Ascend Focus, Kindergarten

Evaluation for 1.1a
Materials include an explanation of the stated purpose of the supplemental program (e.g., additional instruction and/or practice, targeted remediation or acceleration).

The materials explain that the program is an intensive intervention for students who require instruction beyond tier 1 core literacy. “Ascend Program Design and Instructional Routines” in the program guide states that the program addresses persistent skill gaps through explicit, systematic instruction, supporting its stated purpose of targeted remediation and intervention.

The “Program Architecture” overview in the program guide identifies the program’s purpose as a targeted, educator-led intervention for students with foundational skill gaps. The material’s stated purpose describes individualized intervention for grades K–12 that pinpoints where support is needed to enable targeted, developmentally aligned instruction. The program aligns with Ascend Mastery and can function either independently or within any core literacy program.

Evaluation for 1.1b
Materials include guidance on how to appropriately use the supplemental program to support an existing core reading and language arts program.

The program guide provides educators with guidance on using Ascend Focus alongside an existing core reading and language arts program. The guidance explains that Ascend Focus supplements tier 1 instruction by addressing specific foundational skill gaps through targeted intervention while students continue to receive core literacy instruction.

The materials also provide an overview of how each part of the program works together to support skill mastery. For example, the “Ascend: A Coherent Literacy System for Instruction, Assessment, and Impact” section of the program guide states that the program is a platform that connects multiple instructional pathways into one coherent system. Each component serves a distinct purpose, allowing students to move seamlessly between levels of support without disruption or inconsistency. Educators operate within a single instructional framework, reducing complexity while increasing effectiveness.

Furthermore, the materials explain how educators use assessment data, differentiated small groups, targeted scaffolding, and intervention pathways within the broader literacy system. The “Program Design and Instructional Routines” section of the program guide directs educators to use weekly checkpoint data, diagnostic assessment information, and grouping recommendations to provide targeted support while students continue participating in core literacy instruction.

Evaluation for 1.1c
Materials include a scope and sequence outlining student expectations, skills taught, and a rationale for the design of the scope and sequence.

The “Phonics Track” scope and sequence identifies the foundational literacy skills taught across Skill Sets and lessons. In the short vowels set, the skills taught are closed syllables, while in the long vowels set, the skills taught are vowel teams, silent e, and open syllables.

The “Program Architecture” overview in the program guide provides a rationale for the scope and sequence, noting that the skills taught progress from simple to complex. The materials begin with foundational sound mapping, then progress to structural word building, followed by syllable types and advanced decoding and morphology.

The scope and sequence outlines student expectations, including student-friendly “I can” statements that are aligned to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).

Evaluation for 1.1d
Materials include guidance on time requirements (e.g., duration, frequency) and suggested pacing for effective implementation.

The materials provide guidance for instructional time, pacing, and implementation of interventions. The program guide identifies Ascend Focus as an individualized intervention and recommends 30 minutes of daily instruction when used for tier 3 and special education (SPED) support. The “Program Architecture” overview outlines the instructional time allocated to each phonics intervention, including both explicit educator instruction and student application.

The “Ascend Program Design and Instructional Routines” document provides pacing guidance for the first 30 and 60 days of implementation, including recommended instructional minutes, lessons per week, regrouping based on student data, and adjustments when students master or struggle with concepts. The materials also include a 30-minute intervention block divided among phonics, fluency, and comprehension/writing, with time designated for both educator-led instruction and student practice. This structure supports a gradual release model while allowing educators to adjust instruction based on student needs.

Evaluation for 1.1e
Materials include resources and guidance to support educators with implementing the materials as designed.

The materials include training and implementation supports designed to help educators implement Ascend Focus with fidelity. The “Program Architecture” overview identifies supports such as live professional learning, instructional modeling, hands-on practice, coaching, onboarding, self-service resources, and ongoing product support. The materials also include a dedicated implementation guide organized across four phases of the school year to build educator familiarity with instructional routines and strengthen implementation confidence.

Additional educator supports appear throughout the program resources. The Ascend Focus Teacher Manuals provide scripted guidance, phonetic pronunciations, and instructional tips for phonological and phonemic awareness lessons. Program architecture documents explain intervention design and lesson structures, while the “Program Design and Instructional Routines” materials include an “Assessment System Guide” that helps educators interpret assessment results and use data to adjust instruction throughout the year.

