Benchmark Phonics Intervention, Level 3 Texas Edition

Evaluation for 1.1a
Materials include an explanation of the stated purpose of the supplemental program (e.g., additional instruction and/or practice, targeted remediation or acceleration).

Benchmark Advance Phonics Intervention is a supplemental program with a clearly stated purpose: targeted remediation. Each level of the program includes a program structure resource that states, “Phonics Intervention provides intensive phonics and phonological awareness instruction for students who are two or more years below grade-level expectations.”

The Program Guide includes a “Program Structure” section that states, “Phonics Intervention is designed to be used alongside any core ELA program” to provide targeted, research-based tier-3 “intervention for students who need additional instruction in foundational literacy skills.”

In addition, the materials state that “explicit, systematic, and multimodal” instruction aligns with the definition of specially designed instruction (SDI) provided by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Evaluation for 1.1b
Materials include guidance on how to appropriately use the supplemental program to support an existing core reading and language arts program.

Educators administer a comprehensive phonics survey to “identify gaps in students’ foundational phonics skills.” The materials provide educators with additional steps for students who demonstrate multiple decoding difficulties, including the administration of a Phonological Awareness Assessment to determine whether weaknesses in prerequisite skills are contributing factors. Educators then use this assessment data to plan targeted small-group instruction used in addition to an existing core reading and language arts project.

Benchmark Advance Phonics Intervention includes a Benchmark Assessment and Screener Handbook. This handbook explains how educators can use program phonics assessments, such as the Quick Phonics Assessment (QPA) and Quick Spelling Assessment (QSA), to place students into appropriate intervention levels and identify a suitable starting unit. Educators administer this instruction to support an existing core reading and language arts program.

Evaluation for 1.1c
Materials include a scope and sequence outlining student expectations, skills taught, and a rationale for the design of the scope and sequence.

Benchmark Advance Phonics Intervention Level 3 includes a scope and sequence that outlines student expectations and the skills taught. The Program Guide includes the scope and sequence, and each unit lists phonological awareness, a focus skill, high-frequency words, the TEKS, and ELPS.

Benchmark Advance Phonics Intervention Level 3 includes a rationale for the design of the program’s scope and sequence in the “Phonics Intervention Routines” videos. These videos explain each routine and describe the research to support every lesson component. Lessons are intentionally structured so components build on one another and increase in complexity, beginning with having students reread text for fluency and concluding with having students apply the lesson focus skill with writing and dictation.

Evaluation for 1.1d
Materials include guidance on time requirements (e.g., duration, frequency) and suggested pacing for effective implementation.

Benchmark Advance Phonics Intervention Level 3 includes guidance on the time requirements and suggested pacing for effective implementation in the Program Guide. The Program Guide also includes the “High-Impact Instruction Walk-Through of Teacher’s Guides” section that specifies expectations for lesson structure and instructional flow. The materials state, “Each daily lesson is divided into three distinct sections: ‘Warm-Up, Review, and Repetition’; ‘Multimodal Mini-Lessons’; and ‘Apply to Reading and Writing.’” The materials structure each lesson to last 20–30 minutes and provide a time allocation for each subsection.

In Benchmark Advance Phonics Intervention Level 3, the Intensive Phonological Awareness: Phonological & Phonemic Awareness Routines & Activities document includes guidance on the time requirements and suggested pacing for effective implementation. A “Next Steps” section dictates how much time educators and students should spend on phonological awareness and offers a weekly planning chart. This chart outlines Monday through Friday instruction and recommends planning five to 10 minutes per day for focused phonological awareness activities.

Evaluation for 1.1e
Materials include resources and guidance to support educators with implementing the materials as designed.

The “Foundational Skills Assessment” video tutorial guides educators on the administration and use of student assessments in the “Overview,” “Getting Started,” “Views/Reports,” and “Recommended Placements” sections. The tutorial video details the assessment administration and how to interpret assessment results.



In the Teacher’s Guide, every lesson provides approximate timing for each component: five minutes for the “Warm-Up Review and Repetition,” five minutes for the “Multimodal Mini-Lesson,” 10 minutes for the “Vocabulary Booster,” and 10 minutes for the “Application to Reading and Writing.” Lessons also outline precise educator and student actions, such as prompting educators to direct students to listen to a sound, then explain that “a closed syllable ends in a consonant and usually has a short vowel sound. Model with nap/kin,” followed by guided student practice.

Evaluation for 1.1f
Materials contain supports for families in both Spanish and English with suggestions on supporting the progress of their student.

Benchmark Advance Phonics Intervention Level 3 materials include supports for families in both English and Spanish that offer guidance on how to reinforce student progress at home. These resources include Home–School Connection Letters in English and Spanish for each of the 30 units, which explain the unit’s focus and suggest ways families can help. For example, the unit 1 English letter encourages families to read a text from the Student Reading Collection together, complete activities in the Student Book, and support their child as they practice reading and writing decodable and high‑frequency words at home.

In addition, the materials contain a resource library with a Home–School Connection Letters and Activities PDF. This area contains the Home–School Connection Letters in English; however, there are no activities present. Instead, each lesson’s activities appear on the back cover of the Student Book.

Evaluation for 2.1a
Materials include appropriate instructional assessments for the stated purpose of the supplemental program (e.g., diagnostic placement assessments for targeted remediation or acceleration).

A comprehensive set of assessments are included that place students in one of four instructional levels, with accompanying starting points for each level. The Benchmark Assessment and Screener Handbook states that educators “can use district core ELA assessments to identify students who need additional support,” and “use Phonics Intervention assessments such as the QPA and QSA to identify specific areas of need.”


