Correlation of the Big Ideas in Beginning
Reading and the ELA Survey
Oregon SEC Collaborative
Research has shown that effective readers are skilled in the five big ideas of early literacy:
phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, fluency with text, vocabulary, and comprehension.
The English Language Arts and Reading Survey of Enacted Curriculum poses a series of
questions to teachers about what they teach (content), the length of instructional time spent on
each topic, and the level of cognitive demand required of students (e.g., recall, demonstrate,
analyze).
The data from this survey can provide teachers, as well as school and district leaders with data
showing the degree to which early reading skills are taught, the duration of that instruction and
how that instruction aligns with state standards.
While there are many classroom assessments that measure students’ progress in early reading,
the unique data-set provided by SEC allows users to view the curriculum enacted by the
classroom teacher. A comparison of the two separate measures can provide educators insight
into the relationship between what is taught by the teacher and what is learned by the student.
Five Big Ideas of Beginning Reading
Correlated SEC Standards in English
Language Arts Survey
Phonemic Awareness:
The ability to hear and manipulate the sounds in
spoken words and the understanding that
spoken words and syllables are made up of
sequences of speech sounds.
 Phoneme Isolation
 Phoneme Blending
 Phoneme Segmentation
 Onset-Rime
 Sound Patterns
 Rhyme Recognition
 Phoneme deletion/substitution
Alphabetic Principle:
Composed of two parts:
 Alphabet recognition
 Consonants
 Consonant Blends
 Consonant Digraphs (ch, sh, th)
 Dipthongs (oi, ow, oy)
 R-controlled Vowels
 Patterns within Words
 Vowel Letters (a, e, i, o, u, y)
 Vowel Phonemes (15 sounds)

Alphabetic Understanding: Words are
composed of letters that represent
sounds.

Phonological Recoding: Using systematic
relationships between letters and
phonemes (letter-sound correspondence)
to retrieve the pronunciation of an
unknown printed string or to spell words.
The Oregon SEC Collaborative is a partnership between the OAESD Instructional Leadership Council and the Oregon Department
of Education
-1–
SEC 301
(Updated 06.01.07)
Correlation of the Big Ideas in Beginning
Reading and the ELA Survey
Oregon SEC Collaborative
Fluency:
Reading words with no noticeable cognitive or
mental effort (automaticity). It is having mastered
word recognition skills to the point of
overlearning. Fundamental skills are so
"automatic" that they do not require conscious
attention.
 Prosody (phrasing, intonation, inflection)
 Automaticity of words and phrases
 Speed/Pace
 Accuracy
Vocabulary:
Learners must have access to the meanings of
words to guide them into contemplating known
concepts in novel ways (i.e. to learn something
new).
 Expressive Vocabulary: Requires a
speaker or writer to produce a specific
label for a particular meaning.
 Compound words and contractions
 Inflectional forms (-s, -ed, -ing)
 Suffixes, prefixes, and root words
 Word definitions (including new
vocabulary)
 Synonyms and Antonyms
 Word or phrase meaning from context

Receptive Vocabulary: Requires a reader
to associate a specific meaning with a
given label as in reading or listening.
Comprehension:
The complex cognitive process involving the
intentional interaction between reader and text to
extract meaning.

The essence of reading

Active and intentional thinking in which
the meaning is constructed through
interactions between the test and the
reader (Durkin, 1973)
 Word meaning from context
 Phrase
 Sentence
 Paragraph
 Main ideas, Key concepts
 Narrative elements (events, characters,
setting, plot)
 Text features (index, fonts, glossary)
 Graphics (images, illustrations)
 Expository elements (lists, description,
explanation)
 Technical elements (bullets, instructions,
sidebars)
 Electronic elements (hypertext links,
color)
 Strategies (question, infer, visualize)
 Metacognitive process (reflecting about
one’s process)
 Self-correction strategies (fix-up, cueing,
monitoring)
 Fact and opinion
The Oregon SEC Collaborative is a partnership between the OAESD Instructional Leadership Council and the Oregon Department
of Education
-2–
SEC 301
(Updated 06.01.07)