Editor’s note: This article is part of the series The Right Tool for the Job: Improving Reading and Writing in the Classroom that provides in-depth reviews of several promising digital tools for English language arts classrooms.
Curriculet is tagged as “the best independent reading program available. Period.” But does it live it up to its promise? Let’s take a look at its key strengths and weaknesses.
Organization and content
Curriculet’s content is organized logically and is well written and clear, for students and teachers alike. However, though there is a basic search function to locate book titles, it could be greatly improved by enhanced sorting and refining options (such as filtering by individual grade and cost simultaneously).
Because the books come from reputable publishers, I found all of them to be high quality and age appropriate (they are digital versions of the same books that can be bought in bookstores). There are a wide range of text types, as called for by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and the questions and tasks are very text dependent (that is, they require students to refer back to the text to answer). Unfortunately, Curriculet does not currently provide questions, videos, and annotations for every Common Core standard, so one may strike out if searching for a specific standard.
Another challenge is that Curriculet’s texts are not sequenced in a particular way, other than by grade-level range, and that they do not build on one another sequentially or increase in complexity, leaving it up to the teacher to use them appropriately. Depending on the books that are selected and the content of the curriculum, curriculets can be integrated into a larger curriculum set or other classroom resources and teachers can add their own higher- or lower-level questions and annotations (a note of explanation or comment added to a text or diagram). The USA Today articles are well organized and visually appealing but not terribly timely (for instance, when I searched for current events topics, such as the presidential election, I found articles from April 2015 about Marco Rubio but not much else more recent). However, I loved that I could click on elementary, middle, or high school levels to see similar content at different levels, much like the offerings at Newsela.
Usability and features
Overall, Curriculet is fairly straightforward for teachers to use. Once teachers have set up a new class on the site and invited students to enroll, they can go to the Curriculet store and start selecting texts. They can search by categories, such as classics, fantasy, and nonfiction; by texts that are free and/or labeled “99¢ titles;” and by grade levels, starting with grades 3–4 up to grades 11–12. I searched free titles first, as I think most teachers would do, but I did not see many titles that would work for third graders. Instead, I searched grades 3–4 and was provided titles that range in cost from $0.99 for two months to $4.40 for three months, which I assume means it is a rental rather than a purchase. I would have appreciated a way to sort the books by price once I was in the appropriate grade level, but that is not an option. The only free books that were appropriate for lower grades were those linked to ReadWorks.org, a site that my colleague Shannon Garrison reviews here.
Overall, Curriculet provides an engaging, interactive experience for students, though I strongly suggest that students use this resource on a computer rather than a mobile device for ease of use. While the website claims otherwise, I had a difficult time accessing the materials on my iPhone and iPad. When I logged in as a test student on my phone, for example, it was quite difficult to navigate through the pages of the book. Google Chrome is the suggested web browser for this program, though others work fine.
In terms of the full teacher experience, it initially took me a while to understand the way Curriculet is organized, so I experienced a significant learning curve when trying to set it up and get going. Although there are printed guides that may help teachers through the set up process, several steps were especially time consuming, such as figuring out how to set up a class and student list, how to have students sign up using the given codes, how to add books to a digital library, and how to find the data once students began completing assignments. Once I surmounted that initial learning curve, however, I could confidently say that it is easy for teachers and students to use (even third graders, such as my own).
A major strength is that the student performance data that the site provides is useful and easy to understand. Students can access texts at school or at home, so I could see giving assignments that kids need to complete as homework and then spending time in class debriefing and fostering discussions about the questions. Because the site sells rentals for teachers and students, I could also see using this resource in class to offer guided reading instruction, where the teacher is reading along with the students and providing instruction on decoding, oral accuracy, metacognition, and overall understanding.
Cost
I found Curriculet’s pricing system to be quite confusing. Curriculet offers unlimited use of books and articles for $24.99 per student per year, which makes the pricing clearer for budgetary purposes but is a hefty cost for a classroom of thirty or more students. Teachers can also purchase individual texts, but it is unclear whether they can use these texts with all students in their classes or just one student (I emailed Curriculet’s technical-support team several weeks ago, but have not heard back). The prices and rental length vary, so it is difficult for teachers to predict how many resources they’ll need for their students (and how much they will cost). This is a particular challenge for schools and classrooms with limited budgets (and aren’t they all?). For example, I receive a certain amount of funding from our school’s PTA to use toward whatever classroom resources or materials I may need. If I commit to using Curriculet, I have no way of knowing how far those funds will take me because I may need to purchase five books or twenty-five books, depending on my students’ needs. Or sometimes teachers ask parents to pay a specific amount for a resource at the beginning of the year. It would be difficult for teachers to make this request of parents if the teacher cannot anticipate how many books a student might need or how much they will each cost, unless they commit to the $24.99 yearly per-student cost. In my opinion, there are not enough free books to commit to Curriculet as a dedicated resource for the school year.