The Benchmark Assessment and Screener Handbook includes the “Progress Monitoring: One-Minute Oral Reading Fluency Assessment Rubric.” This rubric directs educators to score students on a one to four rating scale across the categories of Phrasing and Fluency, Intonation, and Comprehension. The “Rubric Score Key” section provides the following guidance: “1 and 2: Student has not achieved an appropriate level of fluency for the level of passage, 3: Fluent reading is being refined at the Phonics Intervention level of the passage, 4: Fluent reading has been achieved for the Phonics Intervention level at which the passage is written.”

Evaluation for 2.1b
Materials include the definition and intended purpose for the instructional assessments included.

The Benchmark Assessment and Screener Handbook includes guidance on assessment administration, types of assessments, and the purposes of a variety of tests in the program, including phonics, spelling, phonological and phonemic awareness, fluency, and high-frequency words. The handbook includes explicit guidance, such as, “This phonics survey … is organized around related categories of phonics skills and aids in determining which skills students have and have not mastered.”

The materials include the purpose of Progress Monitoring Assessments. The Phonics and Intervention Program Guide states, “The One-Minute Oral Reading Fluency Quick Checks are used to evaluate students’ reading rate.” Additionally, the materials recommend “that educators formally assess students’ reading fluency in the beginning, middle, and end of the school year.”

Evaluation for 2.1c
For instructional assessments administered by educators, materials include guidance to ensure consistent and accurate administration of instructional assessments.

In the Benchmark Assessment and Screener Handbook, the one-minute oral reading “Fluency Quick Checks” include tools for the educator to compare each student’s performance to the “Hasbrouck and Tindal norms at 50th percentile, for the grade level and time of year.” The handbook advises educators to assess students’ oral reading fluency multiple times throughout the school year.

In the Benchmark Assessment and Screener Handbook, directions guide educators to administer four assessments: QPA, QSA, Phonological Awareness, and Fluency. Guidance is clear to ensure consistent administration, and includes educator prompts such as, “Say to the student: I’m going to ask you to tell me the names (sounds) of some letters so that I can find out which ones you already know and which ones you still need to learn. I want you to try to do your best. We’ll stop if they get too hard. Do you have any questions?”

Evaluation for 2.1d
Instructional assessments include items at varying levels of complexity.

The Benchmark Assessment and Screener Handbook contains a phonological awareness assessment with 18 sections, including “Word Awareness” and “Rhyme Identification.” Each section has items at varying levels of complexity. For example, in the “Word Awareness” section, the student repeats a sentence spoken by the educator and states the number of words in the sentence. The sentences increase in word length and vary in complexity, ranging from two to six words.

Additionally, each unit has a cumulative assessment that increases in complexity, in alignment with the program’s scope and sequence of skills. For example, the unit 1, lesson 10, “Dictation” subsection of the cumulative assessment includes the words wish, match, and bus, as well as the sentence “Can I get fish and chips for lunch?” The same section in unit 10, lesson 10, of the cumulative assessment includes the words forgot, score, and first, as well as the sentence “I am working on a long list of chores.”

Evaluation for 2.2a
Instructional assessments and scoring information provide guidance for interpreting student performance.

The QPA provides guidance to help educators accurately score and interpret student performance data. The “Interpreting QPA Results” section explains that skill sets are ordered by difficulty, allowing educators to determine which skill sets students have mastered and which specific phonics and decoding skills they still need to learn. Detailed examples are also included that show educators how to use scores, observations (e.g., confidence and response rate), and stopping points to make instructional decisions.

The Benchmark Assessment and Screener Handbook “Introduction” section provides detailed instructions for the administration and scoring of the QSA. These checks use a rubric to measure students’ spelling development. Educators are advised to use this assessment to determine if students need more practice with encoding before they move on to more complex phonics skills. The handbook also states that the QSA helps educators adjust the program’s starting point. The program includes a rubric to help educators determine where to place the student. The rubric states, “If the student scores 20 or more correct in the skill sets 1–2, move on to the next skill set. If the student scores over half correct in skill sets 3–12, move on to the next skill set.” The materials also instruct educators to “stop the assessment when the student correctly spells less than half of the items, or scores more than half but struggles through the word sets and/or displays frustration.”

Evaluation for 2.2b
Materials provide guidance for the use of the supplemental program to respond to student trends in performance on assessments.

Benchmark Advance Phonics Intervention Level 3 includes guidance on how to use the program to address student performance trends on assessments. The Benchmark Assessment and Screener Handbook provides detailed instructions in its “Introduction” section on the different assessments that can be given to place students into one of four levels of the program. These assessments include the QPA, QSA, Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Assessment, one-minute Oral Fluency Assessment, High-Frequency Word Screeners, and Progress Monitoring Assessments. These assessments help the educator determine each student’s most appropriate starting point in the Benchmark Advance Phonics Intervention Program. Level 3 materials also outline when to assess students, and include resources such as a chart that details what steps the educator should take based on data collected from the assessments, as well as one-minute fluency assessments and a rating rubric.

In the Teacher’s Guide, unit 3, lesson 5, educators are directed to use tools such as the Student Observation Form and other assessment notes to identify specific phonics and high-frequency word skills that require additional support with upcoming lessons 6–10. The program includes explicit guidance for educators on how to respond to students’ performance trends, such as whether to move students to the next unit or continue targeted lessons based on their demonstrated proficiency. The guidance states that if students show “basic proficiency in reading and writing words with short a,” they then progress to unit 4.

