High School - Gateway 3
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Teacher & Student Supports
Gateway 3 - Meets Expectations | 92% |
|---|---|
Criterion 3.1: Teacher Supports | 10 / 10 |
Criterion 3.2: Student Supports | 3 / 4 |
Criterion 3.3: Intentional Design |
The Lenses on Literature materials meet expectations for Gateway 3: Teacher and Student Supports. Teacher supports provide comprehensive guidance, well-structured materials, and embedded resources that build instructional knowledge, support planning, and align teaching to standards and assessments. Student supports ensure access to grade-level content through differentiated scaffolds, varied learning opportunities, and inclusive, culturally responsive materials; however, supports for advanced learners and guidance for effective grouping are less fully developed. The program’s intentional design further enhances usability through a cohesive digital platform with interactive tools, clear navigation, and consistent visual organization, supported by thorough teacher guidance for implementation. While opportunities for student-to-student digital collaboration are limited, the program overall equips educators and learners with the tools and structures needed to support instruction and engagement.
Criterion 3.1: Teacher Supports
Information on Multilingual Learner (MLL) Supports in This Criterion
For some indicators in this criterion, we also display evidence and scores for pair MLL indicators.
While MLL indicators are scored, these scores are reported separately from core content scores. MLL scores do not currently impact core content scores at any level—whether indicator, criterion, gateway, or series.
To view all MLL evidence and scores for this grade band or grade level, select the "Multilingual Learner Supports" view from the left navigation panel.
Materials include opportunities for teachers to effectively plan and utilize with integrity to further develop their own understanding of the content.
The Lenses on Literature materials meet expectations for Criterion 3.1: Teacher Supports. The program provides comprehensive, structured guidance that enables teachers to effectively plan, implement, and deepen their understanding of instruction. Detailed teacher materials, including overviews, lesson plans, facilitation notes, and planning resources, clearly support enactment of the curriculum, while embedded explanations, models, and background resources strengthen teachers’ content knowledge and understanding of standards progression. A coherent year-long scope and sequence aligned to standards ensures transparency in instructional planning, and family engagement is supported through accessible Home Support letters. The program clearly articulates its research-based instructional framework and alignment to standards, offers explicit materials lists for lesson preparation, and includes a robust assessment system with tools and guidance for monitoring student progress and informing instruction, though guidance tied specifically to periodic assessments is somewhat limited. Overall, the materials equip teachers with the necessary tools, knowledge, and supports to deliver instruction.
Indicator 3a
Materials provide teacher guidance with useful annotations and suggestions for how to enact the student materials and ancillary materials to support students’ literacy development.
Rationale: The teacher guidance for enacting the program in Lenses on Literature meets expectations for indicator 3a. The materials provide teacher support and clear guidance for implementing all components of the program. The Teacher Resources section of the Carnegie Learning portal, as well as the front matter of each Teacher Edition, includes comprehensive overviews that orient teachers to the program’s structure, instructional approach, and resources. The Teaching Methods: Direct, Facilitative, and Responsive Instruction guide outlines key program elements, such as the unit structure, instructional pillars, assessment system, text selection process, and standards alignment. Each Teacher Edition includes detailed lesson plans for all student activities, with Lesson at a Glance pages summarizing focus skills, learning objectives, materials, and preparation needs. Lessons are broken into clear instructional steps, supported by facilitation notes and optional scaffolds, such as Responsive Teacher Moves and If Time Allows suggestions. Additional resources—such as Text Info Sheets, Context Companions, and Teacher Planning Protocols—help teachers prepare for instruction by providing background on text complexity, content rationale, and cultural or historical context. Collectively, these materials ensure that teachers have the information, annotations, and embedded supports necessary to deliver lessons effectively within the program’s framework.
Materials provide comprehensive guidance that will assist teachers in presenting the student and ancillary materials.
In the Teacher Resources section of the Carnegie Learning portal, materials include a Using the Lenses program section. This section includes several resources that teachers can use to orient themselves to the materials. This section is also included in the front matter of each Teacher Edition.
The Teaching Methods: Direct, Facilitative, and Responsive Instruction resource includes a program overview. This overview includes:
A summary of the Student Edition and Digital Experience
A summary of the Teacher Edition and Digital Experience
A teacher Welcome letter
A high-level explanation of the program’s research connections
The program’s Instructional Pillars
The program’s Unit Structure and Standards Throughline
A Grade-Level Curriculum Map
A summary of how the program aligns Text Genres to Writing Products
An explanation of Text Selection
An explanation of the program’s Unit Journey Tracker
An explanation of the program’s Unit Structures
An explanation of the Scoring SCALE Rubrics used throughout the program
A summary of the Formative, Periodic, and Summative Assessments in the program
The Teacher Edition includes a lesson plan for all activities or sets of activities that students complete throughout the program. Each lesson plan includes a Lesson at a Glance page, which features the Lesson Focus Skills, a Materials and Classroom Preparation section, a list of the lesson’s activities (with summaries of their content), and Content Considerations for the lesson. Each lesson plan breaks each activity into steps. For each step, the plan provides teachers with guidance on facilitation. Some steps include further guidance, such as: If Time Allows notes, Facilitation Option notes, and Responsive Teacher Move notes.
In the Teacher Resources section of the portal, located under Text and Media Selections, materials include a Text Info Sheet for each text in the program, designed to help teachers better understand the texts. These Info Sheets include a text summary, authorship information, an instructional rationale, a qualitative complexity summary, quantitative complexity information, and content considerations.
In the Teacher Resources section of the portal, located under Implementation Resources, materials include Teacher Planning Protocol documents that help teachers intellectually prepare for the content. These protocols include a Unit Internalization Protocol, an Analyzing Unit Texts protocol, a Preparing to Teach protocol, Learning from Student Work protocols, and an End-of-Unit Teacher Reflection.
