Program Information
- ISBN
- 9781935289449
- Technical Specifications: Checklist
- Tech Specs: Checklist (pdf 486.91 KB)
- Technical Specifications: Professional Development
- Tech Specs: Professional Development (pdf 174.95 KB)
The Writing Road to Reading: Fourth Grade
ELAR Grade 4
IMRA 2025
Commissioner Rejected
Publisher: Spalding Education International
Copyright: 2012
Series includes:
Rubric: ELAR 4–8 | 2025 (Download Not Available)
* Some programs submit evidence for only part of a standard, while others submit all sections. A 100% score means this program met all the expectations it submitted.
Quality Review
Standards Alignment
Rubric Section
| Grade | TEKS % | ELPS % |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 4 | 53.97% | 7.69% |
Criteria for Quality
Rubric Section 1
Implementation Quality
Materials support educators in effective implementation through intentional course, unit, and lesson-level design.
Total
61% (17 out of 28 points)
Evaluation for 1.1a
The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide includes a two-part scope and sequence in the "Planning Integrated Language Arts Instruction" section. "Scope and Sequence Part 1" provides a chart of program objectives for spelling, writing, and reading, and "Scope & Sequence Part 2" provides guidance on lesson objectives and a skills trace spanning 32 weeks. Concepts listed as program objectives are chunked by literacy category (spelling, writing, and reading) and identified by one of five instructional levels: Introduce/Practice, Practice, Mastery, Review/Reinforce, or Challenge. The vertical alignment of the program objectives is noted for grades 3–6. "Scope & Sequence Part 2" provides a more detailed sequence of concepts for weeks 1–4, chunked by literacy category. The ELPS are not included in the materials. There is no evidence of a TEKS correlation guide or documentation of TEKS taught throughout the year.
Evaluation for 1.1b
The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide provides a skills trace pacing calendar that covers 32 weeks of instruction, broken down by week. Skills are chunked by literacy category (spelling, writing, and reading), and an "X" denotes each week in which a skill is addressed. The materials do not include suggested pacing for instructional calendars of varying instructional days.
Evaluation for 1.1c
The "Spalding's Language Arts Circle" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide, gives a rationale for organizing concepts throughout the course. The Spalding Language Arts Circle, made up of spelling, writing, and reading objectives, ensures that "each of the essential instructional components recommended by the National Reading Panel (NRP) are taught or reinforced in one or more lessons." "The Spelling Lesson at a Glance," "The Writing Lesson at a Glance," and "The Reading Lesson at a Glance" sections of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide provide additional information about the progression of spelling, writing, and reading lessons. For example, the materials state, "First, students are taught that spoken words are made up of individual sounds (phonemes). Each day, they say (segment) the sounds in spoken words, then blend the sounds (phonemic awareness). Beginning on Academic Day 1, they review symbols (phonograms) that represent individual speech sounds (phonics)... Students say and write phonograms four days a week. Phonemic awareness and phonics lessons are integrated all year." The order of concepts outlined in the Scope and Sequence reflects this systematic progression from easier to harder skills. The Teacher's Guide provides an explanation for skill integration across strands and a clear sequence of instructional complexity, but it does not include an explicit rationale for unit order.
Evaluation for 1.1d
Lesson internalization guidance is provided in the "Framework for Designing Lessons" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide. The framework walks teachers through four steps to design an integrated language arts lesson using The Spalding Method. Step 1 is Selecting Instructional Objectives at the Correct Level of Difficulty. Step 2 is Assigning Instructional Delivery Level(s) for Each Objective. Step 3 is Aligning Information, Questions, Responses, and Activities (IQRA) to each Lesson Objective. Step 4 is Preparing the Introduction and Conclusion. Each step includes additional teacher guidance, such as lesson-level routine notes and feedback reminders. The materials are not divided into clear units. Lessons are only grouped by academic week. There are no protocols or guidance for unit internalization.
Evaluation for 1.1e
The "Professional Development" page on spalding.org offers options for content specialists, coaches, or administrators to schedule and attend on-site professional development sessions or access pre-recorded videos with the guidance of an on-site facilitator to assist teachers in curriculum implementation. Course options include topics such as "Successful Start with Spalding Implementation," "Spalding Spelling Lesson Refresher," "Syllabication Update," and more. The "Courses" page on spalding.org offers options to register for 45 hours of on-site or hybrid training in Reading Foundations and 45 hours of on-site or Zoom training in Effective Strategies for Writing and Reading. Both courses are marked as appropriate for curriculum specialists, content specialists, and administrators. The "Courses" page on spalding.org offers instructional coaches access to the Coach Training Course in order to "successfully coach teachers who are implementing and refining The Spalding Method procedures using the Spalding Spelling Lesson checklist." Coaches attend a self-paced video portion of the course and complete assignments. They also participate in two on-site coaching days with a Spalding Executive Trainer.
Evaluation for 1.2a
In "Scope & Sequence Part 2" of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide, the "Important Lesson Planning Considerations" page gives teacher background information related to the instruction of spelling, writing, and reading. For example, it instructs teachers to "Review meanings of syllable, vowel, and consonant." In the "Planning" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide, both the integrated Language Arts Lesson Objectives for weeks 1–4 chart and the academic week planning pages include italicized academic vocabulary words within the spelling, writing, and reading categories. In the section "High Frequency Vocabulary Instruction," the materials explain that Spalding's Spelling/Vocabulary Word List is based on the 1,000 most frequently used words compiled by Dr. Leonard Ayres, which are ranked by frequency. The program focuses on studying the phonetic sounds in any new word and uses a multi-sensory approach in which students use coding marks, hear the teacher say the word, say each sound just before they write it, and read the words.
Evaluation for 1.2b
On the "Courses" page of spalding.org, the publisher offers an English Online Home Educator Course for Parents. It provides families with The Writing Road to Reading textbook, a supplemental teacher guide e-book, classroom set of phonogram cards, reading foundations workbook, and classroom supplies. The online course provides families with 70 common phonograms and walks families through a multi-sensory approach. The "Spalding Spelling Lesson" page of spalding.org provides videos that walk families through aspects of The Spalding Method, such as word analysis and sentence construction. Each video includes an accompanying PDF that families can use to support student learning at home. The materials do not include any resources in Spanish.
Evaluation for 1.3a
The "Fourth Grade Integrated Language Arts Lesson Objectives" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide includes weekly lesson plans with objectives for spelling, writing, and reading, sequenced in alignment with The Spalding Method. Objectives are listed by day for Academic Week 1 and by week for Academic Weeks 2–32. There are no TEKS or ELPS listed in The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide, and there are no TEKS or ELPS correlation guides to accompany the weekly lesson plans. The weekly lesson plans found within the "Fourth Grade Integrated Language Arts Lesson Objectives" section of *The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide include colored sidebars with lists of tasks and materials required to meet spelling, writing, and reading objectives. The weekly lesson plans also reference assessments such as the Spalding Spelling Assessment. The "Fourth Grade Assessing Skills Mastery" section in The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide includes additional guidance for assessments referenced in the weekly lesson plans, such as information about their purpose and alignment with lesson objectives. The "Delivering" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide includes procedure charts for each literacy category (spelling, writing, and reading) that lists guidance for checks for understanding. The weekly lesson plans do not include specific questions to check for understanding.
Evaluation for 1.3b
The weekly lesson plans in the "Fourth Grade Integrated Language Arts Lesson Objectives" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide include references to teacher and student materials, such as the "Attributes of Literature" poster and student text, The Lunch Thief.
Evaluation for 1.3c
The Intervention and Enrichment page of The Spalding Resource Center provides assignments for extended practice. For example, within the "Writing Enrichment Lesson Plans," a homework assignment requires students to practice lesson concepts learned that day by adding descriptive adjectives to provided nouns. The "Differentiation" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide references extended learning opportunities through multisensory techniques. In the "Evaluating" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide, differentiation for extension is noted to include assignments that expand the lesson objective to the next level of difficulty and encourage exploration aligned to the lesson objective.
1.1 Course-Level Design
1.1a
Materials include a scope and sequence outlining the TEKS, ELPS, and concepts taught in the course
Materials include a scope and sequence outlining the TEKS, ELPS, and concepts taught in the course
2 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 1.1a
Evaluation for 1.1a
Materials include a scope and sequence outlining the TEKS, ELPS, and concepts taught in the course
2 out of 4 points
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).
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).
1 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 1.1b
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).
1 out of 2 points
1.1c
Materials include an explanation for the rationale of unit order as well as how concepts to be learned connect throughout the course.
Materials include an explanation for the rationale of unit order as well as how concepts to be learned connect throughout the course.
1 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 1.1c
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.
1 out of 2 points
1.1d
Materials include protocols with corresponding guidance for unit and lesson internalization.
Materials include protocols with corresponding guidance for unit and lesson internalization.
1 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 1.1d
Evaluation for 1.1d
Materials include protocols with corresponding guidance for unit and lesson internalization.
1 out of 2 points
1.1e
Materials include resources and guidance for instructional leaders to support teachers with implementing the materials as designed.
Materials include resources and guidance for instructional leaders to support teachers with implementing the materials as designed.
2 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 1.1e
Evaluation for 1.1e
Materials include resources and guidance for instructional leaders to support teachers with implementing the materials as designed.
2 out of 2 points
1.2 Unit-Level Design
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.
Materials include comprehensive unit overviews that provide the background content knowledge and academic vocabulary necessary to effectively teach the concepts in the unit.
2 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 1.2a
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.
2 out of 2 points
1.2b
Materials contain supports for families in both Spanish and English for each unit with suggestions on supporting the progress of their student.
Materials contain supports for families in both Spanish and English for each unit with suggestions on supporting the progress of their student.
1 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 1.2b
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.
1 out of 2 points
1.3 Lesson-Level Design
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).
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).
4 out of 8 points
Evaluation for 1.3a
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).
4 out of 8 points
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.
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.
2 out of 3 points
Evaluation for 1.3b
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.
2 out of 3 points
1.3c
Materials include guidance on the effective use of lesson materials for extended practice (e.g., homework, extension, enrichment).
Materials include guidance on the effective use of lesson materials for extended practice (e.g., homework, extension, enrichment).
1 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 1.3c
Evaluation for 1.3c
Materials include guidance on the effective use of lesson materials for extended practice (e.g., homework, extension, enrichment).
1 out of 1 points
Rubric Section 2
Progress Monitoring
Materials support educators in effective implementation through frequent, strategic opportunities to monitor and respond to student progress.
Total
46% (12 out of 26 points)
Evaluation for 2.1a
The "Assessing Skills Mastery" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide offers instructional assessments at both the course and lesson levels. These include diagnostic, formative, and summative tools for evaluating reading, writing, and spelling skills at specific points in a student's learning. Students complete assessments at the beginning of the school year and continue them on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. For example, teachers formatively assess students' writing by listening to their oral sentences. Teachers administer the "Spalding Sentence Writing Checklist" before each new sentence type is introduced. Students compose sentences using selected spelling words and sentence types to demonstrate usage and meaning. Students progress from simple sentences to compound and complex sentences. Teachers administer the "Paragraph Writing and Composition Checklist" as documentation of mastery and build student writing portfolios throughout the year. Spelling, writing, and reading assessments include a variety of tasks, such as oral phonogram review, daily notebook work, composition checklists, and portfolio composition. Reading assessments described in the "Assessing Skills Mastery" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide include passages and corresponding comprehension questions in a multiple-choice format. Written assessments ask students to repeatedly respond to the same type of question. For example, the "Spalding Spelling Assessment" requires students to write a list of words as dictated by the teacher, and reading comprehension assessments require students to answer multiple-choice questions. The materials do not divide content into units. This structure does not allow for diagnostic, formative, or summative assessments at the unit level.
Evaluation for 2.1b
The "Assessing Skills Mastery" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide provides an overview of each program assessment (spelling, writing, and reading), including the intended purpose for each type. For example, the Spelling section states, "The Spalding Spelling Assessments consist of eight standardized, 50-word tests of equal difficulty, and are used to determine monthly progress as well as to provide one source of data by which teachers may refine instruction at the classroom and individual levels. All students are assessed at the end of the year to confirm mastery and demonstrate growth during the year." The "Assessing Skills Mastery" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide also indicates that assessments within the program are "both informal (e.g., observing a student's daily performance and progress), as well as formal (e.g., measuring skills attainment on quizzes and tests)."
Evaluation for 2.1c
The "Assessing Skills Mastery" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide includes teacher guidance for administering instructional assessments, including detailed information on the frequency and purpose of the assessments as they relate to daily and weekly lessons. Each teacher guidance page includes the heading "The teacher will…" followed by specific guidance to ensure accurate administration. For example, the "Daily and Weekly Spelling Word Assessments" page states that teachers will give daily quizzes three days per week of ten dictated spelling words on 3/8" lined paper to identify words for reteaching or additional practice, placing a check beside each error. Teacher guidance pages for spelling, writing, and reading assessments do not include notes or recommendations related to consistent administration. For example, the materials do not include any clear time limits for the assessments or any notes defining how many times a student must meet prerequisite skills.
Evaluation for 2.1d
The spelling, writing, and reading assessments listed in the "Assessing Skills Mastery" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide are aligned to the lesson objectives listed in the "Fourth Grade Integrated Language Arts Lesson Objectives" section. The spelling assessments address phonemic awareness and systematic phonics. The writing assessments address vocabulary with sentence construction. The reading assessments address literary appreciation as well as fluent and expressive reading. The assessments do not include any reference to grade-level TEKS. In addition, there is no separate rubric or TEKS Guide for teachers to know how assessment items align to the TEKS.
Evaluation for 2.1e
Levels of complexity are inconsistently applied across assessments. For example, the Spalding Spelling Lists and Post Assessment Form contain spelling words at various levels of difficulty, and students compose sentences using selected spelling words and sentence types to demonstrate usage and meaning, progressing from simple sentences to compound, and complex sentences. The reading assessments do not include varying levels of text complexity, categorized only by grade level. The assessments are not explicitly aligned to TEKS. The materials do not include any guiding documents, such as TEKS correlations, that would help teachers align existing assessment items to the TEKS or identify how they reflect varying levels of complexity that are appropriate for grade-level expectations.
Evaluation for 2.2a
The instructional assessments provide teacher guidance for marking student responses and interpreting student performance, primarily related to identifying student levels. For example, teachers administer the "McCall-Crabbs Standard Test Lessons in Reading" to students. The assessments provide a list of question numbers at the bottom of each passage, as well as a "G score." Reports include documents such as class tally sheets and checklists. The materials do not include any type of item analysis reports, TEKS mastery reports, question analysis reports, or class achievement reports that would help teachers make instructional decisions. For example, a "G score" is not explained in the "McCall-Crabbs Standard Test Lessons in Reading" assessment, and skills tested are not listed by question in the teacher's manual. Answer keys do not include information on what comprehension skills are assessed by each question and do not provide a rationale for right and wrong answers.
Evaluation for 2.2b
Teachers access guidance on tasks and activities in the "Evaluating Skills Mastery" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide. Each of the assessment types (spelling, writing, reading) includes several guidance pages with tasks and activities listed under the heading "The teacher will…" For example, teachers analyze students' Daily Compound and Complex Sentence Construction and provide flexible small-group instruction by modeling how to orally compose compound or complex sentences using words from the weekly spelling list. Teachers then coach as students practice. Teacher guidance includes tasks and activities for students who need to reinforce or extend their skills. For example, the "Evaluating Skills Mastery" pages in the Spelling Assessment Data indicates, "Provide independent activities for students who understand the basic structure of words: Have these students categorize spelling words into parts of speech. Have them identify selected spelling words that have a base word or word root, and/or a prefix or suffix."
