SRA FLEX LITERACY ™ IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE 9
interaction but not in the absence of this interaction. Within this zone, the level of assistance
necessary for the student to complete the skill ranges from modeling to guided practice.
The level of support is gradually faded until the third level of development, when the
student becomes independent in skill performance. The key to development in this model
is the social interaction between the teacher and the students; both teacher and students
learn from each other through this interaction (Ash & Levitt, 2003).
The SRA FLEX LiteracyTM Gradual Release Model of Instruction
The SRA FLEX LiteracyTM gradual-release model of instruction has components of both
the explicit instructional model and the social constructivist model. Students receive
explicit modeling, guided practice (i.e., mediated scaffolding), independent practice,
assessment, and maintenance opportunities to learn critical reading skills and complex
strategies. Specifically, students receive strong support when they are “novice
learners,” which fades to mediated scaffolding, and finally to student independence
when they become “experts.” Students are assessed to determine where and how
instruction is provided through placement testing and ongoing, formative assessment.
According to David T. Conley (2011), students move from “novice to expert in their
strategic thinking as the result of frequent practice on progressively more complex
tasks, assignments, and activities.” The novice must proceed in a linear fashion to
ensure prerequisites are mastered to lay a foundation for more complex literacy skills
and strategies. Only then can students become experts. Learning relies on the social
interaction between the students and the computer and/or teacher. It is considered a
fluid process in which the computer or teacher informs the students, the students’
performance in turn informs the computer or teacher, and the computer or teacher
adjusts instruction based on this information. Therefore, a feedback loop is provided
from the computer or teacher to the students and from the students back to the
computer or teacher.
Gradual Release Model*
(SRA FLEX Literacy ™)
Computer/Student and/or Teacher/Student Interaction
GUIDE
“WE DO”
MODEL
“I DO”
MONITOR
“YOU DO”
MASTERY
CHECK REVIEW
Explicit
Modeling
Guided
Practice
Independent
Practice Assessment Maintenance