photography, Web site development, theater) are ways to
engage students actively in their learning. Using technology
to facilitate student collaboration across city, state, and
national boundaries is an exciting way for students to
interact with others. Building bridges between literacies that
young adults employ outside of school on a regular basis
and literacies in school can be accomplished by sensitively
incorporating them into instruction. Creating awareness
of the multiple literacies that adults and young people use
in their daily lives and that scientists, historians, artists,
novelists, playwrights, poets, mathematicians, and others
use to create knowledge and other works builds a shared
vision of literacy.
A goal of this framework, developing the readiness
for college, careers, and civic life, takes on special
meaning as high school students make tangible moves to apply for college or technical school or start
a career search and, as their eighteenth birthday arrives, to register to vote. By the end of grade
twelve the intent is for every student to have established his or her own literate identity drawing on
the knowledge, skills, and confidence developed over thirteen to fourteen years of prior schooling
and to have attained the second goal—the capacities of literate individuals (demonstrating
independence; building strong content knowledge; responding to varying demands of audience, task,
purpose, and discipline; comprehending as well as critiquing; valuing evidence; using technology and
digital media strategically and capably; and coming to understand other perspectives and cultures).
Students’ years of schooling also culminate in having accomplished the goal of becoming broadly
literate, having read and viewed widely across a range of genres and disciplines for both pleasure
and knowledge. So too do students’ interactions with a range of technology and digital media,
instructional modes (including inquiry based, collaborative, and direct), and global cultures and
perspectives prepare them for the goal of successfully navigating life in the 21st century. Taken
together, all four goals position graduating seniors to meet
the rigors of postsecondary education and future jobs and to
pursue a path of lifelong fulfillment and informed citizenry.
Further progress on each of these goals will occur over the
course of graduates’ lives.
The CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy for grades nine through
twelve represent increasingly sophisticated expectations for
students as they move from middle school to high school.
The standards at this grade span prompt students to think
and operate at levels that result in the achievement of the
CCR Anchor Standards in Reading, Writing, Speaking and
Listening^1 , and Language by the end of grade twelve. (See
chapter 1 of this ELA/ELD Framework for the list of anchor
standards.) Consistent with the growing cognitive capacities
of adolescents, these expectations challenge students
to think deeply and critically. For example, students at grades nine through twelve are expected
to analyze, evaluate, and address multiple authors (RH.9–12.6); sources (RI.9–12.7); motivations
1 As noted throughout this framework, speaking and listening should be broadly interpreted. Speaking and listening should
include deaf and hard of hearing students using American Sign Language (ASL) as their primary language. Students who
are deaf and hard of hearing who do not use ASL as their primary language but use amplification, residual hearing, listening
and spoken language, cued speech and sign supported speech, access general education curriculum with varying modes of
communication.Creating awareness of the
multiple literacies that adults
and young people use in
their daily lives and that
scientists, historians, artists,
novelists, playwrights, poets,
mathematicians, and others
use to create knowledge and
other works builds a shared
vision of literacy.A goal of this framework,
developing the readiness for
college, careers, and civic
life, takes on special meaning
as high school students make
tangible moves to apply for
college or technical school
or start a career search and,
as their eighteenth birthday
arrives, to register to vote.664 | Chapter 7 Grades 9 to 12