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Dr. Susanne Nobles on the Power of Grade-Level Texts
Research indicates that limiting students to below-grade-level texts can hinder their progress, a phenomenon known as the "Matthew effect," where students who are behind continue to fall further behind. To address this, ReadWorks offers resources like StepReads—simplified versions of grade-level texts—and the Article-A-Day routine, which includes daily reading assignments to build background knowledge and vocabulary. Read Dr. Nobles' full perspective here.  Explore Our Newest Content
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Happy Earth Day! Today—and every day—is the perfect time to spark curiosity and conversations about our incredible planet. Whether you’re in the classroom, learning at home, or exploring the outdoors, ReadWorks has free resources to help students build knowledge and vocabulary around Earth, the environment, and how we can take care of both.
🌿 Explore Earth Day Articles for Every Age From how trees communicate underground to the science of climate change, ReadWorks offers hundreds of engaging, high-quality nonfiction and fiction texts related to:
Browse K-12 Earth & Environment content on ReadWorks 🎨 Join Our Earth Day Illustration Contest! We’re celebrating Earth Day with our annual ReadWorks Illustration Contest! Invite your students to read any Earth-themed article on ReadWorks, then create an original illustration inspired by what they learned. ✅ Download your Earth Day Participation Certificate here: Earth Day Certificate 🖼️ Share your students’ reading or creating their illustrations on social media using: #EarthDayWithReadWorks We love to celebrate student work and the amazing ways you bring ReadWorks to life in your classroom! While debates swirl around the federal role in education, it is important to remember that we all have at least one shared goal: helping students learn to read at grade-level. Yet, bringing grade-level texts to all readers requires providing supportive instruction for those who are not yet confident grade-level readers, and this level of differentiated instruction is a very real challenge for teachers. ReadWorks has developed research-based resources to help teachers achieve our shared goal of grade-level reading for all. The Grade-level Gap First, let’s look at the research. The negative impact of working with only below-grade-level materials on students’ chances of becoming successful readers is clear. For example, when a fourth-grade student only reads second-grade texts, they have only practiced second-grade skills and, therefore, fall further behind their on-grade peers who are practicing fourth-grade skills (Shanahan, 2020). Researchers have labeled this the “Matthew effect:” the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer (Perc, 2020; Merton, 1968). Students need to work with grade-level texts to encounter the vocabulary, sentence structures, and genres that come with ever-increasing text complexity, even if they are not currently reading independently at that level. However, just because these findings are clear does not mean that it is clear to teachers how to support students in tackling grade-level work. In our 2022 research study with TNTP, we found that, in schools serving more students in poverty, students got less access to grade-level work. This builds on TNTP’s 2018 report The Opportunity Myth where researchers found that students—and especially students of color, those from low-income families, those with mild to moderate disabilities, and English language learners—spent the vast majority of their school days missing out on grade-appropriate assignments. Balancing Expectations and Support One of the key considerations is student motivation because tackling challenging reading is, well, challenging! And as humans, we are not naturally wired to want to do things that we think we might fail at. Motivation researchers have found that a sense of success can help us move past this fear of failure. A 2024 study, one of Edutopia’s top research studies of the year, found that “remembered success” can be a “straightforward, cost-effective way to increase the likelihood that students will choose to engage in and persist at [difficult] tasks” (Finn, Miele, & Wigfield, 2024). Providing easier material at the start or end of an assignment can give students the motivation to tackle more challenging material. How ReadWorks Promotes Grade-level Reading for All ReadWorks has distilled all of this critical research into two straightforward resources for teachers to use in their classrooms the very next day. First, our StepReads center grade-level texts for all readers alongside scaffolded texts as a tool for both accessing the grade-level text and developing a sense of success. When a teacher assigns StepReads, students receive both the grade-level texts and carefully written scaffold texts, the StepReads, that contain all of the content of the original text within less complex syntax and vocabulary. By reading the StepRead, students become familiar with the focus of the original text and more equipped, both with this background knowledge and with their feeling of success, to tackle the grade-level text, either through reading or listening (all ReadWorks texts come with audio). Our Article-A-Day routine also pairs easier texts on the same topic with grade-level texts to give students an on-ramp to tackling more challenging reading. With our simple filters, teachers can readily find the hundreds of Article-A-Day sets with these “boost” articles, and then with our digital classroom, they can assign them directly to the students who need the support. These resources are a win-win-win of research-based instruction:
Written by: Susanne Nobles Ph.D.Chief Academic Officer at ReadWorks
This past fall, we partnered with our friends at Storyshares to launch an exciting creative writing contest for middle schoolers: The ReadWorks Story Reimagined Award. We challenged young writers to craft an alternate ending to our popular fiction series, Hacked!—a thrilling cliffhanger that’s kept readers on the edge of their seats.
We’re thrilled to share that the contest was a huge success! We received an incredible range of entries that explored new twists, bold character choices, and creative conclusions. It was inspiring to see how students reimagined Hacked! through their own unique voices. And the Winner Is…
We’re proud to announce the winner of this year’s ReadWorks Story Reimagined Award: Ella Pereira for the story “The Maniac.”
In this gripping alternate ending, protagonists Fatima and Brianna set out on an urgent mission—but nothing goes according to plan. Ella weaves a tense and mysterious narrative full of suspense, unexpected revelations, and a shocking twist that flips the story on its head. Will Fatima make it to the competition in time? You’ll have to read it to find out! Read the original Hacked! series on ReadWorks—available for free and perfect for grades 6–9. Then, dive into Ella’s award-winning story with this printable PDF of “The Maniac” or the version below to see how one student reimagined the ending with creative flair and narrative power.
The Maniac - Ella Pereira by Rebecca Vaughn
We are so excited to celebrate student voice and storytelling through this contest, and we’re grateful to all the young authors who shared their imagination with us. Special thanks to Storyshares for being a part of this wonderful collaboration. For our younger students, we are hosting a fun Earth Day Illustration contest with our friends at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation open for students in grades 2-5 right now! Read More.  Kindergarten teacher Jenn faced a challenge familiar to many educators—a classroom full of little learners during a loud, stormy day. Teacher Jenn is located in western Pennsylvania, where weather can be wild and a common topic among her students. As thunder rumbled outside, one of her students, James, became especially frightened. Wanting to comfort and engage him, Jenn had an idea. She remembered that James was a strong reader for his age, so she logged onto ReadWorks and searched for Kindergarten level reading passages about thunder, lightning, and weather. Not only was James instantly engaged and distracted from his fears, but he also built his confidence and background knowledge on the very thing that had scared him. Learning about the science behind storms helped him feel more at ease—and he even got in some extra reading time! Moments like this remind us of the power of reading to transform emotions, spark curiosity, and provide comfort—all while building essential literacy skills. Click on the text or the images below to see the passages the teacher Jenn used to help James: Want to find the perfect ReadWorks passage for your students? Explore our free library today. |
