The instructional materials reviewed for SpringBoard Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 1a. Anchor texts within the Grade 12 materials are of publishable quality and worthy of especially careful reading and consider a range of student interests.

Materials for Grade 12 include well-known and diverse authors such as Theodore Roethke, E. E. Cummings, Sylvia Plath, Ralph Ellison, Sandra Cisneros, George Orwell, James Baldwin, Amy Tan, George Bernard Shaw, Ovid, Zora Neale Hurston, William Faulkner, Kate Chopin, John Donne, William Shakespeare, Emma Lazarus, and Shaun Tan. Most, if not all, of the texts--print, film, and audio recording-- have been published in some form as books or in notable newspapers and/or journals and magazines, as well as on the screen, in video, or audiocast.

Five thematic units provide anchor texts and supplementary texts encompassing a range of topics relevant and interesting to Grade 12 students: Perception is Everything, The Collective Perspective, Evolving Perspectives, Creating Perspectives, and Multiple Perspectives. Books, dramas, short stories, poems, essays, graphic novels, film excerpts, articles, speeches, and editorials are among the text types studied throughout the year. Using these materials as a touchstone, students explore the concept of perspective and how it is “filtered through values, prejudices, and attitudes.” Drawing on a growing understanding of perspectives, students are introduced to literary criticism as a lens for understanding literary texts and the context from which they originated: social, cultural, and historic. Additionally, students build on their own perspectives of literature by analyzing texts that have stood the test of time through more modern forms of literary criticism and evaluate the perspectives of changing times on classic as well as more contemporary literary pieces.

Unit 1: Perception is Everything, a unit of multiple texts

• “My Papa’s Waltz,” a poem by Theodore Roethke
• “To the National American Woman Suffrage Association,” a speech by Florence Kelley
• “On Seeing England for the First Time,” an essay by Jamaica Kincaid
• “Shooting an Elephant,” a short story by George Orwell

Unit 2: The Collective Perspective, a unit anchored in the study of Pygmalion

• “Orpheus Sings: Pygmalion and the Statue,” from Metamorphoses, by Ovid
• Pygmalion, a drama by George Bernard Shaw

Unit 3: Evolving Perspectives, a unit anchored in the study of a drama

• The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice, by William Shakespeare

Unit 4: Creating Perspectives, a unit of multiple texts examining journalism and bias

• “How the Media Twist the News,” an article by Sheila Gribben Liaugminas
• The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, Section 101, a legal document
• excerpt from “A Failure of Initiative,” a report by the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina
• excerpt from “The Need for Science in Restoring Resilience to the Northern Gulf of Mexico,” a report by Gregory J. Smith

Unit 5: Multiple Perspectives, a unit of understanding critical perspectives through the study of a graphic novel

• The Arrival, a graphic novel by Shaun Tan

The instructional materials reviewed for SpringBoard Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 1c. Grade 12 texts have the appropriate level of complexity for the grade according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and relationship to their associated student task.

SpringBoard Online provides a Text Complexity Analysis for each of the Grade 12 texts. Each text analysis provides a quantitative rating based on Lexile Measures and a qualitative measure based on the qualitative factors described in Appendix A: Research Supporting Key Elements of the Standards (pages 5-6): Levels of Meaning or Purpose, Structure, Language, and Knowledge Demands. The Text Complexity Analysis also describes the student task associated with the reading and the teaching of text and considers those activities in assigning an overall level of text complexity. Most texts fall within the College and Career Expectations for Lexile Ranges in the 11-12 grade band, and those that do not are balanced with higher level qualitative measures. Examples include:

• In Unit 1 Activity 1.12, students read Florence Kelley’s speech “to the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia, July 22, 1905.” The speech text has a Lexile measure of 1280, within the College and Career Readiness range expected for the 11-12 grade band. The Text Complexity Analysis indicates the speech has an overall complex rating and a moderate qualitative rating. The task demand of analysis is moderate.

• In Unit 2 Activity 2.4, students read “Orpheus Sings: Pygmalion and the Statue.” The text has a Lexile measure of 1070, below the College and Career Readiness range expected for the 11-12 grade band. The Text Complexity Analysis indicates an overall complex rating and a moderate rating for both qualitative measures and task demand. The text purpose is a description of “very complex concepts such as pride, vanity, and devotion [and exemplification of] the archetype of the transformation story in which an external force seeks to change someone else.” The language is “somewhat complex and unfamiliar language is occasionally used in this text, most archaic vocabulary is defined in footnotes.” The knowledge demands are relatively great because of the “complicated concepts presented in the text...all of which require complex life experiences to fully understand.” On the other hand, the structure is described as rather straightforward. The text relates to the unit’s theme and builds the foundation for completing an embedded assessment requiring students to “work with a partner to write a script that transforms a scene from Pygmalion so that it reflects one of the critical perspectives you have studied [and to] write a reflection analyzing and evaluating your process and product.”

• In Unit 3 Activity 3.10, students read an excerpt from “The Moor in English Renaissance Drama.” This piece of literary criticism has a Lexile measure of 1430, well above the College and Career Readiness range expected for the 11-12 grade band. The Text Complexity Analysis indicates an overall complexity measure of very complex, a qualitative measure of high and task demand considered challenging as students are asked to evaluate. The qualitative analysis describes this example of literary criticism as conforming “to the conventions of a specific content discipline, which utilizes highly complex and frequently implicit connections between [complex] ideas, so the connections and many associations to his ideas are difficult to connect unless familiar with subject area content.” Also noted is the complexity of the sentence structures, the formality of the language, the “overly academic” diction, the allusions and corresponding footnotes. The task asks students to evaluate “to what extent the author’s criticisms are present in the Shakespearean drama.” Additionally, students will use their work to participate in a Socratic Seminar.

• In Unit 5 Activity 5.13, students read an excerpt from the essay, “Comments on The Arrival” by Shaun Tan. The essay has a Lexile measure of 1470, well above the College and Career Readiness range expected for the 11-12 grade band. The Text Complexity Analysis indicates an overall rating of complex, a qualitative rating of moderate, and a task demand rating of accessible because students “read and interpret the author’s thoughts on his own graphic novel.” Although the superficial purpose of the essay is explicit, there is also a “more interpretive, abstract assertion.”” Structurally, the introspective essay moves deeper and deeper into complex ideas as the text evolves, and eventually becomes “full of paradox and abstract ideas.” Scaffolds such as marking the text to identify main ideas, circling unknown words and phrases, and using context clues, word parts, and a dictionary can help students to understand unfamiliar terms. In addition, scaffolds such as rereading and callouts on grammar usage and verb tense aid student understanding.

The instructional materials reviewed for SpringBoard Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 1d. Over the course of the year, materials support students’ increasing literacy skills through a series of texts at a variety of complexity levels appropriate for Grade 12.

Students progressively build literacy skills through work with a variety of texts over the course of the school year. Texts sets are at various complexity levels, quantitatively and qualitatively, and therefore support learners as they develop literacy skills and background knowledge to support independent and proficient reading practices.

In Unit 1, students are introduced to concepts of literary perspective through literary criticism as part of an academic study reflecting on how “one’s perception determines his or her interpretation of the world.” The unit text sets juxtapose images, novel excerpts, reflective essays, and significant speeches of varying complexity to support students’ understanding of Reader Response Criticism and Cultural Criticism. This juxtaposition allows students to practice with Common Core Standard RI.11-12.7 as they “integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem.” Although some texts are quantitatively below grade level, such as Sandra Cisneros’s “Four Skinny Trees” (690L) and Amy Tan’s “Lindo Jong: Double Face (590L), they are presented alongside more complex texts, such as Florence Kelley’s speech “to the National American Woman Suffrage Association” (1280L), James Baldwin’s reflective essay “Stranger in the Village” (1370L), and Jamaica Kincaid’s “On Seeing England for the First Time” (1230L). The Teacher Wrap provides suggestions for supporting readers through these complex texts, grounding a critical study of literature in relevant work and guiding students toward more independent reading and analysis.

