Language is at the heart of the learning process. We learn through language. Our knowledge about the world is constructed in language-the worlds of home and the community, the worlds of school subjects, the worlds of literature, the worlds of the workplace, and so on. It is through language that we interact with others and build our identities.…

School grades provide an easily understandable metric to measure the performance of a school. Parents and the general public can use the informational baseline school grade and its associated components to understand how well each school is serving its students. The school grades calculation was revised substantially for the 2014-15 school year to…

As part of its proposal to the U.S. Department of Education, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) committed to developing Kindergarten through Grade 2 Model Content Frameworks for English language arts (ELA)/literacy (K-2 Model Content Frameworks) to serve as a bridge between the Common Core State Standards…

As part of its proposal to the U.S. Department of Education, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) committed to developing model content frameworks for English language arts/literacy (ELA/Literacy) to serve as a bridge between the Common Core State Standards and the PARCC assessments. The Model Content…

College reading/language arts instructors are often involved in local reading associations, often state affiliates of the International Reading Association. Providing support for local councils is a natural area for professional service among college instructors. This paper presents information, ideas, and procedures for organizing a conference,…

This article discusses application of Paul's (1992) elements of thought model in language arts curricula to provide students with the skills they need in order to analyze the world around them and manage the various types of issues and problems they encounter. Strategies for applying the model are described. (Contains references.) (CR)

The teacher as decisionmaker is a fairly new concept, and yet the choices teachers make--among alternative approaches--afffect the attitudes, knowledge, and skills students carry into adult life. This booklet's chapter titles are as follows: (1) New Image for Teachers--Decision-Maker; (2) Decisions Teachers Make; (3) A Rational Model; (4) Planning…

An effective needs assessment must be performed efficiently and systematically, and must reflect the specific circumstances of both students assessed and their educational environment. The purpose of this handbook is to furnish educators with guidance on how to perform such a needs assessment. The handbook is designed specifically for school…

The assessment model described in this guide was initially developed by a team of fifth-grade teachers who wrote objectives of integrating social studies and language arts. It helps the teacher guide students to create a task-specific rubric that they use to evaluate their own and peers' work. Teachers review the student evaluations, determine the…

Discusses the "Biographic Literacy Profiles Project," a seminar for teachers and administrators which focused on developing an alternative to current assessment methods in elementary language arts. Shows how the process of changing assessment patterns can reflect the same integrative, holistic goals that teachers have for working with…

In conjunction with the New Mexico State Department of Education's Writing Appraisal Program for high school students, a project was designed whose central goal was to identify and clearly delineate writing competencies for students in the younger grades. A pilot project first collected student writing samples and descriptive data from third and…

This booklet provides Grade 6 teachers, administrators, and students with samples of students' writing that exemplify the criteria used to score students' written responses on the June 1988 Grade 6 English Language Arts Achievement Test. The writing assignment required students to read the beginning of a story and use their imaginations to…

Higher level questions can link evaluation directly to language related class activities. Utilizing higher level questions is a powerful pedagogical technique and serves many direct purposes in the class environment. One of the models most commonly taught to teachers is Hilda Taba's levels of questions. Taba's model delineates four related…

This booklet presents Wisconsin's Model Academic Standards in the area of English language arts at grades 4, 8, and 12. The content and performance standards represent the best thinking of language educators and interested members of the public. They were drawn from two years of work in Wisconsin's standards development projects, from the Modern…

Designed for use with students in grades nine through twelve, the model curriculum standards in this guide were developed in response to Senate Bill 813 (Chapter 498, Statutes of 1983) of the California Legislature that focused on the reestablishment of high expectations for the content of courses taught in secondary schools and for the level of…