ELA Materials Adoption
Our guidance sets California district and school leaders up to lead a successful ELA adoption process that will support teachers with the resources to build critical literacy knowledge and skills.
Guidance
To build upon EdReports’ Key Adoption Steps, we outline three key areas to keep in mind to lead a successful ELA Adoption process in California: Ensuring the The English Language Arts Shifts are front and center, focusing on foundational skills, and prioritizing support for multilingual learners.
The English Language Arts Shifts
Materials should embody the English Language Arts Common Core Standards Shifts: Complex Text, Evidence, and Informational Texts.
Complex Text: Practice regularly with complex text and its academic language. Check out Achieve the Core’s resources for measuring text complexity and their Text Analysis Toolkit.
Evidence: Ground reading, writing and speaking in evidence from text, both literary and informational.
Informational Texts: Build knowledge through content-rich informational texts.
Materials should embody the English Language Arts Common Core Standards Shifts: Complex Text, Evidence, and Informational Texts.
Complex Text: Practice regularly with complex text and its academic language. Check out Achieve the Core’s resources for measuring text complexity and their Text Analysis Toolkit.
Evidence: Ground reading, writing and speaking in evidence from text, both literary and informational.
Informational Texts: Build knowledge through content-rich informational texts.
Foundational Skills
A strong Foundational Skills component is essential in elementary instructional materials.
Review the standards and California’s guidance to ensure your adoption team understands the components of Foundational Skills.
Review your materials for these components in the K-2 Grades.
Examine lessons in the materials for the attributes described in this observation tool.
A strong Foundational Skills component is essential in elementary instructional materials.
Review the standards and California’s guidance to ensure your adoption team understands the components of Foundational Skills.
Review your materials for these components in the K-2 Grades.
Examine lessons in the materials for the attributes described in this observation tool.
Support for Multilingual Learners
Support for multilingual learners should be woven into the design of the core materials and align with the types of programs your district offers.
Don’t rely solely on how the publisher describes the materials – complete a thorough investigation process to determine whether materials are aligned to the ELA and ELD Standards and review units and lessons for alignment. Use EdReports reviews to guide your investigation.
Use a tool such as the Empowering Early Literacy Guide to evaluate how well the materials align with the California Department of Education’s ELA/ELD Framework and your district’s needs.
Support for multilingual learners should be woven into the design of the core materials and align with the types of programs your district offers.
Don’t rely solely on how the publisher describes the materials – complete a thorough investigation process to determine whether materials are aligned to the ELA and ELD Standards and review units and lessons for alignment. Use EdReports reviews to guide your investigation.
Use a tool such as the Empowering Early Literacy Guide to evaluate how well the materials align with the California Department of Education’s ELA/ELD Framework and your district’s needs.