In Unit 2, students continue their study of critical perspectives, adding Archetypal Criticism, Marxist Criticism, and Feminist Criticism to the breadth of their academic lens. While the quantitative complexity of the unit’s literary selections are below the 11-12 grade band and closer to 9-10 grade band expectations, the qualitative measurements and task requirements make them appropriate for Grade 12 students. With the addition of three new forms of criticism, working with more accessible texts supports developing foundations in the area of literary theory and increases the opportunities for learners to analyze text through those perspectives. The balance between complex ideas and accessible text in content and application allows students to gain strength in literary analysis and become stronger, more independent readers.

In Unit 3, students draw on previous learning for the more complex task of reading Shakespeare’s Othello. Not only does the language and structure of Othello make it a complex undertaking, but the series of texts paired with the study of Shakespeare’s drama are equally complex in language and concepts. In Activity 3.9, students read “The Moor in English Renaissance Drama” by Jack D’Amico, a literary criticism with a Lexile Measure of 1430. Margin notes for the teacher suggest the text be chunked for readers, and scaffolded text-dependent questions are provided. Later on in the unit, Activity 3.18, students read another critical essay, “Othello on Stage and Screen” by Sylvan Barnet with a Lexile Measure of 1370. Here, the margin notes read, “Although it is tempting to chunk this text to make it manageable for students, it is critical that students to be able to use strategies independently to decipher long, complex texts.” The margin notes urge teachers to use their professional expertise to “determine the best way to approach this text” and also offer suggestions such as marking the text, questioning the text, summarizing and paraphrasing while reading, all skills of a proficient and active reader.

In Unit 4, students consider how the various literary lenses they have studied can be applied to real-world events to better understand the conflict in light of society’s context. Complexity levels of the unit texts range from an editorial’s Lexile Measure of 780 to a web article on BigThink with a Lexile Measure of 1660. The unit is built on informational text and documentaries represented by paired text titles such as, “How Media Twists the News” and “Why Partisans View Mainstream Media as Biased and Ideological Media as Objective.” As the unit progresses, students are introduced to and reminded of contemporary issues of national concern, reading contemporary legislation, news articles, editorials, congressional reports, and speeches as well as viewing and discussing how documentaries develop national and personal perspectives on pressing issues of our time. The Teacher Wrap provides tips for supporting readers who struggle with the complexity of the texts and associated performance tasks.

In Unit 5, classroom learning continues in the study of perception through reading and analyzing of a graphic novel using the critical theories studied through the year. Student learning culminates in collaborative project synthesizing the year’s learning through a presentation examining critical theory as it applies to a text read independently. The unit allows students to demonstrate literacy proficiencies in reading and analysis, researching and writing, and speaking and listening as they interpret critical lenses to a book or drama of their choosing.

The instructional materials reviewed for SpringBoard Grade 12 meet the criteria of Indicator 1e. The Grade 12 materials provide anchor texts and series of texts connected to them. The materials are accompanied by text complexity analyses and rationales for purpose and placement in the grade level.

SpringBoard Online provides a Text Complexity Analysis complete with rationales for purpose and placement within the online Teacher Resources. Each analysis offers users a choice to download the file or preview the analysis online. The format for each analysis is identical, providing information and discussion in five areas: the context for use, a quantitative analysis with justification if the Lexile level is below grade, a qualitative review, an overview of task and reader considerations, and placement considerations in light of grade level standards.

The instructional materials reviewed for SpringBoard Grade 12 meet Indicator 1f. The program’s anchor and supporting texts provide opportunities for students to engage in a range and volume of reading to achieve grade level reading proficiency.

Over the year, students are provided with a variety of texts, primarily representing the disciplines of literature and social science, from a wide distribution of media including newspaper, journals, music, film, and the internet. Among the text types are short stories, poems, drama, novels, speeches, editorials, and informational texts; full text listings are provided within Planning the Unit and Resources at a Glance in the Unit Overview. The former lists all titles in the unit and the latter lists the titles in relation to the unit pacing guide and related activities. Additionally, grade level texts are listed in the End Matter PDF found through the Teacher Resources tab among the Book PDFs.

All units are developed thematically. Some units are structured around an anchor text accompanied by supplementary texts while other units provide multiple texts supporting the thematic and skill-based instruction. Regardless, students have the opportunity to achieve grade level reading proficiency through independent reading and study as well as supported reading, e.g., paired reading, small group reading, choral reading, and chunked reading. With the introduction of each new text, the Teacher Wrap encourages teachers to use their “knowledge of their students” to select the most effective format for the first reads. Each reading activity specifically addresses the reading and learning purpose for the text to follow and offers specific lessons designed to support diverse readers in text comprehension and analysis.

Embedded in each lesson are activity features to encourage rereading: Academic and Social Language Preview, Interpret the Text Using Close Reading, Interacting in Meaningful Ways, Academic Collaboration, and Working from the Text. These activity features specifically support close reading, thinking protocols, word consciousness, and grammar and language, all skills that move readers towards greater reading independence. Within all activities, the sidebar Teacher Wrap offers ideas and tips to support diverse readers in the classroom. Additional reading supports are delineated and defined in the Teacher End Materials PDF available through the Resources tab on the grade-level home page. Included in this Resource handbook is a comprehensive list of reading strategies, along with definitions, and purposes for use. Also included in the Resource are numerous graphic organizers aligned to activities specifically noted in the Teacher’s Edition, e.g., OPTIC, SMELL, SOAPStone, Web Organizer, and Word Map. Additionally found in the Teacher’s Edition Teacher Wrap is specific guidance for adapting teaching methods in the development of grade-level reading skills among diverse readers. Under headings Teacher to Teacher, Adapt, and Leveled Differentiated Instruction are explanations and references for additional supports that are also found in the Resource handbook, e.g., sequencing events, analyzing key ideas and details, charting cause and effect, and unknown word solvers.

Six supplementary close reading lesson sets are also included among the instructional materials: informational/literary nonfiction, poetry, argument, Shakespeare, informational STEM texts, and informational texts in social studies and history. Each lesson set offers three unique texts and instruction for each text follows a four-activity pattern supporting students work toward reading independence:

• Activity 1: provides guided reading instruction that emphasizes multiple readings, vocabulary development, and close-reading strategies with a complex text.
• Activity 2: gradually releases students from teacher-guided instruction and modeling to a collaborative analysis of a visual text to which students apply the skills and strategies of close reading.
• Activity 3: releases students to closely read texts independently to respond to analysis questions and to make connections to previous texts.
• Activity 4: requires students to respond to synthesis writing, presentation, or discussion prompts to demonstrate their mastery of the close-reading skills they have practiced in the workshop.

In addition to reading as part of classroom activities, students are expected to complete independent readings. In each unit, Planning this Unit provides a section titled Suggestions for Independent Reading and offers a “wide array of titles which have been chosen based on complexity and interest.” At the beginning of each unit, students develop an Independent Reading Plan and are instructed to discuss their reading plan with a partner through a series of questions: “How do you go about choosing what to read independently? Where can you find advice on which books or articles to read? What genre of texts do you most enjoy reading outside of class? How can you make time in your schedule to read independently? How do you think literary theory might change your perspective of the texts you read independently?”

