In 2015, New York State (NYS) began a process of review and revision of its current English Language Arts (ELA) Learning Standards adopted in January 2011. The New York State Next Generation English Language Arts Learning Standards (Revised 2017) were developed through numerous phases of public comment as well as virtual and face-to-face meetings with committees consisting of NYS educators, teachers of English Language Learners/Multilingual Learners and Students with Disabilities, parents, curriculum specialists, school administrators, college professors, and experts in cognitive research. These revised standards reflect the collaborative efforts and expertise among all constituents involved.
The New York State Next Generation English Language Arts Learning Standards (Revised 2017) consist of revisions, additions, deletions, vertical movement, and clarifications of the current English Language Arts Standards. They are defined as the knowledge, skills, and understanding that individuals can and do habitually demonstrate over time when exposed to high-quality instructional environments and learning experiences.
Today’s context for English Language Arts instruction and Learning Standards mark an inflection point for NYS and the field of education. Indeed, nationally and across the state, districts are increasingly focused on literacy instruction from the earliest years right through adolescence with the goal of developing models and curricula that support universal literacy achievement, while accommodating two key changes: 1) the new demands for what it means to be literate in today’s knowledge-based economy and information age; and 2) the demographic shifts in the population.
Reading and writing—both language-based competencies—have become prerequisites for participation in nearly every aspect of day-to-day, 21st-century life. While there was a time when basic literacy skills provided a clear path forward, today’s students need to develop an increasingly complex set of literacy skills and competencies in order to access social and economic opportunities. In this knowledge-based economy and information-age, what counts as “literate” has changed dramatically over the last few decades.¹ To be academically and personally successful in today’s literacy- and knowledge-based society and economy, every student needs to develop advanced literacies.² This term denotes skills and competencies that enable communication, spoken and written, in increasingly diverse ways and with increasingly diverse audiences. Advanced literacies also promote the understanding and use of text for a variety of purposes. Likewise they make way for participation in academic, civic, and professional communities, where knowledge is shared and generated.
One new aspect in the revised Standards is the inclusion of the Lifelong Practices of Readers and Writers, which aim to reflect the changing expectations for what it means to be literate today. To optimally support this vision for literacy classroom planning, coursework, and instruction based on the ELA standards should develop within the context of the Lifelong Practices of Readers and Writers. Once firmly and richly developed, these practices extend well beyond graduation, as qualities of lifelong learning. These practices are a context for the NYS English Language Arts Learning Standards which, in turn, support these practices by specifying grade level expectations for readers and writers.
The chart on the following page outlines some of the most important practices expected of readers and writers. Although there are two lists, these practices are blended. For example, by design, the first bullet under reading intentionally mentions thinking, writing, speaking, and listening. In other words, successful readers employ a complex web of skills in order to become effective communicators who strive to understand the world around them. Similarly, writers use a blend of thinking, reading, speaking, and listening as they strengthen their writing.
The practices also indicate that teachers should expect students to read often and widely from a range of and diverse texts, in terms of content, language, origin, medium, and text type. The New York State Education Department remains committed to encouraging local districts to choose the literature and informational texts they use as they design their ELA curriculum or programs. One dimension of this choice includes the diversity of texts. Teachers should encourage students to explore a wide range of texts, including a balance of classical and contemporary literature. Students should also read full-length and shorter texts from a variety of cultures and viewpoints, both in print and digital media.
Lifelong Practices of Readers
Lifelong Practices of Writers
Guidance and support are an integral part of developmentally appropriate practice. As children are gaining mastery of the Standards in kindergarten, some students may require support to demonstrate skills.
Students in kindergarten should experience a balance of literature and informational texts in the context of instruction designed to create opportunities for them to engage with a variety of topics, and texts, and have discussions about texts that support language development and knowledge building. Creating this learning environment for emergent readers can take a variety of formats, including read-alouds, shared readings, paired readings, learning activities and play that incorporates literacy materials, talking, experimenting with written materials, and other literacy activities. We refer to these instructional events as ‘reading or literacy experiences’ because the focus is on using texts, printed and visual, to develop emergent readers’ concepts of how meaning is conveyed through reading and writing while building their language and knowledge.It is not enough to simply feature a variety of literary and informational text types in Kindergarten environments and classroom instruction; these texts must be made accessible and meaningful to young readers as a component of fostering engagement with literacy to build language and knowledge.
