3rd-5th Grade - Multilingual Learner Supports

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5 of myView partially meet the criteria of amplifying rather than simplifying texts while maintaining complexity to provide access for Multilingual Learners (MLLs) without watering down the content. The structured weekly lesson sequence with accompanying language support call-out boxes assists MLLs in making meaning of texts. However, the texts are not engineered to amplify language, resulting in a missed opportunity to support MLLs effectively.

The materials follow a structured weekly lesson sequence, including a Weekly Launch to build background knowledge, a First Read with teacher think-alouds and comprehension checks, multiple Close Reads for deeper analysis, and a final reflection to synthesize learning. The materials provide Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out boxes in the Teachers’ Edition throughout the sequence. In Grade 5, Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 1, students review an infographic entitled “The American Revolution.” The Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out box accompanying this task prompts teachers to “Help students understand the infographic,” with the following differentiated guidance:

• Light: Have partners play the audio. Have them connect the text to each numbered place on the map.

• Moderate: Have groups listen to the audio and complete the sentence frames: General Washington faced many ______ in the American War for Independence. In 1777, the British _____ the city of Philadelphia. The winter at Valley Forge was very _____. But Washington _____ his soldiers, so they were able to _____ future battles. 

• Substantial: Have students locate each number on the map and read the caption associated with it. Then read aloud the infographic text, paraphrasing as needed, and ask: “Did General Washington face challenges during the fight for American independence? Was winter at Valley Forge easy or difficult? Did Washington use the time at Valley Forge to train his soldiers?

These supports facilitate MLLs’ full and complete participation in the Build Knowledge activity, preparing all students for the Read Aloud and Close Read to come.

The materials provide some support for MLLs in making meaning of the text during the First Read and the Close Read. However, MLL supports are not always offered, may only be provided once or twice within a text, or the support may be unrelated to the close read question. For example, in Grade 4, Unit 2, Week 3,  the materials provide  MLL supports for reading “from Minn of the Mississippi.” The Teacher’s Guide facilitates teachers’ understanding of some of the language demands of the text prior to reading, but does not include guidance on how to use that understanding in instruction, limiting teachers’ ability to amplify language structures and forms. The notes for teachers accompanying the text include one Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out box, which prompts teachers to “Help students understand the setting.” The Light, Moderate, and Substantial supports all focus on animals that live in or near a river. The Close Read for all students calls on students to Analyze Plot and Setting, specifically “how the setting creates conflict during the story’s rising action.” While the Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out box also deals with setting, MLLs are only required to identify one aspect of the setting, which does not directly support them in the higher-order thinking analysis skills needed to make meaning from the text in line with grade-level expectations. While the materials occasionally include Language Support and Language Links call-out boxes to support MLLs in reading texts, these appear inconsistently and do not explicitly amplify language structures and forms.

The Language Awareness Handbook occasionally provides direct support for reading a text, but these supports rely heavily on students filling out graphic organizers while they read each week’s selection. For example, in Grade 3, Unit 3, Week 2, students read the text Granddaddy’s Turn. The accompanying support in the Language Awareness Handbook prompts teachers to “Guide Practice: As students read, ask them to note characteristics of the narrator and Granddaddy. Use the Three-Column Chart routine on p. 69 to help students record examples of ‘Actions,’ ‘Thoughts,’ and ‘Dialogue’ for both.” This guidance provides an entry point for MLLs’ understanding of one aspect of the text, but falls short of amplifying language. Additionally, teachers must access the Language Awareness Handbook in a separate part of the Realize platform, diminishing the likelihood of use.  

While the general scaffolds offered before, during, and after reading complex texts may support some MLLs, the inconsistent integration of linguistic supports and lack of intentional text design limit access for others. Text complexity charts make no mention of MLLs, and support for reading texts is confined mainly to supporting basic comprehension without addressing the deeper reading skills required to reach grade-level standards. Although the spiraling structure allows complexity to build through deeper connections across concepts, it does not sufficiently account for the linguistic needs of MLLs to ensure equitable access to core reading tasks.

The instructional materials reviewed for grades 3-5 of myView partially meet the expectations of providing support for Multilingual Learners’ (MLLs’) full and complete participation in text-based questions, tasks, and assignments, as well as the demonstration of their thinking in various formats. The materials include language support boxes that offer targeted strategies and scaffolds to help MLLs actively engage with some text-based questions, tasks, and assignments. However, these do not appear in every lesson, nor do they support all text-based questions and tasks.

