SMARTER Intervention

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We help educators confidently implement structured literacy through simple routines that connect PA, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and writing into instruction that actually flows.

When I'm targeting vocabulary and comprehension, I actually do want to know my students' Instructional Reading Level. ⁠⁠...
09/18/2026

When I'm targeting vocabulary and comprehension, I actually do want to know my students' Instructional Reading Level. ⁠
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Now I know that "reading levels" have caught a bad rap, but when I'm working on developing vocabulary and comprehension skills, I want to make sure we're working at a level my students can access.⁠
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This doesn't mean we're ignoring word recognition and decoding instruction. We're definitely working on that too for students who need that type of support. ⁠
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But for many students, their difficulty with comprehension is not solely caused by difficulty with decoding. So, I want to know what level of text my students can access. I'm looking for the highest level of text that they can read with a minimum of 95% accuracy and adequate fluency while reading. ⁠
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Once I know that level, I can use that level of text to start working on building vocabulary and comprehension skills.⁠
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If you're looking for passages to help identify where your students are at, or need support with vocabulary and comprehension, join us in 5CCL. Comment "5CCL" to learn more!

Whenever I start a new literacy intervention group (especially for students who are struggling with decoding or sounding...
09/17/2026

Whenever I start a new literacy intervention group (especially for students who are struggling with decoding or sounding out words in their reading or spelling) I always start by giving a "placement screener."⁠
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If my students are struggling to decode words, I need to know exactly which patterns they know and which are contributing to the breakdown. ⁠
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I want to know:⁠
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→ Can they identify specific sound patterns in isolation?⁠
→ Can they read words in isolation? How about nonsense words?⁠
→ Can they use the right sound pattern in their spelling?⁠
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Once I have a clear idea of where the breakdown is occurring, I can start my instruction there and work up to more complex patterns.⁠
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If you could use a "placement screener" or want tips on exactly where to start your students this year, join us in the 5CCL Learning Lab, where we're having these exact conversations and have all the tools to make this year look extra organized 😉 Comment "5CCL" and we'll send you the link to learn more!

I like being able to look at all of my students in one place and immediately see where we are and what our primary goals...
09/16/2026

I like being able to look at all of my students in one place and immediately see where we are and what our primary goals are. ⁠
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It helps me feel like I have all my ducks in a row. 🦆⁠
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Now, this definitely isn’t every data point I have for each student. But it gives me a quick snapshot of what we’re working on, what each student is focusing on, and what progress is looking like.⁠
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And honestly, one of my favorite parts is how easy it makes communication. 👏⁠
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When a parent, caregiver, colleague, or administrator asks what we’ve been focusing on, I don’t have to dig through a million notes or spreadsheets. I can quickly pull up the big picture and talk through our primary goals.⁠
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If you could use a digital caseload dashboard to help get your ducks in a row, you’ll find this one inside the 5CCL Learning Lab. 💻🦆⁠
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Click here to learn more: https://smarterintervention.com/5ccl-learning-lab

I was presenting at a PD conference this summer for a group of educators, and during our discussion, one of the educator...
09/10/2026

I was presenting at a PD conference this summer for a group of educators, and during our discussion, one of the educators said something that floored me.⁠
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She said that the district was sending back their oral reading fluency probes to the publisher because they didn't see how they would be used/needed.⁠
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So naturally, my reaction during the session was...BUT WHY?!?! Why would you send them back?!⁠
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Now I understand that time is incredibly limited and we want to be really thoughtful about funds and spending. But if I had to keep just one piece of data for my students, that oral reading fluency measure would be it.⁠
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And not because I want to know how fast my students read or because I want them to read really fast (I don't).⁠
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But I do want to know...⁠
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→ What do my students sound like when they read aloud?⁠
→ Are they confident, nervous, reluctant, or speed readers?⁠
→ Are they constantly tripping over words, leaving out words, making substitutions, or repeating themselves?⁠
→ How do they approach words they don't know?⁠
→ Can they recall any of it after they've finished reading?⁠
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It's how I get to know them as readers. So if you get one consistent reading data point this year, consider making it an oral reading fluency measure. ⁠
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And if you want a place to record that data, comment "SNAPSHOT" and I will send you a link to our free Caseload Snapshot organizer.

