Upping the Ante of Text

Complexity in the Common

Core State Standards:

Examining Its Potential Impact

on Young Readers

A Webinar given on June 13, 2013

For Lexercise

By Heidi Anne E. Mesmer, Ph D

What are the Common Core State

Standards for the English Language

arts?

National Curriculum Standards

States Adopting the Common Core

The Common Core and

Text Complexity

Common Core’s Definition of Text

Complexity

“the inherent difficulty of reading and

comprehending a text combined with the

considerations of reader and task variables

(CCSS-ELA, 2010, p.43).”

Common Core’s :

Three-Part Model For Text Complexity

All of the major

educational

publishing entities

are on board.

Source: Supplemental Information for Appendix A of the Common Core State

Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy: New Research on Text

Complexity

Quantitative

New/CCS Text Difficulty Range

Old Text Difficulty Range (Metametrics)

New (Common Core State Standards) &

Old (Metametrics)

Hiebert, E. H. & Mesmer H.A. (2013). Upping the Ante of Text Complexity in the

Common Core State Standards: Examining its Potential Impact on Young Readers.

Educational Researcher, 42 (1). 44-51.

Standard 10 Range of Reading and

Text Complexity

2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade

Comprehend information texts including history/social studies, science, and technical texts at the high end of the 2-3 band

Comprehend information texts including history/social studies, science, and technical texts at the high end of the 2-3 band

Comprehend history/social studies, science, technical text, in4-5 text complexity band

Comprehend history/social studies, science, technical text, in 4-5 text complexity band

with scaffolding as needed at that higher levels

independently and proficiently.

with scaffolding as needed at that higher levels

independently and proficiently.

450-790 770-980

A Text Complexity Chasm: The Rationale for Increasing Complexity

High School College and

Career

New, HIGHER Text Difficulty Standards have been changed in the Ed Publishing industry

Test passage difficulties will get higher

When states go to design a 3rd Grade Text they will look to these Lexile-levels which will become “standard.”

Who Cares?

Other Trends and Issues

More Informational Text

Literary Non

Fiction in HS

Building Knowledge Depth

across Grades: Text Sets

Human Body-Exemplar Texts with Increasing

Difficulty

K

-5 Senses

-Taking care of the body –hygiene, diet, exercise

1

-Intro to the systems of the human body

-Taking care of the body-germs & disease

2

-Muscular, skeletal, and nervous systems

-Digestive systems

-Taking care of the body nutrition.

“Close” Reading

Materials provide opportunities for students to build

knowledge through close reading of specific texts.

Close reading and gathering knowledge from specific texts

should be at the heart of classroom activities and not be

consigned to the margins when completing assignments.

Reading strategies should work in the service of reading

comprehension (rather than an end unto themselves) and

assist students in building knowledge and insight from

specific texts.

Text Dependent Questions

A significant percentage of tasks and

questions are text dependent. The standards

strongly focus on students gathering evidence,

knowledge, and insight from what they read and

therefore require that a majority of the questions

and tasks that students ask and respond to be

based on the text under consideration.

The “Stretch Text”

Students need opportunities to stretch their reading abilities

but also to experience the satisfaction and pleasure of easy,

fluent reading within them, both of which the Standards allow

for. . . Students deeply interested in a given topic, for

example, may engage with texts on that subject across a

range of complexity. Particular tasks may also require

students to read harder texts than they would normally be

required to. (Appendix A, page 9)

What is stretch? Usually a level that surpasses the standards for reader-

text matching.

Length

1st Grade

50-250 Words

4th Grade

2000 Words Increase of 3750 words

Afflerbach, et al. 2001Average Change

in length

Some lightening of the text

load

Textproject.org

textproject.org

References Afflerbach, P. (1998). Reading assessment and learning to read. In J. Osborn

& F. Lehr (Eds.), Literacy for all: Issues in teaching and learning (pp. 239–

263). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

ACT. (2006). Reading between the lines: What the ACT reveals about college readiness in

reading. Iowa City, IA: Author.

Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2010). Common Core State Standards

for English language arts & literacy in history/social studies, science, and

technical subjects. Washington, DC: CCSSO & National Governors Association.

Hiebert, E. H. & Mesmer H.A. (2013). Upping the Ante of Text Complexity in

the Common Core State Standards: Examining its Potential

Impact on Young Readers. Educational Researcher, 42 (1). 44-51.

Mesmer, H., Cunningham, J. W., Hiebert, E. H. (2012). Toward a theoretical

model of text complexity for the early grades: Learning from the

past, anticipating the future. Reading Research Quarterly,47 (3),

234-258

Hiebert, E. H. & Mesmer, H. A. (2013). Meeting Standard 10 of the Common Core State

Standards: How principals can support students’ reading of complex text.

Principal Leadership, 13 (5). 30-33.

Mesmer, H. A. (2008). Tools for matching readers to texts: Research-based practices. New

York: Guilford Press.