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America's Choice, a standards-based reform program, was implemented
in District schools the year 2001. "We want our children to be able
to compete with their peers throughout the world. America's Choice
provides the District with the element that staff members and the
administration believe would help us accomplish that goal, "said
Superintendent Alex Boyd. "The program's reading and writing curriculum
is based on standards that must be met by students worldwide. While
developing students who are strong readers and writers, we believe the
sound instruction principles of America's Choice will provide our
students with the skills necessary to increase their scores on the
ISAT (Illinois Standards Achievement Test)."
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Dr. Laurice Jones, assistant superintendent, added, "The comprehensive model of America's
Choice School design exemplifies what children should know and be able
to do at the end of third, fifth, and eighth grade, which are
benchmark grades. We believe that America's Choice instill in our
students a love of reading as they read 25
books or more for our book
campaign. Board of Education members, Dr. Boyd, and the community
believe that this model will change teaching strategies and thus
improve student achievement. This is a three-year model. We will
evaluate and sustain the program for the three years and attain the
desired results. Our intent is to leave no child behind."
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America's Choice Standards
English Language Arts
READING
E1a. The student reads at least twenty-five books or book equivalents each year. The quality and, complexity of the materials to be read are illustrated in the sample reading list. The materials should include traditional and contemporary literature (both fiction and non-fiction) as well as magazines, newspapers, textbooks, and online materials. Such reading should represent a diverse collection of material from at least three different literary forms and from at least five different writers.
E1b. The students reads and comprehends at least four books (or book equivalents) about one issue or subject, or four books by a single writer, or four books in one genre, and produces evidence of reading that:
- makes and supports warranted and responsible assertions about the texts;
- supports assertions with elaborated and convincing evidence;
- draws the texts together to compare and contrast themes, characters, and ideas;
- makes perceptive and well developed connections;
- evaluates writing strategies and elements of the author's craft.
E1c. The students reads and comprehends informational materials to develop understanding and expertise and produces written or oral work that:
- restates or summarizes information;
- relates new information to prior knowledge and experience;
- extends ideas;
- makes connections to related topics or information.
E1d. The student demonstrates familiarity with a variety of public documents (i.e., documents that focus on civic issues or matters of public policy at the community level and beyond) and produces written or oral work that does one or more of the following:
- identifies the social context of the document;
- identifies the author's purpose and stance;
- analyzes the arguments and positions advanced and the evidence offered in support of
them, or formulates and argument and offers evidence to support it;
- examines or makes use of the appeal of a document to audiences both friendly and hostile
to the position presented;
- identifies or use commonly used persuasive techniques.
E1e. The students demonstrates familiarity with a variety of functional documents (i.e., documents that exist in order to get things done) and produces written or oral work that does one or more of the following:
- identifies the institutional context of the document;
- identifies the sequence of activities needed to carry out a procedure;
- analyzes or uses the formatting techniques used to make a document user-friendly;
- identifies any information that is either extraneous or missing in terms of
audience and purpose or makes effective use of relevant information.
America's Choice Standards
English Language Arts
WRITING
E2a. The student produces a report that:
- engages the reader by establishing a context, creating a persona, and otherwise developing reader interest;
- develops a controlling idea that conveys a perspective on the subject;
- creates an organizing structure appropriate to purpose, audience, and context;
- includes appropriate facts and details;
- excludes extraneous and inappropriate information;
- uses a range of appropriate strategies, such as providing facts and details, describing or
analyzing the subject, narrating a relevant anecdote, comparing and contrasting, naming,
and explaining benefits or limitations;
- provides a sense of closure to the writing.
E2b. The students produces a response to literature that:
- engages the reader through establishing a context, creating a persona, and otherwise
developing reader interest;
- advances a judgment that is interpretive, analytic, evaluative, or reflective;
- supports a judgment through references to the text, references to other works, authors, or
non-print media, or references to personal knowledge;
- demonstrates an understanding of the literary work;
- anticipates and answers a reader's questions;
- provides a sense of closure to the writing.
E2c. The student produces a narrative account, (fictional or autobiographical) that:
- engages the reader by establishing an context, creating a point of view, and otherwise
developing reader interest;
- establishes a situation, plot, point of view, setting, and conflict (and for autobiography,
the significance of events and of conclusions that can be drawn from those events);
- creates an organizing structure;
- includes sensory details and concrete language to develop plot and character;
- excludes extraneous details and inconsistencies;
- develops complex characters;
- uses a range of appropriate strategies, such as dialogue, tension or suspense, naming, and
specific narrative action, e.g., movement, gestures, expressions;
- provides a sense of closure to the writing.
