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Adult Ed/ English Language Arts Curriculum English Language Arts Adult Basic Education 1
Course Preface Course Preface
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Core Standards of the Course

Reading Standards
To become college and career ready, students need to grapple with works of exceptional craft and thought whose range extends across genres, cultures, and centuries. By engaging with increasingly complex readings, students gain the ability to evaluate intricate arguments and the capacity to surmount the challenges posed by complex texts. Standards 1 and 10 play a special role since they operate whenever students are reading: Standard 1 outlines the command of evidence required to support any analysis of text (e.g., analyzing structure, ideas, or the meaning of word as defined by Standards 2-9); Standard 10 defines the range and complexity of what students need to read.
Reading Strand
Key: The citation at the end of each standard in the following chart identifies the CCSS strand, grade, and number (or standard number and letter, where applicable).
For example, RI.4.3 stands for Reading, Informational Text, Grade 4, Standard 3.

RI: Reading Informational Text RH: Reading Historical/Social Studies Text
RL: Reading Literature RST: Reading Scientific and Technical Text

CCR Anchor 1:
Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. (Apply this standard to texts of appropriate complexity as outlined by Standard 10.)4

RI/RL.1.1
Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.


CCR Anchor 2:
Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas. (Apply this standard to texts of appropriate complexity as outlined by Standard 10.)

RI.1.2
Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.


CCR Anchor 3:
Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. (Apply this standard to texts of appropriate complexity as outlined by Standard 10.)

RI.1.3
Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.


CCR Anchor 4:
Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. (Apply this standard to texts of appropriate complexity as outlined by Standard 10.)

RI.1.4
Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text.


CCR Anchor 5:
Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole. (Apply this standard to texts of appropriate complexity as outlined by Standard 10.)

RI.1.5
Know and use various text features (e.g., headings, tables of contents, glossaries, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text.


CCR Anchor 7:
Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words. (Apply this standard to texts of appropriate complexity as outline by Standard 10.)

RI.1.7
Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas (e.g., maps, charts, photographs, political cartoons, etc.).


CCR Anchor 8:
Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence. (Apply this standard to texts of appropriate complexity as outlined by Standard 10.)

RI.1.8
Identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text.


CCR Anchor 9:
Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take. (Apply this standard to texts of appropriate complexity as outlined by Standard 10.)

RI.1.9
Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures).


CCR Anchor 10:
Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.5

Associated Quantitative Measures of Text Complexity to B-E Levels of Learning

Common Core Band ATOS Degrees of Reading Power® Flesch-Kincaid The Lexile Framework® Reading Maturity SourceRater
2nd - 3rd (B) 2.75 - 5.14 42 - 54 1.98 - 5.34 420 - 820 3.53 - 6.13 0.05 - 2.48
4th - 5th (C) 4.97 - 7.03 52 - 60 4.51 - 7.73 740 - 1010 5.42 - 7.92 0.84 - 5.75
6th - 8th (D) 7.00 - 9.98 57 - 67 6.51 - 10.34 925 - 1185 7.04 - 9.57 4.11 - 10.66
9th - 10th (E) 9.67 - 12.01 62 - 72 8.32 - 12.12 1050 - 1335 8.41 - 10.81 9.02 - 13.93
11th - CCR (E) 11.20 - 14.10 67 - 74 10.34 - 14.2 1185 - 1385 9.57 - 12.00 12.30 - 14.50


Writing Standards
 To be college and career ready writers, students must take task, purpose, and audience into careful consideration, choosing words, information, structures, and formats deliberately. The Writing Standards cultivate the development of three mutually reinforcing writing capacities: crafting arguments, writing to inform and explain, and fashioning narratives about real or imagined experiences. The overwhelming focus of writing throughout the levels is on arguments and informative/explanatory texts. Writing Standard 9 is a standout because it stresses the importance of the writing-reading connection by requiring students to draw upon and use evidence from literary and informational texts as they write arguments or inform/explain. Because of the centrality of writing to most forms of inquiry, research standards are prominently included in this strand as well.

Writing Strand
Key: The citation at the end of each standard in the following chart identifies the CCSS strand, grade, and number (or standard number and letter, where applicable).
For example, W.5.1a stands for Writing, Grade 5, Standard 1a.

W: Writing WHST: Writing for History/Social Studies, Scientific and Technical Subjects

CCR Anchor 2:
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

W.1.2
Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.


CCR Anchor 3:
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences.

W.1.3
Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.


CCR Anchor 5:
Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

W.1.5
With guidance and support focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed.


CCR Anchor 6:
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

W.1.6
With guidance and support, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.


CCR Anchor 7:
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

W.1.7
Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of "how-to" books on a given topic and use them to write a sequence of instructions).


CCR Anchor 8:
Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.

W.1.8
With guidance and support, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.


Speaking and Listening
 Including, but not limited to, skills necessary for formal presentations, the Speaking and Listening Standards require students to develop a range of broadly useful oral communication and interpersonal skills. The standards ask students to learn to work together, express and listen carefully to ideas, integrate information from oral, visual, quantitative, and media sources, evaluate what they hear, use media and visual displays strategically to help achieve communicative purposes, and adapt speech to context and task.7

Speaking and Listening Strand
Key: The citation at the end of each standard in the following chart identifies the CCSS strand, grade, and number (or standard number and letter, where applicable).
For example, SL.K.2 stands for Speaking and Listening, Grade K, Standard 2.

SL: Speaking and Listening  

CCR Anchor 1:
Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

SL.1.1
Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners in small and larger groups.

