Lourdes Lopez

EDES 6359
Spring 2020
An Analysis of Benchmark Advance

Claims

Benchmark Advance and Adelante, the reading companion for bi/multilingual learners,
was developed, submitted, and accepted to the California Reading Adoption in 2015-16
Academic year. By the 2017 school year, more than 180 school districts across four states had
adopted the program. Benchmark Advance claims
that the districts who use their program see a
growth in proficiency about two and a half times
larger than students who do not use the curriculum.
The figure to the right shows the growth between
districts who used the curriculum versus those who
did not in the 2017-18 academic year. The other
figure below shows the growth between students of
different ethnicities according to standardized tests.

Alignment with CA Reading/Language

Arts Framework

According to the California

Reading/Language Arts Framework,
learning should be “integrated,
motivating, engaging, respectful, and
intellectually challenging for all students”
(cite). The California Language Arts
Standards fall under five key themes:
“Making Meaning, Language Development, Effective Expression, Content Knowledge, and
Foundational Skills. In order for students to have the skills necessary to succeed in the 21st
century curriculum, instruction, and assessment in literacy needs to target the five standard
themes. The image below displays the circles of implementation of English Language Arts and
English Language Development Literacy Instruction.
 The Benchmark Advance Curriculum has designed components that target the five
themes of Literacy Instruction as listed by the California Reading/Language Arts framework.
The following is an overview of each component in the Benchmark Advance Curriculum.

Content Knowledge
Benchmark Advance has 10 units that remain consistent along all grade levels, K-6 and
that are created around an Essential Question. The purpose of the Essential Question is to guide
teachers in their delivery and planning of the unit and also to lead students to a deeper
understanding of the content. Benchmark also supports learning across different contents and not
only targets ELA standards but also Next Generation Science Standards, and History and Social
Science Standards with its units alternating between fiction and nonfiction and science and social
studies.

Making Meaning
To develop the skills of making meaning when reading, Benchmark has created 10 units
that consist of a predictable and consistent rhythm. Each unit has routines that build the habits of
readers and texts that require close analysis. Benchmark states that the units were backwards
mapped to ensure students reached all outcomes in the areas of literacy.

Foundational Skills
Benchmark has explicit and systematic instruction that lays the groundwork for literacy
achievement. In grade levels K-2nd, students receive explicit phonics and high frequency
instruction, develop fluency, and learn about print concepts. In grades 3-6 students work on
multi-syllabic phonics assignments and word analysis lessons that support vocabulary
development. All grade levels have Reader’s Theater books that help build fluency through
engaging scripts across all reading levels.

Language Development
Benchmark Advance has a curriculum called ​Adelante w ​ ith its own set of additional
materials that teachers can use either in small groups or through whole group English Language
Development instruction. Benchmark supports language development for all levels of English
Language Learners with the ELD program that is integrated and embedded throughout the
program. Every mini-lesson provides three levels of scaffolding intensity to support
bi/multilingual language learners.

Effective Expressions
The last component, Effective expression, is developed through tpp;s and instructional
resources that develop students into strong communicators. Each unit comes with
Think-Speak-Listen Flip Books ​that build collaborative conversation among students. There is
also an explicit writing instruction embedded throughout the program that guides students
through each step of the writing process and helps students learn to write in many genres and to
respond to their reading using academic language.

Ancillary Components
For Grades K-1
The ancillary Benchmark materials are more numerous in grades K and 1. The ancillary
materials for these grade levels are used to cover the explicit phonics instruction. These materials
include a sound alphabet chart, frieze cards, high-frequency word cards, decodable texts at
various levels for each phonics lesson and work mats with elkonin boxes.
In addition to the physical materials that Benchmark has, there is also an online portal
that contains all of these components as well as video guides that support teachers in using the
materials. In K-1 students also have access to Heidi Songs videos, which are videos that support
the learning of high frequency words through movement and popular tunes.

For Grades 2-6

As the students progress and move on from 1st grade, there are fewer phonics
manipulatives but each grade level has decodable texts to increase reading fluency that
correspond to each unit. In grades 2-6 each unit has a set of level texts to be used for reading and
comprehension during small groups.

All grades: K-6

One thing that remains the same for all grade levels is the availability of digital and print
resources to be used for intervention. There are intervention materials for fluency, language,
phonics and word recognition, phonological awareness and print concepts. Each grade level also
has extra digital and print materials to support English Language development for bi/multilingual
students.

Analysis:

From the information presented above it appears that Benchmark has created a reading
curriculum, through careful research and planning, that addresses the five themes of literacy
instruction according to the California Reading/Language Arts Framework. The Benchmark
Advance and ​Adelante​ reading curriculum were created to help teachers support all learners. The
online and print resources that Benchmark makes available to teachers aids them in scaffolding
literacy instruction while creating rigorous academic content that is accessible to many students.