A new, free-to-use reading curriculum is available now for educators working with grades 4-9!
R&D partner and AERDF Awardee, Read STOP Write, has created a research-backed, freely available curriculum resource to help students build comprehension and knowledge while reading complex informational texts. Led by a team of researchers at University at Buffalo and Michigan State University, the Read STOP Write project has developed and tested a new curriculum with teachers and students that integrates instruction in evidence-based practices for teaching multisyllabic decoding, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and writing.
The curriculum includes lesson plans, slide decks, and student materials, with 24 weeks of lessons for grades 4-5 and 12 weeks of lessons in grades 6-9. It is the outcome of AERDF’s signature R&D model – an approach that compresses traditional R&D timelines from decades to just 3–5 years, so students benefit now, not later, and systems evolve faster.
Read STOP Write’s curriculum grew out of the same evidence base that informed a 2024 partnership between AERDF’s flagship R&D program, Reading Reimagined, and ETS.
At AERDF, our goal is to create a virtuous cycle from research to development and back again. While confirming the decoding threshold is an important milestone, it is equally important that organizations like Read STOP Write are funded to create scalable solutions aimed at solving this problem for educators and students.
Read STOP Write directly addresses these challenges by embedding instruction in foundational literacy skills, including multisyllabic decoding, vocabulary, and fluency, within ambitious instruction focused on promoting comprehension and writing in response to grade-level texts – delivered in ready-to-use lesson plans, slides, and student materials.
At AERDF, we accelerate discovery, development, and diffusion, ensuring innovations move efficiently from idea to classroom and evolve through real-world use. This new curriculum is just one example. By building the infrastructure, partnerships, and national capacity, we ensure bold discoveries go beyond the lab or academic journals, reaching classrooms and transforming learning.
📚 Explore and share the free curriculum!
🔍 Learn more about the decoding threshold research.
