Matching Reader to Text

        Appendix A of the Common Core State Standards for ELA is written to justify the push for students to read more and more complex texts and also spend more time focusing on expository writing over narrative. The logic of this push seems sound, in that adults spend more time working in non-narrative literacy tasks in most career functions.  But this also highlights the amount of time we have been spending in school working in narrative genres, both in reading and writing.  The Figure 3 chart on page 8 of the appendix also shows a somewhat startling shift in the new reading expectations by grade band, according to Lexile Reading Levels.  While the earlier grade bands have shifted up to a smaller degree, the grade 11-12 grade band expectations start (1215L) essentially where graduating students previously were expected to end up (1220L)  That suggests that under CCSS students will be expected to be two grades levels ahead of where they currently would end up.

        I don't want to argue that high expectations should be frowned upon, but these changes present a lot of issues, especially in diverse, urban school districts.  The first issue I see is the short-term problem of the first classes of students for whom the new standards apply.  This almost two-year gap will be nearly impossible to make up for classes of students who have been going along by the previous standards.  Teachers and students will initially be expected to push through two years of expectations in just one year, or risk failing state tests.

        The broader question I have is if these high expectations and focus on expository over narrative structures are developmentally sound for our students.  While the end result is college or career readiness, are the new reading levels on pace with typical child development norms, or are they higher.  Is there a purpose to focusing on narrative earlier in life as you're growing into an individual and shaping your identity?  In my single year of teaching at an average-performing NYC school,  my grade 3 class had about 4 students out of 23 reading at grade-level.  While students in my school perform well in math, there is a plethora of community issues that seem to result in lower reading performance.  I wonder if these even higher reading expectations will push our community to improve reading or simply result in ever lower performance on state reading exams.