Bloomfield Public Schools | Raising the Bar is Taking us Far
James Thompson, Jr., Ed.D.
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
William J. Joslyn
INTERIM CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Ellen J. Stoltz, Ph.D.
CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICER
Bethany Silver, Ph.D.
DIRECTOR OF ASSESSMENT,
EVALUATION & RESEARCH
Stacey McCann
DIRECTOR OF SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT &
INTERVENTION
William J. Joslyn
INTERIM HUMAN RESOURCES
SPECIALIST
Focusing on Effective Vocabulary Instruction
If vocabulary instruction is going to be effective, a focus on developing a rich vocabulary
must begin in preschool and continue throughout the school years (Nagy, 2005). According to
Montgomery (2000), a large vocabulary “frequently sets high-achieving students apart from less
successful students.” The Common Core Standards value the development of academic
vocabulary as a pathway to prepare students for college and career. For example, students are
required to “determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and
phrases by using context clues, analyzing word parts, and consulting general and specialized
reference materials as appropriate.”
As educators, how do we approach such a seemingly monumental amount of
vocabulary? Isabel Beck (2008) constructed a model categorizing words in three levels, or tiers.
These tiers are organized by common usage and applicability (broad use to narrow use) and
help teachers to discern how, where and on what to focus. In short, Tier I words represent the
daily words used in conversation and recognized easily by most students. Tier 2 words are used
in most general academic content, often appearing in both written and oral language in most
subject areas. Tier 3 vocabulary refers to a specific subject not found or used across subject
areas. Students exposed to Tier 3 words become familiar with scientific and mathematical
terms, such as mitosis or quadratic equations, terms that have minimal applicability beyond the
content from which the words are derived.
Ultimately, if we want our students to analyze independently how words used in a text to
determine meaning, then focusing on both general academic and domain-specific vocabulary is
a must.
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