the content areas will be integrated. At the secondary level, teachers within English language arts
departments plan ways to implement the CA CCSS for ELA and the CA ELD Standards in tandem.
Teachers from other content area departments work together to implement the CA CCSS for Literacy
in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects and the CA ELD Standards within their
disciplines in conjunction with their own content standards. Collaboration between disciplinary areas
(e.g., ELA with history and/or science) is emphasized throughout this ELA/ELD Framework.
A unique opportunity exists for ELA, ELD, content area teachers, specialists, and teacher librarians
to develop collegial partnerships as they learn new standards and plan their implementation. School
leaders foster a collaborative learning culture that supports
teachers as they forge new relationships and develop
new curricular and instructional approaches. Sharing the
responsibility for developing all students’ literacy means that
grade-level and departmental differences are set aside and
the expertise of every teacher is recognized and leveraged.
Acknowledging that all professionals are faced with learning
both sets of standards and adapting to curricular and
instructional change is important. Decisions about scheduling,
grouping, curriculum materials, instructional practices,
and intervention strategies are needed at every school.
Educators agree on the settings where literary and non-fiction texts are taught, where assignments
incorporating opinion/argumentative, informative/explanatory, and narrative writing occur, and where
oral presentations and research projects take place.
Ideally, all of these decisions are the result of professional collaborations. Various structures
organize these collaborations—instructional rounds, professional learning communities, critical
friends, inquiry circles, and more. Regardless of the structure, teachers, specialists, support staff, and
administrators use formative and summative assessment information to plan and adjust instruction,
grouping, and scheduling. They work together to regularly examine student data, evaluate student
writing, review a variety of student work, create common
assessments, and plan lessons and any necessary
interventions. Teachers and specialists also consider
options to teach together, or co-teach, to maximize
learning opportunities for students. (See chapter 11.)
Improved collegiality has the potential to yield improved
instruction and increased student learning, as well as a
more cooperative and satisfying professional culture.
Using Assessment to Inform Instruction
While there are several purposes for assessment
(see chapter 8), the most important purpose is to inform
instruction. Using the results of assessment to make
decisions to modify instruction in the moment, within a
specific lesson or unit of instruction, or across a longer
time frame, is a dynamic part of the teaching and learning
process promoted in this ELA/ELD Framework. Formative
assessment, in particular, provides many benefits to teachers and students (Black and Wiliam 1998;
Hattie and Timperley 2007; Hattie 2012). Described by Unrau and Fletcher (2013), “formative
assessment involves gathering, interpreting, and using information as feedback to change teaching
and learning in the short run so that the gap between expected and observed student performanceSharing the responsibility
for developing all students’
literacy means that grade-
level and departmental
differences are set aside and
the expertise of every teacher
is recognized and leveraged.... teachers, specialists, support
staff, and administrators use
formative and summative
assessment information to plan
and adjust instruction, grouping,
and scheduling. They should
work together to regularly
examine student data, evaluate
student writing, review a variety
of student work, create common
assessments, and plan lessons and
any necessary interventions.
96 | Chapter 2 Essential Considerations