In the Unit Overview section for each unit on the portal, teachers can find a Context Companion. These documents provide teachers with additional contextual information (i.e., literary, historical, political, cultural, sociological) to increase their own knowledge and support students.
Materials include sufficient and useful annotations and suggestions that are presented within the context of the specific learning objectives.
The Teacher Edition includes a lesson plan for all activities or sets of activities that students complete throughout the program.
Each lesson plan includes a Lesson at a Glance page. This page highlights the learning objectives for each activity in the lesson, as well as the lesson's focus skills. This overview provides teachers with the necessary context to orient themselves to each lesson.
Each lesson plan includes a content consideration section on the Lesson at a Glance page. This section provides teachers with additional necessary information to teach each lesson effectively. Types of notes include: vocabulary notes, background knowledge information, explanatory and additional disciplinary content information, and notes on planning for students with varied learning needs.
Each lesson plan breaks each activity into steps. For each step, the plan includes guidance on facilitation. Some steps include additional helpful notes such as Responsive Teacher Move notes, Facilitation Option notes, and If Time Allows notes. Teachers can use these notes and plans to execute each lesson effectively.
Indicator 3b
Materials contain explanations and examples of grade-level/course-level concepts and/or standards and how the concepts and/or standards align to other grade/course levels so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject.
The explanations to support teachers in improving their literacy knowledge in Lenses on Literature meet expectations for indicator 3b. The materials include multiple resources to help teachers strengthen their understanding of grade-level concepts and standards. Each unit’s Context Companion, located in the Unit Overview section, provides teachers with a deeper understanding of the literary, historical, political, cultural, and sociological background knowledge. Every lesson in the Teacher Edition begins with a Lesson at a Glance page that includes Content Considerations, offering key information such as background knowledge, explanatory notes, and disciplinary context. Lesson plans also include Teacher Move Notes, which sometimes include models. These models support teachers in developing a deeper understanding of the subject. Additionally, each text is paired with a Text Info Sheet in the Teacher Resources section, which includes instructional notes, developmental attributes relevant to adolescents, and alerts for potentially sensitive or mature content. To support teachers in understanding how standards progress across grades, the Teacher Resources section also includes several reference tools: the Lenses Year-Long Scope & Sequence with Standards and Language Goals, Grade-Level Curriculum Maps, CCR Reading Standards Rubrics for Student Work (Grades K–12), and Final Writing Product Rubrics across Grade Levels. Together, these documents outline key unit information, grade-level focus standards, and performance expectations, providing teachers with clear information, developmental progressions, and examples that deepen their knowledge of both content and standards across grade levels.
Materials contain explanations and examples of grade/course-level concepts and/or standards so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject.
In the Unit Overview section of the portal, each unit includes a Context Companion document that offers teachers deeper background knowledge—such as literary, historical, political, cultural, and sociological context—to enhance their understanding of the unit content.
Every activity or group of activities in the program is supported by a detailed lesson plan in the Teacher Edition. Each plan begins with a Lesson at a Glance page that features Content Considerations, providing teachers with key information such as necessary background knowledge, explanatory details, instructional notes, and relevant disciplinary content to support lesson delivery. Lesson plans also include Responsive Teacher Move notes. Sometimes, these notes include models that teachers can use. These models support teachers in developing a deeper understanding of the subject.
In the Teacher Resources section of the portal, under Text and Media Selections, each text in the program is accompanied by a Text Info Sheet to help teachers gain a deeper understanding of the material. These sheets include a Content Considerations section that identifies key elements relevant to instruction. Within this section, the “Relevant Adolescent Developmental Attributes” subsection outlines topics that align with students’ developmental stages. The “Preview of Potentially Sensitive or Mature Content” subsection, when applicable, alerts teachers to content that may require additional sensitivity or preparation before classroom discussion.
Materials contain explanations and examples of how the concepts and/or standards align to other grade/course levels so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject.
In the Teacher Resources section, located under Unit Structure, teachers can access several documents to view the progression of grade-level standards across grade levels. Documents include: the Lenses Year-Long Scope & Sequence with Standards and Language Goals, Grade Level Curriculum Maps, CCR Reading Standards Rubrics for Student Work: Grades K-12, and Final Writing Product Rubrics across the Grade Levels.
The Lenses Year-Long Scope & Sequence with Standards and Language Goals document is a comprehensive spreadsheet that outlines key information for every unit across grade levels. It details elements such as the unit title, essential question(s), and Driving Task prompt, along with the genre and mode of the writing product, as well as any midpoint writing prompts. The document also identifies the unit’s analytical lens, inclusion of research projects, Anchor Text(s), and focus standards across reading, writing, speaking and listening, language, and research. Additionally, it lists the Building Knowledge and Genre Study texts, outlines targeted skills for each domain, includes a Skills Check blueprint, and specifies language goals for each lesson within the unit. A tab is included for each grade level.
The Grade-Level Curriculum Map outlines each unit’s anchor text genre, writing product type, writing mode, and Driving Task Prompt. To view curriculum maps for additional grade levels, teachers must select each grade individually within the portal.
The CCR Reading Standards Rubrics for Student Work: Grades K-12 document provides comprehensive analytic rubrics aligned to the Common Core Reading Standards for both literary and informational texts. It includes detailed performance descriptors across four proficiency levels — Emerging (1), Approaching (2), Meeting (3), and Exceeding (4) — for each grade level (K–12) and each standard. The rubrics define what mastery looks like for every reading strand, ensuring consistency in evaluating student performance.