Evaluation for 2.2c
Materials include tools for educators to track student progress and growth, and tools for students to track their own progress and growth.

The Benchmark Assessment and Screener Handbook includes data-recording sheets that educators use to track data for several literacy skills: high-frequency words, print concepts, letter names, letter sounds, and handwriting. These tools support educators as they track student progress and growth.

The Benchmark Assessment and Screener Handbook includes student record forms to track individual progress across beginning-, middle-, and end-of-year assessments, as well as class record forms to monitor skill development across the group. These tools help students track their progress and growth.

The program includes the Benchmark Universe dashboard, which allows educators to view student data, assign lessons, and interact with students. Educators and students can interact using the Reading Log tool, which allows educators to track students’ reading. Additionally, Reading Log information is sorted based on class, type (independent vs. assigned), status, and time frame. Educators can access student reviews, approve them or ask students to revise them, and send comments back to students.

Evaluation for 2.2d
If applicable for the stated purpose of the supplemental program, materials include guidance for entry and exit criteria.

In the Phonics and Intervention Program Guide, the “Placement and Assessment” section provides guidance on student placement, progress monitoring, and exit strategies. The “Monitoring and Exit” area contains four reference points—monitor mastery, cumulative review, pacing adjustment, and repetition—as well as student observation forms.

The materials include diagnostic tools, such as the QPA and QSA, to identify students who need targeted intervention and to determine appropriate entry points. These assessments help educators pinpoint specific gaps in phonemic awareness, phonics, and spelling skills to guide instruction.

Evaluation for 3.1a
If applicable for the stated purpose, materials include educator guidance for differentiated instruction and activities for students who have not yet reached proficiency in grade-level skills.

The Teacher’s Guide includes an “Additional Supports” section with routines that target specific skills. Students interact with Vocabulary Picture Cards as they name each picture, read the sentence on the back, and then use Letter Cards to build the corresponding word to reinforce decoding. Educators also sing letter songs to review letter formation and sounds, use handwriting practice pages, and incorporate lessons from the Phonological Awareness Kit for more intensive instruction. Educators are also directed to use the Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) Overview to ensure appropriate support for students with special needs throughout the unit.

In unit 16, lesson 1, under the “Corrective Feedback” subsection, the Teacher’s Guide states, “For students who mispronounce sounds, model the sound and have students repeat. For students who need support with letter formation, provide a model and have students trace and repeat. For students who misread a high-frequency word, say the word. Have students repeat, trace, and spell, then repeat again. Point out any irregular spelling patterns in the word.”

In the Benchmark Advance Teacher Resources, Fluency Instruction Routines provide educators with guidance to help students build accuracy, automaticity, and prosody. The materials encourage educators to administer the comprehensive phonics survey and/or the Phonological Awareness Assessment, depending on student needs. Specifically, the routines provide guidance and explicit instructions for educators to incorporate a repeated reading routine into weekly independent and small-group work.

Evaluation for 3.1b
If applicable for the stated purpose, materials include educator guidance for differentiated instruction and activities for students who have demonstrated proficiency in grade-level skills.

This guidance is not applicable to the program because the program has a stated purpose of targeted remediation or acceleration, not additional instruction and/or practice.

Evaluation for 3.1c
Materials include educator guidance for providing specially designed instruction (SDI) for students receiving supports and services through special education.

In the Phonics and Intervention Program Guide, the “Meeting the Needs of Students with Disabilities” section designates multiple opportunities for the integration of SDI within the Phonics Intervention to support student access to content. For example, when students experience difficulty with sound–spelling correspondences, the guide provides targeted lessons and activity recommendations designed to address disabilities that impact oral language, decoding, and writing skills.

Each lesson contains an “Additional Supports” section, and lesson 9 of every unit specifically includes an audio accommodation. For example, in unit 4, lesson 9, educators are directed to have students listen to the King Midas e-book to “frontload words and content,” and to use it after the lesson for additional practice and to build fluency.

Evaluation for 3.2a
Educator-led supplemental programs include explicit (direct) prompts and guidance to support the educator in modeling and explaining the skill(s) to be learned.

The “High-Impact Instruction Walk-Through of Teacher’s Guides” section details clear routines, such as in the “Vocabulary Booster” section where educators are directed to “display the photos on the other side of the Read-Aloud Card as you read,” and to “use the prompts to highlight the words materials, enormous, species, and generate, and check for understanding.” Additional structured support is provided in unit 10, lesson 1, where educators are guided to “display the Sound–Spelling Card r-controlled vowel /or/ and explain that the or spelling stands for the /or/ sounds in corn.” Educators are also instructed to model writing the letters and saying the sounds as they write.

In the “Make a Word Ladder” section in unit 7, lesson 6, the educator is instructed to say the following to the students: “Write bride. Remove one letter from bride to name what you do on a bike (ride). Change one letter in ride to name the opposite of narrow (wide). Change one letter in wide to name waves that come to shore (tide). Change one letter in tide to describe something that is neat (tidy). Change one letter in tidy to describe something very small (tiny).” In unit 16, lesson 1, the “Blend Words” section provides direct modeling guidance and clearly outlines educator actions: “Model how to blend words with (oo) spelled oo, ui, u, ou, and u_e,” and “point to each letter.” The section material further demonstrates explicit modeling by directing educators to model blending the sounds in the words soon and spoon.

