WELCOME
Building the Foundation: Disciplinary Literacy, Tier 1, and PA 146
October 6, 2026
Jenelle Williams
Project Director, Disciplinary Literacy
MAISA�Jwilliams@gomaisa.org
(517) 327-5315 | massp.com | michiganprincipals| massp| michiganprincipals
ADVANCING LEARNING THROUGH EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP
PA 146 implementation at the secondary level is not primarily about creating a new reading program. It is about strengthening the instructional and organizational system students experience all day long—while ensuring that students who need specialized reading intervention actually receive it.
https://bit.ly/4yRNMxk
Leadership Move #1: Protect Tier 1 rather than turning every teacher into a reading interventionist
Possibilities
Building-wide goal: Every classroom strengthens students' ability to read, write, communicate, and think within the discipline; students with identified foundational reading needs also receive appropriately targeted intervention.
Principal move: Ask departments to identify 2–3 high-leverage literacy practices students repeatedly need to participate successfully in that discipline (using the Essential Instructional Practices for inspiration), rather than giving every department the same generic literacy strategy.
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Essential Instructional Practices for DL define effective Tier 1 Instruction
Every Student. Every Day.
Leadership Move #2: Conduct a "literacy opportunity audit," not just an intervention audit
Possibilities
Walkthrough challenge: During one week, collect evidence around four questions:
Importantly, this should be framed as systems learning rather than teacher evaluation.
A powerful debrief question would be:
"If a student struggles with reading, what opportunities does this student currently have to become a stronger reader during the other five hours of the school day?"
Are Students Actually Reading?
Unfortunately, there is not enough reading practice happening in secondary settings to accelerate reading acquisition. Studies have found secondary learners read text approximately four minutes per class period (Swanson, Wanzek, & Vaughn, 2016). This is not enough time for learners to engage with syntactically complex sentences, robust content-specific vocabulary, and a variety of text structures to support understanding of core subject area information, and for those who require practice opportunities to further develop reading skills.”
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Essential Instructional Practices for DL define effective Tier 1 Instruction
Every Student. Every Day.
Leadership Move #3: Audit access to rigor—not just achievement
Possibilities
Question: Which students consistently receive access to complex disciplinary texts, intellectually demanding questions, authentic disciplinary tasks, and meaningful opportunities to talk and write?
Principal move: Disaggregate walkthrough data by course/level.
AP/Honors → General Education → Intervention → Special Education
Leadership Goal: increasing access while increasing support, rather than making texts, tasks, and thinking progressively less complex for students who struggle.
Leadership Move #4: Put student voice into the school's PA 146 data system
Possibilities
Principal Move: routinely ask adolescents questions such as:
Then triangulate those perceptions with assessment data, student work, and classroom observations.
Literacy Screeners Recommendations
Leadership Move #5: Make the master schedule part of the literacy plan
Possibilities
Principal Move: Take your master schedule and trace the experience of five hypothetical students with different literacy profiles.
For each student, ask:
"Your master schedule is an instructional document."
A school can have an excellent intervention curriculum and still have an inequitable literacy system if students must sacrifice access to the broader curriculum to receive it.
Leadership Move #6: Replace "one-and-done literacy PD" with 30-day improvement cycles
Possibilities
Principal Move: Encourage teams of teachers (PLCs/departments/grade-level teams) to engage in 30-day cycles of Learn → Try → Look → Adjust → Repeat with the PLC Quick Start Guide.
For example:
September: Science teachers focus on supporting students' comprehension of complex informational text.
October: Bring student work and student feedback to PLCs. What helped? Who benefited? Who didn't?
November: Refine the practice and conduct peer observations or learning labs.
December: Examine whether students are becoming more independent with the disciplinary practice.
Leadership Move #7: Build one literacy implementation team—not another literacy committee
Possibilities
Leadership Challenge: audit existing teams, differentiate building- and district-level roles, create clear scopes of work, and establish feedback loops so classroom-level information reaches school and district decision-making.
Principal move: map who currently owns...
Tier 1 instruction → screening → intervention → progress monitoring → professional learning → coaching → student voice → curriculum → scheduling?
Then look for:
gaps, duplication, and broken handoffs.
Take Action at 3 Stages
Make a Commitment to Action
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On Monday: Something I can immediately notice, ask, protect, or communicate.
This semester: One structure we can strengthen—perhaps walkthroughs, student voice, PLC inquiry, scheduling, or the implementation team.
This year: One systemic outcome we want to move toward.
Join us for more learning & conversation!
Disciplinary Literacy for Secondary Leaders: Starting October 20
Leading instructional change can be lonely work, but it doesn’t have to be. This series provides a collaborative space for building administrators to consider what it means to move disciplinary literacy work forward as part of (not in competition with) PA 146. The series also focuses on making connections among related improvement initiatives to ensure coherence across the system.
When:
Kickoff on 10/20/26 from 8:30-11:30am
Leader Lab on 1/27/27 from 8:30 am-2:30 pm OR 1/28/27 from 8:30 am-2:30 pm
Culminating Session on 3/23/27 from 8:30-11:30am
Where: Sessions will be hosted in Oakland County school locations.
Cost: $50. Limited spots available for outside Oakland County.
Lunch and coffee will be provided during Leader Labs in January. SCECH available upon approval.
Click HERE to register!
Developing a DL Professional Learning Plan Event� December 8, 2026 from 9am-3pm | Hosted via Calhoun ISD & Satellite Regional Locations
Additional Resources
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Additional Resources
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Thank You
Building the Foundation: Disciplinary Literacy, Tier 1, and PA 146
October 6, 2026
Jenelle Williams
Project Director, Disciplinary Literacy
MAISA�Jwilliams@gomaisa.org
https://bit.ly/4yRNMxk
(517) 327-5315 | massp.com | michiganprincipals| massp| michiganprincipals
ADVANCING LEARNING THROUGH EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP