The current focus for curriculum work in English Language Arts involves setting writing performance benchmarks. During 2006-2007 assessments will be piloted in three grade levels according to the following plan:

Grade 3---Personal Narrative
Grade 5---Persuasive Writing
Grade 6---Character Analysis

Also during 2006-2007 criteria will be set specific purposes for writing at grades 4 and 8.

The writing benchmarks project and other English Language Arts curriculum work are guided by the Massachusetts English Language Arts Curriculum Frameworks.
Core frameworks
Frameworks supplement