ReadWorks Commitment to Accuracy

At ReadWorks, we are committed to building background knowledge and vocabulary necessary to support strong readers. As part of this commitment, we take the information we include in our texts extremely seriously. To ensure the accuracy of the information, we have a rigorous sourcing and fact-checking process in place for every new non-fiction text we write.

What does fact-checking at ReadWorks look like in practice?

First, we focus on sources. From the first draft of an article through its final fact check and publication, diligent sourcing is a requirement. Throughout this process, we make sure to use credible sources, paying close attention to possible biases or opinion statements within them. We also consult sources that come directly from authentic voices that accurately represent the people, topics, and places that our texts cover. This is a crucial part of our writing and fact-checking processes, and it ensures high-quality, culturally sensitive, and carefully researched texts on wide-ranging subjects.

We fact-check our drafts claim by claim, sentence by sentence. Every claim or stated fact in a draft text gets checked against two additional credible sources that can corroborate the information, beyond the sources used to draft the text. That means that if a claim isn’t supported by at least three different credible sources, it doesn’t make it onto our site. For direct quotes (from interviews, biographies, etc.), the wording is confirmed with original media and primary sources. 

Our writing and fact-checking processes also include careful and thoughtful research to ensure a broad understanding of a text’s topic. While fact-checking, one major goal is to check for what is missing—whether there are any gaps in claims or stated facts and whether the framing is appropriate and unbiased. This wider research also helps us to confirm that terminology or jargon is being used correctly. 

Creating well-researched, dependable texts is a team effort. Our expert editorial team collaborates on each new text across the writing, revision, and fact-checking processes in order to catch imprecisions, omissions, or other content issues before a text is published. In addition to applying these processes to the new texts we write, we are simultaneously conducting a review of older texts in our library. Our goal is to ensure that all of our texts remain factually accurate, up-to-date, and sensitive by current standards.  

The result of all this meticulous work is a library of texts that are not only engaging and grade-appropriate, but also reliable as sources of information and foundations for building further knowledge.

Trust what you teach. Explore ReadWorks’ library of free, fact-checked, research-based texts and bring quality content into your classroom today.

🔗 Start exploring now at ReadWorks.org

Written by: 
Manjula Raman, ReadWorks Senior Director of Content & Curriculum, and Senior DEI Coordinator and Paola Yuli, Content Specialist