Units of Study in Phonics / Units of Study for Teaching Reading 2015, Grade 3

Evaluation for 1.1a
Materials include a scope and sequence outlining the TEKS, ELPS, and concepts taught in the course.

The materials do not include a scope and sequence document, and the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) or English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) are not mentioned or cited within the instructional materials. The materials are organized into four units, each with three bends that typically contain about six lessons. These lessons incorporate various instructional components, including Minilessons, Conferring, Small Group Work, Mid-Workshop Teaching, and a Share activity. The materials also include a "Word Work World Solving" progression. Neither the unit content nor the "Word Work World Solving" progression references the TEKS or ELPS . The materials do not include a scope and sequence aligned to the TEKS, ELPs, or concepts taught in the course.

Evaluation for 1.1b
Materials include suggested pacing (pacing guide/calendar) to support effective implementation for various instructional calendars (e.g., varying numbers of instructional days-165, 180, 210)

The materials consist of four units, each containing 20 lessons, though the recommended duration for individual lessons is not provided. A "Narrative Reading Progression" is included to guide unit activities, but a pacing calendar is absent. Each unit features an outline with numbered lessons but also embeds additional instructional days without assigned lesson numbers. For example, in "Building a Reading Life" (Unit 1), the sequence begins with "Start with Assessment" before proceeding to Lesson One: Building a Powerful Reading Life. Similarly, in Reading to Learn (Unit 2), "Start with Assessment" is followed by Lesson One: Previewing Nonfiction, Lesson Two: Looking for Structure within a Nonfiction Text,"an unnumbered A Day for Assessment lesson, and then Lesson 3: Grasping Main Ideas in Nonfiction Texts. The materials include individual pacing guides for specific texts within the materials, such as "Stone Fox" and "Because of Winn-Dixie," which detail session sequences. However, materials do not include suggested pacing (a pacing guide/calendar) to support effective implementation across the course.

Evaluation for 1.1c
Materials include an explanation for the rationale of unit order as well as how concepts to be learned connect throughout the course.

The materials include "An Orientation to the Unit" at the beginning of each unit, which details the progression of comprehension skills for the genre being taught. This orientation provides a unit overview that includes the rationale behind the lesson order and the progression of reading comprehension topics, explaining how the bends progress throughout the unit. For instance, in "Building a Reading Life"(Unit 1), Bend I focuses on lifelong reading habits, Bend II shifts to reading comprehension, and Bend III emphasizes foundational skills. Additionally, Reading Pathways: Performance Assessments and Learning Progressions, Grades Three Through 5 features a chapter outlining the learning progression for both narrative and informational text genres. "Reading Learning Progressions" are also provided in the grade 3 materials to illustrate expected student advancement through the units.

Evaluation for 1.1d
Materials include protocols with corresponding guidance for unit and lesson internalization.

Each unit's contents provide a general overview of what is taught in each session. Each unit also includes a section titled "An Orientation to the Unit." This orientation offers an introduction, details on supporting comprehension skills progression, a unit overview covering Bends I–III, information on assessment opportunities, guidance on material preparation, and a listing of online digital resources. These online resources include learning progressions, rubrics, and videos of minilessons, conferences, and small group instruction. Additionally, the materials feature a chapter titled "The Architecture (and the Principles) that Inform Minilessons," which describes the components of minilessons: Connection, Teaching, Active Reengagement, and Link. "Reading Learning Progressions" are also provided to illustrate how students are expected to advance throughout the units. The materials do not include protocols with corresponding guidance for lesson internalization.

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

The curriculum materials provide "An Orientation to the Unit" and a chapter titled "What Does the Series Contain" to assist teachers in internalizing unit content and understanding the program's layout. However, they lack resources specifically designed to support instructional leaders in implementing the program. Online digital resources are available, offering a range of support, including charts, examples of student work, short video clips, internet links, mentor texts, homework, and other supplementary materials. These resources also feature videos illustrating Reading Workshop practices and concepts, providing daily support for teaching to foster structured learning environments that promote student independence and self-direction. The materials, however, do not include detailed resources for instructional leaders to support teachers with implementing the materials as designed. Additionally, the materials integrate "coaching" elements within sidebars, offering practical advice such as using concise phrasing and setting an important tone at the start of lessons. Chapter Two: "Assessment Systems as Part of Whole-school 'Systemness,'" addresses the transition from an individualized teaching approach to a more collaborative culture within the school. The materials do not include guidance for instructional leaders to support teachers with implementing the materials as designed.

Evaluation for 1.2a
Materials include comprehensive unit overviews that provide the background content knowledge and academic vocabulary necessary to effectively teach the concepts in the unit.

The unit's orientation and overview provide a narrative summary of the bends and units. For instance, in Bend I: "Making a Reading Life," (Unit 1), the focus is on classroom structure and systems, reading engagement, reading goals, and tools. This section offers background knowledge for teachers, classroom management structures for effective implementation, and relevant vocabulary. The materials include comprehensive unit overviews that provide the background content knowledge necessary to effectively teach the concepts in the unit. Bend II: "Understanding the Story" (Unit 2) centers on teaching comprehension skills as an internalized habit. Its narrative summary details reader actions such as envisioning, predicting, text-based interpretation, retelling, character analysis, and utilizing background knowledge. However, these terms are not introduced in a way that defines the terms for unfamiliar educators, nor does the unit overview suggest that any of these terms will be used with students. Overall, an "Orientation to the Unit" is included for grade 3, which features an introduction, supporting skill progression, an overview of Bends I–III assessment information, preparation guidance, and details on online digital resources. Additionally, the If . . . Then . . . Curriculum: Assessment-Based Instruction "Learning Through Reading" materials include charts explaining note-taking work. The materials do not include the academic vocabulary necessary to effectively teach the concepts in the unit.

Evaluation for 1.2b
Materials contain supports for families in both Spanish and English for each unit with suggestions on supporting the progress of their student.

The materials include a Share section that recommends giving students an opportunity to teach peers what they learned from their reading, such as revising main idea predictions for informational text. This section also suggests inviting a wider audience, including families, to a museum-style share of learning from the nonfiction unit. However, the curriculum does not provide recommendations or materials for communicating how families can reinforce this learning at home in either English, or Spanish. "Reading Logs," intended for use both at home and school, are provided in English, as are personal and portable anchor charts designed as bookmarks that feature reading strategies. However, the curriculum does not provide recommendations or materials for communicating how families can reinforce this learning at home in either English or Spanish.

Evaluation for 1.3a
Materials include comprehensive, structured, detailed lesson plans that include daily objectives, questions, tasks, materials, and instructional assessments required to meet the content and language standards of the lesson (aligned with the TEKS and the ELPS).

Each lesson in the curriculum includes daily objectives, and a "Getting Ready" section lists necessary teacher and student materials. For example, in Unit 3, Session 3: "Noticing Patterns, Seeing More," the daily objective is to "notice things that a character does again and again across the story." This session includes questions such as, "How do these jots fit together around a larger story?" and "What is the same or similar about these Post-its?" to scaffold children's understanding of patterns. Tasks promoting mastery, such as active engagement where students use their texts to identify repeated actions and form theories about characters, are also present. However, there are no explicit lesson assessments or language objectives in this session. The materials do not include comprehensive, structured, detailed lesson plans required to meet content standards (aligned to the TEKS or ELPS). Similarly, in Unit 4, Session 12, "Reading Closely, Thinking Deeply," has an objective stating that "nonfiction readers carefully consider the choices made by an author, and they read closely to understand why the author made those choices." It includes questions to "nudge students who need to get going" and active engagement activities designed to promote mastery, along with a list of materials in the "Getting Ready" section. Like Session 3, this session also lacks language objectives or formal assessments. The materials include lesson plans that include daily objectives aligned to lesson standards. Daily objectives are integrated into lessons through the teaching point, such as in Unit 4, Session 4, "Today I want you to investigate answers to these questions: How do you make the decision to read as if you are digging for treasure?" The materials include lesson plans that include questions to check for understanding of lesson objectives. However, the lesson plans do not include questions to promote the use of language to meet language objectives.

Evaluation for 1.3b
Materials include a lesson overview listing the teacher and student materials necessary to effectively deliver the lesson, and the suggested timing for each lesson component.

In Unit 1, Session 1: "Building a Powerful Reading Life," the "Getting Ready" section outlines the required unit materials. These include a bulletin board, strips of paper, resources for assessing 4 to 5 students using "Running Records," and a pocket folder for each student containing paper, Reading Logs, and sticky notes. The materials include student materials necessary to effectively deliver the lesson. In Unit 4, Figure 4–1 presents a pie chart illustrating the allocation of time within a Reading Workshop. It shows that the majority of time is dedicated to independent and partner reading, along with conferencing and small group work, while a smaller portion is allotted to minilessons and sharing. However, specific time durations for these components are not provided within this figure. The materials include the teacher materials necessary to effectively deliver the lesson. A Guide to the Reading Workshop features a section titled "How will you structure the reading workshop?" This section includes bulleted points or questions for instructors to consider when determining lesson component timings or pacing. Examples include: "Will the workshop end with 10 minutes for sharing, and will that time include partnership work?" and "Will that final time for talking about reading need to be longer?" Within the same guide, under "Varying Your Coaching to Meet the Range of Needs in Your Class," there is a recommendation to keep minilessons between 10 and 12 minutes in length. The materials do not include suggested timing (or time allocations) for each lesson component.

Evaluation for 1.3c
Materials include guidance on the effective use of lesson materials for extended practice (e.g., homework, extension, enrichment).

The curriculum materials provide homework assignments for extended practice. For example, in Session 2, homework involves reading nonfiction with a bookmark that prompts students to use text features and recall prior knowledge. Session 7's homework entails reading a narrative text and marking the character's journey on a "mountain." The units include letters to teachers for guidance, acting as "places to pause" and offering supports, session suggestions, and opportunities to practice newly acquired skills or strategies. Lessons also feature sections dedicated to conferring and small-group work. For instance, in "Research Clubs," Session 10 focuses on "Extending Students' Works with Compare and Contrast," suggesting the use of learning progressions to inform decision-making and drive instruction. For grade 3, "Character Studies—Getting to Know a Character as a Friend" (Unit 3), Session 1 includes Getting Ready, Connection, Teaching, and Active Engagement components, as well as Homework. Similarly, in grade 3, "Building a Reading Life" (Unit 1), the pacing guide for "Stone Fox," Session 1, outlines Getting Ready, connection, teaching, and homework. The grade 3 materials consistently offer guidance on effectively using lesson materials for extended practice, providing both extension lessons and homework assignments for students to demonstrate proficiency.

Evaluation for 2.1a
Materials include a variety of instructional assessments at the unit and lesson level (including diagnostic, formative, and summative) that vary in types of tasks and questions.

The materials include opportunities for formative assessment embedded within daily lessons. These assessments vary in task types and questioning strategies. The Share component within lessons offers opportunities for informal assessment and student reflection. For example, in Unit 1, Session 14, the "Figuring out Hard Words" lesson, students are prompted to reflect on and annotate challenging words, noting the word-solving strategies they employed. These formative checks support in-the-moment instructional adjustments. However, the materials do not include summative assessments after each session or bend. Reading Pathways includes charts for reading progression, designed to help identify patterns and trends in student learning. The If . . . Then . . . Curriculum: Assessment Based Instruction features "A Word About Assessment" section, which emphasizes the importance of utilizing both informal and formal assessment methods. Summative assessments are referred to as "Performance Assessments." These assessments are open-ended and occur after a Unit. For example, Unit 2 provides an assessment item, "Summarize the Article, Start Your Engines." It states, "When summarizing, remember to write about the main idea, include supporting details, keep your summary one-half page or less, and leave out what is not important."