Evaluation for 2.2c
The "Assessing Skills Mastery" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide includes several tools for teachers to track student progress and growth, such as the "Spalding Spelling Assessment Class Progress Report," the "Comprehension Assessment Class Progress Report," and the "Paragraph Writing and Composition Checklist." The teacher-facing tools allow tracking of individual student and class-wide data. For example, teachers track writing performance for each student using the "Sentence Writing Checklist" and "Paragraph Writing and Composition Checklist," placing an M beside each objective mastered, such as one independent and one dependent clause for complex sentences, or including four or more sentences in a paragraph about a topic. Teachers score students individually using the "Comprehension Assessment Answer Form," and record class progress on comprehension assessments over the school year on the "Comprehension Assessment Class Progress Report." The materials do not include any tools, such as reports or charts, for students to self-monitor progress and improvement.
2.1 Instructional Assessments
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.
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.
3 out of 9 points
Evaluation for 2.1a
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.
3 out of 9 points
2.1b
Materials include the definition and intended purpose for the types of instructional assessments included.
Materials include the definition and intended purpose for the types of instructional assessments included.
2 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 2.1b
Evaluation for 2.1b
Materials include the definition and intended purpose for the types of instructional assessments included.
2 out of 2 points
2.1c
Materials include teacher guidance to ensure consistent and accurate administration of instructional assessments.
Materials include teacher guidance to ensure consistent and accurate administration of instructional assessments.
1 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 2.1c
Evaluation for 2.1c
Materials include teacher guidance to ensure consistent and accurate administration of instructional assessments.
1 out of 2 points
2.1d
Diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments are aligned to the TEKS and objectives of the course, unit, or lesson.
Diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments are aligned to the TEKS and objectives of the course, unit, or lesson.
3 out of 6 points
Evaluation for 2.1d
Evaluation for 2.1d
Diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments are aligned to the TEKS and objectives of the course, unit, or lesson.
3 out of 6 points
2.1e
Instructional assessments include TEKS-aligned items at varying levels of complexity.
Instructional assessments include TEKS-aligned items at varying levels of complexity.
0 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 2.1e
Evaluation for 2.1e
Instructional assessments include TEKS-aligned items at varying levels of complexity.
0 out of 2 points
2.2 Data Analysis and Progress Monitoring
2.2a
Instructional assessments and scoring information provide guidance for interpreting student performance.
Instructional assessments and scoring information provide guidance for interpreting student performance.
1 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 2.2a
Evaluation for 2.2a
Instructional assessments and scoring information provide guidance for interpreting student performance.
1 out of 2 points
2.2b
Materials provide guidance for the use of included tasks and activities to respond to student trends in performance on assessments.
Materials provide guidance for the use of included tasks and activities to respond to student trends in performance on assessments.
1 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 2.2b
Evaluation for 2.2b
Materials provide guidance for the use of included tasks and activities to respond to student trends in performance on assessments.
1 out of 1 points
2.2c
Materials include tools for teachers to track student progress and growth, and tools for students to track their own progress and growth.
Materials include tools for teachers to track student progress and growth, and tools for students to track their own progress and growth.
1 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 2.2c
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.
1 out of 2 points
Rubric Section 3
Supports for All Learners
Materials support educators in reaching all learners through design focused on engagement, representation, and action/expression for learner variability.
Total
52% (14 out of 27 points)
Evaluation for 3.1a
The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide provides general teacher guidance and activities to support students who have not yet reached proficiency on grade-level content and skills. For example, the "Procedures for Teaching Fluent, Expressive Reading" advises teachers to have students softly sound out unfamiliar words and to prompt only the problematic sound or syllable when needed. The materials include a section addressing scaffolding, advising teachers to "fade quickly" when most students can perform a skill accurately. It also requires students to verbalize principles and rules to aid retention, uses checks for understanding, includes teacher-student dialogues, and critiques of skills. Additionally, while the spelling section directs teachers to pull small groups for students who are new to The Spalding Method or struggling with concepts, it does not provide specific guidance on how to scaffold instruction during these small-group lessons. The materials state that "activities are to be planned by the teacher" and do not include ready-made differentiated practice tasks. Guidance is limited to instructional suggestions without providing concrete activities for students who have not yet reached proficiency.
Evaluation for 3.1b
The materials include pre-teaching and embedded supports for unfamiliar vocabulary and references in text, including academic and figurative language. Teachers introduce academic vocabulary before lessons, using tools such as the "Elements of Informatives" poster, and are provided a sample dialogue to support vocabulary development. In Academic Week 1, teachers preteach: narrative, plot, character, setting, and point of view. Students then listen to the text How Coyote Stole the Summer and complete a graphic organizer using the text references for the literary elements. The materials include embedded supports for figurative language where teachers explain why authors may use idioms in stories or poems. Then, students identify examples of idioms while listening to excerpts from There's a Frog in My Throat.
Evaluation for 3.1c
The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide guides teachers to extend activities for proficient students by considering "Four general strategies that expand students' learning when planning independent assignments." These include expanding the day's lesson objective to the next level of difficulty; integrating spelling, writing, reading, science, or social studies within the lesson objective; and encouraging reflection and exploration aligned to the lesson objective. The materials also guide differentiated instruction through independent assignments for students who learn basic skills easily. These range from reading literature independently to identifying and labeling examples of literary attributes in books or explaining how the Five Mental Actions support their comprehension of a passage. The materials recommend four enrichment strategies: expanding the lesson objective, integrating content areas, encouraging reflection, and promoting exploration aligned to the objective. The digital resources include enrichment for writing through worksheets and homework that provide additional and higher-level practice opportunities.
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. Prompts in The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide are provided for teachers to guide students in the learning process. Step-by-step instructions on what to say are included, as well as directions on how to explain the concepts to be learned. Teachers are guided to use the phonogram cards, pronouncing the sounds and having students repeat them. The materials include teacher prompts to support modeling and explaining concepts to students. For example, the "Sentence Construction with Vocabulary Development" lesson in Academic Week 12 prompts teachers to "explain that the two-syllable suffix - ity means state of or quality." In addition, the materials include guidance to support teachers in modeling and explaining the concept to be learned. For example, teachers access the "Prefix/Suffix Chart" in "General Resources." This chart gives suggested instructional purposes when modeling and explaining prefixes such as learning the meaning of the affix or identifying how the base word changes in meaning.
Evaluation for 3.2b
The materials include teacher guidance and recommendations for lesson delivery and facilitation using at least two instructional approaches. The materials show evidence of think-alouds and teacher modeling. Graphic organizers and visual supports, such as the Spaulding posters, are also evident. Students use the graphic organizers to organize their thinking while reading. They also engage in partner activities to reinforce comprehension. There is teacher guidance on how to model thinking during spelling, reading, and writing activities. The materials offer flexible grouping and peer review opportunities, but lesson delivery follows a single, consistent structure. The materials do not provide varied approaches beyond modeling and visual supports, and there is no evidence of a broader range of instructional strategies used across lessons.
Evaluation for 3.2c
The Writing Road to Reading recommends whole-group, small-group, and individual structures. Teachers model new content in whole-group instruction, then reteach or enrich content in flexible small groups, and assign individualized tasks (e.g., independent word-marking or paragraph writing) based on ongoing assessments. The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide provides guidance for teachers to teach the concept, model thinking, check for understanding, provide practice, and check for application. Small groups are recommended at the teacher's discretion. Guided practice, independent practice, and collaboration are embedded in the lessons, and scripted examples outline clear routines that help teachers implement practice types to support effective implementation across lessons.
Evaluation for 3.3a
The Writing Road to Reading does not include teacher guidance for providing linguistic accommodations aligned to varying levels of language proficiency. The materials use general terms such as "students with language disabilities or whose primary language is not English," but do not offer support differentiated by ELPS-defined proficiency levels. Lessons include diagnostic prompts and flexible grouping for struggling learners, but these supports are not tailored to the language acquisition needs of emergent bilingual students. There are no embedded strategies for building academic vocabulary or structured opportunities for oral or written discourse tied to language development. The materials are designed for a monolingual audience and do not include scaffolds, sentence stems, or targeted instructional routines to promote increasingly more academic language across proficiency levels.
Evaluation for 3.3b
The Writing Road to Reading does not include an implementation guide for state-approved bilingual or ESL programs. Brief mentions of "LEP" or "primary language not English" do not include program models, language objectives, or teacher routines that align with bilingual and ESL requirements. Teachers receive no direction for adapting materials to those needs.
Evaluation for 3.3c
The Writing Road to Reading does not include embedded teacher guidance for supporting emergent bilingual students in developing academic vocabulary, increasing comprehension, building background knowledge, or making cross-linguistic connections through oral or written discourse. References to students "whose primary language is not English" are general and do not address varied proficiency levels or include structured supports. Oral activities such as sentence composition or class discussion are not framed as language development strategies. Although students participate in teacher-led questioning (e.g., "What do we mean when we say an author uses precise language?"), these exchanges are not designed to build oral academic language or support discourse across proficiency levels. Written tasks such as composing daily sentences or using affixed words (e.g., mystery → mysterious) are uniform for all students and not supported with sentence frames, visual aids, or guidance for using writing to reinforce comprehension or background knowledge.
Evaluation for 3.3d
This guidance is not applicable because the program is not designed for dual language immersion (DLI) programs.
3.1 Differentiation and Scaffolds
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.
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.
2 out of 3 points
Evaluation for 3.1a
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.
2 out of 3 points
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)
Materials include pre-teaching or embedded supports for unfamiliar vocabulary and references in text (e.g., figurative language, idioms, academic language). (T/S)
2 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 3.1b
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)
2 out of 2 points
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.
Materials include teacher guidance for differentiated instruction, enrichment, and extension activities for students who have demonstrated proficiency in grade-level content and skills.
2 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 3.1c
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.
2 out of 2 points
3.2 Instructional Methods
3.2a
Materials include explicit (direct) prompts and guidance to support the teacher in modeling and explaining the concept(s) to be learned.
Materials include explicit (direct) prompts and guidance to support the teacher in modeling and explaining the concept(s) to be learned.
4 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 3.2a
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.
4 out of 4 points
3.2b
Materials include teacher guidance and recommendations for effective lesson delivery and facilitation using a variety of instructional approaches.
Materials include teacher guidance and recommendations for effective lesson delivery and facilitation using a variety of instructional approaches.
1 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 3.2b
Evaluation for 3.2b
Materials include teacher guidance and recommendations for effective lesson delivery and facilitation using a variety of instructional approaches.
1 out of 2 points
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.
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.
3 out of 3 points
Evaluation for 3.2c
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.
3 out of 3 points
3.3 Support for Emergent Bilingual Students
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.
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.
0 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 3.3a
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.
0 out of 2 points
3.3b
Materials include implementation guidance to support teachers in effectively using the materials in state-approved bilingual/ESL programs.
Materials include implementation guidance to support teachers in effectively using the materials in state-approved bilingual/ESL programs.
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 3.3b
Evaluation for 3.3b
Materials include implementation guidance to support teachers in effectively using the materials in state-approved bilingual/ESL programs.
0 out of 1 points
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.
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.
0 out of 8 points
Evaluation for 3.3c
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.
0 out of 8 points
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.
If designed for dual language immersion (DLI) programs, materials include resources that outline opportunities to address metalinguistic transfer from English to the partner language.
Not scored
Evaluation for 3.3d
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.
0 out of 0 points
Rubric Section 4
Foundational Skills
Materials include guidance for explicit (direct) and systematic instruction in foundational skills, instructional routines, student practice, and cumulative review.
Total
59% (55 out of 93 points)
Evaluation for 4.A.1a
The materials include opportunities for students to compose opinion paragraphs for specific purposes. For example, in Academic Week 4, students state which account helped them gain more insight about Lewis and Clark's expedition. In Academic Week 9, they state their opinions on why Owen and Mzee developed a strong friendship. These activities address expressing an opinion; they do not identify specific audiences and do not reflect alignment to grade-level TEKS. The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide states that "publishing is presenting to audiences in a variety of ways," such as reading aloud or posting on a bulletin board. However, there is no TEKS correlation for these activities.
Evaluation for 4.A.1b
The lessons outlined in The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide include some guidance and opportunities for students to engage with oral instructions. For example, in Academic Week 8, teachers instruct students to "Explain that a multiword proper noun names a particular person, place, or thing and is capitalized; convert common nouns college, community, dictionary to multiword proper nouns." Additionally, during the "Procedure for Spelling Dictation," students repeat phonograms after the teacher to demonstrate following and restating instructions. Students follow oral instructions during daily reading, writing, and spelling tasks as well as during pair activities, such as discussing author's purpose and narrative elements in Week 10. However, the materials do not include opportunities for students to restate or give oral instructions themselves. Despite including some guidance and student learning opportunities related to oral instructions, none are connected to specific grade-level TEKS.
Evaluation for 4.A.1c
Students have ample opportunities to listen actively during teacher read-alouds and modeling. For example, on Academic Day 3, students "listen to the teacher model identifying and using text features in magnets to locate key facts." In addition, daily routines, such as reading phonograms with student repetition and teacher explanation of text structures, further reinforce active listening and engagement. The materials also support structured opportunities for students to ask questions and engage in discussion to deepen understanding. For example, in "Expanding Basic Narrative Elements," students expand their understanding of narrative elements such as main and supporting characters, settings, and plot, providing them with a common vocabulary to use during class discussions. The materials explain that "The interactive class dialogues develop students' critical discernment, which helps them understand stories read and to write better stories." Throughout the lessons, the materials connect student opportunities to core texts. When reading selections such as Martin Luther King Day, students identify the author's purpose, point of view, and informative elements. Additionally, when engaging with texts like Dear Mr. Henshaw, students listen for narrative structures such as flashback and chronological order, with instructional routines encouraging metacognitive questioning, sharing of information, and engagement through the use of mental actions.
Evaluation for 4.B.1a
The materials include a sequence for introducing grade-level sound-spelling patterns, as determined by The Spalding Method; simpler sound-spelling patterns are taught before more difficult patterns. Teachers follow procedures outlined in The Writing Road to Reading Chapter 2 titled "Instructional Strategies for Grades Three and Above," to introduce spelling rules. Students create rule pages for consonants, short and long vowels and digraphs with vowel-consonant-e syllables, and r-controlled vowels before vowel teams. The "Integrated Language Arts Lesson Objectives" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide outlines the week-by-week plan for introducing sound-spelling patterns, beginning with a review of the 70 most common phonograms, which students learned in earlier grade levels. They then move onto more complex phonograms over time. The materials do not provide a clear alignment between the grade 4 sound-spelling patterns available in The Writing Road to Reading and the grade 4 sound-spelling patterns outlined in the TEKS.
Evaluation for 4.B.1b
Teachers can find guidance for providing explicit instruction for grade-level sound-spelling patterns by first noting the Systematic Phonics and High-Frequency Vocabulary weekly objectives in The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide and referencing the scripts provided in Chapter 2 of The Writing Road to Reading. An example script for teaching sound-spelling pattern /sh/ spelled si states: "Explain rule 15: 'The phonogram si is used to say /sh/ when the syllable before it ends in an s (session)...' Model thinking: Say 'I want to write session. Since the first syllable, ses, ends in s, I will use si to write session.'" Teachers then provide further practice with spelling the word and having students identify the phonogram in orally dictated words. Students apply the learning in dictated sentences from the later writing lesson and spell multisyllabic words of this type in their own sentences. Callout boxes on the Academic Week pages in the "Integrated Language Arts Lesson Objectives" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide include additional teacher guidance for instruction, including references to spelling rules and sample vocabulary.
