Moving the Common Core Forward with Text Complexity 

In March, I introduced several efforts AWSA (Association of Wisconsin School Administrators) would be taking to assist members in advancing “The Big Three” (i.e., the Common Core, SMARTER Balanced Assessment, and Educator Effectiveness).  This article follows through on that previous introduction. First, I share a list of “vital few” steps forward on the related topic of text complexity. Given the profound role that literacy plays in raising student performance, this is a high-leverage focus. For some, the articulated steps that follow may serve as helpful guides for initial movement forward with text complexity; for others, they may provide a simple check-in for reflection in comparison to progress steps already taken.  Second, I share several resources that can equip you and others to develop capacity and lead this important work with confidence and competence across your school.  Thanks to our partners in DPI’s Common Core Team for the bulk of the ideas and resources shared herein.

Setting the Stage

Let’s start by addressing a few grounding questions:

1)   Why is text complexity important?

While reading demands in college, workforce training programs, and life in general have held steady or increased over the last half century, K–12 texts have actually declined in sophistication, and relatively little attention has been paid to students’ ability to read complex texts independently.  These conditions have left a serious gap between many high school seniors’ reading ability and the reading requirements they will face after graduation – gaps which often serve as a barrier to success in adulthood, regardless of the pathway pursued.

2)   How does text complexity reveal the integration of “the Big Three”?

Educators who understand Common Core text complexity and combine complex texts with nuanced and thoughtful instruction are addressing key components of teacher practice via Educator Effectiveness and are preparing students for successfully encountering such texts in Smarter Balanced assessment. 

Resources Supporting Your “Big Three” Leadership

DPI’s Common Core Team has been building a powerful set of electronic resources available 24/7 through www.livebinder.com. Each topic (such as text complexity) is packaged into slides and presenter notes through four separate yet aligned modules designed to support the various professional development time practitioners might have available: 

·      30-60 minute module

·      1-2 hour module

·      Half/full day module

·      Self-guided module

The longer modules also include aligned activities and contextual applications. This is a helpful set of emerging resources of which you should be aware to assist your Big Three leadership efforts!

Five Action Steps for Moving Your School Forward with Text Complexity

Below are five sequential action strategies designed to build school-wide knowledge of text complexity in order to align educator practice for maximum impact on student learning.  To download the materials and activities referenced in the action steps below, visit www.livebinder.com and search “Wisconsin Text Complexity.”  You can then locate The Wisconsin Learning on Demand Text Complexity binder that contains these activities and many more to support you on your journey to school-wide text complexity.

1. Create or adopt an all-school, expanded definition of text
   1. Your definition should honor the Common Core standard (CCSS) calling for “multiple print and digital texts in diverse media, formats, and lengths” (CCSSELA, W.8)
   2. Activity:  Use slides 15-22 and the corresponding activity from the Text Complexity Half/Full Day PowerPoint and the handout entitled “Texts,” which includes a proposed definition.

2. Establish an all-school understanding of the wide range of texts (diverse media, formats, and lengths) and text types (literary, informational) teachers currently use every day
   1. Why does every teacher need to know and understand text types?
      1. Certain text types have structures and features that convey information in ways that are meaningful to the discipline. 
      2. SMARTER Balanced assessment will measure students’ ability to read and understand diverse texts across all content areas.
   2. Schools need a balance of complex literary and informational text throughout a student’s day at the appropriate ratio (50/50 literary to informational text ratio in elementary, 45/55 by grade 8, 30/70 by grade 12)
   3. The goal is to develop collections of texts that honor the school-wide definition of text.
   4. Activity: Use slides 23-26 and the corresponding activity from the Text Complexity Half/Full Day PowerPoint and the handout entitled “Text Types” to surface the types of texts already in use, modifying the activity for all educators by limiting categories to just literary or informational text types.

3. Establish a school-wide and/or department-wide process for identifying complex texts
   1. Activity:  Use slides 17-28 of the 15-30 minute module PowerPoint and rubric handouts for literary and informational texts to provide an overview of the three-prong approach from CCSS, the rationale for using a consistent approach, and the rationale for why one measure alone (qualitative, quantitative, reader/task considerations) is not enough.
   2. When considering a text where the rubrics do not apply (i.e., works of art, pieces of sheet music, graphs, etc.), an alternative strategy would be to ask, “How do you know when a text is complex in your content area”?
      1. What are the qualities of a text that make it more complex?
      2. How do you measure the qualitative complexity of a text?

4. Conduct a Text Complexity “Gap Analysis”
   1. Activity:  In grade level or department level teams, create a chart of the complex texts currently in use and categorize (literary, informational) them.
   2. Use the chart to conduct a “gap analysis” of identified holes to ensure the balance of text across a student’s day. Questions to ask:
      1. Across a student’s day, is there an appropriate balance of informational and literary texts, in diverse media, formats, and lengths?
      2. Are the texts we use appropriately complex, given our established process from Activity 3?

5. Fill in identified gaps with additional complex texts to ensure students are accessing multiple print and digital texts in diverse media, formats, and lengths throughout the day.
   1. Activity:  Access resource sites such as BadgerLink, TeachingBooks.net, and Wisconsin Media Lab to find high quality, complex texts, and work with your library media specialist when you need help
   2. Apply the “process for identifying a complex text” to each new selection
   3. See slide 28 of the15-30 min PowerPoint to understand how to build collections of texts for student learning.

Articles like this over time (in combination with some relevant, differentiated resources) are a couple ways we are supporting Wisconsin’s school leaders for advancing “the Big Three” forward, regardless of the current state of affairs in a given school. This article also gives a taste of one type of content we will build into our 2013-14 Regional Cohort program for school administrators entitled “Leading the Big Three.” Information about this program is available in the “Sneak Peek” document we distributed previously. (http://www.awsa.org/associations/10159/files/Sneak%20Peak%202013-2.pdf). Registration for “Leading the Big Three” will open in late April. Best wishes, everyone, and bring on the spring!