E2d. The student produces a narrative procedure that:
- engages the reader by establishing a context, creating a persona, and otherwise
developing reader interest;
- provides a guide to action for a relatively complicated procedure in order to anticipate a
reader's needs;
- creates expectations through predictable structures, e.g., heading; and provides transitions
between steps;
- makes use of appropriate writing strategies such as creating a visual hierarchy and using
white space and graphics as appropriate;
- includes relevant information;
- excludes extraneous information;
- anticipates problems, mistakes, and misunderstandings that might arise for the reader;
- provides a sense of closure to the writing.
E2e. The student produces a persuasive essay that:
- engages the reader by establishing a context, creating a persona, and otherwise
developing reader interest;
- develops a controlling idea that makes a clear and knowledgeable judgment;
- creates and organizes a structure that is appropriate to the needs, values, and interests of a
specified audience, and arranges details, reasons, examples, and anecdotes effectively and
persuasively;
- includes appropriate information and arguments;
- excludes information and arguments that are irrelevant;
- anticipates and addresses reader concerns and counter- arguments;
- supports arguments with detailed evidence, citing sources of information as appropriate;
- provides a sense of closure to the writing.
America's Choice Standards
English Language Arts I
SPEAKING, LISTENING, AND VIEWING
E3a. The student participates in one-to-one conference with a teacher, paraprofessional, or adult volunteer, in which the student:
- initiates new topics in addition to responding to
adult-initiated topics;
- asks relevant questions;
- responds to questions with appropriate elaboration;
- Uses language cues to indicate different levels of certainty or hypothesizing, e.g., “what
if...,”“ very likely…,” “I’m unsure whether..., ”;
- confirms understanding by paraphrasing the adult's directions or suggestions.
E3b. The student participates in group meetings, in which the students:
- displays appropriate turn -taking behaviors;
- actively solicits another person's comment or opinion;
- offers own opinion forcefully without dominating;
- responds appropriately to comments and questions;
- volunteers contributions and responds when directly solicited by teacher or discussion
leader;
- gives reasons in support of opinions expressed;
- clarifies, illustrates, or expands on a response when asked to do so; asks classmates for
similar expansions;
- employs a group decision-making technique such as brainstorming or a problem-solving
sequence (e.g., recognize problems, define problem, identify possible solutions, select
optimal solution, implement solution, evaluate solution).
E3c. The student prepares and delivers an individual presentation in which the student:
- shapes information to achieve a particular purpose and to appeal to the interests and
background knowledge of audience members;
- shapes content and organization according to criteria for importance and impact rather
than according to availability of information in resource materials;
- uses notes or other memory aids to structure the presentation;
- develops several main points relating to a single thesis;
- engages the audience with appropriate verbal cues and eye contact;
- projects a sense of individuality and personality in selecting and organizing content, and
in delivery.
E3d. The student makes informed judgments about television, radio, and film productions; that is, the student:
- demonstrates an awareness of the presence of the media in the daily lives of most people;
- evaluates the role of the media in focusing attention and in forming opinion;
- judges the extent to which the media are a source of entertainment as well as a source of
information;
- defines the role of advertising as part of media presentation.
America’s Choice Standards
English Language Arts
CONVENTIONS, GRAMMER, AND USAGE
OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
E4a. The student demonstrates an understanding of the rules of the English language in written and oral work, and selects the structure and feature of language appropriate to the purpose, audience, and context of the work. The students demonstrates control of:
- grammar;
- paragraph structure;
- punctuation;
- sentence construction;
- spelling;
- usage.
E4b. The students analyze and subsequently revise work to clarify it or make it more effective in communicating the intended message or thought. The student’s revisions should be made in light of the purposes, audiences and contexts that apply to the work.
Strategies for revising include:
- adding or deleting details;
- adding or deleting explanations;
- clarifying difficult passages;
- rearranging words, sentences, and paragraphs to improve or clarify meaning;
sharpening the focus;
- reconsidering the organizational structure.
LITERATURE
E5a. The student responds to non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and drama using interpretive, critical, and evaluative processes; that is, the students:
- identifies recurring themes across works;
- interprets the impact of authors’ decisions regarding word choice, content, and literacy elements;
- identifies the characteristics of literary forms and genres;
- evaluates literary merit;
- identifies the effect of point of view;
- analyzes the reasons for a character’s actions, taking into account the situation and basic motivation of the character;
- makes inferences and draws conclusion about fictional and non-fictional contexts, events, characters, settings, and themes;
- identifies the effect of literary devices such as figurative language, allusion, diction, dialogue, and description.
E5b. The student produces work in at least one literary genre that follows the conventions of the genre.