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English Language Arts

The purpose of the Rockdale County Public Schools (RCPS) English Language Arts Department is to provide RCPS schools support in effectively aligning and delivering curriculum, instruction, and assessment to ensure that students learn to integrate the processes of reading, writing, and listening/speaking/viewing in order to effectively communicate and interpret information in a variety of modes.  The English Language Arts curriculum is designed to introduce students to core concepts that are continuously enhanced as students progress through each grade level.

The RCPS English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum in grades K – 12 is defined by the state-adopted Georgia Standards of Excellence.  Our state standards were designed to increase the rigor and complexity of students’ literacy experiences in the classroom to address the three core shifts in English Language Arts listed below.

Key Shifts in English Language Arts

  1. Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from texts, both literary and informational
  2. Building Knowledge through content rich non-fiction
  3. Regular practice with complex texts and their academic language

The K-12 English Language Arts Georgia Standards of Excellence are organized in the following strands and include identical categories across grades. In order to help students master these standards, teachers are committed to teaching Language Arts in an integrated fashion which stresses the communication connections among reading, writing, and listening/speaking/viewing.  The standards establish a staircase of increasing complexity so that all students are ready for the demands of college and career level communication no later than the end of high school.

Teachers from across our county have worked on curriculum tools designed to help teachers, students, and parents successfully progress toward mastery of the standards. Instructional pacing guides and curriculum maps help to maintain consistency and ensure instruction is provided on key concepts from the curriculum.

English Language Arts Georgia Standards of Excellence

There are four strands in English Language Arts that divided into clusters.

 

Strand

Clusters

Reading

Literary (9 Standards)

Key Ideas & Details

Craft & Structure

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

Informational (10 Standards)

Foundational (K-5 Only)

Print Concepts (K-2 only)

Phonological Awareness (K-2 only)

Phonics and Word Recognition (K-5)

Fluency

(K-5)

Writing

10 Standards

Text Types and Purposes

Production and Distribution of Writing

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

Range of Writing

Speaking and Listening

6 Standards

Comprehension and Collaboration

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

Language (Grammar & Conventions)

6 Standards

Conventions of Standard English

Knowledge of Language

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use


Contact Information 

 Dr. Sha'Ronda McRae  English Language Arts and World Languages
Trinecia Ward   Literacy Coach (Elementary) 
   


Resources Links:

Georgia Standards of Excellence for ELA
Georgia Milestones Assessment System
The Lexile Framework for Reading
ReadWriteThink
Reading Rockets

National PTA Parents' Guide to Student Success

American Library Association Recommended Reading Lists

"Conyers, Celebration of Community" Essay Contest for 12th graders in RCHS, RMSST, RCA