One of the things I'm focusing on right now with each of my students/groups is determining where to begin my instruction...
09/10/2026

One of the things I'm focusing on right now with each of my students/groups is determining where to begin my instruction.⁠
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Whenever I have a new student, I start by organizing their data (universal screening or benchmark data) and oral reading fluency data. From there, I really want to determine where a breakdown is coming from.⁠
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I want to know if word recognition (the ability to sound out or recognize words) is the cause of the difficulty or if difficulty with vocabulary and comprehension is the cause of the difficulty. Sometimes it's both.⁠
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If word recognition is the primary cause, I want to know which specific patterns the students are struggling with because I'm going to start my instruction there. I look at their ability to identify the pattern in isolation (e.g., what does "oo" say within a word?) as well as in reading real words, nonsense words, and spelling.⁠
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If vocabulary and comprehension are the primary cause, I want to know what level of text the students can currently access. Now, I know leveled texts have created a flurry of debate in the reading intervention space, but what is important here is that I am supporting vocabulary and comprehension instruction at a level of text that students can access. I don't want decoding to get in the way when I'm working on developing vocabulary and comprehension.⁠
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If you're curious about what this looks like and how we structure our literacy intervention, comment "ELEMENTARY" or "SECONDARY" and we'll send you a link to our free training where we cover exactly what this looks like at the elementary and/or secondary level.

I don't know about you, but teaching small (or even big) humans can be a challenging task, especially when EF skills are...
09/08/2026

I don't know about you, but teaching small (or even big) humans can be a challenging task, especially when EF skills are still developing.⁠
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At the beginning of the school year, we're always working to develop routines that will allow us to be successful. ⁠
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When working to develop an EF routine, it's always important that we recognize this is a self-reflective process, never a judgment or criticism of ourselves.⁠
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For me, this always comes down to 5 specific skills or questions I want students to start to work through independently.⁠
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1. What is the goal? (And not in a what is the lesson objective kind of way, but rather in a why should I, as a student, actually care about this kind of way).⁠
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2. How are we feeling? (Our emotions and ability to sit inside of our body are important; it's worth taking time to breathe or regulate for about 30 seconds before jumping into a task if need be).⁠
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3. Where will our focus need to be directed to complete this lesson or activity, and possibly even more importantly, how long will we need to direct focus to be successful?⁠
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4. What is the step-by-step plan? Take a minute to say it and write it on the board. I know it's so irritating when you've just finished explaining the directions, and someone asks, so what are we supposed to do first? But often it's more a matter of working memory than "not listening."⁠
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5. After we've completed the lesson or activity, we self-reflect. How'd that go? Is there anything we could have tried differently? (Again, this is not a judgment or critique; it's truly a question of curiosity).⁠
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By leaning into this process, you're setting students up with a foundation not just for the specific lesson, but for their entire life. If you want to learn more about what this looks like...⁠
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Comment "EF PD" and we'll send you the link to learn more about how to incorporate this routine into your setting this year!

One of the biggest things I've learned as a literacy interventionist is that you don't actually have to "manufacture" mo...
09/04/2026

One of the biggest things I've learned as a literacy interventionist is that you don't actually have to "manufacture" motivation through games or mixing things up all the time.⁠
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Now, games can be fun, don't get me wrong, but it's not the number one way I motivate my students.⁠
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What I actually do is start with executive functioning. When we're not motivated, it often comes down to not being invested in the outcome. So if you don't care about the "end point" of something, you're not usually motivated to work on it. ⁠
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When we think about literacy intervention, I want my students to improve their reading and writing skills, but sometimes they:⁠
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→ don't even recognize they need the help⁠
→ don't know why or how it will help⁠
→ don't know how long they'll have to work with me on the skills⁠
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all of these things can significantly limit motivation. ⁠
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So I always start by sharing both short- and long-term goals that are individual to each student so they know what the end goal is and it's something we can work on attaining together. At that point, we have a shared goal we can work toward. ⁠
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Then, I have them start to monitor and track their own progress toward their goals and boom, we have motivation!

