From Balanced to Structured Literacy: How AIM Institute and Clara Barton Elementary Partnered for Long-Term Success

In 2020, Clara Barton Elementary School in Philadelphia set forth on a challenging but necessary journey: to transform its literacy instruction model and close the reading gap for its diverse group of learners. To achieve these goals, the school partnered with the AIM Institute to shift from a balanced literacy model to a structured literacy framework. In this blog, we discuss this transition, highlighting how Clara Barton Elementary and AIM Institute provided consistent, high-quality, evidence-based professional development to teachers to significantly improve student reading outcomes.

Identifying the Problem

Prior to 2020, Clara Barton Elementary prided itself on being a model school for balanced literacy using the Readers-Writers Workshop approach. Classrooms were visually pleasing, and students seemed engaged, yet the data showed many were struggling with foundational reading skills. According to the school's principal and literacy lead, the learning gaps became evident in the assessment data, which revealed that students were failing to break the reading code effectively. Even those who appeared to be on grade level often relied on guessing, memorization, and repetition rather than true decoding skills.

Faced with this reality, the school leadership recognized that despite their best intentions, the balanced literacy approach was not meeting the instructional needs of their diverse student body, which includes 40% English Language Learners and 15% students with Individualized Education Programs. The leadership acknowledged that to provide an equitable education, they needed to shift to a more evidence-based approach that prioritized the development of foundational skills essential for literacy success.

Implementing Structured Literacy with AIM Institute

The school used several of AIM Institute’s Pathways programs, which gave their educators the tools they needed to transform literacy instruction:

• Pathways to Proficient Reading: This program played a pivotal role in filling knowledge gaps for educators. Teachers learned to integrate explicit and systematic instruction into their daily lessons, equipping students with the skills to decode and comprehend text confidently.
• Pathways to Proficient Writing: Recognizing that literacy extends beyond reading, Clara Barton's educators embraced the Pathways to Proficient Writing program to help students become strong, confident writers. They learned strategies for teaching students how to encode (write words using sound-letter patterns), develop sentences, and structure written text coherently, all while reinforcing reading skills.
• Pathways to Literacy Leadership: This program was designed to guide principals and instructional leads in fostering a school-wide culture of literacy improvement. Leaders gained insights into creating systems that support structured literacy, evaluating the effectiveness of reading programs, and providing meaningful professional development. By participating in this program, Clara Barton's principal and literacy leads could align school goals with evidence-based practices, ensuring a consistent, high-impact instructional approach across all classrooms.

Clara Barton’s Key Instructional Strategies

To ensure that the shift to structured literacy was impactful, Clara Barton Elementary adopted several targeted instructional strategies guided by AIM Institute's training programs:

• Systematic, Explicit Foundational Skills Instruction: Using what they learned on the platform, teachers intentionally built early readers’ skills in a systematic, explicit manner. Rather than teaching skills in a random order, teachers followed a scope and sequence that ensured students’ learned skills in a logical order moving from simple to more complex concepts with lots of repetition and opportunities for practice.
• Diagnostic, Prescriptive Literacy Instruction: With data-driven decision-making, teachers could identify students' specific needs and offer targeted support, helping them decode words with greater confidence.
• Morphology Lessons: Inspired by the understanding that word structure and spelling is guided by more than just letters representing sounds, teachers introduced short morphology lessons each week. Students explored morphemes- the smallest unit of meaning in a word, leading to an increased awareness of word structure and meaning across content areas. 

Achieving Data-Driven Success

The data from the STAR Assessments painted a promising picture. In 2021, only 12% of K-2 students were reading on grade level. By spring 2023, 76% of kindergarteners were reading on grade level, and first grade saw 61% reading on or above grade level. These gains were most notable in kindergarten, where students learned foundational skills using structured literacy from the start.

Second grade remained a concern, but through targeted interventions and additional support from teachers, these students also showed progress. The school realized that foundational skills needed to be solidified throughout the spring to prevent summer learning loss. As teachers and leaders continue to support this transformation, they recognize the importance of sustaining a collaborative culture centered around the science of reading.

Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction with AIM Institute

Are you looking to delve deeper into building effective structured literacy systems?

If you'd like to discover more about equipping all your staff members, from leaders and teachers to specialists and paraeducators, with effective learning opportunities, let’s start a conversation. 

About AIM Institute: The AIM Institute for Learning & Research® is a non-profit center for educational excellence and professional development, providing educators with the latest research, technology, and  evidence-based practices in the fields of literacy and language-based learning disabilities.