Section 2 informs teachers’ instructional planning and evaluation of student progress. It is
organized by the three interrelated areas of learning English as an additional language:
- Part I: “Interacting in Meaningful Ways”
- Part II: “Learning About How English Works”
- Part III: “Using Foundational Literacy Skills”
Part I: “Interacting in Meaningful Ways” provides standards that set expectations for ELs to
participate in meaningful, relevant, and intellectually challenging ways in various contexts and
disciplines. The standards in Part I are enacted in three communicative modes through which students
develop and apply their knowledge and skills of the English language: collaborative (engagement in
dialogue with others), interpretive (comprehension and analysis of written and spoken texts), and
productive (creation of oral presentations and written texts).
Part II: “Learning About How English Works” focuses on ways in which ELs build awareness about
English resources available to them, how English is structured and organized, and how meaning
is made through language choices. Instruction about English is designed to improve ELs’ ability to
comprehend and produce academic texts in various content areas. The standards in Part II cluster
within three language processes: structuring cohesive texts, expanding and enriching ideas, and
connecting and condensing ideas.
Part III: “Using Foundational Literacy Skills” does not provide standards but instead signals to
teachers at all grades the potential need to provide specialized English foundational skills instruction
to ELs. This specialized instruction is designed by adapting, in particular, the Reading Standards for
Foundational Skills (K–5) in the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy based on a variety of factors, including
an individual EL student’s age, similarities and differences between the student’s primary language
and English, the student’s primary literacy proficiency, and the student’s oral and written proficiency
in English. Since the Reading Standards for Foundational Skills are intended to guide instruction
for students in kindergarten through grade five, these standards also need to be adapted—using
appropriate instructional strategies and materials—to meet the particular pedagogical and literacy
needs of ELs at the secondary level, including the need to teach foundational literacy skills in an
accelerated time frame. Additional guidance on adapting foundational skills instruction for ELs is
provided in chapters 2–7.
Because content and language are inextricably linked, the three parts of the CA ELD Standards—
“Interacting in Meaningful Ways,” “Learning About How English Works,” and “Using Foundational
Literacy Skills”—are complementary and interrelated dimensions of what should be addressed in a
robust instructional program for ELs. Parts I and II are intentionally presented separately in order
to call attention to the need for both a focus on meaningful interaction and a focus on building
knowledge about the linguistic features of English. However, Parts I and II should be used in tandem.
Just as teachers focus on meaningful and engaging activities
designed to build content knowledge before strategically delving
into specifics about how language is structured, the CA ELD
Standards are organized with the focus on meaningful interaction
first and the focus on knowledge about the English language and
how it works afterward. The expectations communicated in the
standards assume that ELs are provided with an appropriately
designed curriculum, effective instruction, and strategic levels
of scaffolding as they progress through the ELD continuum.
Figure 1.12 provides an overview of the structure of the CA ELD
Standards.... the CA ELD Standards
are organized with the
focus on meaningful
interaction first and the
focus on knowledge about
the English language and
how it works afterward.
Overview of Standards Chapter 1 | 39