Common Core Update for Public Librarians Shirley Fetherolf Shirley Fetherolf Program Advisor Library...

Common Core Update for Public

Librarians Shirley Fetherolf

Program AdvisorLibrary Media Services

Caution: Big Changes Ahead

Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

A state-led effort coordinated by 2 groups:

National Governors Association& Council of Chief State

School Officers

AR State Board of

Education adopted on

July 12, 2010

Adopted by 46 States

What is CCSS? K-12 standards English Language Arts Math

Reading is at the core of everything in the

Common Core Standards

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Problem:Many of us have

weeded out our highLexile books

Problem

Librarians say that it’s fun to read

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CCSS Reading: Not always fun

Vehicle for deeper learning Challenging and intellectually

edifying activity Deserving of students’ time,

effort, and persistence Carol Jago

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In order to reach appropriate levels of rigor, students must grapple with

complex texts

Challenging texts that may frustrate or confuse students can be extremely effective and important instructional tools

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If students have not developed the skill, concentration and stamina to read complex texts—they will read less in general CCSS ELA Appendix A, p. 4

What research has discovered about reading

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5% of children learn to read effortlessly

20-30% learn relatively easily once exposed to reading

instruction

Harris, Chris. “RTI – The Library Role.” Infomancy. 15 Mar. 2006. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://schoolof.info/infomancy/?p=173

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For 60% of children, learning to read is a much more formidable task

20-30% of children: reading is one of the most difficult tasks ever

5% of students: even with explicit and systematic instruction, reading will continue to be a challenge

Harris, Chris. “RTI – The Library Role.” Infomancy. 15 Mar. 2006. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://schoolof.info/infomancy/?p=173

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The reading level of documents, technical manuals, and other materials

required by entry level positions in most fields far exceeds the reading

level of many students.

Meeting the Challenge of Adolescent Literacy, Judith Irvin, et al

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Free voluntary reading is one of the most powerful tools we have in language instruction

More reading results in better reading comprehension, writing style, vocabulary, spelling and grammatical development

The Power of Reading: Insights from the Research, Stephan Krashen

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“Subject-area teachers should not be expected to teach basic reading skills, but they can help students develop critical strategies and skills for reading texts in each subject.”

--Includes Librarians

Southern Regional Education Board, 2009 Policy Statement, page 5

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Problem: Growing Imbalance

Champions at information gathering • Web surfing, social media, email and

texting Not good at processing information

• Constructing meaning• Deeper thinking/synthesis• Learning to process information

Baby Steps and CCSS

CCSS Implementation Timetable

K-2 2011-2012

Grades 3-8 2012-2013

Grades 9-12 2013-2014

Online Common Assessments

2014-2015

New ADE Wiki on CCSShttp://ccssarkansas.pbworks.com

AETN Videos

http://ideas.aetn.org/commoncore/

CCSS Changes

More nonfictionHigher Lexiles More researchMore collaboration

Bill Gates-Funded Common Core Curriculum Maps

6 thematic units per grade level Aligned with Common Core Extensive resource list for each unit Revised Fall 2011—not free now http://commoncore.org/

What are the Curriculum Maps?

Vendor product—was free in past Developed by Bill Gates Foundation Used by many Arkansas schools Not affiliated with CCSS—

http://www.corestandards.org Even though their Website is

http://commoncore.org

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Common Core Curriculum Maps

Available online, also in book form Teacher comment: “Implementation

using these maps has been much easier, since we have some suggested texts, activities, and assessments to help us in teaching the new standards.”

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Common Core Curriculum Maps

Issues Catcher in the Rye in 8th grade unit House of Spirits in 10th grade unit Cost $19,500 for K-12 single title set On average, all books within each

unit, after set discount, cost around $250.00 

Each grade has six units27

What will CCSS mean for students?

Clear expectations Not zip code dependent More consistent exposure to

materials and learning experiences

College and career ready

English Language Learners

Most ELL’s were born in USA 43% of students in Springdale

are ELL’s Over 90% ELL’s in some

classes in DeQueen

Connecting with Non-ReadersBig Challenge:

Our Goal: A Word-Rich Environment

Lots of books and other reading material, invitingly displayed, on various topics, at various reading levels

Words on a word wall, etc.