Evaluation for 4.B.1c
The "Systematic Phonics and High-Frequency Vocabulary" lesson objectives, combined with daily, weekly, and monthly spelling assessments, provide numerous opportunities for students to develop, practice, and reinforce learning related to grade-level sound-spelling patterns. Students develop their knowledge of grade-level sound-spelling patterns as teachers provide instruction using scripted lessons. Students create spelling notebooks to document their learning of sound-spelling patterns such as /sh/ spelled with ci in words such as social or ancient. Students practice new learning as teachers check for understanding with Word Builder cards. Students use spelling notebooks to include learned sound-spelling pattern words in the sentences they compose. Students reference spelling rule pages throughout the year and cumulatively review sound-spelling patterns they have learned during daily Oral and Written Phonogram Review. Teachers show Phonogram Cards, and students say, see, and write the phonograms they have difficulty pronouncing and writing until they achieve mastery. Students read, segment, and blend words containing learned patterns such as favorable or exceptions.
Evaluation for 4.B.2a
Teachers follow the program's "Spelling Skills Trace" to introduce regular and irregular high-frequency words in grade 4. Teachers begin by reviewing Section Q of the Spalding Spelling/Vocabulary Word List: Order of Instruction and continue introducing regular and irregular words through Section X, one section every two–four weeks through Week 26. The list includes regular words such as plan and feel, and irregular words such as sugar and mixture. This Order of Instruction regular and irregular word lists are not organized by spelling pattern, regularity, or frequency. No consistent rationale for their order is provided. The materials include regular and irregular word study. They do not provide a systematic sequence for introducing regular and irregular words during direct instruction. The materials introduce words from different sound patterns and word families without a clear, logical progression.
Evaluation for 4.B.2b
Teachers follow guidance to explicitly teach decoding and encoding of both regular and irregular high-frequency words during the "High-Frequency Vocabulary" part of each lesson. For example, during Academic Week 2, teachers explain the purpose for spelling dictation and model reading, segmenting, and blending regular words from the "Spalding Spelling/Vocabulary Word List," such as lose and illustrate. Teachers also explicitly teach how to decode and encode irregular words such as gym (/j/ sound of letter g before e, i, or y). The materials provide explicit guidance for teachers to instruct students through writing sentences with regular and irregular high-frequency words. Teachers say, "Now that we have entered words in our spelling notebooks, let us analyze the rules, markings, and pronunciation of words." "The Spelling Lesson at a Glance" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide indicates, "After writing the seventy phonograms (typically three days), fourth graders write, from dictation, high-frequency words in spelling/vocabulary notebooks. Construction of this notebook teaches students to analyze the written spelling of words so they can spell, write, and read words encountered in books."
Evaluation for 4.B.2c
Students develop, practice, and reinforce decoding of regular and irregular high-frequency words as they complete the "Reading for Spelling, Spelling for Reading" part of "Spelling Dictation" lessons. Students blend sounds to read newly dictated words by sound or syllable, then with prosody. Students read previously dictated words daily and continue until they are proficient in the text. For example, on Day 3 of Academic Week 1, teachers explain that the phonograms ti, si, and ci are the spellings most frequently used to say "sh" at the beginning of a second or subsequent syllable in a base word (i.e., nation, session, and facial). Students practice decoding the words and add them to the spelling notebook. Students develop, practice, and reinforce encoding of regular and irregular high-frequency words as they complete the "Sentence Construction with Vocabulary Development" lessons. Students compose different written sentences weekly with words from the "Spalding Spelling/Vocabulary Word List," including words with prefixes and suffixes, such as permission or guilty. Students write different sentences after the teacher coaches and then models the process.
Evaluation for 4.B.2d
Students read and write high-frequency words in isolation daily. For example, in Academic Week 7, students read and review rules for words such as behavior, possible, witness, therefore, and before, and then use these words in written sentences. The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide directs teachers to have students practice high-frequency words until they can read with proficiency in text. The materials do not provide fluency passages or controlled, connected text for students to use. Students read trade books, which may or may not contain targeted words, and may or may not build on previous instruction. The materials for grade 4 do not include decodable texts.
Evaluation for 4.B.3a
The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide includes a "Scope and Sequence Part 1: Lesson Objectives and a Spelling Skills Trace" document that outlines a systematic sequence for introducing some grade-level syllable types. For example, the "Skills Trace" lists closed and open syllables as introduced in Week 2, silent final e in Week 3, and final stable syllables (consonant + le) in Week 4. The "Skills Trace" does not list the remaining grade-level syllable types using TEKS language, such as vowel teams and r-controlled syllables, which are required for grade 4. It also does not explicitly align these to the corresponding TEKS expectations under the "Morphology & Vocabulary" section. The "Spelling Skills Trace" document outlines a program-specific systematic sequence for teaching syllable division patterns. For example, vowel-vowel patterns (VV) are introduced in Week 8 after simpler syllable division patterns such as VCCV and VCCCV. While the VV pattern is aligned to the grade 4 TEKS, other syllable division patterns listed in The "Spelling Skills Trace" for grade 4 are aligned with the grades 2 and 3 TEKS, reflecting a misalignment with grade-level decoding and encoding expectations.
Evaluation for 4.B.3b
The Writing Road to Reading and The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide provide explicit teacher guidance for decoding multisyllabic words by teaching the identification of syllable types, including closed, open, silent final e, and consonant + le syllables. For example, on Academic Day 2, teachers are guided to model and check for understanding as they explain the purpose of underlining a vowel at the end of a syllable when decoding words. Teachers explicitly demonstrate the spelling and decoding of words such as na-vy, o-pen, and mu-sic, underlining the final vowels to emphasize open syllable identification for decoding purposes. The "Planning" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide provides clear teacher guidance to deliver explicit instruction on syllable division principles for decoding. For example, in Academic Week 8, teachers "explain and read syllable division patterns for vowel-vowel, in which adjacent vowels that are not multi-letter phonograms form separate syllables, e.g., trial, create." Students are guided to analyze and apply these patterns to decode and encode words such as creation, breaking them into syllables to support accurate reading.
Evaluation for 4.B.3c
The weekly lesson plans within the materials outline activities for developing, practicing, and reinforcing encoding multisyllabic words. For example, in Academic Week 4, students say and write 50 learned phonograms and write rule 8 in their spelling notebooks. Students compose written sentences using words with the targeted syllable pattern (ei after c as in the word receive). In Academic Week 17, teachers review the phonograms and repeat similar activities using different words (such as central and indicate). Students compose written sentences with words using suffixes such as -ment (such as establish and establishment). The materials include a "Prefix and Suffix Chart," Word Builder cards, worksheets, and spelling notebooks for students to use when practicing and reinforcing decoding and encoding skills.
Evaluation for 4.B.3d
The materials include a variety of activities and resources for students to practice decoding and encoding multisyllabic words in isolation using knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles. Throughout the school year, students engage in eight targeted spelling lists aligned to weekly planning guides that explicitly teach syllable types and division principles in isolation. Students practice decoding multisyllabic words in isolation each week through the "High Frequency Vocabulary" portion of the lessons following teacher guidance to segment, blend, and read words while applying knowledge of syllable types and syllable division rules. For example, in Academic Week 10, teachers explain syllabication and pronunciation for consonant + le syllable words such as circle and VCCV pattern words such as official. Students then practice segmenting and blending these words in isolation. Students also practice encoding multisyllabic words in isolation using syllable types and syllable division principles as part of their weekly word study routines. Students write the targeted words during weekly spelling practice and then use them to compose written sentences. For instance, in Academic Week 11, students compose sentences using words like decision. Decoding and encoding practice within The Writing Road to Reading does not include decodable, connected texts for grade 4. Students engage in weekly reading and writing activities connected to texts such as Frindle by Andrew Clements, but these activities do not align with or build on the specific syllable types and syllable division patterns learned during the week.
Evaluation for 4.B.4a
The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide provides a scope and sequence that outlines a systematic plan for introducing grade-level morphemes, including prefixes and suffixes; however, the materials are not aligned to the grade-level TEKS. For example, teachers are guided to teach simpler prefixes such as un- and re- before introducing less common prefixes like de- or in-. Similarly, the materials direct teachers to introduce simpler suffixes such as -er, -est, and -tion before teaching less common suffixes like -ance and -ence. The materials also include instruction on how suffixes can change base words. The materials provide a general sequence for introducing morphemes; however, they do not cite or align to specific grade-level TEKS.
Evaluation for 4.B.4b
Guidance in The Writing Road to Reading helps teachers support students in recognizing common morphemes. The text explains, "Prefixes include vowels, making them separate syllables," and "Suffixes usually include vowels, making them separate syllables." It goes on to state, "The suffix ed forms a separate syllable when the base word ends in the sound /d/ or /t/ (as in words such as ground/grounded and plant/planted)," and "The suffix y often combines with the preceding consonant to form a syllable (as in the worsds guilt/guilty)." Teachers refer to information in the daily "Sentence Construction with Vocabulary Development" lessons to support students' using morphemes for decoding and encoding. For example, in Academic Week 11, teachers "explain that suffixes ation, sion, ence, and ion mean state or quality of and change a verb to a noun." Students compose oral and written sentences using words with the targeted affixes after teacher modeling with the sentence, "The Supreme Court makes decisions that affect our laws." The materials do not emphasize morphological study to support reading comprehension. The teacher guidance does not refer to connected text that would allow students to use morpheme knowledge in context.
Evaluation for 4.B.4c
The materials provide activities for developing, practicing, and reinforcing grade-level morphological skills. For example, in Academic Week 5, students analyze and apply concepts of Rule 25, which states, "When adding a suffix (ending) to a word that ends with a consonant and y, use i instead of y unless the ending is ing." Students practice with words such as hurried and flies. In Academic Weeks 6 and 8, students practice this concept using the words carried and communities. In the "Sentence Construction with Vocabulary Development" section of each lesson, students create oral and written sentences by applying learned morphological skills. For example, after instruction reviewing the meaning of the suffix -ly, students add -ly to the words particular, serious, and certain, allowing them to develop morphological skills in isolation. While the materials consistently utilize similar activities and resources from week to week, the added inclusion of Word Builder cards, the digital Prefix and Suffix Chart, and structured weekly application of morphological rules in varied words across the year provide students with multiple opportunities to develop, practice, and reinforce grade-level morphological skills systematically and cumulatively.
Evaluation for 4.B.4d
Students practice decoding words with morphemes in isolation using Level 2 Word Builder cards. Teachers select cards that illustrate two morphological concepts, such as Rule 9 (doubling a final consonant before adding a vowel suffix, as in the word hopping) and Rule 24 (changing y to i before adding a suffix). Students then reinforce decoding and encoding words with morphemes by reading and explaining the spelling of each word for words such as planning, quitting, heavier, and activities. Students have several isolated opportunities to decode and encode words with morphemes within daily lessons, but the grade 4 materials do not include any decodable, connected texts. For example, in Academic Week 21, students compose oral and written sentences using the suffix -ion after a teacher model using the sentence, "The location of the state capitol is on Jefferson Street." The designated text for the week, "Call It Courage" does not serve as a decodable text aligned to the morphemes taught. It may or may not have examples of the suffixes learned that week.
Evaluation for 4.C.1a
The materials do not include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction on the purpose and use of both print and digital resources, such as dictionaries, glossaries, e-books, and online dictionaries. The materials reference that teachers use the dictionary to practice the pronunciation of spelling words before spelling tests. There is no teacher guidance that provides explicit instruction on the purpose of print or digital resources, such as dictionaries or glossaries. In Academic Week 2, students are asked to alphabetize and define the meaning of words, but there is no teacher guidance on how to instruct students on using the dictionary. Latin and Greek roots are included in the materials, but they do not include print or digital resources for students to conduct analysis. Printed tools like the "Spalding Level 2 Word Builder Cards" and "Parts of Speech Posters" offer general language support, but do not function as reference resources for vocabulary analysis. There is no evidence of e-books, online dictionaries, or digital vocabulary tools; the materials do not support students in learning how to use digital resources.
Evaluation for 4.C.1b
The materials do not include print resources to support students in determining the meaning, syllabication, pronunciation, word origin, or part of speech of vocabulary words. Students determine syllabication and pronunciation by applying the Rules of Pronunciation, Spelling and Language, as well as Syllable Types and Syllable Division concepts learned within the program. Student texts do not include student dictionaries, glossaries, or sidebar information about vocabulary words. Teachers directly instruct word meaning, parts of speech, and information about word origin. Students spell words and compose sentences using vocabulary words, but the materials do not provide any resources for them to conduct analysis of word meaning, syllabication, word origin, or parts of speech. The materials do not include embedded guidance or student-accessible resources to support word understanding through print or digital resources.
Evaluation for 4.C.1c
Materials do not provide explicit instruction aligned to grade-level TEKS on how to use context clues—such as definitions, synonyms, antonyms, or inference—to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. Vocabulary instruction focuses primarily on morphology; students are guided to analyze affixes and base words rather than using surrounding text to infer word meanings. The Writing Road to Reading models a teacher think-aloud regarding context clues, but this strategy is not consistently embedded or connected to unfamiliar word identification or grade-level TEKS. Student activities, including prompts to "compose oral or written sentences" with unfamiliar words or explain sentence meaning in texts, do not directly support vocabulary development through context-based strategies.
Evaluation for 4.D.1a
Part 2 of The Writing Road to Reading titled Instructional Materials includes a recommended reading list. For grade 4, the recommended trade books include 15 titles covering the genres or reading purposes of fables, fiction, and biography. The digital "4th Grade Fluency Recommended Literature List" also consists of various grade-level texts to support students in reading fluently according to the reading purpose. From week to week, students read selections such as Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship, Tango: The Tale of an Island Dog, and Dinnertime Chorus. Students read to demonstrate fluency and expression as well as to identify personification, stanzas, rhythm, and end rhyme.
Evaluation for 4.D.1b
The materials include opportunities for students to develop word-reading fluency, primarily through independent reading and teacher-facilitated small groups. The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide indicates that students read from literary selections in daily lessons to measure fluency beginning in Academic Week 1, and continuing through the school year. Teachers chart accuracy, fluency, phrasing, intonation, and enunciation by checking student performance in a yes/no format. Materials include interactive instruction and coaching in both whole-group and small-group settings, with daily opportunities for students to read aloud individually, in unison, and with teacher feedback. Students also read spelling dictation words "in a normal speech pattern without stopping to segment each," and read aloud selected notebook pages, continuing until they can automatically read these words in text.
Evaluation for 4.D.1c
The Writing Road to Readings includes materials and tools for teachers, with strategies for supporting students through self-sustained reading with high-quality, grade-level texts. The materials recommend that students read recreationally and always have a self-selected library book available. The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide lists "Five Mental Actions" that help students build reading comprehension. The digital resource center provides teachers with a classroom poster that lists each mental action, including making connections, monitoring comprehension, and predicting, along with corresponding visuals. This material serves as an ongoing visual support and reinforces metacognitive strategies that students are encouraged to use throughout the year. In addition, the "Fourth Grade Reading Objective Analysis" is a digital tool that provides teachers with strategies for supporting student learning as it relates to various literary concepts.