The materials incorporate language support boxes that provide targeted strategies and scaffolds to help MLLs fully engage with text-based questions, tasks, and assignments. For instance, in Grade 3, Unit 5, Week 1, Lesson 3, the objective for the whole class is “Explain the author’s use of print and graphic features to achieve specific purposes.” The accompanying Language Support - Multilingual Learners box focuses on helping students analyze text features such as sidebars and headings, with differentiated guidance:

• Light: Have student partners work together to discuss and complete the activity.

• Moderate: Have students turn to p. 449 and point out the sidebar. Say: “This is a sidebar. Sidebars add detail to the main text.” Point to the sidebar’s heading and say: “This heading tells the main idea of the sidebar.” Read aloud item 2 and discuss it with students. Then have students summarize the sidebar to complete item 3.

• Substantial: Name and describe the function of each text feature on p. 448 and 449 of the Student Interactive. Point to a heading and ask, “Does the heading tell the main idea of the (sidebar/section)?” Then help students complete the activity.

These scaffolds help ensure that MLLs can actively participate in grade-level literacy instruction while building both language and comprehension skills.

The materials tailor strategies to meet the demands of specific tasks. In Grade 5, Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 3, all students work on analyzing first-person point of view. The accompanying Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out box provides guided assistance in identifying claims and supporting reasons within a text, with differentiated supports:

• Light: Have partners discuss and complete the My Turn activity on p. 598 of the Student Interactive.

• Moderate: Read aloud the instructional text at the top of the activity and review the model with students. Then display oral sentence frames for partners to discuss the sample text before writing their responses: The author uses the first-person pronouns _____ and _____. Using first-person point of view here makes readers feel _____. I think the writer uses first-person point of view here because _____.

• Substantial: Think aloud to clarify the model and use of first-person point of view. Then read aloud the sample text and ask guiding questions: What pronouns do you notice in the sample text? Are these first-person or third-person pronouns? Does using these pronouns make readers feel connected to the issue? Help students record responses. 

This task-specific scaffold helps MLLs develop critical thinking and argument analysis skills while formulating evidence-based responses.

For text-specific tasks, the materials target MLL support to meet the objectives of the lesson. For example, in Grade 4, Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 2, the whole class reads Animal Mimics. In the first read, all students use text structure to make predictions. For the close read, all students analyze text structure, specifically around recognizing the characteristics of cause and effect structure in informational text, ending with a summary using this information. The first Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out box in this text directs teachers to “Guide students to make predictions about the text.” The second Language Support Multilingual Learners call-out box directs teachers to “Guide students to identify and explain cause-and-effect.” The final Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out box directs teachers to “Help students summarize information that supports the main idea.” Each call-out box includes detailed differentiated supports. By aligning language supports with specific instructional goals, the materials ensure that MLLs can engage with the content.

However, the materials fall short of consistently supporting MLLs throughout First Reads and Close Reads of texts. In Grade 3, Unit 3, Week 4, students engage in multiple reads of Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya (see report for Indicator 2g for more details). The materials provide some guidance for teachers to support MLLs in some, but not all, of the tasks associated with this text. The materials provide a Language Demands - Multilingual Learners call-out box guiding teachers to help students understand the language demands of the text, but it does not explicitly address any text-based tasks. The materials provide twelve First Read prompts for students, but none of them include an accompanying Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out box to directly support the First Read task. Throughout the text, the materials provide nine Close Read prompts for students, but only one includes an accompanying Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out box to directly support the Close Read tasks. As a result, MLLs are not consistently supported in navigating the language demands of text-based tasks during First and Close Reads, limiting their ability to fully engage with and analyze complex texts.

Overall, while the materials include targeted and effective supports that help MLLs engage with specific text-based tasks and demonstrate their understanding using academic language, these supports are not consistently applied across all lessons or reading phases. The lack of regular scaffolding, particularly during First and Close Reads, limits MLLs’ opportunities for full and equitable participation in text analysis and comprehension, preventing them from consistently accessing the full depth of grade-level content.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5 of myView Literacy partially meet the criteria of providing support for Multilingual Learners' (MLLs’) full and complete participation in developing their ability to comprehend complex ideas within and across texts through their full and complete participation in opportunities to analyze and evaluate texts. 

The materials offer strategies and supports to help MLLs comprehend complex ideas within and across texts and engage in opportunities to analyze and evaluate them; however, these supports are not consistently sufficient to ensure MLLs’ full and meaningful participation. Language support call-out boxes are noted throughout the lessons to provide MLL support for participating in lessons and tasks, offering Spanish cognates, sentence starters, and suggestions for additional minilessons. 

The materials provide opportunities for students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas within individual texts and across multiple texts, thereby supporting students in deepening their understanding of a topic. Specifically, in Grade 3, Unit 4, Week 3, Lesson 5, Reflect and Share, students use text evidence to write a comparison of the character traits of two subjects from biographies they have read. The Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out box provides differentiated MLL support based on language proficiency. Three language levels - Light, Moderate, and Substantial - are provided to ensure all MLLs can participate in this activity. Light support guides teachers to “Have partners exchange ideas about what people and character traits they want to write about.” Moderate support includes a cloze passage for student pairs to complete. In contrast, substantial support requires students to complete a T-chart listing various character traits and choose one to complete the cloze activity. Additional MLL support can be found in the Language Awareness Handbook on page 45, which provides a mini-lesson for teachers on comparing character traits based on the language objective: “ask for clarification in a conversation about biographies.” 

For example, in Grade 4, Unit 4, Week 1, Lesson 3, Read Like a Writer, students learn that the author can control what the reader knows by choosing a particular point of view. The accompanying Language Support - Multilingual Learners callout box provides differentiated language support for MLLs to participate in this activity, but not fully for all levels of support. Light support has student pairs compare their work with each other. Moderate support has students pair up to identify key details in the “Oniroku” passage that show voice and provide sentence starters to complete the task. Substantial support, however, only provides access to the concept of voice, without supports for MLLs to show their understanding and complete the entire task: “Substantial: Focus on the model. Ask for student volunteers to play the roles of the poor woman and her daughter. Say: ‘I will be the narrator, or the one telling the story. In this story, the narrator is not in the story. I am outside the story.’ Read aloud the model paragraph as the students act out their parts. Explain that if the narrator were in the story, the narrator might be the daughter or her mother. Repeat the exercise for the passage from ‘Oniroku.’” Here, as in other instances, MLLs cannot build their capacity to understand complex ideas across texts because they are not supported in fully engaging in opportunities to analyze and evaluate them.

The materials partially support MLLs in developing the ability to comprehend complex ideas across texts through analysis and evaluation. While some lessons include differentiated language supports that facilitate full and complete participation for MLLs, these supports often do not extend to supporting the entire task, limiting full participation for MLLs.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5 of myView partially meet the criteria of providing strategies and supports for Multilingual Learners (MLLs) to fully and completely participate in the explicit instruction of independent word-learning strategies and key vocabulary words to build knowledge within and across texts. The materials consistently provide instruction on academic vocabulary. However, they do not always account for the additional supports MLLs may need to fully engage in developing this vocabulary. 

Sometimes, the Language Support and Language Links call-out boxes somewhat reinforce the vocabulary. For example, in Grade 4, Unit 3, the teacher introduces the Academic Vocabulary words conflict, accomplish, expand, and challenges through the Oral Vocabulary Routine. The accompanying Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out box directs teachers to “Display and pronounce each Academic Vocabulary word for students” and “Support students in completing the Turn and Talk activity.” The Light and Moderate supports have students use the vocabulary in context, while the Substantial support directs teachers to “ask students either/or questions to help them understand the meaning of the Academic Vocabulary words.” While these differentiated supports provide scaffolds for working with the new vocabulary, they rely on MLLs to have some understanding of the meanings of these, and are not scaffolds for instruction. Spanish speakers are also supported with cognates for two of the words: conflict and expand, but the materials provide no other supports for meaning. This additional cognate support helps clarify the meaning of these two words, but offering cognates in only one language falls short of providing adequate reinforcement of the Academic Vocabulary words for all MLLs.

Additionally, the language support boxes often focus on simpler concepts related to the word rather than directly addressing the academic vocabulary itself. In Grade 3, Unit 3, the teacher introduces the Academic Vocabulary words encourage, defeat, distinguish, achieve, and command through the Oral Vocabulary Routine. The accompanying Language Links - Multilingual Learners call-out box directs teachers to “Point out the Spanish cognate in this unit’s Academic Vocabulary: distinguish: distinguir.” No additional guidance for MLLs aligns with the Oral Vocabulary Routine, leaving the words encourage, defeat, achieve, and command unsupported for all MLLs, and distinguish supported only for Spanish-speaking MLLs. Additionally, the Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out box associated with the Student Interactive page on Academic Vocabulary supports students in asking and answering questions about heroes without addressing the vocabulary itself.

