Literacy Standards
The following indicators outline the developmental benchmarks and literacy behaviors that most children display at a particular age/grade. All are aligned with guidelines and standards established by the Arizona Department of Education. Seen together, they show the progression of development over time, but it is important to remember that all children develop at a different pace and follow varied patterns of development.
For very young children, key components of language and communication development include modeling conversations, book handling, and picture/story comprehension. For preschool and K-3 students, indicators of developing language and emergent literacy provide a clear overview of the learning goals to be achieved by the end of each year. Across the higher grades, indicators may have similar wording, but they are to be applied with increased focus to progressively more challenging texts and tasks.
Reading Standards for Literature
- Proficiently and independently reads a wide variety of increasingly complex grade-level appropriate literature.
- Applies a variety of strategies to comprehend, recount, and paraphrase grade-level literature.
- Demonstrates understanding of how parts of a text, such as chapters, build on each other.
- Determines the central idea of a text and how key details contribute to that central idea.
- Locates evidence in the text to support answers and opinions.
- Distinguishes their point of view from that of the narrator or characters.
- Compares and contrasts themes, settings, and plots of stories.
Reading Standards for Informational Text
- Proficiently and independently reads a wide variety of increasingly complex grade-level appropriate informational texts.
- Demonstrates understanding of how parts of a text, such as specific paragraphs, build on each other.
- Determines the central idea of a text and how key details contribute to that central idea.
- Locates evidence in the text to support answers and opinions.
- Makes connections between a series of historical events, scientific ideas, or steps in technical procedures.
- Finds the meaning of key vocabulary words in informational texts.
- Uses various text features, such as glossaries, icons and indexes, to locate key facts and information.
- Applies a variety of strategies to comprehend, recount, and paraphrase grade-level informational text.
- Compares and contrasts the most important points from two texts on the same topic.
Reading Standards for Foundational Skills
- Reads words with common prefixes and suffixes, focusing on Latin suffixes.
- Reads irregularly-spelled words.
- Reads text with purpose and understanding, self-monitoring understanding.
- Knows and applies grade-level phonics and word-analysis skills in decoding words.
- Reads with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Writing Standards
- Writes opinion and explanatory pieces that include evidence to support ideas, linking words, and a conclusion.
- Writes narratives that include a clear sequence of events, descriptive details, dialogue, and words that indicate a change in time.
- Revises writing based on feedback from adults and peers.
- Conducts short research projects that build knowledge.
- Gathers information from sources to answer a question.
- Produces writing that is organized for a specific task, audience, and purpose.
Writing Foundational Standards
- Reads, writes, and transcribes using manuscript and cursive writing.
- Spells regular two- and three-syllable words and single syllable words with less common spellings.
- Uses reference resources such as dictionaries to check spellings.
Speaking and Listening Standards
- Engages in a range of collaborative discussions by asking and answering questions, reporting on topics.
- Speaks in complete sentences when appropriate to task and audience.
Language Standards
- Demonstrates proper usage of pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and other parts of speech.
- Determines the meaning of unknown words using root words, prefixes, suffixes, context clues, and dictionaries.
- Demonstrates command of the conventions of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.
- Demonstrates understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
Source: Arizona Department of Education, Arizona English Language Arts Standards
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