The PALS Online System offers a Grouping Function to help you form small, flexible groups for targeted literacy instruction based on student’s instructional levels in reading and spelling.

Teachers in grades 1-8 who have entered complete diagnostic scores for the current assessment window can form up to 4 within-classroom groups, make adjustments as needed, and view reports for each group.

Administrators have access to school-level grouping, and can create groups of same-grade students from different classes if needed, without pulling those student records out of their classes.  Literacy Groups can group any students in grades 1-8.  Intervention Groups can group students in K-8 who have been identified by PALS as being at-risk for reading difficulty.

Click here for instructions for using the grouping functions at any level.

Once complete scores are entered during fall, mid-year, or spring, the PALS Grouping Functions become available for that window.  Groups can be adjusted at any time, and are always based on data from the current assessment window.

The goal of the grouping process is to form heterogeneous classrooms engaged in whole-group instruction that are regrouped for specific times during the day into flexible achievement- or needs-based groups.  Literacy coaches and reading specialists who would like to organize small-group instruction across classes can use this feature to select students according to their instructional levels.