The Language Awareness Handbook provides an Academic Vocabulary section for each week in each unit. Usually, this guidance is directly related to the academic vocabulary words for the unit. For example, in Grade 5, Unit 2, Week 2, the Language Awareness Handbook directs teachers to “Review: Use a word wall to display this week’s Academic Vocabulary related to observations. Remind students that words that have similar meanings, such as focus and topic are synonyms. Words that have opposite meanings, such as focus and distract, are antonyms.” The second part states, “Guide Practice: Use the Word Knowledge Strategy on p. 109 to help students generate synonyms and antonyms for the Academic Vocabulary words.” Along with the Word Knowledge Strategy referred to in this example, the Language Awareness Handbook includes other vocabulary routines in Part 2: Routines and Activities. These routines are generic, but paired with specific activities throughout the Language Awareness Handbook. While they support MLLs’ understanding of academic vocabulary, their placement in a supplemental resource, as separate, additional activities exclusively for MLLs, limits their effectiveness in promoting full and equitable participation in grade-level content.

Additionally, the materials provide another separate resource, the Reading Routines Companion, for each grade. The included Vocabulary Routines do not provide any specific support for MLLs.

The materials offer uneven support for MLLs in vocabulary instruction. While some lessons include meaningful scaffolds and differentiated strategies, others lack sufficient guidance, especially for non-Spanish speakers. Additional vocabulary routines appear in supplemental resources rather than in core instruction, limiting their impact on MLLs’ full participation in vocabulary development. These inconsistencies highlight areas where the materials could provide more robust and consistent scaffolding for academic vocabulary development among MLLs.  

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5 of myView partially meet the criteria of providing support for Multilingual Learners’ (MLLs’) full and complete participation in the practice of independent word-learning strategies and newly taught vocabulary words. The materials partially support MLL students’ meaning-making of vocabulary in context.

At the beginning of each unit, Academic Vocabulary words are taught, integrated, and used across various activities and tasks based on the topics being studied each week. The materials provide scaffolded supports and targeted opportunities for MLL students to use and develop language. For example, in Grade 4, Unit 5, Introduce the Unit, students learn the unit’s Academic Vocabulary words: amazed, border, consequences, label, and preserve, and participate in an oral vocabulary routine where students talk about the seasons. The accompanying Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out box provides differentiated guidance based on MLLs’ language proficiency. Light support has students use each word in a sentence. Moderate support provides students with sentence starters, and Substantial support provides questions for the teacher to ask students. Here, MLLs receive direct support in using newly acquired vocabulary words while engaging in structured academic discourse with teachers and peers, building conceptual understandings and disciplinary language use.

However, the materials provide no MLL guidance in other lessons. For example, in Grade 3, Unit 1, Week 3, Lesson 2, Develop Vocabulary, students learn how authors use specific vocabulary to show character development. They then apply this understanding by using keywords to complete a graphic organizer, tracking how a character changes in the text they just read. No MLL supports are provided for this vocabulary application task.

The materials partially support MLLs in developing independent word-learning strategies and applying new vocabulary in context. While some lessons include scaffolded, proficiency-based supports that facilitate MLLs in applying their word learning, others lack any guidance for MLLs, resulting in inconsistent support for vocabulary development.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5 of myView partially meet the criteria of providing strategies and supports for Multilingual Learners (MLLs) to fully and completely participate in the explicit instruction of sentence composition appropriate to grade-level standards, embedded in what students are studying through the unit. The materials include explicit instruction in sentence composition, but only occasionally guide teachers on supporting MLLs in those lessons.

For example, Grade 5, Unit 3, Writing, Week 4 includes five lessons relating to sentence composition, but only three of those lessons include MLL supports. Lesson 1 focuses on editing for capitalization. The materials provide a Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out box directing teachers to “Provide support as students complete the activity in the Student Interactive.” Light, Moderate, and Substantial supports for the capitalization editing activity follow. Lesson 2 focuses on punctuating titles and does not provide MLL supports, missing an opportunity to scaffold understanding of a skill tied to grammar conventions. Lesson 3 focuses on revising by rearranging ideas for clarity and includes a Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out box that again supports students in completing the practice activity. However, these supports stop short of helping students apply their learning to their own writing, limiting the transfer of the skill. Lesson 4 focuses on combining ideas for clarity, with supports for MLLs using transitions to combine ideas. In Lesson 5, students participate in peer editing, but no MLL supports accompany this task, despite the language demands and collaborative nature of the activity.