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

Grade 3 materials include Performance Assessments, Student Rubrics, and Learning Progressions, with sample responses provided. These performance assignments are structured around comprehension skills, such as main idea, summarizing, synthesis, and questioning the text; however, they do not include phonics skills. Within the units, a component titled A Day for Assessment offers a narrative explaining the purpose of assessment: "The important move today is to engage your young readers in the critical work of thinking about their own reading—and to give them some tools to do so in a way that allows them to set clear goals. The rubrics, progressions, and exemplars you will use today provide students with clear pathways toward meeting today's exceedingly high expectations, allowing them to answer the question, 'How am I doing?' even when it is being asked in relation to the black box of higher-level comprehension." Online digital resources for each unit provide a link for assessments, which includes teacher directions and a rationale for the assessment. For example, the materials state: "As you will see, we have devised a pre-assessment and post-assessment for every unit. It is optional whether you and your colleagues decide to give both the pre- and post-assessments and whether you collect scores on the assessments—but we think that conducting today's assessment and helping kids to learn from it on Day three are critical. Doing this work will give you a leg up on planning for crucial small groups and conferences, but mostly, today's assessment and the follow-up work you do with it will help your children understand ways they can improve their reading, and having clear goals will accelerate their progress. If you have used the checklists that are embedded in Writing Pathways, you can think of these performance assessments as the reading version of those assessments. The assessment will include four open-ended questions, each focusing on a skill that is important to the unit and to many high-stakes assessments as well." The materials include the intended purpose but not the definition for the types of instructional assessments. For grade 3, If . . . Then . . . Curriculum: Assessment-Based Instruction includes "A Word About Assessment," which emphasizes the importance of using both informal and formal assessment. Reading Pathways also provides charts for reading progression, which is useful for informal assessment.

Evaluation for 2.1c
Materials include teacher guidance to ensure consistent and accurate administration of instructional assessments.

Chapter 3: "Implementing Running Records," provides unclear teacher guidance on how to administer a Running Record. Chapter 4: "Understanding Bands of Text Complexity and Using them to Move Readers up Levels," gives teachers vague directions on how to use text bands to assess and instruct students. The materials do not include teacher guidance to ensure accurate administration of instructional assessments. In the digital resources, there are general teacher, but not clear, directions for administering the summative assessments. These instructions do not clearly cover steps for before and on the day of administration, scoring, and debriefing with students. The materials do not include teacher guidance to ensure consistent administration of instructional assessments. If . . . Then . . . Curriculum: Assessment-Based Instruction includes "A Word About Assessment," which emphasizes the importance of using both informal and formal assessment. For grade 3, Reading Pathways includes an "About the Assessment System" section that explains how to involve children in the assessment process.

Evaluation for 2.1d
Diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments are aligned to the TEKS and objectives of the course, unit, or lesson.

Assessment items include questions such as: "What kind of person is Becca?" "What do you think will happen in the rest of the story? What makes you think that?" "Summarize the Yard Sale." and "Why do you think the author decided to end the story this way?" Other assessment items include: "Summarize the article, 'Chills and Thrills.'" "Both 'Thrills and Chills' and 'New Inventions that Make Steel Roller Coasters Even Scarier!' include information about an important subtopic—new inventions for roller coasters. Explain briefly what these texts teach about how inventors make roller coasters have even more thrills and chills." "Summarize the story, 'Super Fan/Rider: Gary Coleman.'" and "Write briefly about one idea you have grown from these texts." The materials do not include diagnostic assessments aligned to the TEKS of the course. The materials do not include diagnostic assessments aligned to the objectives of the unit or lesson. The materials do not include formative assessments aligned to the TEKS of the course. Running Records are included as formative assessments aligned to the objectives of the course, and they provide teachers with feedback about the students' fluency, accuracy, and ability to retell. Summative assessments are referred to as Performance Assessments. These assessments are open-ended and occur after a Unit. For example, "Reading to Learn" (Unit 2) provides an assessment item, "Summarize the article, 'Start your engines.'" When summarizing, remember to write about the main idea, include supporting details, keep your summary one-half page or less, and leave out what is not important." In grade 3, "Reading to Learn" (Unit 2) includes a Celebration at the end of the unit that suggests student presentations. Similarly, grade 3, "Character Studies" (Unit 3) also features a "Celebration" at the end of the unit that recommends student presentations to others. The materials include formative assessments aligned to the objectives of the unit or lesson.

Evaluation for 2.1e
Instructional assessments include TEKS-aligned items at varying levels of complexity.

The materials include instructional assessments that include TEKS-aligned items at two levels of complexity. The assessment items include a variety of comprehension-focused questions. Examples are: "What kind of person is Becca?", "What do you think will happen in the rest of the story? What makes you think that?", "Summarize the Yard Sale," and "Why do you think the author decided to end the story this way?" Other assessment items require summarizing articles, explaining subtopics across multiple texts, and writing about ideas grown from reading, such as: "Summarize the article, 'Chills and Thrills.' Both 'Thrills and Thrills' and 'New Inventions that Make Steel Roller Coasters Even Scarier!' include information about an important subtopic—new inventions for roller coasters. Explain briefly what these texts teach about how inventors make roller coasters have even more thrills and chills." "Summarize the story, 'Super Fan/Rider: Gary Coleman,'" and "Write briefly about one idea you have grown from these texts." The If . . . Then . . . Curriculum: Assessment-Based Instruction includes "A Word About Assessment," which emphasizes the importance of using both informal and formal assessment methods. For grade 3, Reading Pathways features a "Record Keeping" section with tools to track an individual reader's progress, noting needs and evidence of growth. The materials do not include instructional assessments that include TEKS-aligned items at more than two levels of complexity.

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

The materials provide guidance and interpretation of how to use Running Records as an assessment. Additionally, it provides examples with conclusions that teachers can draw based on the assessment. These assessments, however, are not phonics-based assessments. The materials provide guidance and scoring information on using Performance Assessments to assess reading comprehension tasks. The materials do not include scoring information that provides guidance for interpreting student performance. The materials include pre- and post-assessments, along with a student self-assessment rubric, sample responses, and learning progressions. On the self-assessment rubric, there are reading skills along with specific reader behaviors or actions. For example, on the "Narrative Self-Assessment," for "Envisioning/Predicting," there are two levels of reading behaviors. Teachers do not have direction to analyze this information to see how students are currently performing to inform next steps. The teacher's instructions for the assessments only include directions to return work to students, along with rubrics and progressions, and to have them analyze performance. The scoring information provides guidance for interpreting student performance. However, the materials do not include scoring information that provides guidance for interpreting student performance. For example, the materials provide an example of a student's Running Record at the beginning of the year, but lack instruction for teachers to demonstrate how to analyze the details of the reader's miscues to interpret student performance.

Evaluation for 2.2b
Materials provide guidance for the use of included tasks and activities to respond to student trends in performance on assessments.

The curriculum provides unit performance tasks that require students to read three related texts, summarize two of them, answer questions about their synthesis of two texts, and answer questions about their critical reading of the texts. Rubrics and sample responses are included to assist with scoring. Online materials include documents such as "Bottom Lines," "What to Look for in the Teaching of Reading, Grades 3–8," and "High-Leverage Reading Assessments," all of which detail assessment purposes. In the Heinemann online materials, a section titled "Debriefing the Assessment and Sharing Feedback: A Possible Teaching Session" guides students in reviewing their work using self-assessment and learning progressions. Students are encouraged to analyze their performance and set goals based on the learning progression. Another section in the materials focuses on forming small groups based on performance assessment results and determining next steps, advising teachers to "place the reader's current work and skill set somewhere on the learning progression" and help them identify their next steps. Reading Pathways includes a "Building a Reading Life Progression" chart that outlines "Red Flag Situations," suggesting sequences of actions to address them. This resource also uses strands of learning progression to guide student work, such as increasing expectations to help students think about writing. The materials offer guidance on how to use tasks and activities to respond to student performance trends on assessments. For instance, the If . . . Then . . . Curriculum:Assessment-Based Instruction, "Learning Through Reading: Countries Around the World" materials state, "You will continue to track students' progress through levels of text difficulty, so you will continue to assess students using running records." Furthermore, a discussion on using data to drive teaching and learning explains that "you will learn how to use the learning progressions in conjunction with running records . . . to help you when you are conferring, leading small-group work, writing minilessons, and authoring units of study."

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

The curriculum provides assessments that include Reading Logs, Running Records, Performance Assessments, and Records of Student Conferences, which are available both in print and online materials for teachers to track student progress and growth. Student Reading Logs are included, allowing students to track their books, book levels, pages read, reading time, and the setting of their reading sessions. The materials also offer learning progressions for narrative and informational texts, charts for setting goals titled "Working Towards Your Goals," and charts for student self-assessment titled "Questions to Ask When Self-Assessing." Furthermore, the materials advise teachers on how to score and track each child's proficiency level for individual skills. In Reading Pathways, "The Assessment Tools Part II" includes learning progressions and self-assessment rubrics. For example, the rubrics include learning progressions with reading skills such as critical reading, analyzing perspective, analyzing author's craft, and analyzing parts of the story in relation to the whole.

Evaluation for 3.1a
Materials include teacher guidance for differentiated instruction, activities, and paired (scaffolded) lessons for students who have not yet reached proficiency on grade-level content and skills.

The materials provide differentiated instruction and activities for students who have not yet reached grade-level proficiency in comprehension skills, primarily through its Conferring and Small-Group Work sections, as evident in "Reading to Learn," Session 2 (Unit 2). Teachers receive guidance to analyze student reading logs and sticky notes, then use learning progressions to identify appropriate instructional steps for struggling students. Strategies include forming small groups to help students anchor predictions in textual evidence, using character knowledge to refine predictions, and employing self-assessment for reflection and future planning. Teachers check student comprehension levels during Conferring, Small-Group Work, and "Mid-Workshop Teaching," and they can follow up with the same group to monitor progress, repeat instruction, or offer individualized support. For instance, in a session on predictions, teachers might pull together a small group of students reading at the same level and provide them with a book containing sticky notes that prompt predictions for the initial two-thirds of the book, then task students with placing their own prediction sticky notes for the remainder. In "Reading to Learn," Session 3 (Unit 2), in a small group lesson on main ideas, the curriculum suggests teachers use a previously taught connected text, like "Iditarod" or "Stone Fox," and tap into students' background knowledge to help them speculate about subtopics. This includes providing scripted language, such as "Ask yourself, 'Have I ever read a book or watched a movie that told about a sled dog?'" This focus on finding subtopics within texts acts as a scaffold for understanding nonfiction structures, including the main idea. In A Guide to the Reading Workshop: Intermediate Grades, Chapter 7, the conference structure supports students who have not yet reached proficiency, involving questioning the reader, making decisions about the most helpful lesson, and teaching a specific point with the reader's active involvement.

Evaluation for 3.1b
Materials include pre-teaching or embedded supports for unfamiliar vocabulary and references in text (e.g., figurative language, idioms, academic language). (T/S)

The materials provide various strategies for teaching vocabulary and figurative language, primarily through explicit instruction and the use of anchor charts, though consistent pre-teaching or embedded supports are not present across all lessons. In "Building a Reading Life," Session 15, (Unit 1), teachers instruct students to use context clues such as antonyms, synonyms, explanations, and gist to decipher unknown words. A teacher models this strategy using the word amateurs with an antonym clue and reinforces it with an anchor chart outlining context clue types. Students then apply this strategy as a class to determine the meaning of granite using a synonym and reservation using the text's gist. However, this level of support is not consistent throughout the lessons. In "Building a Reading Life," Session 16 (Unit 1), the materials provide figurative language guidance for a teacher to explain that individual words in expressions may seem simple, but understanding requires deeper thought. The teacher models this concept using the idiom "a barrel of monkeys," guiding students to reflect on its function within a sentence. Students then share other figurative expressions with a partner. The teacher provides strategies for interpreting figurative language in context, including rereading, considering the story's events, and using textual clues. Students apply these strategies to expressions like "grinning from ear to ear." Although elements of embedded support appear, pre-teaching is negligible, and embedded supports for unfamiliar vocabulary and references in text are not consistent. The materials do not consistently pre-teach vocabulary across lessons and units. Some lessons expect students to use vocabulary to determine character actions, dialogue, and traits without direct instruction on the necessary academic vocabulary. For example, in "Character Studies," Session 1 (Unit 3), a teaching point might simply state that readers get to know characters by noticing how they talk and act. The materials also lack regular practice of pre-teaching vocabulary with student-friendly definitions and do not consistently provide embedded support for references within texts. For example, in "Building a Reading Life," Session 14 (Unit 1), when deciphering tricky words in passages from "Stone Fox," the materials do not offer teacher guidance to support student understanding of these words or references. Units 1, 2, 3, and 4 include anchor charts for reading information, such as "Tips for Interviewing a Reader" or "Questions to Ask to Get to Know a Reading Partner," and "Coaching" sections feature teaching point charts, but these primarily focus on comprehension techniques rather than explicit vocabulary development.