Evaluation for 1.1f
Materials contain supports for families in both Spanish and English with suggestions on supporting the progress of their student.

The caregiver resources in the program guide “Program Architecture” overview include examples of letters to send home to families in both English and Spanish. These letters provide suggestions for reinforcing skills at home and offer insight into the taught skills. The product has a caregiver letter in both Spanish and English. The letter states how families can support their student at home. For example, the English caregiver letter states, “Read Together Daily: Spending just 10–15 minutes reading together builds strong life long readers.” The letters also state, “Encourage Writing: Invite your child to draw and write about their daily experiences to strengthen their communication skills.”

Furthermore, the digital materials include progress-sharing tools and at-home literacy strategies in the “Ascend Student Experience” section in both English and Spanish. These supports help families monitor student progress and reinforce literacy development outside of the classroom.

Evaluation for 2.1a
Materials include appropriate instructional assessments for the stated purpose of the supplemental program (e.g., diagnostic placement assessments for targeted remediation or acceleration).

The “Assessment System Guide” outlines a comprehensive assessment structure that includes diagnostic, formative, and progress-monitoring assessments that identify student skill gaps, provide real-time instructional feedback, and measure mastery over time, directly supporting the program’s purpose of targeted remediation and acceleration. The materials explain how each assessment type supports a distinct phase of implementation: Diagnostic assessments identify unfinished foundational literacy skills to guide instructional placement, while formative and progress-monitoring assessments track student growth and inform instructional adjustments throughout the program. When assessments are embedded across the learning cycle this way, the materials reflect the stated purpose of targeted remediation rather than functioning as isolated mastery checks.

The “Intervention Assessment Structure” section of the program guide describes the assessments as a layered assessment system that includes an entry diagnostic, daily lesson checks, and progress monitoring. The “Assessment System Guide” explains that the entry-diagnostic assessments identify students’ current skill profiles and place the students on personalized learning paths. The daily lesson checks provide real-time formative information for immediate instructional adjustment, and the progress-monitoring assessments occur every 15 calendar days to guide summative recalibration of instruction, intensity, grouping, or skill focus. All the assessments are used for all students, whether they are in targeted remediation or acceleration.

Evaluation for 2.1b
Materials include the definition and intended purpose for the instructional assessments included.

The program guide provides an overview, including the definition and intended purpose of the layered assessment system that supports both placement and progress monitoring. The entry diagnostic (comprehensive) identifies each student’s current skill profile and places them on a personalized learning path. The daily lesson checks (in the moment) provide quick, in-the-moment checks that help educators adjust instruction immediately. The progress monitoring (ongoing) is conducted every 15 calendar days, and provides an ongoing pulse check to ensure intervention effectiveness—guiding recalibration of instruction, intensity, grouping, or skill focus based on student progress.

The “Intervention Assessment Structure” section of the program guide explains that assessments obtain data on individual students’ phonics skills, identify areas where students may need additional instruction or support, and monitor growth. This resource also identifies assessment uses such as identifying gaps and monitoring growth.

Evaluation for 2.1c
For instructional assessments administered by educators, materials include guidance to ensure consistent and accurate administration of instructional assessments.

The “Assessment System Guide” provides educators with explicit guidance on administering diagnostic, formative, and progress-monitoring assessments, including when each assessment occurs within instruction and how the results inform intervention decisions. The materials establish consistent implementation expectations tied directly to the supplemental instructional model, connecting assessment administration to instructional routines.

The “How to Use It” section in the “Resources” tab of the online platform describes the materials needed and the directions for administering the tests. This section also provides screener notes about marking errors, self-corrections, hesitation errors, and sounding out before reading.

The Digital Teacher Platform further supports consistent implementation by organizing assessment resources within each instructional skill set and embedding assessments directly into the instructional sequence. The materials indicate when assessments occur within instruction and provide aligned resources connected to targeted literacy routines.

Evaluation for 2.1d
Instructional assessments include items at varying levels of complexity.

