Scholastic System 44

System 44 Program Overview

System 44 is a foundational reading program designed for the most challenged struggling readers inGrades 3-12. Intentionally metacognitive, System 44 helps students understand that the English language is a finite system of 44 sounds and 26 letters that can be mastered. A combination of software-based and teacher-led instruction provides the student with adaptive, individualized learningas well as teacher-mediated direct instruction.

System 44 is designed so that the teacher, technology, and texts work together to deliver highlyengaging, comprehensive, research-based instructional content to the older struggling reader. Through a combination of teacher-led and software-based instruction, the System 44 student is guided along a systematic path from phonemic awareness to fluent reading. System 44 includes research-based featuresdesigned for the most challenged older readers:

􀂃 Computer-Based Screening and Placement—The Scholastic Phonics Inventory (SPI) collects data onstudents’ decoding accuracy as well as fluency. This helps to identify students whose lack ofdecoding proficiency impedes comprehension. The SPI uses real, as well as nonsense words, which assess students’ ability to apply decoding skills to unfamiliar words.

􀂃 Adaptive Software—The System 44 adaptive software delivers, direct, systematic, research-based phonics instruction to students. Multiple points of entry allow students to work at the appropriate level based on their performance on the SPI.

􀂃 Independent Reading—Beginning readers will always have something to read with the System 44 program. The Decodable Digest includes two passages for every sound-spelling correspondence taught in the program. Each passage is at least 75% decodable and is designed to engage, reluctant, older students. The 44Book reinforces skills from the software and teacher-led instruction as activities guide students to read, write, and think. These activities feature word building, word sorts, puzzles, and other engaging exercises. The System 44 Library features high-interest, ageappropriate topics and offers students a choice of books ranging from a 130 to 450 Lexile level.

􀂃 Teacher Support—The System 44 Teaching Guide provides teacher-led phonics instruction building on phonemic awareness and moving to letter-sound correspondence, blending, word building, dictation, and spelling. The Teaching Guide provides comprehensive support for teachers by offering several types of lessons. Decoding and word strategies lessons present explicit, systematic instruction on the most high-utility spellings or the 44 sounds of English, syllable strategies, morphology, sight words, and more. S.M.A.R.T. lessons present essential concepts, teach academic vocabulary, and build background for learning. Differentiated support lessons offer alternate strategies for Special Education students and English-Language learners.

􀂃 Data-driven Instruction—The Scholastic Achievement Manager (SAM) is a computer-based management and reporting system that gathers usage and performance data for the System 44 Software, Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI), Scholastic Phonics Inventory (SPI), and ReadingCounts! Teachers use SAM as a dashboard for supporting data-driven instruction, AYP accountability requirements, and district-wide data aggregation.

􀂃 Multisensory Instruction—System 44 includes a Sound & Articulation DVD, manipulatives, and teaching aids to help engage students in multisensory instruction. The Sound & Articulation DVD provides audio and visual articulation models to help students identify and accurately produce sounds. Teachers use the Word Building Kit to engage students in building words and applying skills and strategies in small groups. The Flip Chart provides patterned lists and decodable sentences to focus students’ attention as teachers model skills and guide their practice in small-group.

Instructional Content

At the heart of System 44 is adaptive software that delivers direct, systematic, research-based instruction and practice to students in Grades 3-12. Print-based teaching resources provide opportunities for students to practice and reinforce targeted skills and strategies in the following areas:

Phonemic Awareness

􀂃 In the Smart Zone, students receive direct, explicit instruction and modeling of soundsymbol correspondences, as well as self-paced, multisensory support of new patterns.

􀂃 Students manipulate letters and morphemes to build new words and practice segmentation through simplified encoding tasks.

Phonics

􀂃 The Word Zone gradually introduces and builds on decoding strategies for use with increasingly complex words, building sound-to-sound blending to comprehensive word attack strategies.

􀂃 The “Mix & Match Words” activities build proficiency in matching aural, or spoken, words to their spellings, as it guides students to aurally discriminate sounds in varied positions.

Vocabulary

􀂃 In Read & Record activities, students connect words to meanings through images, definitions, Spanish cognates, and translations.

􀂃 The Word Challenge implements expanding recall, so that the students become increasingly automatic at blending and reading multisyllabic words.

Fluency

􀂃 The Read & Think activities provide structured opportunities to decode unfamiliar words and build confidence by demonstrating that students can use strategies to unlock words that challenge them.

􀂃 Students read decodable sentences of increasingly complex syntactical structures.

Comprehension

􀂃 The Success Zone builds background knowledge of nonfiction content.

􀂃 Success Passages provide practice in reading and rereading increasingly challenging connected text.

􀂃 Comprehension Activities promote reading for meaning in a discrepancy format in which students must read and compare content of similar captions.