Implementation Support
Welcome to the Pearson Canada Implementation Support Website. Here you’ll find everything you need to receive, unpack, organize, and get started using your new resources.
Literacy Assessment
Join our Implementation Support Office Hours to get the most out of your new literacy resources! Whether you're using or have recently acquired our materials, we're here to assist you. If you have any questions or need clarification on how to effectively utilize our resources, this is your chance to speak directly with a Pearson representative.
Our Office Hours sessions are designed for our valued literacy customers to learn more about the resources they have invested in and achieve the greatest possible impact using them. If you have a specific question, book a personal 15 minute session with our Implementation Manager below. Please be sure to mention the specific resources you would like support with.
Implementation Office Hours
Literacy Success Assessment Implementation Support
Videos
LSA Overview video (39 minutes)
Virtual learning LSA Webinar (21 minutes)
Receiving and Unpacking
Before you get into the kit, take a few minutes to make sure you received all of the components!
Receiving checklist and unpacking instructions
FAQs
General Information
This Canadian assessment resource allows Grades 7–10 students to learn more about themselves as readers and writers, and for teachers to gain an understanding of their students’ reading and writing skills.
The questions focus on reading comprehension and persuasive writing skills.
LSA can help teachers adapt and plan for literacy instruction that is tailored to meet students’ needs.
It can be implemented as a whole class/group or individually as needed.
LSA contains 24 reading passages with reading levels from Grade 1 to Grade 10 and content appropriate for intermediate and secondary students.
- This resource is for students in Grades 7 to 10 reading at grade levels ranging from Grade 1 to Grade 10.
LSA provides appropriate—but different—entry points for reading and writing with a variety of reading passages to accommodate a range of student abilities.
- There is not a separate kit for each grade, but rather one kit that accommodates all students across Grades 7-10.
- “Meet Autumn Peltier” highlights the accomplishments of the young Anishinaabe activist.
- “Indigenous Languages: Why They Matter for All” focuses on the importance of Indigenous languages and the threat of their disappearance.
LSA is aligned with provincial curricula, providing insights into student achievement in reading comprehension, metacognition, critical thinking, and persuasive writing.
The data provided from LSA can be used as a starting point for the explicit teaching of literacy skills in all disciplines.
There are no plans to develop a French kit at this time.
- Please ensure that you are viewing and projecting in full-screen mode (click on the icon at the top right corner).
- If you need to enlarge the text, set the view to “Continuous” rather than “Magazine,” which is the default setting.
- If possible, dim the classroom lights for improved visibility of the screen.
Assessment Options and Support
How often should the reading passages be used for assessment within a school year?
- Plan to administer the first assessment early in the year or semester, after you have observed your students’ reading and writing in class for at least two weeks.
- The second assessment may occur once students have had opportunities to learn (through teacher instruction), practise, and apply various strategies.
- See pages 1–2 of the Teacher’s Guide for a suggested schedule for administering the assessment during the school year. Pages 24–27 of the Teacher’s Guide outline how to implement whole class/group assessment.
Teachers can use the following strategies to choose appropriate reading texts and writing tasks for students.
- Use the first two weeks of class time to observe students as they experience introductory reading and writing tasks. This is a vital part of the assessment process and will help you match students to appropriate reading passages and writing tasks.
- Refer to the results of previous school, district, or provincial tests.
- Review student records, including comments or grades from previous teachers and in individual education plans.
- Consult with support or resource teachers.
- Listen to students read out loud on a one-to-one basis (see Appendix D, page 183, of the Teacher’s Guide).
- Administer The Graded Word List (The San Diego Quick Assessment) if you are unsure of students’ reading levels (see Appendix C, pages 179–183, of the Teacher’s Guide).
See the Teacher’s Guide for more information.
How long does it take to administer the assessment?
- Budget for 60–75 minutes to administer the reading assessment for the whole class/group. If this assessment is being administered individually, it may take a shorter amount of time.
- If you are unsure of a student’s reading level and need to administer The Graded Word List (The San Diego Quick Assessment) first, allow for 3–5 minutes per student.
- For the writing assessment, which should be administered after the reading assessment, plan for a separate 60–75-minute block of time.
- See pages 24–27 of the Teacher’s Guide for more information on implementing whole class/group assessment.
What are the assessments options in LSA?
- Assess readers and writers within a whole-class or small-group setting.