Evaluation for 3.1c
Materials include teacher guidance for differentiated instruction, enrichment, and extension activities for students who have demonstrated proficiency in grade-level content and skills.

The curriculum offers minimal guidance for supporting students who have achieved proficiency in grade-level content and skills. The guidance it does provide is primarily through adjusting text complexity and deepening comprehension. Teachers receive support to help students transition to higher-level text bands, with explicit instructions on what advanced readers should focus on in more complex texts (e.g., character backstory, multiple plotlines, symbolic elements). An anchor chart assists in scaffolding students' higher-level interpretations as they engage with challenging texts. However, the materials do not include differentiated instruction or activities for students who have demonstrated proficiency in grade level skills. In "Reading to Learn," Session 3 (Unit 2), teachers use student data and learning progressions to tailor support for struggling learners. A categorizing activity helps students extract main ideas in nonfiction texts, and scripted language guides discussions, such as "How does this part of the text fit with the whole text?" Teachers also sometimes challenge proficient students in small groups by assigning them harder books. Homework assignments with open-ended questions like "What is surprising to you?" or "What parts of the books are really getting you thinking?" allow students to respond at their own level. However, the materials do not include consistent guidance for differentiated instruction, enrichment, and extension activities for students who have demonstrated proficiency in grade-level content and skills. While "Reading to Learn," Session 2, (Unit 2) provides teacher guidance to distribute whiteboards and markers to some student clusters, assign chart paper work to others, and have remaining groups use hands to recall and summarize texts, this guidance applies to all students rather than specifically differentiating for those with demonstrated proficiency. Similarly, although the materials suggest using student data to tailor instruction, for example, by guiding teachers to help students reading above benchmark notice character complexities, the overarching support for enrichment and extension activities does not specifically target or consistently address students who have already achieved mastery. The curriculum lacks distinct extension activities that go beyond text-based discussion or provide meaningful enrichment beyond advancing text levels.

Evaluation for 3.2a
Materials include explicit (direct) prompts and guidance to support the teacher in modeling and explaining the concept(s) to be learned.

The curriculum provides clear guidance for teachers to explain and model comprehension concepts, primarily through explicit prompts and scripted language. Each session follows a structured format, including an introduction, "In This Session," and "Getting Ready" sections, which outline what teachers will teach and what students will learn. Teachers receive scripted language for teaching, explaining, and modeling. For instance, in "Character Studies," Session 1 (Unit 3) about nonfiction text structures, the teaching point states, "Today I want to teach you that readers of expository texts pause when they read to make little summaries in their mind. In this class, we sometimes refer to those summaries as boxes and bullets. Doing this helps readers take in and remember the important things in a text." The curriculum then guides the teacher to display an anchor chart, "Rev Up Your Mind Before Reading Nonfiction," and provides scripted language and examples of graphic organizers, along with specific steps to "celebrate children's inventions." Modeling involves the teacher boxing headings and bulleted points while conducting a think-aloud, pointing to each idea along their hand. Similarly, a lesson on being nonfiction experts provides a scripted teaching point and an anchor chart on "How to teach well . . . " Scripted language guides the teacher, for example, "Let me show you what I mean. To get ready to teach, I am going to read a few pages from Frogs and Toads." Sidebars offer additional guidance, such as setting up children to observe with the eyes of researchers. The curriculum utilizes student-friendly analogies to introduce concepts. "Reading to Learn," Session 2 (Unit 2) provides guidance on using text structure for summarization; in this lesson a teacher models reading a text section, identifying the main idea and supporting details using a box-and-bullets graphic organizer. A scripted explanation accompanies a kinesthetic strategy of using a hand to represent the main idea and fingers for details. For story structure, a teacher introduces the concept of stories following a "story mountain" with hurdles. Using the text "Peter's Chair," the teacher reads aloud while a student physically marks each hurdle on a story mountain chart. Scripted read-alouds and teacher prompts highlight key narrative moments and reinforce the concept. Each session begins with "Getting Ready" sidebar notes, guiding teachers on materials or anchor charts to display, resources to copy and distribute, and portions of text to read aloud as noted in Research Clubs," Session 18 (Unit 4). The "Today Begins" or "Today's Work" section explains the concepts to be learned, for example, scaffolding students to observe the main character in "Because of Winn-Dixie." A read-aloud pacing guide in "Welcome to the Unit" helps teachers guide their progress throughout the unit. The "Teaching" section specifically models and guides teachers, with prompts such as "Let me show you how readers do that . . . The first thing a researcher does is look at the available texts."

Evaluation for 3.2b
Materials include teacher guidance and recommendations for effective lesson delivery and facilitation using a variety of instructional approaches.

The materials provide teachers with guidance and recommendations for effective lesson delivery and facilitation using a variety of instructional approaches, primarily focusing on comprehension and reader response. These methods include direct instruction, modeling, independent application, conferencing, small-group instruction, collaborative dialogue, class discussion, and written reflection. In "Building a Reading Life," Session 6 (Unit 1), a teacher models a partner interview, demonstrating effective questioning and discussion with a student. An anchor chart with sample questions supports student dialogue, and the teacher also charts interviewing tips. Students then engage in partner interviews and a whole-class debrief, followed by independent reading and using reading log responses to support future interviews. Students also have opportunities for discourse in other contexts. In "Reading to Learn," Session 14 (Unit 2) about becoming nonfiction experts, students pair up and discuss how they would teach information from a provided text. Flexible grouping during Conferring and Small-Group Work allows students to collaborate on determining important information for teaching others, or on categorizing and synthesizing information to extract main ideas. For instance, students discuss texts, retelling them in a "boxes and bullets" format. In "Research Clubs," Session 6 (Unit 4), students develop questions about self-selected topics and then read to find answers. A teacher models inferring answers not explicitly stated, demonstrating the process using their own research. Students then apply this strategy to their individual research. Teachers check in with students through conferencing and small-group instruction, offering targeted support and prompting deeper thinking based on individual research needs.

Evaluation for 3.2c
Materials support multiple types of practice (e.g., guided, independent, collaborative) and include guidance for teachers and recommended structures (e.g., whole group, small group, individual) to support effective implementation.

The materials support effective instruction through various practice types, clear teacher guidance, and recommended instructional group structures within its Reading Workshop model. This model typically includes a Minilesson (whole group), Active Engagement, a Link to independent work, Conferring (individual), Small-Group Work, Share, and "Homework." The curriculum provides opportunities for guided, collaborative, and independent practice. In "Reading to Learn," Session 3 (Unit 2), during active engagement, students practice skills like retelling information or sharing how they would teach information from a text. Teachers provide scripted dialogue and suggested anchor charts to use. Students also work collaboratively in book clubs and through peer conversations. Independent practice involves students applying strategies during their own reading and work after the minilesson. Conferring and Small-Group Work support students needing help with concepts like the main idea and supporting details, and teachers guide students to use their data to tailor instruction. In "Reading to Learn" Session 7 (Unit 2), teachers guide students to monitor for significance when reading informational texts, particularly by noticing surprising or meaningful information. A teacher introduces an anchor chart for stopping to think, talk, or jot while reading and reinforces this strategy during a mid-workshop teaching point. Students also participate in conferencing and small-group instruction to deepen comprehension through questioning. For example in this session, a teacher provides scripted, specific feedback while students practice retelling information in a "boxes and bullets way," and they might also use an anchor chart titled "To Learn from Expository Texts . . . " Lessons also teach students that characters encounter problems and respond in meaningful ways in "Character Studies," Session 8 (Unit 3). A teacher facilitates a whole-class discussion on possible character reactions to problem scenarios and encourages students to observe these dynamics in their texts. Students create a list of challenges a main character faces and how they respond, with a scripted teacher guide supporting the conversation.

Evaluation for 3.3a
Materials include teacher 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 Texas Education Agency (TEA) defines an Emergent Bilingual (EB) student as a student who is in the process of acquiring English and has another language as their primary or home language. The materials reference to English Language Learners is synonymous with EB. The curriculum offers general guidance for supporting EB students, but it does not provide specific linguistic accommodations that help them use increasingly academic language across different proficiency levels. The materials acknowledge the importance of balancing reading instruction with language development, advocating for consistent classroom structures, routines, and assessment-informed support. In A Guide to the Reading Workshop, Chapter 14, a section titled "A Special Note on Supporting English Language Learners" describes general effective teaching philosophies for language proficiency. It covers topics such as providing consistent teaching structures and language, offering plentiful opportunities for reading practice, providing access to a broad variety of texts, and using assessment to give extra support to EB students at all stages of English acquisition. The curriculum also highlights the importance of teacher language, noting that repeating teaching point language increases student retention. It suggests providing EB students with opportunities to read in both their home language and in English. The materials, however, do not include teacher guidance on providing linguistic accommodations for various levels of language proficiency as defined by the ELPS. The materials lack concrete, leveled linguistic accommodations directly aligned to the ELPS. They do not offer differentiated scaffolds, prompts, or sentence stems targeting distinct ELPS proficiency levels. There is no evidence of strategies promoting increasingly academic language at specific proficiency levels or across multiple levels. While the guidance is beneficial for all learners and covers classroom management and instructional consistency, it does not specifically address the linguistic needs of emergent bilingual students. Although in A Guide to the Reading Workshop: Intermediate Grades, Chapter 14, the materials mention using tools like Running Records, they do not design these to engage students in using increasingly academic language. The guidance for ESL teachers focuses on the content of speaking and writing about reading, and tailoring teaching to each stage of English language acquisition, but it does not detail how to facilitate increasing academic language.

Evaluation for 3.3b
Materials include implementation guidance to support teachers in effectively using the materials in state-approved bilingual/ESL programs.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) defines an Emergent Bilingual (EB) student as a student who is in the process of acquiring English and has another language as their primary or home language. The materials reference to English Language Learners is synonymous with EB. The curriculum offers general information and background knowledge on effective teaching philosophies for language proficiency, but it lacks specific implementation guidance for teachers to effectively use the materials in state-approved bilingual or ESL programs. The materials include a section titled "A Special Note on Supporting English Language Learners." This section, as found in A Guide to the Reading Workshop, Chapter 14, provides general descriptions on topics such as providing consistent teaching structures and consistent teaching language, offering plentiful opportunities for reading practice, providing access to a broad variety of texts, and using assessment to provide extra support for English language learners at all stages of English acquisition. The materials also suggest giving English language learners opportunities to read in both their home language and in English and advise planning instruction with an ESL instructor to maximize learning in the Reading Workshop. The materials' suggestions remain broad and do not offer tailored supports, instructional modifications, or delivery strategies aligned with specific bilingual or ESL frameworks. For example, in A Guide to the Reading Workshop, Chapter 14, while it suggests English language learners remain in the classroom to maximize interaction and instructional opportunities, or that ESL teachers work with groups of students to target specific language parts, these lack detailed guidance for bilingual programs. The materials do not reference state-approved bilingual/ESL program requirements. Although A Guide to the Reading Workshop mentions guided reading as a way to scaffold comprehension and vocabulary for English language learners through a strong book introduction in small group work, individual sessions, such as "Building a Powerful Reading Life" or "Readers Notice How a New Character Talks and Acts," do not include embedded implementation guidance for state-approved bilingual or ESL programs.

