Summary of Changes to the Revised Publishers’ Criteria
for the Common Core State Standards
in English Language Arts and Literacy, Grades K-2
On April 12, 2012, two of the lead authors of the Common Core State Standards revised the Publishers’
Criteria for Grades K-2. The lead authors, after conversations with teachers, researchers and other
stakeholders, brought more clarity to the already existing content as well as additions to ensure decisions
surrounding curriculum materials were more concrete. The following is a brief summary of these
clarifications and additions; a more comprehensive summary is included by section.
Clarifications to the Existing Content:
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Foundational skills are not an end in and of themselves but an important part of an
effective, comprehensive reading program that will lead to independent reading for
meaning.
Students’ reading material must be substantive and linked in meaningful ways to
content area learning; most new word learning takes place in context.
Students need to encounter sufficiently complex text through listening; early
knowledge should not be limited to what they can read on their own.
Fluency materials need to address routines, guidance and research-based
techniques with opportunities to involve students in monitoring progress.
New Additions:
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Students need automatic and accurate word recognition to make the shift to
independent, close reading of complex text.
Read-aloud selections should be provided and include concepts across the content
area; complexity levels should be well above what students can read on their own.
Questions need to be text specific and should draw students and teachers into an
exploration of the text or texts.
Writing assignments should be varied and enable students to engage in a full range
of writing.
The overarching message from the lead authors, and those consulted, is rigor for grades K-2. The
introduction on page 5 states, “Students who can read are much more likely to read.” Students in grades
K-2 are affected, to some degree, by the same shifts as those in grades 3-12: nonfiction, text complexity,
academic vocabulary, writing and speaking, and short, focused research.
Theresa Bennett
Summary of Changes K-2
1|Page
Section/Page #
Introduction/p. 1
Revisions/Edits
Paragraph 1: added (top): “…revised through conversations
with teachers, researchers and other stakeholders…”; “…as
they work to strengthen existing programs…”
Paragraph 2: added (bottom): “…vocabulary development
and the knowledge gained in these early years – is central to
all other academic learning.”
Paragraph 3: Additions throughout this paragraph emphasize
that foundational skills are not an end, “…they are necessary
and important components of an effective, comprehensive
reading program designed to develop proficient readers with
the capacity to comprehend text across a range of types and
disciplines.”
Paragraph 4: “…most notable shifts include explicit
preparation to read informational text and a requirement that
students’ reading material be substantive and linked in
meaningful ways to content area learning. They also include
a more in-depth approach to vocabulary development, and a
requirement that students encounter sufficiently complex text
through listening even while they are learning how to read
and write.”
Document Organization/p. 2
1. Key Criteria for Reading
Foundations Introduction/ p. 3
The rest of this paragraph emphasizes that the standards
provide a comprehensive approach to reading
comprehension and include a wide range of writing.
Added: “This document has three parts: The first articulates
criteria that should guide the teaching of reading foundations,
the second details the criteria that should guide the selection
of text for read-alouds and for students who already can read,
and the third outlines criteria for the development of highquality, fully integrated materials that provide linear,
cumulative skill progressions and practice with textdependent questions and tasks, leading to fluency,
independent reading for meaning.”
Paragraph 1: Changed beginning from, “…specific guidance
on reading foundations that should be observed…” to “…that
should be incorporated into…so that students will be well on
their way to decoding….”
Further additions emphasize that although fluency with more
complex texts will continue through elementary, “… the first
three years of instruction (K-2) are the most critical for
preventing students from falling behind and preventing
reading failure.”
Theresa Bennett
Summary of Changes K-2
2|Page
Section/Page #
Revisions/Edits
1. Key Criteria for Reading
Foundations Introduction/ p. 3
(continued)
Paragraph 2 (all new): The emphasis on this paragraph is
that materials that are aligned to CCSS, “… need to provide
sequential, cumulative instruction and practice opportunities
for a full range of foundational skills. Students need to have
automatic and accurate word recognition… to make the shift
to independent, close reading of complex text.”
I. Key Criteria for Reading
Foundations/ p. 3-5
1. Heading reworded: “Materials allow for flexibility in
meeting the needs of a wide range of students.”
Added to first sentence: “…unevenly prepared to read.”
