An Analysis of Student Skills and Teacher Practices Across Writing Textbooks in Grades 4 and 5

The purpose of this study was to examine the skills and types of instruction present within four commonly used writing textbooks at grades four and five via content and quantitative analyses. Determining the presence of standards-based skills and evidence-based practices may help shed light on the effectiveness and quality of these curricula. The textbooks under investigation included HMH Into Reading Texas for grades 4 and 5 (HMH; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020), and Texas myView Literacy for grades 4 and 5 (Pearson; Pearson Education, 2020). Findings indicated a lack of focus on composing for a variety of purposes, and a lack of explicit modeling instruction across all textbooks. The majority of activities appeared to be independent student work. Conclusions and recommendations for future research are provided with an emphasis on what is known about evidence-based instruction, and what needs to be included in writing textbooks for student achievement to improve.