Instructional Shifts for ELA
1. Regular practice with complex text and its
academic language
2. Reading, writing and speaking grounded in
evidence from text, both literary and
informational
3. Building knowledge through content-rich
nonfiction
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Shift #1: Regular practice with
complex test and its academic
language
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Regular Practice With Complex Text and its
Academic Language: Why?
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Gap between complexity of college and high school texts is
huge.
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What students can read, in terms of complexity is the
greatest predictor of success in college (ACT study).
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Too many students are reading at too low a level.
(<50% of graduates can read sufficiently complex texts).
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Standards include a staircase of increasing text complexity
from elementary through high school.
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Standards also focus on building general academic
vocabulary so critical to comprehension.
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What are the Features of Complex Text?
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Subtle and/or frequent transitions
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Longer paragraphs
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
Any text structure which is less narrative and/or mixes structures
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Scaffolding Complex Text
The standards require that students read appropriately complex
text at each grade level – independently.
However there are many ways to scaffold student learning as
they meet the standard:
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Multiple readings
Read Aloud
Chunking text (a little at a time)
Provide support while reading, rather than before.
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Considerations for ELL/SPED
• Instruction must include both “macro-scaffolding,” in which teachers
attend to the integration of language and content within and across
lessons and units, as well as “microscaffolding” during the “moment-tomoment work of teaching.”1
• In order to develop the ability to read complex texts and engage in
academic conversations, ELs and SPED population need access to such
texts and conversations, along with support in engaging with them.
• With support, ELs can build such repertoires and engage productively in
the kinds of language and literacy practices called for by the Standards for
both ELA and other disciplines
1
Bunch, George C., Amanda Kibler, and Susan Pimentel. "Realizing Opportunities for English Learners in the Common Core English
Language Arts and Disciplinary Literacy Standards." Understanding Language, Stanford University. Web.
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Close Analytic Reading
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Requires prompting students with questions to unpack
unique complexity of any text so students learn to read
complex text independently and proficiently.
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Not teacher "think aloud“.
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Text dependent questions require text-based answers –
evidence.
Virtually every standard is activated during the course of
every close analytic reading exemplar through the use of text
dependent questions.
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Shift #2: Reading, Writing, and
Speaking Grounded in Evidence
From Text, Both Literary and
Informational
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Reading, Writing and Speaking Grounded in
Evidence from Text: Why?
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Most college and workplace writing requires evidence.
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Evidence is a major emphasis of the ELA Standards:
gathering, evaluating and presenting of evidence from text.
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Being able to locate and deploy evidence are hallmarks of
strong readers and writers
Ability to cite evidence differentiates strong from weak
student performance on NAEP
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Content Shift #2
Text-Dependent Questions
Not Text-Dependent
Text-Dependent
In “Casey at the Bat,” Casey strikes out.
Describe a time when you failed at
something.
What makes Casey’s experiences at bat
humorous?
In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr.
King discusses nonviolent protest.
Discuss, in writing, a time when you
wanted to fight against something that
you felt was unfair.
What can you infer from King’s letter
about the letter that he received?
In “The Gettysburg Address” Lincoln says
the nation is dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created
equal. Why is equality an important
value to promote?
“The Gettysburg Address” mentions the
year 1776. According to Lincoln’s
speech, why is this year significant to
the events described in the speech?
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Sample Informational Text Assessment
Question: Pre-Common Core Standards
High school students read an excerpt of James D. Watson’s The
Double Helix and respond to the following:
James Watson used time away from his laboratory and a set
of models similar to preschool toys to help him solve the
puzzle of DNA. In an essay, discuss how play and relaxation
help promote clear thinking and problem solving.
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Sample Literary Question: Pre-Common Core
Standards
From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Have the students identify the different methods of removing
warts that Tom and Huckleberry talk about. Discuss the charms
that they say and the items (i.e. dead cats) they use. Ask
students to devise their own charm to remove warts. Students
could develop a method that would fit in the time of Tom
Sawyer and a method that would incorporate items and words
from current time. Boys played with dead cats and frogs, during
Tom’s time. Are there cultural ideas or artifacts from the
current time that could be used in the charm?
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Sample Text Dependent Question: Common
Core Standards
From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Why does Tom hesitate to allow Ben to paint the fence? How
does Twain construct his sentences to reflect that hesitation?
What effect do Tom’s hesitations have on Ben?
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Shift #3: Building knowledge
through content-rich nonfiction
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Content Shift #3
Content-Rich Nonfiction
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50/50 balance K-5
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In grades 2+, students begin reading more complex texts,
consolidating the foundational skills with reading
comprehension.
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Reading aloud texts that are well-above grade level should be
done throughout K-5 and beyond.
70/30 in grades 9-12
Students learning to read should exercise their ability to
comprehend complex text through read-aloud texts.
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Building Knowledge Through Content-Rich
Nonfiction: Why?
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Students are required to read very little informational text in
elementary and middle school.
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Non-fiction makes up the vast majority of required reading in
college/workplace.
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Informational text is harder for students to comprehend than
narrative text.
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Supports students learning how to read different types of
informational text.
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Content Shift #3
Sequencing Texts to Build Knowledge
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Not random reading
Literacy in social studies/history, science, technical subjects,
and the arts is embedded
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www.achievethecore.org
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