  1. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
  2. Build on others' talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple exchanges.
  3. Ask questions to clear up any confusion about the topics and texts under discussion.

CCR Anchor 2:
Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

SL.K.2
Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.


CCR Anchor 3:
Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.

SL.K.3
Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.


CCR Anchor 4:
Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

SL.1.4
Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly.


CCR Anchor 6:
Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

SL.K.6
Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.

SL.1.6
Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation. (See Language standards 1 and 3.)


Language Standards
 The Language Standards include the essential "rules" of standard written and spoken English, but they also approach language as a matter of craft and informed choice among alternatives. The vocabulary standards focus on understanding words and phrases and their nuances and relationships, and on acquiring new vocabulary, particularly general academic and domain-specific words and phrases. Students advancing through the levels are expected to meet each level's specific standards and retain or further develop skills and understanding mastered in preceding levels.9

Language Strand
Key: The citation at the end of each standard in the following chart identifies the CCSS strand, grade, and number (or standard number and letter, where applicable).
For example, L.9-10.1 stands for Language, Grade 9-10, Standard 1.

L: Language  

CCR Anchor 1:
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

L.K.1 and 1.1 merge 10
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

  1. Print all upper- and lowercase letters.
  2. Use common, proper, and possessive nouns.
  3. Use singular and plural nouns with matching verbs in basic sentences (e.g., He hops; We hop).
  4. Use personal, possessive, and indefinite pronouns (e.g., I, me, my; they, them, their; anyone, everything).
  5. Use verbs to convey a sense of past, present, and future (e.g., Yesterday I walked home; Today I walk home; Tomorrow I will walk home).
  6. Use frequently occurring adjectives.
  7. Use frequently occurring nouns and verbs.
  8. Use frequently occurring conjunctions (e.g., and, but, or, so, because).
  9. Use determiners (e.g., articles, demonstratives).
  10. Use frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., during, beyond, toward).
  11. Understand and use question words (interrogatives) (e.g., who, what, where, when, why, how).
  12. Produce and expand complete simple and compound declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences in response to prompts.

CCR Anchor 2:
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

L.K.2 and 1.2 merge
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

  1. Capitalize the first word in a sentence and the pronoun I.
  2. Capitalize dates and names of people.
  3. Recognize and name end punctuation.
  4. Use end punctuation for sentences.
  5. Use commas in dates and to separate single words in a series.
  6. Write a letter or letters for most consonant and short vowel sounds (phonemes).
  7. Spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships.
  8. Use conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns and for frequently occurring irregular words.
  9. Spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions.

CCR Anchor 4:
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.

L.1.4
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.

  1. Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
  2. Use frequently occurring affixes as a clue to the meaning of a word.
  3. Identify frequently occurring root words (e.g., look) and their inflectional forms (e.g., looks, looked, looking).

CCR Anchor 5:
Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

L.1.5
With guidance and support, demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

  1. Sort words into categories (e.g., colors, clothing) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.
  2. Define words by category and by one or more key attributes (e.g., a duck is a bird that swims; a tiger is a large cat with stripes).
  3. Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at home that are cozy).
  4. d. Distinguish shades of meaning among verbs differing in manner (e.g., look, peek, glance, stare, glare, scowl) and adjectives differing in intensity (e.g., large, gigantic) by defining or choosing them or by acting out the meanings.

CCR Anchor 6:
Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

L.1.6
Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using frequently occurring conjunctions to signal simple relationships (e.g., because).


Reading Standards: Foundational Skills K-5
 The Reading Standards: Foundational Skills are directed toward fostering students' understanding and working knowledge of concepts of print, the alphabetic principle, and other basic conventions of the English writing system. These foundational skills are not an end in and of themselves; rather, they are necessary and important components of an effective, comprehensive reading program designed to develop proficient readers with the capacity to comprehend texts across a range of types and disciplines.11

Reading Standards: Foundational Skills K-5
Key: The citation at the end of each standard in the following chart identifies the CCSS strand, grade, and number (or standard number and letter, where applicable).
For example, RF.4.4 stands for Reading Foundational Skills, Grade 4, Standard 4.

RF: Reading Foundational Skills  

RF.2.
Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes). (Phonological Awareness)

RF.K.2 and 1.2 merge
Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).

  1. Recognize and produce rhyming words.
  2. Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
  3. Count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words.
  4. Blend and segment onsets and rimes of single-syllable spoken words.
  5. Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.
  6. Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).
  7. Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.
  8. Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words.



4 Standard 10 defines a staircase of increasing text complexity that rises from beginning reading to the college and career readiness level. Panel members added this statement to Anchor Standards 1-9 to make sure it is understood that the skills of reading are to be applied to level-appropriate complex text.
5 See Appendix D of this report for the research explaining the importance of text complexity in reading achievement.
7 NGA (2010a), p. 8.
9 NGA (2010a), p. 8.
10 "Merge" signifies panelists selected all of the standards from the two grades indicated. In the merge, any repetition in content grade-to-grade was deleted; occasionally where similar content was covered grade-to-grade a single standard was edited, combining the text of both standards, to include the demands of both grades.
11 NGA (2010a), p. 15.

UEN logo http://www.uen.org - in partnership with Utah State Board of Education (USBE) and Utah System of Higher Education (USHE).  Send questions or comments to USBE Specialist - Stephanie  Patton and see the Adult Ed/ English Language Arts website. For general questions about Utah's Core Standards contact the Director - Stephanie  Patton.

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