The Final Writing Product Rubrics across the Grade Levels document compiles the program’s writing rubrics for all grade levels (6-12) and writing genres into a single reference document. By analyzing this document, teachers can observe the developmental progression of writing skills across grades, illustrating how expectations evolve from middle to high school. Each rubric includes four performance levels—Emerging (1), Approaches Expectations (2), Meets Expectations (3), and Exceeds Expectations (4)—and evaluates key aspects of writing that align with the SCALE (Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity) design principles. The rubrics assess student performance across multiple writing types used throughout the Lenses on Literature program, including literary analysis, rhetorical analysis, argument, explanation, narrative, research, and multimodal composition.
Indicator 3c
Materials include a year-long scope and sequence with standards correlation information.
The year-long scope and sequence with standards correlation in Lenses on Literature meets expectations for indicator 3c. The materials provide a comprehensive year-long scope and sequence with standards correlation information accessible through the Carnegie Learning Portal. This document is organized by grade level and unit, outlining key instructional components such as unit titles, essential questions, driving task prompts, anchor texts, writing products, standards focus, skills progression, and language goals. Teachers can use it to see how each unit is structured and aligned to standards. Additionally, standards are explicitly connected to both formative and summative assessments: lesson focus skills in the Teacher Edition use language directly tied to the standards, enabling teachers to track the standards addressed in daily lessons, checkpoints, and culminating writing tasks. Teachers can see the corresponding standard codes for each activity in the program by clicking on the Lesson on the platform. This coherence ensures that teachers have a transparent roadmap for instruction and assessment across the year.
Materials include a year-long scope and sequence with standards correlation information.
On the Carnegie Learning Portal, one of the Teacher Resources provided is a Year-Long Scope and Sequence Document with Standards Correlation information. This document can be found by navigating to Teacher Resources, Lenses Unit Structure, and clicking on Lenses Year-Long Scope and Sequence with Standards and Language Goals.
This document includes a tab for each grade level. For each grade level and unit, the document provides the unit title, essential questions, driving task prompt, writing product, writing mode, anchor text genre, focus reading standards, focus writing standards, focus language standards, focus research standards, text list, unit skills, unit skills separated by varying unit “check points,” and the unit language goals. The document also includes a Skills Blueprint, which provides all the skills addressed in the unit. Bold print identifies those that are assessed, and the skills are organized by reading genre, language, writing, listening, and speaking. Teachers can use this document to orient themselves to each unit in the program.
Materials identify the standards assessed for formative assessments.
The Teacher Edition includes a Lesson Focus Skill section for each lesson, which encompasses all the activities in the lesson. Each skill listed uses language directly derived from the standards. For all formative assessments, teachers can refer to this section and the assessment to delineate the standard being addressed. Additionally, teachers can see the corresponding standard codes for each activity in the program by clicking on the Lesson on the platform.
Materials identify the standards assessed for culminating tasks/summative assessments.
Final Writing Products serve as this program’s culminating tasks/summative assessments. Students complete this assessment over various lessons at the end of each unit. The Teacher Edition includes a Lesson Focus Skill section for each lesson, which encompasses all the activities in the lesson. Each skill listed uses language directly derived from the standards. Teachers can refer to this section to delineate the standard being addressed by the assessment. Additionally, teachers can see the corresponding standard codes for each activity in the program by clicking on the Lesson on the platform.
Indicator 3d
Materials provide strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.
Indicator 3e
Materials explain the program’s instructional approaches, identify research-based strategies, and explain the role of the standards.
The explanation of instructional approaches, research-based strategies, and the role of standards in Lenses on Literature meets expectations for indicator 3e. The materials clearly explain the program’s instructional philosophy and its grounding in research-based strategies. The Teacher Edition outlines the Lenses Approach, which is built on four essential, research-supported conditions for student success—Opportunity, Instruction, Engagement, and High Expectations—and implemented through grade-appropriate assignments, facilitative teaching, relevant content, and standards-aligned rubrics. The six Instructional Pillars further define the program’s framework, emphasizing disciplinary literacy, knowledge building, cultural relevance, complex texts, daily speaking and writing, and curriculum-embedded assessments. The Teacher Resources section expands on these ideas in the Instructional Framework for Literacy, which connects literacy instruction to disciplinary literacy, equity, and culturally responsive teaching, stressing scaffolding and embedded assessment as tools for responsive instruction. The Research Hub provides 18 research briefs, each linked to educational research on topics such as equitable education, engagement, and literacy development. The materials also connect instructional design to standards: every unit is built using backward design, aligning lessons, tasks, and assessments to grade-level standards and CCR expectations. Tools like the Year-Long Scope & Sequence with Standards and Language Goals spreadsheet and Activity cards on the digital platform include clear CCR standard notations, showing where standards are taught and assessed.
Materials explain the instructional approaches of the program. Materials include and reference research-based strategies.
The front matter of each Teacher Edition includes the instructional approaches of the program, including the program’s approach and instructional pillars. The materials claim that the Lenses approach is grounded in educational research, identifying four essential conditions that promote student readiness for college, careers, and civic life: Opportunity, Instruction, Engagement, and High Expectations.
“Opportunity: Consistent opportunities to work on grade-appropriate assignments
Instruction: Strong instruction that lets students do most of the thinking in the lesson
Engagement: A sense of deep engagement in what they’re learning
High Expectations: Teachers who hold high expectations for students and believe they can meet grade-level standards.”
The program claims to embed these principles through:
“Grade-Appropriate Assignments: Each unit is anchored in high-quality, Tier 1 instructional materials featuring complex, grade-level texts and cognitively demanding tasks. Scaffolded supports ensure all students read, write, speak, and listen in response to those texts daily.
Strong Instruction: Lessons emphasize facilitative, student-centered teaching methods that promote deep thinking, academic discourse, and evidence-based analysis.
Relevant and Engaging Content: Texts, tasks, and discussion questions are selected to reflect meaningful, diverse perspectives and pressing topics that matter to students’ lives—fueling motivation and curiosity.
