Reading Reconsidered and Louisiana ELA Guidebooks Join List
of Highest-Quality, Content-Rich ELA Curricula
(October 3, 2023) Washington, DC — Today, the Knowledge Matters Campaign endorsed two new ELA curricula that do an exemplary job of building content knowledge, a critical piece of literacy and the science of reading.
Reading Reconsidered and Louisiana ELA Guidebooks (Grades 3-5) were recognized for their commitment to ensuring all students receive literacy instruction that is content rich; that provides students the opportunity to become experts on topics about the natural and social world as they are building their reading skills.
“The most equitable, and, as it turns out, the most effective, ELA curricula are ones that build students’ vocabularies, and that engage them in reading, writing, and oral language development, with rich, grade-level texts that build their store of knowledge about the world, ,” said Barbara Davidson, Executive Director of theKnowledge Matters Campaign. “Reading Reconsidered and Louisiana ELA Guidebooks are great examples of how this should be done.”
Reading Reconsidered for grades 5-8 prioritizes full-length texts of literary merit, cultural significance, and rich, complex content, with a particular focus on historical fiction, allowing students to build knowledge on the social and political world. Teachers choose from multiple book-length units within a grade and in what order to teach selected books to lead text-centered instruction. Reading Reconsidered was developed by Teach Like A Champion.
“Reading each book takes six weeks, which builds community because every student is reading the same book, thinking, writing, and discussing the same ‘a-ha’ moments, week after week,” said Sean Morrisey, a 5th grade teacher at Pinehurst Elementary School in Lake View, New York. “And we spend a lot of time writing, which was my weak area as a teacher, but now I feel supported and my students’ writing has improved at least five-fold.” Morrisey is in his third school year using Reading Reconsidered and has been teaching for nearly two decades.
Louisiana ELA Guidebooks 2022 for grades 3-5 was developed by Louisiana teachers, based on what they knew they needed. Each unit features authentic and complex texts that explore compelling questions, tackle big ideas, and expose students to layers of meaning and diverse perspectives appropriate for the grade level. Vocabulary is explicitly taught and writing is a part of every lesson. Lessons and unit overviews provide teachers with clear guidance, flexibility, and student supports. Because Louisiana ELA Guidebooks is available for free, states and schools across the country can use the curriculum.
“The Knowledge Matters Campaign believes in praising the best that’s out there. We do that through our School Tours and we do that by spotlighting great, knowledge-building curricula so that schools, districts, and states know they exist and that there are choices within the category,” said Davidson. “The eight ELA curricula that now have the Knowledge Matters Campaign endorsement are all outstanding options for schools.”
The eight ELA curricula endorsed by the Knowledge Matters Campaign are ARC Core, Bookworms, Core Knowledge/Amplify, EL Education, Fishtank ELA, Louisiana ELA Guidebooks, Reading Reconsidered, and Wit & Wisdom. To learn more, visit knowledgematterscampaign.org/explore-curricula/.
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StandardsWork, of which the Knowledge Matters Campaign is a part, has been at the work of developing college and career-ready standards, and advising states, districts, and publishers on curriculum projects that align to standards, for over three decades.