Case Study: Foundations A-Z Decodable Books
Grades: K–2
Services:
Content Development; Illustration; Photo Research; Production; Project Management
Subject: ELA
Awards:
EdReports Verification; Tech & Learning Award of Excellence
Project Brief
Learning A–Z approached CSA to write and edit decodable books, for grades K–2, with targeted phonics skills and identified high-frequency words. The books were aimed to address a module question in the corresponding lesson plans and were a balance of fiction and nonfiction.
Process
CSA put together a top-notch team of contract writers, editors, designers, art acquisition, and photo researchers that were managed by an internal CSA Project Manager, Content Lead, and Design Manager. The communication and collaboration between the CSA and client teams was wonderful. The CSA team was involved from pitching topics through production and locking PDFs. CSA writers pitched book topics based on the target skills for the books and the weekly questions as outlined in the client’s scope & sequence.
The greatest challenge in this project was the number of variables incorporated in the decodable books:
- high-frequency words
- new and review phonics skills
- decodability ranges
- topics related to the client’s scope and sequence
- 50/50 fiction to nonfiction balance at each grade level
- fiction books to include photos and nonfiction books to include illustrations
- In addition to the variables above, every fourth book rhymed to promote fluency.
This project allowed CSA’s editorial and design teams to seamlessly integrate with the client team.
Highlights
This program won EdReports Verification and a Tech & Learning Award of Excellence in the 2023 Back to School Primary Education category in 2023. CSA developed 84 decodable books for this project, and every fourth book was developed in poem form to promote fluency and prosody.
From the client
— Learning A–Z