High Expectations: Standards-aligned rubrics from the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) help you monitor progress and adjust instruction to ensure every student is challenged and supported.”
The six instructional pillars for the program are as follows:
“Knowledge-building assignments engage students in learning and applying disciplinary literacy skills to deepen and communicate understanding.
Reading comprehension is developed by building knowledge within and across content areas.
Culturally relevant content is regularly included to reflect and affirm students’ identities and broaden perspectives.
Instruction begins with complex, grade-level texts and content—not simplified or diluted material.
Speaking and writing in response to texts is a daily expectation for all students.
Curriculum-embedded assessments inform responsive instruction and support student growth over time.”
Teacher Resources on the platform include a Research Hub. Located in the Research Hub, teachers can find a Carnegie Learning Instructional Framework for Literacy document. The document outlines the company’s vision and research-based approach to supporting equitable, high-quality literacy instruction across all grade levels and content areas. The framework emphasizes that literacy extends beyond foundational reading and writing skills to include building knowledge, leveraging identity, and engaging in disciplinary literacy practices. The document stresses the importance of disciplinary literacy, encouraging students to use texts uniquely across subjects (e.g., analyzing author’s craft in ELA, interpreting data in science). It prioritizes knowledge building through coherent, connected topics rather than isolated comprehension strategies, and calls for culturally relevant content that values students’ linguistic and cultural identities. The document states that all students should regularly engage with complex, grade-level texts, supported by scaffolds such as read-alouds and accessibility tools, and demonstrate understanding through speaking and writing tasks aligned with standards. The framework also highlights curriculum-embedded assessments as essential to responsive instruction, urging teachers to analyze student work daily and use rubrics to guide formative feedback. Together, these components—explicit foundational instruction, disciplinary literacy, knowledge building, cultural responsiveness, complex text engagement, and embedded assessment—form the program’s model for teaching and learning literacy.
In the Research Hub, teachers can also find 18 research briefs which have been compiled into a Research Referendum. Each brief includes citations to different research articles. The topics of the briefs are as follows:
“A Fair System and Equitable Education
A System of Instruction Drives Teacher Effectiveness
Read, Write, Speak, and Listen
Why and How Knowledge Matters
Writing Ignites Learning
Teach What You Score
From Texts to Tasks
Tasks Matters
Engagement, Exploration, and Expansion
Thinking is Literacy, Literacy is Thinking
Looking for Equity
Talking About Texts
The ‘Ing’ in Teaching
The Power of Context
Academic Language and the English Language Learner
Embedded Grammar Instruction Supports Reading and Writing Development
Students Monitor and Move Their Own Learning
Continuous Improvement is a Driver of Strong Student Outcomes”
Materials include and reference the role of the standards in the program.
The front matter in each Teacher Edition includes a Unit Structure: The Standards Throughline page, which explains that “Every Lenses on Literature unit is built using the principles of backward design. The process begins by identifying the grade-level standards and skills students will need to demonstrate by the end of the unit. From there, each element of the unit is crafted to align with those goals—from the Driving Task Prompt and SCALE scoring rubric to the sequence of daily lessons and texts.” The graphic on the page illustrates how focus reading and writing standards are integrated throughout the skills and activities that students learn and practice in each unit.
In the Teacher Resources section, located under Unit Structure, teachers can access the Lenses Year-Long Scope & Sequence with Standards and Language Goals document. This spreadsheet provides both the Skills Blueprint and Skills Check Blueprint for every unit, highlighting in bold the specific standards that are taught and assessed. It also shows how each activity is designed around the foundation of the CCR standards.
In the front matter of each Teacher Edition, a section on Rubrics and Assessments is included. This section claims that the program’s rubrics are “standards-based instructional guides designed to help [teachers] teach, assess, and plan with greater clarity.”
On the digital platform, CCR standard references are included on every Activity card and within each Activity. The criteria for evaluating how standards are met in an Activity’s Artifact of Learning are provided either as a bulleted scoring guide or as a SCALE rubric row.
The Unit Overview found in the Teacher Edition for each unit indicates the unit’s Focus Skills based on the CCR standards in shorthand notation. In addition, each Lesson Plan’s Lesson at a Glance page includes the lesson’s focus skills in this same standards shorthand notation.
Indicator 3e.MLL
Materials provide explanations of the instructional approaches of the program for MLLs and the identification of the research-based strategies.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 9-12 of Lenses on Literature meet the expectations that materials provide explanations of the instructional approaches of the program for MLLs and the identification of research-based strategies. The materials consistently frame their MLL supports around an asset-based, UDL-aligned approach that integrates language and content goals, offers predictable scaffolds for academic discourse, and aligns directly with recognized research and national guidance for supporting MLLs.
The Program Overview presents a clear and comprehensive description of the instructional approach for MLLs. The Supporting MLLs section states, “Lenses affirms students’ cultural and linguistic identities while providing explicit language instruction and scaffolded support.” This section identifies key features of the program’s MLL design, including “Integrated Language and Content Goals,” “predictable lesson structure,” “formative assessment aligned to language goals,” and “home language access.” These components demonstrate that language development is not treated as supplemental but is embedded in the daily architecture of lessons. This approach reflects a commitment to ensuring that MLLs not only access materials but also leverage language to engage in grade-level disciplinary practices across reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
The program further anchors its MLL approach in its Research Hub. In Teacher Resources, Research Hub, Research Compendium, “Academic Language and the English Language Learner”, the materials explain, “Lenses offers text-level and activity-level supports to guide ELLs in building academic language while engaging with grade-level texts… Instruction in academic language should include an array of practices, including explicit instruction… ELLs need extended time and support… taught throughout the school day.” This explicit connection between research-based principles and instructional design offers teachers a clear rationale for how and why the program engages MLLs in sustained, embedded language learning within content-rich literacy instruction.
Additional program features reflect the practical integration of this research base. In the Program Overview, under the Scaffolding within Levels of Support section, the materials outline a continuum of MLL supports from Core to Intensive, including adapted text, strategic vocabulary scaffolds, and editable sentence frames. This structure provides teachers with concrete guidance for adjusting supports based on learner needs, aligning with best practices in responsive language instruction.
The approach is further operationalized through the Anchor Strategy Library, which includes robust academic discourse routines. These anchor strategies are structured, repeatable learning routines that develop students’ skills in analysis, comprehension, vocabulary, writing, and discussion. By using the same protocols across many texts and tasks, students internalize these processes and build the automaticity needed for effective learning. These supports foster structured, linguistically scaffolded opportunities for MLLs to rehearse and refine ideas, directly aligning with research emphasizing the role of oral language in academic learning.
The Research Hub maintains this coherence by identifying the broader instructional framework that informs the program. The Carnegie Learning Instructional Framework for Literacy within the Research Hub highlights the importance of “speaking and writing about complex texts, home-language access, and using language to do disciplinary work.” This aligns with widely accepted research that advocates for integrating meaning-making, output, and academic discourse into daily literacy instruction for MLLs.
Taken together, these materials demonstrate a strong and consistent alignment between research-based design principles and instructional implementation. The program does not simply reference research—it operationalizes it through daily instructional routines, explicit academic language instruction, scaffolded collaboration, culturally responsive teaching, and structured opportunities for oral language development. These features appear across lessons, units, and teacher resources, demonstrating a coherent, comprehensive approach rather than isolated add-ons.
Because Lenses on Literature integrates its MLL approach throughout its program architecture—supported by explicit research citations, language-focused routines, and scaffolded instructional features—the materials meet the expectations for providing clear explanations of instructional approaches and for identifying and implementing research-based strategies for MLLs.
Indicator 3f
Materials provide a comprehensive list of supplies needed to support instructional activities.
The comprehensive list of supplies provided in Lenses on Literature meets expectations for indicator 3f. The materials include a comprehensive list of supplies to support instructional activities, as each Lesson Plan in the Teacher Edition provides a “Lesson at a Glance” section. This section contains a “Materials Needed” list that clearly outlines the resources students will require to complete the lesson successfully.
Materials include a comprehensive list of supplies needed to support the instructional activities.
Each Lesson Plan in the Teacher Edition includes a Lesson at a Glance, which includes a Materials Needed Section outlining the materials students will need to complete the lesson.
Indicator 3g
The assessment system provides consistent opportunities to determine student learning throughout the school year. The assessment system provides sufficient teacher guidance for evaluating student performance and determining instructional next steps.
The assessment system in Lenses on Literature meets expectations for indicator 3g. The program features a comprehensive assessment system that allows teachers to monitor and evaluate student learning throughout the school year. The system integrates formative, periodic, and summative assessments across each unit’s six-section “journey tracker.” Formative assessments, such as quick writes and discussions, use scoring guides or rubrics to gauge understanding and inform instruction. Periodic assessments, including Anchor Text Comprehension Checks and Section Skills Checks, measure skill growth at key points. In contrast, summative assessments, such as final writing products, allow students to synthesize and demonstrate mastery of unit standards. The Teacher Edition and Carnegie Learning portal provide tools for evaluating performance, including DOK-aligned question breakdowns and SCALE rubrics that are analytical, developmental, and instructionally aligned. Teachers receive guidance on interpreting results and adjusting instruction through Responsive Teacher Moves and resources such as Using Analytic Rubrics in Lenses on Literature, the End of Unit Learning from Student Work Protocol, and the Learning From Student Work: Formative Guide. Additionally, the digital Data Insights dashboard allows teachers to track student progress across standards on periodic assessments. While the program provides explicit guidance for interpreting student performance and determining next instructional steps for formative and summative assessments, guidance for determining next instructional steps based on periodic assessments is limited.
The assessment system provides opportunities to determine student learning throughout the school year.
The front matter of each Teacher Edition summarizes the assessment system of the Lenses on Literature program. It illustrates how formative, periodic, and summative assessments work together to monitor student progress toward grade-level standards.
Formative Assessments occur throughout every unit section—such as quick writes, discussions, and other authentic tasks—and use SCALE rubric rows or scoring guides to check student understanding and inform instruction.
Periodic Assessments, including Anchor Text Comprehension Checks and Section Skills Checks, appear after the Comprehension, Building Knowledge, and Genre Study sections to measure specific skill growth.
Summative Assessments take place at the end of the unit, where students complete a Final Writing Product that synthesizes their learning and demonstrates mastery of the unit’s focus skills and standards.
A provided chart visually maps how these assessments are distributed across the six sections of the “journey tracker”: Unit Launch, Comprehension, Building Knowledge, Genre Study, Synthesis, and Writing Process, showing a consistent integration of assessments throughout the instructional cycle.
The assessment system provides teacher guidance for evaluating student performance.
In the Teacher Edition, guidance for evaluating student performance on formative assessments includes either a Scoring Guide or a Rubric. Scoring guides provide quick checks for understanding and include reflective questions and Responsive Teacher Moves that suggest reteaching, scaffolding, or enrichment strategies. Rubric-based assessments utilize a developmental progression aligned with standards, enabling teachers to identify where students fall on a continuum from Emerging to Exceeding Expectations and make informed instructional adjustments to support growth.
In the Teacher Edition, guidance for evaluating student performance on periodic assessments includes a table that outlines the distribution of questions by DOK level, categorizing them as DOK 1, DOK 2, DOK 3, and DOK 4. On the Carnegie Learning portal, teachers can preview the activity and toggle “Show answers” to view the correct answer for each question.