Summer Reading

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study

CCSS for Mathematics

Focused on big ideas in grade bands Grade level standards in K-8 High school content divided into blocks

of information Permanent learning of fewer concepts at

each grade level Math formerly taught in middle school

will be taught in elementary

CCSS for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects

Interdisciplinary/cross-curricular Complex texts, informational and

technical texts Persuasive/ argumentative writing Deeper learning Increased complexity of texts/tasks

Text Complexity

K-1

2-3

4-5

http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_B.pdf

ELA-CCSS Text Issues

Students expected to read diverse array of classic and contemporary lit plus challenging nonfiction texts in a range of subject areas

No “required” reading list but exemplar texts to help guide and inform

What Will CCSS Mean for Librarians?

More nonfiction More complex texts Lexiles for books Exemplars include much older titles Rethink newer copyright = better Rethink weeding for a few years

Exemplar Texts

Examples only--not required

Problems: Limited multicultural examples No current young adult literature

What About Research? Short, focused research projects Sustained projects--synthesize info Gather relevant information Variety of print and digital sources Collect evidence to support an

argument or position

What Will CCSS Mean for Librarians?

Focus on reading strategies and technology in library instruction

Keyboarding needed at third grade Check collection for titles listed as

exemplars in CCSS, Appendix A, B, and Curriculum Mapping Project

Need library computer lab

Text Complexity-then and now

What are Lexiles?

“Scientific approach to reading and text measurement”

“Matches reader ability and text difficulty, allowing individualized monitoring of progress.”

From MetaMetrics website

How do Lexiles work?

Measures how difficult a text is to comprehend: Word frequency Sentence length Score followed by L (850L) 200L(beginning-reader material) To above 1700L (advanced text)

Lexile Examples

1400L The Scarlet Letter1300L Brown vs. Board of Ed.1200L War and Peace1100L Pride and Prejudice1000L Black Beauty 900L Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders 800L The Adventures of Pinocchio 700L Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale of Mystery 600L A Baby Sister for Frances 500L Magic School Bus Inside the Earth 400L Frog and Toad are Friends 300L Clifford’s Manners

Beware of buying sets for children based on Lexile only

Hidden Riches by Nora Roberts Gr. 2-3 (620L)(Steamy Romance!)

The Firm by John Grisham Gr. 2-3 (680L)

Along Came a Spider, James Patterson Gr. 3 (600L)

Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris Gr. 4 (770L)

Middle School Range, but not all age-appropriate

Artemis Fowl (Colfer) 600L

Timeline (Crichton) Adult 620L

Cirque du Freak series (Shan) 710L

A Child Called It (Pelzer) YA 850L

The Da Vinci Code (Brown) Adult 850L

Stephen King books Adult 895

More Lexiles

The Hunger Games 810L (Gr.4-5) Speak 690L (Gr. 2-3)!! Tears of a Tiger 700L (Gr. 2-3)!! Gone with the Wind 1100L (Gr. 9-10) The Great Gatsby 1070L (Gr. 6-8)

What Lexile does NOT measure:

Quality Complexity of plot/characters Books for reluctant readers Developmental suitability

• Age-appropriateness• If prior knowledge required

Opportunity Create grade-level lists for

students, with titles ranging from lower to higher Lexiles

Collaborate with other libraries “Independent Reading” lists:

Lexiles plus quality, major authors, and series popularity

Teachers Need New Lists

Annotated bibliographies Include public domain eBooks Current resources may need to

be supplemented

For More Information

Frequently Asked Questionshttp://www.arkansased.org/educators/curriculum/common_core.html

My wiki with CCSS links:http

://hoorayforbooks.pbworks.com/w/page/31964772/Common-Core-State-Standards-(CCSS)

Crosswalks: http://ccssarkansas.pbworks.com

501-682-6576

Shirley Fetherolf

shirley.fetherolf@arkansas.gov