3rd Grade Report Overview

The instructional materials for Grade 3 do not meet the expectations of alignment to the standards. The texts included in the materials are not appropriately complex for the grade level and do not build in complexity over the course of the year. Materials do not include questions and tasks aligned to grade-level standards, but rather focus on strategy instruction. Writing instruction in the program focuses on process writing and is not evenly distributed across the year. There is a lack of on-demand writing in the program as well as limited instruction in grammar, conventions, and vocabulary which may impede students’ development of grade-level writing skills. 

Unit materials are devoid of a consistent, systematic, and explicit plan for instruction in and practice of grade level foundational skills. While some practice of foundational skills may occur naturally in the context of the Reading Workshop format, the materials do not include explicit practice of specific skills; instead, the materials rely on small group instruction and individual conferring to address any issues that arise concerning students’ phonics, word analysis, and word recognition skills. Further, the onus of implementing these skills falls to the student as they read texts from the classroom library.