Evaluation for 3.2b
Educator-led supplemental programs include educator guidance and recommendations for effective delivery and facilitation using a variety of instructional approaches.

The Teacher’s Guide provides daily lessons that incorporate explicit instruction, modeling, guided practice, corrective feedback, and cumulative review to support skill development. Lessons also include structured questioning and comprehension checks to guide instruction and student understanding throughout the lesson cycle.

The Teacher’s Guide contains scripted lessons and student questions labeled by skill and instructional approach. Unit 29, lesson 1, includes the following educator instruction: “Prompt students to answer each question with a partner before you call on volunteers to answer the question. Use what you know about prefixes un-, re-, and dis- to find a word that describes Keesha at the beginning of the story. (unhappy) (Vocabulary) What discovery does Keesha make in the garage? Find the sentences that answer the question. (Text Evidence) How does Keesha reuse the broken mold? Describe the process. (Recall Details) Have you ever reused an old or broken object in a new way? What did you do?”

Evaluation for 3.2c
Materials include guidance for educators on recommended structures (e.g., whole group, small group, individual) to support effective implementation.

The Phonics and Intervention Program Guide includes the “Program Structure: Intensive Tier 3 Phonics” section. The overview states that educators “can integrate daily small-group or one-on-one sessions to reinforce phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, and high-frequency word recognition introduced in the core curriculum.”

Each unit contains whole-group, partner, and individual activities. Specifically, lesson 7 of each unit has individual work in the “Reread for Building Fluency” section, in which students whisper-read and the educator circulates to listen in and provide corrective feedback. In unit 16, lesson 9, the “Apply to Reading and Writing” section directs educators to use partner and independent practice. Educators are guided to have students “answer each question with a partner before you call on volunteers to answer the question.” Educators are prompted to “provide time for them to discuss their ideas with a partner and jot or sketch ideas before they begin writing.”

Evaluation for 3.3a
Materials include educator guidance on providing linguistic accommodations for various levels of language proficiency [as defined by the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS)], which are designed to engage students in using increasingly more academic language.

The Program Guide includes “Supporting Multilingual Learners Through ELPS Linguistic Accommodations,” which provides educators with guidance on linguistic accommodations across the materials aligned to the ELPS.

The materials provide educator guidance for linguistic accommodations aligned to the ELPS, and differentiated by students’ levels of English language proficiency, such as in the Program Guide, “Supporting Multilingual Learners Through ELPS Linguistic Accommodations.”

Evaluation for 3.3b
Materials include implementation guidance to support educators in effectively using the materials in state-approved bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) programs.

In the Program Guide, the resource titled “Implementing Benchmark Phonics Intervention Texas Edition in Texas Bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) Programs” provides specific guidance for educators in bilingual and ESL programs. The materials state that the program will “build on students’ home-language knowledge while explicitly teaching English sounds, spelling patterns, vocabulary, and language structures.”

The materials provide specific guidance for use in bilingual and ESL programs, including strategies that build on students’ home-language knowledge as they develop English phonics, vocabulary, and language skills.

Evaluation for 3.3c
If designed for dual language immersion (DLI) programs, materials include resources that outline opportunities to address metalinguistic transfer from English to the partner language.

This guidance is not applicable because the program is not designed for dual language immersion (DLI) programs.

Evaluation for 4.1a
Materials do not include the three-cueing method as defined in Texas Education Code (TEC), §28.0062. TEC, §28.0062 defines three-cueing as a method of reading instruction for the identification of words in which a student is encouraged to draw on context and sentence structure to read words without sounding the words out or using a phonics-based approach.

No evidence of three-cueing as defined in Texas Education Code (TEC), §28.0062 was found in this program.

Evaluation for 4.2a
Materials include a systematic sequence of phonological awareness skills in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose that progresses from basic skills and larger units of sound to more complex skills and smaller units of sound.

The Program Guide outlines the progression from basic skills and larger units of sound to more complex skills and smaller units of sound. This progression aligns with the TEKS through the “Four Levels to Support All Students” and “Scope and Sequence” sections, which detail skills by level, unit, and lesson. For example, lessons in unit 1 focus on medial vowel substitution, while lessons in unit 30 advance to more complex skills such as substitution of initial, medial, and final sounds, including suffixes.

Each lesson has a “ Build Phonemic Awareness” section. For example, in unit 1, lesson 1, students begin with the easier skill of blending CVC words when the educator says, “Say the sounds: /p/ /a/ /n/,” and asks students to “repeat and blend the sounds into a word: /paaannn/, pan.” The lesson then progresses to the more difficult skill of segmenting the same CVC word, as students are asked to “repeat and segment the word into the sounds they hear: /p/ /a/ /n/,” and educators instruct them to “tap each sound as you say it.” By unit 6, lesson 2, the materials increase in complexity as students blend and segment words with final blends, such as “/l/ /a/ /s/ /t/” to make last, which shows the progression from simpler CVC words to more complex word patterns.

Evaluation for 4.2b
Materials include a systematic sequence of phonemic awareness skills in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose that progresses from basic skills (e.g., identifying, blending, and segmenting phonemes) to more complex skills (e.g., adding, deleting, and substituting phonemes).

In unit 10, lesson 2, under “Build Phonemic Awareness: Add Initial and Final Sounds,” students are asked to blend with the addition of initial and final sounds. For example, add /f/ to or and add /k/ to pour. The lesson includes explicit instruction, guidance for immediate feedback, and guidance for corrective feedback.

