Abington school leaders outlined a package of literacy and intervention changes for the 2025–26 school year at the Aug. 26 board meeting, including districtwide adoption of Amplify CKLA curriculum, use of a short screener called Amplify Boost, replacement of Acadience with DIBELS for kindergarten through grade 2, and expanded multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) protocols.

The changes are part of schoolwide plans principals presented to the board that also call for more administrator classroom time, daily independent reading in elementary schools, and focused professional development on literacy strategies, vocabulary instruction and mathematics routines.

“New for this upcoming school year, the plans have dedicated time and resources for professional development focused on our new ELA program, Amplify CKLA,” a district presenter said during the review. The district added that “All schools will be using Amplify CKLA assessments for monitoring progress and growth.”

District leaders described multiple screening and monitoring tools: Amplify Boost will be used as a short screener for personalized instruction, and DIBELS will be used in kindergarten through grade 2 to assess foundational skills such as phonemic awareness and fluency; District staff said DIBELS replaces Acadience in the K–2 universal screening process. The plans also call for a focus on explicit decoding, fluency and phonics for students receiving tier 2 and tier 3 interventions.

Administrators said they will implement sustained silent reading (SSR) daily at the elementary level for 15–20 minutes, and twice-weekly at the middle school, with scheduled library visits and a focus on providing reading materials at multiple levels so all students can participate. The district also said administrators will increase classroom observations tied to fidelity of program implementation and that restorative practices will continue to be a priority to reduce suspensions and improve school climate.

The board heard the literacy elements during the school plan presentations and approved the Title I schoolwide plans later in the meeting. District staff emphasized that intervention plans will be monitored through data trackers in the student information system and a new data tool the district will deploy this year, named SWIS, to help leaders disaggregate data and plan progress monitoring.