This fall has been like no other! You’ve been met with many challenges to provide quality and engaging instruction under less than ideal circumstances. While the challenges have been great, there has been an incredible effort to continue implementing practices and using tools to create high-quality literacy education for students this fall. 

Already this school year, there have been over 10,000 PALS-K assessments completed! We know from the over 500 weekly conversations the PALS hotline team has had with educators this fall, educators are bringing positivity, proactive thinking, ingenuity and integrity to their interactions and instruction with students. You have shown a strong commitment to learning all you can about students’ early skills in order to support their growth across the year. Families, teachers, schools, and divisions are showing remarkable fortitude as we all seek to focus on what is most important to support young learners where they are. 

One of the most important things you have committed to this fall is gathering data on students’ literacy skills. Many of your students may have had fewer opportunities to engage in early literacy activities and instruction last spring due to disruptions caused by the pandemic. Gathering information at the beginning of the year is critical to help inform decisions about how best to support learning and monitor progress. Effectively and efficiently organizing instructional time will help ensure that young students’ literacy needs are met.