On the Carnegie Learning portal, guidance for evaluating student performance on summative assessments includes a grade-level and genre-specific rubric that teachers should use to assess student performance. Rubrics for these tasks are designed as SCALE rubrics. These rubrics are analytic, developmental, and instructionally aligned.
Analytical: “Each skill or standard is scored individually, making it easy to see where students are meeting expectations and where they need more support.”
Developmental: “Each rubric row shows how a skill or standard progresses over time, giving [teachers] and [their] students a roadmap to progress.”
Instructionally Aligned: “[Teachers] will use the rubric rows throughout the unit—from quick writes to final products—so assessment becomes an ongoing part of instruction.”
The assessment system provides teacher guidance for interpreting student performance and determining next instructional steps.
In the Teacher Edition, guidance for interpreting student performance and determining next instructional steps for formative assessments with scoring guides includes Responsive Teacher Move notes that suggest reteaching, scaffolding, or enrichment strategies.
For rubric-based formative assessments and all summative assessments, teachers can refer to the Using Analytic Rubrics in Lenses on Literature document, located in the Teacher Resources section of the Carnegie Learning portal, for guidance on interpreting student performance and determining next instructional steps. The guide outlines how to interpret and apply rubric rows to both formative and summative tasks, emphasizing their use for giving targeted feedback, promoting student growth, and aligning instruction with standards. Teachers are encouraged to use rubric language in feedback, conduct writing conferences (if time allows) to help students set goals, and engage in collaborative scoring to calibrate expectations and plan next steps. The document highlights that analytic rubrics are not designed for assigning grades but for supporting consistent, evidence-based evaluation and instructional decision-making across classrooms. The document is a teacher-facing guide that outlines a five-step process for analyzing student writing at the end of a unit in the Lenses on Literature program. The fourth step of the process requires teachers to analyze patterns in student performance and use these insights to determine instructional next steps. The process concludes with a reflection on the effectiveness of instruction, alignment to standards, and plans for improving teaching and assessment in the next unit.
For summative assessments, teachers may also use the End-of-Unit Learning from Student Work Protocol, located under Teacher Planning Tools in the Teacher Resources section of the Carnegie Learning portal. For formative assessments, Teachers may use the Learning From Student Work: Formative Guide located under Teacher Planning Tools in the Teacher Resources section of the Carnegie Learning portal.
On the Carnegie Learning portal, teachers can access the Data Insights section to review student performance on assignments and periodic assessments. The Data Insight section presents student data in different views. In the Skills Standards Report, teachers can track student performance and monitor progress on standards through periodic assessments at key moments in every unit that mirror high-stakes assessments.” They can then use this data to make adjustments to instruction. However, guidance for these adjustments is not provided in the materials.
Indicator 3h
This is not an assessed indicator in ELA.
Indicator 3i
This is not an assessed indicator in ELA.
Criterion 3.2: Student Supports
Information on Multilingual Learner (MLL) Supports in This Criterion
For some indicators in this criterion, we also display evidence and scores for pair MLL indicators.
While MLL indicators are scored, these scores are reported separately from core content scores. MLL scores do not currently impact core content scores at any level—whether indicator, criterion, gateway, or series.
To view all MLL evidence and scores for this grade band or grade level, select the "Multilingual Learner Supports" view from the left navigation panel.
Materials are designed for each child’s regular and active participation in grade-level/grade-band/series content.
The Lenses on Literature materials partially meet expectations for Criterion 3.2: Student Supports. The program provides layered supports to ensure all students can access grade-level content while actively participating in learning. Students in special populations are supported through differentiated Levels of Support that include scaffolds such as vocabulary aids, graphic organizers, and accessibility tools, all designed to maintain rigor without altering learning goals. The program also offers varied opportunities for students to engage with and demonstrate learning through a structured progression of tasks, discussions, and writing, with embedded opportunities for feedback and self-reflection. Accommodations for assessments are comprehensive and customizable, ensuring equitable access. Representation across texts and instructional materials is varied and supported by guidance for culturally responsive teaching. However, supports for advanced learners only partially meet expectations, as extension activities sometimes require additional work that is not always meaningfully connected to core learning. Additionally, while grouping structures are identified and general guidance is provided, explicit, lesson-level support for implementing effective grouping strategies is limited. Overall, the materials promote inclusive participation and access, though some areas could use stronger differentiation and instructional guidance.
Indicator 3j
Materials provide strategies and support for students in special populations to work with grade-level content and meet or exceed grade-level standards, which support their regular and active participation in learning.
The strategies and supports for students in special populations to work with grade-level content in Lenses on Literature meet expectations for indicator 3j. The program provides multiple layers of scaffolded support to ensure students in special populations can actively participate in grade-level literacy work. Each activity is available in Core, Light, Moderate, and Intensive formats, offering supports such as accessibility tools, vocabulary aids, frontloading, graphic organizers, and constructed response guidance. These supports are designed to increase access without altering learning objectives and may include leveled texts when the goal is knowledge building rather than analysis of craft. Teachers can assign support levels to student profiles before each unit and adjust them as students progress between units. Guidance for implementing these supports is provided in the How to Support Varied Learning Needs with Lenses on Literature resource on the Teacher platform.
Materials provide strategies, supports, and resources for students in special populations to support their regular and active participation in grade-level literacy work.
Each activity in the program can be scaffolded to provide students with multiple levels of support. The front matter of each Teacher Guide explains the various levels of support. Each activity exists in the following formats:
Core/ Multilingual: “Provides universal supports such as accessibility tools and vocabulary aids in English and multiple languages.” This is the baseline support set for all students.
Light/ Multilingual: “Adds occasional prompts to enhance comprehension and task completion.”
Moderate/ Multilingual: “Provides multiple, layered supports to increase access to content.”
Intensive/ Multilingual: “Offers modifications to the content to streamline student thinking and prioritize focus skills.”
