THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS:
GETTING READY AND GETTING IT RIGHT
Meredith and David Liben
Student Achievement Partners
dliben@studentsachieve.net
mliben@studentsachieve.net
www.achievethecore.org for resources
NEED TO MAKE THREE TIGHTLY
INTERRELATED INSTRUCTIONAL SHIFTS
Washoe knows these as the 6 ELA Shifts
1. Regular practice for all students with
complex text and its academic vocabulary
2. Reading and writing (speaking and listening)
grounded in evidence from text
3. Building knowledge through content-rich
nonfiction and informational texts
GETTING STARTED ON THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS for
LANGUAGE ARTS
2
Why the CCSS Emphasis on
Complexity?
• “Between the Lines” ACT 2006 Study
• Complexity Gap between 12th grade and
college and career demands
• 6th Grade McGuffey Reader circa 1961 was
more difficult than average high school
anthology is now
• Too many students never get to complex text
GETTING STARTED ON THE COMMON CORE
STATE STANDARDS for
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
3
WHAT ARE THE FEATURES OF
COMPLEX TEXT?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Subtle and/or frequent transitions
Multiple and/or subtle themes and purposes
Density of information
Unfamiliar settings, topics or events
Lack of repetition, overlap or similarity in words and sentences
Complex sentences
Uncommon vocabulary
Lack of words, sentences or paragraphs that review or pull things
together for the student
• Longer paragraphs
• Any text structure which is not “story-like” or less “story-like”
FEATURES CANNOT BE BROKEN DOWN
AND SEQUENCED
•
•
• Complex text can contain any
possible combination of these
features
•
•
•
• Can’t possibly isolate these or
control for these features in a
scope and sequence or traditional
skill based approach
•
•
•
• Where does that leave you?
•
•
Subtle and/or frequent transitions
Multiple and/or subtle themes and
purposes
Density of information
Unfamiliar settings, topics or events
Lack of repetition, overlap or
similarity in words and sentences
Complex sentences
Uncommon vocabulary
Lack of words, sentences or
paragraphs that review or pull things
together for the student
Longer paragraphs
Any text structure which is not “storylike” or less “story-like
TEXT DEPENDENT QUESTIONS AND CLOSE
ANALYTIC READING (CAR)
•
Every text is complex in its own way
•
CAR requires making questions to unpack unique complexity of any text so students learn to
read complex text independently and proficiently:
Standard 10
• Virtually every standard is activated during the course of every CAR:
Standards 2-9
•
To do this questions have to be text dependent and focused on what makes the text complex
• Text dependent questions require text based answers otherwise known as evidence:
Standard One
•
How is this emphasis shown in the reading standards?
9-10
6-8
4-5
2-3
K-1
Standard Ten
Increasing Range and Complexity
11CCR
Standard One
Increased Ability to Use Text Evidence
Bands
Bands
11CCR
9-10
6-8
4-5
2-3
K-1
EMMA LAZARUS POEM
An example of close analytic reading at the 4th
to 5th grade band
IS COMPLEXITY THE SAME AS
DIFFICULTY?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Subtle and/or frequent transitions
Multiple and/or subtle themes and
purposes
Density of information
Unfamiliar settings, topics or events
Lack of repetition, overlap or
similarity in words and sentences
Complex sentences
Lack of words, sentences or
paragraphs that review or pull things
together for the student
Longer paragraphs
Vocabulary
Any text structure which is not “storylike” or less “story-like
•
IN TERMS OF DIFFICULTY TWO OF
THESE STAND OUT—WHICH TWO DO
YOU THINK THEY ARE?
•
IMPLICATIONS
WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE?of
complex text
• The “once a month each subject equals 3 times a month”
transition plan: This brings in informational text
• Alternatives to front loading
• Remediating ahead of the class not behind
• Going back into the text later
– Worthy portions
– Complex portions
•
•
•
•
Rewriting the tasks and questions in the basals/anthologies
Gradated text series on one topic
First read in native language
No Spitting
GETTING STARTED ON THE
COMMON CORE STATE
STANDARDS for
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
10
ELA TOTAL PROGRAM
Securing the Core for All (handout)
CONCLUSION
• Reach out around the country, but with caution
• Start thinking about new materials, but with
caution
• Modify or develop your own materials – with
confidence that you are addressing professional
development and curriculum needs
simultaneously, richly and cost effectively!
TEXT COMPLEXITY RESOURCES:
an incomplete set of resources
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
www.achievethecore.org (Student Achievement Partners resources)
Publishers’ Criteria (for 3-12 and K-2)
Close Analytic Reading Exemplars
Qualitative scales for evaluating text complexity
www.Textproject.org wonderful, free informational texts and information
Open access portals for new text complexity quantitative measurement tools
Words Worth Teaching Andrew Biemiller
Educational Publishers’ Professional Development such as this conference
Kansas, Vermont, Iowa, Florida State Ed Dept Common Core resources
Alliance for Excellent Education website (publications tab)
McKeown and Beck “Rethinking Reading Comprehension Instruction…” Reading Research
Quarterly 44(3) see notes below for full citation.
GETTING STARTED ON THE
COMMON CORE STATE
STANDARDS for
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
13