Grade-level texts

When to use it

Use grade-level texts as the default for every EB student in content-area and ELA instruction, paired with scaffolds matched to the student's proficiency level. It is appropriate to expect independent or lightly supported reading of grade-level material at the High Intermediate and Advanced levels, where students have developed enough academic English to handle complex syntax and discipline-specific vocabulary. At earlier levels (Pre-Production through Intermediate), grade-level texts are still the target, but they should be entered through heavier scaffolding (shared/partner reading, audio, L1 previews, chunked excerpts) rather than replaced with below-grade substitutes that would deny students the academic language and content their peers receive. Avoid defaulting to permanently simplified texts, which can flatten academic vocabulary, lower expectations, and slow the very language growth the student needs.

How to implement it

1. 1Start from the grade-level text the whole class is using; identify the specific language demands (key academic vocabulary, complex sentence structures, text features) that may be barriers for each proficiency level, rather than rewriting the text down.
2. 2Amplify, do not simplify: add supports around the original text such as a marked-up copy with glossed terms, margin visuals, headings, a graphic organizer of the text structure, and a short L1 or plain-English summary of the gist before reading.
3. 3Build comprehension before reading by activating background knowledge, pre-teaching 5 to 8 high-leverage academic words with images and cognates (e.g., Spanish-English cognates such as analyze/analizar), and setting a clear purpose for reading.
4. 4Vary the mode of entry by proficiency: provide audio or read-aloud, paired/shared reading, and chunked excerpts for earlier levels; assign independent reading of the full text with comprehension supports for higher levels.
5. 5Keep tasks cognitively rigorous at every level; differentiate the language support and output format, not the intellectual demand or the standard being taught.
6. 6Plan a deliberate fade: track which scaffolds each student still needs and remove them as proficiency grows, moving students toward reading grade-level texts with only the universal supports all students use.
7. 7Monitor with formative checks (text-dependent questions, annotations, quick writes) to confirm students are comprehending the grade-level content and to decide when to reduce support.

Examples

• •A 7th-grade science teacher keeps the district textbook section on cell respiration for all students; for an Intermediate EB she adds a glossed copy with cognate notes (respiration/respiracioń), a labeled diagram, and a partner-reading routine, then removes the partner support a month later when the student reads the next section independently.
• •In an 11th-grade U.S. history class, every student reads the same primary-source excerpt from the Declaration of Independence; the teacher provides a Beginning-level EB with an audio recording, a chunked version with margin paraphrases, and an L1 summary of the main argument, while an Advanced EB reads the full document with only a class glossary.
• •A 4th-grade ELA class reads a grade-level novel; the teacher gives a Pre-Production newcomer the same book with picture-supported chapter summaries and lets him show comprehension by sequencing illustrated events, while keeping the literary analysis goal identical to the rest of the class.
• •A high school English teacher tracks scaffolds on a simple chart and, seeing that a High Intermediate student no longer uses the sentence frames or glossary, intentionally removes them so the student reads and annotates the grade-level essay with the same supports as peers.