Evaluation for 4.D.1d
The weekly plans in The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide indicate that students read various texts from week to week for different purposes. For example, students read Face to Face With Whales to build comprehension by constructing an organizer, taking notes, formulating conclusions about the habitat and range of whales, constructing analogies, determining cause and effect, and categorizing whales by how they catch food. In the same lesson, students read the poem Fireworks to identify imagery. The materials do not provide various texts at different levels of complexity, such as leveled readers or scaffolded texts for emergent bilingual students. Lexile levels are not noted for included texts, so teachers do not have a way to easily distinguish text complexity within each lesson. The materials do not provide texts at different levels of complexity for use in fluency practice or intervention activities that would allow teachers to analyze and remediate student errors to improve accuracy, fluency, prosody, or comprehension.
Evaluation for 4.E.1a
Materials include detailed resources that support grade-level appropriate handwriting instruction, such as the "Spalding Feature and Letter Formation Posters," "Spalding Cursive Alphabet Strips," and "clock face" visuals for letter formation. Lessons guide teachers in proper posture, pencil grip, and starting points for forming letters, including sketches for right- and left-handed students. Teachers access guidance on teaching grade-appropriate handwriting skills. The Writing Road to Reading provides extensive instructional strategies on chair and desk placement, sitting and arm positions, pencil grip and pencil type, including visuals. Teachers follow procedures for introducing cursive strokes and letterforms using precise scripted dialogue, such as for the letter s: "The cursive s is very different from the manuscript s. Start with a short upswing; pull straight down to the baseline and curve backward to touch the upswing; retrace, finishing with a tiny upswing." Teachers connect grade-level handwriting skills to student learning during daily "Written Phonogram Review," as they write in their Spelling/Vocabulary Notebooks, and during daily sentence writing and composition activities. The Writing Road to Reading reinforces the daily use of cursive handwriting: "Once the rules for cursive handwriting have been introduced, students are immersed in cursive by writing phonograms, then words, and then short sentences." Materials include resources that support teaching handwriting skills as appropriate for grade 4 and explicitly connect instruction to current student learning.
Evaluation for 4.E.1b
Materials provide structured resources that support the development of grade-appropriate cursive handwriting skills, such as the "Spalding Feature and Letter Formation Posters," "Spalding Cursive Alphabet Strips," and a "clock face" model that breaks letter formation into six features. These tools guide students in learning proper grip, posture, and stroke direction. Students develop and practice grade-appropriate handwriting skills on a regular basis within the program. On Academic Day 3, teachers introduce connecting lines for lowercase cursive letters, and students write letters that begin at two on the clock. Students continue learning various cursive strokes and practice letters in the following days, such as letters with tall upswings and capital letters. Students continue to practice by writing in cursive during activities and tasks, such as recording spelling rules in their Spelling/Vocabulary notebooks and writing business and friendly letters requesting information. Materials supply frequent opportunities, resources, and integrated activities that let students develop and practice grade-appropriate cursive within ongoing phonics, spelling, and writing work, fully meeting every element of the standard.
4.A.1 Oral Language Development
4.A.1a
Materials include teacher guidance to support students in expressing an opinion and organizing presentations for specific purposes and audiences according to grade level TEKS. (T)
Materials include teacher guidance to support students in expressing an opinion and organizing presentations for specific purposes and audiences according to grade level TEKS. (T)
0 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 4.A.1a
Evaluation for 4.A.1a
Materials include teacher guidance to support students in expressing an opinion and organizing presentations for specific purposes and audiences according to grade level TEKS. (T)
0 out of 4 points
4.A.1b
Materials include guidance and opportunities for students to follow, restate, and give oral instructions as directed by the grade-level English language arts TEKS. (S)
Materials include guidance and opportunities for students to follow, restate, and give oral instructions as directed by the grade-level English language arts TEKS. (S)
0 out of 6 points
Evaluation for 4.A.1b
Evaluation for 4.A.1b
Materials include guidance and opportunities for students to follow, restate, and give oral instructions as directed by the grade-level English language arts TEKS. (S)
0 out of 6 points
4.A.1c
Materials include authentic opportunities for students to listen actively, ask questions, engage in discussion to understand information, and share information and ideas. (S)
Materials include authentic opportunities for students to listen actively, ask questions, engage in discussion to understand information, and share information and ideas. (S)
4 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 4.A.1c
Evaluation for 4.A.1c
Materials include authentic opportunities for students to listen actively, ask questions, engage in discussion to understand information, and share information and ideas. (S)
4 out of 4 points
4.B.1 Sound-Spelling Patterns (4-5)
4.B.1a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level sound-spelling patterns, as outlined in the TEKS
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level sound-spelling patterns, as outlined in the TEKS
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 4.B.1a
Evaluation for 4.B.1a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level sound-spelling patterns, as outlined in the TEKS
0 out of 1 points
4.B.1b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for grade-level sound-spelling patterns. (T)
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for grade-level sound-spelling patterns. (T)
1 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 4.B.1b
Evaluation for 4.B.1b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for grade-level sound-spelling patterns. (T)
1 out of 1 points
4.B.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). (S)
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce grade-level sound-spelling patterns (through cumulative review). (S)
3 out of 3 points
Evaluation for 4.B.1c
Evaluation for 4.B.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). (S)
3 out of 3 points
4.B.2 Regular and Irregular High-Frequency Words
4.B.2a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing regular and irregular high-frequency words
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing regular and irregular high-frequency words
0 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 4.B.2a
Evaluation for 4.B.2a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing regular and irregular high-frequency words
0 out of 2 points
4.B.2b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for decoding and encoding regular and irregular high-frequency words. (T)
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for decoding and encoding regular and irregular high-frequency words. (T)
4 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 4.B.2b
Evaluation for 4.B.2b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for decoding and encoding regular and irregular high-frequency words. (T)
4 out of 4 points
4.B.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). (S)
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). (S)
12 out of 12 points
Evaluation for 4.B.2c
Evaluation for 4.B.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). (S)
12 out of 12 points
4.B.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). (S)
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). (S)
3 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 4.B.2d
Evaluation for 4.B.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). (S)
3 out of 4 points
4.B.3 Decoding and Encoding Multisyllabic Words
4.B.3a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level syllable types and syllable division principles, as outlined in the TEKS
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level syllable types and syllable division principles, as outlined in the TEKS
0 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 4.B.3a
Evaluation for 4.B.3a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level syllable types and syllable division principles, as outlined in the TEKS
0 out of 2 points
4.B.3b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for applying knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles to decode and encode multisyllabic words. (T)
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for applying knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles to decode and encode multisyllabic words. (T)
4 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 4.B.3b
Evaluation for 4.B.3b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for applying knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles to decode and encode multisyllabic words. (T)
4 out of 4 points
4.B.3c
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice and reinforce skills to decode and encode multisyllabic words (through cumulative review). (S)
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice and reinforce skills to decode and encode multisyllabic words (through cumulative review). (S)
6 out of 6 points
Evaluation for 4.B.3c
Evaluation for 4.B.3c
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice and reinforce skills to decode and encode multisyllabic words (through cumulative review). (S)
6 out of 6 points
4.B.3d
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to practice decoding and encoding multisyllabic words, using knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles, in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in connected text that builds on previous instruction. (S)
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to practice decoding and encoding multisyllabic words, using knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles, in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in connected text that builds on previous instruction. (S)
4 out of 8 points
Evaluation for 4.B.3d
Evaluation for 4.B.3d
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to practice decoding and encoding multisyllabic words, using knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles, in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in connected text that builds on previous instruction. (S)
4 out of 8 points
4.B.4 Morphological Awareness
4.B.4a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level morphemes, as outlined in the TEKS
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level morphemes, as outlined in the TEKS
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 4.B.4a
Evaluation for 4.B.4a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level morphemes, as outlined in the TEKS
0 out of 1 points
4.B.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. (T)
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. (T)
3 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 4.B.4b
Evaluation for 4.B.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. (T)
3 out of 4 points
4.B.4c
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce grade-level morphological skills (through cumulative review). (S)
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce grade-level morphological skills (through cumulative review). (S)
3 out of 3 points
Evaluation for 4.B.4c
Evaluation for 4.B.4c
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce grade-level morphological skills (through cumulative review). (S)
3 out of 3 points
4.B.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 connected text that builds on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences). (PR 2.A.1 & 2.A.3) (S)
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 connected text that builds on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences). (PR 2.A.1 & 2.A.3) (S)
2 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 4.B.4d
Evaluation for 4.B.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 connected text that builds on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences). (PR 2.A.1 & 2.A.3) (S)
2 out of 4 points
4.C.1 Vocabulary Development
4.C.1a
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction on the purpose and use of both print and digital resources such as dictionaries, glossaries, eBooks, and online dictionaries. (T)
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction on the purpose and use of both print and digital resources such as dictionaries, glossaries, eBooks, and online dictionaries. (T)
0 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 4.C.1a
Evaluation for 4.C.1a
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction on the purpose and use of both print and digital resources such as dictionaries, glossaries, eBooks, and online dictionaries. (T)
0 out of 4 points
4.C.1b
Materials include print and digital resources to support students in determining the meaning, syllabication, pronunciation, word origin and part of speech of vocabulary. (S)
Materials include print and digital resources to support students in determining the meaning, syllabication, pronunciation, word origin and part of speech of vocabulary. (S)
0 out of 5 points
Evaluation for 4.C.1b
Evaluation for 4.C.1b
Materials include print and digital resources to support students in determining the meaning, syllabication, pronunciation, word origin and part of speech of vocabulary. (S)
0 out of 5 points
4.C.1c
Materials support students in using context to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words according to grade-level TEKS. (S)
Materials support students in using context to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words according to grade-level TEKS. (S)
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 4.C.1c
Evaluation for 4.C.1c
Materials support students in using context to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words according to grade-level TEKS. (S)
0 out of 1 points
4.D.1 Reading Fluency
4.D.1a
Materials include a variety of grade-level texts to support students to read fluently according to the reading purpose. (S)
Materials include a variety of grade-level texts to support students to read fluently according to the reading purpose. (S)
1 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 4.D.1a
Evaluation for 4.D.1a
Materials include a variety of grade-level texts to support students to read fluently according to the reading purpose. (S)
1 out of 1 points
4.D.1b
Materials include practice activities and tasks to develop word reading fluency in a variety of settings (e.g., independently, in partners, in teacher-facilitated small groups, etc.). (S)
Materials include practice activities and tasks to develop word reading fluency in a variety of settings (e.g., independently, in partners, in teacher-facilitated small groups, etc.). (S)
1 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 4.D.1b
Evaluation for 4.D.1b
Materials include practice activities and tasks to develop word reading fluency in a variety of settings (e.g., independently, in partners, in teacher-facilitated small groups, etc.). (S)
1 out of 1 points
4.D.1c
Materials include materials and tools for teachers, with strategies to support students through self-sustained reading with high-quality grade-level texts. (T)
Materials include materials and tools for teachers, with strategies to support students through self-sustained reading with high-quality grade-level texts. (T)
1 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 4.D.1c
Evaluation for 4.D.1c
Materials include materials and tools for teachers, with strategies to support students through self-sustained reading with high-quality grade-level texts. (T)
1 out of 1 points
4.D.1d
Materials include various texts at different levels of complexity for the building of accuracy, fluency, prosody, and comprehension.
Materials include various texts at different levels of complexity for the building of accuracy, fluency, prosody, and comprehension.
0 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 4.D.1d
Evaluation for 4.D.1d
Materials include various texts at different levels of complexity for the building of accuracy, fluency, prosody, and comprehension.
0 out of 4 points
4.E.1 Handwriting Development
4.E.1a
Materials include resources to support the teaching of handwriting skills appropriate for each grade level and, when possible, connected to current student learning. (T)
Materials include resources to support the teaching of handwriting skills appropriate for each grade level and, when possible, connected to current student learning. (T)
2 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 4.E.1a
Evaluation for 4.E.1a
Materials include resources to support the teaching of handwriting skills appropriate for each grade level and, when possible, connected to current student learning. (T)
2 out of 2 points
4.E.1b
Materials include frequent opportunities, resources, and activities and tasks for students to authentically practice and develop handwriting skills appropriate for each grade level. (S)
Materials include frequent opportunities, resources, and activities and tasks for students to authentically practice and develop handwriting skills appropriate for each grade level. (S)
1 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 4.E.1b
Evaluation for 4.E.1b
Materials include frequent opportunities, resources, and activities and tasks for students to authentically practice and develop handwriting skills appropriate for each grade level. (S)
1 out of 1 points
Rubric Section 5
Knowledge Coherence
Materials support the development of connected background knowledge and key academic vocabulary within and across grade levels.
Total
17% (5 out of 29 points)
Evaluation for 5.A.1a
The "Planning" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide includes knowledge-building texts, such as Cowboy Up! Ride the Navajo Rodeo by Nancy Flood and The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, retold by Tomie dePaola, in Academic Week 2, as well as Deserts by Peter Benoit in Academic Week 13. The texts are primarily isolated to instruction that addresses the reading skills and objectives for each academic week. The preponderance of academic vocabulary, sentence construction, and composition objectives are unrelated to the knowledge-building texts. The content within The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide is not divided into units, so the materials do not build knowledge cohesively throughout the year.
Evaluation for 5.A.1b
The "Planning" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide contains a scope and sequence that specifies a progression of spelling, writing, and reading skills across grade levels. It does not include knowledge-building topics, either within or across grade levels. For example, in the weekly reading objectives, teachers cover general skills such as explaining the author's purpose or informative elements in text. The materials do not indicate how students' prior knowledge of key, cross-curricular topics, such as the water cycle or physical properties of matter, are expected to deepen or expand in grade 4. Without clearly defined units or thematic topics, there is no indication that the materials are designed to support the building and retention of background knowledge over time.
Evaluation for 5.A.1c
The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide presents content by individual academic weeks. The materials do not include defined or sequenced units, so there is no structural opportunity for students to engage in unit-level knowledge-building for several weeks or more. Knowledge-building topics and texts appear in isolation or are spread across non-consecutive weeks, resulting in a fragmented instructional sequence. For example, Volcanoes by Seymour Simon is a key text in Academic Weeks 19 and 20, and students do not revisit it until Academic Week 23. Even in cases where students engage with texts across non-consecutive weeks, there is no clear progression that allows students to revisit or deepen understanding of key concepts over time. This minimal continuity limits opportunities for students to build cumulative knowledge or make meaningful connections across texts and topics.
Evaluation for 5.A.1d
The materials are structured around a weekly schedule, with each academic week functioning as a standalone module. The lessons presented each week are not linked by themes, anchoring texts, or text sets. For example, in Academic Weeks 2 and 3, students engage with thematically related texts such as The Lewis and Clark Expedition by John Perritano and How We Crossed the West: The Adventures of Lewis and Clark by Rosalyn Schanzer, which together, support a focused exploration of a historical topic. In those same weeks, students engage with texts that reflect disconnected themes, such as The Digestive System by Kay Manolis and Mouse and Lion retold by Rand Burkert. In subsequent weeks, the texts shift to unrelated topics—such as Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary in Week 5 and Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin in Week 6—without any explicit instructional links or cumulative knowledge-building from prior content. Lesson texts may touch on similar genres or general topics, however, they do not reflect a deliberate progression of ideas or concepts across lessons. The inconsistent connections among the anchoring texts do not support students in developing or deepening background knowledge in a coherent way over time.
