English Language Arts

Core Knowledge and Common Core State Standards

The Common Core Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies & Science call for a curriculum that is “intentionally and coherently structured to develop rich content knowledge within and across grades.”

By outlining the precise content that every child should learn in language arts and literature, history and geography, mathematics, science, music, and the visual arts, the Core Knowledge curriculum has been providing an intentionally and coherently structured, content-rich, grade-by-grade curriculum for over twenty years.

Using the content and skill guidelines set forth in the Core Knowledge Sequence, schools can meet or exceed the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies & Science by:

• Enabling students to develop understanding of domain-specific words and phrases, their relationships, and their nuances within the context of lessons that build background knowledge in literature, science, social studies and the arts.

• Providing an integrated model of literacy that reflects the developmental nature of language and the interrelation of all facets of literacy — listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

• Addressing the foundational language arts skills, as well as the ability to infer, imply, reason, evaluate and synthesize information.

• Balancing fiction and nonfiction texts taught during the language arts block, so that by 4th grade, 50% of the texts students are reading are informational/explanatory texts and 50% are fiction—a key requirement of the Common Core State Standards.

Use our rubric to evaluate your ELA program for alignment with the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies & Science.

Download the alignment between the Core Knowledge Language Arts program and the Common Core State Standards Publisher's Criteria.

Download the K - 5 alignment between the Core Knowledge Sequence and the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies & Science.

Download the 6 - 8 alignment between the Core Knowledge Sequence and the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies & Science.

Although the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) do not address preschool, we have created an alignment that demonstrates how our Preschool Sequence provides a foundation for the kindergarten standards.

Learn about professional development that will help you to implement the Common Core State Standards using Core Knowledge!