Evaluation for 3.3c
Materials include embedded guidance for teachers to support emergent bilingual students in developing academic vocabulary, increasing comprehension, building background knowledge, and making cross-linguistic connections through oral and written discourse.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) defines an Emergent Bilingual (EB) student as a student who is in the process of acquiring English and has another language as their primary or home language. The materials reference to English Language Learners is synonymous with EB. The curriculum provides general recommendations only for supporting EB students, such as offering consistent teaching structures and language, abundant reading practice, diverse texts, and assessment-informed support at all stages of English acquisition, as found in A Guide to the Reading Workshop, Chapter 14. It also suggests strategies like using partnerships to boost English fluency, expanding on student responses to aid language acquisition, and scaffolding thinking and writing about reading with conversational prompts. Anchor charts within units help remind students of learning concepts, like noticing text structure and adjusting reading strategies. The materials generally lack specific, embedded guidance for teachers to help emergent bilingual students develop academic language and comprehension through oral or written discourse. They do not include explicit, actionable teacher-facing supports, such as prompts, scaffolds, sentence stems, sample dialogues, or instructional tips. This means teachers do not receive clear directions on how to help students develop academic vocabulary or increase comprehension through spoken or written language. The curriculum also does not offer embedded strategies for building background knowledge or for making cross-linguistic connections by drawing on students' home languages or comparing English with their first language. Individual sessions do not integrate guidance to support emergent bilingual students in these areas.

Evaluation for 3.3d
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 include systematic and sequenced instruction of phonics (sound-symbol correspondence) skills.

A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, Units 1–4, provides a focus on reading comprehension, literary analysis, and research skills. Each unit provides an overview, separated into its three bends, with sessions typically sequenced from one to nineteen. The program's materials include the four units of study, two in reading fiction and two in informational text, none of which contain systematic and sequenced instruction of phonics. The material primarily focuses on reading behaviors, comprehension, fluency, and engagement with diverse texts, without a systematic or sequential progression of phonics skills. For example, "Building a Reading Life" (Unit 1), sessions are centered on finding appropriate books, building reading stamina, following textual clues, making predictions, and using text clues to infer unknown word meanings. There is no explicit mention of phonics lessons, decoding strategies, spelling patterns, or foundational word recognition. The material lacks evidence of a phonics scope and sequence or alignment with foundational reading standards, and provides no direct support for students still developing decoding skills. In "Building a Reading Life," Session 14 (Unit 1), a lesson titled "Teaching Readers to Figure Out How to Pronounce Tricky Words as Best They Can," a Conferring and Small-Group Work lesson, suggests focusing on "what would make sense here" when a reader encounters an unpronounceable word, implying that using only the letters may not be helpful. This directly correlates with a three-cueing approach, and there is no evidence of a systematic approach to delivering phonics instruction within this context.

Evaluation for 4.1b
Materials include explicit (direct) and intentional ongoing practice opportunities for phonics (sound-symbol correspondence) skills, both in isolation and through decodable texts.

The materials do not include explicit or intentional phonics practice, either in isolation, or through decodable texts. Instead, they primarily promote a three-cueing (meaning, structure, or visual cues) approach to word solving. This strategy, described in "Building a Reading Life," Session 14 (Unit 1), is introduced through an anchor chart, "Readers Climb the Hurdle of Hard Words by . . . ," which encourages students to use multiple sources of information to guess unknown words. Strategies in "Building a Reading Life," Session 14 (Unit 1) include chunking the word, considering the story or picture for meaning, asking "Does it look like a word I know?" looking for visual cues, asking "Does it sound like a word I know?" for implicit grammatical or contextual checking, and trying out different sounds letters can make. Lessons also remind students to use textual and contextual clues for word meaning. In "Building a Reading Life," Session 14 (Unit 1), a lesson titled "Teaching Readers to Figure Out How to Pronounce Tricky Words as Best They Can" suggests relying on "what would make sense here" when a reader struggles with pronunciation, rather than solely focusing on the letters. This directly aligns with the three-cueing approach, with no evidence of explicit phonics practice in isolation or through decodable texts. Learning progressions for teachers and students also reflect this approach, emphasizing looking at surrounding words, finding substitutes, and checking if a word looks or sounds right, with the only direct correlation to phonics being looking inside the word for known parts. While the Reading Workshop covers comprehension, engagement, independent reading, conferring, and small-group strategies, it does not systematically or explicitly teach phonics in isolation or provide consistent, intentional practice opportunities for sound-symbol correspondence in isolation, or through decodable texts.

Evaluation for 4.2a
Daily lessons include explicit (direct) phonics instruction with teacher modeling.

Lessons emphasize using context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. In "Building a Reading Life," Session 15 (Unit 1), teachers instruct students to slow down when encountering unknown words and model strategies. In one example, the teacher uses the sentence "This is not a race for amateurs. Some of the best dog teams in the Northwest will be entering," to demonstrate identifying amateurs as a tricky word and thinking aloud about author clues like contrasting words not and best trained. The lesson explains clues authors leave, such as gist, synonyms, antonyms, or explanations, to help readers solve words. "Reading to Learn," Session 13 (Unit 2) balances figuring out words with maintaining reading flow in informational texts. The teacher reminds students of strategies to tackle hard words, modeling with emigrated and quarter. A chart guides students to figure out words by chunking, considering the story/picture, asking if it looks or sounds like a known word, trying different letter sounds, and using textual and context clues. This approach involves flexible word-solving strategies using meaning, structure, and visual cues, including chunking and context-based guessing, but not explicit phonics instruction. The materials do not include daily lessons with explicit phonics instruction or teacher modeling of phonics skills or phoneme-grapheme correspondence. There is no clear guidance for teachers to deliver phonics skill instruction, nor do the materials explicitly teach phonics with clear teacher modeling of sound-symbol correspondences. A particular conferring and small-group lesson titled "Teaching Readers to Figure Out How to Pronounce Tricky Words as Best They Can" suggests focusing on "what would make sense here" when a reader cannot pronounce a word, stating that using only the letters might not help. This directly correlates to a three-cueing approach—without evidence of explicit phonics instruction or modeling.

Evaluation for 4.2b
Daily lessons include opportunities for explicit (direct) guided instruction with guidance for immediate and corrective feedback.

The materials do not include daily phonics instruction, and when explicit instruction is provided, it lacks consistent opportunities for guided practice with immediate or corrective feedback. "Building a Reading Life," Session 14 (Unit 1) focuses on figuring out difficult words; the teacher models strategies like contextual analysis and word chunking. For instance, in the "Figuring Out Hard Words" Minilesson, the teacher models how to determine the word handkerchief by considering its use in a sentence, then breaking it into hand and chief. An anchor chart is introduced with strategies such as chunking, thinking about the story, and asking, "Does it look like a word I know?" "Does it sound right?" and trying different sounds. Students then practice these strategies independently and with a partner using an excerpt from "Stone Fox," with the teacher circulating to provide immediate and corrective feedback. This feedback often reminds students to use all available tools, including meaning and decoding, but the underlying strategies are rooted in a three-cueing approach (meaning, structure, visual cues). Similarly, in another lesson, the teacher models figuring out words like emigrated and quartered, and partners work together on criticize and pretense, with feedback emphasizing using a repertoire of strategies, including chunking, context clues, and considering how words look and sound. A separate lesson for conferring and small group work, "Teaching Readers to Figure Out How to Pronounce Tricky Words as Best They Can," suggests leaning on "what would make sense here" when a reader cannot pronounce a word, implying that relying solely on letters might not be sufficient. Another lesson, "Supporting Kids with Word Solving," focuses on pronouncing and understanding unknown words by "chunking words into parts" and then "thinking of what might make sense when the first part sounds like this." The materials do not include explicit phonics instruction or feedback.

Evaluation for 4.2c
Daily lessons include a variety of opportunities for students to practice phonics skills through collaborative learning and independent practice.

The materials consistently structure each mini-lesson to include a Teaching, Active Engagement, and Link component. During Active Engagement, students typically work collaboratively with a partner to apply the skill introduced during the Teaching portion, and during the Link, they are sent off to practice independently. However, the lessons do not focus on phonics instruction, and therefore do not include independent or collaborative phonics practice. "Building a Reading Life," Session 12 (Unit 1) promotes collaborative learning by teaching students how to discuss a book with a friend. A sample chart of partner work suggestions includes sharing passages that were engaging, visualizing, confusing, rereading to sound like a conversation, flagging well-written passages, acting out scenes, and sharing predictions. These activities offer opportunities for students to discuss literature, share their thinking, and deepen comprehension through partner talk. However, the practice is not focused on phonics. In the conferring and small-group work sections, such as a lesson titled "Teaching Readers to Figure Out How to Pronounce Tricky Words as Best They Can," suggestions are given for coaching individuals or small groups. These tips encourage a three-cueing approach to word solving, advising students to consider "what would make sense here" rather than solely relying on letters. Similarly, a lesson called "Supporting Kids with Word Solving" focuses on pronouncing and understanding unknown words by "chunking words into parts" and then "thinking of what might make sense when the first part sounds like this."

Evaluation for 4.3a
Materials include intentional cumulative phonics review and practice activities throughout the curriculum.

The materials do not include intentional phonics instruction, practice, or review. "Reading to Learn," Session 13 (Unit 2) offers a cumulative review of word-solving strategies in lessons, emphasizing teacher modeling and metacognitive decision-making. Teachers model how to solve an unknown word and decide whether to stop and figure it out or continue reading. This process involves referring to an anchor chart with strategies such as chunking the word, considering the story or picture, asking if it looks or sounds like a known word, trying different letter sounds, and using textual and context clues to determine meaning. These strategies are grounded in a three-cueing approach, without explicit phonics instruction. The materials also include resources that support students in building comprehension and research skills through various texts, author investigations, and reading lenses. However, these resources do not incorporate review or practice of phonics concepts. Celebration sessions conclude each unit, providing students with an opportunity to share and reflect on their reading comprehension progress. During these sessions, students are encouraged to recall discoveries about themselves as readers, understand what it means to "author a reading life" with understanding and grit, and reflect on memorable characters. Notably, there is no evidence of review or practice of phonics skills throughout the sessions, bends, units, or the entire year. The curriculum's Reading Workshop structure emphasizes strategy instruction for broader reading skills like comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary development, but it does not provide systematic, spiraled review or intentional practice activities for phonics skills across units.

Evaluation for 4.3b
Practice opportunities include only phonics skills that have been explicitly taught.

The materials do not consistently provide practice opportunities that include only phonics skills that have been explicitly taught. Student phonics practice is embedded within broader reading tasks, without a controlled scope limited to explicitly taught phonics patterns. During the active engagement part of a minilesson, students are instructed to try out new strategies using a shared text, even if those texts contain phonics skills that have not been explicitly taught. "Building a Reading Life," Session 15 (Unit 1) includes a review of word-solving strategies for unknown words. These strategies involve chunking the word, thinking about the story, asking "does it look like a word I know?" and "does it sound right?," and trying different sounds a vowel or consonant makes. While these strategies engage students in using familiar tools, they are grounded in a three-cueing approach, not explicit phonics instruction. Conferring and Small-Group Work lessons, such as "Teaching Readers to Figure Out How to Pronounce Tricky Words as Best They Can"—found in "Building a Reading Life, Session 14" (Unit 1)—and "Supporting Kids with Word Solving," found in "Building a Reading Life," Session 16 (Unit 1) reinforce this approach. They suggest focusing on what makes sense when a reader cannot pronounce a word, and that simply using the letters may not help. Word solving focuses on chunking words into parts and considering what might make sense based on the initial sound.