In unit 1, lesson 2, students practice oral blending and segmenting CVC words as the Teacher’s Guide instructs educators to “say the sounds: /s/ /a/ /t/. Ask students to repeat and blend the sounds into a word: /sssaaat/, sat,” and then segment by tapping each sound. In unit 15, lesson 2, students practice oral deleting initial and final sounds as the Teacher’s Guide instructs, “Say a word: couch. Guide the students to say the word without the beginning sound: /k/.” By unit 19, lesson 2, instruction advances to blending and segmenting multisyllabic words by syllable. The materials guide educators to “say the following syllables: pan-cake. Ask the students to repeat and blend the syllables into a word: pancake.”

Evaluation for 4.2c
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction in phonological and phonemic awareness skills in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

In unit 3, lesson 6, under “Build Phonemic Awareness: Delete and Add Sounds,” the educator is instructed to “say the word cup. Guide students to say the word without the beginning sound: /k/.” The educator is then instructed to follow the same routine with more words. Embedded guidance for corrective feedback instructs the educator to model how to write the word(s) with the use of Letter Cards, and remove the deleted sound.

In unit 5, lesson 2, the “Build Phonemic Awareness: Differentiated Oral Blending and Segmenting Words with Initial Blends” section provides a clear educator model for blending and segmenting sounds in the word glad. The lesson directs the educator to “say the sounds: /g/ /l/ /a/ /d/,” “say the whole word: glad,” and “tap each sound as you say it.” This guidance ensures that students receive a direct model before they segment the word.

Evaluation for 4.2d
Materials include cumulative student practice of phonological and phonemic awareness skills in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

The materials include Phonics/Syllable Cards 41–66 and High-Frequency Word Cards 101–125 in the Quick Review Cumulative Routine. The materials tell educators to “chorally respond. Display one Phonics/Syllable Card at a time. Have students chorally say the sound(s). Mix and repeat. When completed, mix the cards and repeat. Repeat steps 1 and 2 with the High-Frequency Word Cards. Extend practice. Call out a sound without showing the card, and have students write the letter or letters that make that sound. Have students say the sound as they write it.”

The “Intensive Phonological Awareness” section in the Teacher Resources contains sample assessments for each of the 18 phonological routines to be completed at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. Specifically, for phoneme reversals, the assessment states, “Directions: Say the word. Have students reverse the sounds. (Note: Items 1–7 are simple three-sound words and students just need to switch the initial and final sounds. Items 8–10 are four-sound words and require full reversal, rather than just switching the initial and final sounds.)” The words included are pot/top, nap/pan, mug/gum, ten/net, pit/tip, keep/peek, came/make, step/pets, kits/stick, and plug/gulp.

Evaluation for 4.2e
Student practice includes only phonological and phonemic awareness skills that have been explicitly taught.

In unit 6, lesson 2, the “Build Phonemic Awareness” activity consists of oral blending and segmenting words with final blends. Specifically, the materials state, “Model: Say the sounds: /l/ /a/ /s/ /t/. Ask students to repeat and blend the sounds into a word: /lllaaassst/, last. Say the whole word: last. Ask students to repeat and segment the word into the sounds they hear: /l/ /a/ /s/ /t/. Tap each sound as you say it. Practice. Repeat the routine with the words below. Provide corrective feedback: /h/ /a/ /n/ /d/, /p/ /e/ /s/ /t/, /s/ /e/ /n/ /t/, /k/ /a/ /m/ /p/.”

In unit 16, lesson 3, students focus on long i (i_e). In the “Multimodal Mini-Lessons” section, students say, write, and blend words with the long i (i_e). In the “Build Words with Phonemic Awareness Focus” section, students continue with long i (i_e) words such as hide, slide, and bike. The lesson ends with “Apply to Reading and Writing,” where students practice reading sentences with long i (i_e) and previously taught phonemes.

Evaluation for 4.A.3a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing sound-spelling patterns in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

The Program Guide highlights key sections, including “Four Levels to Support All Students” and “Scope and Sequence,” with the latter clearly outlining progression across all levels. For example, level 1 begins with lessons that focus on short vowels, “while level 4 advances to more complex skills such as vowel-r syllables.” This progression demonstrates a systematic approach to teaching.

Students begin with consonant blends in unit 1, move to closed and open syllables in multisyllabic words in unit 2, and then progress in units 3–6 to long vowel spellings and more complex spelling patterns. In unit 3, the “Multimodal Mini-Lesson” explicitly teaches the long a sound as educators “have students listen to the sound on the articulation video,” “display the Sound–Spelling Card long a,” and explain that “the ai spelling stands for the /a/ sound as in train.” Students then practice additional long a spellings and words, including “ay (play), a_e (save), ea (break), a (apron).”

Evaluation for 4.A.3b
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction in decoding and encoding words using sound-spelling patterns in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

In unit 18, lesson 1, under the “Blend Words” and “Model” sections, the educator is directed to “model how to blend words with /ô/ spelled (wa, al, aw, au). Explain that the aw spelling stands for the /ô/ sound as in straw.” The educator explicitly introduces the grapheme–phoneme relationship and reads example words, including wa(ter), al(k), and au(sauce). Encoding occurs in the “Write” section, where the educator is directed to have students write each variant vowel /ô/ spelling several times on paper or a dry-erase board. Students then say the /ô/ sound each time they write the letters.

