September 2011 Slides posted at

Common Core State Standards: Opportunity for Reform or Same Old, Same Old…?

P. David Pearson

UC Berkeley

September 2011

Slides posted at www.scienceandliteracy.org

Survey

Elementary? Secondary? College? What’s the difference

Elementary Teachers Love

Their kids

Secondary Teachers Love

Their subjects

College Teachers Love

Themselves

Goals

Situate the Common Core StandardsDiscuss their VirtuesUnearth their Vices and UncertaintiesSpeculate on their Impact

Slides posted at www.scienceandliteracy.org

Acknowledgements

Karen Wixson Standards and AssessmentSheila Valencia AssessmentFreddy Hiebert Complexity

My Relationship with CCS

• Member of the Validation Committee• Background work on text complexity with a grant from

Gates Foundation• Long (and occasionally checkered) history with standards

going back to– NBPTS: Standards for Teaching– IRA/NCTE Standards

• Research and development work on assessment

Just to remind us

College and Career Readiness Standards

Common Core State Standards (grade by grade)

Assessments to measure their mastery

10 recurring standards for College and Career Readiness

Show up grade after grade

In more complex applications to more sophisticated texts

Across the disciplines of literature, science, and social studies

Affordances of the CCS

1. An uplifting vision based on our best research on the nature of reading comprehension

2. Focus on results rather than means3. Integrated model of literacy4. Reading standards complement cognitive theory and

NAEP5. Elaborated theory of text complexity6. Shared responsibility (text in subject matter learning)7. Lots of meaty material in writing and language

standards

An exercise

Take one of the CCR standards and trace it out across all the grade levels to see how it changes

Students who meet the Standards readily undertake the close, attentive, reading that is at the heart of understanding and enjoying complex works of literature.

They habitually perform the critical reading necessary to pick carefully through the staggering amount of information available today in print and digitally.

They actively seek the wide, deep, and thoughtful engagement with high-quality literary and informational texts that builds knowledge, enlarges experience, and broadens world views.

They reflexively demonstrate the cogent reasoning and use of evidence essential to both private deliberation and responsible citizenship in a democratic republic.

1. An Uplifting Vision: ELA CCSS

2. Focus on results rather than means

Why? Leave a place for each lower level to add its own signature Some decisions about means really are local Appropriate role for a larger body politic

Balance between our goals and our methods

From the ELA Standards Document…

By emphasizing required achievements, the Standards leave room for teachers, curriculum developers, and states to determine how those goals should be reached and what additional topics should be addressed.

Thus, the Standards do not mandate such things as a particular writing process or the full range of metacognitive strategies that students may need to monitor and direct their thinking and learning.

Teachers are thus free to provide students with whatever tools and knowledge their professional judgment and experience identify as most helpful for meeting the goals set out in the Standards.”

3. Integrated Model of Literacy

Two views of integration Integrated Language Arts Integration between ELA and disciplines

The CCSS are better on the interdisciplinary than on the ELA integration

Corresponds to the actual uses to which reading and writing are put.

Reading, writing, and language always serve specific purposes Reading and writing, not generically, But about something in particular

The something in particular

What reading, writing and language look like in a domainThe information for a particular topic or unit or chapterThe information in a particular text

Our current view of curriculum

Lang

uage

Art

s

Mat

hem

atic

s

Soci

al S

tudi

es

Scie

nce

A model I like: Tools by Disciplines

Science Social Studies

Mathe-matics

Literature

Reading

Writing

Language

Academic Disciplines………..La

ngua

ge To

ols

Early: Tools dominate


Mathe-matics

Literature

Reading

Writing

Language


ngua

ge To

ols

Later: Disciplines dominate


Mathematics

Literature

Reading

Writing

Language


ngua

ge To

ols

Weaving is even a better metaphor than a matrix

mathliterature

Social studiesScience

ReadingWriting Language

ScienceW

riting

Read

ing

Lang

uage

Social Studies

LiteratureMathematics

Integration is tough…What happens when you try to

integrate reading and math?

The evolution of mathematics story problems during the last 40 years.

1960'sA peasant sells a bag of potatoes for $10. His costs amount to 4/5 of his selling price. What is his profit?

1970's (New Math)

A farmer exchanges a set P of potatoes with a set M of money.

The cardinality of the set M is equal to $10 and each element of M is worth $1. Draw 10 big dots representing the elements of M.