As a mechanism for monitoring their reading progress, students are accountable for monitoring their independent reading using an Independent Reading Log provided in the Resource handbook available in the Teacher End Materials PDF and the Student Front Matter, both found through the Resources tab on the grade-level home page. Independent Reading Link: Read and Connect is a sidebar activity bridging the unit’s reading instruction and the students’ independent reading. In Unit 2, Activity 2.1 students are told, “In this unit, you will be reading a play that has been adapted into a film. For your independent reading, choose another text that has been made into a film. After watching the film, discuss with a peer how and why the film version differs from the original text. Record notes of your discussion in your Reader/Writer Notebook.” Independent Reading Checkpoints are also embedded in each unit. In Unit 2, Activity 2.13, after a study of various critical perspectives, students are instructed to review their independent reading (a text that had been adapted into a film) and “consider which critical perspective would provide the most interesting analysis of the reading (Reader Response Criticism, Cultural Criticism, Archetypal Criticism, or Marxist Criticism). How might you apply this perspective to transform your reading into a staged play? Record your ideas in your Reader/Writer Notebook.” In building a volume of reading, students are also encouraged to do their own research, selecting their titles and topics “that intrigue them.”

The instructional materials reviewed for SpringBoard Grade 12 meet the expectations of indicator 1g. Most questions, tasks, and assignments are text-dependent and require students to engage with the text directly and to draw on textual evidence to support both what is explicit as well as valid inferences from the text.

Most questions, tasks, and assignments over the course of instruction are designed to encourage students’ interaction with the texts under study. Within each unit are recurrent activities such as Second Read and Working from the Text which cause students to consider text-dependent questions regarding concepts related to key ideas and details, craft and structure, and integration of knowledge and ideas. Additionally, Writing to Sources activities require students to engage directly with the text using explicit and valid inferential textual support in the development of analytic and explanatory writing.

Following are some representative examples of how Grade 12 materials employ text-based questions and tasks over the course of the school year:

• In Unit 2, Activity 2.9, before reading Act V of Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, students are to reread Act I and create a two-column organizer listing character traits for each. Then, while reading Act V, students are to record changes within the characters between acts and compare transformations by considering a variety of questions: “What specifically about each character has changed? How did each transformation occur? How active was each character in the transformation? What is each character’s attitude towards the transformation?”

• In Unit 3, Activity 3.18, after a study of Shakespeare’s Othello, students read “Othello on Stage and Screen” by Sylvan Barnet. Second Read directs students to reread the critical essay and answer a series of text-dependent questions exploring how cultural attitudes have affected the delivery and understanding of Othello across time and culminating in the Working from the Text question: “Through today’s critical lens of Cultural Criticism, do you think the answers to ‘Does it matter if a black plays Othello?’ (paragraph 31) would be different? Why or why not?”

• In Unit 5, Activity 5.11, after reading “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, “Refugees in America” by Langston Hughes, and The Arrival, a graphic novel by Shaun Tan, Working from the Text directs students to consider thematic similarities between the poems and how “the themes identified in Lazarus’s and Hughes’s poems resonate in Tan’s graphic novel The Arrival.”

The instructional materials reviewed for SpringBoard Grade 12 meet the criteria for indicator Ih. The materials contain sets of high-quality, sequenced, text-dependent, and text-specific questions with activities that build to a culminating task which integrates skills to demonstrate understanding. Culminating tasks are rich and varied, providing opportunities for students to demonstrate what they know and are able to do in speaking and/or writing over the year.

Four of the five Grade 12 units present two embedded assessments. Unit 5 has a single Embedded Assessment at the unit’s end. In Units 1-4, the Preview of Embedded Assessment 1 occurs on the first day of the unit as students unpack the skills required for the task which culminates midpoint in the unit. Following the completion of Embedded Assessment 1, students are introduced to Embedded Assessment 2, again unpacking the skills necessary to successfully accomplish the end task. In Unit 5, the Embedded Assessment is introduced on day one of the unit. For each Embedded Assessment, the sequence of activities following the unpacking sequentially develops the skills necessary to complete the requirements of the assessment.

• The Unit 2, Embedded Assessment 1 asks students to work as a pair in writing a script that transforms a scene from Pygmalion to reflect one of the Critical Perspectives studied during the unit. Unit 2 builds on Unit 1 in introducing literary theory to the understanding and interpretation of literature. In Unit 1, Reader Response and Cultural Criticism were introduced. In the first half of Unit 2, Archetypal Criticism (Activity 2.2) is introduced through an analysis of film, and Marxist Criticism (2.13) is introduced through an analysis of musical lyrics. Students explore the drama first from an archetypal perspective through comparison between Shaw’s Pygmalion and Ovid’s "Myth of Pygmalion." In Activities 2.6 and 2.7, students learn about Victorian social protocol in actions and wordplay through a study of subtext and the double entendre. Discussion on playwright’s choice on the inclusion and/or omission of stage directions supports the culminating script writing. Further activities provide text-dependent questions that lead students to explore the character transformations of the leading man and lady, and the addition of clips from My Fair Lady introduce another perspective to the dramatization of Shaw’s work. A second read of selected excerpts in Activity 2.12 returns the readers to earlier scenes in the play for analysis against an archetypal perspective before Activity 2.13 turns to a Marxist interpretation. Activity 2.14 guides the students towards an analysis of Pygmalion in light of power, class, and money before students begin to work in pairs on the performance task, transforming a scene from Pygmalion to reflect one of the four studied Critical Perspectives.

• The Unit 4, Embedded Assessment 2 asks students to work collaboratively in creating and presenting a ten- to fifteen-minute argumentative documentary to be presented live or via media of choice. Activity 4.10 tasks students with determining the skills and knowledge they will need to be successful. Activity 4.11 explores the variety of modes and styles in nonfiction television and film using video clips. Activity 4.12 continues the exploration of video shifting from an analysis of mode and style to one of visual images and sounds. Activity 4.13 turns students’ attention towards the project as they consider what will be the focus of their documentary and how they will structure the thesis and determine the various roles to be played in developing a compelling narrative. The resulting plan becomes the focus of Activity 4.14 as students evaluate one another’s design, evaluating the proposal’s effectiveness and offering constructive criticism.

The instructional materials reviewed for SpringBoard Grade 12 meet the criteria for materials providing frequent opportunities and protocols for evidence-based discussions--small groups, peer-to-peer, whole class-- that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax.

Each unit throughout Grade 12 engages students in a variety of evidence-based discussions within the whole class, as small group conversations, and as partners sharing text-based ideas and information. Embedded within each unit are several Academic Collaboration lessons focused on the current text under study and designed to promote meaningful interaction. The lessons provide a discussion protocol guiding “academic conversation” and sometimes extend into a Language Checkpoint where students work with partners examining syntax related to the anchor text. Academic and Social Language Previews also appear in each unit. These collaborative investigations promote student exploration of word meaning by asking students to determine meaning through the context and then apply the word in a new context. Additionally, the Teacher Wrap supports activities with additional protocols, ideas for increasing pair and small group speaking and listening interactions, instructional advice for differentiation, modeling suggestions, and technology tips for heightening student interaction in effective evidence-based discussion.

Following are some representative examples of how Grade 12 materials provide opportunities and protocols for evidence-based discussions that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax:

• In Unit 2, Activity 2.3, before reading Shaw’s Pygmalion, students engage in a gallery walk, viewing a collection of photos from My Fair Lady, the film version of the play, Pygmalion. Students working in groups are provided with a graphic organizer and instructed to “describe the mise en scene” of each photo, detailing the costume, facial expression, and body language of each pictorial subject. Based on their observations, students are asked to answer a set of text-dependent questions aimed at predicting elements of the drama: setting, plot, relationships, etc. When the groups reach the final image in the series, they are to become “experts” on that image for a jigsaw activity to follow. Not only are they to discuss mise en scene but they are also directed to discuss connections between the images in light of literary perspectives studied to date, using textual evidence to support their connections. Students then jigsaw and share their expertise on each image, specifically, to “make sure to express your ideas clearly and build on others’ ideas in a focused response.”

• In Unit 3, Activity 3.9c, while reading Othello, Interacting in Meaningful Ways: Academic Collaboration asks students to “contribute to group discussions about drama by asking and answering questions and following turn-taking rules.” Students are directed to work in pairs or small groups with a discussion protocol that ensures “a hearing for a full range of positions on a topic or issue” (SL.11-12.1C) through a clearly defined turn-taking process. The protocol culls out Tier 2 and Tier 3 words for discussion, i.e., villain, pestilence, and soliloquy, and expects students to respond thoughtfully with text-based evidence and logic.

