Independent Review of Start-to-Finish Core Content eBooks
By Muncie Kardos
Educator
Editor of ConnSENSE Bulletin January 2010
At the beginning of this school year I was asked to provide support to a group of middle and high school students with disabilities to enable them to access and participate in general education science and social studies classes. While this in and of itself was not a novel experience for me, it presented a challenge as the district was revamping these subjects for content and presentation. Gone are the days when kids open their textbooks and read and repeat information.
In today’s classrooms, students use a range of media and materials including primary source documents, video, and technology-based applications on a regular basis. The challenge I faced—to include students with disabilities into our program in a meaningful way with accessible materials—was resolved by my discovery of Start-to-Finish Core Content Books from Don Johnston. Start-to-Finish text, written at an accessible reading level, enables older students with early reading levels to gain content information that is relevant, appropriate, and on-grade-level with the curriculum.
My first experience involved supporting several 8th grade students with developmental disabilities to participate in the social studies unit teaching the Holocaust to the students. Initially, the team struggled to pull together information on this sensitive topic that was 
informative, as well as age and grade appropriate. The task of attempting to balance the amount of information presented with the student’s cognitive abilities seemed overwhelming. I shared the Start-to-Finish series developed for the topic, Fighting Back Against Hitler: Heroes of the Holocaust. The teachers were absolutely thrilled with the unit. The accessibility of the materials included in the unit was truly universal. The text was well written and understandable; the supporting audio and computer books made it accessible for a wide range of learners.
Each Start-to-Finish Core Content unit comes with a paperback book on the topic, an audio copy of the book, and a computer copy of the book. The computer book is displayed on the screen (including the pictures); there is a text-to-speech function that reads the book aloud, highlighting each word as it is read.
The Start-to-Finish Core Content series is available at two different levels: Gold and Blue. The unit that I first used to present the Holocaust was from the Gold series. The books in the Gold series are written at a 2nd to 3rd grade readability level. The Gold level helps to build background knowledge using information that is interesting and relevant. It supplies students with facts and the vocabulary that they need to participate in grade level activities and discussions.
The Blue series is written for students who are reading at the 4th -5th grade level and helps them to learn facts and gain comprehension of content material. The language and sentence structure is varied without being overwhelming, facilitating meaningful comprehension of the topic with an opportunity for text-to-self connections. We used a unit from the Blue series titled “How the U.S. Government Came to Be” with a group of high school students who had been struggling with the material in the American History class.
Outside of class we previewed the computer book with the students using an interactive whiteboard, infused a few video clips from the Internet and when it was time to participate in the general education class, a rare phenomenon occurred…students raised their hands to participate and share their knowledge!
Start-to-Finish Core Content titles are available covering a range of science and social studies topics. In today’s economy where resources in education are extremely short, this e-series offers an effective way to meet the needs of a range of diverse learners.
As differentiated instruction becomes the norm in general education classrooms, Start-to-Finish Core Content materials can provide an efficient way to provide both access accommodations and curricular modifications to make learning meaningful for all students, especially for those in inclusive settings. A+ for Don Johnston on this product!
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