Structured Literacy Parent Guide

Evidence-Based Education

Structured Literacy
at Troy City Schools

Click any section below to explore how we teach reading and writing across our district.

1. Our Certified Educator Milestones

Troy City Schools has partnered with the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education (IMSE) to equip our educators with the most effective literacy training. Every layer of our classroom support is certified in structured, multi-sensory approaches.

Elementary K-2 Classroom Teachers 100% Certified

Reading Support Specialists 100% Double-Trained

Special Ed. Interventionists 100% OG Certified

2. The Science of Reading Frameworks

We structure our systematic instructional routines around two universally recognized research frameworks.

The Simple View of Reading

Reading Comprehension is a mathematical product.

Decoding (Word Recognition)

MULTIPLIED BY

Language Comprehension (Meaning)

EQUALS

Reading Comprehension

If a student scores a zero in either skill, overall comprehension remains zero. We target both domains with equal intensity.

Scarborough's Reading Rope

Multiple strands integrate to support skilled execution.

Language Comprehension

Background knowledge, Vocabulary, Language structures, Verbal reasoning, Literacy knowledge. (Becomes increasingly strategic)

Word Recognition

Phonological awareness, Decoding, Spelling, Sight recognition. (Becomes increasingly automatic)

3. The 6 Structured Literacy Elements

Our classroom lessons explicitly target six fundamental pillars of language in a structured, sequential pathway:

Phonology

Understanding sound structures, phonemes, rules, and spoken patterns of spoken English.

Alphabetic Principle

Understanding that written language consists of symbols (letters) representing spoken sounds.

Phonics

The explicit relationship built between letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes).

Syllables

Breaking down and identifying complex syllables using the six distinct syllable types.

Morphology

Breaking down prefixes, suffixes, and base roots to read and spell academic vocabulary.

Semantics

Analyzing word meanings, word relationships, and context to construct broad comprehension.

4. Core Curriculum & Assessment Ecosystem

EdReports All-Green Core

Magnetic Literacy K–6

Rather than separating reading blocks, our core curriculum weaves phonics, deep informational texts, and writing mechanics into one comprehensive, unified K-6 classroom system. Phonics, text analysis, and writing reinforce one another continuously.

i-Ready Diagnostic Anchors

Our teachers use regular diagnostic monitoring to pinpoint where students need extra support in five foundational components:

1. Phonemic Awareness Identifying individual sounds

2. Phonics Mastery Print-sound relationships

3. Reading Fluency Pacing and accuracy

4. Vocabulary Acquisition Breadth of word meanings

5. Text Comprehension Meaning of text

Save Students Act - Ohio House Bill 123 Information and Resources

Staff Only Pages