The evolution of classroom instruction for the Colorado and common Core state standards: Reading, Writing and Communicat

1. The evolution of classroom instruction for the Colorado and common Core state standards:Reading, Writing and Communicating Sandra M. Alberti, Student Achievement Partners

2. Organization Further Q and A from plenary Deeper dive into the shifts and their implications Look at available resources: Publishers Criteria Exemplar Lessons

3. Implications for Assessment From Assessments That: Measure ELA only Emphasize narrative fiction To Assessments That: Measure literacy across disciplines Emphasize informational texts

4. ELA/Literacy: 3 shifts Building knowledge through content-rich informational text Reading and writing grounded in evidence from text Regular practice with complex text and its academic vocabulary

5. Building Knowledge Through Content-Rich Informational Text Much of our knowledge base comes from informational text Makes up vast majority of required reading in college/workplace (80%) Informational text harder for students to comprehend than narrative text Yet students are asked to read very little of it in elementary and middle school (7% to 15%) CCSS moves percentages to 50:50 at elementary level and 75:25 at secondary level Includes reading in science and social studies/history

6. Implications for Assessment From Assessments That: Use de-contextualized writing prompts (narratives) Emphasize selected response items  To Assessments That: Include text-evidence based writing prompts

7. Reading, Writing & Speaking Grounded in Evidence Most college and workplace writing is evidence-based and expository in nature (not narrative) Ability to cite evidence differentiates student performance on the National Assessment Writing Standards ask students to respond to evidence-based writing prompts (inform/argue) S&L standards require students to prepare for and refer to evidence on ideas under discussion Reading standards require students to respond to text-dependent questions with evidence-based claims

8. Implications for Assessment From Assessments That: Focus on reading skills—on what students can do with what they read Assess literary terminology To Assessments That: Focus on complexity of what students can read too Measure academic vocabulary

9. Regular Practice with Complex Text Gap between complexity of college and high school texts is huge What students can read, in terms of complexity is greatest predictor of success in college (ACT study) Too many students reading at too low a level (<50% of graduates can read sufficiently complex texts) Standards include a staircase of increasing text complexity from elementary through high school Standards also focus on building general academic vocabulary so critical to comprehension

10. Recap of Key ELA/Literacy Shifts Building knowledge through content-rich informational texts [Reading Standards #1-10 in ELA and Reading Standards for History/SS, Science, and Technology] Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence [Reading Standard #1, Speaking and Listening Standard #1, and Writing Standards #1, #2, #9] Regular practice with complex texts and its vocabulary [Reading Standards #10 and #4] Info text (80 percent of our postsecondary reading, much of our knowledge base comes from it, little instructional info text (7 to 15%), and harder for students Info text (80 percent of our postsecondary reading, much of our knowledge base comes from it, little instructional info text (7 to 15%), and harder for students

11. Achievethecore.org Publisher’s Criteria K-2 3-12 Exemplar Lessons Guidance for text-dependent questions