The set C of production costs is comprised of 2 big dots less than the set M.

Represent C as a subset of M and give the answer to the question: What is the cardinality of the set of profits? (Draw everything in red).

1980'sA farmer sells a bag of potatoes for $10. His production costs are $8 and his profit is $2. Underline the word "potatoes" and discuss with your classmates.

1990's

A kapitalist pigg undjustlee akires $2 on a sak of patatos. Analiz this tekst and sertch for erors in speling, contens, grandmar and ponctuassion, and than ekspress your vioos regardeng this metid of geting ritch.

Author unknown

2000'sDan was a man.Dan had a sack.The sack was tan.The sack had spudsThe spuds cost 8.Dan got 10 for the tan sack of spuds.How much can Dan the man have?

4. Comprehension Complements Other Important Efforts

NAEPRand view of Comprehension

NAEP

Locate and RecallInterpret and IntegrateCritique and Evaluate

Common Core

Key ideas and detailsCraft and structureIntegration of knowledge and ideasRange and level of text complexity

Key ideas and detailsCraft and structureIntegration of knowledge

and ideasRange and level of text

complexity

Locate and RecallInterpret and IntegrateCritique and Evaluate

Complexity is specified but implicit not explicit

CCSS NAEP

Consistent with Cognitive Views of Reading

Kintsch’s Construction-Integration ModelBuild a text baseConstruct a “situation” modelPut the knowledge gained to work by applying it to novel

situations.

What the text saysWhat the text meansWhat the text does

Locate and RecallIntegrate and InterpretCritique and Evaluate

DecoderMeaning Maker

User/Analyst/Critic

Key Ideas and DetailsIntegration of Knowledge and Ideas

Craft and Structure

Kintsch 4 Resources NAEP CCSSText Base Decoder Locate and Recall Key Ideas and

DetailsSituation Model Meaning Maker Interpret and

IntegrateIntegration of Knowledge and Ideas

Put Knowledge to Work

Text Analyst Critique and Evaluate

Craft and Structure

Says

Means

Does

These consistencies provide…

CredibilityStretchResearch “patina”

5. Elaborated Theory of Text Complexity

Why text complexity? The gap for college and career readiness

Jack Stenner’s (lexile guy) depiction of the 200 lexile gap

6. Shared Responsibility

English and Subject MatterWhat we said before, reading and writing are always

situated in a topic and a purpose.Knowledge fuels comprehension and writing.Reading and writing, along with experience and

instruction, fuel knowledge.Reading and writing and language work better when they

are “tools” for the acquisition of Knowledge Insight Joy

Why sharing now?

The gap for college and workplace readinessThe increasing demands of an informational societyFinally addressing a problem that has always been thereIncreasing awareness among disciplinary scholars

April 23, 2010 edition of Science.

7. Lots of meaty material in writing and language

All of the good vocabulary skills and content that we often claim for reading? As much of an issue for oral language and writing as for reading.

Writing Media Argumentation: Claim-evidence-warrant Form follows function: we write with particular structures to

achieve particular purposes As important for comprehension as it is for composition

Constraints, Dilemmas, and Puzzles?

1. Can we manage the text complexity issue?2. How do we disarm the “We already do all this” stance?3. How do we avoid a canon of texts?4. Mezza Boca problem5. IF TIME: What do we do about assessment?

Text Complexity

Can we really make up the gap? If we are really honest, we’ll acknowledge that in our current

“dumbed down” world, we have LOTS of kids who can’t handle the texts we currently give them

What makes us think that we can up the ante without promoting even greater angst among students and teachers?

Doesn’t text complexity have to be calibrated at an individual level? Independent-Instructional-Frustration level

What are we going to do about text complexity in Grades K-3? Lexiles are highly unstable at prior to grade 3

Broaden our notions of Text Complexity—Appendix A

Qualitative evaluation of the text Levels of meaning, structure, language

conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands

Quantitative evaluation of the text Readability measures and other scores of text

complexityMatching reader to text and task

Reader variables (such as motivation, knowledge, and experiences) and task variables (such as purpose and the complexity generated by the task assigned and the questions posed)

Grapes of Wrath (9-10 Complexity Band)

Qualitative MeasuresLevels of Meaning There are multiple and often implicit levels of meaning within the

excerpt and the novel as a whole. The surface level focuses on the literal journey of the Joads, but the novel also works on metaphorical and philosophical levels.

