Understanding the importance and implications of text complexity as it relates to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Help resources.

1. Text Complexity
And the Common Core Standards
CC image: cogdogblog
Craig Corfman
Library Media Specialist
Euclid City Schools
January 9, 2012

2. Beginning the Conversation…
Illinois State BOE
✚
Text Complexity
Presentation for
Teachers,
Administrators,
District and
School Leaders
=
90 Minutes

3. Today’s Goals
1. Figuring out why we’re discussing text complexity
2. Defining text complexity according to CCSS
3. Understanding the importance and implications of text
complexity as it relates to CCSS
4. Knowing where to look for help

4. Text Complexity: What’s the Big Deal?
Recent studies have shown that the complexity of texts
students are reading today does not match what is
demanded in college and the workplace. (Appendix A)
Standard #10 of the Common Core State
Standards: English/Language Arts
By the time they complete high school, students must
be able to read and comprehend independently and
proficiently the kinds of complex texts commonly found
in college and careers.

5. Text Complexity: What’s the Big Deal?
(Part 2)
The CCSS create a staircase of increasing text
complexity, so that students are expected to
both develop their skills and apply them to
more and more complex texts.

6. (CCR: College and Career Readiness Standards)

7. Text complexity is defined by three measures in
the CCSS:
Qualitative measures – levels of
meaning, structure, language
conventionality and clarity, and
knowledge demands often best
measured by an attentive human
reader
Quantitative measures – readability and
other scores of text complexity often
scored by software. (Lexile, ATOS, etc.)
Reader and TaskReader and Task considerations –
background knowledge of reader,
motivation, interests, and complexity
generated by tasks assigned often best
made by educators employing their
professional judgment(National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010)

8. Quantitative Measure: Defined
Aspects that are not easily measureable by a human and
are typically measured by programs such as Lexile.
 Word frequency
 Sentence length
 Word length
 Text length
 Text cohesion

9. Quantitative Measure: Limitations
Sometimes quantitative measures
for text complexity can be limiting
or measure a text inappropriately.
Why might this be the case?
For example: John Steinbeck’s,
The Grapes of Wrath
Try it: www.lexile.com
680L. Grades 2-3.
And what about
Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Ugly Truth

10. Qualitative Measures
Aspects of text complexity only “measureable”
by an attentive reader.
 Levels of Meaning or Purpose
o Is it specifically stated/clear? Or are there inferences
that need to be made by the reader?
 Structure of Text
o Linear/nonlinear, one/multiple narrators, deviations from
standard conventions of genre, number of plots
 Language Conventionality and Clarity
o Literal, clear, or contemporary language vs. figurative,
ambiguous, or unfamiliar language
 Knowledge Demands
o Is understanding dependent on prior knowledge or open
to any level?
Example literary
text qualitative
measures rubric

11. Reader and Task Considerations
Reader and Task
• Motivation
• Knowledge and experience
• Purpose for reading
• Complexity of task assigned
regarding text
• Complexity of questions asked
regarding text

12. Reader and Task Considerations
The use of qualitative and
quantitative measures to assess
text complexity is balanced in the
Standards’ model by the
expectation that educators will
employ professional judgment to
match texts to particular students
and tasks. (Appendix A)
Reader and Task
Such assessments are best made by teachers
employing their professional judgment, experience, and
knowledge of their students and the subject. (Appendix
A)

13. What’s the Next Step?
We’ve reviewed the CCSS
definition of text complexity. What
do we do with this information?
Example text complexity
analysis form used by the
Kansas Board of Education.

14. CCSS Sample Texts: K-5
CCSS provide sample texts demonstrating appropriate
complexity per grade level

15. Sample Texts: Grades 6-CCR

16. Resources
ACT. (2006). Reading between the lines: What the ACT reveals about college readiness in
reading.
Hiebert, Elfrieda H. (2012). Common core’s staircase of text complexity. Retrieved from
http://textproject.org/professional-development/text-matters/
Hiebert, Elfrieda H. (2012). 7 actions that teachers can take right now: Text complexity.
Retrieved from http://textproject.org/professional-development/text-matters/
Kansas State Department of Education. (2011). ELA and Literacy Resources for the Kansas
Common Core Standards. Retrieved from
http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=4778#TextRes
Lexile framework for reading. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.lexile.com/
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School
Officers. (2010). Common core state standards. Retrieved from
http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards
Appendix A: (For more detailed information on text complexity.)
Appendix B: (For text exemplars and sample performance tasks
illustrating the complexity, quality and range of reading appropriate for
various grade levels with accompanying performance tasks.)