The English and Communication Benchmarks, Grades 4 – 12 address the content included in the ADP benchmarks (reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, media, logic and literature) with increasingly rigorous expectations from grade 4 through grade 12.

Many traditional standards present lists of skills and knowledge separated into categories (such as vocabulary, reading and writing). These lists may give the impression that literacy skills are acquired in a linear and piecemeal way, not through a cohesive curricular experience. Distinct from traditional standards, the benchmarks presented here emphasize students’ capacity to produce coherent oral, written and visual products, as well as their ability to understand increasingly complex aural, visual and written text.

Because of this emphasis on results, Achieve has organized the English and Communication Benchmarks into its component expectations as well as by grade span. The strands demonstrate the various performances expected by students across grades 4 – 12. (Click here to find out why these benchmarks begin at grade 4.)

The English and Communication Benchmarks, Grades 4 – 12 are organized into the following strands: