Write custom leveled readers that preserve key content and vocabulary across reading levels rather than using commercially available leveled trade books.¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

The design team found that commercial leveled texts "were inadequate inasmuch as the lower level (i.e., easier) texts were not including key vocabulary and information," which they conjectured contributed to CXI interactions favoring stronger students. In response, they wrote one or two books per group per unit (blue, green, yellow levels), using Lexile and Coh-Metrix metrics plus professional judgment, ensuring content and vocabulary were the same across groups with more scaffolding for weaker readers.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Text difficulty metrics (Lexiles, Coh-Metrix) plus professional judgment and trial and error
• Grouping by passage comprehension to match readers to levels

Constraints¶

• Team teachers reported the writing effort was needed because trade books deleted key content

Target Learners¶

• Elementary students reading below, at, or above grade level

Target Learning Goals¶

• Science and social studies content knowledge
• Vocabulary knowledge

Claims¶

• Child Characteristic X Instruction (CXI) interactions in content learning were reduced through iterative design: leveled readers, explicit vocabulary instruction, and passage-comprehension-based flexible grouping eliminated significant CXI effects by the fourth iteration. [+M]

Related Strategies¶

• Use design-based implementation research with educator co-design and iterative pre-post testing cycles to develop a usable, feasible classroom intervention.

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Dombek, J., Crowe, E. C., Spencer, M., Tighe, E. L., Coffinger, S., Zargar, E., Wood, T., Petscher, Y., & Connor, C. M. (2017). Acquiring Science and Social Studies Knowledge in Kindergarten Through Fourth Grade: Conceptualization, Design, Implementation, and Efficacy Testing of Content-Area Literacy Instruction (CALI). Journal of Educational Psychology, 109(3), 301-320. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000128