The materials include a range of instructional assessment types, varying in structure and complexity. Diagnostic assessments, lesson-embedded formative checks, and progress-monitoring assessments each serve a distinct function, ranging from in-the-moment checks during instruction to more comprehensive measures of skill mastery. This range reflects a design that supports educators in gathering data at multiple points and levels throughout the intervention cycle. The “Intervention Assessment Structure” section of the program guide includes a phonics screener, which includes assessment tasks that progress across foundational skills, including identifying consonant and short vowel sounds, decoding real and nonsense single-syllable and multisyllable words, and encoding. The materials provide varying levels of assessments, measuring performance on skills ranging from decoding and encoding CVC words to words with multisyllabic patterns.

The program provides assessment items of varying complexity, including multiple-choice, skill-based application tasks, and brief written and oral responses aligned with intervention goals.

Evaluation for 2.2a
Instructional assessments and scoring information provide guidance for interpreting student performance.

The Digital Teacher Platform includes student reports, progress-monitoring reports, and assessment reports that organize student literacy performance and mastery progression across instructional skill sets. These tools support educators in analyzing student growth trends, monitoring intervention effectiveness, and interpreting assessment outcomes to inform instructional decisions throughout the program. The “Data” tab in the educator portal helps educators interpret student performance. The “Group Skill Accuracy” section provides educators with percentages that help show whole-class progress on specific skills. This tab also provides a breakdown of students’ accuracy status at the individual level, showing each student’s current intervention status.

The “Using Progress Monitoring Data” section of the Ascend Program Design and Instructional Routines informs educators that data is used to establish an instructional starting point for intervention, prioritize the most relevant skills and content, and assign an individualized pathway and experience to support targeted intervention.

Evaluation for 2.2b
Materials provide guidance for the use of the supplemental program to respond to student trends in performance on assessments.

In “Program Design and Instructional Routines,” the “Dashboard and Reporting” section explains that reports show student mastery and instructional next steps from progress-monitoring data. The guidance states that reports break down student performance, explain where errors are occurring, and suggest specific instructional pivots, supporting educators in responding to assessment trends through regrouping, pacing adjustments, and targeted instruction.

The dashboard of the online platform provides instructional insights for three groups: what the data shows, what it means, and what to do next. In addition, it provides skill group accuracy, showing percentages for who needs support, who is on track, and who is progressing. The dashboard also organizes students by their current Skill Set, making it easy to manage small-group rotations and launch scripted lessons or digital resources directly from the screen. It highlights upcoming sound-spelling patterns and syllable types, which gives educators a clear road map for maintaining instructional momentum.

Evaluation for 2.2c
Materials include tools for educators to track student progress and growth, and tools for students to track their own progress and growth.

The diagnostic progress monitor overview includes printable tools to support educators in tracking student progress and growth. These resources include individual data summary sheets, progress-monitoring summary sheets, and class-at-a-glance summary sheets, providing educators with organized options for monitoring performance at both the individual and whole-class levels. The “Focus” dashboard provides educators with immediate insight into where individual and group students are on the Phonics Track. At a glance, educators can compare each student’s initial diagnostic placement to current performance, giving a clear picture of growth over time. Students also have access to this progression on the dashboard, reinforcing the shared tracking system that supports goal setting and self-monitoring across the program.

To support student ownership of learning, the program also provides a skill mastery tracker for students to monitor their progress. Within this tool, students record the Skill Set they mastered, their goal, their score, and a personal reflection on what they learned. Together, the educator- and student-facing tracking tools create a shared system for monitoring growth throughout the intervention cycle.

Evaluation for 2.2d
If applicable for the stated purpose of the supplemental program, materials include guidance for entry and exit criteria.

The “Assessment System Guide” explains how diagnostic assessment results identify student skill gaps and determine placement within the intervention model. The materials connect assessment data to intervention decisions by outlining how student performance informs instructional grouping, targeted support needs, and ongoing progress monitoring so educators can act on assessment results with a defined approach to intervention placement.

The program architecture further explains how student assessment data supports the identification of literacy needs and informs ongoing intervention decisions related to foundational skill development and targeted remediation. Exit criteria are also defined, with students exiting the program upon demonstrating mastery of grade-level foundational skills, as evidenced by progress monitoring and assessment data.

