From Pilot to Progress: Lenses on Literature® Unlocks Student Success

Massachusetts English Teachers Faced Instructional Isolation

(left) Jamie Vitonis, coordinator of ELA and Literacy; and Matthew McGee, English teacher and instructional coach

At Brockton High School in Massachusetts, English teachers faced a stark reality: no comprehensive curriculum, limited time for collaboration, and a high percentage of students not meeting or only partially meeting state assessment expectations.

The Challenge: A Curriculum Conundrum

Teachers used familiar books from the approved list and developed lessons independently. However, with little time for department meetings, limited dedicated in-service time, and a lack of collaborative planning opportunities, creating from-scratch literacy experiences was difficult. 

“It became an equity issue in a lot of ways, where student education in English was dependent on the teacher they got,” said Matthew McGee, who serves as both an English teacher and the department’s Instructional Coach at Brockton. “That’s not helpful for anyone.”

“Out of necessity, teachers had to plan lessons in silos,” said Jamie Vitonis, coordinator of English Language Arts and Literacy for grades 9-12. “Without having a curriculum in place, teachers are on their own to find the support they need. It was unrealistic for teachers to be on the same page, especially when they didn't have a guide.”

The Pilot: A Tale of Two Solutions

The remedy for the 3,700-student high school? A structured, standards-based ELA solution featuring high-quality instructional materials offering cohesiveness and consistency across the various sections. They just had to find it.

In fall 2024, the curriculum team decided to pilot two solutions for grades 9-12 at both the high school and the Brockton Virtual Learning Academy. They began with Lenses on Literature^®, followed by a unit from another company. Once complete, they implemented their second Lenses unit and made their final decision.

The winning literacy solution needed to “check the boxes” by featuring:

• A cohesive, research-based approach
• Standards-driven tasks
• Complex, grade-level texts 
• A purposeful, rigorous literacy experience 
• Embedded professional development for teachers

The Decision: Last One Standing

Lenses on Literature checked them all and emerged as the clear winner.

“You see the benefits of one by seeing what’s lacking in the others,” said Vitonis. “We had a good sense from the teachers that the cohesion really came out with Lenses. That’s not something all products have. Curriculum materials can go off the rails because a lot of times they are trying to stick so many standards in one place that it doesn’t make sense.”

“The other product’s curriculum wasn’t up to par,” agreed McGee. “Lenses has more student access points, more opportunities for discussion, more opportunities for collaboration, more opportunities to read and re-read, and it doesn’t have the staleness you often get from a lot of repetition.”

He continued, “Lenses eliminated the need for teachers to find ancillary material to bring the students greater knowledge of the task at hand. The supplemental readings are very nicely packaged and tightly wound around the core concept you’re driving at.”

The Research: Transformative Growth, Measurable Impact

Lenses on Literature emerged from a fundamental question: How can we design instruction from the assumption that every student can read, think, and write creatively and confidently using complex, grade-level tasks and texts?

In pursuit of answers, teaching professionals and specialists across more than 40 states collaborated to establish the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) and demonstrate this possibility for every learner. LDC found that students using the Lenses instructional model gained, on average, 4-9 months of additional learning in one school year.

“One thing that initially caught my eye was the unit design, which is consistent throughout and based on the research of teaching literacy,” said Vitonis. “I like the idea of productive struggle. The unit design helps them do that. They learn, ‘I won’t get it completely off the bat because the entire unit is designed to help me unlock it.’ It’s all purposeful.”

The Results: A Drive to See the Forest for the Trees

Each Lenses on Literature unit revolves around a journey that begins with a driving task prompt. This prompt gives students a clear purpose for reading and writing about complex texts, culminating in a final written product. 

“I hang the driving task prompt in my classroom, and no matter what activity we have, I point at it and say to them, ‘this is what we’re working toward, and this is how today’s lesson helps us get there,’” said McGee. “Having that touchstone is huge; the students can start to see the forest for the trees.”

Students and teachers monitor progress through a color-coded journey tracker, while students deepen their research, analysis, and discussions by interacting with the anchor text.

Anchor texts are the foundation of the driving task prompt, functioning as the primary materials students examine when developing literary analysis, rhetorical analysis, and argument evaluation skills.

“Nothing in the program is out of left field. Everything builds toward the driving task prompt. It’s cohesive and makes a nice finished product that the students can see,” added McGee.

The Team: From Suggestion to Strategy

Both Vitonis and McGee agree that working with the Carnegie Learning team is one of the solution’s highlights. During the pilot, the Brockton and Carnegie Learning teams have been meeting every two weeks for real-time updates, reviewing results, brainstorming ideas, and discussing opportunities. 

“The two-way communication has been huge,” said McGee. “Any time I’ve had an issue, I get immediate follow-up.”

In late fall 2024, Carnegie Learning Product and User Experience teams observed and interviewed in piloting classrooms, gathering feedback on student, teacher, and administrative experiences during their initial implementation.

In January, the team met again to discuss revisions to the solution based on the input. “We knew the voice we had. We were being listened to, and there were changes because of that,” added Vitonis.

The Bonus: A Return to What Matters Most

Adopting Lenses resulted in a surprising benefit–the gift of time.

Before implementing the solution, teachers developed their lessons independently, which meant gathering and planning instructional resources on their own.

“I’ve been doing this for 22 years now, and finding the supplemental materials was always my biggest struggle,” said McGee. “What can I find that’s topical, a blend of poetry and fiction and nonfiction that all ties back to the same concept…it’s a herculean task.”

Now, teachers can dedicate that energy to instruction. “All that time is now freed up and I’m allowed to focus on the students,” he added. “You can’t put a number on how valuable that is.”

The Future: A Foreword-Looking Lens

What’s next for Brockton High School Boxers? They have much to look forward to as they continue implementing Lenses on Literature.

“I’m looking forward to giving the curricular units to new teachers,” said Vitonis. “They are often overwhelmed at the start of their careers with designing units and lessons, and they do not always have the expertise to know what grade-level standards should look like in the classroom. Lenses removes the time and mental energy from their planning so they can focus on their own students and how they might adjust the activities to meet their diverse needs.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing how our students are growing with the product, and seeing how their experience with the product gives them more confidence in their abilities to access challenging material,” said McGee.

Vitnois agreed, “Seeing what a 10th grader looks like at the end of the school year after two years of this curriculum will be very interesting. That’s really exciting.”