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.
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Key Shifts in English Language Arts
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- Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from texts, both literary and informational
- Building Knowledge through content rich non-fiction
- Regular practice with complex texts and their academic language
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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.
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English Language Arts Georgia Standards of Excellence
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There are four strands in English Language Arts that divided into clusters.
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Strand
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Clusters
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Reading
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Literary (9 Standards)
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Key Ideas & Details
Craft & Structure
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
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Informational (10 Standards)
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Foundational (K-5 Only)
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Print Concepts (K-2 only)
Phonological Awareness (K-2 only)
Phonics and Word Recognition (K-5)
Fluency
(K-5)
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Writing
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10 Standards
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Text Types and Purposes
Production and Distribution of Writing
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
Range of Writing
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Speaking and Listening
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6 Standards
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Comprehension and Collaboration
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
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Language (Grammar & Conventions)
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6 Standards
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Conventions of Standard English
Knowledge of Language
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
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