Methodology

What this page covers

ReadingList compiles structured K-12 reading-list data — which books are assigned, by which grade, in which curriculum or US state. This page documents how we collect, verify, and refresh that data so a teacher, parent, librarian, or researcher can judge how much to trust each claim and trace it back to a primary source.

Source hierarchy

Every assignment claim on the site comes from one of four source tiers, in order of authority:

1. Curriculum-level primary sources. The College Board AP English course framework, IB Diploma Programme language A subject briefs, Cambridge Assessment International Education syllabi, and the Common Core State Standards ELA appendices. These are authored by the organisation that owns the curriculum and apply across thousands of schools.
2. State Department of Education documents. State ELA standards, recommended-reading lists, and prescribed-text catalogues published by each state DOE — for example Texas TEKS, Florida B.E.S.T., New York Next Generation Learning Standards, California ELA/ELD Framework.
3. District-level public documents. Individual school-district reading lists, summer-reading packets, and curriculum-map PDFs published on `.k12.*.us`, `.org`, or district `.gov` domains. Used when no state-level source exists.
4. Library + bibliographic metadata. Open Library and the Library of Congress for ISBN, author, publication year, Lexile (where MetaMetrics publishes the score), and theme metadata. We never use library metadata to claim a book is assigned somewhere — only to enrich a book detail page once an assignment claim is sourced from tier 1-3.

Verification rules

Before any assignment claim appears on a state, grade, curriculum, or district page, it has to clear three checks:

• Live primary source. The URL must resolve at compile time. If the source page is gone, the claim is pulled until we find an archived or replacement source.
• Exact text match. The book title and author appear verbatim in the source document, not paraphrased.
• Scope match. If the source covers grade 9-12, the claim only appears on grade-9-12 surfaces — not on grade 6 or grade 12 individually unless those grades are explicitly named.

Freshness

Curriculum frameworks update on multi-year cycles (AP English every 4-7 years, IB every 7 years, state ELA standards on state-specific cycles). We refresh tier-1 and tier-2 sources at least twice a year and immediately on any framework update notice. Each page in the site shows a Last verified date in its footer so you can see how recent the source check was.

What we do not claim

ReadingList is a structured reference, not an editorial recommendation engine. We do not:

• Tell you a book is "the best" for a grade — only that a named source assigns it.
• Write book reviews, plot summaries, study guides, or essay prompts.
• Sell access to the data — pages are free to read.
• Take payment from publishers to feature books.
• Surface assignment claims without a public source citation.
• Use AI-generated summaries as primary-source replacements.
• Track which books any individual user reads or saves.

Corrections

If you spot an outdated source, broken citation, or misattribution, email the address on our contact page and we will verify within 7 days. If the correction holds, the page is updated and the Last verified date refreshes.

Affiliate disclosure

Some book detail pages link to Bookshop.org or other retailers as an affiliate. Where present, the disclosure is shown next to the link itself — not buried in a footer. Affiliate revenue (when it exists) helps cover hosting and source-verification time; it does not influence which books appear or how they are described. ReadingList is not a paid placement service.

Questions

Frequently asked questions, including who runs the site and how to use the data in your own classroom or research, live on the FAQ page.