- Conduct a guided assessment with individual students.
- Acquire in-depth information about the learning needs of striving readers.
- See page 6 of the Teacher’s Guide for more information.
- Answer keys for each reading passage are provided in the Teacher’s Guide (pages 31–150) and on the Companion Website for support.
- We suggest setting up a school or departmental team (depending on the implementation model) to select student exemplars and to build up a bank (see page 176 of the Teacher’s Guide for suggested implementation models for administering the assessment grade-wide).
- When going through the student response sheets, work with a partner for moderated marking, ensuring discussion happens often.
- See pages 25–27 of the Teacher’s Guide for more information.
Does LSA include post-assessment activities or lessons?
- The Teacher’s Guide includes charts that isolate each of the reading and writing skills, and offers a range of instructional strategies and teaching points that can be explicitly taught to support student learning (see Section III: Next Steps for Improving Students’ Reading and Writing Achievement, starting on page 164).
Research and Background Information
Who determined the grade level for each student reading passage, and what tools did they use?
The reading levellers on this series are Barbara Boate and Deborah Kekewich. These experienced educators level the reading passages independently at first, and then meet to discuss and reach a consensus.
Below is a list of the scales* they choose from:
- Automated Readability Index
- Bormuth Readability Index
- Coleman-Liau Index
- Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level
- Flesch Reading Ease
- The Literacy Continuum
- Fry Graph
- Gunning Fog Index
- Lexile Density
- Lexile Score
- Linsear Write Readability Formula
- New Dale-Chall Readability Formula
- Powers-Sumner-Kearl Readability Formula
- SMOG Index
- Spache Readability Formula
*Not all scales are used for each reading passage. Additionally, not all scales used may be listed here.
There are many factors that go into defining a grade level, and Barbara and Deb do not rely solely on these scales. They also consider
- Words— familiarity, frequency, syllable count, transitional words, word choice, context, parts of speech
- Sentence length and complexity
- Text and print features
- Genre, content, and support from illustrations, charts, and photos, etc.
Some passages were levelled multiple times to achieve an accurate reading level.
What research was used in the development of LSA?
Provincial and territorial curricula documents clearly illustrate that the primary purpose of assessment must be to improve student learning.
LSA provides the opportunity for both teachers and students to use the assessment feedback to adjust their performances (Wiliam, 2018; Cooper, 2022).
The Teacher’s Guide equips teachers with descriptive feedback related to the strategies that proficient readers use to construct meaning (Fisher and Frey, 2019; Tovani, 2021).
LSA enables teachers to provide descriptive feedback about the strategies that proficient readers use, and lists best practices for instruction in writing (Gallagher and Kittle, 2018; Stockman 2021).
LSA was developed with Dr. Sharon Jeroski, based on her research in British Columbia.
LSA was tested in 13 Toronto District School Board schools with 15 different Grade 9 English classes.
A team of literacy consultants analyzed the student responses.
This analysis resulted in the revision of some of the reading and writing prompts, and examples were added to the Answer Keys.
Surveys revealed that the students enjoyed the reading passages, worked diligently on the response sheets, and used the rubrics to guide their responses.
Does LSA have any connection to the Science of Reading (as it relates to reading comprehension)?
The Science of Reading includes the following components: phonemic awareness and phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. LSA allows teachers to assess students’ comprehension skills. In order to read the passages and respond to the questions, students will likely have the appropriate phonics, fluency, and vocabulary skills to read the passage. The Science of Reading and LSA overlap and can impact learning in Grades 7–10 in the following ways:
The importance of summarization to develop greater reading comprehension skills.
The use of self-monitoring and metacognitive skills to detect breakdowns in reading comprehension.
The use of interesting, age-appropriate, grade -level passages to engage students.
The importance of using high-level critical thinking questions to elicit inferential reading of a passage.
The importance of using writing prompts that are connected to the reading and that engage students to draw on personal experience to write persuasively.
What is the Graded Word List (The San Diego Quick Assessment)?
- This tool's main purpose is to help teachers determine the grade level at which a student reads. It can then be a guide in determining grade-level reading materials for students.
- The Graded Word List is a word identification tool used to determine the level of a student’s known words. It also notes strategies the student uses to pronounce unfamiliar or unknown words.
- The test is a one-on-one task that takes only 3–5 minutes to administer.
