Wit & Wisdom: Research in Action

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Wit & Wisdom® is a knowledge-building English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum for Grades K–8. Rooted in research and crafted to support all students, the curriculum emphasizes four key areas that research proves boost literacy achievement:

Reading Complex Texts
Building Knowledge and Vocabulary
Developing Skills for Comprehension
Developing Communication Skills Connected to Content

Read more about the research behind each, and see how Wit & Wisdom brings it to life in the classroom.

Reading Complex Texts

What the Research Says

“Performance on complex texts is the clearest differentiator in reading between students who are likely to be ready for college and those who are not” (ACT 16–17).

But as college and career reading expectations have held steady or increased, the complexity of Grades K–12 texts has declined (Adams 4–5; NGA Center and CCSSO 3).

What Wit & Wisdom Does

Students need to be able to unlock meaning from complex texts.

Instead of basals, Wit & Wisdom students read complex grade-level books they love, from classics such as The Story of Ferdinand and Animal Farm to new favorites such as Last Stop on Market Street and The Crossover to captivating nonfiction such as I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban and An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. Students use these texts at every turn to learn, and eventually master, essential reading, writing, speaking, listening, grammar, and vocabulary skills.

Building Knowledge and Vocabulary

What the Research Says

Students who usually struggle with reading can outperform those who usually score high—if they possess more knowledge of a text’s topic (Willingham).

Students acquire vocabulary much faster when reading numerous texts focused on one topic rather than a collection on scattered topics. In an effect known as bootstrapping, reading increasingly complex texts focused on a single topic allows students to access texts above their typical independent reading level by expanding relevant background knowledge and vocabulary (Adams 9–10).

Before students can flexibly apply a skill, such as determining main ideas or organizing an essay, they need multiple experiences working in meaningful contexts over extended periods of time (National Research Council 65–66).

What Wit & Wisdom Does

Students need topic-focused vocabulary and background knowledge.
Students need knowledge-rich experiences to develop skills and transfer them to new contexts.
Each Wit & Wisdom module focuses on an important, high-interest topic in literature, history/social studies, science, or the arts. Through carefully chosen literary, informational, and visual art texts, students examine each central topic from multiple angles. Across Grades K–8, significant topics strategically reoccur, establishing a foundation of background knowledge.

Developing Skills for Comprehension

What the Research Says

To comprehend any text, readers coordinate and execute a huge number of complex thinking processes (Frey and Fisher 18).

Each text’s unique attributes inform the varied questions, tasks, and standards students explore and practice with that text (Shanahan 9–11).

Successful readers hold a “standard for coherence,” expecting to understand each aspect of a text, from striking word choice to byzantine structure to puzzling allusions (Pearson and Liben 1).

Repeatedly progressing through a sequence of purposeful, predictable close-reading stages (Adler and Van Doren 46–48; Liben 1–9) can establish and enable that standard for coherence.

What Wit & Wisdom Does

Students need to develop the skills necessary to access any text they encounter.
Students need a process for reading, understanding, and analyzing complex texts.

Wit & Wisdom establishes a line of questioning to help students understand and discern the meaning of complex texts. Skill development follows a coherent sequence of English Language Arts standards while staying true to the demands of each individual text. Students employ many skills in service of understanding each text, while building mastery of a smaller number of focus standards that are particularly relevant to the specific texts within a module.

Developing Communication Skills Connected to Content

What the Research Says

Reading, writing, speaking, and listening are interrelated aspects of the same act: communicating ideas through language. When studied together, these strands reinforce one another (Graham and Perin 20–21; Hawkins et al. 14).

Content integration levels the playing field among students with different types of background knowledge by focusing on information gained through reading rather than through personal experience (Hawkins et al. 34–36).

What Wit & Wisdom Does

Students need an integrated approach to literacy and content to increase learning.

Wit & Wisdom takes an integrated approach to literacy, as the work students do with reading, thinking, speaking, listening, writing, vocabulary, and grammar all ties into the module’s topic or Essential Question. Teachers leverage the content knowledge students gain through the texts to support their abilities in other areas, such as having academic conversations or writing meaningfully and purposefully.

Take a closer look at Wit & Wisdom—access our Digital Review Kit.

ACT. Reading Between the Lines: What the ACT Reveals about College Readiness in Reading. ACT, 2006, Web. PDF.
Adams, Marilyn Jager. “Advancing Our Students’ Language and Literacy: The Challenge of Complex Texts.” American Educator, vol. 34, no. 4, 2011, pp. 3-11.
Adler, Mortimer J., and Charles Van Doren. How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading. Touchstone, 1972.
Frey, Nancy, and Douglas B. Fisher. Rigorous Reading: 5 Access Points for Comprehending Complex Texts. Corwin, 2013.
Graham, Steve, and Dolores Perin. Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools: A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Alliance for Excellent Education, Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2007, http://witeng.link/0138. PDF.
Hawkins, Joey, et al. Writing for Understanding: Using Backward Design to Help All Students Write Effectively. Authentic Education, 2008.
Liben, David. “Framework for Preparing, Implementing and Assessing Close Reading Lessons.” Achieve the Core, Student Achievement Partners, 20 May 2015. Web. 1 Aug. 2016.
National Governors Association for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. “Appendix A: Research Supporting Key Elements of the Standards, Glossary of Key Terms.” Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects, NGA Center and CCSSO, 2010, Web.
National Governors Association for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects, NGA Center and CCSSO, 2010, Web.
National Research Council. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition. The National Academies Press, 2000.
Pearson, P. David, and David Liben. “The Progression of Reading Comprehension.” Achieve the Core, Student Achievement Partners, 13 Aug. 2013, Web.
Shanahan, Timothy. “Letting the Text Take Center Stage: How the Common Core State Standards Will Transform English Language Arts Instruction.” American Educator, vol. 37, no. 3, 201, pp. 4-11.
Willingham, Daniel T. “How Knowledge Helps: It Speeds and Strengthens Reading Comprehension, Learning and Thinking.” American Educator, vol. 30, no. 1, 2006, Web.

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Great Minds PBC is a public benefit corporation and a subsidiary of Great Minds, a nonprofit organization. A group of education leaders founded Great Minds® in 2007 to advocate for a more content-rich, comprehensive education for all children. In pursuit of that mission, Great Minds brings together teachers and scholars to create exemplary instructional materials that provide joyful rigor to learning, spark and reward curiosity, and impart knowledge with equal parts delight.

Topics: English Curriculum Wit & Wisdom High-Quality Curriculum