Evaluation for 5.A.1e
The materials provide some opportunities for students to engage in discussion activities connected to the knowledge-building topic of the lesson. For instance, the lessons in Academic Week 12 found in The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide includes the text One Day in the Prairie by Jean Craighead George. During the comprehension component of the lesson, students are prompted to describe the Prairie Wildlife Refuge, infer its purpose, and cite evidence to support their thinking. These tasks align with the text and foster discussion that encourages critical thinking tied to the lesson's content. The materials also provide opportunities for students to complete writing activities that connect to the knowledge-building topic of the lesson. For instance, during the composition component of the lesson, students read One Day in the Prairie and then construct informative organizers to identify essential information from the text. Grammar and vocabulary activities are not clearly connected to the topic of study. For example, grammar instruction during Academic Week 12 focuses on quotation marks using generic sentences such as, "Let's read all of the passage to determine the main idea,my teacher said," which are disconnected from the prairie context. Similarly, vocabulary instruction targets words like electrical and bruised, which do not appear to align with the anchor text or support topic-specific learning. The minimal integration in these components limits opportunities for students to reinforce key concepts across all areas of literacy instruction.
Evaluation for 5.A.2a
The lessons in The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide address the instructional progressions of spelling, writing, and reading objectives. They do not refer to any background knowledge topics from prior grade levels. In grade 4, students read texts about Lewis and Clark, but the materials do not introduce texts with explicit connections to prior learning, nor do they provide a scope and sequence or reference list of social studies or ELA topics from earlier grades that would help teachers connect this content to students' existing knowledge base. Similarly, students read various literary genres, such as fantasy books like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but the materials do not include supports to help teachers make intentional instructional connections. There are no referenced posters, anchor charts, embedded prompts, sidebars, or annotations that reference concepts, themes, or academic vocabulary introduced in earlier grades.
Evaluation for 5.A.2b
The materials include a Reading Skills Trace tool in the comprehension lesson that allows teachers to track student progress in discrete comprehension skills, such as making predictions, making connections, or comparing and contrasting. The tool focuses solely on reading strategies rather than content knowledge. It provides no reference to the knowledge-building topics, texts, or concepts students have previously encountered across the year. The materials are not structured around coherent units that would support connections between lessons or texts. As such, new topics are introduced without reference to or reinforcement of related topics from earlier in the grade level. Even when students previously studied concepts that could support new learning, the lessons begin in isolation, as if students have no relevant background knowledge. For example, in The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide, the planning page for Academic Week 23 includes an introduction to the text Storms by Seymour Simon. At this point in the school year, students have already read Volcanoes by the same author and discussed the topic's geological impact, but the lesson for Storms does not contain references to that previous lesson.
Evaluation for 5.A.2c
The materials do not provide students with relevant and targeted context or background knowledge to enhance their engagement with the text. Some texts reference historical events or technical topics; the lesson plans do not include multimedia supports, such as projectable visuals, photographs, maps, or diagrams, that would help students access or comprehend key concepts. The materials also do not include connections to current events that would help students contextualize a concept. For example, when students read about the Wright Brothers, the lesson begins with comprehension questions but does not include opportunities to activate prior knowledge, introduce the historical context of early aviation, or connect to students' current experiences with transportation or inventions.
Evaluation for 5.A.3a
The materials include daily comprehension questions that primarily focus on discrete reading skills, such as identifying cause-and-effect relationships, identifying author purpose, and distinguishing between main and supporting characters. While students are prompted to engage in "mental actions," these tasks are limited in scope and do not require consideration of broader ideas or exploration of themes. In some weekly lessons, students read trade books, selected passages, and poems, and identify themes. Big ideas or themes from one text in a given lesson do not connect to other texts used for instruction on the same day, so the activities do not require students to engage with overarching ideas. For example, in the comprehension lesson in Academic Week 15, students read The Wee Wren and The Tall Turkey from the McCall-Crabbs reader. The theme is, "Size does not win battles," as the small wren drives the large turkey away from her nest. During the literary appreciation part of instruction, students read Tango, the Tale of an Island Dog that centers around the theme of team collaborating.
Evaluation for 5.A.3b
The materials include designated focus texts for each lesson, but they are often not connected by a central theme or guiding big idea. Students engage with multiple genres and text types, but there is little evidence of intentional text selection that supports thematic cohesion or builds toward deeper conceptual understanding across the week. For example, students read the informational text, Deserts and poem, Deep in our Refrigerator in the same weekly lesson plan. There is no guidance for synthesizing knowledge or concepts across these two texts. There are also no embedded questions or opportunities to compare or contrast the two text pieces. Students read text to take notes, complete an organizer, and identify plot elements. They cite evidence to support their thinking, but there are no embedded questions to connect texts. In Academic Weeks 23–24, students engage with the text Call It Courage across several lessons, but the activities remain discrete. Students later compare themes of courage in Call It Courage and Testing the Ice, but there are no synthesis-prompting questions such as "What is the importance of courage?" The materials are segmented by academic week rather than thematic unit, limiting students' opportunities for knowledge synthesis.
Evaluation for 5.A.3c
The materials are not organized into cohesive units of study, and there is no culminating task that requires students to synthesize knowledge across multiple texts. Lessons include texts like Face to Face with Whales, The Three Little Wolves, and The Big Bad Pig within the same week, but without any instructional guidance or tasks linking the two. Students also read self-selected texts and novels such as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Cricket in Times Square, The Lunch Thief, and Frindle independently, but there are no culminating tasks that require students to reflect on or connect their learning across these extended readings. Overall, the materials consist of isolated daily lesson plans, with no clearly defined beginning or end to a unit and no final product or assessment to bring learning together.
Evaluation for 5.A.3d
Students engage with core texts such as Call it Courage and Frindle, but the related tasks focus on academic skills like writing opinions or comparing characters, without prompting students to connect the themes to real-life situations or authentic problems. In Academic Week 17, students write formal business letters to real-world recipients such as principals or state representatives. These letters are not meaningfully connected to the content or themes of the unit texts, such as connections and relationships with others explored in Tango, the Tale of an Island Dog. Similarly, in Academic Week 24, students read Face to Face With Whales alongside other literature and informational texts, yet the materials stop short of encouraging students to explore topics, such as the protection of whales in the wild.
Evaluation for 5.A.4a
The materials do not include a year-long scope and sequence for building tier 2 academic vocabulary for knowledge-building. Each weekly lesson plan includes a "High-Frequency Vocabulary" section that addresses foundational skills such as phonics, spelling patterns, syllabication, and pronunciation. According to The Writing Road to Reading, vocabulary instruction is based on a list of 1,000 of the most frequently used English words, compiled by Dr. Leonard P. Ayres, accounting for "85% of the words used in reading, writing, and speaking." The materials provide this list in sections, ordered from simple to more complex words. The words are not presented in the context of knowledge-building, but rather as a systematic list to be taught. Although many of these words could be classified as tier 2, such as estate or condition, the materials do not define or distinguish vocabulary by tier, and there are no opportunities for students to apply newly acquired tier 2 words in rigorous or meaningful tasks. Similarly, the materials do not provide a year-long scope and sequence for developing tier 3 academic vocabulary. Some content-specific words, such as atmospheric or colonies, appear in the vocabulary list, but they are not introduced or practiced within the context of discipline-specific learning. The materials do not include explicit instruction or tasks that support the acquisition of tier 3 vocabulary in relation to science, history, or other academic domains.
Evaluation for 5.A.4b
The materials include blank forms at the end of the "Planning" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide for teachers to plan differentiated instruction. Teachers are instructed to evaluate student data and maintain the correct level of difficulty when forming small groups, but there are no specific, embedded content scaffolds to assist in doing so. The high-frequency vocabulary lists are designed to support word structure, pronunciation, and spelling study, but they do not include guidance for supporting emergent bilingual students or those with developing language skills. There are no cognates, sentence frames, or visual supports included to help students make connections to vocabulary in context or in their home language. The materials do not provide varied or repeated practice opportunities across multiple modalities. The materials do not include embedded supports to guide teachers in providing language scaffolds during vocabulary instruction. As a result, all students engage in the same vocabulary tasks, regardless of language proficiency level.
Evaluation for 5.A.4c
The materials include multiple tasks that engage students in purposefully using key academic vocabulary through instruction and application. For example, in Academic Week 1, the teacher introduces core literary terms such as character, narrative, and plot, using the text, A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon to demonstrate their meaning in context. On Day 2, students apply these terms independently by identifying examples of character development and plot structure after reading Up North at the Cabin by Marsha Wilson Chall, deepening their understanding of the terms. In the "Sentence Construction with Vocabulary Development" lessons, students are coached to use new vocabulary in original contexts. For instance, in Academic Week 29, students learn about the suffix -ate (meaning "having to do with") and use this knowledge to construct sentences with words such as activate, demonstrating both understanding and contextual use.
Evaluation for 5.A.4d
The materials provide a list of the 1,000 most frequently used English words, compiled by Dr. Leonard P. Ayres. This list helps identify key vocabulary, but it is presented in isolation and without any accompanying nonverbal strategies such as visual word cards, illustrations, or suggested gestures, to support instruction. The materials also do not incorporate techniques such as Total Physical Response (TPR) that would allow students to act out new vocabulary to support memory and comprehension. Vocabulary terms are defined in teacher scripts and are often accompanied by sample sentences. There is no evidence of additional guidance or support for using visual models or graphic organizers to reinforce meaning. For example, teachers are directed to explain what a noun is and give examples, but the materials do not suggest showing pictures of those nouns to help students connect the concept to real-life examples. The vocabulary instruction relies heavily on written definitions and sentence-level practice, as opposed to nonverbal teaching techniques that would help students develop a deep understanding of the vocabulary introduced.
Evaluation for 5.B.1a
The materials do not include meaningful opportunities for students to engage in critical inquiry as part of the research process. In the digital resource "Making References and Creating Bibliographies," students view a PowerPoint that explains references, plagiarism, and paraphrasing related to identifying and gathering information from sources, but there is no support for generating questions, developing a research plan, or synthesizing information. In The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide, students compare and contrast information from two sources, such as in Academic Week 28, where they cite examples from texts, Henry Ford: Big Wheel in the Auto Industry and The Wright Brothers: Inventors Whose Ideas Really Took Flight to support their thinking. This task does not align with conducting research on an overarching topic like "inventors and how they changed the world," nor does it require students to gather information from additional sources, such as online encyclopedia articles or teacher-curated, connected videos. Similarly, in Academic Week 14, students interact with nonfiction texts like Deserts and Tropical Rain Forests by underlining essential words and taking notes, but they do not generate their own research questions, develop a research plan, or gather and synthesize information from a variety of sources. Overall, while students engage with nonfiction texts, the materials offer only limited opportunities for surface-level text interaction without providing tools, graphic organizers, or structured supports to guide students through the full critical inquiry process.
Evaluation for 5.B.1b
The materials include clear guidance and opportunities for students to differentiate between primary and secondary sources. For example, in Academic Week 4, teachers explain that a topic can be told from a firsthand account (primary source) or a secondhand account (secondary source). Students use the text, How We Crossed the West: The Adventures of Lewis and Clark by Rosalyn Schanzer (which contains excerpts from Lewis and Clark's actual journals) and The Lewis and Clark Expedition by John Perritano to compare and contrast examples of firsthand and secondhand accounts. Students later compose a paragraph stating which account provided greater insight, supporting their opinion with facts and reasons. In the composition lesson in Academic Week 10, teachers guide students by explaining that a secondhand account is one that was written by someone who has not directly experienced the topic. Students must explain that a topic can be told from either a firsthand or secondhand account, and use the same texts to construct an organizer to compare and contrast these examples.
Evaluation for 5.B.1c
This guidance is not applicable to grades 4–5 because it only applies to grades 6–8.
5.A.1 Connected Knowledge-Building Units and Lessons
5.A.1a
Units are designed to build knowledge based in the fields of science, history, literature, and the arts.
Units are designed to build knowledge based in the fields of science, history, literature, and the arts.
0 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 5.A.1a
Evaluation for 5.A.1a
Units are designed to build knowledge based in the fields of science, history, literature, and the arts.
0 out of 4 points
5.A.1b
Materials provide resources, including a scope and sequence, to demonstrate the approach to knowledge-building within and across grade levels.
Materials provide resources, including a scope and sequence, to demonstrate the approach to knowledge-building within and across grade levels.
0 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 5.A.1b
Evaluation for 5.A.1b
Materials provide resources, including a scope and sequence, to demonstrate the approach to knowledge-building within and across grade levels.
0 out of 2 points
5.A.1c
Units are designed for students to spend extended time (e.g., 3 weeks or more) on connected knowledge-building topics and texts.
Units are designed for students to spend extended time (e.g., 3 weeks or more) on connected knowledge-building topics and texts.
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 5.A.1c
Evaluation for 5.A.1c
Units are designed for students to spend extended time (e.g., 3 weeks or more) on connected knowledge-building topics and texts.
0 out of 1 points
5.A.1d
Lessons are connected by anchoring texts or text sets designed to intentionally build connected student background knowledge over time.
Lessons are connected by anchoring texts or text sets designed to intentionally build connected student background knowledge over time.
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 5.A.1d
Evaluation for 5.A.1d
Lessons are connected by anchoring texts or text sets designed to intentionally build connected student background knowledge over time.
0 out of 1 points
5.A.1e
Grammar, vocabulary, discussion, and writing activities are connected to the knowledge-building topic of the lesson.
Grammar, vocabulary, discussion, and writing activities are connected to the knowledge-building topic of the lesson.
2 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 5.A.1e
Evaluation for 5.A.1e
Grammar, vocabulary, discussion, and writing activities are connected to the knowledge-building topic of the lesson.
2 out of 4 points
5.A.2 Context and Student Background Knowledge
5.A.2a
Materials activate or supply background knowledge by making connections to previously learned content from prior grade levels.
Materials activate or supply background knowledge by making connections to previously learned content from prior grade levels.
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 5.A.2a
Evaluation for 5.A.2a
Materials activate or supply background knowledge by making connections to previously learned content from prior grade levels.
0 out of 1 points
5.A.2b
Materials activate or supply background knowledge by making connections across units within a grade level. (S)
Materials activate or supply background knowledge by making connections across units within a grade level. (S)
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 5.A.2b
Evaluation for 5.A.2b
Materials activate or supply background knowledge by making connections across units within a grade level. (S)
0 out of 1 points
5.A.2c
Materials provide students with relevant and targeted context or background knowledge to enhance the student's engagement with the text. (T/S)
Materials provide students with relevant and targeted context or background knowledge to enhance the student's engagement with the text. (T/S)
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 5.A.2c
Evaluation for 5.A.2c
Materials provide students with relevant and targeted context or background knowledge to enhance the student's engagement with the text. (T/S)
0 out of 1 points
5.A.3 Developing Student Comprehension with Connected Topics, Questions, and Tasks
5.A.3a
Questions and tasks require students to engage with big ideas, topics, and themes. (S)
Questions and tasks require students to engage with big ideas, topics, and themes. (S)
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 5.A.3a
Evaluation for 5.A.3a
Questions and tasks require students to engage with big ideas, topics, and themes. (S)
0 out of 1 points
5.A.3b
Questions and tasks prompt students to synthesize knowledge and concepts across texts within and across lessons and units. (S)
Questions and tasks prompt students to synthesize knowledge and concepts across texts within and across lessons and units. (S)
0 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 5.A.3b
Evaluation for 5.A.3b
Questions and tasks prompt students to synthesize knowledge and concepts across texts within and across lessons and units. (S)
0 out of 2 points
5.A.3c
Culminating tasks require students to demonstrate their knowledge of the unit topic by making connections across related texts. (S)
Culminating tasks require students to demonstrate their knowledge of the unit topic by making connections across related texts. (S)
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 5.A.3c
Evaluation for 5.A.3c
Culminating tasks require students to demonstrate their knowledge of the unit topic by making connections across related texts. (S)
0 out of 1 points
5.A.3d
Materials provide opportunities to apply new understanding based on the topic to contexts beyond the classroom. (S)
Materials provide opportunities to apply new understanding based on the topic to contexts beyond the classroom. (S)
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 5.A.3d
Evaluation for 5.A.3d
Materials provide opportunities to apply new understanding based on the topic to contexts beyond the classroom. (S)
0 out of 1 points
5.A.4 Key Academic Vocabulary and Grade-Level Concepts
5.A.4a
Materials include a year-long scope and sequence for building tier 2 and 3 academic vocabulary in the context of knowledge-building.
