READING FOUNDATIONAL SKILLS (K-5)

(pages 17-22)

Pages 17 through 22 supplement the Reading Foundational Skills (K-5) in the main document, which are found on p.p. 15-17.  You may be wondering why the Common Core Reading Standards: Foundational Skills (K-5) are featured separately in the Common Core ELA Standards (CCSS). To understand why, it is helpful to know that the Common Core Foundational Skills do not include comprehension and vocabulary. Rather, they focus on print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency. 

That is because comprehension and vocabulary are the central focus of the College and Career
Readiness (CCR) Anchor Standards and related grade-specific K-12 Common Core State Standards (CCSS). From kindergarten through the end-of-high school, the CCRs and CCSS for comprehension and vocabulary are integrated across the four Common Core strands—Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language. Acquiring comprehension and vocabulary skills is a 13-year process in the Common Core, one year building on the next, until students are college and career-ready.

You will find the Reading Foundational Skills (K-5) on pages 15-17:

Common Core ELA Standards

So Why Is Text Complexity So Important?

The current complexity of texts students are expected to read is way below what is required for college and career readiness.  Take into consideration:

*High school textbook complexity has declined over several decades.

*The average length if sentences in K-8 textbooks has declined from 20 to 14 words.

*Vocabulary demands have declined.  Current 8th grade textbooks have the equivalent text complexity to former 5th grade textbooks, and current 12th grade anthologies are equivalent to former 7th grade texts.

Complexity of college and career texts has remained steady or increased. resulting in a significant gap (350L).

Too many students are reading at too low a level (less than 50% of high school graduates can read sufficiently complex texts.

The complexity of what students can read is the greatest predictor of success in college. 

(Source:  ACT)

This is an excellent document that illustrates how to determine text complexity in literary and informational text:

A Beginner's Guide to Text Complexity

To help illustrate the importance of weighing quantitative complexity equally with qualitative complexity, Appendix A uses The Grapes of Wrath as an example.  Many widely used qualitative measures such as the Lexile Framework and Flesch-Kincaide Grade Level Test rate this novel as appropriate for grades 2-3.  This counterintuitive result emerges because works such as The Grapes of Wrath often express complex ideas in relatively commonplace language (familiar words and simple syntax), especially in the form of dialogue that mimics everyday speech.

TEXT COMPLEXITY

(pages 2-16)

One of the key requirements of the Common Core Standards for Reading is that all students must be able to comprehend texts of steadily increasing complexity as they progress through school.  But how do we determine text complexity?  This video gives a pretty clear explanation of the Common Core Standards' approach to text complexity:

And the complexity levels are going up!

We all know how to determine a text's quantitative complexity (Lexile, Flesch-Kincaid, Frye Readability Index, etc.), but how do we determine the qualitative complexity of a piece of text?  Obviously this is going to be subjective; however, just like in assessing writing, we can develop a local rubric that is consistently applied throughout the district.

Here are a couple samples of rubrics from the Kentucky Department of Education:

Qualitative Measures Rubric for Informational Texts

Qualitative Measures Rubric for Literatry Texts

Here is a sample analysis:
Sample Text Complexity Analysis for To Kill a Mockingbird

Your turn!  Please select a piece of text (literary or informational) that you have used in your classroom and complete a text complexity analysis using this form:

Blank Text Complexity Analysis Form

GREETINGS!!

As we begin the journey of transitioning from Illinois State Standards to the Common Core Standards in Math and English Language Arts, it is going to be critical that our teachers become experts in the contents of the Common Core Standards.  Increasing our expertise will take time and will be done purposefully and incrementally.   To assist in raising our teachers' understanding of the Common Core ELA Standards, we are asking all staff members to take time this summer to read Appendix A of the Common Core Standards.

Appendix A acts as a preface to the ELA standards.  This clarifying document provides foundational research-based information, the thinking behind the organization of the standards, and the language found within the standards.  Appendix A also provides insight as to how Appendix B (text exemplars) and Appendix C (student writing samples) should be used.

Appendix A includes information on...

• How to define Text Complexity, recognize text types and prioritize text types by grade (p.p. 2-16) 
• Reading Foundational Skills K-5 (supplement for main document) (p.p. 17-22)
• Writing: complex relationship of Argument vs. Persuasion (p.p. 23-25)
• Speaking and Listening instruction (p.p. 26-27)
• An emphasis on the integrated approach to Grammar and Conventions (p.p. 28-30)
• The progression of Language Skills development in chart form (p. 31)
• Vocabulary Development and strategies (p.p. 32-35)
• Pages 36-40 include a Bibliography arranged by category, and pages 42-43 include a Glossary of key terms

We are committed to making this transition as meaningful and painless as possible!  As we begin the lengthy process of transitioning to the Common Core, we will need to rely on colleagues and administration for support and feedback. It is our hope that this Blog can serve as a forum for staff to seek guidance, information and/or clarification; to voice perspectives and lend support to others. Please feel free to share any resources you may come across!! 

Click here for access to Appendix A of the Common Core ELA Standards:
Common Core Standards: Appendix A