Evaluation for 3.1a
If applicable for the stated purpose, materials include educator guidance for differentiated instruction and activities for students who have not yet reached proficiency in grade-level skills.

The materials provide comprehensive guidance for differentiated instruction through a fully integrated, data-driven intervention model. The program places students based on diagnostic results, groups them by skill need, and provides support through targeted, educator-led instruction and additional resources, such as the Ascend Focus Teacher Manuals. This structure ensures that students who have not yet reached proficiency receive precise, responsive instruction aligned to their specific skill gaps.

“Ascend Program Design and Instructional Routines” indicates that students are placed in small groups based on skills not yet mastered. Small groups are flexible based on data. Differentiation occurs at three levels: adjusting pacing and scaffolding in whole-group instruction, targeting specific skill needs in small groups, and providing intensive individual intervention.

Evaluation for 3.1b
If applicable for the stated purpose, materials include educator guidance for differentiated instruction and activities for students who have demonstrated proficiency in grade-level skills.

This guidance is not applicable to the program because the program has a stated purpose of targeted remediation or acceleration, not additional instruction and/or practice.

Evaluation for 3.1c
Materials include educator guidance for providing specially designed instruction (SDI) for students receiving supports and services through special education.

The materials include educator tips directly within the lesson flow. These tips support educators to meet learners’ needs. For example, multilingual support instructs educators to allow learners to think, write, or talk about the questions in their home language before translating them to English. The lesson also offers sentence starter supports, such as “I feel safe when __.” However, the lesson does not guide educators in supporting special education students.

In Skill Set 5, lesson 35, “Nasal -am and -an,” the lesson provides general instructional supports, such as scripted educator prompts, educator modeling, articulation support, guided practice, visual word marking, and structured student response routines. However, the materials do not provide special education supports or guidance for adapting content, methodology, or the delivery of instruction based on a student’s specially designed instructional needs.

The “Learner Variability Framework” includes general guidance about how to support students receiving supports and services through special education. However, the guidance is not tailored to the content, structure, and/or features of the specific instructional program.

Evaluation for 3.2a
Educator-led supplemental programs include explicit (direct) prompts and guidance to support the educator in modeling and explaining the skill(s) to be learned.

The materials include explicit prompts and guidance to support educators in modeling and explaining the skills to be learned. Each lesson provides structured instructional routines with scripted language that guides educators through introducing new skills, modeling concepts, prompting student responses, and facilitating guided practice. The educator-facing materials also include supports, such as sound-spelling image cards and articulation guidance, to help educators clearly explain and model targeted skills.

For example, in phonics Skill Set 1, lesson 7, “Alphabet lesson: g”, the materials provide explicit educator prompts for introducing the target phonics skill, modeling letter formation, guiding student responses, and supporting practice before independent application. The materials direct the educator to model the /g/ sound, draw attention to articulation and voicing, explain when g represents /g/, and use an embedded pictorial mnemonic alphabetic representation with a goat picture for the uppercase and lowercase forms.

Evaluation for 3.2b
Educator-led supplemental programs include educator guidance and recommendations for effective delivery and facilitation using a variety of instructional approaches.

The materials include educator guidance and recommendations for effective delivery and facilitation using a variety of instructional approaches. Lessons follow a structured instructional routine that includes explicit instruction, educator modeling, guided practice, student response opportunities, and skill application. Embedded prompts, scripts, and facilitation guidance support educators in implementing instruction across multiple modalities, including oral language, reading, writing, spelling, and fluency activities. The program architecture explains that each session incorporates explicit instruction, dictation and encoding, and fluency application to support skill development from initial introduction to independent use.



The materials provide opportunities for students to engage with skills through verbal practice, written practice, partner discussions, and reading and writing activities. For example, in Skill Set 1, lesson 7, “Alphabet Lesson: g,” the lesson includes articulation modeling, direct instruction in letter formation, and phoneme isolation. Similarly, in Skill Set 2, lesson 12, the materials guide educators through educator modeling, guided practice, student response opportunities, and phoneme isolation, demonstrating a variety of instructional approaches supported by educator-facing facilitation guidance.

Evaluation for 3.2c
Materials include guidance for educators on recommended structures (e.g., whole group, small group, individual) to support effective implementation.