Structure The text is relatively simple, explicit, and conventional in form.

Events are largely related in chronological order.Language Conventionality and Clarity Although the language used is generally familiar, clear, and

conversational, the dialect of the characters may pose a challenge for some readers. Steinbeck also puts a great deal of weight on certain less familiar words, such as faltering. In various portions of the novel not fully represented in the excerpt, the author combines rich, vivid, and detailed description with an economy of words that requires heavy inferencing.

Knowledge Demands The themes are sophisticated. The experiences and perspective

conveyed will be different from those of many students. Knowledge of the Great Depression, the “Okie Migration” to California, and the religion and music of the migrants is helpful, but the author himself provides much of the context needed for comprehension.

Quantitative MeasuresThe quantitative assessment of The Grapes of Wrath demonstrates the difficulty many currently existing readability measures have in capturing adequately the richness of sophisticated works of literature, as various ratings suggest a placement within the grades 2–3 text complexity band. A Coh Metrix analysis also tends to suggest the text is an easy one since the syntax is uncomplicated and the author uses a conventional story structure and only a moderate number of abstract words. (The analysis does indicate, however, that a great deal of inferencing will be required to interpret and connect the text’s words, sentences, and central ideas.)

Reader-Task ConsiderationsThese are to be determined locally with reference to such variables as a student’s motivation, knowledge, and experiences as well as purpose and the complexity of the task assigned and the questions posed.

Recommended PlacementThough considered extremely easy by many quantitative measures, The Grapes of Wrath has a sophistication of theme and content that makes it more suitable for early high school (grades 9–10), which is where the Standards have placed it. In this case, qualitative measures have overruled the quantitative measures.

No matter how many indicators we have in place, teacher judgment will have to be used in particular cases.

What we really need are even more instructional scaffolds, so we can answer the question, under what conditions of support can particular students read the text?

And we are going to need a whole new theory of text complexity for grades K-3?

2. How do we prevent the “there’s nothing new” response?

If educators do the mapping at a fairly general level, they will conclude that we already do all of these things.

Almost any current set of state standards will map onto these standards at the 60-80% level, especially if we include the foundational skills.

Have to examine the entirety of these standards, regard them as an integrated system of pedagogy.

Start with the ELA Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

Three main sections K−5 (cross-disciplinary) 6−12 English Language Arts 6−12 Literacy in History/Social Studies,

Science, and Technical SubjectsShared responsibility for students’ literacy development

Three appendices• A: Research and evidence; glossary of key terms• B: Reading text exemplars; sample performance tasks• C: Annotated student writing samples

Karen Wixson

Learn How to Read the ELA CCSS

The standards are meant to be read as an integrated ELA program The Reading standards should be read with the complexity

information in Appendix A and with the exemplary works that comprise each complexity band found in Appendix B

The Writing standards should be read with the writing samples in Appendix C, which illustrate how good is good enough for each genre, grade by grade

The Language standards should be read with the skills ladder in Appendix A which illustrates when skills should be introduced/mastered

In sum, a standard “alignment” exercise should take into account not just the grade level standards alone, but also how the appendices help define these standards PLUS what comes before and after each grade band

ELA CCSS 6-12

The opportunity of a lifetime…

We are poised, with these standards in hand, to achieve integration both within the language arts and between ELA and the disciplines

Do we have the chutzpah and commitment to take advantage of this moment?

3. The Textual Canon Dilemma

The tyranny of the example: if it was good enough to illustrate the sort of thing we should be doing, then we should do it!

Given space limitations, the illustrative texts listed above are meant only to show individual titles that are representative of a wide range of topics and genres. (See Appendix B for excerpts of these and other texts illustrative of K–5 text complexity

No one will read this disclaimer…

4. Mezza Boca: OR…What the left hand giveth, the right hand taketh away

Criteria to evaluate reading programs

From the ELA standards

By emphasizing required achievements, the Standards leave room for teachers, curriculum developers, and states to determine how those goals should be reached and what additional topics should be addressed.

Thus, the Standards do not mandate such things as a particular writing process or the full range of metacognitive strategies that students may need to monitor and direct their thinking and learning.

Teachers are thus free to provide students with whatever tools and knowledge their professional judgment and experience identify as most helpful for meeting the goals set out in the Standards.”