• In Unit 3, Activity 3.9, while studying Shakespeare’s Othello, students are introduced to Historical Criticism through an essay by Jack D’Amico and asked to prepare for a Socratic Seminar over the texts. The essay is chunked for this activity. During the first read, students read the chunks and annotate with metacognitive markers, i.e., question marks to signal confusion, asterisks for comments, etc. Students then conduct a second read of the essay and answer a series of text-dependent questions. Teacher materials suggest students may conduct both activities independently, as small groups or pairs, or as a whole class read aloud. Additionally, syntax is integrated through a mini-lesson on compound sentences and clauses. Students are asked to examine the essay for these grammatical structures and note their impact. In the final stages of preparation, groups are assigned a single chunk of text and provided a Collaborative Dialogue graphic organizer as a frame for developing Socratic Seminar questions. Students generate multiple questions, practice asking and answering those questions, and then choose at least one to bring to the Socratic Seminar for discussion of the text as whole.

• In Unit 5, Activity 5.2, after having studied several literary theories in previous units, students form Literature Circles “to read a shared text with a small group.” The teaching materials provide guidelines for organizing the group, creating a reading schedule, organizing the reading, and a protocol for reading group discussion notes that includes a self-evaluation of progress towards the group goals. The Teacher Wrap suggests students identify clear roles within the group and the use of a web-based forum for continuing the discussion asynchronously.

The instructional materials reviewed for SpringBoard Grade 12 meet the expectations of indicator 1j. Most materials support students’ listening and speaking about what they are reading and researching (including presentation opportunities) with relevant follow-up questions and evidence.

Throughout the year, students are engaged in a variety of listening and speaking activities including pairing with peers, discussion in small groups, participating in Socratic Seminars, and staging class presentations. Most collaborative activities occur after reading a text and/or a combination of texts sometimes paired with multimedia sources. In most instances, students are required to engage in evidence-based discussions relevant to the year’s study, an understanding of literary theory and critical perspectives: archetypal, feminist, Marxist, historical, and cultural. Discussion questions encouraging students to draw on academic vocabulary and syntax are provided within both teacher and student materials and support students’ preparation for collaboration to follow.

Four of the five units engage students in Socratic Seminars, most often to question, probe, and advance positions of literary criticism in relation to unit texts. Students become more independent in leading discussions and seminars, often responsible to generate text-related leveled questions--literal, universal, and interpretive--to propel ensuing conversations and discussions. Throughout, students are not only expected to verify and clarify ideas, but also advance differing views, work to persuade others by supporting all information with credible and sufficient evidence, and synthesize the ideas expressed through the discourse. Opportunities to talk and ask questions of peers and teachers about research, strategies, and ideas are present throughout the year. The curriculum includes a host of protocols and graphic organizers to promote and scaffold academic discussions. Guidance for differentiating, extending, and monitoring student learning is provided to the teacher in the Teacher Wrap section provided with each activity.

Following are some representative examples of how Grade 12 materials support students’ listening and speaking about what they are reading, researching, and presenting with relevant follow-up questions and evidence:

• In Unit 1, Activity 1.10, after reading “Four Skinny Trees” by Sandra Cisneros, students work collaboratively to ask and answer questions about a literary vignette in preparation for an academic discussion wherein they will express and support their opinions. The Teacher Wrap provides instructions and language to the teacher for building students’ strengths in both supporting one’s opinion or position and disagreeing or challenging the opinions of others. Students begin by working in small groups or pairs to discuss four questions posed on the Collaborative Dialogue graphic organizer, a teaching tool posing a series of what and how questions alongside response stems, e.g., “What is the narrator’s perception of herself? What details from the passage help you determine how she views herself?” and the response stems, “I believe the narrator perceives herself as _____. I think this because _____.” After students have conversed, they capture their thinking on the graphic organizer. Next, students work in groups of four and use the graphic organizer to engage in an academic discussion through a collaborative dialogue, after which they move into a related task: analyzing Cisneros’ descriptive language and generating questions about word choice, phrasing, and author inspiration. If students need further support in small group discussion, the Teacher Wrap suggests bringing together a group of three students and guiding them through the first discussion question to ensure they are not only citing and quoting text evidence but also paraphrasing and justifying their evidence selections.

• In Unit 4, Activity 4.5, after reading Section 101 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, a news article published in The Times-Picayune, and a speech by George W. Bush, “President Outlines Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts,” students prepare for and participate in a collaborative discussion. Students’ progress through this lesson following the curriculum’s pattern: students take notes while independently conducting a first read and then complete Second Read by answering a series of analytic text dependent questions. Once all texts are read, a whole class discussion asks students to consider “the different function of each text and how its purpose may affect the choice of language and structure.” Students are then divided into two groups: one to further analyze the new article and the other to further analyze the presidential speech. Students use a series of questions provided in the materials for this purpose. Having worked through the provided questions, students generate additional questions appropriate to probing, evaluating, and clarifying the information among the texts.

• In Unit 4, Embedded Assessment 2, students are asked to work collaboratively to “create a documentary text in the media channel of their choice,” transforming information gathered from research into argument. The final presentation is to be 10 to 15 minutes in length and presented live or via video. This activity has a suggested timeline of four days and provides students with a guide sheet, from planning to drafting, to evaluating and revising, checking and editing for publication. Students are charged with researching multiple sources to find credible and reliable information, marshaling the evidence to present, writing the script, rehearsing for presentation, filming or recording as needed, acquiring feedback from others to revise and improve on the product. Throughout the latter activities of Unit 4, students are learning about and practicing the skills necessary to make this culminating presentation successful.

• In Unit 5, Activity 5.11, after reading “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus and “Refugees in America” by Langston Hughes, students prepare for a Socratic Seminar by answering text-based questions and generating questions on their own. The lesson begins with students taking notes during the first read. Then, Second Read leads students through a series of analytic text-dependent questions for each of the two texts. Following that activity, the Teacher Wrap suggests students create a graphic organizer populated with the ideas from the two poems “in order to see parallels and find a common theme.” Working from the Texts expands the consideration of thematic similarities to Amy Tan’s graphic novel, The Arrival, read earlier in the unit. Students are then asked to “develop levels of questions,” sharing those questions aloud though not providing answers at this time. Additional time for question generation is built into the lesson, anticipating that the first round of question-asking will foster additional questions for use during the Socratic Seminar. In the final stages of the lesson, students are brought together for a “collegial discussion about topics and themes from Lazarus’s and Hughes’s poems and Part V of The Arrival.” Closure to the lesson asks students to complete a Quick Write, “synthesizing ideas shared during the Socratic Seminar” and explaining “to what extent did your ideas change, shift, or thrive...?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the indicators for 1k. Materials include a mix of on-demand and process writing (e.g., multiple drafts and revisions over time) and short, focused projects incorporating digital resources where appropriate.

On-demand writing tasks are present within most unit activities and focus on specific text/s and/or on a specific writing skill: e.g., quickwrites, double entry journals, reflections, note taking, and answering writing prompts. Standard features of each unit--Working from the Text, Writing to Sources, Argument Writing Prompts, Explanatory Writing Prompts, and Narrative Writing Prompts--ask students to write shorter, on-demand responses that require attention to development, textual evidence, and incorporation of writing skills studied. Additionally, the program offers opportunities for student revisions of many on-demand writing activities.