Evaluation for 4.3c
Decodable texts incorporate cumulative practice of taught phonics skills.

The material's four units, structured with Minilesson, Connection, Teaching, Active Engagement, Link, Conferring, Small-Group Work, Share, and Homework, focus on reading progressions related to fluency and comprehension. These units incorporate well-known texts like "Stone Fox" and "Because of Winn-Dixie," in "Building a Reading Life" (Unit 1), as mentor texts for read-alouds, where teachers model reading comprehension teaching points. The classroom library is also used, with guidance provided to help students select "within reach" books and form partnerships for practicing comprehension strategies from modeled lessons. The materials do not include decodable texts for reviewing and practicing phonics skills within weeks, units, or throughout the program. The mentor texts, such as "Stone Fox" and "Because of Winn-Dixie," are not decodable and are not aligned to specific phonics instruction. Consequently, the material lacks the use of decodable texts to systematically sequence or revisit phonics skills for cumulative practice.

Evaluation for 4.3d
Lessons include an instructional focus with opportunities for practice in isolation and decodable, connected text.

"Building a Reading Life," Session 15 (Unit 1) provides opportunities for practice in isolation, particularly with word-solving strategies. These strategies involve chunking words, thinking about the story, asking, "Does it look like a word I know?" and "Does it sound right?" and trying different vowel or consonant sounds. These practices, while present, are consistently grounded in a three-cueing approach rather than explicit phonics instruction. For connected text, the material uses read-aloud/mentor texts such as "Stone Fox," where teachers model reading comprehension points. Guidance is provided for establishing a classroom library and assisting students in selecting appropriate books and partnerships for practicing reading comprehension strategies from modeled lessons. A limitation is the absence of decodable texts for explicit phonics practice throughout the material. While Running Records are used to assess reading levels and guide students towards independently readable leveled texts, these do not include decodable, connected texts specifically designed for phonics skill practice. Consequently, the instructional focus and practice opportunities do not consistently target isolated phonics skill development, instead embedding phonics within broader reading tasks and comprehension-focused strategies.

Evaluation for 4.4a
Materials include a variety of assessment tools that are developmentally appropriate.

The material provides a range of assessments, including Reading Logs, Running Records, Performance Assessments, and Records of Student Conferences. These are available in both print and online formats. However, only the Running Records can be associated with phonics. A variety of assessment tools associated with phonics are not included. The materials suggest using Reading Logs, Running Records, Performance Assessments, Auxiliary Performance Assessments, and "Anecdotal Records." While this offers a variety of assessment types, all are focused on reading comprehension and reader behaviors rather than phonics. For example, Performance Assessments include headings on the narrative learning progression, such as orienting to a text, envisioning, monitoring for sense, and story elements. Reading Pathways includes selected examples of performance assessments in "The Assessment Tools," but these lack phonics rules. Unit 2's pre-assessment sample responses are designed to help students identify specific ways to elevate their work to the next level. The materials do not include a variety of developmentally appropriate assessment tools. For instance, the Running Records are primarily reading assessments designed to gauge independent reading levels. Additionally, other assessment tools like the Narrative and Informational Learning Progressions assess literal comprehension, interpretive reading, and analytic reading for grades 2–6.

Evaluation for 4.4b
Materials include progress monitoring tools that systematically and accurately measure students' acquisition of grade-level phonics skills.

The material offers assessments such as Reading Logs, Running Records, Performance Assessments, and Records of Student Conferences, all available in both print and online formats. However, these materials do not include assessments that specifically measure grade-level phonics skills. Recordkeeping for reading levels from Running Records is provided, including charts and graphs that display reading level data throughout the year, with a focus on reading comprehension. While these tools assist in tracking reading levels over time, they do not systematically track the acquisition of phonics skills. The materials also offer guidance on using Running Record data to track reading stamina, suggesting the use of a Reading Log to record the date, time read in class, pages read in class, whether a book was finished or abandoned, and its reading level. However, the materials do not include progress monitoring tools that systematically or accurately measure students' acquisition of grade-level phonics skills.

Evaluation for 4.4c
Materials include assessment opportunities across the span of the school year aligned to progress monitoring tools.

The curriculum materials suggest administering Performance Assessments both before and after each unit, serving as pre- and post-assessments that involve student self-assessment. Running Records are recommended in September, November, January, March, and June. The materials do not include progress monitoring tools that systematically measure students' acquisition of grade-level phonics skills. Guidance is provided on using Learning Progressions and Performance Assessments before and after units, with these tools focusing on reading comprehension or reading behaviors. The materials also offer guidance on using Running Records throughout the year, which incorporate meaning, syntax, and visual cues. However, the materials lack assessment opportunities across the school year that are specifically aligned with progress monitoring tools. For example, Running Records do not provide progress monitoring tools that can be tailored to track the progress of students' specific academic needs. Similarly, the Learning Progressions do not offer progress monitoring tools that can be customized to track the progress of students' specific academic needs.

Evaluation for 4.5a
Materials include data-management tools for tracking individual student progress to make appropriate instructional decisions to accelerate instruction.

A variety of assessments are available that establish data-management tools for tracking individual student progress to make appropriate instructional decisions. The materials include record-keeping for reading levels derived from Running Records, including charts and graphs that display reading level data over the course of the year. Furthermore, a section on "a system for record keeping" suggests that "many teachers have found it helpful to maintain a spreadsheet that includes students' assessment scores. This allows them to color-code the data and notice patterns. These patterns can help you plan for small groups, as well as shape your whole-class teaching." This particular tool is designed for reading comprehension. Reading Pathways and its digital resources provide teachers, students, and their families with a system that aims to make growth in reading more transparent and attainable. Reading Pathways also includes "A Toolkit for Reading Assessment," which comprises a set of data-management tools.

Evaluation for 4.5b
Materials include data-management tools for tracking whole-class student progress to analyze patterns and needs of students.

While the curriculum offers a variety of assessments, it lacks a data management tool for teachers to track whole-class trends, which is also a deficiency observed in the online materials. Reading Pathways: Performance Assessments and Learning Progressions, grades 3–5 includes a paragraph on "A System for Record Keeping," suggesting that many teachers have found it helpful to maintain a spreadsheet that includes students' assessment scores. This allows them to color-code the data and notice patterns. These patterns can help teachers plan for small groups, as well as shape whole-class teaching. However, the materials do not provide such a spreadsheet. These assessments specifically focus on documenting reading levels. Record keeping for reading levels from Running Records is also provided, including charts and graphs illustrating reading level data over the course of the year, but the materials do not lead to analysis of student strengths and needs. Material included in Reading Pathways organizes assessment materials and suggests a system for recording classwide data to identify patterns and inform whole-class teaching. Reading Pathways also includes "Bottom Lines—What to Look for in the 'Teaching of Reading Goals' to Power the Class's Progress" emphasizing that a teacher's record-keeping system should align with the whole-class goals embedded in the unit's objectives. However, the materials do not include data-management tools for tracking the progress of the whole class, including students' strengths and needs. The materials do not include data-management tools for tracking whole-class student progress to analyze patterns or needs. For instance, while Learning Progressions are accompanied by Performance Assessments usable before and after each unit, they are not presented as data-management tools for whole-class tracking. Similarly, while the If . . . Then . . . Curriculum: Assessment-Based Instruction book assists in analyzing data to potentially modify unit sequences, it is not described as a data-management tool for tracking whole-class needs.

Evaluation for 4.5c
Materials include specific guidance on determining frequency of progress monitoring based on students' strengths and needs.

In Reading Pathways, "About the System (Part 1)," the materials provide general guidance to administer a performance assessment both before and after each unit, and a Running Record every other month. This guidance is consistent across both print and online materials. However, there is no specific guidance on progress monitoring tailored to individual student strengths and needs. The materials advise providing pre-reading assessments and post-reading assessments for each unit, with students self-assessing using the learning progression to demonstrate their reading growth. In Reading Pathways, examples are given for how often to administer Running Records, or to adhere to the school's formal Running Record schedule. Within the "Logistics" section, the materials state, "When you start the school year, it is helpful to lay out your curriculum and your school calendar, and to plan an assessment schedule." Reading Pathways suggests guidelines for assessment frequency based on student needs. It also proposes that teachers and colleagues devise a plan for utilizing Performance Assessment results in manageable and efficient ways that enhance student work, minimize additional workload, guide instruction, and energize students. This chapter also advises that assessing earlier in the year, starting at a lower level, will allow the assessments to document more progress. The materials do not include specific guidance on determining the frequency of progress monitoring based on students' strengths or needs. For example, while they generally recommend scheduling Performance Assessments before and after each reading unit and suggest establishing normed benchmarks for assessment windows, they do not provide explicit guidance on how to adjust monitoring frequency based on individual student profiles.

Evaluation for 4.5d
Materials include guidance on how to accelerate learning based on the progress monitoring data to reach mastery of specific concepts.

In Reading Pathways, Part 1, the material provides assessments both in print and online, such as, "tools for collecting data on reading volume and reading habits." Other tools include a "simple, streamlined system for conducting running records." The assessment tools in Part 1 intend to increase students' stamina and engagement in reading. The tools are also intended to ascertain the level of text difficulty at which students can engage. The materials, however, do not offer guidance on how to accelerate learning based on these assessments. In Reading Pathways, "Students and Teachers as Agents of Change," the materials include a section on forming small groups based on Performance Assessment results. This involves placing student work on a progression to identify where it falls and continuing this process until class trends emerge. This approach then helps to identify small groups with similar needs. All data from these Performance Assessments pertain to comprehension and reading behaviors. The Learning Progressions within the materials indicate the next steps for teaching a reader, and a student's current work and skill set must be located on this progression for them to understand these next steps. However, the materials do not include guidance on how to accelerate learning based on progress monitoring data to achieve mastery of specific concepts.

Evaluation for 5.B.1a
Materials include explicit (direct) and systematic instructional guidance on developing oral language and oracy through a variety of methods (e.g., modeling, guided practice, coaching, feedback, and independent practice). (T)

The materials include explicit instructional guidance on developing oral language and oracy. The materials provide teachers with guidance on modeling oral language through "think alouds," and personal experiences. In "Building a Reading Life," Session 1 (Unit 1),the lesson focuses on building a powerful reading life; teachers model oral language by sharing their own relevant experiences. Scripted lessons consistently embed oral language, with teaching points typically beginning with, "Today I want to teach you . . . " The guidance instructs teachers to deliver these teaching points with emphasis to foster "deep attentiveness" in students. The materials also offer guidance for "turn and talk" activities, including guided questions such as, "How can you set yourself up for a stronger reading life?" Discussion scaffolds are also included, like, "You are on such an important track when you say you want to do [do such and such]. What do you think are some specific ways you can set yourself up to do that?" In "Building a Reading Life," Session 1 (Unit 1), teachers receive explicit guidance to model and "think aloud" their thinking, often incorporating personal experiences. Scripted lessons ensure consistent oral language use, with teaching points consistently starting, "Today I want to teach you . . . " and guidance to deliver them with "deep attentiveness." In "Building a Reading Life," Session 6 (Unit ), a teacher explicitly and systematically models an interview using a student in a fishbowl demonstration, providing a clear example of effective oral interaction. Students then analyze this model during a guided class discussion and collaboratively create an anchor chart titled "Tips for Interviewing a Reader," which promotes metacognitive awareness of communication practices. This chart includes tips like, "Listen carefully: Who is this person as a reader?" and "Get the person to say more," fostering comprehension and elaboration. Students then independently conduct their own partner interviews using prearranged questions that encourage purposeful, academic dialogue. The teacher uses coaching prompts to guide student conversations, and a debriefing session reinforces the transferable skill of asking probing follow-up questions. The materials support students' oral language and oracy through modeling, prompts, and guided practice. An anchor chart facilitates conversations with questions such as, "Where do you find the book you read?" and "What are your goals for yourself as a reader? What are you doing to meet them?" During this component, the teacher models what these conversations could look and sound like. The curriculum also includes discussion scaffolds, for example, "You are on such an important track when you say you want to do [do such and such]. What do you think are some specific ways you can set yourself up to do that?" Teachers circulate to provide individualized coaching and feedback, prompting students to "look at the speaker, show interest, and ask follow up questions." Small group work sometimes offers guidance for supporting retelling, using fingers to maintain sequence. The curriculum also emphasizes the importance of partners talking about text, with teachers using model conversations and providing sentence stems for discussions. In "Character Studies," Session 1 (Unit 3), the materials directly teach speaker and listener roles. The teacher explicitly reminds students about communication behaviors like eye contact, then facilitates a guided partner discussion to generate ideas about effective speakers and listeners. The teacher charts student input, reinforcing understanding through modeling and shared discussion. Students then engage in structured partner conversations about books, with clear turn-taking roles. Coaching questions provided for the teacher help refine students' oral language and oracy skills.