Materials include a year-long scope and sequence for building tier 2 and 3 academic vocabulary in the context of knowledge-building.
0 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 5.A.4a
Evaluation for 5.A.4a
Materials include a year-long scope and sequence for building tier 2 and 3 academic vocabulary in the context of knowledge-building.
0 out of 2 points
5.A.4b
Materials include practice and application opportunities with appropriate content and language scaffolds and supports for teachers to differentiate vocabulary development for all learners. (S)
Materials include practice and application opportunities with appropriate content and language scaffolds and supports for teachers to differentiate vocabulary development for all learners. (S)
0 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 5.A.4b
Evaluation for 5.A.4b
Materials include practice and application opportunities with appropriate content and language scaffolds and supports for teachers to differentiate vocabulary development for all learners. (S)
0 out of 2 points
5.A.4c
Materials include tasks designed to engage students in purposeful use of key academic vocabulary. (S)
Materials include tasks designed to engage students in purposeful use of key academic vocabulary. (S)
1 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 5.A.4c
Evaluation for 5.A.4c
Materials include tasks designed to engage students in purposeful use of key academic vocabulary. (S)
1 out of 1 points
5.A.4d
Materials include nonverbal teaching techniques to support students in the acquisition of key academic vocabulary, such as the use of images and visualization. (T)
Materials include nonverbal teaching techniques to support students in the acquisition of key academic vocabulary, such as the use of images and visualization. (T)
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 5.A.4d
Evaluation for 5.A.4d
Materials include nonverbal teaching techniques to support students in the acquisition of key academic vocabulary, such as the use of images and visualization. (T)
0 out of 1 points
5.B.1 Recursive Inquiry Process
5.B.1a
Materials include opportunities for students to engage in critical inquiry as part of the research process, such as generating questions, developing a plan, identifying and gathering relevant information from a variety of sources, and synthesizing the information. (S)
Materials include opportunities for students to engage in critical inquiry as part of the research process, such as generating questions, developing a plan, identifying and gathering relevant information from a variety of sources, and synthesizing the information. (S)
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 5.B.1a
Evaluation for 5.B.1a
Materials include opportunities for students to engage in critical inquiry as part of the research process, such as generating questions, developing a plan, identifying and gathering relevant information from a variety of sources, and synthesizing the information. (S)
0 out of 1 points
5.B.1b
Materials include guidance and opportunities for students to differentiate between primary and secondary sources. (S)
Materials include guidance and opportunities for students to differentiate between primary and secondary sources. (S)
2 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 5.B.1b
Evaluation for 5.B.1b
Materials include guidance and opportunities for students to differentiate between primary and secondary sources. (S)
2 out of 2 points
5.B.1c
Materials include a progression of focused research tasks to encourage students to develop knowledge in a given area by confronting or analyzing different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and source materials (6-8). (S)
Materials include a progression of focused research tasks to encourage students to develop knowledge in a given area by confronting or analyzing different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and source materials (6-8). (S)
Not scored
Evaluation for 5.B.1c
Evaluation for 5.B.1c
Materials include a progression of focused research tasks to encourage students to develop knowledge in a given area by confronting or analyzing different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and source materials (6-8). (S)
0 out of 0 points
Rubric Section 6
Text Quality and Complexity
Materials ensure students spend a majority of their time interacting with increasingly complex grade-level text.
Total
45% (13 out of 29 points)
Evaluation for 6.1a
The materials do not provide evidence that core texts used for instruction are written at grade level when evaluated using research-based measures of text complexity. The materials include a two-page chart listing titles, authors, publishers, and the day and week texts are used for direct instruction. The chart does not include research-based measures of text complexity. Similarly, a chart listing texts used for fluent and expressive reading provides author, title, publisher, and scheduling information, but does not indicate any research-based text complexity analysis. The program uses trade books as core texts, recommending titles such as Dear Mr. Henshaw, Just So Stories, and Heidi in grade 4, stating that, "Suggested grade-level designations are based upon the phonograms being taught, the level of language used, and a determination of merit." The materials do not include references to a research-based text complexity analysis, such as multiple levels of meaning, language complexity, or quantitative measures like Lexile levels.
Evaluation for 6.1b
The texts included in the materials, such as those in the McCall-Crabbs Teacher's Manual, are "not well-crafted," consisting of "notably brief and dated" selections originally published between 1926 and 1961, with "no updated illustrations, visuals, or photographs." Informational texts are described as "not relatable and require extensive background knowledge-building," and the vocabulary "has not been updated." Passages in the teacher's manual feature "outdated descriptions and simplified language," and their short length "does not allow for plot or character development." The evidence shows that texts are not of publishable quality or sufficiently well-crafted, and contemporary, high-quality literature is not present.
Evaluation for 6.1c
The materials include traditional, contemporary, and classical texts across multiple content areas. The online Spalding Resource Center provides a list of texts used during weekly lessons, ensuring consistent integration of core texts. For example, on Academic Day 1, students listen to the contemporary text, A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon. In Academic Week 31, students read the classic, Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg. In Week 24, they engage with the text, The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas. Traditional texts connect to content areas, such as The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush retold by Tomie DePaola, which uses Native American storytelling to explain real-world events common to many cultures. Classic novels like The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis and Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry expose students to rich vocabulary and literary structures. Contemporary texts support cross-curricular learning. In Academic Week 19, students read Volcanoes by Seymour Simon to derive main ideas while learning about Earth science, and Buzz Aldrin, Reaching for the Stars supports reading, social studies, and science instruction with engaging nonfiction content. The materials include texts such as My Brother Martin by Christine King Farris, but texts reflecting diverse cultures are not consistently included within daily instruction, limiting students' exposure to a range of realistic fiction and informational texts representing various backgrounds and cultures.
Evaluation for 6.1d
The materials do not include texts that authentically reflect students' diverse backgrounds and experiences; recommended readings are described as "outdated and not as relevant." Passages included in the teacher's manual reinforce stereotypes and present culture in an outdated way with no connection to modern-day celebrations, reflecting minimal authentic or meaningful understanding. Texts are not available for review or require teachers to independently obtain copies, making it impossible to verify that the content is relevant, engaging, or representative of students' diverse backgrounds. Numerous passages feature outdated topics and language, such as descriptions of commercial whaling or rural school inspections, which do not engage students or meet the requirements for authentic, diverse representation.
Evaluation for 6.2a
The materials consistently include opportunities in each lesson for students to listen to, think about, and critically respond to grade-level texts. For example, in Academic Week 3, students revisit The Digestive System by Kay Manolis and compose a first-person informative-narrative paragraph from the perspective of a piece of food moving through the digestive system, naming and explaining each part. This task requires students to think critically about the text and justify their understanding through writing. In Academic Week 4, students listen to an excerpt from the same text and identify monitoring comprehension, making connections, and making predictions, citing evidence to support their thinking. Students regularly listen to grade-level texts, such as Volcanoes in Week 19, where they determine the implied main idea and cite evidence to show that volcanoes cause rapid changes on the earth's surface, justifying their thinking in writing. Similarly, students listen to How We Crossed the West: The Adventures of Lewis and Clark during daily read-alouds, identifying the point of view, which prompts them to think critically and justify their interpretations. During a read-aloud of Cowboy Up! Ride the Navajo Rodeo in Academic Week 2, students identify the author's purpose, narrative and informative elements, and point of view, citing textual evidence to support their analysis. The materials consistently provide opportunities for students to justify their thinking, in either oral or written mode. For instance, after listening to Mouse and Lion in Academic Week 18, students identify imagery and explain how precise language creates a mental picture, with teachers modeling examples.
Evaluation for 6.2b
The materials do not include opportunities in each lesson for students to discuss specific aspects of grade-level text, such as author's purpose, structure, language, vocabulary, and point of view. Daily lessons address identifying these aspects, but there is no teacher guidance for facilitating student discussion. For example, on Academic Day 5, students listen to Don't Ever Cross That Road! and identify the author's purpose, narrative and informative elements, and point of view on an organizer, but the lesson does not provide time for students to discuss these aspects. Similarly, on Academic Day 2, students listen to excerpts from The Lunch Thief to identify precise language and emotional appeal, but there is no teacher-facilitated discussion around this analysis. In the lesson on The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, students identify literary elements, but the guide does not include opportunities for students to discuss these elements with peers or the teacher. Academic Week 10 includes an opportunity for students to discuss the author's purpose, narrative elements, and point of view with a partner while completing a graphic organizer, but this type of engagement is not consistent across daily lessons throughout the year.
Evaluation for 6.2c
The materials include opportunities in each lesson for students to engage in a variety of reading skills with grade-level texts. Students regularly listen to and read excerpts to practice monitoring comprehension, making connections, making and confirming predictions, inferencing, and identifying themes with evidence. For example, in Academic Week 4, students listen to Up North at the Cabin and label mental actions to support comprehension while citing text evidence. Additionally, in Academic Week 2, students infer the theme of The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush and identify essential supporting details. Across lessons, students engage with grade-level texts, building a range of reading skills through structured practice in making inferences, analyzing, and evaluating texts.
Evaluation for 6.3a
The materials include references to the five mental actions throughout the year to support students in accessing grade-level texts. "The Reading Lesson at a Glance" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide provides guidance to teachers that states, "Teachers model monitoring comprehension, making connections, and predicting while students listen to literature selections and informational texts. Before teaching the last two strategies, teachers check students' understanding of the first three by having students show the first three Mental Action Cards while listening to the teacher model thinking." Teachers use supports such as the Mental Action Posters and Mental Action Cards as scaffolds to help students access grade-level text. Students select cards to indicate the mental actions they are using from color-coded options: Monitoring Comprehension, Making Connections, Predicting, Reformatting, and Mentally Summarizing.
Evaluation for 6.3b
In the "Framework for Designing Lessons" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide, teacher guidance acknowledges that "Planning objectives at the correct level of difficulty also requires recognizing able learners who need challenge," and suggests that teachers "plan to have books for the readability level for these students to read" while teachers preteach or reteach students who are having difficulty. Additionally, the "Differentiation" section of the Teacher's Guide indicates that teachers should "provide independent assignments and activities for students who learn easily." The materials reference opportunities for students who demonstrate proficiency to engage in independent learning tasks, but the corresponding teacher guidance is minimal and the activities do not focus on analysis skills. The materials do not include applicable text lists, leveling information to guide teachers in providing appropriate texts to students who demonstrate grade-level skills, or additional text analysis activities at an increased level of depth and complexity.
Evaluation for 6.4a
The materials include a list of trade books to use in daily instruction, but rationales for each text's educational purpose and grade-level placement are not included. There is evidence of quantitative measurement only. For example, in The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide, the planning pages for Academic Day 1 indicate that students will read The Lunch Thief, which has a 4.2 grade equivalency and 720 Lexile level. The materials do not include any teacher guidance notes connecting the Lexile levels to the educational purpose of each core text. The materials only include brief descriptions or generalized statements (e.g., recommending "books that stir the imagination and paint pictures for the mind's eye to see"). There is no detailed analysis of the text's complexity, educational purpose, or explicit rationale for grade-level placement. The book list includes the title, author, and publisher of each core text, but it does not include any qualitative analysis measures, such as information about text structure or vocabulary complexity. No rationales are provided for the selected texts.
Evaluation for 6.4b
The "Reading: Teacher Resources for Direct Instruction" chart in The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide provides a book list that includes the title, author, and publisher for core texts used throughout the year. The chart does not include any quantitative or qualitative analysis of the texts. In the Academic Week planning pages, teacher guidance callout boxes indicate the Lexile information for newly introduced core texts. The Lexile information is presented in isolation and does not include any supporting information on the alignment of Lexile levels and appropriate grade-level complexity. The materials do not provide information on purposeful Lexile progression from fall to winter to spring. The materials do not include other indicators of appropriate grade-level complexity, such as cultural and historical context, analysis of structure and language within the texts, or depth of themes and topics. No rationale or analysis is provided for why specific texts are selected for this grade level or how they align with student needs and tasks.
Evaluation for 6.5a
The materials provide general guidance on monitoring student comprehension during independent reading. For example, the "Evaluating Reading Assessment Data" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide states that teachers should "provide independent activities for students who understand attributes of fine literature," such as writing about or illustrating their favorite part of the story, or writing about and/or illustrating one of the attributes from the story, such as character traits. The "Evaluating Reading Assessment Data" guidance also directs teachers to "provide independent activities for students who can identify, label and apply the Five Mental Actions." Students read a book of their choice and "independently identify the author's main idea, and mentally summarize the story or informative text by using an organizer." Teacher documents outline explicit steps for delivering lessons on text structure, including predicting type of writing, identifying author's purpose, and citing textual evidence. These routines are applied independently by students, with teachers giving clear instructions on how to monitor comprehension during the process.
Evaluation for 6.5b
The text list provided in the "Reading: Teacher Resources for Direct Instruction" chart in The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide lists titles, authors, and publishers of texts used throughout the year, but it does not specify whether the texts are intended for independent reading. The list also does not include any quantitative or qualitative measures of text complexity. Within the Academic Week lesson planning pages, teacher guidance callout boxes indicate the grade equivalency level of the week's core texts. Across grade 4, grade equivalency levels span from 4.1 (Snowflake Bentley) to 6.1 (The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe), reflecting a limited range of text complexity throughout the year. The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide indicates that students should self-select texts for independent reading, but no specific texts are designated for this purpose, and the materials do not include clear supports for practicing independent reading across a range of complexity levels.
Evaluation for 6.5c
The materials include a variety of reading assignments that students primarily complete independently. Additionally, guidance within The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide states that students should self-select texts for independent reading, but there is no corresponding plan included, such as a lesson on how to choose "Just Right Books." Lesson plans within the "Planning" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide include Comprehension and Literary Appreciation/Fluency components. Activities within these sections do not include independent reading for a sustained period. For example, in Academic Week 3, students read The Lewis and Clark Expedition by John Perritano aloud daily to demonstrate fluent and expressive reading. The materials do not include specific independent reading tasks tied to independent reading goals. The materials do not include resources for achieving independent reading goals, such as fluency charts, reading logs, or progress trackers.
6.1 High-Quality Grade-Level Texts
6.1a
Core texts used for instruction are written at grade level when evaluated using research-based measures of text complexity.
Core texts used for instruction are written at grade level when evaluated using research-based measures of text complexity.
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 6.1a
Evaluation for 6.1a
Core texts used for instruction are written at grade level when evaluated using research-based measures of text complexity.
