The little turtle can see the grass. The little turtle can see the trees. The little turtle can see the flowers.
These are the opening lines to one popular reading program鈥檚 leveled books: short, predictable texts designed for beginning readers. The patterned sentence structure鈥攃entered on the phrase 鈥渢he little turtle can see"鈥攊nvites students to rely on repetition and context clues to identify words they can鈥檛 sound out.
Leveled books have been a staple in early elementary reading instruction for more than two decades, with 61 percent of K-2 and special education teachers having said that they use them for small group work in a 2019 EdWeek Research Center survey.
But as the 鈥渟cience of reading鈥� movement has spread, these texts have come under fire. Initially, they encourage students to guess at words rather than use their phonics skills, researchers say, which can prevent children from mapping the letter-sound connections that allow them to become fluent readers.
A second problem is how they sort students into levels. Studies have shown that leveling systems鈥攖he proprietary systems usually created by the books鈥� publishers which purport to match students with books that have a just-right alignment with their reading comprehension abilities鈥攁re frequently inaccurate.
For schools and teachers who have spent years building classroom libraries of leveled books, this shift can feel destabilizing. Do they need to toss hundreds of books in the dumpster? Or, even if these texts shouldn鈥檛 be used to teach beginning reading, can teachers use them in other ways?
In classrooms that are switching to a science of reading approach, educators are now wary of their leveled books, because of 鈥渢he damage that they did,鈥� said Wiley Blevins, an educational consultant and the author of several books on phonics instruction.
When children are still learning the code of written language, there needs to be a 鈥渢ight connection鈥� between the letter-sound correspondences they鈥檙e learning and the text they鈥檙e reading, so that they have opportunities to practice, he said. Leveled texts can鈥檛 do this job.
The text-difficulty levels also don鈥檛 offer much practical use, he said鈥攖hey don鈥檛 tell educators what skills students still need to master, for example.
But that doesn鈥檛 mean kids can鈥檛 ever pick up these books, he said.
What are leveled texts?
In many of the most popular reading programs of the last decade, leveled readers were the some of the main texts that children worked with.
Teachers used the books for instruction, grouping students by their level and assigning them reading strategies to practice in the text. They have also been used for assessment. Teachers listened to students read these books aloud, keeping a running record of their errors.
Publishers claimed that the text-leveling system could match students with books that were 鈥渏ust right鈥� for their abilities鈥攃hallenging enough to help them practice new skills, but not so challenging as to be frustrating or inaccessible.
This idea is based on outdated theories about how children learn. Studies show students can read books that are above their level with and support. Restricting students to text at lower reading levels can actually widen achievement gaps.
Other research has found that the leveling system isn鈥檛 even that accurate. A 2014 study showed that data from leveling assessments correctly predicted students鈥� reading ability only about 50 percent of the time.
The big problem with these books, though, is that they don鈥檛 help students develop their decoding skills鈥攖heir ability to sound out words by connecting letters to spoken sounds, said Kari Kurto, the National Science of 69传媒 Project director at The 69传媒 League, a group that advocates for evidence-based reading policy and classroom practice.
Many of the words in these books aren鈥檛 written with constrained sound-spelling patterns, so 鈥渢here鈥檚 no other strategy that a kid can use other than guessing,鈥� Kurto said. In lessons with leveled text, students are often encouraged to predict what words might say based on sentence structure, story context, or picture clues, a method called three-cueing.
Some states have passed legislation or issued guidance that targets these texts specifically.
In Indiana, for example, the state department of education approved several early reading curricula with the stipulation that districts .
In addition to Indiana, have banned lessons that teach three-cueing.
At least one publisher, HMH, . The set of materials was sold as a supplemental resource that could be used with Into 69传媒, a core English/language arts program that the company advertises as 鈥渟cience-backed instruction.鈥�
Katie Marshall, a spokesperson for the company, said that the decision to 鈥渞etire鈥� the books was 鈥渂ased on the age of the product and business demand.鈥�
How teachers can repurpose leveled readers
As some districts have shifted their reading instructional practice, they have moved from leveled to decodable text鈥攂ooks written to give students practice with the letter-sound correspondences that they are learning in phonics lessons.
But decodable books shouldn鈥檛 be the only books that students ever see, said Blevins.
At some point, students move on to more complex literature. In between鈥攐nce students have mastered some of the code, but while they still need lots of practice reading fluently鈥攍eveled texts could play a role, he said.
Teachers shouldn鈥檛 worry about matching students with a particular level, he added, but rather see if they can find books that include some phonics patterns children know.
Many kids are ready to make this transition by the middle of 1st grade, though it varies from child to child, Blevins said.
Or, leveled readers could be used for other purposes in an English/language arts context beyond reading lessons.
The Right to Read, a group of educators and researchers that advocates for equitable literacy instruction, with suggestions for using leveled readers as writing prompts, grammar instruction, spelling practice, and examples of writing conventions.
Can leveled texts build background knowledge?
Some educators have repurposed leveled texts in a different way, using them to help students develop content knowledge about a subject. Research shows that students鈥� background knowledge is a key component of their reading comprehension ability.
And in general, having more books available that might tap into kids鈥� different interests is valuable, said Kurto, of The 69传媒 League. 鈥淚t鈥檚 great to have materials in the classroom that the kids who are automatic with the code can use,鈥� she said.
Liz Schriver, a former intervention coach in Cabarrus County schools in North Carolina, took this approach. 鈥淲e really don鈥檛 need to buy all new and abandon everything,鈥� she told Education Week in 2022.
At the time, her district was implementing a new, evidence-based curriculum and accompanying instructional materials. Instead of ditching the old leveled texts, she worked with teachers to group the texts by subject area, rather than purported reading level.
Teachers could pull these books for lessons about rainforests or weather systems, for example, or students who were already fluent decoders could read them independently.
Still, Kurto cautioned that many leveled books are written with simple themes and basic vocabulary and syntax.
鈥淎 lot of the leveled texts are just a little fluffy. They鈥檙e about not very interesting stories,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f all [students are] getting beyond decodable text is leveled text, then it鈥檚 likely that they鈥檙e not being exposed to high-quality language and language structures.鈥�
Other options would be better for whole-class instruction, she said.
鈥淲e want to have high expectations for our students, and we have very limited instructional time,鈥� Kurto said. 鈥淲hat they鈥檙e reading in class really matters.鈥�
