ELA Lens: Standards-Based Teaching

Standards-based teaching refers to an approach to curriculum and instruction that is centered on learning standards. The learning standards used for ABE in Massachusetts are the College and Career Readiness Standards for Adult Education (Pimentel, 2013). You will often see these standards referred to as the CCRSAE. This page is a portal to tools and resources related to the CCRSAE for ELA/Literacy.

The Standards

• College and Career Readiness Standards for Adult Education (CCRSAE) - the complete and original set (The ELA standards begin on p.13, but the preliminary information is important to read.)
  • New! Estándares de Preparación Universitaria y Profesional para la Educación de Adultos
• ELA Anchor Standards (see all the anchor standards on one page!)
• ELA Standards by Level
• Notating the ELA Standards (MS Word or PDF)

About the Standards

• CCRSAE-ELA video (a great way to introduce yourself to or refresh your knowledge of the CCRSAE for ELA)
• What Does a Standards-Aligned Classroom Look Like?
• Three Key Shifts for ELA
• Build Knowledge by Promoting Volume of Reading
• A Teacher’s Guide to the CCRSAE for Level A and Level B Adult Learners
• "The Role of Fiction in the High School English Language Arts Classroom" by Susan Pimentel (12/11/12, updated 2/10/13)

When making curricular or instructional decisions, ask the following questions:

• Are the unit/lesson objectives clearly aligned to the CCRSAE-ELA?
• Are there a realistic number of standards to do justice to them all in the time available?
• Are learners (1) engaged students with complex text/academic language, (2) focused on evidence, and/or (3) building knowledge? (three instructional shifts)
• Do students have opportunity to integrate the skills from several standards in robust tasks?
• Are assessments tied to the CCRSAE?

Tools and Resources

• ELA Proficiency Guide
• The Recipe for Success: The CCRSAE and Instructional Shifts for ELA - an online, asynchronous, and self-paced SABES course
• ELA Instructional Practice Guide: Core Actions for Standards-Based Teaching
• Checklist for Evaluating Text-Dependent Question Quality
• ELA Resource Alignment Tool
• ELA Lesson Revision Template
• Text Complexity & Selection
• Text Sets 
• Standards-Based ELA Curricula - developed by MA ABE practitioners
• ELA Curriculum Hub - MA-specific templates and tools 
• CCRSAE resources from other states (most relate to the K-12 Common Core State Standards and must be adapted for Adult Education)
  • Achieve the Core - Free, ready-to-use classroom resources from Student Achievement Partners
  • Achievement Network 
  • Engage NY High School Equivalency Curriculum Framework 
  • Teaching the Core 

	SABES ELA Curriculum Hub
	SABES ELA Home Page