The materials feature a dashboard that organizes students by skill level and instructional placement, providing educators with a clear overview of students’ needs. In addition, the program’s student performance reports supply actionable data to inform instructional and grouping decisions.

The program guide includes guidance on recommended structures and recommendations on when to use whole-group, small-group, or individual instruction based on student results.

Evaluation for 3.3a
Materials include educator guidance on providing linguistic accommodations for various levels of language proficiency [as defined by the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS)], which are designed to engage students in using increasingly more academic language.

The materials offer targeted support for emergent bilingual (EB) students, such as call-out boxes with linguistic accommodations, including sentence frames, structured responses, educator modeling, and guided language practice.

Additionally, the materials provide guidance on supporting EB students. For example, in lesson 37, there is a multilingual support call-out box that informs educators that some languages lack a voiced /b/, and those learners may replace the /b/ with a voiceless /p/.

The “Multilingual Learners” section of the program guide aids educators in providing linguistic accommodations for various levels of language proficiency.

Evaluation for 3.3b
Materials include implementation guidance to support educators in effectively using the materials in state-approved bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) programs.

The materials include implementation guidance to support EB students through structured linguistic supports, such as sentence frames, oral language development routines, and educator modeling. For example, in lesson 76, there are oral language activities to target students at the elementary, intermediate, and secondary levels. Additionally, there are writing scaffolds using oral language and reminders to use words, phrases, or complete sentences as appropriate for their skill level.

The “Program Architecture” overview of the program guide indicates that the materials use an integrated approach to support multilingual learners, combining language and literacy skills. Explicit vocabulary instruction and oral discourse are used to support comprehension.

The “Multilingual Learners” section of the program guide includes implementation guidance to support educators in effectively using the materials in state-approved bilingual and ESL programs.

Evaluation for 3.3c
If designed for dual language immersion (DLI) programs, materials include resources that outline opportunities to address metalinguistic transfer from English to the partner language.

This guidance is not applicable because the program is not designed for dual language immersion (DLI) programs.

Evaluation for 4.1a
Materials do not include the three-cueing method as defined in Texas Education Code (TEC), §28.0062. TEC, §28.0062 defines three-cueing as a method of reading instruction for the identification of words in which a student is encouraged to draw on context and sentence structure to read words without sounding the words out or using a phonics-based approach.

No evidence of three-cueing as defined in Texas Education Code (TEC), §28.0062 was found in this program.

Evaluation for 4.2a
Materials include a systematic sequence of phonological awareness skills in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose that progresses from basic skills and larger units of sound to more complex skills and smaller units of sound.

The Phonics Track scope and sequence lists the skills taught in the program. The lessons in this resource are unnumbered and designed to stand alone from the phonics Skill Set lessons. They are used as needed to provide targeted instruction in phonological and phonemic awareness based on the results of the provided pretests. The sequence begins with foundational listening skills, sound discrimination, and word awareness. It then progresses into the more complex skills of syllable awareness, rhyme awareness, and blending and segmenting onset and rime.

The phonological awareness lessons teach students to identify and count larger units of sound before moving to smaller units of sound. For example, in the “Words in a Sentence” lessons, students listen to the educator read a sentence, and count the words. Sentences include “We play” and “The dog is big.” In the “Counting Syllables” lessons, students listen to the educator say a word, repeat the word while counting the syllables, and say how many syllables are in the word. Words include robot, circle, and banana.

Evaluation for 4.2b
Materials include a systematic sequence of phonemic awareness skills in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose that progresses from basic skills (e.g., identifying, blending, and segmenting phonemes) to more complex skills (e.g., adding, deleting, and substituting phonemes).

The scope and sequence lists the skills taught in the program. The lessons in this resource are unnumbered and designed to stand alone from the phonics Skill Set lessons. The instructional sequence effectively builds from foundational to more complex phonemic awareness skills. The sequence begins with the foundational skills of isolating sounds in the initial, medial, and final positions. The lessons then progress to the more complex skills of blending, segmenting, and manipulating phonemes.

