For All, a highly structured literacy program begun by a husband and wife research team in Maryland. Not everyone loves the scripted approach. But for new and inexperienced teachers, SFA provides a detailed road map toward getting all students reading at grade level by Grade 3. Santiago now knows exactly what needs to be done. At the count of one, everybody please get ready.
Students scramble into seats.
And for the next two hours, the same music and many of the same words are repeated. Then come vocabulary review and phonics drills, followed by 20 minutes of individual tutoring for struggling readers. While most schools do include some phonics instruction, it is nowhere near as intensive as the SFA program. All chancellor district schools have SFA periods, in which teachers impose the instruction at the same time and have been told what to do and say, at least initially. At PS 75, SFA has sparked a reading renaissance that was never before possible because so few of its students could actually read.