One of the New York City Department of Education’s primary goals is ensuring that all students become able readers and writers. When literacy instruction is matched to students' unique strengths and needs, students learn to effectively communicate their ideas and show what they know. Students are expected to meet the New York State standards in ELA at each grade level. Click here to learn more about the grade-level standards and core curriculum for reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
In kindergarten through grade 5, the Department of Education uses a research-based approach, called The Comprehensive Approach to Balanced Literacy. Balanced Literacy stresses the essential dimensions of reading through explicit teaching of phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency and expressiveness, vocabulary, and comprehension. Daily read-alouds, independent reading time, reading workshop, writing workshop, and systematic word study instruction are key features of the approach. Teachers demonstrate the habits and strategies of effective reading and writing through a variety of structures: read-aloud, guided reading, shared reading, interactive writing, and mini-lessons in reading and writing. By coaching students in individual or small-group conferences, teachers allow students to successfully and independently apply those strategies to their own reading and writing.
Classroom libraries are the centerpiece of Balanced Literacy. These libraries allow teachers to organize instruction around authentic literature Extensive use of classroom libraries encourages students to read and write about a variety of topics they know and like. The libraries are designed so that each grade will have a common core of books that span a range of reading levels and cover all kinds of literature from picture books, chapter books, and novels to poetry and nonfiction.
In middle school, teachers continue to use the structures and components of Balanced Literacy. Though the emphasis shifts from learning to read to reading to learn, students in middle school continue to refine, advance, and apply their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills to build knowledge about new subject matter.
High school students become more sophisticated readers and writers while deepening their knowledge through the study and exploration of various themes in American and World Literature. Students meet graduation requirements by earning at least 8 English credits. High school students who score at least 65 on the ELA Regents exam fulfill the English requirement toward the Regents diploma.