But

I. Text Selection 1. Text Complexity 2. Range and Quality of Texts

II. Questions and Tasks 1. High-Quality Text-Dependent Questions and Tasks 2. Cultivating Students’ Ability To Read Complex Texts

IndependentlyIII. Academic VocabularyIV. Writing to Sources and Research

1. Writing to Sources — a Key Task 2. Extensive Practice with Short, Focused Research Projects

V. Additional Key Criteria for Student Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking 1. Reading Complex Texts with Fluency 2. Increasing Focus on Argument and Informative Writing 3. Engaging in Academic Discussions 4. Using Multimedia and Technology Skillfully 5. Covering the Most Significant Grammar and Language

Conventions

The standards suggest balance of text, reader and context factors,…

But the criteria are pretty focused on the text

80-90% of questions are text dependent.High-quality sequences of text-dependent questions

elicit sustained attention to the specifics of the text and their impact.

Questions and tasks require careful comprehension of the text before asking for further connections, evaluation, or interpretation.

High-quality sequences of text-dependent questions elicit sustained attention to the specifics of the text and their impact.

Materials make the text the focus of instruction by avoiding features that distract from the text.

5. The VAST unknown: CCSS and Assessment

Assessments will make or break the CCSS movementThis is where we decide whether the movement is

Opportunity for reform Or Same old, same old

If assessments are not changed, these standards will not make an iota of difference in teaching and learning

Short version of assessment…

With these standards, we’ll never get there with…Multiple Choice or even short answer assessments as the

primary focusThese standards require us to engage kids in

Multiple day performance exams Read within and across texts Focus on project-based learning Deeper learning

Have to return the the excitement of the mid 90s and get it right this time.

I give PARCC and Smarter Balanced a 70% chance of getting it right

108

The Players in the Assessment Game

Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers: PARCC

Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium: SBAC.State AssessmentsNAEPTesting Industry

Constraints Common Core Standards Assessment consortia frameworks

Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)

Different audiences and purposes (summative/formative/diagnostic)Affordances

Learning progressions Computer adaptive testing Automated and distributed scoring Improved psychometric tools

PARCC Signal & model good instruction Rich & rigorous performance tasks

SBAC Empirically validate descriptions of learning

progressions

Through-Course, Interim/Benchmark Assessment Visions

Should: reflect the interactive and multidimensional nature of

comprehension assess readers’ abilities to understand, learn from, and use

text to accomplish specific purposes provide transparent models of the demands of skilled

reading across a range of grades, disciplines, tasks provide strong and informative predictors of success in

college, careers, and K-12

Through-Course Comprehension Assessments & Learning Progressions

From Pearson, Valencia, and Wixson

An assumption/prediction?

Whatever model we develop, it is likely to be a hybrid model. Item format

Multiple Choice Constructed Response Performance Tasks

Passage issues Length and authenticity Disciplines—Literature, Science and History

Efficiency

Instructional Validity

Deeper Learning

My focus

Given ourvast experience with MC and CR, I’ll focus on performance tasks…

Except to say that well developed theories of mc items, along with equally well-developed theories about classes of distractors, are really important to decision validity and the information value of test items.

We need to learn something from each and every response a student makes, not just the right ones.

Performance Tasks: Why bother?

External validity College ready Career ready

Curricular validity Powerful learning Deeper learning

Consequential validity What curricular activities will it lead teachers and students toward?

Compare the PARCC and SMARTER Proposals to ELA CCSS

Two Salient Issues from the CCSS Text Complexity

PARCC proposes to create a “text complexity diagnostic tool” SMARTER doesn’t consider directly

Reading across the Disciplines PARCC addresses indirectly through sample items SMARTER makes general references, but nothing specific

PARCC Attention to Discipline/Genre

Through-Course Assessments (Interim/Benchmark) After roughly 25% of instructional time (ELA-1) After roughly 50% instructional time (ELA-2) After roughly 75% instructional time (ELA-3

Sample Extended Constructed Response Items for ELA-1 and ELA-2

Through-Course Assessments

Measure the most fundamental capacity essential to achieving college and career readiness according to the CCSS: the ability to read increasingly complex texts, draw evidence from them, draw logical conclusions and present analysis in writing.