In the “Isolating Initial Sounds” lessons, the educator says a word and the student identifies the initial phoneme in words including cat, sun, and fish. In the “Adding Initial Phonemes” lessons, the educator gives the student a word to repeat, then a phoneme to add to the beginning to make a new word. Examples include changing oil to boil and pool to spool.

Evaluation for 4.2c
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction in phonological and phonemic awareness skills in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

The scope and sequence includes scripted lessons that provide educators with explicit instructional routines for targeted phonological and phonemic awareness intervention. For example, in an “Isolating Final Sounds” lesson in the “Phoneme Awareness” section, the script prompts the educator to direct students to listen to the last sound in a word, which is the “sound your mouth makes when you finish saying a word.” The lesson continues to prompt the educator to model the skill before students practice with guidance.



The lessons in the “Phoneme Building” section of the scope and sequence prompt educators to model blending segmented phonemes into words before students practice. For example, in the “Blending Phonemes (3 Phonemes)” lessons, the educator models blending the phonemes /s/ /ŭ/ /n/ into sun. The lessons further guide students to blend phonemes into words, such as /r/ /ā/ /n/ into rain.

Evaluation for 4.2d
Materials include cumulative student practice of phonological and phonemic awareness skills in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

The substitution, blending, and segmenting routines in the scope and sequence provide cumulative practice of phonological and phonemic awareness skills. In the phoneme blending lesson titled “Blending Phonemes (2 Phonemes),” students blend two phonemes, such as /n/ /ō/ for the word no. In subsequent lessons within the “Phoneme Blending” section, students use those same skills when blending three or more phonemes, such as in the “Blending Phonemes (3 Phonemes)” and “Blending Phonemes (4 Phonemes)” lessons.

Advanced phoneme deletion, addition, and substitution tasks revisit and extend earlier phonemic awareness skills, requiring students to apply previously learned sound manipulation strategies cumulatively. For example, students have practiced deleting phonemes whole-group with educator guidance in the “Deleting Initial Phonemes” and “Deleting Final Phonemes” lessons within the “Phoneme Manipulation” section. In a later lesson titled “Deleting Phonemes (Mixed Positions)” within the same section, the educator begins the lesson by saying, “We are going to take away a sound from a word to make a new word. When we take away even one sound, the entire word changes.” Students practice the skill with the educator with the word cart. Students say the word and are asked to take away the last sound /t/. Students then say the new word. Students practice the skill with the words cold, paint, and wind. The class reads the word, the educator tells them which phoneme to delete, and then students say the new word.

Evaluation for 4.2e
Student practice includes only phonological and phonemic awareness skills that have been explicitly taught.

The materials provide student practice that requires skills that were previously taught. For example, the “Phoneme Blending” lessons in the scope and sequence provide students practice with blending phonemes. Students blend two phonemes in the first set of lessons titled “Blending Phonemes (2 Phonemes)” with words such as up. The second set of lessons titled “Blending Phonemes (3 Phonemes)” in the section provide students practice opportunities to blend three phonemes, which requires the previously taught skill of blending two phonemes. These lessons include words like ride, rain, and nose.

The phoneme blending lessons in the scope and sequence provide students practice with manipulating phonemes. Students delete initial phonemes in the first set of lessons of the “Phoneme Manipulation” section titled “Deleting Initial Phonemes.” The second set of lessons in the section titled “Deleting Final Phonemes” provide students practice opportunities to delete final phonemes, and the third set of lessons titled “Deleting Phonemes (Mixed Positions)” provides students practice opportunities to delete phonemes in mixed positions. The third set of lessons introduces deleting phonemes in mixed positions after the skills of deleting phonemes in initial and final positions has been taught in previous lessons.

Evaluation for 4.A.3a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing sound-spelling patterns in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

The materials provide a structured scope and sequence that outlines a clear phonics progression aligned to grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program’s stated purpose. Instruction systematically builds from foundational sound-symbol correspondence to increasingly complex sound-spelling patterns, including consonants, blends, syllable patterns, and advanced decoding and morphological structures. This progression supports cumulative skill development as students move from simple to more complex orthographic patterns.