0 out of 1 points
6.1b
Texts are well-crafted and are of publishable quality.
Texts are well-crafted and are of publishable quality.
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 6.1b
Evaluation for 6.1b
Texts are well-crafted and are of publishable quality.
0 out of 1 points
6.1c
Materials include traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse texts across multiple content areas.
Materials include traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse texts across multiple content areas.
3 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 6.1c
Evaluation for 6.1c
Materials include traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse texts across multiple content areas.
3 out of 4 points
6.1d
Texts include content that is relevant, engaging, and authentically reflects students' diverse backgrounds and experiences. (S)
Texts include content that is relevant, engaging, and authentically reflects students' diverse backgrounds and experiences. (S)
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 6.1d
Evaluation for 6.1d
Texts include content that is relevant, engaging, and authentically reflects students' diverse backgrounds and experiences. (S)
0 out of 1 points
6.2 Interaction with Grade-Level Text
6.2a
Materials include opportunities in each lesson for students to listen to, think about, and critically respond to grade-level texts and justify their thinking orally and in writing. (S)
Materials include opportunities in each lesson for students to listen to, think about, and critically respond to grade-level texts and justify their thinking orally and in writing. (S)
5 out of 5 points
Evaluation for 6.2a
Evaluation for 6.2a
Materials include opportunities in each lesson for students to listen to, think about, and critically respond to grade-level texts and justify their thinking orally and in writing. (S)
5 out of 5 points
6.2b
Materials include opportunities in each lesson to discuss specific aspects of grade-level text (e.g., authors' purpose, structure, language, vocabulary, etc.). (S)
Materials include opportunities in each lesson to discuss specific aspects of grade-level text (e.g., authors' purpose, structure, language, vocabulary, etc.). (S)
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 6.2b
Evaluation for 6.2b
Materials include opportunities in each lesson to discuss specific aspects of grade-level text (e.g., authors' purpose, structure, language, vocabulary, etc.). (S)
0 out of 1 points
6.2c
Materials include opportunities in each lesson for students to engage in a variety of reading skills with grade-level text (e.g., generating questions at various levels of complexity, making, and confirming predictions, inferencing, analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing). (S)
Materials include opportunities in each lesson for students to engage in a variety of reading skills with grade-level text (e.g., generating questions at various levels of complexity, making, and confirming predictions, inferencing, analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing). (S)
1 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 6.2c
Evaluation for 6.2c
Materials include opportunities in each lesson for students to engage in a variety of reading skills with grade-level text (e.g., generating questions at various levels of complexity, making, and confirming predictions, inferencing, analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing). (S)
1 out of 1 points
6.3 Supporting Access to Grade-Level Text
6.3a
Materials include teacher guidance and supports to ensure all students can access grade-level text while maintaining rigor through the use of embedded scaffolds (e.g., vocabulary support, questioning, think-alouds, sentence frames.). (T/S)
Materials include teacher guidance and supports to ensure all students can access grade-level text while maintaining rigor through the use of embedded scaffolds (e.g., vocabulary support, questioning, think-alouds, sentence frames.). (T/S)
2 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 6.3a
Evaluation for 6.3a
Materials include teacher guidance and supports to ensure all students can access grade-level text while maintaining rigor through the use of embedded scaffolds (e.g., vocabulary support, questioning, think-alouds, sentence frames.). (T/S)
2 out of 2 points
6.3b
Materials provide opportunities for students who demonstrate proficiency to engage in additional analysis of grade-level texts.
Materials provide opportunities for students who demonstrate proficiency to engage in additional analysis of grade-level texts.
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 6.3b
Evaluation for 6.3b
Materials provide opportunities for students who demonstrate proficiency to engage in additional analysis of grade-level texts.
0 out of 1 points
6.4 Analysis of Text Complexity
6.4a
Materials include quantitative and qualitative analysis of each core text, including a rationale for each text's educational purpose and grade-level placement.
Materials include quantitative and qualitative analysis of each core text, including a rationale for each text's educational purpose and grade-level placement.
1 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 6.4a
Evaluation for 6.4a
Materials include quantitative and qualitative analysis of each core text, including a rationale for each text's educational purpose and grade-level placement.
1 out of 4 points
6.4b
Core texts have the appropriate level of complexity for the grade according to their quantitative and qualitative analysis and relationship to student tasks.
Core texts have the appropriate level of complexity for the grade according to their quantitative and qualitative analysis and relationship to student tasks.
0 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 6.4b
Evaluation for 6.4b
Core texts have the appropriate level of complexity for the grade according to their quantitative and qualitative analysis and relationship to student tasks.
0 out of 2 points
6.5 Self-Sustained Independent Reading
6.5a
Materials include explicit (direct) teacher guidance on how to monitor students' comprehension through structured activities during independent reading. (T)
Materials include explicit (direct) teacher guidance on how to monitor students' comprehension through structured activities during independent reading. (T)
1 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 6.5a
Evaluation for 6.5a
Materials include explicit (direct) teacher guidance on how to monitor students' comprehension through structured activities during independent reading. (T)
1 out of 1 points
6.5b
Texts designated for independent reading have a range of complexity levels for students to practice reading independently. (S)
Texts designated for independent reading have a range of complexity levels for students to practice reading independently. (S)
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 6.5b
Evaluation for 6.5b
Texts designated for independent reading have a range of complexity levels for students to practice reading independently. (S)
0 out of 1 points
6.5c
Materials include a plan for students to self-select high-quality texts and read independently for a sustained period, including planning and accountability for achieving independent reading goals. (S)
Materials include a plan for students to self-select high-quality texts and read independently for a sustained period, including planning and accountability for achieving independent reading goals. (S)
0 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 6.5c
Evaluation for 6.5c
Materials include a plan for students to self-select high-quality texts and read independently for a sustained period, including planning and accountability for achieving independent reading goals. (S)
0 out of 4 points
Rubric Section 7
Evidence-Based Tasks and Responses
Materials require students to engage in reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence using literary and informational text.
Total
84% (46 out of 55 points)
Evaluation for 7.A.1a
Each Academic Week lesson plan within The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide includes a Comprehension section in which students read texts and then practice and apply comprehension skills. Teachers ask questions to allow students to demonstrate comprehension. For example, in Academic Week 2, after explaining that a fable is a short story—usually with animal characters—that states a moral, students listen to the text Mouse and Lion and identify the author's purpose, characters, setting, plot, and point of view. Students explain why the narrative is a fable. Students also cite evidence to justify their thinking and support claims. For example, in Academic Week 13, students read the poem Deep in our Refrigerator with a focus on emotional appeal by the author. Students highlight any evidence of feelings or words or phrases that appeal to the senses.
Evaluation for 7.A.1b
Throughout the year, the Comprehension section of the lessons requires students to evaluate language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of weekly texts. Lesson objectives regularly require students to "cite evidence to support thinking" during these activities. In Academic Week 18, students analyze the author's language and craft to identify imagery in Tango, the Tale of the Island Dog. Students cite examples and page numbers from the text as they "look for how the author used precise language and emotional appeal to create a mental picture." Students answer questions about excerpts from the text such as, "What did Beau mean when he said, 'Forgive me, Tango, but tonight I cannot endure your hope; I can only endure my own despair'?" In Academic Week 3, students identify and describe the informational structural pattern in The Lewis and Clark Expeditions by John Perritano. Students cite evidence to support their thinking about why this is the structure used and construct a timeline of the events using details from the text. Students also cite key ideas as they analyze how meeting many different Native American people affected the expedition, and how the expedition affected pioneers moving westward. In Academic Week 11, students read Frindle and use text evidence to identify the setting, explain what the text is about, infer theme(s), and identify essential details that support the theme(s).
Evaluation for 7.A.1c
Throughout the year, activities within the Comprehension section of the lessons require students to support claims and justify their thinking by comparing, summarizing, and discussing key ideas. In Academic Week 23, students read Volcanoes and Storms by Seymour Simon. Students construct analogies between geologic events, relating factors such as what they cause and their effects. A graphic organizer from The Spalding Resource Center helps students compare the texts. In Academic Week 9, students "Read science and social studies selections; use the first three mental actions to read and identify (reformat) essential sentences to confirm the topic and topic sentence (mentally summarize stated main idea); cite evidence to support thinking." In Academic Week 7, students identify examples of insight into Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from the text My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Students cite evidence from the story as they explain how the text provides insight via 1) appearance, 2) speech and language, 3) actions, and 4) connections and relationships with others.
Evaluation for 7.A.1d
Throughout the year, during the Comprehension section of each lesson, students answer questions and complete tasks at various levels of cognitive complexity. For example, in Academic Week 17, students read Tango, the Tale of an Island Dog and construct an organizer that demonstrates their understanding of more basic elements, such as the plot. Teachers also scaffold student understanding as they begin to interact with the text by asking them to list ways the author develops the main character by 1) appearance, 2) speech and language, 3) actions, and 4) relationships with others. In Academic Week 18, students continue their reading of the novel Tango, the Tale of the Island Dog and answer questions at various levels of cognitive complexity. Students answer literal questions such as, "Describe the series of events that took place in Chapter 39. What new information did McKenna discover?" or "What two stories did McKenna have to tell Augusta?" Students answer inferential questions such as, "Explain why Augusta is feeling so devastated. Cite evidence from the text to support your answer," or "Infer the theme of the story. Identify essential details that support the theme." Students answer evaluative questions such as, "Explain the decision Tango had to make. Why do you think he made the decision he did?"
Evaluation for 7.A.2a
Teachers follow an example dialogue within The Writing Road to Reading to model constructing a text-based response, such as figuring out the main idea of a text. The materials refer to this as mentally summarizing, or one of the Five Mental Actions (comprehension strategies). Teachers follow a script: "You mentally summarize when you listen to or read the essential information in paragraphs and identify a sentence that states the most important point." Teachers continue by reading parts of a paragraph about windmills in the Netherlands and modeling thinking about how details support this main idea in the following sentences, which describe facts about windmills (machinery inside, jobs they do, such as pumping water or grinding wheat). In Academic Week 19, teachers explain that argumentative writing may contain logical reasoning to support an opinion. The materials provide an example that teachers use during instruction: "All children watch too much television. Watching an excessive amount of television consumes time that could be spent reading fine writing, exercising, and enjoying the company of friends (logical reasons)."
Evaluation for 7.A.2b
The materials do not include guidance to help teachers engage students in evidence-based discussions using academic vocabulary. Vocabulary words are defined in daily lessons, but student participation in group or partner discussions is inconsistent, and supports such as sentence stems or visuals are not provided. The materials do not include guidance for teachers to engage students in evidence-based discussions using academic syntax. Structured supports for discussion, such as accountable talk stems or partner pair discussion cards, are not provided. Students complete tasks in which they share with partners or groups, but these activities do not include supports such as group roles.
Evaluation for 7.B.1a
Lessons outlined in The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide include texts to which students refer when crafting compositions. For example, in Academic Week 20, students read Volcanoes and then compose an informative essay comparing and contrasting two types of volcanoes. The materials do not refer to any trade books or reader selections as mentor texts, and there is no clear guidance on how to utilize the texts to inform the corresponding writing instruction. The materials do not include TEKS correlations, and there is no evidence that the core texts for each Academic Week plan serve as models for students to compose a variety of texts that align with grade-level expectations.
Evaluation for 7.B.1b
Students compose literary texts for multiple purposes with genre-specific characteristics and craft throughout the year. For example, in Academic Week 2, students compose a first-person narrative about a memorable first day of school that includes characters, setting, and a single event. In Academic Week 10, students "use the writing process to compose a third-person narrative paragraph about a topic of interest, e.g., a sports event, a mystery, or fractured fairy tale; include a beginning, middle, end (chronological order), and one example of dialogue." The materials provide an opportunity for students to compose a literary text by following the writing process using a narrative graphic organizer from The Spalding Resource Center. When completing the graphic organizer, students choose a topic of interest and identify their intended audience and purpose before developing the plot of their text.
Evaluation for 7.B.1c
Students compose informational texts for multiple purposes with genre-specific characteristics and craft throughout the year. For example, in Academic Week 6, students compose an informative paragraph about a social studies or science topic (e.g., an animal, weather, or history of a state or monument) including a topic sentence, facts about the topic, and at least one compound sentence. In Academic Week 12, students use websites, periodicals, and books to identify wildlife refuges in their own state and take notes about animals, plants, climate, and food sources found in the refuge. Then, in Academic Week 13, students compose a multiparagraph third-person informative composition about animal preservation in their chosen refuge and include a topic sentence, essential information, and end with a concluding statement in each paragraph. Students can use the informative graphic organizer from The Spalding Resource Center to develop a piece of writing focused on a social studies or science topic of interest to the class. Before beginning their thesis statement, body paragraphs, and conclusion, students must identify the intended audience and clearly state the purpose of their text.
Evaluation for 7.B.1d
Students compose argumentative texts for multiple purposes with genre-specific characteristics and craft throughout the year. For example, in Academic Week 9, students compose an opinion paragraph on whether a firsthand or secondhand account gives more insight into Dr. Martin Luther King's life. Students begin with a topic sentence, state an opinion, provide reasons supported by facts, and include one direct quote. In Academic Week 22, after reading the text Call It Courage, students state an opinion as to which challenge was Mafatu's biggest success and cite evidence to support their thinking. In Academic Week 19, students write a persuasive or argumentative paragraph based on Tango, the Tale of an Island Dog by Eileen Beha. They present logical reasons to persuade their intended audience and support their opinions with evidence from the text.
Evaluation for 7.B.1e
Students compose correspondence for multiple purposes with genre-specific characteristics and craft throughout the year. For example, in Academic Week 5, students compose a friendly letter, answering questions from the text Dear Mr. Henshaw in a letter to the teacher. The letter must include a heading, greeting, body, closing, signature, proper nouns, commas, indentations, and margins. Students use correct conventions of a friendly letter and write a beginning, middle, and end. In Academic Week 17, students compose a formal business letter, including date, inside address, salutation followed by a colon, body, closing, and signature. Students write to a principal, state representative, or business asking for information.
Evaluation for 7.B.2a
The materials support students' coherent use of the writing process to compose text. Students engage in planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing across genres, including informative, narrative, and poetry writing. For example, in Academic Week 7, students construct an informative organizer using Snowflake Bentley and compose a third-person informative paragraph with a topic sentence, factual details, a concluding statement, and a compound sentence, moving through all stages of the writing process. In Academic Week 23, students plan and draft a paragraph identifying the theme of courage in Call It Courage, using examples from the text to support their analysis. Additionally, students write first-person narratives on personal topics, ensuring a clear beginning, middle, end, and dialogue with conventions. They also apply the full writing process when composing free-verse poetry with literary techniques. Revising and editing are supported through tools such as the "Revising and Editing Bingo Board," which prompts students to revise drafts, peer review, and address conventions like subject-verb agreement and word choice, ensuring age-appropriate progression in writing skills.
Evaluation for 7.B.2b
The materials provide clear teacher guidance for explicit instruction and modeling of each element of the writing process, including planning, drafting, revising, editing, and sharing/publishing. A one-page chart in The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide directs teachers to model thinking, check for understanding, coach as students practice, and check application throughout writing lessons. In the "Teaching the Writing Process" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide, teachers access step-by-step guidance to introduce the writing process, review paragraph attributes, choose appropriate topics, and emphasize that writing improvement takes time and practice. The materials outline and define each stage—Prewriting, Composing, Revising, Editing, and Publishing—and instruct teachers to "think out loud while demonstrating each stage." Teacher guidance for the composition in Academic Week 9 indicates, "begin with a topic sentence, state an opinion, provide reasons supported by facts, and link opinion and reasons with words and phrases." Materials provide structured support for conferring and revising, including coaching routines and opportunities for teachers to hold students accountable, ensuring explicit modeling and comprehensive support throughout all writing tasks.