The embedded supports do not interfere with learning objectives and instead help students complete the activity. For some activities, the texts might be leveled. The guidance states, “In some cases, texts are leveled to provide students opportunities to read independently at their current reading level, but leveling is only used if the purpose for reading is to build knowledge rather than examine the author’s craft.”
Supports within these levels include accessibility measures, frontloading, text support, vocabulary support, graphic organizer support, constructed response support, and activity instruction support.
The How to Support Varied Learning Needs with Lenses on Literature found in the Teacher Resources, Using the Lenses Program section of the platform, explains how teachers implement these supports for students. Supports must be added to student profiles before a unit starts. If a student progresses based on the teacher's discretion, the teacher can adjust the level of support before the student begins assignments on the next unit. Teachers cannot change the level of support during a unit.
Indicator 3k
Materials regularly provide extensions for students who are above grade level to engage with literacy content and concepts in greater depth.
The extension opportunities for students above grade level in the Lenses on Literature program partially meet expectations for indicator 3k. The program provides opportunities for students above grade level to engage with content at a higher level of complexity through its Adapt & Extend activities. These supplemental resources, available for every unit, include independent reading selections, comparative short texts, novel studies, and extension tasks such as current event connections, research projects, creative assignments, and community-based actions. Teachers can also adapt unit driving tasks to offer voice, choice, and creative engagement for advanced learners. The Adapt & Extend guidance emphasizes tailoring instruction to student needs, offering alternative texts, analytical prompts, and varied modes of instruction and assessment. These resources ensure advanced learners are challenged through deeper analysis, complex texts, and innovative tasks while remaining connected to unit themes. While the Adapt activities are modifications of activities already present in the program, the Extend activities are additions to the program, often requiring students to complete more assignments than their classmates. While some of these activities are intentional extensions of unit learning, others are not.
Materials provide some opportunities for students who are above grade level to investigate the grade-level content at a higher level of complexity. There are instances of advanced students doing more assignments than their classmates. While some of these assignments are intentional extensions of unit learning, some are not.
Each unit in the program includes Adapt & Extend activities, which teachers can use to challenge students above grade level and have all students investigate the learning in the unit further. These activities are supplemental and can be found in the Supplemental Resources section of the platform under Adapt & Extends. While the Adapt activities are modifications of existing program activities, the Extend activities are additions to the program. Extensions are often thematically linked to each unit’s learning, but not always focused on the same skills that students develop throughout the unit. The platform includes a document of activities available for each unit at each grade level. Adapt & Extend activities are directly tied to each unit of study. Types of activities included are:
READ MORE “contains suggested independent reading titles and thematically aligned novel studies from our ever-growing library.” Read More activities may require additional instructional time and can result in some students completing more assignments than their classmates.
Independent Short Reading Selections (for comparative analysis or discussion)
Recommended Novel Studies
EXPAND AND EXPLORE “contains ideas and activities that can be woven in or added on to the existing unit structure either to challenge individual students or to supplement an entire class’s course of study. These activities can be used to complement instruction and offer student choice for units that have fewer than 30 days of instruction.”Expand and Explore activities may require additional instructional time and can result in some students completing more assignments than their classmates.
Keep it Current (making connections to current events)
Go Deeper (research activities)
Write on Demand
Show What You Know
Create and Share (creative assignments)
Earn Experience (experience-based or project-based assignments)
Informed Action (personal or communal action assignments)
FOCUS ON FIT “includes ideas that alter or permeate the entire unit. For example, for every analytical unit, a ‘creative course’ adaptation is offered for teachers who would like to engage with the unit through a creative lens rather than an analytical lens.”
Voice and Choice (including adjusting the unit driving task)
Collaboration (adaptations to how students approach the unit driving task)
Community Connection (engage in critical thinking and problem-solving around community issues)
Creative Course (creative engagement with the unit driving task)
Materials provide the following teacher guidance on these activities: “Adapt & Extend is designed to provide ideas and guidance for adapting and/or extending each unit to fit the specific needs of your students. You will find many alternative implementation ideas for the unit here: a different Anchor Text to engage students, additional prompts for analytical writing, or ideas for authentic community engagement. Suggested texts and instruction are designed with the goal of representing as many cultural and social backgrounds and experiences as possible. Adapt & Extend also includes alternative modes of instruction and assessment that can provide students with opportunities to engage and express their learning in a variety of ways. Consider how modifications can create opportunities to tailor instruction to your student community. These resources can be used to engage advanced learners through more complex texts and innovative tasks, as well as for providing opportunities for collaboration for all students.”
Indicator 3l
Materials provide varied approaches to learning tasks over time and variety in how students are expected to demonstrate their learning with opportunities for students to monitor their learning.
Indicator 3m
Materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.
Indicator 3m.MLL
Materials include guidance for intentional and flexible grouping structures for MLLs to ensure equitable participation.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 9-12 of Lenses on Literature meet the expectations for including guidance for intentional and flexible grouping structures for MLLs to ensure equitable participation. The materials provide clear teacher guidance on grouping strategies that are both intentional and flexible, ensuring that MLLs can participate equitably in discussions and collaborative work. Grouping guidance is consistently available in the Teacher Resources and Supplemental Anchor Strategy Library, providing teachers with structured ways to organize and monitor group dynamics based on lesson goals, student needs, and language proficiency. These grouping approaches are reinforced by research-based practices, including Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and the English Learner Success Forum’s ELA Guidelines, which promote both access and advancement toward grade-level standards.
Within the Teacher Resources, the document How to Support Varied Learning Needs with Lenses on Literature provides explicit, research-aligned guidance on how teachers should strategically group students to engage in the academic discourse central to the program. The “Using Supportive Grouping” section offers a detailed chart to guide teachers' thinking about when homogeneous versus heterogeneous grouping is instructionally appropriate:
“Homogeneous Grouping – Consider grouping students with similar needs together. Use the following questions to guide your thinking:
Would students benefit from a reteaching opportunity?
