English Language Arts

In Arlington Public Schools literacy – reading, writing, speaking/communicating, listening comprehension and production –  is a universal entry point to achievement and a core function of academic, economic and social success. Arlington Public Schools (APS) graduates possess the literacy skills necessary to be responsible global citizens and college or career ready. This will be accomplished by implementing rigorous, evidence-based literacy instruction through high quality curriculum and intervention grounded in the science of reading. Administrators, educators, and reading specialists will be supported through high quality, job embedded professional learning.

The Arlington Division Literacy Plan 2024-25.docx for 2024-25 includes

• Section One: Planning for Comprehensive Communication
• Section Two: Selecting High-Quality Instructional Materials
• Section Three: Ensuring Virginia Literacy Act Evidence-Based Reading Research Training
• Section Four: Monitoring Student Assessment and Progress
• Section Five: Assessing Division Level Progress
• Section Six: Engaging Parents, Caregivers, and Community

APS Reading Specialists SY 2024-2025 (2)

APS Curriculum utilizes evidence-based high quality resources aligned to the science of reading for all students to reach the Virginia Standards of Learning. Scarborough’s Reading Rope highlights that students need both instruction in word recognition and language comprehension to become skilled and fluent readers.

• Students in grades K-3 receive explicit and direct instruction in phonics through 95 Phonics Core Program or Fundations.
• Students in grades K-5 receive explicit instruction in language comprehension to include vocabulary, background knowledge, and shared learning experiences with our newest resource CKLA (Core Knowledge Language Arts).

Specific Information by Grade

Kindergarten CKLA Domains (23-24SY)

• Quarter 1-  What to Expect (Spanish); The Five Senses (Spanish)
• Quarter 2- Seasons and Weather (Spanish); Stories (Spanish); Farms (Spanish)
• Quarter 3- Art and the World Around Us (Spanish); Kings and Queens (Spanish)
• Quarter 4-Plants (Spanish); Taking Care of the Earth (Spanish)

First Grade CKLA Domains (23-24SY)

• Quarter 1-  Fables and Stories (Spanish); The Human Body (Spanish)
• Quarter 2- Different Lands, Similar Stories (Spanish);  Early World Civilizations (Spanish)
• Quarter 3- Astronomy (Spanish); History of the Earth (Spanish); Tales from the Edge of the Earth (Spanish)
• Quarter 4- Animals and Habitats (Spanish); Fairy Tales (Spanish)

Second Grade CKLA Domains (23-24SY)

• Quarter 1- Fairy Tales and Tall Tales (Spanish); Early Asian Civilizations (Spanish)
• Quarter 2- The Ancient Greek Civilization (Spanish); Greek Myths (Spanish)
• Quarter 3- Cycles in Nature (Spanish); Insects (Spanish)
• Quarter 4- The Human Body (Spanish); Fighting for a Cause (Spanish)

Third Grade CKLA Domains (23-24SY)

• Quarter 1- The Wind in the Willows, Classic tales (Spanish);
• Animal Classifications (Spanish)
• Quarter 2- The Ancient Roman Civilization (Spanish);
• Light and Sound (Spanish)
• Quarter 3- Astronomy, our solar system (Spanish)
• Quarter 4- Stella Diaz Has Something to Say novel (Spanish); All That Jazz (Spanish)

Fourth Grade CKLA Domains (23-24SY)

• Quarter 1- Empires in the Middle Ages, Part 1 (Spanish); Empires in the Middle Ages, Part 2 (Spanish)
• Quarter 2- Poetry (Spanish); Geology (Spanish)
• Quarter 3- American Revolution (Spanish); The Season of Styx Malone novel (Spanish)
• Quarter 4- Treasure Island (Spanish)

Fifth Grade CKLA Domains (23-24SY)

• Quarter 1- Early American Civilization (Spanish);  Beyond Juneteenth: 1865-Present (Spanish)
• Quarter 2- Poetry (Spanish)
• Quarter 3- Adventures of Don Quixote (Spanish); The Renaissance (Spanish)
• Quarter 4- novel (Spanish)

