Four 1st grade ESL programs compared – new for 2011 local Texas adoption

	TEXAS TREASURE CHEST Macmillan ©2012	NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC REACH Hampton-Brown ©2011	LONGMAN TEXAS CORNERSTONE Pearson ©none	ON OUR WAY TO ENGLISH Rigby ©2012

coordination & integration of phonics component with rest of program	coordinated, integrated Single TE combines phonics component + rest of program. Phonics Readers appear only in Workbook. Each Leveled Reader is a separate binding. TE refers to both but shows neither.	coordinated, unintegrated 2 large TEs cover phonics component. 2 separate, additional, large TEs cover main program. All 4 coordinate well in a single instructional sequence.	uncoordinated, unintegrated 5 bindings + Phonetic Story books = entire program. 2-page correlation tries to reconcile CONFLICTING SEQUENCES OF PHONICS COVERAGE in main program vs. its phonics component.	coordinated, integrated 2 medium-sized TEs unify phonics component & rest of program in a single instructional sequence.
story content	No objectionable content; Positive themes include family harmony, patriotism, ingenuity, friendship between native-born and immigrants.	One negative portrayal of a father, otherwise unobjectionable content; National Geographic Science and Social Studies topics predominate.	No objectionable content; 3 selections stress patriotism or express cordiality to immigrants.	5 stories involve anger or misconduct. Other content unobjectionable
– S U M M A R Y –
best feature(s) ("LSCs"= letter-sound correspondences)	90% average decodability of Decodable Reader stories; Oral Vocabulary component shuns anti-phonics pedagogy; the only program that properly teaches more phonetically-irregular words as sight words than it improperly teaches phonetically-regular words as sight words	REACH into Phonics most thoroughly teaches LSCs and uniquely reviews them in "high-frequency words" …	Excellent phonics practice in Phonetic Storybooks; patriotic emphasis in main program reading selections	Unifies phonics component with rest of program
worst feature(s) ("LSCs"= letter-sound correspondences)	Below-average number of student practice opportunities when learning LSCs, compared to other programs here	… but many of those "high-frequency words" are still undecodable because 1st graders have not yet learned all their LSCs. Also, an exorbitant number of "vocabulary words" are initially undecodable because some or all of their LSCs are as yet untaught	Both its main program vs. its Phonics Kit, and its Phonics & Word Analysis book vs. its Phonetic Storybooks (which together compose its Phonics Kit), are respectively OUT OF SYNC WITH EACH OTHER ON SEQUENCE OF PHONICS INSTRUCTION. Publisher's 2-page correlation helps with the first problem but not with the second.	Covers only 36 of 70 common 1st grade LSCs; exceptionally low decodability of Nonfiction Vocabulary Readers; abysmally low number of 90% decodable total reading selections; most negative story content

TEXAS TREASURE CHEST

NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC REACH

LONGMAN
TEXAS CORNERSTONE

Pearson ©none

ON OUR WAY
TO ENGLISH

coordination &
integration
of phonics component
with rest of program

coordinated, integrated
Single TE combines phonics component + rest of program. Phonics Readers appear only in Workbook. Each Leveled Reader is a separate binding. TE refers to both but shows neither.

coordinated, unintegrated
2 large TEs cover phonics component. 2 separate, additional, large TEs cover main program. All 4 coordinate well in a single instructional sequence.

uncoordinated, unintegrated
5 bindings + Phonetic Story books = entire program. 2-page correlation tries to reconcile CONFLICTING SEQUENCES OF PHONICS COVERAGE in main program vs. its phonics component.

coordinated, integrated
2 medium-sized TEs unify phonics component & rest of program in a single instructional sequence.

story content

No objectionable content; Positive themes include family harmony, patriotism, ingenuity, friendship between native-born and immigrants.

One negative portrayal of a father, otherwise unobjectionable content; National Geographic Science and Social Studies topics predominate.

No objectionable content; 3 selections stress patriotism or express cordiality to immigrants.

5 stories involve anger or misconduct. Other content unobjectionable

– S U M M A R Y –

best feature(s)
("LSCs"= letter-sound correspondences)

90% average decodability
of Decodable Reader stories; Oral Vocabulary component shuns anti-phonics pedagogy; the only program that properly teaches more phonetically-irregular words as sight words than it improperly teaches phonetically-regular words as sight words

REACH into Phonics most thoroughly teaches LSCs and uniquely reviews them in "high-frequency words" …

Excellent phonics practice in Phonetic Storybooks; patriotic emphasis in main program reading selections

Unifies phonics component with rest of program

worst feature(s)
("LSCs"= letter-sound correspondences)

Below-average number of student practice opportunities when learning LSCs, compared to other programs here

… but many of those "high-frequency words" are still undecodable because 1st graders have not yet learned all their LSCs. Also, an exorbitant number of "vocabulary words" are initially undecodable because some or all of their LSCs are as yet untaught

Both its main program vs. its Phonics Kit, and its Phonics & Word Analysis book vs. its Phonetic Storybooks (which together compose its Phonics Kit), are respectively OUT OF SYNC WITH EACH OTHER ON SEQUENCE OF PHONICS INSTRUCTION. Publisher's 2-page correlation helps with the first problem but not with the second.

Covers only 36 of 70 common 1st grade LSCs; exceptionally low decodability of Nonfiction Vocabulary Readers; abysmally low number of 90% decodable total reading selections; most negative story content

TE = Teacher's Edition worst in category best in category Also see >> Emphasis on mastery of phonics skills chart

NOTE: This chart is only a summary. We can furnish in-depth documentation on the following areas: number of decodable words in each story/reading selection, how many sound-spellings each program teaches (comprehensiveness), practice of selected sound-spellings on introduction (intensiveness), phonics skill-development alignment with other program components, plus examples of positive and negative story content.

Publishers tout teaching aids. We stress phonics content. Publishers hype their strengths. We include their weaknesses. No textbook publisher funds us in any way. Unlike publisher sales reps, we have no monetary interest in any adoption. We have no financial stake in the textbook industry. Our support comes from individuals and a few small foundations, which to our knowledge have no ties to any textbook company.