English Department 

Overview of the EHS English Program:

The Edgemont Jr.-Sr. High School ELA (English Language Arts) program fosters the development of students’ literary and writing skills, as well as their understanding and appreciation of a variety of texts and of reading and writing experiences. Increasingly, students will learn to analyze the interaction of form and content, in both the texts they read and the pieces they write. A major reading focus of the upper grades is to examine the relationship between text, historical time period and cultural environment; a major writing focus is to state and develop clear and thoughtful theses. While developing the essential Common Core State Standards at each grade level, the program strives to further the students’ love of literature and to encourage their independence, desire, and confidence in seeking out texts and creating their own writings to enrich their lives.

Beyond the cultivation of reading and writing skills, the program aims to help students develop the other essential skills of communication: listening and speaking. Classes are discussion-based, providing opportunities for students to share their own and consider others' observations, ideas, questions and musings. 

By NYS law, all students must take English every year to graduate, and they must pass one English Regents exam, typically taken during the junior year. The Edgemont ELA program offers two levels to meet students' different needs and abilities in Grades 7 - 9. Beginning in Grade 10, it adds both an interdisciplinary English - Social Studies "Global Perspectives" course and an honors level course. (Placement in the honors level is based on a number of criteria, summarized in Honors Placement Criteria.) Grades 11 and 12 continue to offer three levels, with the middle levels combining 11th and 12th grade students in a variety of one-semester "selective" courses in the regular school.* The flow chart below displays this sequencing of courses.

*Some students will apply to enter Phaedrus, the EHS Alternative School, for their English and social studies classes in Grades 11 and 12. 

Detailed descriptions of the different course offerings can be found on page 4 of the Curriculum Bulletin.