Fifth Grade Writing Assessment Rubrics

• English English 5th Grade Writing Rubric
• Spanish Spanish 5th Grade Writing Rubric
• Mongolian Mongolian 5th Grade Writing Rubric
• Amharic Amharic Rubric
• Arabic Arabic 5th Grade Writing Rubric

VDOE has adopted new ELA Standards. The Standards of Learning strands are:

• Developing Skilled Readers & Building Reading Stamina
• Reading and Vocabulary
• Reading Literary Text
• Reading Informational Text
• Writing
• Language Usage
• Communications
• Research

Please visit the VDOE website to learn more

Updates from the ELA Office October 2023

• In Secondary Literacy in the middle and high schools, APS is using a new reading screener this year in grades 6-9th and select students demonstrating need in 10-12th grades. This assessment is called the NWEA Map Growth Reading. This will enable teachers to flag students that need intervention in reading. Another new assessment this year is the Phonics Screener for Interventions. This is a diagnostic assessment to determine the student’s specific word recognition needs.
• New reading supports are evidence-based strategies that are recommended by the Institute of Educational Services. These strategies are:

• Build students vocabulary
• Build students decoding skills so they can read complex, multisyllabic words
• Use complex text
• Use comprehension building activities to help student make sense of texts

• Curriculum and Instruction is another area of focus this year. We are committed to providing all students with access to complex grade level text. The core resource, HMH Into Literature, provides complex text for every unit, every grade 6-12th, and accessibility features such as read aloud technology; a built in glossary; grammar lessons; and a workbook for annotations.
• For interventions, APS has begun training and implementation using multisyllable routine instruction for students to read multisyllabic words.
• Writing is another area of focus based on the ELAAC recommendations from 22-23SY. We are partnering with the office of Advanced Academics to provide writing tasks in the curriculum for every grade level. We are utilizing a resource called Document Based Questions (DBQ) to support students in writing in response to texts they read.  Writing performance tasks are currently being incorporated to each unit with the curriculum revisions taking place this year.
• We are working with approximately 200 teachers with Professional Learning in adolescent reading. The online course they are taking is called Aspire. It is a graduate level course in teaching reading and writing to adolescent students.  This specialized training will support our secondary teachers that work mostly closely with students that have reading needs in the middle and high schools.

Slide Deck from October 4, 2023  ACTL meeting

ELA Writing Rubric from VDOE-VDOE High School Writing Scoring Rubrics (chart version)

APS has a variety of researched-based intervention programs and approaches available. It is our goal to provide reading intervention to any student who is in need of additional explicit instruction and support in one or more areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency.

Students participate in intervention based on individual needs to master specific literacy skills to become successful readers, as a supplement to core instruction.  Each intervention approach utilizes assessment to determine precise individual needs and allow teachers to provide explicit education, guided practice, and monitor student progress.

APS is committed to multiple tiers of support for all students which begins with quality classroom instruction involving whole group, small group, and individualized settings.

For more information on specific tiers of instruction, please visit the ATSS website.

Visit APS Standards-Based Grading and Reporting

Visit VDOE 2024 English Standards of Learning

To be meeting grade level standards at the end of the year, see the link below for more information

APS ELA Progress Report Explanation of Terms and End of Year Standard Guides

For resources to support learners at home please visit:

Resources for Families | Virginia Literacy Partnerships

Virginia Literacy Partnerships Updates | Family News

Visit the Dyslexia page

Visit the ELA Assessments page

Elementary ELA Resources

The ELAAC committee meets monthly to discuss the ELA program and determine recommendations for ACTL.

Meetings for 2024-25 are at Syphax from 7:00pm-8:30pm :

September 18, October 16, November 20, December 18, January 15, February 19, March 19, April 9 and May 21

If interested in joining this committee, please email the chair Mike at mhmiller2@fcps.edu or the staff liason Sarah Cruz at sarah.cruz@apsva.us