Following are some representative examples of how Grade 12 materials employ on-demand writing alongside technology, editing, and/or revision tasks over the course of the school year:

• In Unit 2, Activity 2.4, after reading Ovid’s “Orpheus Sings: Pygmalion and the Statue,” students write a summary of Ovid’s work attending to the main idea and details but without expressing judgment. In Activity 2.12, after reading George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, students return to their summary of Ovid’s myth to review the text of the myth and the summary. Working with a writing partner, students analyze Shaw’s adherence or departures from the work of Ovid, answering these questions: "Has the writer included the character of the creator? Has the writer included the character of the created? Has the writer defined the nature of the transformation? Has the writer defined the relationship between the creator and the creation? Following the partner discussion, each student independently writes an argumentative essay, after which they collaborate to enhance their drafts, revising the content by “considering the supporting evidence and logical organization” as well as editing grammar, mechanical, and usage errors.

• In Unit 4, Activity 4.12, in preparation for Embedded Assessment 2, students learn how “music and visual rhetoric contribute to the tone in a media text.” After reviewing elements of a documentary, teachers show the class a documentary clip, first without sound and then with sound. The Teacher Wrap suggests using Land of Opportunity by Luisa Dantas, as “the 3-minute trailer includes music and other audio worthy of analysis, and many other clips from the film project are available online.” After viewing and discussing the visual and audio aspects of the clip, the Explanatory Writing Prompt asks students to write “a paragraph in which you explain how the director uses sound in a particular scene in order to establish tone. What is the intended effect of using music to establish this tone? Be sure to: Consider the specific rhetorical context of the film clip; support your claim with specific evidence from the clip, such as illustrative examples, vivid descriptions, or comparisons; include commentary that explains how specific choices contribute to the tone.”

• In Unit 5, Activity 5.7, after reading Part III of Tan’s graphic novel The Arrival, students are asked “to draft an interior monologue from the point of view of one of the characters. Describe what the character is seeing, doing, and thinking in the chosen sequence of frames, [being] sure to: refer to details of the narrative; use narrative techniques, such as pacing, description, and reflection, to develop the character’s interior monologue; use precise words and phrases and sensory details to convey a sense of the mood of the setting and the protagonist’s thoughts and experiences.”

Process writing is supported in each unit through two Embedded Assessments preceded by a series of instructional and practice activities with concepts ranging from ideation to grammar and syntax choices, writing structures, revision and editing. Embedded Assessments offer a breadth of ELA writing purposes: Writing a Reflective Essay; Writing a Script; Writing an Analytical Essay Applying a Critical Perspective to a Short Story; Creating a Monologue; Writing an Argumentative Essay with an Annotated Bibliography; Creating a Documentary Media Text; Presenting a Literary Work through Multiple Critical Perspectives. Each Embedded Assessment is outlined in Planning the Unit and Unit Overview sections of the Teacher’s Edition, and the Teacher Wrap provides general guidance to the teacher in the areas of revision and editing. Each Embedded Assessment also includes a scoring rubric and set of questions encouraging students to consider the elements of planning, drafting, and revising throughout the writing process.

Following are some representative examples of how Grade 12 materials employ process writing in longer written tasks featuring technology, revision, and/or editing over the course of the school year:

• Unit 3, Embedded Assessment 1, after a study of Othello and various literary analyses, asks students to follow the writing process over two 50-minute class periods as they construct an argumentative essay defending a critical lens as providing the most “compelling view of literature.” The student questioning guide sheet, a document provided for each Embedded Assessment, asks questions leading the writer from the planning stage through stages of drafting, revising, and editing for publication. Students are asked to consider how they will “evaluate the different critical perspectives and select the one [you] feel works best?” Additionally, the questioning guide sheet asks students how they will collect evidence and how they will organize their work. How will students ensure the evidence “clearly and consistently supports” their position? How will they avoid “oversimplifying the critical perspective?” As with all embedded assessments, students have access to the scoring rubric and are encouraged to use it before submitting their final draft.

• In the Unit 5 Embedded Assessment, students are asked to work collaboratively in preparing a capstone presentation simultaneously critiquing and enticing their student audience’s attention. Having selected a novel or a play of the group’s choice, the collaborative group is to summarize the text in a manner so engaging, the audience will be motivated to read the text independently. Following the summary, the group is to present an analysis of the text in a visual or performance-based medium through the lens of several critical perspectives studied across the year: e.g., feminist, historical, Marxist, etc. Students will be drawing on notes, essays, and other work they have generated through the year as well as researching the focus of their presentation. The Teacher Wrap suggests students use computer presentation software in the form of a collage, a short film, a documentary, or other medium students may creatively consider. As with all Embedded Assessments, a student questioning guide is included as is a rubric. Students are encouraged to use both.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 1m. The Grade 12 materials include frequent opportunities for evidence-based writing to support analyses, well-defended claims, and clear information appropriate to the grade level.

The instructional materials for Grade 12 support the indicator’s focus on writing to sources, a key task to grow students’ literacy skills. Writing tasks build over the course of the school year, providing students with varied opportunities of growing complexity to learn, practice, and demonstrate evidenced-based writing. Students are asked to analyze texts, create claims, and include clear information and evidence from texts read within the unit as well as texts read independently. Students are often reminded by the materials to “create an organization that logically sequences claims, counterclaim(s), reasons, and evidence” (CCSS W.11-12.1a.) as well as to select the “most relevant” (CCSS W.11-12.2b) evidence in developing the topic or argument. Application of these skills is evident within the on-demand writing assignments as well as in the embedded assessments within each unit.

• In Unit 1, Activity 1.7, after students have reviewed rhetorical appeals and learned about visual rhetoric, Writing to Sources: Explanatory Text asks students to analyze a photo essay and write “an interpretive response in which you explain the argument being presented and evaluate whether it is effective or not...[I]nclude a thesis statement that clearly presents your interpretation; explain how the photographer presents an argument, citing specific details from the image or images to support your interpretation; examine the rhetorical appeals used and their effect on viewers; include transitions and a concluding statement.”

• In Unit 2, Embedded Assessment 2, students “write an analytical essay applying the Feminist Critical Perspective to a short story.” The Assessment Scoring Guide indicates an exemplary response “demonstrates a thorough understanding of the short story; perceptively applies the Feminist Critical perspective to the text; uses well-chosen details that support the thesis to analyze the work; [and] successfully weaves in textual evidence from the story.” In preparation for the assessment, Activity 2.18 asks students to create “a new interpretation of a story by applying a critical lens” and to develop “claims and support them with textual evidence.” In Writing to Sources, students write an explanatory essay that considers the final line of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree, “And the tree was happy.” Students are asked to write “an explanation of why the tree would or would not be happy. How could a feminist reading of this story give the reader a new or different understanding? Consider the author’s portrayal of men and women in the text and the relationship between them as you incorporate principles of Feminist Criticism in your explanation.” Students are advised to begin “with a clear thesis statement that presents an explanation for the tree’s happiness or lack thereof” and to include “relevant quotations and examples from the text to support your explanation and reasoning.” While the text is at a Lexile of 530, the task asks students to apply a critical perspective of feminist critique, a substantive topic aligned to the 11-12 grade band.

• In Unit 3, Activity 3.8, after watching two film versions of Othello, Writing to Sources: Argument asks students to consider the critical lens apparent in each of the directors’ productions of the Shakespearean drama. Students are to write an argumentative essay making a claim identifying the critical perspective in each film and providing evidence to support the claim “using relevant evidence from the text.”

• In Unit 4, Embedded Assessment 1, students write an argumentative paper examining how a specific issue is presented in through media texts. Additionally, students are to “argue for the use of a particular critical lens to interpret” the event and support their argument with evidence from at least five texts. The Assessment Scoring Guide indicates an exemplary response “effectively combines the sources and the writer’s position to argue for using a particular lens to interpret a single event discussed in multiple texts; contextualizes the event and presents the critical lens in a clear thesis; sequences material to aptly reinforce the ideas of the argument; uses transitions that enhance the essay’s coherence; includes an extensive annotated bibliography; demonstrates a mature style that advances the writer’s ideas; employs precise diction and a skillful use of syntax and punctuation to create an authoritative and engaging voice; and follows standard writing conventions, including accurate citation of sources,”criteria aligned to Common Core Standards W.11-12.8 and W.11-12.9.

• In Unit 5, Activity 5.9, after reading Shaun Tan’s graphic novel The Arrival, Writing to Sources: Argument asks students to choose “one critical perspective ...for analyzing the graphic novel.” Students are to draft an argument supporting their position and use their notes from Activity 5.5 as a guide, “adding to them as necessary.” Students are reminded to “clarify the relationships among [your] thesis statement, reasons, and supporting evidence from the graphic novel; anticipate and address your readers’ opposing viewpoints; include one or more of rhetorical devices to appeal to your readers.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 1n. The instructional materials include instruction of grammar and conventions/language standards for Grade 12 and are applied in increasingly sophisticated contexts with opportunities for application context.

Direct instruction and practice with grammar and conventions/language standards are explicitly delineated and also embedded within the activities of unit lessons. Each of the five Grade 12 units is introduced with Planning the Unit and Unit Overview, Teacher Resource pages detailing the unit’s instructional activities. Appearing on Planning the Unit is Unit Resources at a Glance, a categorical list of unit features: Language Skills, comprised of Language and Writer’s Craft featured on activity pages; Grammar and Usage, identified on activity pages through a sidebar; Writing Workshop with Grammar Activities, available through Teacher Resources; and English Language Development. Beneath each of these categories are specifically listed conventions and applications of grammatical structures taught and practiced throughout the unit. On the other hand, the Unit Overview provides a sequenced listing of texts under study, sidebars noting academic vocabulary and literary terms culled out for direct instruction (L.11-12.4-6), and Language and Writer’s Craft featured in specific lessons.

For example, Unit 4, Planning the Unit, Resources at a Glance lists the studies of Language and Writer’s Craft as citing quotations and using hyphens to create compound modifiers (L.11-12.2a). Grammar and Usage conventions to be studied are listed as integrating quotations, sentence variety, hyphens, rhetorical devices (L.11-12.3). The Unit 4 Unit Overview specifies where within the unit Language and Writer’s Craft lessons appear: Citing Quotations and Using Hyphens in Activity 4.2. Additionally, features such as Word Connections and Academic and Social Language Preview address specific language concepts (L.11-12.4-6) and provide opportunities for student practice.

In Unit 4, Activity 3, vocabulary callout boxes provide definitions and audio pronunciation support for glossed Tier 2 words: apathy, trivialized, and substantive. The activity also highlights a Grammar and Usage sidebar focusing on sentence variety and pointing student attention to the varied sentence length within the mentor text. Thereafter, additional Tier 2 words are culled out: impervious, predispositions, and status quo. A second Grammar and Usage sidebar focuses attention on integrating quotations. After pointing out how the author in the mentor text varies the integration of quotations, students are asked to consider how decisions of style support reader engagement while clarifying the source of the quotation (L.11-12.3). Also featured in this lesson is the callout box for Literary Terms and the word, paradox is defined. Following the first read, Second Read engages students in text-based questions, some which support language standards. For example, the question, “In paragraph 12, why does Liaugminas put ‘experts’ and ‘news analysts’ in quotation marks?” will elicit discussion on “usage [as] a matter of convention” (L.11-12.1a) to build sophistication both in use and understanding of language structure and meaning.

Additionally offered in each unit are lessons titled Academic and Social Language Preview, which typically precede lessons titled Interpreting the Text Using Close Reading. Unit 4 offers three such lessons. Academic and Social Language Preview offers an opportunity for students to determine word meaning through a context sentence prior to reading an entire text and then to check their definitions against a formal source (L.11-12.4a & 4d). The lesson is followed by the close reading and study of the associated mentor text. For example, Unit 4, Activity 3a provides students with 11 Tier 2 words prior to reading the full article in Activity 3b. Within Activity 3b, Interpreting the Text Using Close Reading, is a callout box on Word Connections, yet another opportunity to study language--in this instance, a study of roots and affixes associated with the word forgone, found in the mentor text. Additionally, the callout box Language Resource focuses attention on irregular nouns with a lesson on the word, media. Optional Language Checkpoints, a class period activity, is another feature of the Grade 12 studies associated with language standards. There are Language Checkpoints available in Grade 12, Unit 1 and Unit 2. Included among these lessons is instruction and practice in placing modifiers and using commas, parentheses, and dashes.

Among the resource materials found under the Teacher Resource tab on the SpringBoard landing page are Grammar Activities aligned to specific grades, units, and activities (currently bearing the 2014 copyright date) as well as a Grammar Handbook for grades 9-12 (2014 copyright). Writing Workshops (copyright 2014), accessed through the Teacher Resources tab, also include instruction and practice with Language and Writer’s Craft, using mentor texts. For example, Writing Workshop 2: Argumentative Response Revising for Language and Writer’s Craft provides instruction on rhetorical questions and practice in evaluating and rewriting provides prose to create a rhetorical question. Then, students are asked to review their own argumentative response to determine if they “already employed examples of rhetorical questions. In what places could ideas be rephrased to exploit this rhetorical technique in a subtle but powerful way?” In so doing, students are addressing the spirit of the language standards as they “choose words, syntax, and punctuation to express themselves and achieve particular functions and rhetorical effects (CCSS, page 51).

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 3a. Grade 12 materials are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing.

Grade 12 materials are purposefully arranged around five units, each with a range of activities or lessons designed with a consistent instructional plan. Each of the five units is divided into two halves, each half concluding with an embedded assessment. Each unit opens with teacher guidance: Planning the Unit and Unit Overview. Planning the Unit describes all instructional and assessment goals for the unit as well as providing the pacing structure and listing unit texts. Instructional activities are designed to be delivered over single and multiple days while the lessons within activities are designed for a 50-minute class period. The Unit Overview provides a descriptive narrative of the unit’s breadth and a sequential listing of unit activities and associated texts.

The first lesson in each unit provides learners with a preview of the unit’s general learning targets and learning strategies and is followed by Making Connections to develop links between new learning, existing knowledge, and the culminating assessments. Thereafter, each activity or lesson opens with an introduction of specific learning targets, followed by a specific learning strategy, grammar structure, or reading strategy, and the establishment of the reading purpose. The prereading activities are followed by the text or texts, Second Read questions, Working from the Text practice, and Writing to Sources, all crafted to support learning targets in developing literacy skills Throughout, teachers are supported by Teacher Wrap, “the inclusion of an instructional roadmap alongside the student pages” indicating the suggested pacing for the activity. The pacing of individual lessons is appropriate for classes with time allowed for supplementary activities as well.

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 3b. Grade 12 materials are designed to allow the teacher and student to reasonably complete the content within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding.

The five-unit curriculum can be effectively delivered over the course of a 30-36 week academic year allowing sufficient time for practice with instructional materials to ensure opportunities for standards’ mastery by the end of the course. Instructional Activities and Pacing Guide, provided in Planning the Unit, indicate the total number of 50-minute class periods for the unit’s completion and further delineates the associated activity number and suggested class periods for delivery of those lessons. Additionally, the Teacher Wrap, within the margins of the Teacher’s Edition, indicates the time to be allotted for each lesson and offers support for block scheduling by indicating combinations of 50-minute sessions or extensions of lessons, optional instructional materials, and the expectation of homework as part of enrichment and/or the class assignment.

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 3c. Grade 12 student resources include ample review and practice resources, clear directions and explanations, and correct labeling of reference aids (e.g., visuals, maps, etc.)

The student resources include a variety of resources demonstrating specific and clear directions, easy-to-find references and accurate labels. Other resources available to students include text collections, close reading, performance tasks, independent reading plans, as well as digital interactive tools such as Writer’s Notebook, text boxes to record answers, and highlighting tools for annotations.

