Comparing Reading Research to Program Design: An Examination of Teachers College Units of Study

This report examines a program widely used in schools: Units of Study from the Teachers College Reading & Writing Project. Seven literacy experts conducted independent reviews of the program focused on their individual areas of expertise: phonics and fluency, text complexity, building knowledge and vocabulary, and English learner supports. Each of the reviews is a detailed, research-based discussion of how the components, features, and structures of Units of Study compare to what is called for by existing research on literacy instruction.

Commmentary:

Sandra Wilde‎ to The War Report on Public Education

This report, which recently came out from the Common Core gang, is a hatchet job meant to discredit a literacy program that has been around for decades and consists of professional books for teachers. It comes from Teachers College at Columbia University, not a commercial publisher. Many schools that use it are able to hire consultants affiliated with Teachers College to help them implement it. I skimmed the report, and it gave me the feeling that hired guns were employed to nitpick for as much negative detail as possible. I know from previous comments that Tim Shanahan has made on his blog that he has no understanding of Calkins’ work. I believe that the issuing of this report is deeply political and meant to further consolidate the monopoly of CCSS-aligned materials.