We want to thank the Texas Education Agency for the thorough review of Raz-Plus with ELL Texas Edition and other adopted programs. We commend your work to help educators choose the materials that will make a difference for their teachers and students.
Raz-Plus with ELL Texas Edition is a powerful online literacy program that improves the reading skills of K-5 students at every level with thousands of TEKS-aligned curricular resources designed for differentiated instruction. Currently used in thousands of classrooms across Texas, Raz-Plus with ELL Texas Edition gives educators the resources they need to personalize instruction and make an impact in the classroom. Our program goes beyond a traditional core series with an unmatched collection of thousands of texts and instructional resources at all levels. Digital curriculum, in a flexible format, offers opportunities for innovation, cost savings, accessibility, and differentiation.
Designed for flexibility, Raz-Plus with ELL Texas Edition can be implemented a number of ways. The Literacy Curriculum Map charts a comprehensive, content-based pathway to meeting TEKS using the vast collection of Raz-Plus resources in daily instruction. We developed the Literacy Curriculum Map and the supporting protocol document as a suggested guide to using Raz-Plus with ELL Texas Edition within the literacy block.
It’s important to note that the review, while thorough, focused on materials represented within the sequenced instruction of the Literacy Curriculum Map, which is only a portion of the resources available to teachers in the program. The Literacy Curriculum Map was designed to provide districts with the scope and sequence that meets their exact needs. Learning A-Z offers expert professional development to help teachers dig deeper and integrate resources from outside the Literacy Curriculum Map.
The review highlights many of the Literacy Curriculum Map’s strengths:
● Explicit instruction in foundational reading skills and comprehension and a deep supply of practice in all areas of literacy;
● High-quality, diverse and engaging texts that are appropriately challenging for students;
● Supporting resources that help students synthesize knowledge and ideas to deepen understanding;
● Opportunities for students to listen actively and to engage in collaborative discussions; and
● Integration of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking, with materials that include interconnected tasks
As is illustrated in the review, the curriculum’s strength lies in meeting the needs of all learners. Our resources for English Learners, Spanish language resources and materials for students below grade level ensure that teachers have numerous supports to reach all students. Our unprecedented ability to provide a deeper layer of differentiation by offering more than the core lesson plan is also a strength, which due to the reviewers focus solely on resources in the Literacy Curriculum Map, was noted as a weakness.
Because of the digital-first nature of Raz-Plus, we are planning enhancements to the Literacy Curriculum Map that will improve the coverage of a number of other indicators included in this review. Some of these include the following:
● Research will be embedded in every unit of Kindergarten writing, and will also be enhanced at grades 1 and 2. (Indicator 3.d.1)
● Handwriting and cursive writing instruction and practice will be included at all grade levels. (Indicator 3.b.4)
● Instruction and discussion questions throughout will continue to emphasize attention on identifying, analyzing, and inferring the author’s purpose using evidence from the text, but will also provide increased focus on the author’s use of language. (Indicator 3.a.2)
● More variety in text types and genres will be included throughout all of the units. (Indicator 2.2)
● New and updated Phonological Awareness and Phonics resources will provide both systematic and explicit instruction of skills with direct guidance for teachers in using the student performance and assessment data to inform the next set of instruction that will best meet student needs. (Indicator 4.5)
● Enhancements will be made to scope and sequence, such as point-of-use standards, to improve support teachers and administrators. (Indicator 6.3)
We appreciate reviewers’ positive note about our technology for students. At Learning A-Z, we understand that student engagement is critical to success. Our student portal gives students multiple opportunities to learn and practice important literacy skills, both at school and at home, and it also provides motivational features. And although the review noted minimal guidance to select texts, our Level Up! portion of the student portal, provides that opportunity when set to the students’ correct reading level.
Again, we thank the review team for the thoughtful review and their dedication to providing a quality education to students across Texas. Learning A-Z is committed to the continual evaluation and enhancement of our resources and support to better serve Texas students and educators.