The following is from the Littleton Public Schools' Curriculm website regarding Writing and Language Arts:

The ability to communicate clearly—to read, write, speak, and listen—forms the core of human culture. Reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills are essential tools for learning, for success in the workplace, for enriching and expanding our lives, and for responsible citizenship. Language skills are particularly critical in the area of education. Through language abilities, students understand the academic content areas. Success in learning is grounded in students acquiring solid knowledge and skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The Colorado Model Content Standards set high expectations in these areas for all students.  Reading and writing also have the power to bridge time and place. We remain in contact with the people who lived before us through literature and other written records of human experience. We reach toward our future by knowing how to locate, read, and make use of an ever-increasing amount of information. More than a year of public response and discussion has resulted in these model reading and writing standards. These standards express what each student in Colorado should know and be able to do in order to:
• Become fluent readers, writers, and speakers.
• Be able to communicate effectively, concisely, coherently, and imaginatively.
• Recognize the power of language and use that power ethically and creatively.
• Be at ease communicating in an increasingly technological world.
For the benefit of Colorado students, educators, parents, and communities can now focus their attention and energy on creating the conditions under which all students can meet these expectations. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the education community to intervene at the earliest point in the child’s formal educational experience where, through careful observation, it becomes apparent that a child is not progressing in a manner which will lead to the meeting of these standards.