1. Fountas and
Pinnell –
Leveled
Literacy
Intervention
By Jaclyn Moran

2. The Creators
 Developed by Irene Fountas and Gay Su
Pinnell
 They both originally worked in Reading
Recovery (early intervention one-to-one
tutoring)
 In 1996 they introduced a systematic
approach to small-group reading instruction
in their first text, Guided Reading: Good First
Teaching for All Students.
 In 2005 they created the Leveled Literacy
Intervention System

3. The System
 Produced by Heinneman Publishers
 Emphasizes phonological awareness and
phonics, fluency, comprehension, oral
language skills, and vocabulary.
 Utilizes authentic texts to motivate
students and maintain attention

4. Leveled Literacy Intervention
(LLI)
 Who:
 Administered to a small group of 3-4 students
 Designed for kindergarten to second grade
students
 When:
 Instructional class time of 30-45 minutes every
day
 For a duration of 14-20 weeks
 Home component as well
 What:
 Considered an intervention because it is to be
taught in addition to regular curriculum reading
instruction.

5. Materials
 The LLI materials are based around a
series of “leveled” texts (i.e. texts of
progressing difficulty) with difficulty
measured by the Fountas and Pinnell text
gradient system that they have
established.
 Comes with detailed teaching guide and
lesson script

6. How it is implemented?
 The first ten days are structured to
establish a routine
 The group will begin with a lap book for
shared reading and then the students
read the same text in a little book.
 The lessons then move on to
comprehension discussions, shared
writing, word work, and homework.

7. Structured Lesson Format
 Everyday:
 10 minutes is allocated to phonemic
awareness/discrimination and phonics
 At least 5 minutes are reserved for oral
rereading of texts
 Every
other day in each ten-lesson
sequence, students write for 15 minutes.

8. Typical Lesson format for
Grade 3 Red Level

9. Sample Red Level Odd-Day
Lesson

10. Home-school literacy
connection
 Students are given a specific word study
or writing activity to do at home
 Given a Take-Home Book version of every
book they read in their lessons. These are
black-and-white versions of the books
and are inexpensive so students can keep
them.
 Children and their families can build a
home collection of books that the
children can read aloud and practice.

11. Cost
 The average cost per student is $84.79,
based on 4 groups of 3 students for two
different 18 week sessions. The
replacement cost per student is $29.24
(take home bags, little books, and writing
books).
 Each grade level System is priced as a
package and is inclusive of all materials
necessary for instructional intervention of
3 students per group. The online prices for
the sets are as follows:
 LLI (Kindergarten)Orange - $1,635
 LLI (Grade 1) Green - $2,500
 LLI (Grade 2) Blue - $2,835
 LLI (Grade 3) Red -$4,500

12. Research and Results
 The Center for Research and Educational
Policy (CREP) at University of Memphis
conducted two independent evaluations of
LLI.
 In the first study, pre-LLI tests showed only 5%
of the students reading at grade level on the
Gates-MacGinitie Reading test, while post-LLI
tests showed 34% of students reading at
grade level (Harrison, Grehan, Ross, & Inan,
2007).
 In the second study, a randomized control-
group study, LLI students in grades K-2 gained
more in reading, as measured by the
Benchmark Assessment and/or DIBELS, than
students in the control group (Ransford-
Kaldon, 2010).

13. The Future
 Currently, Fountas & Pinnell is working with
children’s writers and illustrators to create texts
to extend LLI
 Leveled Literacy Intervention will be
extended through the publication of four
more systems to serve students across the
upper elementary grades and middle school.
 According to Fountas & Pinnell, their ultimate
goal is “to create engaging texts that
students can read and that also offer age
appropriate material”

14. References
Fountas, Irene C., Gay Su Pinnell, and Heinemann. "The Fountas & Pinnell Story."
Heinemann. 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.heinemann.com/fountasandpinnell/FountasPinnellStory.pdf>.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the
National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: an evidence-based
assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for
reading instruction. Web. 23 Nov. 2012
<http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/nrp/smallbook.htm>.
Ransford-Kaldon, C. R., E. S. Flynt, C. L. Ross, L. Franceschini, T. Zoblotsky & Y.
Huang. 2011. “Implementation of Effective Intervention: An Empirical Study to
Evaluate the Efficacy of Fountas & Pinnell’s Leveled Literacy Intervention Program
(LLI), 2009–2010.” Memphis, TN: University of Memphis Center for Research in
Educational Policy. Web. 2 Dec. 2012 <
http://www.heinemann.com/fountasandpinnell/research/LLIEfficacyStudyReport2
010.pdf>.
Research base for leveled literacy intervention. Heinemann. (2011). Web. 2 Dec.
2012 <http://www.heinemann.com/fountasandpinnell/researchLLI.aspx>.