For example, the program introduces basic consonant sound-spelling relationships in earlier lessons, such as phonics Skill Set 1, lesson 14, which focuses on the consonant d representing /d/. As instruction progresses, students apply previously learned phonics knowledge to more complex patterns, including consonant blends. In phonics Skill Set 10, lesson 64, students work with r-blends such as gr and pr, demonstrating advancement in sound-spelling complexity within the program’s sequence.

Evaluation for 4.A.3b
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction in decoding and encoding words using sound-spelling patterns in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

The materials provide explicit phonics instruction in which students decode and encode words using taught sound-spelling patterns through direct educator modeling, guided practice, dictation, and cumulative application activities. Instruction consistently supports students in connecting sounds to spellings, applying those patterns in word building, and reinforcing accuracy through reading and writing tasks.

For example, in Skill Set 7, lesson 43, students receive explicit instruction in the short vowel e sound-spelling pattern. The educator models articulation of /ĕ/ and explicitly teaches that the sound is represented by the letter e. Students apply this pattern by spelling the slide /hĕ/; building the word hen by adding /n/; and then spelling, marking the vowel, and reading the completed word. Students further demonstrate encoding through dictation practice with words such as get, met, and ten.

Evaluation for 4.A.3c
Materials include cumulative student practice in decoding and encoding words using sound-spelling patterns in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose, both in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text, to develop automaticity.

The program structures the lessons to provide cumulative practice for both decoding and encoding words in isolation and in decodable connected texts. The “Fluency” section of the lessons provides decoding practice in “Word-Level Accuracy,” “Sentence-Level Accuracy,” and “Passage Fluency” activities. The dictation bank portion of the lessons provides encoding practice using “Word Chain” and “Sentence Dictation” activities.

The materials provide cumulative student practice in decoding words using sound-spelling patterns. For example, in Skill Set 14, lesson 92, students practice decoding words with short e. Students decode words in isolation, including red, pen, and men in the “Word-Level Accuracy” activity within the “Fluency” section of the lesson. During the “Sentence-Level Accuracy” and “Passage Fluency” activities in the lesson, students practice decoding words in decodable connected text, using sentences such as “The red hen is in the pen,” and a brief passage “The Wet Day.”

Evaluation for 4.A.3d
Student practice includes only sound-spelling patterns that have been explicitly taught.

The materials provide student practice of sound-spelling patterns that have been explicitly taught. For example, the Skill Set 14 fluency passage provides student practice aligned to the sound-spelling patterns students are studying in the lesson sequence. The passage and related practice materials are connected to the phonetic patterns taught in Skill Set 14 lessons, and students apply their knowledge of sound-spelling patterns in connected text practice rather than practicing unrelated patterns.

For example, in Skill Set 14, lesson 97, students learn the short-i sound-spelling pattern. In lesson 98, students apply this explicitly taught pattern through dictation and passage reading, working with words such as lint, hint, pit, and hit. In Skill Set 14 fluency passages, students also read connected text that reinforces the same short-i pattern introduced in the lesson sequence. These activities ensure student practice remains fully aligned to previously taught sound-spelling patterns and supports cumulative application in reading and writing.

Evaluation for 4.B.3a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing regular and irregular high-frequency words from a research-based list in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

The materials provide a structured routine for teaching high-frequency words through the “High-Frequency Words” section of the Ascend Focus Teacher Manuals, which includes approximately 125 high-frequency words. Each word follows a consistent two-day instructional routine that includes “Tap it, map it, examine it, read it, write it, review it, read it again, write it again, and extend it,” supported by scripted educator directions, student responses, and explicit modeling.

The “High-Frequency Words” section indicates that the high-frequency words come from the “Children’s Picture Book (CBP) Sight Words” list and makes recommendations for words taught at each grade level.

Evaluation for 4.B.3b
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction in decoding and encoding regular and irregular high-frequency words from a research-based list in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

The materials include explicit instruction in decoding regular and irregular high-frequency words. For example, students learn the word you the lesson “Word: you (Day 1)” in the “High-Frequency Words” section. In the “Tap It” activity, the educator says, “Say the word you. → (you). Tell me the sounds in the word you. → (/y/ /ū/). How many sounds are there? → (two).” During the “Examine It” activity, the educator says, “Let’s look closely at the unusual part. Usually when we hear the sound /ū/, it is spelled with the letter u. Which letters are spelling this sound in the word you? → (y and u).” Finally, in the “Read It” activity, the educator asks the students to read the word you. The structure of and activities within this lesson are replicated in all day 1 lessons.