In unit 4, lesson 1, the “Multimodal Mini-Lesson” section explicitly teaches the long o sound as educators “introduce long o (o, oa, ow, oe, o_e),” and students listen to the sound on the articulation video. The lesson then guides educators to display the Sound–Spelling Card long o, explain that “the oa spelling stands for the /o/ sound as in boat,” and point to the spelling as they say the letter names and sound. In unit 15, lesson 2, the materials include explicit instruction in decoding and encoding words with the use of sound–spelling patterns by directly teaching the diphthong /ou/ and its spellings ou and ow. Students then write the target spellings as they say the corresponding sound. Additionally, the materials provide structured blending and word-reading practice, extend practice into connected decodable sentences, and include corrective feedback that reinforces the taught sound–spelling relationship.

Evaluation for 4.A.3c
Materials include cumulative student practice in decoding and encoding words using sound-spelling patterns in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose, both in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text, to develop automaticity.

In unit 14, lesson 3, “Multimodal Mini-Lessons,” the lesson begins with explicit decoding instructions that introduce the /oi/ and /oy/ sounds. Students say the /oi/ and /oy/ letter and sound, repeating as necessary. Students progress to reading words that contain the /oi/ and /oy/ sounds, read /oi/ and /oy/ words in sentences in the “Blend Words” section, and in “Apply to Reading and Writing,” students practice using the /oi/ and /oy/ sound in context with cumulative sentences.

In unit 3, lesson 1, the “Multimodal Mini-Lessons” section provides isolated decoding practice with long a words, such as rain, train, and pay. Educators are directed to “point to each letter or spelling as students say the sound,” “run your finger under the letters as students blend the sounds orally,” and “have students say the word.” Students then apply the sound–spelling pattern in connected text as they read the decodable text “The Rat and the Raven.” Students decode sentences in the Student Book, such as “Will it rain today?” and “We like to play inside,” and encode as they write a sentence with the word strange.

Evaluation for 4.A.3d
Student practice includes only sound-spelling patterns that have been explicitly taught.

Lessons begin with explicit instruction and practice of targeted sound–spellings and word patterns, which enables students to build accuracy at the word level. Instruction advances to structured practice with short phrases and complete sentences, giving students opportunities to apply decoding skills in increasingly meaningful contexts. For example, in unit 18, lesson 1 begins with a review of taught sounds; an introduction to the new vowel variant sound /o/ in the letter patterns o after w, al, aw, and au in isolation; and to conclude the lesson, students practice the new sound within words and sentences.


In unit 23, the odd lessons (1, 3, 5, 7, and 9) begin with a review of skills learned as students review letters and word cards from previous lessons. Next, a new skill is introduced with explicit instruction in the “Multimodal Mini-Lesson” before students practice the skill in various ways. Finally, students apply the skill in “Application to Reading and Writing.”

Evaluation for 4.B.3a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing regular and irregular high-frequency words from a research-based list in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

The Scope and Sequence document identifies which high-frequency words are taught in each lesson and unit. In the first few units, students begin with regular high-frequency words, such as a, can, big, and go, while later units introduce irregular high-frequency words such as was, above, they, and grow, along with regular high-frequency words. At the end of grade 2, students are taught more difficult regular and irregular high-frequency words, including inside, among, ago, and finally.

Units 1–3 are a review of high-frequency words that are learned in the level 1 and 2 materials. New high-frequency words are introduced in unit 4, and each unit thereafter adds eight to 10 new words at a time. The high-frequency words are introduced at the beginning of each unit, practiced throughout lessons 1–9, and assessed in lesson 10. For example, the “High-Frequency Words” cumulative assessment, located in the Student Edition, unit 16, lesson 10, assesses accuracy and automaticity of words learned in units 11–16.

Evaluation for 4.B.3b
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction in decoding and encoding regular and irregular high-frequency words from a research-based list in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

In unit 14, lesson 2 guides the educator to “Use the ‘Say, Spell, Read, Write’ routine to introduce the high-frequency words: above, began, different, enough, few.” For example, “What syllables do you hear in different? Let’s clap the syllables as we say the word slowly: dif-fer-ent. This can help us focus on the spelling of each part of the word.”

In unit 27, lesson 2, students are explicitly taught the high-frequency words among, building, circle, decided, and finally. In lesson 4, students are taught the words heavy, include, nothing, special, and wheel with the Say, Spell, Read, Write routine. Then, in lesson 7, all of the unit’s high-frequency words are practiced in the High-Frequency Word Booster, with educator prompts such as, “Provide a sentence starter or frame for each word. Have students write and complete the sentences. Then have them read their sentences to a partner (e.g., One building in our town is _____.)” Another educator prompt states, “Make a word using Letter Cards. Have students read and spell aloud the word. Then mix the Letter Cards. Have students fix the spelling.”

Evaluation for 4.B.3c
Materials include cumulative student practice in decoding and encoding regular and irregular high-frequency words from a research-based list in alignment with grade-level skills as appropriate for the program's stated purpose, both in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text, to develop automaticity.

In unit 20, lesson 4, “Multimodal Mini-Lessons: Review High-Frequency Words,” students review the words eye, form, high, light, and story, which were introduced in unit 20, lesson 2. The educator displays High-Frequency Word Cards one at a time, says each word, and then the students repeat. Next, students chorally spell the high-frequency words along with the educator. Then, the students chorally read each word along with the educator. Finally, students make their own flashcards by writing each high-frequency word on one side of an index card and writing a class-created sentence on the other side. In the “Apply to Reading and Writing” section, students read the decodable text “The Birthday Party,” in which they practice reading the words eye, form, high, light, and story, along with previously taught high-frequency words. The “Additional Supports: High-Frequency Word Sentences in Writer’s Notebook” section states the following: “Students write one sentence for each high-frequency word in a section of a writer’s notebook. Then have students read their sentences from the beginning of the year to a partner. This will increase the amount of times they see the word in context.”

