California English Journal — September 2026

Call for Manuscripts

Next Issue: November 2026
Theme: RETHINKING GRADING IN LITERACY CLASSROOMS

Many classrooms today are dominated by a culture that values grades over learning. Students see mistakes as evidence of failure, rather than as an essential part of growth and learning. Too often, students may feel reluctant to take risks, experiment with new ideas, or embrace challenges to deepen their learning. Unfortunately, the traditional 100-point grading scale used in many US K-12 schools devotes a disproportionate number of points to failing marks (0-60 points), creating systems in which students are more likely to fail than succeed. For ELA teachers, this tension is especially evident. Reading, writing, and meaning-making are naturally messy processes. Developing a writer’s voice and interpreting a text require vulnerability, experimentation, revision, and self-reflection, which can be difficult for teachers to assess; unfortunately, students still gravitate towards focusing on their final grade over their learning journey. How do you cultivate a classroom culture where it is safe for students to take intellectual and creative risks? Beyond district-wide and -enforced grading policies (e.g., minimum grading, standards-based grading, etc.), what grading practices, assignments, feedback strategies, or classroom conversations have helped shift students’ focus from grades to growth? How do you encourage students to see revision, productive struggle, and failure as important opportunities for literacy learning? What have your own successes or missteps taught you about assessment in the ELA classroom?

California English invites K-12 teachers, teacher educators, literacy partners, and school leaders to help us rethink grading and assessment in ways that center student learning, agency, creativity, and growth.

Due Date: October 1, 2026

Call for Manuscripts

Upcoming Issue: February 2027
Theme: MULTILINGUAL ASSETS IN THE ELA CLASSROOM

Today’s K-12 students navigate a multilingual world. They move daily across languages, dialects, online spaces, and cultural communities. State Governor Newsom has pledged for “half of all K–12 students to participate in programs leading to proficiency in two or more languages” (Global California 2030); additionally, California ranks first in the number of English language learners (ELs) or emergent bilinguals (EBs) and children of immigrants in US schools (Migration Policy Institute, 2026). In an era of K-pop fandoms, online multiplayer gaming communities, global sporting events, and social media creators and influencers, Californian students’ linguistic worlds are bigger than schools recognize. However, too often schools position academic English as the ‘norm’ and other languages as a linguistic deficit to overcome, restrict, or forget at the classroom door. As teachers, how can we move beyond deficit views of English learners or emergent bilinguals (ELs/EBs) and, instead, recognize multilingualism as a tool for learning, communication, identity, and creativity? What does it mean to honor students’ full linguistic repertoires in the ELA classroom as essential tools for meaning making? How do you create a classroom where students’ home languages and community literacies are visible and woven into classroom learning? How do you frame translanguaging or code-switching as purposeful rhetorical choices, as opposed to errors to correct? For bilingual education and dual language immersion teachers, how do you ensure that both English and the target language are positioned as equally valuable for academic learning, self-expression, and civic engagement? How do you help students develop pride in their linguistic identities, while also navigating the language expectations of schools and public spaces?

California English invites K-12 teachers, teacher educators, literacy partners, and especially bilingual education and dual language immersion teachers to help demonstrate how multilingual assets can enrich literacy learning and honor the linguistic identities of all students, families, and linguistic communities.

Migration Policy Institute. (2026). English learners and children of immigrants by U.S. state. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data-tool/english-learners-children-immigrants -state

Due Date: December 1, 2026