For example, educators should provide and engage developing readers with an assortment of fiction and non-fiction age-appropriate books in the library area that are displayed attractively and used regularly, rotated often, connected to instructional themes, and feature cultural diversity; incorporate text materials into many different aspects of the classroom curriculum, including authentic informational text materials for use in play and to guide learning centers; and select a variety of text types that engage children’s interests and support their learning about the theme under study. The following are examples of literary and informational text types to be used in classroom instruction and to create literacy-rich environments.
Texts are not limited to these examples.
LITERATURE: picture books, stories, drama, poetry, fiction, fairytales, nursery rhymes, folk tales, tall tales, and other literary texts
Students in kindergarten are at varying stages of development as word readers and as text comprehenders. To develop each set of skills and competencies (word reading, text comprehension skills), different instructional materials are required. During instruction to develop word readings skills, kindergarten students should have authentic opportunities to engage with texts that specifically correlate to their developing phonics and word reading skills. However, to bolster students’ text comprehension skills, teachers should also provide large group, small group, and individual reading activities materials that are content-rich and complex. For example, students should participate in interactive read-aloud discussions of complex texts that they could not read independently, in order to build background knowledge and promote deeper-level thinking. Because each reader brings different skills and background knowledge to their reading experiences, a text that is ‘complex’ for one reader may be accessible to a peer in the same classroom. For this reason, educators should provide scaffolding and support as needed to allow all students to access grade-level texts. The most critical distinction, however, is the distinction between the complexity of the texts used to teach a child to read the words on the page, and the complexity of the texts used to build up their language and knowledge.
English Language Learners (ELLs)/Multilingual Learners (MLLs) enter the school system at all grade levels, with a range of proficiency in English and varying degrees of literacy and academic competencies in their home or primary language. While building proficiency in English, ELLs/MLLs in English as a New Language and Bilingual Education programs may demonstrate skills bilingually or transfer linguistic knowledge across languages. The eventual goal of English Language Arts (ELA) standards is to support the lifelong practices of reading, writing, speaking and listening in English. ELLs/MLLs can receive home language supports and be provided opportunities to demonstrate skills in their home or primary languages to indicate mastery of the linguistic concepts and skills embedded in the ELA standards. Throughout the standards, the use of annotation marks this concept for ELLs/MLLs.
Children with disabilities and their typically developing peers are all capable of learning, achieving, and making developmental progress. Children with disabilities need specially designed instruction and related services designed to address their disability and ensure their participation in age appropriate activities with typically-developing peers. Each child with a disability has an individualized educational program (IEP) which documents his/her individual goals, supports, and services as determined by his/her needs, strengths, and abilities. These individual supports, accommodations, and services are designed to assist the child to meet the goals in his/her IEP as well as to achieve the Learning Standards. With the appropriate services and supports, children with disabilities can participate in experiences with their typically-developing peers and be held to the same high standards and expectations as those without disabilities.
KR1: Develop and answer questions about a text. (RI&RL)
KR2: Retell stories or share key details from a text. (RI&RL)
KR3: Identify characters, settings, major events in a story, or pieces of information in a text. (RI&RL)
Craft and Structure
KR4: Identify specific words that express feelings and senses. (RI&RL)
KR5: Identify literary and informational texts. (RI&RL)
KR6: Name the author and illustrator and define the role of each in presenting the ideas in a text. (RI&RL)
KR7: Describe the relationship between illustrations and the text. (RI&RL)
KR8: Identify specific information to support ideas in a text. (RI&RL)
KR9: Make connections between self, text, and the world. (RI&RL)
KRF1: Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.
KRF1a: Follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page.
KRF1b: Recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters.
KRF1c: Understand that words are separated by spaces in print.
KRF1d: Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.
KRF1e: Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book
KRF2: Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).
KRF2a: Recognize and produce spoken rhyming words.
KRF2b: Blend and segment syllables in spoken words.
KRF2c: Blend and segment onsets and rimes of spoken words.
KRF2d: Blend and segment individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken one-syllable words.
KRF2e: Create new words by manipulating the phonemes orally in one-syllable words.
KRF3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
KRF3a: Demonstrate one-to-one letter-sound correspondence by producing the primary sound or most frequent sound for each consonant.