In addition, the materials provide explicit instruction and modeling guidance in sentence-composition skills through a structured weekly Language and Conventions focus within writing units. However, no MLL supports are provided for any of these lessons at any grade level. 

The materials offer only limited and infrequent guidance for supporting MLLs during instruction and modeling in sentence composition. Some lessons include minimal support or reference supplemental resources, such as the Language Awareness Handbook, but many sentence composition lessons lack integrated MLL supports across grade levels.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5 of myView partially meet the criteria of providing strategies and supports for Multilingual Learners (MLLs) to fully and completely participate in evidence-based opportunities to practice sentence composition and editing of their own writing, appropriate for their grade level. The materials provide supports for MLLs for revision and editing skills, but these supports do not always directly transfer into writing support for the practice activity.

For example, in Grade 5, Unit 2, Writing, Week 4, Lesson 4, the practice step directs all students to the Edit Simple and Compound Sentences activity in which they edit a sample paragraph for subject-verb agreement and correct the fragment and run-on sentences. The accompanying Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out box directs teachers to “Support students as they edit for subject-verb and check simple and compound sentences.” With differentiation guidance directly connected to the task:

• Light: Direct pairs to read the simple and compound sentences in the activity. Then have them work together to edit the paragraph for subject-verb agreement. Have students use this as a guide to editing their informational articles.

• Moderate: Have pairs pause after reading each sentence in the chart and complete these sentence frames: The (subject/subjects) in the sentence (is singular/are plural). The (verb/verbs) in the sentence (is singular/are plural). I think this is a (simple/compound) sentence because _____.

• Substantial: Work together with students to review the simple and compound sentence chart. Read each sentence, then its subjects, verbs, and sentence type. Then guide students in editing the paragraph for subject-verb agreement

In Grade 4, Unit 2, Writing, Week 4, Lesson 2, the Language Support call-out box helps students identify precise and vague language by practicing sentences with examples and non-examples. Yet, the activity remains rooted in speaking rather than integrating the skill into their writing revisions. While oral practice can be a valuable strategy for MLLs, the materials provide no guidance for teachers on how to effectively connect this activity to practicing sentence composition in students’ own writing.

In other cases, the materials direct teachers to the Language Awareness Handbook. In Grade 3, Unit 2, Writing, Week 5, Lesson 3, the Language Links - Multilingual Learners call-out box guides teachers to the Language Awareness Handbook for additional support with main verbs and helping verbs. The Language Awareness Handbook support directs teachers to “Guide Practice: Use the Helping Verbs activity on p. 134 to help students write sentences with helping verbs and action verbs.” While the support is directly connected to sentence composition practice, it does not support students in applying their learning to their own writing.

While the materials include some effective scaffolds that align with revision and editing skills, such as those for capitalization and subject-verb agreement, the inconsistent transfer of these supports into writing tasks limits their overall effectiveness. These examples highlight the need for more alignment between the language support boxes and direct writing instruction to ensure skills practiced in speaking scaffolds effectively transfer to written work.

While some lessons include differentiated supports for sentence composition and editing, these are not consistently connected to writing practice. In some cases, MLL supports focus skills without explicitly linking them to written work. References to the Language Awareness Handbook provide helpful extensions, but overall, there is a need for stronger alignment between language supports and writing instruction to ensure MLLs can effectively apply language skills in their writing.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5 of myView partially meet the criteria of providing support for Multilingual Learners’ (MLLs’) full and complete participation in all instruction of varied writing processes, embedded in what students are studying throughout the unit. The materials sometimes provide targeted opportunities for MLL students to use and develop language through writing. 

The materials include explicit instruction in writing processes, featuring teacher modeling of writing strategies and processes. They are organized as follows: Week 1 - Prewrite, Week 2 - Draft, Week 3 - Draft, Week 4  - Revise and Edit, and Week 5 - Publish. MLL supports are embedded in some, but not all, lessons for each week as Differentiation - Multilingual Learners call-out boxes. The language support is differentiated based on language proficiency and whether students need Light, Moderate, or Substantial support. At times, the materials reference supports from the Language Acquisition Handbook in lessons that do not include Differentiation – Multilingual Learners call-out boxes, but more often, those lessons lack any guidance for teachers around MLLs.

