English Language Arts

Since the adoption of the most recent Washington State Learning Standards (WSLS) for English Language Arts (ELA) in 2011, Tacoma Public Schools has been striving to provide teachers and students with high quality resources to address these rigorous standards. 

In 2013, as a part of the commitment to provide high quality resources, SpringBoard by CollegeBoard was adopted for both middle school and high school ELA curriculum. In 2016, a team of (50+) K-12 educators came together to prioritize the WSLS for ELA, for all grades. As the next step for aligning curricular resources with the priority standards for K-12 ELA, the Curriculum and Instruction department determined that SpringBoard was in alignment for secondary ELA. 

In 2019, Lucy Calkins Units Study in Phonics by Heinemann Publishing was adopted by the Board of Directors for grades K-2. In addition to this newly adopted K-2 phonics curriculum, it was determined by the Curriculum and Instruction department that supplementary resources were needed for educators in grades K-5 for ELA. Through a Request for Proposals (RFP) process, a team of (30+) educators helped to determine that Fundamentals Unlimited by Schoolwide Incorporated had the highest scoring supplemental resources to support ELA instruction in grades K-5. At the end of the 2018-19 school year, supplemental curricular resources were purchased by Schoolwide Incorporated for K-5 classrooms. These classrooms also received updated classroom libraries and leveled bookrooms for small group instruction.