Implementation of the English Language Arts — Common Core State Standards among teachers has created “real cause for concern,” according to a new study.
Published by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute for Educational Excellence, the study finds that many teachers are either unaware of, or are misinterpreting, the three instructional changes that the Common Core State Standards, or CCSS, promote.
The study’s four main takeaways indicate a lowering of the bar and an over-reliance on skills and informational texts at the expense of content and general knowledge.
In terms of lowering the bar, Fordham finds that teachers are more likely to assign texts based on students’ current reading levels, rather than their grade levels, as the standards intended. This may present challenges for closing grade-level achievement gaps for students.
Additionally, teachers are assigning fewer classic works of literature, likely due to the fact that the CCSS prioritizes informational texts and literary nonfiction over classic texts.
These negative manifestations of the CCSS may mean that students are not prepared for college-level English work, much of which continues to center around the classical canon.
Most importantly, the survey indicates that a majority of teachers — 56 percent — say content knowledge is getting slighted, despite the standards’ focus on informational texts.
Between 2012 and 2017, the proportion of teachers reporting that they organize their instruction around “reading skills” increased from 56 to 62 percent. Conversely, the proportion who said they organized instruction around “specific texts” declined from 37 to 30 percent.
The opportunity to become invested in reading a work for its own sake — for the captivation a good story brings — may also be lost amidst the drilling of reading skills.
For teachers who want to avoid these pitfalls, Fordham’s report features seven “Literacy Lifelines” to help guide instruction.
Correction: This article was updated to further explain the study’s findings.
