This Framework is built upon the foundation of the 2010 "Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts and Literacy," as well as earlier versions of the "Massachusetts English Language Arts Frameworks" published since 1997. The current Framework incorporates improvements suggested by Massachusetts educators after…

One thing we know for certain: the Common Core will become yet-another failed initiative unless our curriculum provides a clear, unambiguous picture of how to teach for understanding. The solution? A concept-based curriculum. Where can you learn how to create one? "Designing a Concept-Based Curriculum in English Language Arts." Fusing…

As part of its proposal to the U.S. Department of Education, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) committed to developing Kindergarten through Grade 2 Model Content Frameworks for English language arts (ELA)/literacy (K-2 Model Content Frameworks) to serve as a bridge between the Common Core State Standards…

Surveys National Council of Teachers of English Centers of Excellence to learn how good English curricula develop. Discusses the Center of Excellence's origins and development, curriculum approval process, implementation, evaluation and assessment, funding, and obstacles. Concludes that the Centers of Excellence offer a highly professional,…

Recounts the process and narrates the steps taken by the English department at Ursinus College, Pennsylvania, in its major renovation of its outdated English curriculum. Describes the working conditions of the department and the newly devised curriculum. (HB)

Considers how the events of September 11th made fear drive students away from acceptance and interest in what was before a cultural learning experience. Discusses students' reactions to Chinua Achebe's novel "Things Fall Apart," which depicts colonization from the point of the Ibo people. Concludes that curriculum may need to address…

Addresses whether English teaching has a literacy project of its own. Discusses a holistic, integrated view of literacy as comprising three interlocking dimensions: operational, cultural, and critical. Suggests English teaching should engage with philosophy, the humanities, and the arts. Proposes that educators need to develop a better…

Discusses the author's reactions to a questionnaire about assumptions and practices that define "English education." Lists the author's preferred texts, important figures, and ideas for college courses. Defines English education as an applied area of study that draws together knowledge and techniques, theory and content from areas such as…

Describes the contradictory impulses embedded in the secondary English curriculum. Considers changing notions of the curriculum and recent trends in curriculum design and theory. Outlines the prominent features of successful curricula based on the concept of engendering coherent conversational domains. (HB)

Describes the lessons that can be learned from the recent history of assessment in the English language arts. Considers the possible future uses to which assessment might be put in the near future. Explores the assessment activities of the National Assessment of Educational Progress over the past several years. (HB)

Describes how and why writing program administrators should get involved in developing a technical communication program. Discusses one such program, in which students are prepared as technical writers to enter the profession of technical communication. Suggests how to begin and how to develop ties with the industrial community. (HB)

The purpose of this publication is to encourage and assist high schools in designing elective English courses and programs for grades 10 through 12. After pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of using electives, the discussion shifts to salient questions concerning the planning, construction, and implementation of elective courses and…

Questions the extent to which administrators contribute to the effectiveness of English departments and to evaluation of teachers based on trust. Describes the peer evaluation program developed at Evanstown Township High School (Illinois) and asserts that interaction at a level of trust is the secret of evaluation for the purpose of effective…

Urges the inclusion in planning and in-service education programs of effective ways teachers can interact with parents and students to help them understand the English language arts program. (DD)

Discusses how various factors combined to move Chabot College, a California community college, towards creating a mission statement for all their English courses and within that context, one for their basic writing courses. Notes that the context for the creation of the mission statement includes a commitment to basic writing as a legal mandate,…