Close reading questions and guides provide students with questions for key details, craft, and structure. Second Read materials include guiding questions engaging students in careful textual analysis. Text-dependent and text specific writing opportunities and writing workshops appear with regularity throughout the units to deepen thought and allow practice with newly taught skills as well as integration of ideas among concepts and skills. Directions for activities are clear and often make use of graphic organizers and rubrics to help students more clearly see the relationship of concepts as well as understand the expectations set before them.

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 3d. Grade 12 materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment items.

Examples of materials of publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed include the Common Core Correlations page which can be found on the homepage of the digital materials adjacent to the login portal. Additionally, the Teacher Wrap lists The College and Career Readiness Standards associated with each activity and delineates both Common Core focus standards as well as additional Common Core Standards addressed in each lesson.

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 3f. Grade 12 materials contain a teacher’s edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student edition and in the ancillary materials. Where applicable, materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning.

Planning the Unit, opening each of the five units, offers teachers a roadmap in preparation for the unit’s presentation while Teacher Wrap and Teacher to Teacher, found in the digital and print versions respectively, provide teachers daily step-by-step instructions for delivery. Within the digital teacher edition, sample responses to Second Read questions and completed graphic organizers are provided for teachers as an indication of what student responses should include. In addition to detailing discrete components of the unit, e.g., goals, pacing, assessments, etc., Planning the Unit unpacks the embedded assessments, suggests texts for independent reading, lists English Language Development resources available for each activity, describes instructional activities within the pacing guide, suggests advance preparation of learning guides for differentiated instruction, provides a detailed unpacking of language demands for embedded assessments, and suggests cognates appropriate to the unit for inclusion on a word wall.

The Teacher Resources tab on the SpringBoard dashboard provides background material for teachers and students on the various literary theories to be discussed throughout the Grade 12 course.

Daily support and suggestions are provided to the teacher through Teacher Wrap and Teacher to Teacher following SpringBoard’s 4-step approach to instruction: Plan--Teach--Assess--Adapt. Additionally, the marginal guides offer suggestions for student support with instruction on approaches found effective for other teachers and methods for scaffolding questions to differentiate instruction to support of student learning. For example, in Unit 3, Activity 3, the Teacher Wrap suggests, “If students need additional help showing effective use of meter and rhythm, model marking up another section of ‘The Canonization’ and ask students to read aloud in pairs, stressing the iambic meter. Students can work together to mark up and read aloud self-selected sections. To extend learning, have students mark up the lyrics to ‘The Right to Love’ or other song lyrics of their choosing.”

Within the digital teacher edition, sample responses to Second Read questions and completed graphic organizers provide teachers an indication of what student responses should include.

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 3g. Grade 12 materials contain a teacher’s edition that contains full, adult-level explanations and examples of the more advanced literacy concepts so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary.

The Teacher’s Edition Front Matter supports teacher knowledge regarding the relevance of academic vocabulary as well as knowledge differentiating between Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary, i.e. “Academic Vocabulary features that discuss Tier 2 terms and concepts that students will use in academic discourse” and “Literary Term features that equip students with Tier 3 language from the domains of literature, literary analysis, writing, and rhetoric.” Additionally, the front matter establishes the relevance of text features and rigor to preparation for College and Career Readiness. Key Themes of English Language Arts Instruction explains: “SpringBoard is designed to help students make meaning of complex texts and prepare them for the rigorous textual analysis expected of them in Advanced Placement (AP) English and college courses. The skills students acquire in SpringBoard allow them to think critically about and respond thoughtfully to important topics in all disciplines, and in society.”

The Teacher Edition End Matter provides teachers with a complete list of reading and writing strategies both defining strategies and establishing purpose behind the strategies. For example, the definition of the reading strategy SOAPSTone is “Analyzing text by discussing and identifying Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, and Tone,” and its purpose is “to facilitate the analysis of specific elements of nonfiction, literary, and informational texts, and show the relationship among the elements to an understanding of the whole.”

Teacher Wrap provides teachers with information necessary to frame lessons and establish relevance for students. For example, Activity 1.9 provides framing in Step 1: “Read the Preview and the Setting a Purpose for Reading sections with your students. Introduce the idea of a prologue, or introductory passage or speech before the main action of a novel, play, or long poem. Explain that they should highlight lines in the prologue where Ellison conveys what the speaker is and what he is not.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 3h. Grade 12 materials contain a teacher’s edition that explains the role of the specific ELA/literacy standards in the context of the overall curriculum.

Connections between specific ELA/literacy standards and the context of the overall curriculum are offered within the Teacher Edition Front Matter, Planning the Unit, and Teacher Wrap. Specifically, the Teacher Edition Front Matter explains the “instructional design assures teachers and students that everyday activities are building a foundation of skills and knowledge that will help students perform on the assessments, which ultimately align with the standards” and promises to help “students develop the knowledge and skills needed for Advanced Placement as well as for success in college and beyond without remediation.” The Front Matter continues by explaining, “While not every student will take an AP class, we believe strongly that ALL students should be equipped with the higher-order thinking skills, knowledge, and behaviors necessary to be successful in AP classes and post-secondary education. SpringBoard focuses on content connections, pre-AP strategies, and writing tasks anchored in the skills and knowledge necessary to be successful on the AP exams.”

Planning the Unit provides a list of activities within the unit that focus on refining “important skills and knowledge areas for AP/College Readiness.” Found in the 2014 Edition of SpringBoard Digital but not in the 2018 edition, are clickable CC icons linked to standards associated with the task at hand. Inclusion of a similar link in the 2018 Edition would aid in promoting the connection between specific ELA/literacy standards and unit activities.

Teacher Wrap lists Focus Standards and Additional Standards Addressed at the beginning of each lesson. Within the instructional guide are also listed the Common Core standards associated with each of the Second Read questions.

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 3i. Grade 12 materials contain explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research-based strategies.

The Teacher Edition Front Matter provides both clear explanation of instructional approaches and identification of research-based strategies relied on throughout the text. Additionally, the text provides an explanation for SpringBoard’s instructional approach. The section “Research-Based Pedagogy” sites the use of Wiggins and McTighe’s Understanding by Design instructional model and the American Institute for Research “focus on students moving through multiple levels of cognitive engagement: progressing fluidly from understanding and comprehension, to analysis, and ultimately to synthesis.” SpringBoard also sites application of Charlotte Danielson’s facilitation and flexibility methodologies, Marzano and Pickering’s research on “building students’ background knowledge in the area of Academic Vocabulary development” and “Robyn Jackson’s work on rigorous instruction.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 3k. Grade 12 materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress.

Short-cycle and long-term assessments integrated within each of the five units provide opportunities for measuring student progress both formatively and summatively. Most activities/lessons feature Check Your Understanding and Writing to Sources, short-cycle assessments allowing teachers to measure student proficiencies and adjust or adapt instructional methods. Long-term assessments are offered twice during the unit, one midway through the unit’s activities and the second at the unit’s end. Lessons and related formative assessments preceding the embedded assessments typically lead towards the culminating performance task.

Also provided within the program materials are supplementary workshops for close reading and writing as well as supplementary materials for grammar instruction. Each of these lesson sets also includes assessment components consistent with the organization and structure of the core curriculum. Additionally, the SpringBoard Digital dashboard provides an Assessments link offering teachers short-cycle End of Lesson/Activity assessments and End of Unit assessments as well as choices between SpringBoard-developed assessments or custom-built assessments.

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 3li. Grade 12 assessments clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.

Common Core Standards emphasized by instruction and assessment are noted in the Common Core Correlations chart found on the SpringBoard Digital log-in page. Each ELA Common Core Standard is correlated to unit and activity numbers and/or embedded assessments (denoted by EA) addressing the listed standard. Additionally, Teacher Wrap lists both Focus Standards and Additional Standards Addressed for each embedded assessment.

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 3lii. Grade 12 assessments provide sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow up.

