6-12 ELA Common Core Resources

But there's a real gap in other kinds of nonfiction

I'm relying on different kinds of strategies and a lot more explicit teaching,

We spend a lot of time talking about attributes of nonfiction, like how to read an interview. Or how to tell the difference between fact and opinion."

Using fiction has many positive and useful values, and it shouldn't be lost or pushed so far to the sidelines that it disappears."

The common standards' emphasis on informational text arose in part from research suggesting that employers and college instructors found students weak at comprehending technical manuals, scientific and historical journals, and other texts pivotal to their work in those arenas.

The common core's vision of informational text includes literary nonfiction, as well as historical documents, scientific journals and technical manuals, biographies and autobiographies, essays, speeches, and information displayed in charts, graphs, or maps, digitally or in print.

vocabulary

professional development aimed at helping teachers think through how to craft instructional units and tasks reflecting the shift in the standards

district set up a digital "common-core library" that includes 13 "bundles" of sample activities, lesson plans, and other resources for instruction based on informational text

The immediate challenge of the informational-text emphasis, however, lies more in training than in materials,

[it's] actually figuring out how to structure classrooms so we speak to text and kids are using text in conversations with each other and are grappling with the meaning of text.

we need to make sure that by the end of high school, students are reading science journals,

right now, just simply the act of reading the science textbook and absolutely making the textbook—rather than the teacher—generate the answers.

It's one thing to tell school districts that we must do close reading of informational text," he said. "It's very different to say, 'Here is what's involved with a close reading.' "

Treasures does include some informational text, "but not sufficiently, we would say. We wanted something that would supplement that."

elementary reading coaches have met with Nell K. Duke, the Michigan State University professor who wrote Buzz About IT, and are meeting monthly to study her research, Ms. Acquavita said

Funding for materials and professional development that reflect the standards could prove to be an issue for states, and, as a result, for companies that produce them

We have been unpleasantly surprised that a number of states are only now starting to wrestle with the cost of this,

New criteria for adoptions of basal instructional materials for the bridge year, approved by the state in January, specify that materials must include "high-quality, complex informational text" in the ratios specified by the standards.

Its statewide literacy plan delves into explanations of six major shifts in the English/language arts standards, and the state has also produced an online "toolkit" offering teachers instructional videos and other resources on those shifts.

The biggest concern state officials are hearing from teachers is that they be assured of having adequate lesson plans, curriculum maps, and other resources to teach the standards once that begins in 2012-13

o convey its expectations for new materials, the state has hosted a webinar for publishers, pointing them to the "publishers' criteria" developed by the common-standards writers for grades K-2 and 3-12, which describe what is required for materials to align well with the standards.

covers the development of the two pieces of the test that will yield students' summative scores in mathematics and English/language arts and be used for accountability purposes: a computer-based end-of-year test and a performance-based assessment given toward the end of the year. The scope of work also includes developing midyear formative assessments that are part of PARCC's system but are optional for states.

A preliminary blueprint of PARCC's English/language arts exam shows that the performance-based assessment, spread over two days, would involve a "research simulation" that asks students to read a suite of texts, including an "anchor" text such as a speech by a prominent historical figure. They would have to answer questions that require them to cite evidence from the text for their answers and write an essay. Another aspect of the performance-based test would require students to "engage" with literature (grades 3-5) or conduct literary analysis (grades 6-11) using a combination of shorter and longer texts. The end-of-year exam would employ six literary and informational texts and ask students to respond to machine-scorable questions, including ones that demand comparison and synthesis of the readings. The end-of-year test in English/language arts would yield at least half of a student's points in that topic. One-third to one-half would come from the performance-based test, according to the preliminary blueprint.

ARCC's math test will include three types of questions: "innovative," machine-scorable, computer-based items; items that call for written arguments or justifications; critiques of mathematical reasoning, or proof that students "attended to precision" in math; and items involving real-world scenarios. The performance-based assessment in math will count for 40 percent to 50 percent of a student's points in that subject, and the end-of-course exam will yield 50 percent to 60 percent of the points. The math exams will focus on solving problems in the "major content areas" at each grade level, as well as demonstrating conceptual understanding, fluency and mathematical reasoning, and applying knowledge to real-world problems. At the high school level, PARCC will develop two series of end-of-course math tests: a traditional one—Algebra 1, geometry, and Algebra 2—and one that integrates those topics. Those parallel pathways reflect choices educators can make about how to design math courses from the common standards. The solicitation document answers a question that had been circulating among some educators of young children. PARCC said that its tests will be given by computer to students in grades 6-11, but those in grades 3-5 will answer questions with pencil and paper because of concerns about younger children's keyboarding skills.

PARCC has contracted with the Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin to build prototype assessment tasks in math, and with the University of Pittsburgh's Institute for Learning to generate such items in literacy. Those items are slated for release this summer.