Literacy in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Reading, Writing, Vocabulary, Speaking/Listening and Language Standards for College- and Career-Readiness

Background The Common Core Standards movement was initiated by a council of State governors in response to concerns expressed by leaders in business about the pool available for hiring Congress and the White House joined the movement after it was already in process The Core Standards were written by a very small group of people, but approved by a large one

Rationale – quotes “Research indicates that the demands the college, careers, and citizenship place on readers have either held steady or increased over roughly the last 50 years.” “The difficulty of college textbooks … has … increased over that period.” “The word difficulty of every scientific journal and magazine from 1930 to 1990 … has actually increased, which is important … because … college professors assign more readings from periodicals than do HS teachers.” “Workplace reading, measured in Lexiles, exceeds grade 12 complexity significantly, although there is considerable variation.”

Rationale – cont. “Gary L. Williamson (2006) found a 350L gap between the difficulty of end-of-high school and college texts—a gap … more than the Lexile difference between grade 4 and 8 texts on the NAEP.” “Expository text makes up the vast majority of the required reading in college and the workplace.” “The impact that low reading achievement has on students’ readiness for college, careers, and life in general is significant…. “[T]he need for remedial reading appears to be the most serious barrier to [college] degree completion.”

Goal for Reading by “All students must be able to comprehend texts of steadily increasing complexity as they progress through school. By the time they complete the core, students must be able to read and comprehend independently and proficiently the kinds of complex texts commonly found in college and careers.” CCSS, Appendix A, p. 2

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Changes to Reading The CCS raise literacy standards across all grade levels, K-12 Reading complexity is given particular weight Greater emphasis on expository and informational text across the content areas (including Social Studies, Science, and Math)  In ELA, expository is slated to rise to 50% of content Integration of Global literature into ELA K-12 will be required

Text Complexity Grade Bands and Associated Lexile Ranges

Goals for Writing, “The Standards put particular emphasis on students’ ability to write sound arguments on substantive topics and issues as this ability is critical to college and career readiness…. In an Age of Information, what most professionals do is research, think, and make arguments.” CCSS, Appendix A, p. 24

Emphasis on Three Genres Argument:  Critical not only to college-level writing— “argument [is] the soul of an education”—but to professional-level careers Informational/Explanatory Writing Narrative

Vocabulary “The importance of … a rich and varied vocabulary cannot be overstated. Vocabulary has been empirically connected to reading comprehension since at least 1925 (Whipple 1925) and had its importance to comprehension confirmed in recent years…. It is widely accepted … that the difference in students’ vocabulary levels is a key factor in disparities in academic achievement…. Yet... Vocabulary acquisition eventually stagnates by grade 4 or 5 unless students acquire additional words from written context.” CCSS, Appendix A, p. 32

Three Tiers of Words Tier One: everyday speech Tier Two: “general academic words”  Far more likely to appear in written texts than in speech  Access to complex texts is essential Tier Three: “domain-specific words”  Far more common in informational text than in literature.  Recognized as “hard” words for most readers  Essential to content learning CCSS, Appendix A, p. 32ff

Speaking and Listening Particularly emphasized in grades K-5 as a learning modality  Research on student language acquisition Formal speaking/listening tasks required in grades 6-12  Presentations  Public speaking  Oral argument

CCSS Timeline Student achievement expectations based on the 2005 Standards Districts begin developing curricula aligned to CCSS (Jan. 2011) with a goal of implementing the new state curricula in Sept Student achievement expectations based on the 2005 Standards Districts continue to develop curricula and begin implementing instruction aligned to CCSS 3-8 and Regents exams aligned to the 2005 Standards Student achievement expectations based on CCSS and state standards as added Curriculum models will be available for schools CCSS Interim Assessments are administered

CCSS Timeline, cont Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) field testing (based on CCSS) will occur Student achievement expectations are based on CCSS and state standards as added CCSS PARCC assessments are operational

Text exemplars and Performance Tasks

Writing Exemplars Grades 3-12