WAKE COUNTY, N.C. - As Wake County students head back to the classroom, there’s a new style of learning thousands of students across the district will be introduced to.

• The goal is to foster critical thinking skills at an early age.
• The ELA curriculum was introduced to third and sixth grade classes last year.
• This year, ELA is expanding to grades 4, 5, 7 and 8.

The school district is expanding its English Language Arts (ELA) program with a new curriculum called EL Education.

The curriculum has a major emphasis on collaboration and in-depth discussion.

For instance, when students read a novel they’ll dig deeper over the course of several weeks by learning the history of the text and how it may relate to real-world scenarios.

The goal is to prepare students for college and their future careers by fostering critical thinking skills at an early age.

The ELA curriculum was introduced to third and sixth grade classes last year.

This year, ELA is expanding to grades 4, 5, 7 and 8, with a new middle school math curriculum and Math II.