January 15, 2026

DCPS supports highly effective English Language Arts (reading, writing, speaking and listening) instruction through a research-based approach that aligns between schools and grade levels through standardized and Common Core State Standard (CCSS) aligned curriculum, district-wide teacher professional development, reading interventions and assessments.

Elementary Literacy

DCPS students in Kindergarten through Fifth grades receive 120 minutes of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) aligned English Language Arts (ELA) instruction daily. This block of time is dedicated to strengthening students’ foundational reading skills and content knowledge building through rich and engaging texts. The Elementary ELA curriculum provides students with experiences with various text types and disciplines, read for multiple purposes, and authentic learning experiences. The literacy block is broken into several components that ensure students have differentiated learning experiences to meet their specific literacy needs.

Secondary Literacy

Secondary English Language Arts classrooms in the District of Columbia Public Schools provide students with opportunities to engage with a wide variety of texts in a way that will help them better understand themselves and connect with the broader world, making them more confident and compassionate human beings. The purposeful infusion of critical consciousness and social activism in the units of study, as well, is meant to help students become thoughtful, reflective, active global citizens. Rigorous study and engagement with diverse texts and ideas will also help to prepare them for the demands of their postsecondary plans, whether college or career.

Below are the anchor novels for each unit, which are the primary focus of study. Students also read a variety of supplemental texts each unit – in a range of genres and formats – to support their engagement with the specific content in each unit.

Grade	Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3
ELA 6 Heroes and Community	Courageous Contributors Narrative Short Stories	Growing Up Tuck Everlasting	Embracing Heritage Inside Out & Back Again
ELA 7 My Hero Self	My Evolving Self The Ear, the Eye and the Arm	My Warrior Self Warriors Don’t Cry	My Survivor Self Call of the Wild
ELA 8 Heroes in Action	Dreaming in America A Raisin in the Sun	Community & Connections 145th Street: Short Stories	The Road (Not) Taken To Kill a Mockingbird
ENG I Shock and Awe	Telling Stories Fences	Tension in Literature Sanchez	Identity in Literature Passing
ENG II Telling a Story	The Life I Choose The Other Wes Moore and The Distance between Us	Honoring the Past Night	Virtue and Morality   Hamlet
ENG III Innocence, Consciousness, and Response	American Ideals & Identity  The Crucible	The American Dream Revisited  The Great Gatsby  Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass	Mobilizing the Masses  The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
ENG IV (Re)Imagining: Words, Stories and Power	Who Tells Their Own Story?  The Bluest Eye	Imagining the Future  Brave New World	Power and Performance  Othello and American Moor

 

Contact Information

Dr. Elizabeth Baird-Thompson, Director, Elementary ELA & Social Studies

Abby Welsheimer, Director, Secondary ELA

Dr. Shareen Fernanders, Senior Director, Core Content