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The Expository Literacy Grant project, involving twelve lower performing high schools is intended to improve the readiness of diverse high school graduates for the academic literacy required by bachelor's-level university coursework. Using the training and modules of the CSU Expository Reading and Writing Course (ERWC), teachers at the participating schools are also provided support for collaborative work on specific activities including development of curriculum maps and common formative assessments. Work is documented in an annual portfolio of evidence.
To this end, CAPP expects schools that receive this grant to
- Improve students’ expository reading and writing skills;
- Improve teachers’ abilities to teach critical reading and expository writing;
- Develop practical and effective expository reading and writing units/sequences that are aligned with both postsecondary expectations and the California English Language Arts Standards and going forward with the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts.
WestEd is studying the ELG program in six schools in the first cohort. Data from the study suggests that Expository Literacy Grant teachers' use of data to inform practice increased as a result of the grant. Specifically, the teachers created a culture of evidence and learned to interrogate data in more rigorous ways, using data from common formative assessments and summative assessments to guide planning and instruction. Schools that have been participating in the ELG program are well positioned to provide students with a coherent curriculum aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English Language Arts.
WestEd's interim evaluation report of the ELG program.
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