April 02nd, 2020

Elementary ​ELA Curriculum Update

As you may have heard by now the Colorado Academic Standards 2020 (CAS 2020) will be in our Jeffco Curriculum starting the 20-21 school year. You may be wondering what to expect in Elementary ELA.

For Elementary ELA we are excited to share that the largest shift you will see is in “packaging”. The intent and language of the standards have not changed all that much, just the coding.


Example of an Evidence Outcome (EO) with no change:
​2010 Colorado Academic Standard 3.2.2.a.i:

​2020 Colorado Academic Standard 3.2.2.a.i:

Example of a Grade Level Expectation (GLE) change:
​2010 Grade Level Expectation (GLE) 3 Kindergarten:

​2020 Grade Level Expectation (GLE) 3 Kindergarten:

Example of an Evidence Outcome(EO) added:
​2010 Evidence Outcome (EO)

2020 Evidence Outcome (EO K.2.3.b.vi) has been added

The piece that will be new however is the way in which we are grouping the standards to support the whole package of literacy instead of reading, writing and oral expression.

Let’s talk about what you’ll see in the K-5 Literacy Year-At-A-Glance(YAAG):

Genre Units 
You will see Genre Units focused on Informational, Narrative, Research and Opinion. These units are book-ended with a launching unit and an integrated unit. This allows for setting good routines and expectations and an opportunity to reteach and extend before the end of the year. These Genre Units were created in a way that the content builds on prior units. However, they are end of year standards for the purpose of allowing flexibility in their placement or sequence if buildings so chose to.

Foundational Units
This is a year long unit in the study of all the essential foundational skills for students to be able to read and write. You will find standards and skills such as  Print Concepts, Phonological Awareness, Spelling, Decoding, Analyzing Words, and Fluency, as appropriate for each grade level. We know that these foundational skills and standards are developed throughout the year and are applied in all genres. We also know that many schools have a core resource that they lean into for pacing and sequence.  These units are designed to still allow for that flexibility. 

Language and Literacy Processes Units
(Writing process, Conventions, Language) 
This is a year long unit in the study of the Writing process, Conventions, and Language  with an understanding that the standards and skills addressed in this unit are weaved in and out of every unit and other content areas. You will  find standards and skills such as Analyzing Language, Generating Sentences, Revision for Audience, Purpose, and Task, Editing and Parts of Speech as appropriate to each grade level. 

Changes to Organizing Concepts
You will notice the organizing concepts of each unit have changed. The  proficiency scale titles will be the new way the units are organized. This highlights the interconnectedness of the units. 

Sample Elementary Literacy YAAG
Here is an example of our Elementary Literacy YAAG where you will see the Foundational Unit, Genre Units, and the Language and Literacy Unit. The possible organizing concepts are listed with their proficiency scale code for clarity. 

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Your Elementary Literacy TOSA’s are here to support you: ​