Deeper knowledge and comprehension through integration

Reading comprehension is built on knowledge (Recht & Leslie, 1988). Strong ELA instruction has long focused on helping students understand how texts work across genres. Students learn to analyze characters, ideas, and events; track relationships such as plot, cause and effect, and central message; and attend to an author’s craft and use of language (Duke & Pearson, 2002). This work is essential because it allows students to construct coherent mental models of text meaning (Kintsch, 1998; Kim, 2016).

Integrated ELA and social studies builds on this foundation by adding a second layer of knowledge. Alongside literacy development, students build disciplinary understanding about how the world works, including historical context, geographic and economic relationships, and civic responsibility. This knowledge provides context that helps students interpret texts more deeply and understand why ideas, actions, and events matter beyond the page.

Together, these two layers of knowledge strengthen comprehension in ways that ELA alone cannot always achieve.

Why social studies makes a differenc

Research suggests this added layer helps explain the unique role social studies plays in supporting reading comprehension. 

A national longitudinal study from the Fordham Institute, researchers examined the relationship between instructional time and reading outcomes. They found that increasing time spent on social studies was associated with significant gains in reading achievement by fifth grade, while increasing time spent on ELA did not produce the same gains (Tyner & Kabourek, 2020).

This does not suggest that ELA instruction is ineffective or unnecessary. Instead, it points to the fact that ELA and social studies contribute different kinds of knowledge. Additional ELA time often deepens the same layer of literary knowledge, while social studies adds something distinct: broad, durable knowledge about how the world works. While the study also examined science instruction, increased science time did not have the same impact on reading outcomes, suggesting that social studies builds a form of knowledge that supports comprehension in a way other subjects do not.

An example: Marvelous Cornelius

Imagine a first-grade classroom during the literacy block. The class is reading Marvelous Cornelius, written by Phil Bildner and illustrated by John Parra. The book tells the true story of Cornelius Washington, a sanitation worker in New Orleans who helped clean up his neighborhood after Hurricane Katrina. What begins as one person picking up trash grows into a powerful story of volunteers coming together to help their community recover.

In a traditional ELA sequence, students might explore the text by focusing on character, setting, and events. They would analyze Cornelius’s actions, notice the author’s use of figurative language, and work together to determine the lesson of the story. This work is meaningful and important. Students come to understand what the text means.

In an integrated ELA and social studies sequence, students do all of that and more.

As they read Marvelous Cornelius, students also build knowledge about volunteerism and community recovery. They explore questions such as: What does it mean to volunteer? Why do communities rely on volunteers, especially after a disaster? How do individual actions connect to collective needs?

With this second layer of knowledge, students interpret Cornelius’s actions differently. They see him not only as a helpful character, but as part of a larger system of community response and cooperation. Picking up trash is no longer just a kind act in a story. It is an example of how communities meet real needs when people step in and work together.

This is the difference between understanding a text and understanding its significance.

Oe way to think about this distinction is simple: ELA alone supports: I know what this text means. Integrated ELA and social studies supports: I know what this text means and why it matters. Both are valuable. Integration brings them together.

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Why deeper comprehension matters

When students build layers of knowledge, their comprehension becomes more durable and transferable. They are better prepared to tackle cold reads on assessments, make sense of unfamiliar texts about historical events, geographic contexts, and economic systems in standardized passages, apply what they know to new texts and situations, and draw on growing civic, economic, and geographic understanding to connect reading to real-world meaning and action.

This is not about doing more in the day. It is about using instructional time more intentionally so that literacy learning and knowledge building reinforce one another within a coherent sequence of ideas.

Integrated ELA and social studies creates the conditions for deeper comprehension by connecting texts to meaningful historical, geographic, economic, and civic content. When students build literary knowledge and disciplinary understanding together, they develop learning that lasts and transfers beyond a single text, topic, or unit.

A final note

This idea of two layers of knowledge is a big reason inquirED designed Inkwell the way we did. Inkwell brings ELA and social studies together in a single, fully integrated daily block, so students build literary understanding and disciplinary knowledge at the same time. As they read, write, speak, and listen, they are not just learning how texts work. They are learning how communities work, how people respond to challenges, and why stories like Marvelous Cornelius matter beyond the page.

For teachers, this means working from one coherent structure aligned to both ELA and social studies standards, rather than trying to coordinate multiple programs. For students, it means consistent routines, connected content, and daily writing grounded in meaningful texts that build knowledge and deepen comprehension.

If you would like to see how this integrated design supports deeper understanding in practice, or explore sample lessons, you can learn more about Inkwell here.

References

• Duke, N. K., & Pearson, P. D. (2002). Effective practices for developing reading comprehension. In A. E. Farstrup & S. J. Samuels (Eds.), What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction (3rd ed., pp. 205–242). International Reading Association.
• EdReports. (2025). ELA K–2 Evidence Guide v2.1, Gateway 2: Comprehension Through Texts, Questions, and Tasks.
• Kim, J. S. (2016). Building background knowledge and vocabulary to improve reading comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 51(4), 439–452.
• Kintsch, W. (1998). Comprehension: A Paradigm for Cognition. Cambridge University Press.
• Recht, D. R., & Leslie, L. (1988). Effect of prior knowledge on good and poor readers’ memory of text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(1), 16–20.
• Tyner, A., & Kabourek, K. (2020). Social studies instruction and reading comprehension: Evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

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