Evaluation for 5.B.1b
Materials include opportunities for students to engage in social and academic communication for different purposes and audiences. (S)

The materials include opportunities for students to engage in academic communication across different purposes and audiences. "Building a Reading Life," Session 8 (Unit 1) provides a lesson about reading in partnerships where students question, listen, and respond as both interviewer and interviewee, focusing on academic language related to reading goals and habits. Structured times within consistent components, such as during Active Engagement, prompt students to turn and talk about information gathered from reading. For example, teachers prompt students to share observations about nonfiction text features by asking, "Partner 1, tell your partner what you think this section will teach you." Students respond, building on each other's ideas to deepen their understanding of topics like gorilla adaptations. The structure of Active Engagement facilitates instruction through academic communication, with no opportunities for social communication. In "Building a Reading Life," Session 10 (Unit 1), students reflect on predictions made in their reading logs, discussing the quality of those predictions using a learning progression. They first share and evaluate predictions with a partner, then with another partner group, supporting academic communication for analysis, evaluation, and justification of ideas. This progression from individual reflection to partner work to small-group discussion provides academic communication with different audiences, requiring students to express their thinking to multiple peers and adapt their communication accordingly. Students also turn and talk with clubmates to discuss character traits based on a given structure given by the teacher for academic communication. While discourse between students and among varying audiences exists in the materials, the lesson lacks explicit opportunities for social communication. In "Research Clubs," Session 2 (Unit 4), students engage in academic discussions with partners, for example, by adding new information from sentence strips onto graphic organizers organized by subtopics about penguins. This task supports synthesizing information, categorizing content, and collaborating to build understanding. Afterward, students participate in a whole-class debrief, allowing them to communicate with a different academic audience. Students also continue their research with animal research clubs, synthesizing new information with previous readings, which further supports academic collaboration and discourse. However, the materials do not include opportunities for students to engage in social communication for different purposes and audiences.

Evaluation for 5.B.1c
Materials include authentic opportunities for students to listen actively, ask questions, engage in discussion to understand information, and share information and ideas. (S)

Lessons follow a consistent structure that provides daily, authentic opportunities for students to listen actively, engage in discussion to understand information, and share their ideas. In "Building a Reading Life," Session 6 (Unit 1), the materials provide opportunities for discussion where students question, listen, and respond as both interviewer and interviewee, focusing on academic language related to reading goals and habits. It offers guidance on being a good listener, for instance, by suggesting teachers cite obvious first steps toward improved listening if students are not making eye contact or are rushing through questions. The material also encourages teachers to coach students as they conduct reading interviews and then debrief to emphasize the transferable aspects of these skills. In the conferring and small-group portions of lessons found in "Character Studies," Session 11 (Unit 3), the curriculum focuses on helping students expand their ideas through rich, collaborative conversation within their book clubs. A teacher observes when students move too quickly from idea to idea and prompts deeper discussion, supporting active listening and thoughtful engagement. The instructional guidance encourages students to analyze character actions by considering what those actions reveal about character qualities, what they do not reveal, whether decisions are surprising, and how they impact character growth. This deepens students' understanding and invites clarifying questions, inference-making, and critical discussion. The teacher also charts sentence stems and conversational strategies for agreeing, disagreeing, and clarifying, providing concrete tools to support students in asking questions, participating in dialogue, and expressing ideas clearly. Across all units, the materials embed routines that encourage students to listen attentively, engage in collaborative discussion, and share information with others.

Evaluation for 5.C.1a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing letter names and their corresponding sounds. (PR 2.A.1)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.C.1b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for teaching and developing student automaticity in the identification of the 26 letters of the alphabet (upper and lowercase) and their corresponding sounds. (PR 2.A.1) (T)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.C.1c
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) and systematic instruction for letter formation for the 26 letters of the alphabet (upper and lowercase). (PR 2.A & 2.A.3) (T)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.C.1d
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources (including the use of memory-building strategies) for students to develop, practice, and reinforce (through cumulative review) alphabet knowledge both in isolation and in the context of meaningful print. (PR 2.A & 2.A.3) (S).

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.C.2a
Materials explicitly (directl), and systematically introduce letter-sound relationships in an order that allows for application to basic decoding and encoding. (PR 2.A.1)

The curriculum does not explicitly or systematically introduce letter-sound relationships in a way that supports the application of basic decoding and encoding skills. Instead, it guides students to identify unknown words primarily through a three-cueing approach, which relies on context, pictures, and what "sounds right" or "looks familiar." Units incorporate Active Engagement, Conferring, and Small-Group Work components for reading strategies, but these do not explicitly or systematically introduce letter-sound relationships for decoding and encoding. The sessions do not include decodable texts for practicing skills that have not yet been introduced. Instead, the curriculum guides teachers to post an anchor chart like "To Make Reading the Best, I Will Choose Books I Love" as found in "Building a Reading Life," Session 2 (Unit 1). When students request assistance, the curriculum directs teachers to encourage them to use their own resources, or to teach them to assess their goals and identify strategies to achieve those goals, rather than providing direct phonics support. In "Building a Reading Life, "Session 14 (Unit 1), lessons teach students to figure out unfamiliar words using various strategies such as chunking, listening for familiar words, considering story context, asking if a word looks or sounds familiar, trying different vowel or consonant sounds, and utilizing textual or context clues. These strategies emphasize meaning, structure, and visual cues rather than direct, phonics-based instruction. The materials do not provide explicit teaching, modeling, or practice of specific letter-sound relationships, nor do they follow a systematic sequence that builds decoding and encoding skills through cumulative, sound-spelling pattern instruction. In "Reading to Learn," Session 14 (Unit 2), the materials focus on comprehension strategies, such as "Using Textual Clues to Figure Out the Meaning of Unfamiliar Words," "Distinguishing Your Own Opinion from That of the Author," "Noticing the Roles Illustrations Play in a Story," and "Cause and Effect." The curriculum primarily focuses on reading comprehension through teacher modeling and student immersion in complex texts, rather than explicit phonics instruction.

Evaluation for 5.C.2b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction focused on connecting phonemes to letters within words with recommended explanatory feedback for students based on common errors and misconceptions. (PR 2.A & 2.A.2) (T)

The curriculum does not explicitly include teacher guidance to provide direct instruction focused on connecting phonemes to letters within words with appropriate feedback. Instead, it encourages students to solve unfamiliar words primarily through a three-cueing approach. This approach relies on strategies such as chunking, using context from the story and pictures, asking if the word looks or sounds familiar, and trying out different possible sounds for letters found in "Building a Reading Life," Session 14 (Unit 1). These methods emphasize meaning, structure, and visual cues rather than direct, sequential instruction in phoneme-grapheme relationships. In "Reading to Learn," Session 13 (Unit 2), the materials focus on comprehension strategies, such as "Using Textual Clues to Figure Out the Meaning of Unfamiliar Words," "Distinguishing Your Own Opinion from That of the Author," "Noticing the Roles Illustrations Play in a Story," and "Cause and Effect." The primary focus of the curriculum, particularly in its two units on fiction and two on informational reading, centers on reading comprehension through teacher modeling and student immersion in complex texts. There is no evidence that indicates the materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit instruction focused on connecting phonemes to letters within words with recommended explanatory feedback for students based on common errors and misconceptions. In "Building a Reading Life," Session 2 (Unit 1), the materials do not include explicit guidance for teachers to provide explanatory feedback to students based on common errors and misconceptions related to connecting phonemes to letters within words. While Conferring and "Small Group" work acknowledges that children might make miscues by prioritizing meaning over accurate letter matching or vice versa, the teacher guide lacks scripted lessons or support on how to directly teach students to connect phonemes to letters with recommended corrective feedback.

Evaluation for 5.C.2c
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce (through cumulative review) their understanding of applying letter-sound correspondence to decode one syllable and multisyllable words in isolation and decodable connected text. (PR 2.A & 2.A.3) (S)

The materials do not include activities or resources for students in developing, practicing, or reinforcing how to decode words. For example, in "Building a Reading Life," Session 14 (Unit 1), the materials encourage students to solve unfamiliar words using three-cueing strategies. These strategies include chunking the word, using story or picture context, asking whether the word looks or sounds familiar, and experimenting with possible letter sounds. They also advise students to consider context from illustrations, try different vowel and consonant sounds, and rely on textual clues. These methods heavily rely on context and prior knowledge rather than explicit, systematic phonics instruction or the application of specific letter-sound correspondences. As a result, the lessons lack both explicit instruction in specific letter-sound correspondences and a systematic progression that builds decoding and encoding skills based on those relationships. The curriculum does not provide structured opportunities to apply these relationships in reading or spelling tasks, nor does it include decodable texts essential for controlled practice in connected reading using taught phonics patterns. In "Building a Reading Life" (Unit 1), in the section "Orientation to the Unit, Support Skills Progression," the materials explicitly states that "At the start of 3rd grade, a lot of your reading instruction will support essential comprehension skills." It guides teachers to instruct students to choose "just right" books, collect data on their reading rate and volume, and then use that data to reimagine their reading lives. While some guidance exists for word solving in the beginning of the year, particularly for tackling multisyllabic words, it inconsistently suggests strategies like rereading words before and after an unknown word and trying to think of a substitute word that means the same thing, which does not align with phonics-based decoding strategies. Homework and Share components allow students to communicate learning, but these do not involve activities for developing, practicing, or reinforcing letter-sound correspondence for decoding.

