Direct-reading instruction and scaffolded practice using close-reading strategies to help striving students build critical reading comprehension and move toward grade level.
Skills-Based Instruction & Practice for Comprehension Development
SPIRE Next provides skills-based instruction and practice through genre-specific texts and close reading activities that strengthen comprehension. Lessons are organized by genre and offer flexible entry points, allowing educators to begin where students need support most. Designed for striving readers, SPIRE Next combines explicit instruction, scaffolded practice, and close reading strategies to build comprehension skills and reading confidence.
SPIRE Next Earns ESSA Level IV Validation
SPIRE Next meets ESSA Level IV standards with a research-backed logic model, providing structured reading comprehension support for grades 3–8. With scaffolded instruction, it ensures all learners engage with complex texts, making it an essential solution for evidence-based literacy intervention.
Strengthen Comprehension Through Structured Close Reading
Each SPIRE Next lesson features multiple close-reading opportunities that guide students through progressively deeper analysis of text while building essential reading skills.
First read focuses on developing a reading comprehension skill.
Second read focuses on a literary or genre skill.
Third read focuses on critical thinking.
SPIRE Next Student Edition Features:
Multiple lessons in each book include at least two stories per close reading lesson and at least two skills per story.
Each lesson presents three close read opportunities to build comprehension skills; literary or genre skills; and critical thinking skills.
The color-coded navigation makes it easy to teach and practice critical reading skills.
SPIRE Next Teacher’s Manual Features:
In-depth instruction and modeling of skills and strategies that support close reading.
Optional fluency and foundational skills activities.
Rubrics at point of use.
Explanations of the objective and skills the student will learn in each close read.
The lesson overview chart saves preparation time. A breakdown of the lesson's components helps teachers plan.
Objectives and granular reading comprehension, literary, genre, and vocabulary skills give teachers at-a-glance information about the lesson's focus.
Color coding orients the teacher to the three-read process.
Scaffolded instruction and interactive prompts provide successive intervention for the callout prompts in the Student Edition.
Support for striving learners is provided at point of use.
SPIRE Next Resources
SPIRE Next Program Overview
An overview of the SPIRE Next reading comprehension program and its instructional approach.
SPIRE Next is a Tier 2 reading comprehension intervention program designed to help striving students strengthen their understanding of complex texts. It combines explicit instruction, scaffolded practice, and close reading strategies to build confident, independent readers.
SPIRE Next is designed for students who have developed basic decoding skills but need targeted support with reading comprehension. It is ideal for upper elementary and middle school students who are not yet meeting grade-level expectations.
SPIRE Next focuses on essential reading comprehension skills, including close reading, vocabulary in context, analyzing literary and informational texts, and developing critical thinking skills that transfer across subjects.
SPIRE Next is designed for students who have developed foundational reading skills and are ready to focus on comprehension in order to access grade level texts. These students can decode accurately and read with increasing fluency, but need support making meaning from text, analyzing what they read, and applying higher-level thinking skills to reach grade-level expectations.
SPIRE 4th Edition and SPIRE Up: Build foundational literacy skills, including decoding, fluency, and reading accuracy.
Reading Accelerator: Accelerates foundational reading development and closes gaps for students who need additional support with decoding and fluency.
Megawords: Strengthens advanced word analysis through morphology, syllabication, and multisyllabic word reading.
SPIRE Next: Develops comprehension, close reading, text analysis, and critical-thinking skills.
Together, these programs help educators provide targeted instruction at every stage of literacy development, from learning to read to reading for understanding.
SPIRE Next uses a structured, scaffolded instructional model with a gradual release of responsibility, moving students from teacher-led instruction to independent application.
Yes! SPIRE Next includes built-in assessments such as lesson quizzes, practice tests, and summative assessments, allowing educators to monitor progress and adjust instruction as needed.
SPIRE Next is designed as a Tier 2 reading intervention within an MTSS or RTI framework, providing targeted, small-group support for students who need additional help with comprehension beyond core instruction.
