Who set the "Rules / Spelling / Grammar" that Public Schools use to teach to their students?

Question

If there is not an "English Language Ruling Body", How do Schools know they are teaching the right thing?

Answer 1

Many schools use grammar textbooks, internet sites, or any other current sources possible to teach rules/spelling/grammar to their students.  Unfortunately, due to phone texting and email, rules are getting harder to enforce.

Answer 2

public schools teach based on education learning standards. each state sets its own expectations for what students are to be taught and what they should know by what grade level.

that's where all this testing and no child left behind stuff comes into play. i know in Pennsylvania, each school district's curriculum is based off of the PA learning standards (which you can find online). i'm sure you can find the standards your state follows online as well.

if you're interested to see how your school district knows what to teach, you can ask them for information about their curriculum. also, you can go to your state's department of education website.

the person who answered above me mentions one type of teaching that is used by some teachers for language arts. i really like that method, although i wasn't taught about it in college. i did happen to pick up a book on the four blocks.

but if you are really wanting to know what it is that drives your school's education, ask for information on the curriculum they use and maybe a copy of your state's standards. that's how the schools know they are teaching the right thing.

btw-i think it's awesome that you speak another language. i wish that was part of what is taught in school from the primary grades!

Answer 3

The states do set their own standards regaring what students should learn but they dont set the grammar rules.

Grammar and spelling change over time. In the U.S. we have adapted our own spelling of words like color even though a lot of our language and grammar came from England (where they spell it colour). Spelling wasnt a definite art and as English mixed in with French, Latin, and other languages over time it started to adapt and became bastardized along with the rules concerning grammar.

Academics and the government have in the last few centuries have tried to reform spelling and grammar. Benjamin Franklin and his friend Noah Webster wrote pamphlets and books on fixing the random spelling of words people used into something more cohesive. Webster wrote in 1841  An American Dictionary of the English Language, Corrected and Enlarged (which is the ancestor of Merriam-Webster dictionaries used in classrooms today). Academic organizations sprung up to suppport this reform in our language. (Interesting side note: Theodore Roosevelt tried passing a law for simplified spelling based on how words sound to be used instead of complicated phonetic structure we use today and most people laughed and called him names. Somewhere between Webster and Roosevelt the public began to accept these "rules" even as they changed over time)

When you said English Language Ruling Body, I normally think of MLA (modern language association) that I have to buy update guidebooks since Im an English major. There is also the APA (American Psychological Assocation) with a different set of rules on how to write papers. Depends on the class.

Just keep in mind that there are people who believe there are set rules concerning spelling and grammar. They are the language snobs that refuse to acknowledge that language adapts. In the future we might have to add emoticons to the dictionary. For now I think it is best to learn both forms- the set rules the public generally accepts to further your writing and career aspirations and then privately rebel against the system and make up your own d**n spelling.

Answer 4

The federal and state government mandates that schools are to use to teach students because of the NCLB law

Answer 5

the law sets the rules go talk to them if u have a problem!!!!

Answer 6

That's a good question.  English words are often irregular and hard to spell.  Such as threw and through.  

Since the 90s teachers are using methods introduced by people like Dr. Patricia Cunningham at Wake Forest University.  This method takes into consideration that there are high frequency words every child should know.  They are used most often by writers.  Then there are word families, like   ook, at, ill that can be used to make multiple words, such as book, cook, look, took, etc.  Children are taught these word families as a way to make spelling easier for them to remember.  In k-2 children work mostly with the high frequency and word family words.

When they reach 3rd grade, they continue with high frequency words, but are now introduced to word study, such as word derivations, syllabication, etc.  

Dr. Cunningham's research has shown that this method which she tested in NC classrooms, works better for children who face so the learning of so many words.  You can read about this in her book "Classrooms That Work" which you can probably order from Amazon.

I used her methods as a teacher, and my students learned many more words than usual.  Oh, I forgot to mention this is the source of the "Word Wall" which teachers put up in their classrooms.   A few words are introduced each week and each day activities are done with these words.  When the words go on the wall, everyone is responsible for them.  And, yes students have a Friday spelling test on the new word wall words as well as other words they should know how to spell because they are word family words or other types of words they've learned throughout the week.