SIM News​​​​

Project iSTAR is recruiting secondary writing teachers to partner with us in shaping the future of writing instruction for adolescents with disabilities. Fill out this form if you're interested. Participating teachers will receive an honorarium for their time and expertise.

     Who We’re Looking For:

• 3 or more schools willing to participate
• 3–5 teachers per school
• Teachers in grades 6–9 who teach writing
• Each teacher must have at least 3 students with IEPs

     The iSTAR platform will include:

• Multiple SIM Writing Interventions: Sentence Writing Strategy, Paragraph Writing Strategy, Writing with a Purpose Routine (new)
• A Student Interest Inventory that generates personalized writing prompts
• Automated writing feedback and scoring
• Teacher, Student, and Family dashboards for progress monitoring and communications
• Opportunities for teachers to test features and offer feedback to improve the user experience

     Projected Impact:

     By participating, teachers contribute to a long‑term effort to:

• Improve ASWD performance on local writing assessments
• Strengthen family–school engagement in writing development
• Expand access to high‑quality, adaptive writing instruction nationwide
• Support sustainability through SIM professional development and micro‑credentialing.

New SIM Canvas Courses!

• Understanding Academic Language Strategy on Canvas

• Concept Comparison Routine on Canvas

Season 3, Episode 4 of Co-Teachers in Classrooms Getting Coffee  talks with KUCRL Co-Director, Dr. Jocelyn Washburn, to explore her personal experience with co-teaching and how High-Leverage Practices (HLPs) transform real classrooms.

Reminders and Support:

Are you planning ahead for a 2026-27 Reading Intervention? Let us know how we can support you with Xtreme Reading. Together we can help students thrive!

SIM in the Field

• Thank you to presenter, Karen Staley, and everyone who joined the SLANT Webinar on Jan. 28th!

• KU CRL Co-Director, Dr. Suzy Myers and Dr. Haiying Long (University of Kansas School of Education & Human Sciences) spent the day at the Kansas Capitol sharing new research on the state of literacy in Kansas for Literacy Day at the Capitol.

  

  They joined School of Education representatives in supporting funding for the Kansas Blueprint for Literacy. The event was organized by the Kansas Board of Regents.

• CRL Staff enjoyed their time at the Life Span Institute Collaboratory in January. It was a nice event to collaborate on shared research interests and communication.

  

   

Recent Publications by KU CRL Staff and SIM Network Members:

• You can now find the following Fusion Reading article, The Effects of a Comprehensive and Supplemental Middle School Reading Program, for free on KU Scholarworks.
• Goldman SR, Smith SJ and Carreon A. (2025) Special education teachers' use of AI to support students with disabilities in writing. Front. Educ. 10:1710974. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1710974

More Resources and Media Picks:

• The most recent Sold a Story podcast from APM Reports, Emily Hanford LIVE from Planet Word with Reid Lyon and Margaret Goldberg, is really good and worth a listen or read.
• Check out all of the Featured News from our Parent Organization, KU Life Span Institute. There is some great research happening to improve lives!
• An interesting read from NPR as the question of AI in schools continues to evolve: To keep AI out of her classroom, this high school English teacher went analog.

Events for SIM Professional Developers and Specialists:

• 2026 Winter SIM Update Conference, Feb. 16- Mar. 19

• 2026 Content Literacy Leadership Institute (CLLI) 

  
  If you know anyone who's interested in becoming a Strategic Instruction Model (SIM™) Professional Developer, our CLLI runs June-October, offering hands on learning, collaboration, and leadership development. Registration intent due by March 1.
• SIM Virtual Update Conference, Fall 2026: This will be both a a synchronous and asynchronous virtual event. More details coming soon.

SIM Resources:

• SLANT (2nd Edition) Manual - FREE
• Teaching Content to All Manual - FREE
• Professional Learning Micro-credentials for teachers - FREE
• NEW SIM CROSSWALKS:
  • SIM & Structured Literacy  AND
  • SIM & Universal Design for Learning
• 2025 SIM One-Page Flyer
• Handout with quick links to SIM resources (crosswalks and websites)

SIM Courses for Educators:

Supporting Adolescent Literacy for Successful School Change

Is your school team looking for a course in adolescent literacy to dramatically impact teacher and student performance? We have a course for that!

Our online learning course, Supporting Adolescent Literacy for Successful School Change, is a six-part course designed to support school teams in implementing a systematic approach to adolescent literacy using evidence-based learning tools. Follow the link above for more information and to register today!

Coming Soon - Course First! - this course will include the Course Organizer Routine, Unit Organizer Routine, concept Mastery Routine, and Framing Routine 

LEARN NEW SKILLS with SIM Online Classes:

• Content Enhancement Routines:
  • NEW Dec. 2025 - Concept Comparison Routine
  • Concept Mastery Routine
  • Cross-Curricular Argumentation Routine
  • Framing Routine
  • Unit Organizer Routine
• Learning Strategies
  • Fundamentals of Paraphrasing and Summarizing Strategy
  • The Inference Strategy
  • The Paragraph Writing Strategy
  • Possible Selves Strategy (1st or 2nd edition)
  • Sentence Writing Strategies (Fundamentals and Proficiency)
  • NEW Dec. 2025 - Understanding Academic Language