Additionally, the materials include explicit instruction in encoding regular and irregular high-frequency words. For example, students spell the word you in the lesson “Word: you (Day 1).” During the “Map It” activity, the educator says, “What’s the first sound in the word you? → (/y/). What letter can spell that sound? → (y). Write the letter y. What’s the next sound in the word you? → (/ū/). Here is an unusual spelling. Write the letters ou. We have letters to match each sound in the word you.” Then, in the “Write It” activity, the educator asks the students to write and spell the word you three times. The structure of and activities within this lesson are replicated in all day 1 lessons.

Evaluation for 4.B.3c
Materials include cumulative student practice in decoding and encoding regular and irregular high-frequency words from a research-based list in alignment with grade-level skills as appropriate for the program's stated purpose, both in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text, to develop automaticity.

The materials include cumulative practice in decoding regular and irregular high-frequency words. In the “High-Frequency Words” section, the students learn a word in day 1 lessons. During day 2 lessons, the students read the word in isolation and in sentences. For example, the students read the word you in isolation and in a sentence (“You sat.”) in the “Read It” activity. Additionally, students develop automaticity reading the word you in the passages included in the online Skill Set lessons. Specifically, the Skill Set 25, lesson 173, passage “A Snake on the Hike” provides students an opportunity to practice decoding the word you.

Additionally, the materials include cumulative practice in encoding regular and irregular high-frequency words. During day 2 high-frequency word lessons, students say how to write the word and then practice writing it in sentences. For example, the students write the sentences “You had a red hat” and “Can you nap on the bed?” in the lesson “Word: you (Day 2).”

Evaluation for 4.B.3d
Student practice includes only regular and irregular high-frequency words that have been explicitly taught.

The lessons in the “High-Frequency Words” section are grouped into two-day segments. Day 1 lessons introduce a high-frequency word through “Tap It,” “Map It,” “Examine It,” “Read It,” and “Write It” activities. Students identify the sounds they hear in the word, discuss the word, read it, and write it. Day 2 lessons extend the learning from day 1 lessons through “Review It,” “Read It,” “Write It,” and “Extend It” activities. Students practice reading and writing the explicitly taught words from day 1 lessons in connected text.

Students decode high-frequency words in decodable texts that feature high-frequency words introduced during explicit instruction in the “High-Frequency Words” lessons. For example, the passage titled “Quang and the Gong” in Skill Set 12, lesson 83, targets high-frequency words such as the, and, and he.

Evaluation for 4.C.3a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing syllable types and syllable division principles in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

This guidance is not applicable to the program because TEKS for the grade level do not list syllable types or syllable division principles.

Evaluation for 4.C.3b
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction in decoding and encoding one-syllable and multisyllabic words in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

This guidance statement is not applicable to the program because TEKS for the grade level do not list decoding and encoding one-syllable or multisyllabic words.

Evaluation for 4.C.3c
Materials include cumulative student practice in decoding and encoding one-syllable and multisyllabic words in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose, both in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text, to develop automaticity.

This guidance is not applicable to the program because TEKS for the grade level do not list decoding and encoding one-syllable and multisyllabic words.

Evaluation for 4.C.3d
Student practice includes only syllable types and syllable division principles that have been explicitly taught.

This guidance is not applicable to the program because TEKS for the grade level do not list syllable types or syllable division principles.

Evaluation for 4.D.3a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing morphemes in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

The guidance is not applicable to the program because TEKS for the grade level do not list morphemes.

Evaluation for 4.D.3b
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction on morphological skills in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

This guidance is not applicable to the program because TEKS for the grade level do not list morphological skills.

Evaluation for 4.D.3c
Materials include cumulative student practice of morphological skills in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose, both in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in connected text, to develop automaticity.

This guidance is not applicable to the program because TEKS for the grade level do not list morphological skills.

Evaluation for 4.D.3d
Student practice includes only morphemes that have been explicitly taught.

This guidance is not applicable to the program because TEKS for the grade level do not list morphemes.