by Elfrieda (Freddy) H. Hiebert 
We recently launched BackgroundBuilders, a collection of text sets that develop high-interest topics, while providing support for essential vocabulary. These text sets join 1,000 other texts at TextProject. All of these texts are aligned to our mission: supporting background knowledge while strengthening word recognition.
Even at the earliest stages, TextProject texts support knowledge acquisition as well as word recognition. Some beginning reading programs consist of texts with sentences like: “Pam had a big fig. Nan had a wig.” At TextProject, we believe that students deserve better than repetitive nonsense.
Our resources, including those for beginning readers—BeginningReads and TopicReads-Primary— ensure students master decoding through meaningful content. Instead of repetitive nonsense, a TextProject text states: “A hat has a brim. A brim of a hat blocks the sun.”
At TextProject, we believe that students deserve better than repetitive nonsense.
This approach is validated by a recent meta-analysis by Young-Suk Kim and Yucheng Cao. They found that teaching content knowledge improves reading comprehension—meaning your science and social studies lessons are literacy lessons.
The “Game-Changer” in their research was Knowledge Activation. When teachers prompted students to connect existing knowledge to new texts, comprehension gains were substantial (effect size 0.66). Simply building knowledge without teaching students how to access it showed a less rigorous effect (0.19).
By combining rigorous word recognition support with rich knowledge, we create readers who don’t just “word-call,” but truly understand.
Teacher’s Tip
The “Activate & Connect” Routine
To put the Kim and Cao (2025) research into practice, try this two-minute routine before students read a TextProject passage:
The Look-Ahead
- Have students scan the text.
- Ask: “Our book today is about hats. Think about the hats you wear. How are your summer hats different from the hats you wear when it’s cold?”
The “Why” Connection
- Briefly explain how this text connects to a previous lesson (e.g., “Yesterday we learned about weather; today we’re reading about how hats protect us from the sun“).
The Vocabulary Bridge
- Point out a content word (like brim or cool) and ask students to use it in a sentence about their own lives before they begin reading.
Read the Research
Kim, Y. S. G., & Cao, Y. (2025). Content knowledge and comprehension: A meta-analytic review of correlational and causal associations. Psychological Bulletin, 151(10), 1219.