Free text experience
Despite my dissatisfaction with pricing, I wanted to give Curriculet a fair shot. I decided to try a free book and pay for a book to glean differences in how teachers can use each. As the only free options for my third graders were ReadWorks books, I added one of those to my classroom library. I chose a ReadWorks passage called Experiments, which focuses on conducting food experiments. When I access the book from my teacher page, I like that I can see the book cover, its Lexile (or reading ability) level, questions that will be asked of the reader, and quizzes that are built in (as well as a preview of each). Suggested answers for the question set are also included, which is especially helpful. Teachers can also edit the Curriculet activities that are already provided or add their own, but because most teachers want something that is already created (and the ones I tried seemed sufficient), I decided to stick with what I had.
To get a sense of a student’s experience, I logged in as a test student on my iPhone and moved through the same ReadWorks text. Navigating was initially difficult, but once I figured out how to swipe through the pages, a multiple-choice question popped up on the third page. I intentionally answered it incorrectly and the site corrected my answer and prompted me to try again. The second time a question popped up it was a constructed response where I had to type in my answer. I wrote something that didn’t any sense and was told my answer had been submitted (but did not receive further feedback). At the end of the text, I was prompted to take a quiz, and was given an overall score at the end. The quizzes would be helpful to foster accountability for the students and provide feedback to the teachers, which aren’t typically included in most printed books and texts.
Another particularly useful feature is that teachers can use Curriculet to track student progress. A data tab appears after students have completed accomplished tasks. Once I clicked on the data tab, I had to select the class, then the assignment, and then the test student. Though it took a while to get there, the data were clear and useful. I was able to see the student’s average quiz grade, average time on task reading and interacting with the book, the percentage of homework each student completed, and the percentage who responded to Curriculet’s embedded questions. I was also able to review the student’s answers to the open-ended questions and comment with feedback, which is important and clearly a strength of the program (though it’s up to teachers to share this feedback with students).
Paid text experience
Next I assigned the $0.99 book, The One and Only Ivan. The teacher page indicated that this book would be accompanied by sixty-five questions, fifteen annotations, and three quizzes. That seemed a bit overwhelming, but in contrast to the free text I tested out, this is a lengthy chapter book that could be broken up and assigned over a longer period of time. Navigating through the pages on the iPhone as the student was just as difficult with the paid text as with the free text. Questions worked the same way, both for multiple-choice and open-ended questions. I noticed a new photo icon that included information that supported the photo and the text of the book, which is a great feature that did not appear in the free version. As mentioned in my previous post, in Ivan, the author makes reference to a “mighty silverback,” and when students click on the photo icon, they get an explanation of that type of gorilla. I wanted to skip ahead and could do so by touching the Curriculet icon in the corner, selecting the table of contents, and choosing a chapter from the end. After I completed the book as a student, the report I received as the teacher was the same as with the free book, except with a larger number of questions and quizzes. The paid resources definitely add a level of depth to the books and greater variety of information and activities for the students, so there is added benefit to paying more, as one would expect. Ideally, the unlimited yearly subscription for each student would be the best way to go if the school could afford it, and then teachers would have an almost endless, incredible digital library for instruction and assessment at their fingertips.
Summarizing Curriculet’s strengths and weaknesses
In terms of Curriculet’s biggest weaknesses, initial setup of this tool is challenging, confusing, and time consuming. Every second of a teacher’s day is valuable, so resources need to be clear and efficient. The various cost options are also somewhat confusing and, as described earlier, would be difficult for schools with firm budget restrictions (it would be simper if the site had a flat subscription fee that could provide endless access to the great books that are available, for example). The ease of use on devices is pretty poor, as well, so students would need computers to get the most out of Curriculet. And finally, an improved search function would help teachers find specific resources more readily.
If one can get past those four flaws, the system has many strengths. As a teacher, I love that there are thousands of high-quality books and news articles available with built-in questions, annotations, and quizzes written by educators and aligned with the CCSS. The student-level data collected by the site are really helpful and provide accountability for students as well as instructional guidance for teachers. As such, Curriculet can be a powerful tool as a supplemental reading resource, but given its current functionality (and cost), it falls short of being “the best independent reading program available.”
Melody Arabo is a third-grade teacher in Michigan, a National Education Association (NEA) Master Teacher, a Michigan Educator Voice Fellow, the 2015 Michigan Teacher of the Year, and a 2016 Teaching Ambassador Fellow for the U.S. Department of Education.