In unit 15, lesson 2 provides evidence of cumulative practice because students use a sequenced set of High-Frequency Word Cards 141–145; practice high-frequency words (follow, girl, head, idea, kind) through the Say, Spell, Read, Write routine; and decode and encode the words repeatedly in isolation. The students then review irregular spelling features, such as ea in head, and reread previously taught connected text (“Happy Cows”) to build fluency and automatic recognition of high-frequency words.

Evaluation for 4.B.3d
Student practice includes only regular and irregular high-frequency words that have been explicitly taught.

In unit 14, new high-frequency words are introduced. In lesson 2, educators are instructed to use the Say, Spell, Read, Write routine to introduce these high-frequency words: above, began, different, enough, few. In lesson 4, these high-frequency words are introduced: grow, they, were, which, why. Then, in lesson 6, the words from lesson 2 and lesson 4 are reviewed with the following guidance: “Use the Say, Spell, Read, Write routine to continue to review the high-frequency words from lessons 1–5 for which students need additional support: above, began, different, enough, few, grow, they, were, which, why.” Students then read aloud some of the new high-frequency words, in addition to words from units 9–13, in lesson 10 on the cumulative review.

In unit 28, new high-frequency words are introduced. In lesson 2, brought, contain, front, gave, and inches are introduced, and in lesson 4, material, noun, ocean, strong, and verb are introduced. Then, in lesson 6, the words from lessons 2 and 4 are reviewed. Specifically, educators are instructed to “Use the Say, Spell, Read, Write routine to continue to review the high-frequency words from lessons 1–5 for which students need additional support: brought, contain, front, gave, inches, material, noun, ocean, strong, verb.” Finally, students are asked to read aloud some of the new high-frequency words, in addition to words from units 23–2, in lesson 10 on the cumulative review.

Evaluation for 4.C.3a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing syllable types and syllable division principles in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

The scope and sequence for the grade identifies when each syllable type is taught throughout the program. Students begin the year learning short vowel sounds in CVC words, then move into vowel teams and VCe words in the middle of the year, and end the year by learning to segment multisyllabic words. This progression shows a systematic sequence from basic syllable patterns to more complex.

Teacher Resources includes a PDF titled Multisyllabic Word Division for Reading and Writing Big Words that provides a guide for educators to better understand syllable types, division patterns, and generalizations. Example lesson scripts are provided for dividing words when reading and writing. Other resources included are the Sample Multisyllabic Words by Syllable Type chart, Common Syllable Types chart, and Tips for Dividing Syllables chart, which can be displayed or placed in student notebooks.

Evaluation for 4.C.3b
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction in decoding and encoding one-syllable and multisyllabic words in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

In unit 2, “Multisyllabic Word Division Resources” provides a systematic “Reading Big Words” strategy, model lessons for dividing multisyllabic words for both reading and writing, and weekly spelling and dictation opportunities that support students as they apply these skills when encoding words. The materials specifically note that grade 2 students should engage in this transition to longer words from the beginning of the year, which demonstrates alignment with grade 2 TEKS and the program’s stated purpose.

Closed and open syllables are taught in unit 2, lesson 1. Specifically, educator guidance states, “Explain that a closed syllable ends in a consonant and usually has a short vowel sound. Model with nap/kin,” and “Explain that an open syllable ends in a vowel and usually has a long vowel sound—the vowel says its name. Model with ze/ro.” Additionally, VCe and Cle syllables are taught in unit 13, lesson 1. Specifically, educator guidance states, “Explain that a vowel–consonant–e syllable has two vowels like a_e that, although not side-by-side in the word, work together as a team to make the long vowel sound. Therefore, this vowel team must stay in the same syllable. This will help students when they chunk longer words to sound them out. Model with tad/pole and explain that when a word ends in a consonant plus the letters -le, the consonant and -le must stay together in the same syllable. This will also help students when they chunk longer words to sound them out. Model with bub/ble.”

Evaluation for 4.C.3c
Materials include cumulative student practice in decoding and encoding one-syllable and multisyllabic words in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose, both in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text, to develop automaticity.

In unit 2, lesson 2, in the “Build Phonemic Awareness: Oral Segmentation (Oral Blending and Segmenting CVC Words)” section, students practice decoding one-syllable words like dot and jug. Students decode one-syllable and multisyllabic words like napkin, zero, and nap in the “Multimodal Mini-Lessons and Apply to Reading and Writing: Writing” section. Students also practice encoding one-syllable and multisyllabic words such as magnet, dentist, flip and chin. Additionally, students are tasked with both encoding and decoding one-syllable and multisyllabic words as they read and answer questions about the decodable text, “Here’s the Dirt on Earthworms.”

In unit 19, lesson 1, for example, in the “Multimodal Mini-Lessons: Introduce” section, students practice decoding one-syllable words such as knee and gnat. Students decode one-syllable and multisyllabic words such as napkin, zero, and nap in the “Multimodal Mini-Lessons: Introduce: Write” section. Students practice encoding one-syllable and multisyllabic words such as wrist, knew, wristband, and signpost, and are then tasked with both encoding and decoding one-syllable and multisyllabic words as they read and answer questions about the decodable text, “Next Stop, Grandparents!”

Evaluation for 4.C.3d
Student practice includes only syllable types and syllable division principles that have been explicitly taught.

