(cf. 6143 - Courses of Study)
The Board desires to offer a comprehensive, balanced reading/language arts program that ensures that all students have the skills necessary to read fluently and for meaning. The program shall integrate reading, writing, speaking and listening activities in order to build strong communication skills.
Teachers are encouraged to use a variety of instructional strategies to accommodate the needs of beginning readers and the varying abilities of more advanced readers. The Superintendent or designee shall provide professional development opportunities as needed to ensure that teachers are knowledgeable about how students develop language skills, are able to analyze students' developing literacy, and are able to draw from a variety of instructional strategies and materials.
(cf. 4131 - Staff Development)
The Superintendent or designee shall ensure that the reading/ language arts program offers sufficient access to reading materials of varying levels of difficulty, including fiction and nonfiction works, so that students are continually reading at an appropriate level. In addition, technology should be available to support all areas of literacy.
(cf. 6141 - Curriculum Development and Evaluation)
(cf. 6161.1 - Selection and Evaluation of Instructional Materials)
(cf. 6161.11 - Supplementary Instructional Materials)
(cf. 6162.7 - Use of Technology in Instruction)
(cf. 6163.1 - Library Media Centers)
For each grade level, the Board shall adopt standards of competency in reading, speaking and writing, including spelling and grammar.
Grades K-3
The goal of the district's early literacy program shall be to ensure that students are able to read fluently and at grade level by the end of third grade. To reach this goal, the Superintendent or designee shall design a balanced and comprehensive reading/language arts program with the following components:
1. Explicit skill development for beginning readers that includes phonemic awareness, phonics and decoding skills, and sufficient practice and repetition of these skills
2. A strong literature, language and comprehension program that includes a balance of oral and written language
3. Ongoing diagnosis of individual students' skills
4. An early intervention program that provides assistance to children at risk of reading failure
Grades 4-12
The Board recognizes that reading/language arts instruction is an integral component of the curriculum at all grade levels. Continuous progress in fluency and comprehension shall be the goal of reading/language arts instruction in grades 4 through 12.
The program in these grades shall promote reading for subject matter comprehension, developing understanding of progressively more advanced reading material, analyzing and discussing a variety of reading materials, increasing the frequency of reading, developing more complex writing skills with attention to composition and vocabulary, and developing other communications skills.
When students in these grades do not have fully developed reading/language arts skills, resources shall be made available to assist them in reaching a reading level sufficient to meet the demands of grade-level material. Staff at all grade levels and in every subject shall take responsibility for supporting and expanding students' literacy skills.
Legal Reference:
EDUCATION CODE
51210 Areas of study, grades 1 through 6
51220 Areas of study, grades 7 through 12
Management Resources:
CSBA PUBLICATIONS
Every Student Can Read, Every Student Will Read, Report of the CSBA Reading Task Force, May 1995
CDE PROGRAM ADVISORIES
1028.93 Continuing Implementation of the English-Language Arts Framework, CIL: 93/94-02
CDE PUBLICATIONS
Every Child a Reader, 1995
Early Reading Instruction: A Balanced Approach, Language Arts Framework Implementation Series: Approaches to Literacy, 1993
English-Language Arts Framework for California Public Schools, 1987
Policy ALHAMBRA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
adopted: September 9, 1997 Alhambra, California