ANSWER:

Secondary school principals determine the number of sections of each content area: reading; English; mathematics; social studies; science; language; and a variety of electives based on enrollment. The more students who need or choose (electives) a course, the more sections that will be implemented using the allocated staffing. Each school uses the total allocation of teachers and the student course registration data to determine how many sections of each course they will offer. For reading, the following courses are offered and expectations for participation in the class are provided.

• Digital Literacy 1 is a literacy course designed for all sixth grade students.
• Digital Literacy 2 (replacing reading 7 for the 2016-2017 school year) is an elective course at the seventh grade level with differentiated support for students in need of reading support/intervention. Students who are identified as needing support or intervention participate in this course.
• READ 180 is designed for students reading two or more grade levels below their current grade in addition to considering the following factors: grades; teacher and parent input; data from assessments (MAP-R, PARCC); and student learning needs.

So, the number of reading courses is dependent on the total number of 6th graders combined with the number of students identified to participate in Digital Literacy 2 and READ 180. For example, in a school with 200 6th graders and 40 students identified for Digital Literacy 2 and 20 students identified for READ 180 (double period) the reading classes offered would most likely include 11 sections (total FTE of 2.4 sections) of reading. This would allow for eight reading classes in 6th grade of 25, two sections of digital literacy 2 and one section of READ 180. Another school with more students would have more sections, while a school with fewer students would use a smaller allocation.