Evaluation for 5.D.1a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing phonological awareness activities in accordance with grade-level TEKS that begins with simple skills and larger units of sound (e.g., identifying and producing rhyming words, recognizing spoken alliteration, identifying the individual words in spoken sentences) and gradually transitions to more complex skills and smaller units of sound (e.g., adding, deleting, and substituting syllables). (PR 2.A.1)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.D.1b
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction for teaching phonological awareness skills with recommended explanatory feedback for students based on common errors and misconceptions. (PR 2.A & 2.A.2) (T)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.D.1c
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources (including the use of memory-building strategies) for students to develop, practice, and reinforce phonological awareness skills connected to grade-level TEKS (through cumulative review). (PR 2.A & 2.A.3) (S)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.D.2a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing phonemic awareness activities that begins with identifying, blending, and segmenting phonemes, and gradually transitions to more complex manipulation practices such as adding, deleting, and substituting phonemes. (PR 2.A.1)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.D.2b
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction for teaching phonemic awareness with recommended explanatory feedback for students based on common errors and misconceptions. (PR 2.A & 2.A.2) (T)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.D.2c
Materials include explicit (direct) guidance for connecting phonemic awareness skills to the alphabetic principle, to support students in the transition from oral language activities to basic decoding and encoding. (PR 2.A.1) (T)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.D.2d
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce phonemic awareness skills (through cumulative review). (PR 2.A & 2.A.3) (S)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.E.1a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level sound-spelling patterns, as outlined in the TEKS. (PR 2.A.1)

The materials do not include an intentional progression from simpler to more complex sound-spelling patterns, and they do not provide a clear, grade-level aligned sequence for introducing or practicing phonics concepts such as consonant blends, vowel teams, or syllable patterns. Phonics instruction is not a core or embedded feature of the instructional design. In "Building a Reading Life," Session 14 (Unit 1), students learn to decode unfamiliar words using three-cueing strategies. These strategies include chunking the word into parts, using picture and story context, asking if the word looks or sounds familiar, and trying out different letter sounds. These approaches heavily rely on meaning and visual/contextual cues rather than explicitly teaching or applying grade-level sound-spelling patterns. Also in Session 14, the materials contain a single spelling lesson, "Figuring Out Hard Words," and another in "Tackling Hard Words That Complicate Meaning." Both lessons direct students to chunk words, consider the story, ask if a word looks or sounds familiar, or try out different letter sounds. The second lesson also prompts students to search for clues to understand word meanings, use context clues for pronouns, and work out figurative language phrases. Across all units, the instruction does not reflect a structured progression from simple to more complex sound-spelling patterns. A Guide to the Reading Workshop: Intermediate Grades includes student-friendly learning progressions for essential reading skills, but lacks a scope and sequence that outlines the systematic progression of sound-spelling pattern skills and concepts. Instead, it supports skills such as close reading, inference, analytic reading, summary, cross-text synthesis, and interpretation.

Evaluation for 5.E.1b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for grade-level sound-spelling patterns. (PR 2.A.1) (T)

The materials do not provide direct instruction for teaching phonics concepts, nor do they offer scripted teacher guidance for modeling or explaining sound-spelling relationships. There is no clear, grade-level aligned sequence for introducing or practicing phonics concepts such as vowel teams, suffixes, or multisyllabic word patterns as required by grade-level expectations. In A Guide to the Reading Workshop, sound-spelling instruction is not a core feature of the available lessons, and teachers do not receive structured, explicit strategies for delivering phonics instruction. In "Building a Reading Life," Session 14 (Unit 1), the instructional guidance in lessons focuses on three-cueing strategies. Students learn to identify unfamiliar words by chunking the word, using story context and pictures, asking if the word looks or sounds familiar, or trying different letter sounds. These strategies rely on contextual and visual cues, not on systematic instruction in sound-spelling patterns. The curriculum does not provide explicit or direct instruction for introducing, modeling, or practicing grade-level spelling patterns, such as multisyllabic word patterns, r-controlled vowels, or syllable division rules. It lacks phonics-focused routines and does not equip teachers with clear guidance to teach aligned phonics concepts. Across all units, the materials do not include consistent routines or explicit guidance for teachers to define phonics concepts, model target patterns with specific examples, or provide scaffolded practice before students apply skills independently. A Guide to the Reading Workshop: Intermediate Grades, Chapter 2, includes student-friendly learning progressions for essential reading skills but does not outline a systematic progression of sound-spelling pattern skills and concepts. Instead, it supports skills such as close reading, inference, analytic reading, summary, cross-text synthesis, and interpretation.

Evaluation for 5.E.1c
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce grade-level sound-spelling patterns (through cumulative review). (PR 2.A.1) (T)

The curriculum primarily emphasizes improving reading comprehension through leveled fiction and nonfiction texts, but it lacks a structured or systematic approach to teaching grade-level sound-spelling patterns. The materials do not offer explicit phonics instruction, decodable texts, or consistent routines for developing, practicing, or reinforcing these patterns. In A Guide to the Reading Workshop, Chapter 2, the material guides students to decode unfamiliar words using three-cueing strategies, which involve chunking words, using story context and illustrations, considering if a word looks or sounds familiar, and experimenting with different letter sounds. These methods prioritize meaning and context over direct phonics knowledge. Across all units, the materials do not present phonics lessons that follow a consistent daily pattern or provide a variety of engaging activities and resources for phonics development. In "Building a Reading Life," Session 14 (Unit 1), the materials do not incorporate cumulative review or practice for phonics patterns; rather, it teaches sound-spelling patterns as standalone concepts without connecting them to prior skills or other patterns. For example, while lessons encourage students to use strategies for figuring out hard words, they do not provide opportunities to practice previously learned sound-spelling patterns within these tasks. In "Reading to Learn," Session 13 (Unit 2), the material does not include activities and resources for students to develop, practice, or reinforce grade-level sound-spelling patterns through cumulative review. For example, the materials include guidance stating, "Today I want to teach you that nonfiction readers keep a careful balance. They do not stop in their tracks every time they come across a hard word, but they do stop to figure out tricky parts when they begin to get confused or lose meaning." This guidance does not provide students opportunities to practice using sound-spelling patterns from previous activities or tasks.

Evaluation for 5.E.1d
Materials provide a variety of activities and/or resources to support students in decoding and encoding words that include taught sound-spelling patterns, both in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text that builds on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts). (PR 2.A.1 & 2.A.3) (S)

The materials do not provide activities or resources to support decoding or encoding. In A Guide to the Reading Workshop, the materials do not directly teach or reinforce phonics patterns such as vowel teams, digraphs, or suffixes. They also do not provide decodable texts or connected reading passages aligned to previously taught sound-spelling patterns. Decoding and encoding tasks are not grounded in systematic phonics instruction. Students do not receive word lists, dictation, sentence writing, or reading passages focused on applying specific phonics skills. Since the program uses leveled texts rather than decodable texts, the words students encounter do not necessarily align with a phonics scope and sequence, which further limits opportunities for intentional decoding and encoding practice. Lessons in "Building a Reading Life," Session 14 (Unit 1) primarily rely on three-cueing strategies to help students identify unfamiliar words. These strategies include chunking words, using story context, analyzing pictures, asking if a word looks or sounds familiar, and trying out different letter sounds. These methods are not rooted in phonics-based decoding or encoding aligned with grade-level expectations. There is no evidence of structured decoding practice using sound-spelling patterns taught in prior lessons, nor are there decodable texts that align with a phonics sequence. Encoding is not practiced in connection with sound-spelling patterns through word lists, spelling routines, or connected writing tasks. Students do not receive guidance to apply a systematic approach to mapping sounds to spellings (phoneme–grapheme correspondence).

Evaluation for 5.E.2a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing regular and irregular high-frequency words. (PR 2.A.1)

The materials primarily structure student progress around leveled fiction and nonfiction texts, emphasizing comprehension and reading strategies. However, it does not explicitly or systematically teach high-frequency words, whether regular or irregular. A Guide to the Reading Workshop lacks a clear sequence or instructional routine for introducing, reviewing, or reinforcing high-frequency words across grade levels, which limits the targeted development of automatic word recognition skills. Instead of direct instruction in decoding or recognizing these words, lessons focus on general strategies for approaching unfamiliar words. Students learn to "chunk the word," "think about the story and pictures," "ask if the word looks or sounds like one they know," and "try out different letter sounds." This approach reflects a three-cueing method rather than evidence-based practices for foundational literacy instruction. "Building a Reading Life," Session 14" (Unit 1) includes a lesson titled "Using Textual Clues to Figure Out the Meaning of Unfamiliar Words," which outlines strategies for understanding new vocabulary. These strategies involve grasping the gist or main idea of a section, identifying potential synonyms or antonyms, or locating an explanation of the word within the text. Furthermore, Session 14A also includes a lesson titled "Figuring Out Hard Words," which provides an anchor chart outlining strategies for approaching unfamiliar words. These strategies include: chunking the word, considering the story's context, determining if the word looks or sounds familiar, and experimenting with different letter sounds. However, the materials do not include a systematic sequence for introducing regular and irregular high-frequency words. In this Session students are not able to apply their phonics knowledge to decode and encode high-frequency words independently. In "Building a Reading Life," (Unit 1), the materials do not include a systematic sequence for introducing regular high-frequency words. "The big work of the unit is to instill lifelong habits of strong readers, choosing books wisely, and applying on-the-run comprehension strategies to hold on to and synthesize all the parts of the text." The material in Unit 1 does not include a systematic sequence for introducing regular or irregular high-frequency words. The material in Chapter 1 states, "Many students of grade three continue to need to support tackling multisyllabic words and unfamiliar phrases. They need to rely on context clues."

Evaluation for 5.E.2b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for decoding and encoding regular and irregular high-frequency words. (PR 2.A.1) (T)

The materials do not offer teacher guidance for the explicit instruction of high-frequency words, whether regular or irregular. For example, A Guide to the Reading Workshop, Chapter 2, teaches students a strategy for identifying unknown words by chunking the word, using context from the story and illustrations, and asking if the word looks or sounds familiar, or by trying different letter sounds. This lesson does not provide explicit instruction for decoding or encoding high-frequency words, nor does it distinguish between regular and irregular types. This approach reflects a three-cueing strategy, which does not align with current research-based practices in foundational literacy instruction. In A Guide to the Reading Workshop: Intermediate Grades, Chapter 4, the materials focus on broader Reading Workshop structures, including summarizing, inference, and interpretation, rather than explicit high-frequency word instruction. While Chapter 4 aims to support foundational reading skills and tackle word difficulty, it does not include specific guidance for teachers to provide explicit, direct instruction for decoding and encoding regular or irregular high-frequency words.

Evaluation for 5.E.2c
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce skills to decode and encode regular and irregular high-frequency words (through cumulative review). (PR 2.A.1 & 2.A.3) (S)

The curriculum does not systematically or explicitly develop, practice, or reinforce skills related to high-frequency words, both regular and irregular. It lacks dedicated word lists, targeted activities, or routines to support automaticity in reading or spelling these words. Students may encounter high-frequency words incidentally within leveled texts, but the curriculum does not provide direct skill development, structured practice, or cumulative review across units to ensure mastery. For example, in "Building a Reading Life," Session 14 (Unit 1), a lesson titled "Figuring Out Hard Words" offers general strategies like chunking words, thinking about the story, using pictures, or trying different letter sounds. Similarly, a lesson titled "Using Textual Clues to Figure Out the Meaning of Unfamiliar Words" guides students to find the gist, synonyms, antonyms, or explanations. These approaches rely on three-cueing methods rather than explicit, phonics-based instruction. The materials do not distinguish between regular and irregular high-frequency words, nor do they include instruction linked to syllable types or morpheme-based decoding strategies. In A Guide to the Reading Workshop: Intermediate Grades, Chapter 4, the materials do not systematically introduce, practice, and reinforce high-frequency words, leading students to practice unmastered words independently. This Chapter focuses on instilling Reading Workshop structures and developing comprehension skills such as summarizing, inference, and interpretation. It does not offer varied activities or resources for cumulative review of high-frequency words. Students also do not engage in activities that combine regular and irregular high-frequency words with prefixes and suffixes, and there are no activities or resources for cumulative review of high-frequency words.

Evaluation for 5.E.2d
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources (including the use of memory-building strategies) for students to read, and write high-frequency words in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in connected text (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts). (PR 2.A.1) (S)

The material does not offer structured opportunities for students to read or write high-frequency words, either in isolation or in connected text. It lacks word lists, drills, dictation activities, or practice routines specifically designed to target high-frequency word recognition or spelling. In "Building a Reading Life," Session 14 (Unit 1), the instructional approach often reflects a three-cueing system, encouraging students to rely on meaning and visual or contextual cues rather than directly applying phonics and decoding skills. For instance, Session 14: "Figuring Out Hard Words," provides strategies such as chunking words, thinking about the story, using pictures, or trying out different letter sounds. Similarly, Session 14: "Using Textual Clues to Figure Out the Meaning of Unfamiliar Words," guides students to find the gist, synonyms, antonyms, or explanations. This method does not align with research-based best practices for developing word reading and decoding proficiency. In A Guide to the Reading Workshop, Chapter 2, the materials do not address syllable types or syllable division principles, which are foundational elements. The material in this chapter also does not include a variety of strategies or resources for decoding and encoding high-frequency words, nor does it provide fluency passages that feature newly and previously learned high-frequency words. While materials support skills such as close reading, inference, analytic reading, summary, cross-text synthesis, and interpretation, it does not offer opportunities to work with newly acquired high-frequency words or practice them in connected texts during minilessons, which typically focus on broader reading strategies.

