We hear it all the time – enCORE teachers and students love the adapted library books and companion texts! The hundreds of titles across K-12 offer students an equitable, inclusive literary experience comparable to general education.
Today, we are pleased to announce the completion of an update to the enCORE Adapted Library: All K-12 enCORE Adapted Library books are now available in a “without icons” version at all levels, both in PDF form and in the e-Reader form. All companion texts for grades 6-12 as well as enCORE Events Newsletters and This Just In! breaking news resources have always had text versions available without icons.
As literacy research for students with disabilities has developed, the use of icons to support emergent and conventional literacy goals has been minimized in favor of conventional orthography. Orthography is the set of conventions for a written language, including spelling, punctuation, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and emphasis.
Research has shown that students with disabilities benefit from instruction in the same evidence-based reading and writing skills that are used with their typically-developing peers. These skills include systematic, explicit instruction in phonics; phonological and phonemic awareness; vocabulary; fluency; and text comprehension. To learn how enCORE ELA aligns with the key components of the Science of Reading in all grades across all levels, check out these resources:
At TeachTown, we believe the journey from recognizing letters to fluent reading and comprehension is one that every child, including students with moderate to severe disabilities, can partake in. While the definition of reading success will look different for different students, all students deserve access to rich stories and informative texts to learn about the world.
To this end, the ultimate goal of the ELA domain across enCORE K12 is to build comprehension skills that allow students to make meaning of texts. By providing adapted, accessible texts across all Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 books, all students have the opportunity to apply their growing knowledge of phonics and phonological awareness skills alongside vocabulary acquisition to solve new words and comprehend the story.
Text complexity refers to the level of challenge a text presents to readers. It is typically determined by a combination of qualitative, quantitative, and reader/task-related factors.
Together, these dimensions help educators determine the appropriateness of a text for a particular student or learning objective, ensuring it aligns with both the developmental readiness of students and the goals of instruction.
In enCORE, text complexity increases across Level, Unit, and Grade Band. Level 1 texts present fewer words, shorter sentences, simpler vocabulary, and correspond to lower Lexile levels. Level 3 texts have increasingly more complex characteristics across qualitative, quantitative, and task considerations. See an example below from enCORE Middle School with Levels 1, 2, and 3 for the non-fiction text, George Washington Carver: The Plant Doctor, written by TeachTown. Notice the change from Level 1 to Level 3.
Icons are visual cues that can supplement written content. They are a communication and comprehension tool, making it easier for some students to understand concepts from written text. They are not intended to help students decode words or apply their growing knowledge of phonics and phonological awareness skills.
The TeachTown curriculum team is developing decodable texts that are planned to begin releasing at the start of SY 25-26. Decodable texts will serve as additional practice opportunities to support phonics instruction and phonemic awareness (PA) skills in order to build reading fluency.
The decodable texts are designed to complement the existing systematic instruction on phonics & PA skills practice within enCORE, and will follow the ELA scope and sequence to make instruction seamlessly connected. Every lesson plan within every unit will include previously taught sight words and phonics skills, making it easy to incorporate into your instructional routines. This work will initially focus on the elementary-age population. Stay tuned for more information regarding release, quantity, and samples!
These curriculum enhancements in enCORE ELA reflect our continued commitment to providing the very best adapted core curriculum for students with moderate to severe disabilities.