New literacy pack aims to boost reading skills for students across California
California Department of Education stated that this would be a comprehensive suite of resources designed to improve literacy instruction and support educators across the state in improving student outcomes, especially for younger readers.
Defense Intelligence Agency IT Specialist arrested for allegedly sharing classified information
'In California, we know that learning to read is the start of the pathway to success. The Literacy Roadmap highlights our multifaceted approach to improving literacy for California's students, including current and proposed initiatives,' Governor Newsom said. 'When added to our other investments in literacy coaches and reading specialists at high-needs schools and professional development for teachers, we are doubling down on our commitment to ensure no student falls behind in their reading.'
The new Professional Learning Pack includes two crucial literacy guidance documents, CDE stated. The first is set to be the California Literacy Roadmap's Literacy Content Blocks for English-Medium Classrooms, which is focused on transitional Kindergarten through Grade Five.
The roadmap provides instructional recommendations that educators can use to support students as they develop across all areas of literacy and bitliteracy, according to Newsom. The blocks will reflect an intentional approach to literacy that will promote sequenced initial instruction, appropriate practice and reinforcement, intervention as necessary, and meaningful application in English language arts.
'Literacy is foundational to lifelong learning and academic success,' said Superintendent Thurmond. 'With this release, California takes a significant step forward in providing educators with the tools they need to foster strong literacy and biliteracy development from the earliest years of learning as we move the needle on student achievement, particularly for our youngest readers.'
The second document is Preschool through Third Grade Learning Progressions for Language and Literacy Development, which will outline key developmental milestones and offer examples of play-based, inquiry-based instruction to support early literacy in both English and students' home languages, according to CDE.
'In California, we're focused on an approach to literacy that supports evidence-based instruction and high-quality professional learning,' said State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond. 'The Literacy Roadmap and the Literacy Learning Progressions provide teachers with key resources and tools they can use to support every child in learning to read with comprehension, write with expression, and explore the world of books with excitement.'
Over $120M in banned cannabis seized by CA task force
CDE said that these professional learning tools have been endorsed by a board coalition of experts in literacy and biliteracy instruction, which includes The Reading League, the California Association for Bilingual Education, and Californians Together.
Educators are encouraged to incorporate the materials into their summer and school-year professional development plans, said CDE. The full Professional Learning Pack can be found here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
6 hours ago
- New York Post
Hamas releases chilling video of ‘living skeleton' hostage Evyatar David : ‘Few days left to live'
The family of Hamas-held hostage Evyatar David – a 'living skeleton' – believe he has just 'a few days left to live' – as negotiations for the freeing of all remaining Israeli captives continue to stall In a new propaganda video released by the terror group, David, 24, is seen in a tunnel with a ceiling roughly as high as he is tall, crossing off dates on a calendar and digging what he says he fears is his own grave. 'I haven't eaten for a few days in a row,' David says in the footage. The video shows David digging inside a tunnel. Hamas / Hostages and Missing Families Forum David's family believe he just has a few days left to live. Hamas / Hostages and Missing Families Forum In the middle of the video, the person behind the camera hands him a can of beans. 'This can is for two days. This whole can is for two days so that I don't die,' David says. 'This is the grave I think I'm going to be buried in,' he goes on. 'Time is running out. You are the only ones who can end this,' David said in the propaganda video aimed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. before being interspliced with clips of starving Palestinian children. 'We are forced to witness our beloved son and brother, Evyatar David, deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas's tunnels in Gaza – a living skeleton, buried alive,' the David family said in a statement sent to the Hostages Families Forum Headquarters. 'The deliberate starvation of our son as part of a propaganda campaign is one of the most horrifying acts the world has seen.' This is the second hostage video released by the terror group this week. On Thursday, chilling footage showed Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski ghostly and frail as he cried during the six-minute video. Both were kidnapped during a music festival during the October 7 terror attack and are among the remaining 20 hostages believed to still be alive. 'They are on the absolute brink of death,' brother Ilay David said Saturday, speaking in English before a crowd of thousands at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, as thousands of protesters gathered for their weekly demonstrations to call for the release of the hostages. David called on President Trump to bring about the hostages' release 'by any means necessary.' 'To remain silent now is to be complicit in their slow agonizing death,' he said. US special envoy Steve Witkoff, meanwhile, told Israeli hostages' families in a meeting in Tel Aviv Saturday, that he had no news of progress in talks with Hamas, according to Hebrew media. 'I hear your frustration. But the situation is complicated. There are many reasons [for this] that I cannot detail,' Witkoff said, also emphasizing to the families that President Trump's mission is to bring everyone home. 'We now need to bring all of them home. We are very close to ending the war,' he said, according to the statement. 'We have a plan to end the war and bring everyone home.' 'No piecemeal deals,' Witkoff said. 'That doesn't work. And we've tried everything.' a comprehensive Gaza ceasefire-hostage agreement and would no longer seek 'piecemeal deals,'and is opposed to expanding the fighting in Gaza. The effort was complicated, he said, but he believed it would ultimately succeed. The terror group later vowed not to disarm 'as long as the occupation exists' and until there is a fully sovereign Palestinian state. Israel could announce a plan to annex parts of the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas to accept a cease-fire deal, according to a cabinet minister.