Evaluation for 7.B.3a
The materials provide clear teacher guidance to explicitly teach sentence structure. The "Writing Lesson at a Glance" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide states, "After attributes of written sentences have been taught (typically one week), students begin writing four types of simple sentences, then compound and complex sentences." On Academic Day 1, teachers model and analyze the structure of a declarative sentence, as in, "The famous author published the journal yesterday," explaining end punctuation and sentence completeness to build foundational understanding. The materials include direct teacher guidance for modeling syntax through sentence analysis and combining activities. On Academic Day 1, teachers explain the placement and part of speech of each word of the sentence and why it is used in that position. In addition, teachers explain the end punctuation used with declarative sentences. Teachers continue similar modeling with interrogative and imperative sentences. The materials explicitly connect vocabulary instruction to sentence writing. On Academic Day 2, students compose oral and written declarative sentences using unfamiliar words such as region, represent, preside, and include, while teachers "model a written example sentence to provide a visual for students." Additionally, in The Writing Road to Reading, teachers model adding precise, descriptive vocabulary to sentences for clarity, expanding, "I have a pet dog" to "I have a pet sheepdog" and adding modifiers like, huge and bushy to enhance meaning. Additionally, teachers receive guidance to incorporate progressive verb tense, adverbs, and descriptive vocabulary into sentence construction to strengthen students' written expression.
Evaluation for 7.B.3b
The materials provide systematic and explicit instruction in writing starting at the sentence level, supporting teachers with related guidance. In Academic Week 1, teachers explicitly explain and model composing declarative sentences prior to introducing less common sentence types, such as interrogative sentences. Teachers follow example dialogues and structured lessons within The Writing Road to Reading to guide students in composing single sentences with accuracy, ensuring students learn the attributes of written sentences before moving forward. After sentence-level instruction, the materials guide teachers in modeling how to build related sentences into a paragraph. For example, teachers create a class paragraph with a topic sentence about pets, adding related details such as class dogs and cats, while excluding unrelated details like having eggs for breakfast. The "Writing Lesson at a Glance" further supports this progression by stating, "For fourth graders, composition instruction begins after they have learned the attributes of written sentences. Teachers model composing two or three sentences about a single topic and explain the concept of related thoughts." The materials provide teacher guidance for moving from sentences to paragraph-level writing, but they do not align these writing lessons to grade-level language-arts TEKS, and there is no mention of TEKS correlation within the writing instruction provided.
Evaluation for 7.B.3c
Teachers follow guidance in the "Writing Skills Trace" within The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide to introduce writing skills and concepts systematically. For example, students begin the year writing related sentences in Week 1, compose a first-person narrative in Week 2, a third-person informative composition in Week 6, and a research report in Week 12. Teachers follow guidance for Week 11 to instruct students in composing sentences and compositions, comparing and contrasting character traits. Students use a completed graphic organizer to compose two paragraphs that compare and contrast character traits of Nick Allen, the main character in Frindle. Students use transition words and cite evidence to support thinking. Teachers follow guidance in the "Writing Skills Trace" to introduce revision-related concepts systematically. For example, students begin the year by reviewing conjunctions such as and in Week 1, simpler subordinating conjunctions such as if or when in Week 3, and more complex correlative conjunctions such as either/or in Week 30. Revision guidance is present in the "Delivering" section of The Writing Road to Reading Fourth Grade Teacher's Classic Guide, but it is general. The materials explain that revising is refining the composition and making decisions about what to add, cut, or change, for preciseness, order, sequence, vocabulary, and meaning. Teachers follow guidance in the "Writing Skills Trace" to introduce convention skills and concepts systematically. For example, students begin the year by reviewing known punctuation skills such as question marks and exclamation points in Week 1, dialogue in Week 9, and hyphens in Week 16. The materials explain that editing is reviewing capitalization, punctuation, grammar, spelling, indentations, and margins. Teachers can access and follow guidance in the "Revising and Editing" slides found within The Spalding Resource Center to explicitly teach revising and editing.
Evaluation for 7.B.4a
The materials do not provide opportunities for students to practice and apply the conventions of academic language in and out of context. In Academic Week 7, students practice adding the suffix -ly to adjectives to form adverbs and compose oral or written sentences using these words, but these activities are presented without clear alignment to grade-level standards, as outlined in the TEKS. Students compose a first-person narrative in Week 14 about a personal topic, such as a field trip or birthday, using past tense verbs; the task focuses on personal interests with minimal connections to academic language conventions. The materials do not include a TEKS correlation document that would directly tie writing practice and application activities to grade-level expectations.
Evaluation for 7.B.4b
The materials include systematic opportunities for students to practice and apply grammar, punctuation, and usage both in and out of context. In the "Procedure for Teaching Related Sentences," guidance instructs teachers to "Coach as students categorize sentences written on the board as related or not related. Next, have them write related sentences on the board and explain why they are related. In whole-group [instruction], edit for capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and grammar (English conventions)." Students practice grammar, punctuation, and usage orally and in writing with teacher guidance, followed by application in narrative, informative, and narrative-informative compositions. For example, in Week 14, students compose oral and written sentences using linking verbs with nouns or pronouns and begin constructing narratives with standard conventions. Students also systematically practice usage skills in isolation; in Week 9, they identify conjunctions and dependent clauses and compose complex sentences such as, "Unless we read a successful solution, the problem will persist." In Week 23, students practice identifying progressive tense verbs to show changing time, such as, "Proceed to the next desk for your room assignment." Students are expected to consistently apply these grammar, punctuation, and usage skills across writing assignments in English Language Arts and other content areas, supporting transfer and mastery of language conventions.
7.A.1 Use of Text Evidence
7.A.1a
Materials include text-dependent questions and tasks which require students to use evidence from the text to demonstrate comprehension, justify their thinking, and support claims. (S)
Materials include text-dependent questions and tasks which require students to use evidence from the text to demonstrate comprehension, justify their thinking, and support claims. (S)
2 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 7.A.1a
Evaluation for 7.A.1a
Materials include text-dependent questions and tasks which require students to use evidence from the text to demonstrate comprehension, justify their thinking, and support claims. (S)
2 out of 2 points
7.A.1b
Questions and tasks require students to use text evidence when evaluating the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of high-quality texts. (S)
Questions and tasks require students to use text evidence when evaluating the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of high-quality texts. (S)
5 out of 5 points
Evaluation for 7.A.1b
Evaluation for 7.A.1b
Questions and tasks require students to use text evidence when evaluating the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of high-quality texts. (S)
5 out of 5 points
7.A.1c
Questions and tasks require students to support their claims and justify their thinking through a variety of strategies, such as comparing sources, paraphrasing, summarizing, and discussing key ideas in evidence from the text. (S)
Questions and tasks require students to support their claims and justify their thinking through a variety of strategies, such as comparing sources, paraphrasing, summarizing, and discussing key ideas in evidence from the text. (S)
1 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 7.A.1c
Evaluation for 7.A.1c
Questions and tasks require students to support their claims and justify their thinking through a variety of strategies, such as comparing sources, paraphrasing, summarizing, and discussing key ideas in evidence from the text. (S)
1 out of 1 points
7.A.1d
Questions and tasks are designed at different levels of cognitive complexity to provide ample opportunities for students to engage in the analysis of text. (S)
Questions and tasks are designed at different levels of cognitive complexity to provide ample opportunities for students to engage in the analysis of text. (S)
1 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 7.A.1d
Evaluation for 7.A.1d
Questions and tasks are designed at different levels of cognitive complexity to provide ample opportunities for students to engage in the analysis of text. (S)
1 out of 1 points
7.A.2 Teacher Guidance for the Use of Text Evidence
7.A.2a
Materials include guidance for teachers on the effective modeling of the use of text evidence to generate evidence-based claims and construct text-based responses. (T)
Materials include guidance for teachers on the effective modeling of the use of text evidence to generate evidence-based claims and construct text-based responses. (T)
2 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 7.A.2a
Evaluation for 7.A.2a
Materials include guidance for teachers on the effective modeling of the use of text evidence to generate evidence-based claims and construct text-based responses. (T)
2 out of 2 points
7.A.2b
Materials include guidance for teachers on the use of structured opportunities to engage students in evidence-based discussions using academic vocabulary and syntax. (T)
Materials include guidance for teachers on the use of structured opportunities to engage students in evidence-based discussions using academic vocabulary and syntax. (T)
0 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 7.A.2b
Evaluation for 7.A.2b
Materials include guidance for teachers on the use of structured opportunities to engage students in evidence-based discussions using academic vocabulary and syntax. (T)
0 out of 2 points
7.B.1 Genre Characteristics and Craft to Compose Multiple Texts
7.B.1a
Materials include mentor texts that serve as models for students to compose a variety of texts according to grade-level TEKS.
Materials include mentor texts that serve as models for students to compose a variety of texts according to grade-level TEKS.
0 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 7.B.1a
Evaluation for 7.B.1a
Materials include mentor texts that serve as models for students to compose a variety of texts according to grade-level TEKS.
0 out of 1 points
7.B.1b
Materials include opportunities throughout the year for students to compose literary texts for multiple purposes and audiences with genre-specific characteristics and craft. (S)
Materials include opportunities throughout the year for students to compose literary texts for multiple purposes and audiences with genre-specific characteristics and craft. (S)
2 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 7.B.1b
Evaluation for 7.B.1b
Materials include opportunities throughout the year for students to compose literary texts for multiple purposes and audiences with genre-specific characteristics and craft. (S)
2 out of 2 points
7.B.1c
Materials include opportunities throughout the year for students to compose informational texts for multiple purposes and audiences with genre-specific characteristics and craft. (S)
Materials include opportunities throughout the year for students to compose informational texts for multiple purposes and audiences with genre-specific characteristics and craft. (S)
2 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 7.B.1c
Evaluation for 7.B.1c
Materials include opportunities throughout the year for students to compose informational texts for multiple purposes and audiences with genre-specific characteristics and craft. (S)
2 out of 2 points
7.B.1d
Materials include opportunities throughout the year for students to compose argumentative texts for multiple purposes and audiences with genre-specific characteristics and craft. (S)
Materials include opportunities throughout the year for students to compose argumentative texts for multiple purposes and audiences with genre-specific characteristics and craft. (S)
2 out of 2 points
Evaluation for 7.B.1d
Evaluation for 7.B.1d
Materials include opportunities throughout the year for students to compose argumentative texts for multiple purposes and audiences with genre-specific characteristics and craft. (S)
2 out of 2 points
7.B.1e
Materials include opportunities throughout the year for students to compose correspondence with genre-specific characteristics and craft. (S)
Materials include opportunities throughout the year for students to compose correspondence with genre-specific characteristics and craft. (S)
1 out of 1 points
Evaluation for 7.B.1e
Evaluation for 7.B.1e
Materials include opportunities throughout the year for students to compose correspondence with genre-specific characteristics and craft. (S)
1 out of 1 points
7.B.2 Writing Process
7.B.2a
Materials support students' use of the elements of the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, conferring, editing, and sharing/publishing) to compose text, which includes an age-appropriate progression in the conventions authentic to English writing. (S)
Materials support students' use of the elements of the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, conferring, editing, and sharing/publishing) to compose text, which includes an age-appropriate progression in the conventions authentic to English writing. (S)
5 out of 5 points
Evaluation for 7.B.2a
Evaluation for 7.B.2a
Materials support students' use of the elements of the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, conferring, editing, and sharing/publishing) to compose text, which includes an age-appropriate progression in the conventions authentic to English writing. (S)
5 out of 5 points
7.B.2b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction to model each element of the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing, and sharing/publishing) and to support students during the writing process through conferencing and revising. (T)
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction to model each element of the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing, and sharing/publishing) and to support students during the writing process through conferencing and revising. (T)
6 out of 6 points
Evaluation for 7.B.2b
Evaluation for 7.B.2b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction to model each element of the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing, and sharing/publishing) and to support students during the writing process through conferencing and revising. (T)
6 out of 6 points
7.B.3 Explicit (Direct) and Systematic Writing Instruction
7.B.3a
Materials include guidance for teachers to provide explicit (direct) instruction on sentence-level writing, focusing on structure, syntax, and vocabulary. (T)
Materials include guidance for teachers to provide explicit (direct) instruction on sentence-level writing, focusing on structure, syntax, and vocabulary. (T)
3 out of 3 points
Evaluation for 7.B.3a
Evaluation for 7.B.3a
Materials include guidance for teachers to provide explicit (direct) instruction on sentence-level writing, focusing on structure, syntax, and vocabulary. (T)
3 out of 3 points
7.B.3b
Materials include guidance for teachers to provide systematic and explicit (direct) instruction in writing starting at the sentence-level and building to compositions according to grade-level TEKS. (T)
Materials include guidance for teachers to provide systematic and explicit (direct) instruction in writing starting at the sentence-level and building to compositions according to grade-level TEKS. (T)
2 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 7.B.3b
Evaluation for 7.B.3b
Materials include guidance for teachers to provide systematic and explicit (direct) instruction in writing starting at the sentence-level and building to compositions according to grade-level TEKS. (T)
2 out of 4 points
7.B.3c
Materials include systematic and explicit (direct) opportunities for students to engage in increasingly complex sentence-level writing, revising, and editing. (S)
Materials include systematic and explicit (direct) opportunities for students to engage in increasingly complex sentence-level writing, revising, and editing. (S)
6 out of 6 points
Evaluation for 7.B.3c
Evaluation for 7.B.3c
Materials include systematic and explicit (direct) opportunities for students to engage in increasingly complex sentence-level writing, revising, and editing. (S)
6 out of 6 points
7.B.4 Grade-Level Standard English Conventions
7.B.4a
Materials include opportunities for practice and application both in and out of context of the conventions of academic language (e.g., the use of simple and compound sentences with subject-verb agreement, the appropriate use of different verb tenses, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, pronouns, and coordinating conjunctions) in sentences and short paragraphs using correct capitalization and punctuation according to the grade-level TEKS. (S)
Materials include opportunities for practice and application both in and out of context of the conventions of academic language (e.g., the use of simple and compound sentences with subject-verb agreement, the appropriate use of different verb tenses, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, pronouns, and coordinating conjunctions) in sentences and short paragraphs using correct capitalization and punctuation according to the grade-level TEKS. (S)
0 out of 4 points
Evaluation for 7.B.4a
Evaluation for 7.B.4a
Materials include opportunities for practice and application both in and out of context of the conventions of academic language (e.g., the use of simple and compound sentences with subject-verb agreement, the appropriate use of different verb tenses, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, pronouns, and coordinating conjunctions) in sentences and short paragraphs using correct capitalization and punctuation according to the grade-level TEKS. (S)
0 out of 4 points
7.B.4b
Materials include systematic opportunities for practice of and application of grammar, punctuation, and usage, both in and out of context. (S)
Materials include systematic opportunities for practice of and application of grammar, punctuation, and usage, both in and out of context. (S)
6 out of 6 points
Evaluation for 7.B.4b
Evaluation for 7.B.4b
Materials include systematic opportunities for practice of and application of grammar, punctuation, and usage, both in and out of context. (S)
6 out of 6 points