KRF3b: Decode short vowel sounds with common spellings.
KRF3c: Decode some regularly spelled one-syllable words.
KRF3d: Read common high-frequency words by sight.
As students in kindergarten develop writing skills, they should actively engage in group and individual writing activities, where the focus is on helping them understand writing and drawing as a means for communication with others and as an important tool to support their own thinking and learning. Students should be exposed to and prompted to produce texts for a range of purposes (to entertain, to explain, to persuade) as they dictate, draw to convey meaning, and make early attempts at producing letters, words, and letter strings. These text types include narratives (retellings of events they have experienced or fictional stories) as well as responses to narratives, pieces of expository writing (shopping lists and notes/letters/pictures to classmates or adults in the community), and informational texts (such as ‘how-to’ books, and diagrams and pictures that generate, represent, or express information).
Conceptualized broadly, these writing experiences for our youngest learners should include opportunities to narrate or dictate their stories and ideas to an adult who is writing it down, as well as draw and illustrate their ideas, especially making connections from read-alouds to writing. In these earliest years, we expect the use of invented spelling as part of the developmental progression. In addition to beginning to acquire alphabetic and orthographic skills—the letter-sound connections and the letter combinations—students in kindergarten should begin to learn about how technology and digital tools for writing can increase learning and communication (e.g., use technology to write, draw, and explore concepts; explore keyboards). Please see the Lifelong Practices for Writers for examples of important lifelong writing habits that should begin in the early years and continue through life.
KW1: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, oral expression, and/or emergent writing to state an opinion about a familiar topic or personal experience and state a reason to support that opinion.
KW2: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, oral expression, and/or emergent writing to name a familiar topic and supply information.
KW3: Use a combination of drawing, dictatingoral expression, and/or emergent writing to narrate an event or events in a sequence.
KW4: Create a response to a text, author, or personal experience (e.g., dramatization, artwork, or poem).
W5: Begins in Grade 4
KW6: Develop questions and participate in shared research and exploration to answer questions and to build and share knowledge.
KW7: Recall and represent relevant information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question in a variety of ways (e.g., drawing, oral expression, and/or emergent writing).
KSL1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse peers and adults in small and large groups and during play.
KSL1a: Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions, including listening to others, taking turns, and staying on topic.
KSL1b: Participate in conversations through multiple exchanges.
KSL1c: Consider individual differences when communicating with others.
KSL2: Participate in a conversation about features of diverse texts and formats.
KSL3: Develop and answer questions to clarify what the speaker says.
KSL4: Describe familiar people, places, things, and events with detail.
KSL5: Create and/or utilize existing visual displays to support descriptions.
KSL6: Express thoughts, feelings, and ideas.
PLEASE NOTE: Language Standards 1 and 2 are organized within grade bands and are not meant to be accomplished by the end of Kindergarten. Local curriculum choices will determine which specific skills are included in Kindergarten. These banded skills can be found in Appendix A or in the Course Documents tab. Language Standards 1 and 2 are organized within grade bands. For the Core Conventions Skills and Core Punctuation and Spelling Skills for Grades P-2, the student is expected to know and be able to use the skills by the end of 2nd grade. The → is included to indicate skills that connect and progress across the band. These particular skills are depicted on a continuum because research suggests that they develop along a progression.
See Appendix A in "New York State Next Generation English Language Arts Learning Standards (2017)" or find it in the Course Documents tab.
L3: Begins in Grade 2
KL4: Explore and use new vocabulary and multiple-meaning words and phrases in authentic experiences, including, but not limited to the following:
KL4a: Identify new meanings for familiar words and apply them accurately (e.g., knowing duck is a bird and learning the verb to duck).
KL4b: Use the most frequently occurring inflections and affixes (e.g., -ed, - s, re-, un-, pre-, - ful, -less) as a clue to the meaning of a word.
KL5: Explore and discuss word relationships and word meanings.
KL5a: Sort common objects into categories (e.g., shapes, foods) for understanding of the concepts the categories represent.
KL5b: Demonstrate understanding of frequently occurring verbs and adjectives by relating them to their opposites (antonyms).
KL5c: Use words to identify and describe the world, making connections between words and their use (e.g., places at home that are colorful).
KL5d: Explore variations among verbs that describe the same general action (e.g., walk, march, gallop) by acting out the meanings.
KL6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts.