Foundations & Frameworks is a K-6 Instructional Reading program
This research-based instructional reading program was developed at Briarwood Christian School, Birmingham, AL in 2001 by Kevin D. Washburn, Ed.D. and Cheryl M. Blackmon, Ed.D., the school’s leaders of curriculum and instruction at the time. While originally created for Briarwood’s teachers and students, the program soon gained attention from schools across the country who expressed an interest in adopting it. Subsequently, intensive training components were developed, and are now integral to Foundations & Frameworks implementation. The program’s maintenance, training coordination, and promotion is under the direction of Debbie Robertson, M.S.Ed., Director of Curriculum, and Joanne Sellers Barbee, M.Ed., Foundations & Frameworks Coordinator. Program support—kit rental, course material graphic design, and course material fulfillment—is provided by Make Way for Books.
Foundations & Frameworks employs the best instructional practices for equipping students to fully understand ideas conveyed in text. Thinking skills are explicitly taught and modeled, time is dedicated to skill mastery, quality literature is used for skill instruction, small groups interact daily, visual tools are used to organize and represent patterns of thinking, vocabulary instruction emphasizes complete word understanding, and phonemic awareness and phonics instruction is explicit and systematic.
Foundations & Frameworks is ideally implemented within a school system or a school-wide setting (K-6). To become a certified user at a currently-employing school, participants are required to complete the 3-day Architecture of Learning Basic Course first to understand and be able to use the instructional design model upon which the reading program is built. Participants are then required to complete the 7-day Foundations & Frameworks Basic Training.
Required Architecture of Learning Basic Course participant materials include:
- Architecture of Learning Basic Course Book
- The Architecture of Learning: Designing Instruction for the Learning Brain (text)
Required Foundations & Frameworks Basic Training participant materials include:
- Foundations & Frameworks Basic Training Course Book
- Foundations & Frameworks Toolbox
- Foundations & Frameworks Beginning Reading Supplemental Guide (Gr K-2)
Foundations & Frameworks student materials include:
- Primary SPECS Log: Early Childhood Format
- Primary SPECS Log
- Elementary SPECS Log
- Advanced SPECS Log
Graduate Credit is available for both Architecture of Learning and Foundations & Frameworks through Northwest Missouri State University.
A Foundations & Frameworks Overview and additional program details are available at Briarwood Christian School’s Web site.