ELA-1 & ELA-2 assessments include up to 2 extended constructed response items

For ELA-3, students have extended time to identify or read relevant research materials and compose written essays. Students then publicly present the results of that research and writing, answering questions or engaging in debate, so teachers can assess their speaking and listening skills using common rubric

Provide actionable data and useful models of student work teachers can use to plan and adjust instruction

Sample Extended Constructed Response Items (taken from CCSS)

9-10 ELA, Informational--Students analyze how Abraham Lincoln in his “Second Inaugural Address” unfolds his examination of the ideas that led to the Civil War, paying particular attention to the order in which the points are made, how Lincoln introduces and develops his points, and the connections that are drawn between them.

11-12, ELA, Informational--Students delineate and evaluate the argument that Thomas Paine makes in Common Sense. They assess the reasoning present in his analysis, including the premises and purposes of his essay.


11-12, ELA, Drama--Students compare two or more recorded or live productions of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman to the written text, evaluating how each version interprets the source text and debating which aspects of the enacted interpretations of the play best capture a particular character, scene, or theme.

11-12, ELA Poetry--Students cite strong and thorough textual evidence from John Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn” to support their analysis of what the poem says explicitly about the urn as well as what can be inferred about the urn from evidence in the poem. Based on their close reading, students draw inferences from the text regarding what meanings the figures decorating the urn convey as well as noting where the poem leaves matters about the urn and its decoration uncertain.


11-12, Informational Texts: Science--Students analyze the concept of mass based on their close reading of Gordon Kane’s “The Mysteries of Mass” and cite specific textual evidence from the text to answer the question of why elementary particles have mass at all. Students explain important distinctions the author makes regarding the Higgs field and the Higgs boson and their relationship to the concept of mass

Resources

www.commoncore.org (not the “official” website, provides curriculum “maps”)

Lee, C. D. & Spratley, A. (2010). Reading in the disciplines: The challenges of adolescent literacy. New York, NY: Carnegie Corp.

http://www.commoncore.org/

Example of a New Standards Task from mid 1990s

Man and His MessageMLK6-8 days, depending on class timeCulminating task: write an essay based upon choosing one

of several prompt options.

Pearson

Texts Encountered

A video about the Civil Rights Movement entitled, A Time for Justice. An article about the Civil Rights Movement entitled, Confrontations. An article about Ghandi from Scholastic's SEARCH magazine. An oral rendition of King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Printed versions of other King speeches. An excerpt from a Time magazine account of the Rodney King riots in

East Central Los Angeles. Two CNN video accounts of the riots: Rage of Despair and Roots of the

Problem.

Tasks Completed over the Period

collaboratively complete separate cognitive webs on key concepts from the readings (Martin Luther King, Civil Rights Movement, Non-Violent Resistance).

keep an ongoing log/chart of emerging learnings from all the different texts (written, oral, or video).

answer straightforward "assignment-like" questions.compare the similarities and differences between King and Ghandi

in a modified Venn diagram display.the culminating essayEVERYTHING can be scored

Affordances

Has the look and feel of powerful or deeper learningEngages students in workplace like behaviors, including social

behaviorsExpands our conceptualization of what counts as a textHigh capacity for engagement: interest and relevanceMaps onto many of the Common Core Standards for reading in

HistoryCould build professional community of teachers around

implementation and scoring

Constraints

Whose work is it anyway? The inevitable dilemma of collaboration

Not just reading (video and audio texts)

The usual suspects for performance tasks Task generalizability Scoring costs

Domain coverage What counts for which standards

Example of a MEAP Inspired Pilot Task circa 2000 for a Local Michigan District

School-wide Comprehension Assessment

Instructionally embedded (took a week out of the LA block) Multiple text Listening and reading Reliance on multiple choice questions

Individual texts Cross texts

Written Response to Reading Position taken in response to the prompt question Support from personal experience Support from texts Counts for both writing and reading comprehension depending on the

rubric used

Listening: Sister Anne’s Hands

Multiple Choice Question Stemsfacts, relationships, inferences

This story is mostly about…Sister Anne showed determination when she said…What did Sister Anne mean when she said, “For me, I’d rather open

my door enough to let everyone in”?The children learned much from Sister Anne. This selection tells us

that…

Kate Shelly and the Midnight Express

Multiple Choice Question Stems facts, relationships, inferences

An important lesson of this story is… How are Kate and her mother different? In this selection, how do you know Kate showed determination and

bravery when crossing the Des Moines River Bridge? Because Kate followed through, how would you predict she will face

problems in the future? What dialogue does the author use to show you Kate has determination? How do you know this story takes place in the past?

