Connecticut State Department of Education

Teacher of the Year Ceremony
Due to inclement weather, the Teacher of the Year Ceremony has been postponed to December 16, 2025 from 5-7pm. Doors will open at 4pm. The Ceremony will take place at the Bushnell Theater in Hartford, and the order of events will remain the same.

Connecticut Core Standards

Tools for Use in the Formative Assessment Process – English Language Arts

Formative Assessments for Grades K-5

Grade Title
1 Literacy in Social Studies: My Informational Report About Community Workers
1 Sending Feelings Your Way: Greeting Card Project
2 Comparing Characters’ Responses to Events
3 “What Was Project Mercury?” and “Who was Alan Shepard?”
3 Mrs. Mack by Patricia Polacco
3 Cactus Jam by Ruth J. Luhrs
4 Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
4 Paired excerpts from “Yang the Eldest and His Odd Jobs” and “Out of the Dust”
4 Basic Archaeology - "What’s a Dig?" and "What’s a Midden?" by David White
5 The Princess and the Pea
5 The Drive-In Movies
5 Bubblology
5 “Looking for Lunar Ice” by Mary Kay Carson
5 "Who was Marco Polo?" by Joan Holub and "The Adventure of Marco Polo" by Russell Freedman
5 The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars

Formative Assessments for Grades 6-8

Grade Title
6 Funeral
6 Writing My Own Myth
6 “The History of Earth Day” by Amanda Davis, “Earth Day” by Claudia Atticot and Alexandra Manning, and a video from NBC News
6 Excerpts from Counting on Grace by Elizabeth Winthrop and IQBAL by Francesco D’Adamo
6 Literary Nonfiction—“The Making of a Scientist” by Richard Feynman
7 "Blizzard"
7 "From The Wave" by Thom Gunn
7 “High Schools Starting Later to Help Sleepy Teens,” by Michelle Trudeau and “High schools will keep starting too early. Here’s why.” by Dan Weissmann
7 Nature by Design by Bruce Brooks
7 The Omnivore’s Dilemma – The Secrets Behind What You Eat by Michael Pollan
8 Dance Mama Dance
8 '1984' by George Orwell
8 “In our digital world, are young people losing their ability to read emotions?” by Stuart Wolpert and “Study: Kids can learn as much from ‘Sesame Street’ as from preschool” by Jim Tankersley
8 The Open Boat by Stephen Crane

Formative Assessments for Grades 9-12

Grade Title
9 Burning a Book
9 Mini-assessment for The Manhattan Project Text Set
9 “Departure” by Sherwood Anderson
9-12 Watchdog Reporter
10 Sympathy
10 "Nowhere to Go"
11 Home Burial
11 “Living Like Weasels” by Annie Dillard (Literary Nonfiction Mini-Assessment)
11 "Luck" by Mark Twain
11 Inaugural Address, 1801 by Thomas Jefferson
11 "Is it a Crime for a Citizen of the United States to Vote?" by Susan B. Anthony
12 We Grow Accustomed to the Dark
12 Evaluating Gender Equality in Today’s Society: A Critical View