district’s early literacy curriculum. The assessment data will be used to identify areas where students are successfully mastering skills or making developmentally appropriate progress. Results indicating student struggles will be used to evaluate gaps or standards that the curriculum may not adequately address. That information will guide decisions about needed supplemental instruction or whether a new curriculum should be considered.