SpringBoard’s four-step structure, Plan-Teach-Assess-Adapt, provides a roadmap towards assessment that includes checkpoints and suggestions for adapting lessons and strengthening student skills before they are asked to demonstrate specific skills on culminating embedded assessments. The progression of these four steps is found in Teacher Wrap on the margins of the digital page of the Teacher Edition. For example, after following Plan and Teach steps in Unit 1, Activity 4, Assess guides teachers in evaluating student work: “Students’ summary statements and responses to the Check Your Understanding should demonstrate an understanding of the three elements of Reader Response Criticism and the ways these elements may contribute to a reader’s interpretation of a text.” After the assessment, Adapt suggests, “If you find that your students need additional help with Reader Response Criticism, model interpreting the first two stanzas of the poem (or the entire poem), using the read aloud strategy before asking volunteers to share their interpretations.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 3m. Grade 12 materials include routines and guidance that point out opportunities to monitor student progress.

Teacher Wrap indicates opportunities for monitoring student progress in reading and expression of ideas. Teacher Wrap provides sequentially detailed steps for teaching each lesson. Included within instructional notes for teachers are guides and prompts for monitoring student progress. Additionally, instructional notes indicate what teachers should be monitoring. For example, in Unit 4, Activity 7, teachers are instructed to be sure students “are engaged with the text, recording ideas about rhetorical context, noting critical lenses, and circling unknown words and phrases.” The Assess portion of the Teacher Wrap indicates what teachers should be assessing in each activity and offers suggestions for adapting the lesson for students who are struggling or needing more practice.

The Front Matter of the Teacher Edition introduces teachers to two supplemental resources that “support the development of foundational reading skills for students who need continued support with these foundations to become successful at the secondary level.” The first of these resources is the Foundational Skills Workshop which “supports teachers in planning and delivering intervention instruction to those students who will benefit from one-on-one or small-group lessons in phonics, word recognition, and fluency.” These materials include Observational Look-Fors, Foundational Reading Skills Screening Assessment, Diagnostic Checklist, Individual Progress Monitoring Chart, and Group Planning Chart. The second resource is Routines for Teaching Foundational Skills which “presents mini-lessons and techniques that teachers can incorporate into the core ELA instruction to differentiate for students who need it.”

The Teacher Edition provides an Independent Reading Log for students to record “progress and thinking” about “independent reading during each unit.” Also provided are a range of graphic organizers for ELA and ELD tasks that can be used to monitor student reading and understanding before moving students into writing assignments.

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 3o. Grade 12 materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding the grade-level standards.

SpringBoard curriculum provides accessible content through the integration of texts at varied Lexile level texts in the core curriculum and as suggested titles for independent reading. The unit texts range from slightly below grade level, typically used with introducing a new concept, to at grade level and above grade level. “The Practice of Reading Closely,” found in The Teacher Edition Front Matter explains the range of texts as a means of bringing “readers up to the level of the text, not the level of the text down to the reader.” Each unit also offers a list of text titles for the Independent Reading Assignments occurring twice in each unit. As in the core curriculum, suggested texts range from below grade level to above grade level, allowing students to choose a text of interest that also connects at reading level.

Teachers are provided with strategies to support learners within the core curriculum and through the Teacher Resources tab on the SpringBoard dashboard. Within the core curriculum, Teacher Wrap provides step-by-step guidance in teaching each lesson. Within most steps, teachers are offered advice, alternatives, and suggestions for connecting new and existing knowledge and skills, and methods for scaffolding in-class reading and assignments. Additionally, Teacher to Teacher and Leveled Differentiated Instruction call out boxes within Teacher Wrap provide specific instruction and guidance for learners needing extra support and English language development.

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 3p. Grade 12 materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level, or in a language other than English, with extensive opportunities to work with grade-level text and meet or exceed grade-level standards.

Specific resources for below grade-level students and English language learners are provided within the Teacher Resources accessible through the SpringBoard Digital dashboard. English Language Learner Support Guides, available at each grade, offer general guidelines for instructional strategies associated with each of the five units. “Differentiation in SpringBoard is organized around Process, Product, and Content. For ELL support, it may be necessary to adapt the content, the product...or the formative assessments...” The resource guide urges teachers to “refer to the Differentiated Instruction call-outs in the TE Wrap.” Call-outs typically provide additional ideas for practice with the lesson concepts. For example, in Unit 4, Activity 11, the call-out box suggests “supporting students who are at an early stage in their English language development by turning on the closed caption subtitles while viewing Trouble in the Water. Viewing film with English subtitles can boost English learners’ engagement with the film while also helping them develop vocabulary, recognize word boundaries, and improve listening comprehension.”

Also provided within the Teacher Resources tab at each grade level is an English-Spanish Glossary, although currently the resource bears a 2014 copyright. Foundational Skills Workshop material provides resources for interventions at grades 7-11. Seventeen lessons range from phonics and word recognition to fluency as well as an Initial Screening Assessment “that provides teachers with essential information about students’ education history, home language proficiency, and English language proficiency.” Also provided within the Teacher Resources tab is a Flexible Novel Unit allowing teachers to replace the novel suggested in the core curriculum with a novel differentiated for student needs. The Flexible Novel Unit provides a teacher planning dashboard, a student view of the adjusted embedded assessment, and a teacher view complete with marginalia guidance following the four-step Plan-Teach-Assess-Adapt protocol. Also provided within the Teacher Resources tab are materials for grammar instruction and interventions, graphic organizers (also provided in the Teacher Edition End Matter), and learning strategies.

Within the core curriculum, Planning the Unit, a detailed teacher tool is provided at the beginning of each unit. Planning Support for English Learners is included in the planning page and outlines “unit-specific resources for differentiation.” Found in this section of the unit planning are Digital Resource: English Language Development Activities correlated to specific text selections and unit activities, guidance on logging onto ELD resources on SpringBoard Digital, Leveled Differentiated Instruction providing “suggestions on how to differentiate challenging tasks for students at various levels of language proficiency,” and a Cognate Dictionary specifically designed for each unit. Also provided are directions for Unpacking the Language Demands of the Embedded Assessments, a resource unpacking the “word-, sentence-, and text-level features of academic language that English learners may need to develop as they work toward the Embedded Assessments.” Integrated into each unit are at least three English Language Development Activities which are “supplementary digital activities for every unit that offer a scaffolded approach to vocabulary study, guided close reading, and collaborative activities.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 3q. Grade 12 materials regularly include extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level.

The Leveled Differentiated Instruction call-out within Teacher Wrap offers opportunities to extend the learning for those students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level. For example, in Unit 1, Activity 9, Leveled Differentiated Instruction suggests teachers challenge students to select “another text from the unit and to describe their perception of themselves in the style of that author” rather than to revising “a few phrases or sentences from your quickwrite, or write new sentences, to practice using different syntax for effect.”

Occasionally, the Adapt step of Teacher Wrap or the Teacher to Teacher call-out will provide an extension for learning through a challenge. For example, in Unit 1, Activity 11, Adapt suggests teachers extend learning by asking students to analyze “multiple images from an ad campaign or create their own original commercials or print ads incorporating concepts from this activity (framing, angles, strategic placement of objects, rhetorical appeals).”

The materials reviewed for Grade 12 meet the criteria for Indicator 3r. Grade 12 materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.

Every lesson in the SpringBoard program offers opportunities for students to work in groups whether reading, writing, or speaking and listening about texts. “Specific strategies for collaboration and oral communication are taught and practiced leading to the development of independent, skillful conduct of academic discussions.” Both the Teacher Edition and the Student Edition regularly and repeatedly ask students to work as partners and in small groups. Among the means used to and for grouping are Think-Pair-Share, heterogeneous groups, simple partnering, forming small groups based on interest, working as whole class in discussions and guided writing, and forming jigsaw groups to build and share information and ideas. Additionally, students are grouped for purposes of peer editing and feedback, practice with speaking and speech delivery, and reading discussion groups.