Specifically, in Grade 3, Unit 2, Week 1, Lesson 1, students plan how to write a “how-to” article using a graphic organizer. Differentiated language support is provided for MLLs in the Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out box. The teacher guidance states, “Have students discuss the step in a how-to article.” With differentiated supports that follow:

• Light: Have students read the article aloud. Give each student a card labeled 1, 2, 3, or 4. Then have them take turns explaining their step in order, using the words first, next, then, and last.

• Moderate: Read the article aloud to the students. Then distribute cards labeled first, next, then, and last. Have the student with the card labeled first explain the first step. Have students continue the explanation, using the card to explain the steps in order. 

• Substantial: Read the article aloud. Then, write short phrases, words, and simple drawings on index cards labeled 1, 2, 3, and 4 to summarize the steps. Distribute the cards and help students use the cards to explain the steps in order. Redistribute the cards to four other students, and so on, to give everyone practice. 

These strategies provide support that fosters MLL students’ regular and active participation in this task. However, the activities that follow within Lesson 1 on spelling, language, and conventions do not have any embedded MLL supports. The other lessons in this cycle lack MLL supports for every student task. Without supports for all steps in the writing process, MLLs cannot fully and completely participate in the varied writing tasks. 

Although the materials do not provide targeted opportunities for MLL students to use and develop language, they include effective strategies, such as language support call-out boxes throughout the lessons, which are differentiated based on language proficiency, allowing MLLs to actively participate in the lessons. 

The materials partially support MLLs in fully participating in varied writing processes. While the materials include explicit instruction and effective, differentiated supports in some lessons, these supports are not present in all writing lessons or stages. As a result, MLLs are not consistently supported across the full range of writing tasks.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5of myView partially meet the criteria of providing support for Multilingual Learners’ (MLLs’) full and complete participation in opportunities to practice the writing process using evidence-based strategies, embedded in what students are studying throughout the unit. The materials provide multiple opportunities for students to engage in the writing process, including planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing; however, the opportunities do not always transfer to application in their own writing or include MLL supports.

For example, in Grade 4, Unit 2, Writing, Week 2, Lesson 1, the materials direct the teacher to model and guide practice on developing an introduction before directing students to “draft focused introductions for their travel articles.” The accompanying Language Support - Multilingual Learners call-out box directs teachers to “Have students develop focused introductions that engage the reader.” Differentiated supports follow:

• Light: Before they begin to write their introductions, have partners switch papers and discuss the ideas they listed in their charts.

• Moderate: Rephrase the questions in the chart to help students develop their ideas. For example, Would your (friends/family) like to visit this place? At what time of year would they like to visit? What would they like to do there?

• Substantial: Use sentence stems to help students express their ideas: The destination I chose is _____. It is a great place to visit because _____.

Supports are also provided for Lesson 2 - developing relevant details and Lesson 4 - composing captions for visuals. No supports are provided for Lessons 3 - developing different types of details, or Lesson 5 - developing a conclusion. Throughout grades and units, the materials provide MLL supports for some, but not all, of the steps in the writing process.

Although the materials do not provide consistent MLL supports, they include effective strategies such as using graphic organizers during the drafting stage, which helps students to plan their writing. These attempts demonstrate a thoughtful approach to addressing the difficulties students may have in generating a piece of writing. 

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5 of myView partially meet the criteria of providing explanations of the instructional approaches of the program for Multilingual Learners (MLLs) and identification of the research-based strategies. The materials explain the program’s instructional approaches for MLLs and reference some research-based strategies. However, not all of the research-based strategies are included in the implementation of the approach in the materials.

The document Multilingual Learner Support in myView Literacy © 2025, found in the Getting to Know myView tab under Multilingual Learner Support, explains the instructional approaches used in the program for MLLs and identifies several research-based strategies. The instructional approach described in the document includes: an assets-based viewpoint, focus on using the same learning objectives as fluent English speakers, scaffolding the language demands of the same text or task provided to all learners, balancing activities across all language domains, engaging students’ multilingual resources, and addressing the requirements of state/district evaluation processes.