In our latest episode on the SMARTER Literacy Podcast, Mikayla shared an incredibly insightful perspective on why you do...
09/03/2026

In our latest episode on the SMARTER Literacy Podcast, Mikayla shared an incredibly insightful perspective on why you don't need to have "everything figured out" before you start working with your students (or really accomplishing anything).⁠
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As we transition into the school year, it can be so easy to get stuck in this trap of wanting everything to be perfect, but Mikayla shared why getting it perfect is actually not the best thing you can do for your students.⁠
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Click here https://programs.smarterintervention.com/podcasts/smarter-literacy/episodes/2149245646 to catch the episode where you can hear exactly why perfection is the enemy when working with students and what you can do instead as you dive into this new school year.

One of the most important things I do at the beginning of each school year is get my students familiar with our literacy...
09/03/2026

One of the most important things I do at the beginning of each school year is get my students familiar with our literacy routines. Each time my students come to work with me, they know exactly what our lessons will look like.⁠
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This is important because it builds their confidence and reduces a lot of those challenging behaviors that often stem from confusion.⁠
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We start with our executive functioning routine where we establish the goal (both long-term and short-term), we do a quick emotional regulation check, we discuss where our attention/focus needs to be and the length of time we will need to sustain attention on each task, and we transition into the plan for the day.⁠
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Then, we start with our PA routine; for us, this is a quick warm-up. We're not spending a ton of time here, but we are using it as an activation for both reading and spelling activities.⁠
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We then move into our phonics routine, where we always start by reviewing previous patterns, and then move into the introduction of a new pattern and application of that pattern.⁠
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I make sure students are familiar with the vocabulary routine. Both receptive (how well do you know this word?) and expressive (how effectively can you explain this word?) are important.⁠
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For fluency, we always start by phrasing (who or what, did what, when/where/why/how). Then we highlight any punctuation and practice reading for prosody and with appropriate expression.⁠
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In comprehension, I want them to know our before, during, and after reading routines. We also have a before, during, and after writing routine that follows a similar structure.⁠
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Once my students can start becoming familiar with all those routines, EVERYTHING else gets easier for the rest of the year. They just know what they're being asked to do at each different point in our lesson.⁠
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If you want to start the year off with some simple literacy routines, comment "ROUTINE" we'll send you a link to our free SMARTER Literacy Routines.

If you know me, you know that here at Ascend we are absolute data nerds. That being said, if I absolutely had to choose ...
09/01/2026

If you know me, you know that here at Ascend we are absolute data nerds. That being said, if I absolutely had to choose just one data point to collect for all of my students, it would be oral reading fluency (read-aloud) data.⁠
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I love an oral reading fluency probe because I can get a TON of information in 1-2 minutes. In order to collect this data, I simply give students a grade-level reading passage and ask them to read for one minute. I measure the number of words they were able to read in one minute and then subtract all the errors they made to get a CWPM (correct words per minute) score that I can measure against grade-level benchmarks.⁠
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From there, I can divide the CWPM by the total words read in one minute to get a percent accuracy. Ideally, I want students to have 95% accuracy or better on a grade-level passage to feel fully comfortable with their reading ability.⁠
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Now, I'm not just looking at rate and accuracy. ⁠
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I'm also looking at how a student approaches reading (are they nervous, confident, speed-readers, reluctant, etc.). ⁠
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I'm looking at whether they're making omissions (leaving words out), substitutions (swapping words for other words), or repetitions. ⁠
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I'm looking at their ability to decode words (how are they doing with complex words versus high-frequency words).⁠
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I'm looking at whether they can summarize after their one-minute read and answer a few basic questions like, "What was the main idea?" "What do you think might happen next?" "Why do you think the author wrote this?" "What does this word mean in the passage?"⁠
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This quick look at each of my students helps me pick up on a TON of things universal screening or a computerized assessment might miss. Now again, I'm a data nerd so I will take all the data I can get, but if I had to pick just one measure, this would be it.⁠
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If you want to try this out, comment "SNAPSHOT" and we'll send you a link to our free caseload snapshot where you can start to organize this data for your students!

Address

2821 S Parker Road
Aurora, CO
80014

Opening Hours

Monday 7am - 6pm
Tuesday 7am - 6pm
Wednesday 7am - 6pm
Thursday 7am - 6pm
Friday 7am - 6pm

Telephone

(303) 309-9135

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