Reading Curriculum Comparison

National Job Corps Required Basic Reading Core Competencies Correlation

A Line-item Match of National Job Corps’ Required Basic Reading Core Competencies with the Reading Horizons Program for Learners of English and for Adults Who Struggle Learning to Read

The following line-item comparison details how the sequenced language-learning competencies of Reading Horizons match those listed on the National Job Corps reading scope and sequence embedded into the Career Development Phase of student/trainee experience. (There may be sequence variances between the two reading curricula as to when particular skills are presented.)

National Job Corps Basic Reading Competencies	Reading Horizons Core Competencies
Alphabetic Recognition	Lessons 1 - 9: Learning Alphabetic Order
Vowel/Consonant Letter-Sound Associations	Integrated throughout text: Integrated Vowel/Consonant Letter-Sound Associations with 42 Alphabetic Sounds
Vocabulary	Lessons 11,14,18,22,30,43,48,53,58: Most Common Words
Vowel Patterns	Lessons 25: Small Words Ending w/Double Consonants
	Lesson 31: Long and Short Vowel Sounds
Consonant/Vowel Patterns within words	Lessons 32,33,36,37,39,40: The Five Phonetic Skills: Words with one vowel followed by one consonant Words with one vowel followed by two consonants Words with one stand-alone vowel Words with silent /e/ Words with adjacent vowels
Adding Suffixes	Lessons 34,46,47,70,73: Word changes adding suffixes beginning with vowels: i.e. -ing, -es, -ed Word changes adding suffixes beginning with consonants: i.e. ly, -s
Syllabication Recognition and Patterns	Lessons 46,47,48,50 Applying Special Systematic Marking System for Breaking-down Multi-syllable Words: Decoding Skills One and Two: Between the first vowel and the first following consonant Between first vowel and first Pair of following consonants
Sentence Recognition	Integrated throughout text: Skill-related sentence building integrated into sentence structures
Diagraphs/ Dipthongs/ “R” Controlled Vowels	Lessons 51-54,56-58,61-64,74: Diagraphs with one unique sound Diagraphs with a borrowed sound Murmur Dipthongs with /R/ i.e.,ar,or,ur Other Dipthongs i.e., oy, aw, ow
“Y” words	Lessons 44-46,75: /Y/ as a consonant & vowel, /Y/ as /i/,/i/ /e/, /Y/ with /a /
Prefixes/Suffixes	Lessons 34,39,66,70,79-80: Definitions/examples of and practice with common examples
Other language learning information	Lessons 1-23,68-69,71-72,74,76: English Anomalies: Schwa, Ck/K, S/Ce,/ 3-sounds of /ea/, /ei-ie/, /ew/eu/

This skills chart is neither all-inclusive nor comprehensive of the Reading Horizons curriculum but rather a composite comparing how it’s product line conforms to and could enrich the required standards expected by the National Job Corps Office and detailed in the Policy and Requirements Handbook (PRH). It is also not the objective to replace any current reading curriculum, but rather to complement curriculum and to enlarge students’ language-learning opportunities with a multi-sensory, systematic, explicit highly individualized learning plan.

The National Reading Panel Report 2000 unequivocally endorses the use of systematic, explicit, intensive phonics instruction for those who are either learning language for the first time or who struggle with learning to read.

The end goal of all language learning in Job Corps, whether students are placed in LEP/ESL or Leveled Reading Instruction, is for learners to become fluent and competent users of language, capable of contributing to the betterment of society, and interacting in the workforce as competent, productive employees.