Added to the end of #1: Current programs need to, “…refine
content and methodology that will likely ‘catch’ more of those
students who otherwise would fall behind and require
remedial work.” [Note: The original #1 was shortened and the
remaining content became a new #2 causing the numbering
to change.]
2. New heading: “Materials include effective instruction for
all aspects of foundational reading (including distributed
practice).” A new footnote was added to draw attention to
the Foundational Reading Standards and Appendix A.
3. All content is new. The emphasis is on fluency in the early
grades; materials should include, “… routines and
guidance…techniques should be supported by
research…involving the student in monitoring progress
toward a specific goal.”
4. Additions to the first paragraph include, “The entire
curriculum should address vocabulary gap early….” “All
materials should provide opportunities for wider ranging
and more intensive vocabulary instruction for students with
weaker vocabularies than their peers.”
The second paragraph has been rewritten to be more
focused on the importance of using content area instruction
as, “… a major vehicle for enhancing students’ vocabulary
because most new word learning takes place in the context of
having to understand and express ideas about subject
matter.” Emphasis is on multiple meanings, shades of
meaning, etc.
II. Key Criteria for Text
Selections/ p. 5-6
Theresa Bennett
5. Additions include using tools that are standardized by
research to establish predictive benchmarks and assess
vocabulary .
Intro paragraph: Expanded into 3 paragraphs with a
considerable amount of new content. The emphasis in the
first paragraph is, “… the necessity for teaching students
how to read texts that are written to facilitate accurate,
independent, confident reading…
Summary of Changes K-2
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Section/Page #
II. Key Criteria for Text
Selections/ p. 5-6 (continued)
Revisions/Edits
Students who can read are much more likely to read.”
Paragraph 2: Emphasizes, “…students should be guided into
thoughtful reading of even the simplest texts….all texts
should contain some meaningful information or narrative
content with which to develop students’ comprehension. “
Paragraph 3: Emphasizes, “…the standards encourage
students to encounter more complex texts to build knowledge
through read-alouds…Early knowledge should not be limited
to what they can read on their own….students at these
grades can listen to much more complex materials than they
can read themselves.”
1. Changed from, “Beginning in grade 1…” to “Beginning in
grade 2…” referring to Reading Standard 10 outlining
band levels of text complexity.
Footnote 2: Addition, “These criteria recognize the critical
role that teachers play in text selection.”
2. Added, “Far too often, students who have fallen behind
are given only less complex text rather than instruction
they need in the foundational skills in reading as well as
vocabulary and other supports they need to read at an
appropriate level of complexity.” [The second paragraph
of #2 was rewritten to be more succinct; no new content.]
3. Added, “…encourage students and teachers to dig more
deeply into their meanings than they would with lower
quality material.”
III. Key Criteria for Questions and
Tasks/ pp. 7
III. Key Criteria for Questions and
Tasks/ pp. 7-8
Theresa Bennett
4. New second paragraph: Emphasizes again that students,
“… can listen to much more complex material than they
can read themselves, read-aloud selections should be
provided in curriculum materials. Complexity levels should
be well above what students can read on their own.
Students need access to science and social studies
concepts and vocabulary through read-alouds beyond
what they can read on their own.”
Introduction: Added, “…in these early years: developing
proficient and fluent readers able to learn independently from
a wide variety of rich texts.
1. New Paragraph 3: This paragraph was added to draw
attention to questions being text specific vs. generic.
“…materials should not over rely on “cookie-cutter”
questions that could be asked of any text, such as “What
is the main idea?” Questions should draw students and
teachers into an exploration of the text or texts”
Summary of Changes K-2
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Section/Page #
III. Key Criteria for Questions and
Tasks/ pp. 7-8 (continued)
Conclusion: Transparent Research
and Practice Base/ p. 9
Theresa Bennett
Revisions/Edits
4. Added, “Reading strategies should work in the service of
reading comprehension (rather than an end unto
themselves)…”
7. New content added, “Writing assignments should be
varied and ask students to draw on their experience, on
their imagination, and most frequently on the texts they
encounter through reading or read-alouds…will enable
students to engage in a full range of writing , including
narratives (both real and imagined), writing to inform, and
writing opinions.”
Added to end: “Programs that already have a research base
should build on that base by continuing to monitor their
efficacy with the whole range of CCSS.”
Summary of Changes K-2
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