In other words, the school will design and implement an English scope and sequence which specifies that students will learn basic grammar and usage concepts by the end of eighth grade and that high school teachers will focus on literature and composition, teaching grammar only as it relates to improving writing maturity and style. The school must also determine that teaching composition skills is a priority. Students cannot be expected to improve their writing skills when they spend all or most of English class completing grammar exercises. Students must write every day, receive direct writing instruction, and learn to apply grammar and related concepts to their original writing. Many successful English teachers have determined they will not be slaves to grammar or to a grammar textbook.
Students can learn basic grammar before they get to high school.
Schools that take curriculum revision further have shown that students can learn grammar in only fifteen to twenty minutes a day. Grammar, like phonics, is important, but its major importance is as a means to an end. Similarly, a school does not owe high school students remedial teaching in grammar as part of regular classroom instruction. Students with a grammar deficiency can learn the grammar they need in summer school, help class, or tutoring. Determine that students will master basic grammar by eighth grade.