Evaluation for 5.E.3a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level syllable types and syllable division principles, as outlined in the TEKS. (PR 2.A.1)

The material does not provide a clearly defined, systematic sequence for introducing syllable types or syllable division principles. While it may address syllable patterns and division strategies incidentally, it lacks a consistent or structured progression that builds students' understanding of syllabication rules over time. Instruction appears to be sporadic and does not include explicit teacher guidance or scope and sequence documents that align with grade-level expectations for syllable type and division mastery. For example, in "Building a Reading Life," Session 14 (Unit 1), the materials do not provide explicit lessons focused on identifying or applying the six common syllable types (e.g., closed, open, vowel-consonant-e, r-controlled, vowel teams, consonant-le) in decoding and encoding instruction. Essential decoding strategies like VC/CV, V/CV, or syllable junctures in multisyllabic words are not taught in isolation nor revisited systematically. The materials word work learning progression rubric in this session shows an example of a word like fantastic broken into syllables (fan/tas/tic) with the explanation "I read all the way across the word and use what I know about letters and sounds." However, the guidance does not include a structured scope and sequence for decoding or spelling multisyllabic words. Instead, whole-class instruction often draws upon a broader repertoire of skills and strategies, with units of study organizing larger reading projects. Reading to Learn (Unit 2) focuses on teaching children to read expository nonfiction, ascertain main ideas, and recognize text infrastructure rather than systematically addressing syllable division principles. The curriculum includes lessons titled "Reading in the Company of Partners," "Readers Check for Comprehension," and "Raising the Level of Questions to Unearth Deeper Meaning: Considering Author's Purpose," which emphasize comprehension rather than explicit syllabication instruction.

Evaluation for 5.E.3b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for applying knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles to decode and encode one-syllable or multisyllabic words. (PR 2.A.1) (T)

In "Building a Reading Life" (Unit 1), the materials do not provide teacher guidance for explicit instruction on syllable types or syllable division principles for either decoding or encoding. They lack scripted instruction, modeling, or direct teaching support to help teachers systematically introduce or reinforce these concepts. For instance, in this unit, the materials do not include explicit instruction that outlines a systematic routine for decoding multisyllabic words, such as steps for identifying prefixes/suffixes, underlining vowels, and applying specific syllable division patterns like VC/CV or V/CV. Consequently, students learn to read and spell words without explicitly learning about specific syllable types or division principles that would aid in decoding and encoding multisyllabic words. In Reading Pathways, Unit 2, a word work learning progression rubric may show a visual of a word like fantastic broken into syllables with an explanation such as, "I read all the way across the word and use what I know about letters and sounds," the broader curriculum does not consistently provide explicit guidance for applying knowledge of syllable types or division principles to decode and encode multisyllabic words. Instead, whole-class instruction often draws upon a repertoire of general skills and strategies, with units of study organizing larger reading projects. For example, Unit 2 focuses on teaching children to read expository nonfiction, ascertain main ideas, and recognize text infrastructure rather than systematically addressing syllable division principles. The curriculum includes lessons titled "Reading in the Company of Partners," "Readers Check for Comprehension," and "Raising the Level of Questions to Unearth Deeper Meaning: Considering Author's Purpose," which emphasize comprehension rather than explicit syllabication instruction.

Evaluation for 5.E.3c
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice and reinforce skills to decode and encode one-syllable or multisyllabic words (through cumulative review). (PR 2.A.1 & 2.A.3) (S)

The materials do not include activities or resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce skills to decode and encode one-syllable or multisyllabic words. In A Guide to the Reading Workshop, Chapter 2, the material does not systematically introduce, practice, or reinforce decoding and encoding skills. Students often tackle their independent texts without explicit instruction or guidance. For example, a lesson in Chapter 2 teaches students a strategy for figuring out unknown words by chunking the word, considering the story and pictures, asking if the word looks or sounds familiar, and trying out different letter sounds. However, this lesson does not address syllable types or systematic decoding strategies. Instead, it encourages reliance on context and visual cues, an approach not aligned with research-based practices for teaching decoding skills. In "Building a Reading Life," Session 15 (Unit 1), word work in the materials often focuses on word meaning rather than decoding or encoding. For instance, in a lesson in this session about using textual clues, guidance might show how to write the word impatient by providing its parts (im and patient) and explaining that im- means "not." In "Reading to Learn" (Unit 2), the materials do not include a variety of activities or resources that allow students to develop, practice, and reinforce skills for decoding and encoding one-syllable or multisyllabic words through cumulative review. The unit overview emphasizes teaching students to read extensive nonfiction texts and to grasp the author's overarching message, rather than focusing on decoding and encoding one-syllable or multisyllabic words.

Evaluation for 5.E.3d
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to practice decoding and encoding one-syllable or multisyllabic words, using knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles, in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text that builds on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts). (PR 2.A & 2.A.3) (S)

The materials do not provide activities or resources that support students in applying knowledge of syllable types or syllable division principles, either in isolated word lists or within decodable connected texts. Instead, the material relies on the three-cueing system, emphasizing context clues, pictures, and guessing strategies rather than systematic phonics instruction based on syllable awareness. This approach does not align with best practices for teaching decoding and encoding skills. In A Guide to the Reading Workshop, the materials directs teachers to look at Running Records and to analyze miscues in a student's reading in order to know when to "teach strategies for using meaning and syntax, in combination with the print, to solve new words." The materials do not include a variety of activities or resources for students to practice encoding one-syllable or multisyllabic words using knowledge of syllable division principles in isolation, and do not include using knowledge of syllable division principles in decodable connected text that builds on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts). In "Building a Reading Life," Session 14 (Unit 1), materials include a lesson titled "Figuring Out Hard Words," where an anchor chart is provided with the following strategies: chunk the word, think about the story, ask if it looks or sounds like a known word, and try out different sounds that letters can make. This session does not include a variety of activities or resources for students to practice decoding and encoding one-syllable or multisyllabic words, using knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles, in isolation (e.g., word lists), and in decodable connected text that builds on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts).

Evaluation for 5.E.4a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level morphemes, as outlined in the TEKS. (PR 2.A.1)

While the materials include limited instruction related to grade-level morphemes, they do not present a systematic sequence for introducing them as outlined in the TEKS. "Building a Reading Life," Session 15 (Unit 1) includes two lessons on word work which address morphemes, such as prefixes, to word solve and find the meaning of the word; however, instruction is not systematic. The material rarely refers to an instructional approach that is deliberate, planned, and logically sequenced. "Reading to Learn," Session 13 (Unit 2) includes lessons addressing morphemes, such as prefixes, to help students solve and understand word meanings, but this skill appears sporadically without a systematic sequence. Session 13 suggests a rubric that provides guidance for students to self-assess their word-solving abilities, including those related to morphemes, but this support is isolated. A Guide to the Reading Workshop does not include a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level morphemes as outlined in the TEKS. There are no isolated lessons focused on the explicit instruction of prefixes, suffixes, roots, or base words. While students occasionally encounter words containing morphemes in this chapter within texts or activities, there is no evidence of intentional, sequenced instruction or a cohesive progression that builds morphological awareness across the year.

Evaluation for 5.E.4b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for supporting recognition of common morphemes and using their meanings (e.g., affixes, roots, and base words) to support decoding, encoding, and reading comprehension. (PR 2.A.1) (T)

In "Building a Reading Life" (Unit 1), students encounter words with affixes during guided reading to support the recognition of common morphemes and to support reading comprehension. However, the materials do not provide intentional teacher guidance, explicit instruction, or a structured scope and sequence for developing morphological awareness associated with decoding and encoding. Session 15 includes guidance on word work addressing common morphemes like prefixes to solve words and find their meaning. It provides guidance for prefixes such as dis-, in-, im-, and un-, which all mean "not," and for suffixes including -ed, -ing, -ly, and -s/-es, which are the four most frequently used in English. This session includes structured language on how to break apart base words from prefixes and determine meaning, representing one opportunity for explicit instruction on this skill within the entire set of units to support the recognition of morphemes and reading comprehension. Unit 1 also includes a suggested rubric that provides guidance for students to self-assess their word-solving abilities, including those related to morphemes, but none of the activities throughout Unit 1 are representative of explicit instruction for instruction for supporting recognition of common morphemes and using their meanings to support decoding and encoding. A Guide to the Reading Workshop does not provide teacher guidance for explicit instruction in recognizing or applying the meanings of common morphemes to support encoding and decoding. There are no teacher scripts, modeling examples, or lesson routines that explicitly teach students how to decode or encode using morphemes such as prefixes, suffixes, or roots. Morphemes appear in texts or vocabulary activities to support common morpheme recognition and reading comprehension.

Evaluation for 5.E.4c
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce grade-level morphological skills (through cumulative review). (PR 2.A.1 & 2.A.3) (S)

The materials do not offer student activities to develop, practice, or reinforce morphological skills. While students may encounter words with prefixes or suffixes in texts or discussions in Unit 1, Session 16: "Big Words Take Big Resolve," the program lacks targeted instruction or structured opportunities for students to manipulate morphemes, such as building words with affixes, identifying base words, or exploring how morphemes change word meanings. The materials do not include cumulative review opportunities that revisit and reinforce previously introduced morphemes across units, limiting students' chances to deepen their understanding and use of morphemes like prefixes, suffixes, and root words. "Building a Reading Life," Session 15 (Unit 1) provides a suggestion during conferring and small group work within a lesson that contains work on morphological skills. This suggestion is that "you might want to lead a small group on prefixes and suffixes." However, this example is isolated and does not include a variety of activities or resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce grade-level morphological skills through cumulative review. "Reading to Learn," Session 13 (Unit 2) does not provide explicitly designed activities for students to develop, practice, or reinforce morphological skills. Instead, students rely on rubrics, their independent reading texts, and incidental opportunities to practice these skills. The materials offer a suggestion during small-group work to "lead a small group on prefixes and suffixes," but this remains an isolated suggestion rather than a systemic approach.

Evaluation for 5.E.4d
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to decode and encode words with morphemes in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text that builds on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts). (PR 2.A.1 & 2.A.3) (S)

The curriculum does not provide targeted activities or resources for students to explicitly decode or encode words with morphemes, either in isolation or within connected, decodable texts. It lacks word lists, spelling practice, or reading passages specifically designed to systematically support morphological skill development. For example, in "Building a Reading Life, "Session 14 (Unit 1), the materials include one short list of the most frequently used prefixes and suffixes, specifically focusing on prefixes like dis-, in-, im-, and un- (all meaning "not"), and suffixes like -ed, -ing, -ly, and -s/-es (the four most frequently used in English). Students practice these skills using their self-selected independent reading texts. Additionally, this unit suggests a rubric that guides students in self-assessing their word-solving abilities, which includes aspects of morphemes, also using their self-selected texts. However, this is not representative of explicit instruction on morphological skills. "Building a Reading Life," Session 15 (Unit 1) consistently prompts teachers and students to discuss morphemes as they read authentic texts; however, it does not offer opportunities for students to practice decoding, encoding, and understanding the meaning of words with morphemes. The materials do not provide a variety of activities or resources for students to decode and encode words with morphemes, either in isolation or in decodable connected text that builds on previous instruction.