The Multilingual Learner Support document references three sources: Elfrieda Hiebert’s “Generative Vocabulary Instruction,” a paper commissioned by the  English Learner Success Forum, and the WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework. The instructional content, however, primarily focuses on generative vocabulary and lacks broader application of research-based strategies for MLLs. Additionally, the Language Awareness Handbook is introduced by Jim Cummins, who references valuable strategies, such as language objectives and “juicy sentences.” Yet, those specific strategies are not incorporated into the instructional materials. In order for teachers to use those strategies, they would have to incorporate them into the materials themselves. In conclusion, the materials describe the program’s instructional approaches for MLLs and reference research-based strategies; however, they do not fully integrate all of those strategies into the instructional materials.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5 of myView partially meet the criteria of providing teacher guidance to support Multilingual Learner (MLL) students and to utilize the strategies, supports, and/or accommodations found. 

The materials provide a variety of supports for MLLs within lessons and provide some annotations and guidance for teachers in utilizing these supports. Language Support call-out boxes are provided throughout the materials in all grade levels to provide differentiated support for MLLs based on language proficiency. The Language Support call-out boxes are straightforward and detailed enough for teachers at various levels of understanding in instructing MLLs to use. Language Links call-out boxes are woven throughout each unit to provide teachers with Spanish cognates for MLLs. However, the guidance for teachers on how to use this information with students is minimal, usually only to “point out” the cognates. Language Demand boxes support teachers in anticipating potential language demands, challenges, and opportunities in a lesson by providing a list of words and sentences that may need clarification for MLLs for each lesson’s text. However, the guidance for teachers is only to preview the demands, and does not provide additional guidance for teachers in supporting students with those demands. For example, in Grade 4, Unit 1, Week 3, Lesson 2, Read the Text, the Language Demands - Multilingual Learners call-out box states: “To support your planning, use this table to preview the language demands found in the text.”  The Word Level column in the chart lists the following:

• Words About Spaceflight:  zero-gravity treadmill, spaceflight, mission, isolation, stress

• Words with Suffixes: energetic, radiation, comparison, stressful, isolation

The Sentence Level column in the chart lists the following:

• Complex Sentences:  When he’s not busy doing spacewalks... he takes photos of Earth.

• Sentences with Phrasal Verbs: Up in space, Scott gets zapped with more energetic radiation than Mark.

The Discourse Level column in the chart states the following:

• The text uses compare-and-contrast text structure, with headings and other text features to help organize the text. The author’s purpose is to entertain and inform about how and why NASA is studying the twins.

The materials provide no further guidance on what teachers should do with this information about language demands or how this knowledge could support MLLs in their understanding of the text. This gap requires teachers to research and plan for the language demands, which could be especially difficult for teachers new to working with MLLs.

Guidance to teachers is not inclusive of all levels of understanding in instructing MLLs. The materials do not provide guidance for teacher responses, including probing questions and feedback. Teachers are not guided to support specific student moves or how to support productive struggle. Without this guidance, materials do not facilitate understanding in teachers new to working with MLLs or support deepening the understanding of MLL experts.  

Overall, while the materials offer a range of supports and embedded annotations to aid instruction for MLLs, the guidance provided lacks the depth and adaptability needed to effectively serve teachers across varying levels of expertise. The materials provide guidance for teachers associated with the Language Support, Language Links, and Language Demand call-out boxes that contribute valuable starting points. This guidance stops short of offering actionable, sustained instructional guidance. As a result, the materials do not fully equip teachers to respond to student needs in real time or support productive struggle.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5 of myView partially meet the criteria of the guiding teachers on how to match students with language supports, progressing along a continuum, and to be responsive to students’ current language development in relation to the content. The materials provide language support at varying language proficiency levels. However, the materials do not provide guidance for teachers on how to match students with supports. 

The materials include Language Support call-out boxes that offer differentiated supports at light, moderate, and substantial levels, intended to align with varying language proficiency. These supports reflect an effort to be responsive to students’ language needs within the context of content instruction. However, the materials do not provide guidance to teachers on how to determine which level of support is appropriate for individual students or how to adjust supports over time as students develop language proficiency. As a result, while the presence of differentiated supports may help Multilingual Learners (MLLs) access content, the lack of instructional guidance limits their effective use.

The instructional materials reviewed for grades 3-5 of myView partially meet the criteria of providing guidance to encourage teachers to draw upon student home language to facilitate learning. The materials support the use of students’ home languages by incorporating some cross-linguistic connections, with a strong emphasis on Spanish. However, they offer limited integration of other languages and do not account for key factors like families’ language preferences or students’ prior linguistic experiences, and therefore do not fully meet the criteria.