Politico
7 hours ago
- Politico
How top Democrats are already gearing up for 2028 online
List-building signals candidates' ambitions for higher office, particularly with online fundraising a key pillar of successful Democratic campaigns over the past decade. By purchasing or renting Democratic donors' contact information, candidates can more effectively target potential supporters, introduce themselves to a national audience and convert some of those donors into their own. 'You want to build up a strong email and text list for a few reasons — it'll increase your name ID, you can raise money for other candidates, and then raise money for yourself,' said Mike Nellis, a Democratic digital consultant. 'If you're not spending money on growing the biggest possible audience for yourself right now, then you're being foolish. Frankly, all of them could be spending more money on it.' Leadership PACs also allow political figures in blue states to steer money to competitive races, including by directly donating to vulnerable candidates or state parties, or by fundraising on their behalf. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, for example, has long tapped his extensive email and text lists to raise money for other candidates. Such efforts help blue-state Democrats build relationships across the country and engender goodwill within the party. 'Investing in your leadership PAC money now is critical because you have to build your fundraising operation now.' —Pete Giangreco, Democratic consultant The PACs also run ads aimed at recruiting online backers. Newsom's leadership PAC, Campaign for Democracy, invested another $1.5 million in digital ads in late June, according to its filing. The PAC, which launched in 2023 with a major transfer from Newsom's gubernatorial campaign, reported $4.4 million cash on hand at the end of June. Digital advertising helps candidates expand their name recognition and recruit donors outside their home states. 'It's the small donations from folks like you that have the greatest impact,' read one ad that Beshear's PAC, In This Together, ran on Facebook in June. 'Your support helps us do what matters most: elect decent, compassionate leaders in Kentucky and nationwide.' Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear ran digital ads this year that focused on his home state but also reached a national audience. | AP Beshear's group, which has $496,000 cash on hand, spent $30,000 on digital advertising through the end of June, according to its FEC report. While Beshear's PAC has run Facebook ads that predominantly target his home state of Kentucky , it has also reached an audience across the country, according to data from Meta's digital ad library. Similarly, Facebook ads from Whitmer's group, Fight Like Hell PAC, have predominantly targeted Michigan users — but with some national promotion, too. Hers has $2.6 million cash on hand.
Newsweek
11 hours ago
- Newsweek
California Hits Back at Trump's $200M UCLA Grant Freeze: 'Manipulation'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. California's Governor Gavin Newsom has condemned the Trump administration's suspension of research grants for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), over alleged antisemitism. The U.S. Department of Justice froze hundreds of millions of dollars in medical and science research grants to UCLA over allegations of campus antisemitism and use of race in admissions. "It is a cruel manipulation to use Jewish students' real concerns about antisemitism on campus as an excuse to cut millions of dollars in grants," Newsom said in a statement. Newsweek has contacted the Justice Department for comment. File photo: Gavin Newsom looks on at Downey Memorial Christian Church in Downey, California, on July 16, 2025. File photo: Gavin Newsom looks on at Downey Memorial Christian Church in Downey, California, on July 16, 2025. Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images Why It Matters Newsom's comments fuel his confrontation with the Trump administration, the latter seeking to put pressure on universities after student protests on college campuses about the war in Gaza were dubbed antisemitic by some lawmakers and groups. What To Know The U.S. Department of Justice said this week that the UCLA had violated the civil rights of Jewish students during pro-Palestinian protests. The university's Chancellor Julio Frenk said he was told that the federal government, through its control of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other agencies, was suspending certain research funding to the UCLA. The Department of Health and Human Services, of which NIH is a part, said in a statement that it would "not fund institutions that promote antisemitism." The UCLA had earlier announced it had agreed a $6 million settlement of alleged discrimination brought by Jewish students and a faculty member. The lawsuit accused the university of failing to take action when pro-Palestinian protesters set up encampments on campus in spring 2024. The Los Angeles Times said university leaders had been expecting this moment for months amid federal investigations into alleged use of race in admissions, employment discrimination against Jews, and civil-rights complaints from Jewish students. But Frenk said Thursday that the pausing of funding—whose amount he did not reveal but which Newsom said was around $200 million—was a loss to both researchers and Americans whose health benefits from its work. The LA Times reported that the amount was $300 million. Frenk said that antisemitism "has no place on our campus, nor does any form of discrimination," adding that "we recognize that we can improve." Newsom weighed in with a statement Friday that said that freezing the funding—which would investigate invasive diseases, "cure cancer, and build new defense technologies—makes our country less safe." What People Are Saying California Governor Gavin Newsom said: "Freezing critical research funding for UCLA—dollars that were going to study invasive diseases, cure cancer, and build new defense technologies—makes our country less safe." UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk said in a statement on the freezing of funding: "[It] is not only a loss to the researchers who rely on critical grants. It is a loss for Americans across the nation whose work, health, and future depend on the groundbreaking work we do." What Happens Next The LA Times reported that it is not clear what steps the UCLA might take, but Newsom has said he was "reviewing" the Justice Department's findings.