The level 3 instructional materials for grade 2 contain student practice with only those syllable types and syllable division principles that have already been explicitly taught. For example, in unit 13, lesson 3, in the “Build Words with Phonemic Awareness Focus” section, the educator models “how to build words with vowel–consonant–e syllables and consonant -le syllables” by completing two activities with Letter Cards. In the blending focus activity, the educator uses Letter Cards to build a sequence of words that engage students in a cumulative review: cab, cable, fable, table, stable; pick, pickle, tickle, tickles; far, fare, care, dare, rare. Materials provide instructions, including “State the Letter Card to change. For example, say: Make cable. Change the letter c to t. What word did you make?” Then, in the word awareness focus activity, directions state, “Repeat, but don’t tell students which letter to change. For example, say: Change cable to table.”

Unit 13, lesson 1, “Multimodal Mini-Lessons: Introduce, Model Consonant -le Syllables: Write,” introduces the syllable division rule for -le syllables. The educator is guided to say the following: “Explain that when a word ends in a consonant plus the letters -le, the consonant and -le must stay together in the same syllable. Model with bub/ble.” In “Multimodal Mini-Lessons: Blend Words,” students practice blending words with the -le syllables. In unit 13, lesson 2, “Multimodal Mini-Lessons: Review,” students continue to practice -le syllables with the use of the Review, Model, Build, Write routine.

Evaluation for 4.D.3a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing morphemes in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

Students learn about multiple types of morphemes during units taught in the middle and end of the school year. These include compound words, inflectional endings, root words, and plural nouns, which align to the TEKS.

The Phonics Intervention Correlated to Grade 2 Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills guide breaks down each TEKS strand by student expectation. In addition, each strand lists where it is taught in both the Teacher’s Guide and the Student Book. For example, TEKS 2.2Bvi (decoding words with prefixes including un-, re-, and dis-, and inflectional endings including -s, -es, -ed, -ing, -er, and -est) is first introduced in unit 24, lesson 8, and last taught in unit 29, lesson 10.

Evaluation for 4.D.3b
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction on morphological skills in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

Unit 20, lesson 1 includes direct instruction on morphological skills through direct teaching of the inflectional endings -ed and -ing, and the spelling changes that occur when these suffixes are added. The lesson explicitly defines suffixes as word parts added to the ends of words, and models the drop–final-e and double–final-consonant rules with words such as like/liked/liking, hope/hoped/hoping, run/running, and hop/hopped. The lesson also provides guided practice in adding -ed and -ing to base words. Students read, spell, build, write, and analyze words with inflectional endings and use morphological knowledge to support reading comprehension, which demonstrates alignment with grade-level TEKS and the program’s stated purpose.

In unit 25, lesson 1, students are taught the suffixes -y and -ly. The educator is given a script to follow that ensures explicit, guided instruction: “Explain that a suffix is a word part that is added to the end of a word. It can change the word’s meaning and sometimes its part of speech, or how it is used in a sentence. Model how to add suffixes -y and -ly to the following words: luck(y), sad(ly). Explain that adding -y changes a noun into an adjective. Have students add -y to hair and sleep and -ly to nice and slow.”

Evaluation for 4.D.3c
Materials include cumulative student practice of morphological skills in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose, both in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in connected text, to develop automaticity.

In unit 24, lesson 2, students review the morphemes -er and -est in the “Multimodal Mini-Lessons: Review: Model and Blend” section. The educator models the addition of morphemes -er and -est to the word clean. Students then use the modified word list from lesson 1 to practice blending words such as fast, faster, and fastest. This skill is practiced in the connected text in the “Apply to Reading and Writing: The Power of Trees” section.

In unit 16, lesson 1, students practice morphology in isolation as they read and discuss words with irregular plural noun forms, such as children, mice, men, and wives in the “Multimodal Mini-Lesson.” Students continue to practice in isolation during the “Blend Words” section as they chorally read, blend, and say words such as mouse/mice, child/children, and wife/wives. Students then apply their knowledge of irregular plural nouns in connected text as they read the decodable text “The Noisy Sheep.”

Evaluation for 4.D.3d
Student practice includes only morphemes that have been explicitly taught.

In unit 25, lesson 1, suffixes -y and -ly are introduced with educator guidance to “explain that a suffix is a word part added to the end of a word. It can change the word’s meaning and sometimes its part of speech, or how it is used in a sentence.” The “Model” section also tells educators, “Model how to add suffixes -y and -ly to the following words: luck(y), sad(ly). Explain that adding -y changes a noun into an adjective, or describing word, and adding -ly makes an adjective into an adverb. Use Phonics/Syllable Cards for support.” Additionally, students practice suffixes in each of the following lessons in the “Multimodal Mini-Lessons” section. Activities include students reading words on blending charts, building words with cards, and dictation.

In unit 29, lesson 1, prefixes un-, re-, and dis- are introduced as educators are guided to “explain that a prefix is a word part added to the beginning of a word. It changes the word’s meaning.” The “Model” section tells educators, “Use the Phonics/Syllable Cards to model how to add prefixes un-, re-, and dis- to the following words: happy (un), read (re), like (dis). Explain that un- and dis- can mean ‘not’ or ‘the opposite of.’ Unhappy means ‘not happy.’ Dislike means ‘the opposite of like.’ Explain that re- means ‘again.’” Additionally, the prefixes are practiced in most of the lessons in the “Multimodal Mini-Lessons” section, in activities such as reading words on blending charts, building words with cards, and dictation.