The materials incorporate cross-linguistic connections and cognates to support and reinforce the use of students’ home languages. While the materials thoughtfully highlight Spanish as a primary focus, they provide limited opportunities to integrate and build upon other languages. This diminishes their effectiveness in fully leveraging home languages as assets to enhance learning and engagement. For example, Spanish cognates are consistently highlighted in the lesson sidebars; however, identifying cognates from other languages can also be a valuable strategy for speakers of diverse linguistic backgrounds. A specific example of a cross-linguistic connection is in Grade 5, Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 1 on figurative language that explores analogies. Teachers are advised to ask students to notice the difference in the Spanish words in each pair: la lluvia/una tormenta eléctrica and visible/llamativo, and to guide students to recognize the significance of the second word in the analogy.​​ Similar connections between English and Spanish are made throughout grades and units. Some Word Study Lessons provide Language Links call-out boxes that sometimes provide connections to a broader range of languages. For example, in Grade 4, Unit 2, Week 1, the Word Study lesson is on Plurals. The Language Links - Multilingual Learners call-out box reads: “Guide students in uncovering similarities and differences between English and their home language. In Chinese, Hmong, and Korean, nouns do not have a plural form. Students may need practice adding -s and -es to show plural nouns. In languages such as Polish and Spanish, adjectives, as well as verbs and nouns, have inflected endings. Provide students with extra practice adding -s and -es to nouns.” The materials incorporate cross-linguistic connections, particularly with Spanish, through cognates and targeted instructional supports, but offer limited and inconsistent integration of other home languages, which constrains their effectiveness in fully supporting MLLs across diverse linguistic backgrounds.

There are a few instances where connections to other languages are noted, but they are minimal and not consistently integrated into the instructional design. This represents a missed opportunity to leverage students’ full linguistic repertoires as assets, which could provide more meaningful participation for MLLs. Additionally, the materials do not include considerations for the family’s preferred language of communication, prior schooling experiences in other languages, literacy abilities in those languages, or the student’s previous exposure to academic or everyday English, limiting their ability to fully support and engage MLLs.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grades 3-5 of myView partially meet the criteria of including a formative assessment plan for language alongside content that includes a connection to established unit/lesson language goals. The materials include a few opportunities to formatively assess language, but do not include explicit unit or lesson-level language goals to connect those formative assessments to.

In Lesson 5 of each week, there is a language checkpoint for teachers to administer to Multilingual Learners (MLLs). The Small Group guidance for Teacher-Led Small Group Instruction includes a Language Checkpoint - Multilingual Learners. This guidance provides a rubric for MLLs describing the language students should use at each level to accomplish a content task. The levels listed are Emerging, Expanding, and Bridging, which are different names from the levels provided in the Language Support boxes (Light, Moderate, Substantial). For example, in Grade 3, Unit 5, Week 2,  Lesson 5, the Language Checkpoint - Multilingual Learners reads: “Have students study the infographic ‘When Earth Changes...’ and synthesize information from text and images to arrive at one new idea. Use this checkpoint as one piece of data among others to inform instruction.”  The leveled rubric follows:

• Emerging students can:

  • point to details in images that connect to information in the text.

  • answer questions that show connections between text and images.

• Expanding students can:

  • identify details that are common to both text and images.

  • synthesize information and images to identify a new idea not stated directly in the text.

• Bridging students can:

  • describe ways in which specific details of images relate to details in the text.

  • use elaborated sentences to explain how they synthesize details to create the new idea.

While this Language Checkpoint is connected to the core content with its focus on an infographic used to build background knowledge before reading the core text, it is not connected to the functional language needed to accomplish the learning goals of the week: “I can learn more about informational texts and analyze text structure in informational text” and “I can use knowledge of the sound and shape of poetry to write a poem”

The Assessment Guide, Part 2, Multilingual Learners, provides ML Observational Checklists for each of the four language domains, to be completed three times per year. The Assessment Guide provides general guidance on observational assessment in Part 1, Chapter 1, Assessment and Data, Dig In! This section provides an overview of what observational assessment is and when teachers should use it. Still, it does not provide specific guidance on observing MLLs or using the ML Observational Checklists.

While the materials provide some opportunities for teachers to formatively assess MLLs through the Language Checkpoints in weekly Lesson 5 and the ML Observational Checklists for each language domain included in the assessment guide, they lack specific guidance on how to use these tools effectively or how they connect to instructional goals. As a result, opportunities to formatively assess language are present but not systematically or coherently linked to the curriculum.