Arizona Approves Sound Partners and Voyager Passport for Statewide Literacy Initiative

The Arizona Legislature passed the Move on When Reading legislation and it was fully enacted in 2013. The law is prescriptive because it requires all K–3 public schools and charter schools to submit a literacy plan and student data three times per year to qualify for the $45 million allocated annually for reading instruction.

The law has requirements for students and educators, but at its heart, it is a promise that students will not be promoted past third grade until they can demonstrate proficiency on the reading portion of the state’s annual assessment by the end of third grade.

Move on When Reading is designed to provide students with evidence-based, effective reading instruction in kindergarten through grade 3 to position them for success as they progress to school, college, and career.

The law requires:

• Leaders at every public school and charter school with grades K–3 to adopt an evidence-based reading curriculum.
• All K–3 school leaders will provide ongoing teacher training focused on evidence-based reading research.
• Each school district or charter school must have at least one teacher in each school who has received training related to dyslexia.
• Professional development should be sustained over time; results-driven; standards-based; job-embedded; collaborative; and, reflective.
• Educators at public schools and charter schools use a dyslexia screener as soon as a K–3 student enters the school.
• Screeners look for indicators of dyslexia in phonological and phonemic awareness; rapid naming skills; correspondence between sound and letter; nonsense word fluency; and, sound-symbol recognition. 

To support implementation, the Arizona Department of Education provided guidance in text and video to ensure compliance. Department leaders also vetted a selection of literacy and literacy professional development programs for schools to choose from.

The only student exceptions to promotion without proficiency include:

1. The student is an English language learner with less than three years of English language instruction.
2. The student is in the process of a referral for special education or awaiting an evaluation.
3. The student is diagnosed with a significant reading disability, including dyslexia.
4. The student has an IEP and a support team agrees promotion is appropriate.
5. The student receives intervention and remedial services during the summer.
6. The student demonstrates proficiency through a collection of reading assessments.

LETRS-trained literacy educators understand systematic and explicit instruction is required for successful literacy outcomes. They also champion the importance of reading practice to create a strong foundation for reading.

These programs have been approved by the Arizona Department of Education and are aligned with LETRS.

To meet the screener requirements looking for indications of dyslexia, the Acadience^® Reading screener has been approved. It provides early screening for students with dyslexia or for students at risk for dyslexia. 

Voyager Passport^® is a research-proven intervention for grades K–5. Through a blended, teacher-led format, students receive explicit and systematic instruction in the five essential components of reading, plus language and writing. Voyager Passport accelerates student literacy achievement by targeting critical skills and providing strategies learners need to become fluent, on-level readers. The program can be used for students in Tier 2 and Tier 3.

Download a Sample of Voyager Passport

Sound Partners is a research-based supplementary tutoring program designed to enhance early reading skills and can be taught by teacher assistants or paraprofessionals. It benefits students learning to read in grades K–1 and provides intervention for students in grades 2–3. With individualized instruction, Sound Partners emphasizes phonemic and alphabetic skills, phonemic decoding skills, and assisted oral reading practice with decodable texts. It is appropriate for students in Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3.

Download a Sample of Sound Partners

This suite of products will help Arizona literacy teachers support the Move on When Reading legislation and improve literacy outcomes for their students.