How can targeted support benefit this group?
What will students gain by working with peers with similar learning needs?
Heterogeneous Grouping – Consider grouping students with varied needs together. Use the following questions to guide your thinking:
Would students benefit from a chance to learn from each other?
How can a variety of learners work together to fill different roles?
What will all students gain by working with peers with different learning needs?”
This guidance helps teachers make intentional decisions grounded in formative assessment data and instructional purpose. By emphasizing how grouping structure connects to task complexity and student readiness, the materials support equitable participation and ensure that MLLs have access to collaborative meaning-making opportunities.
In addition to this program-wide guidance, individual lessons include task-specific supports that demonstrate how grouping structures are tied to language goals. For example, in Grade 9, Unit 5, Lesson 17, teachers are instructed to pair entering and emerging MLLs with students for discussion and modeling of the discussion routine. The lesson provides key words and phrases to scaffold student responses aligned to the language goal. Similarly, in Grade 12, Unit 3, Section 4, the Content Note for Multilingual Learners advises: “If students are reluctant to speak, intentionally pair entering and emerging MLLs with students for discussion and modeling of the discussion routine. Provide students with sentence frames to summarize important details.” These examples show clear, task-specific grouping guidance that is intentionally tied to oral language expectations. Pairing MLLs with peers who can model academic language ensures they have structured entry points into discussions, while sentence frames provide students with manageable structures to express ideas, supporting their ability to participate actively and confidently in group dialogue.
Across the program, teachers are provided with tools—charts, prompts, sentence starters, roles, and grouping rationales—to plan and monitor collaborative structures that support MLLs and offer substantial, actionable guidance. These structures reflect research-based approaches and provide multiple pathways for MLLs to engage, contribute, and develop disciplinary language. Overall, Lenses on Literature provides intentional, flexible, and well-supported grouping guidance that helps ensure MLLs can participate equitably in collaborative work. The program equips teachers with the tools needed to structure group interactions that promote oral language development, scaffold complex thinking, and support full engagement in academic discourse.
Indicator 3n
Assessments offer accommodations that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills without changing the content of the assessment.
Indicator 3n.MLL
Assessments offer accommodations that allow MLLs to demonstrate their knowledge and skills without changing the content of the assessment.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 9–12 of Lenses on Literature meet the expectations of offering assessment accommodations that allow MLLs to demonstrate their knowledge and skills without changing the content of the assessment. The materials include accommodations that preserve the academic rigor and content of assessments while providing greater accessibility for students who may need additional support to engage with the assessment tasks.
As detailed in the 3n report, Lenses on Literature provides a structured, customizable system of accommodations and support levels that maintain grade-level rigor while ensuring all students can equitably access assessments. This system is guided by teacher use of internal and external data to assign and adjust supports between units. Since core assignments and activities make up the assessment system, with major writing tasks in Section 6 of each unit serving as summative assessments and selected activities throughout the unit functioning as formative checks, MLLs are supported by the Levels of Support system (detailed in Criterion 1). These instructional supports for MLL are maintained throughout the end-of-unit writing process, which serves as a summative assessment for the unit.
The materials also offer program-wide accommodations for assessments that maintain content integrity. In the Teacher Resources section, under Using the Lenses Program, How to Support Varied Learning Needs with Lenses on Literature in the Implementing Supports in Assessment section, the materials note: “Lenses offers embedded accommodations and accessibility measures for formative assessments and end-of-unit writing products, including audio versions of all texts and the ability to change font size. In addition to accessibility measures, the Levels of Support offer additional accommodations that support students without changing the content of the assessment. Note: Skills Checks are designed to mirror high-stakes assessments, so digital accommodations are not available for them.” These supports, as detailed in 3n, provide access for all students as well as linguistic supports that benefit MLLs and other students who may need them. While these accommodations for formative and summative writing assessments are strong, the absence of supports that allow MLLs to demonstrate their knowledge on Skills Checks is a notable missed opportunity. The Program Overview describes the Periodic Skills and Comprehension Checks as appearing “after Comprehension, Building Knowledge, and Genre Study sections, as well as at the unit end. These mirror high-stakes assessments, offering snapshots of specific skill growth.” Although some teachers may value insight into how students might perform on state assessments, withholding accommodations for MLLs risks misrepresenting their skill levels; teachers may assume students lack certain competencies when, in reality, language barriers—not skill deficits—are preventing them from demonstrating their knowledge.
Overall, these accommodations show that the program preserves the rigor and content of many assessments while increasing accessibility for MLLs. The materials clearly distinguish between accessibility features and modifications, ensuring that supports do not lower grade-level expectations. However, gaps remain: the Skills Checks provide no accommodations, as they are intended to mirror high-stakes testing conditions. Teachers should be aware of both how the materials support MLLs in showing their knowledge and the ways in which they fall short.
Indicator 3o
Materials provide a range of representation of people and include detailed instructions and support for educators to effectively incorporate and draw upon students’ different cultural, social, and community backgrounds to enrich learning experiences.
Indicator 3p
This is not an assessed indicator in ELA.
Indicator 3q
This is not an assessed indicator in ELA.
Criterion 3.3: Intentional Design
Materials include a visual design that is engaging and references or integrates digital technology, when applicable, with guidance for teachers.
Indicator 3r
Materials integrate technology such as interactive tools, virtual manipulatives/objects, and/or dynamic software in ways that engage students in the grade-level/series standards, when applicable.
Indicator 3s
The visual design (whether in print or digital) supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject, and is neither distracting nor chaotic.
Indicator 3t
The visual design (whether in print or digital) supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject, and is neither distracting nor chaotic.
Indicator 3u
Materials provide teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning, when applicable.