- See Appendix C, pages 179–183, of the Teacher’s Guide for detailed instructions on administering the test, along with The Graded Word List. The Graded Word list was updated by our Canadian series advisor to reflect current vocabulary while maintaining the integrity of the original word list.
LSA and other Assessment Resources
What are the key differences between LSA and the Ontario Comprehension Assessment (OCA)?
- The OCA had grade-specific kits, but LSA consists of one kit that contains reading passages for Grades 7–10. At one kit versus five, LSA offers great value!
- LSA contains reading passages at additional grade levels (Grades 1–3), so there is a span of reading levels from Grades 1-10.
- Literacy Success Assessment contains new and updated reading passages to align more with current issues and interests.
- The LSA has an added persuasive writing assessment.
- Some content in the LSA Teacher’s Guide has been updated since the OCA and supports current thinking.
Implementation Office Hours
Benchmark Assessment System (3rd Edition) Implementation Support
Webinars
VIEW recorded webinars hosted by Fountas and Pinnell
Benchmark Assessment System, 3rd Edition (50 minutes)
Let's Get Practical: Benchmark Assessment System Webinar (60 minutes)
ATTEND our Office Hours by booking a timeslot with our Implementation Support Manager
Book your timeslot directly on our website, available bi-weekly throughout the school year.
Video Tutorials
View the BAS Professional Development and Tutorial Videos on the Online Resources. These complimentary videos provide a foundation for understanding the BAS materials and procedures.
Using Optional Literacy Assessments
The extensive information gathered through the Benchmark Assessment conference provides a solid direction for instruction, but you may also want more diagnostic evidence about a particular child's literacy knowledge. For that purpose we include a series of optional assessments found in the Assessment Forms Book and on Online Resources.
Getting Started, Fluency and Phrasing, Phonics and Word Analysis, and Vocabulary assessments provide information about the learner's knowledge in specific areas of literacy. Information gathered from these assessments can be used in planning targeted minilessons.
-Fountas & Pinnell, Benchmark Assessment, 3rd edition
Suggested Readings
READ these chapters in your BAS Assessment Guide to get started:
- Section 1: Getting Started
- Section 2: Administering, Coding, and Scoring
- Section 3: Summarizing, Analyzing, and Interpreting Results
Professional Development
Partner with Fountas & Pinnell Professional Development to transform teaching and learning.
The single most important factor in students' literacy success is skillful, informed teaching. All of Fountas and Pinnell's books, resources, and systems are deeply rooted in teacher professional learning.
Pearson Canada is pleased to offer onsite or virtual professional development sessions led by Fountas & Pinnell trained consultants. We will work with you to develop a professional learning plan that supports implementation and develops a deeper understanding of literacy teaching and learning.
Contact Pearson Professional Services (professionalservices@pearsoncanada.com) to discuss your professional development needs and learn about our one, two, or three-day options. Prices for these sessions are $3,800/day for live onsite sessions and $3,300/day for virtual sessions (maximum 40 participants)
Get Connected!
Online Resources (OLR)
There is a wealth of online resources to support your implementation and use of LLI. Included with your System purchase is access to the LLI Online Resources. The OLR site provides hundreds of printable resources such as recording forms, record-keeping tools, activity linemasters, assessment tools, and parent letters as well as professional development videos to help you achieve the maximum impact using your new system.
To register for the OLR…
- Locate the Product Code on the inside front cover of the System Guide.
- Go to fountasandpinnell.com and select ONLINE RESOURCES in the top menu bar. This will lead you to the login page.
- If you are accessing Fountas & Pinnell Online Resources for the first time, select REGISTER in the Sign Up section on the left. Follow the instructions to set up your account and add your new LLI system. If you have previously registered for any Fountas & Pinnell Online Resources, login to your account and select ADD NEW PRODUCT in the top right corner of the screen. Follow the instructions to add your new LLI System OLR to your account.
- If you have any questions while you are registering, you can use the online chat to connect with Technical Support (button located in the bottom right corner of your screen).
Fountas & Pinnell Community
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- Webinars to expand your knowledge on crucial literacy topics
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Updates from Pearson Canada
Pearson Canada represents the full line of Fountas & Pinnell resources in Canada. We are committed to supporting Canadian teachers in learning about and maximizing the impact of their resources. Sign up to receive occasional communications about events, webinars, and special offers for Canadian educators.