A Day’s Work

Multiple Choice Question Stems facts, relationships, inferences

By showing determination, Francisco… An important lesson from this selection is… In this selection, why did Francisco and Grandpa leave the weeds? This selection is not only about determination, it is also about… Why did the author have Grandpa and Francisco speak in Spanish?

Cross Text Mult Choice Stems facts, relationships, inferences

What important advice would both Grandpa and Kate give?In both reading selections you read about main characters who…How are Francisco and Kate different?How were the characters rewarded for showing determination and

following through?

Applying Ideas to a Task

If you were trying to do something that was very hard, and you did not think you could get it done, would you keep trying or quit? Use examples from the two stories we read to support your decision.

Scoring

Answers question orresponds to theme

Answers question and refers toideas in one text

Answers questions and uses ideas from at leastone story to support position taken.

Answers questions by making connections betweenreadings and using ideas from both readings to support

position taken

Writing in Response to ReadingPoint Score 6

The student clearly and effectively chooses key or important ideas from each reading selection to support a position on the question and to make a clear connection between the reading selections. The point of view and connection are thoroughly developed with appropriate examples and details. There are no misconceptions about the reading selections. There are strong relationships among ideas. Mastery of language use and writing conventions contributes to the effect of the response.

Affordances

In the direction of powerful and deeper learning, but…Only one task for rubric-based scoringPretty good coverage of a range of cognitive targets vis a

vis question types.

Constraints

Does the reliance on MC format compromise its position vis a vis powerful and deeper learning?

Limited to a single discipline—literatureLimited to a single genre—narrativeLimited to a single medium—text

Looking Ahead

Lots of dilemmas to manageBack to the future and déjà vu all over againTake advantage of new technologies, tools, and

understandings

Dilemmas to Manage

Social nature of embedded tasksDomain coverage

Enabling skills or just the big outcomesDependence/independence across

Standards/cognitive targets/itemsIssues of equity across populations, especially ELL and

LD populations

Déjà vu all over again

Build on what workedFace the music on

Intertask generalizability Scoring reliability and cost

Take advantage of new tools and technologies

Learning progressions (see SBAC) But they are hard and different in reading Discipline, topic, and text play a MAJOR role in shaping item

difficultyWe’ll just have to see how things scale in IRT modelsComputerized scoring, but…

Easily corruptible Will clever kids learn how to school the systems?

Computer adaptive testing Garbage in-Garbage out

The promise of the ELA CCSS will not be realized unless we create a new generation of reading assessments that capitalize on the knowledge gained in recent decades and the visions for the future.

FINAL THOUGHT ABOUT ASSESSMENT

108

Thunder is a rich source of loudness

"Nitrogen is not found in Ireland because it is not found in a free state"

The perils of performance assessment: or maybe those multiple-choice assessments

aren’t so bad after all…….

109"Water is composed of two gins,

Oxygin and Hydrogin. Oxygin is pure gin. Hydrogin is gin and water.”

"The tides are a fight between the Earth and moon. All water tends towards the moon, because there is no water in the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this fight."

The perils of performance assessment

110

"Germinate: To become a naturalized German."

"Vacumm: A large, empty space where the pope lives.”

Momentum is something you give a person when they go away.


111· The cause of perfume disappearing is

evaporation. Evaporation gets blamed for a lot of things people forget to put the top on.

· Mushrooms always grow in damp places which is why they look like umbrellas.

· Genetics explains why you look like your father, and if you don't, why you should.


112

"When you breath, you inspire. When you do not breath, you expire."


To Summarize

Lots to Like

Affordances of the CCS

1. An uplifting vision based on our best research on the nature of reading comprehension

2. Focus on results rather than means3. Integrated model of literacy4. Reading standards complement cognitive theory and

NAEP5. Elaborated theory of text complexity6. Shared responsibility (text in subject matter learning)7. Lots of meaty material in writing and language

standards

Lots to Worry about

Constraints, Dilemmas, and Puzzles?

1. Can we manage the text complexity issue?2. How do we disarm the “We already do all this” stance?3. How do we avoid a canon of texts?4. How do we hold the standardistas to account?5. What do we do about assessment?

Old Chinese Proverb

May you live in interesting times…

Documents

September 2011 Slides posted at