standards, and grade bands.
•Strands are the four main divisions for the standards: (1) Reading, (2) Writing, (3) Speaking and Listening, and (4) Language. The Reading strand has two parts: Reading Standards for Literature (RL) and Reading Standards for Informational Text (RI). Foundational Skills (RF) are a third part specific to grades K–5 (see NGA & CCSSO, 2010b, pp. 15–17).
•Anchor standards define general, cross-disciplinary expectations for college and career readiness (CCRA). The anchor standards are numbered consecutively for each strand. For example, CCSS ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.1 signifies college and career readiness anchor standard (CCRA), Reading strand (R), and anchor standard one (1). In this book, we use a simplified version of the standard designation—CCRA.R.1.
•Domains define categories of anchor standards for each of the strands. The domains are consistent across the grades and ensure continuity as the standards increase in rigor and complexity. The four domains in the Writing strand are (1) Text Types and Purposes, (2) Production and Distribution of Writing, (3) Research to Build and Present Knowledge, and (4) Range of Writing (see NGA & CCSSO, 2010, p. 18).
•Grade-specific standards define what students should understand and be able to do at the end of the year. These standards correspond to anchor standards with the same number designation. For example, RL.5.1 represents Reading Standards for Literature (RL), fifth grade (5), and standard one (1) in the domain Key Ideas and Details. Similarly, SL.3.1 represents Speaking and Listening (SL), third grade (3), and standard one (1) in the domain Comprehension and Collaboration. Additionally, we refer to standards that are applicable to all grades K–5 by the strand and standard number. For example, Reading for literature standard one, or just RL.1, and Language standard five, or just L.5, represent grades K–5.
•Grade levels and grade bands are groupings of standards by grade—grade levels for K–8 and grade bands for 9–10 and 11–12.
Implementing, teaching, and talking about these standards are hearty tasks for elementary teachers! No wonder many teachers feel overwhelmed. In this book, we hope to make this task less daunting.
Three Main Goals of the Standards
In our work with teachers, we have found it helpful to explain that, even though all the English language arts standards are important and must be taught, the three main goals of teaching these standards are to (1) improve students’ reading comprehension, (2) improve their writing, and (3) promote independent reading and writing.
Reading Comprehension
First, think about the ten Reading standards. The first nine require reading comprehension of one sort or another. The tenth Reading standard, however, says that students will be able to meet the first nine standards in grade-appropriate texts. The Foundational Skills within the Reading standards exist so that students will have the decoding ability, sight words, and fluency necessary to comprehend the texts they read. Such skills are also covered in the other strands. For instance, Language standard five (L.5) includes the knowledge of figurative language important for comprehending grade-appropriate texts (see NGA & CCSSO, 2010, pp. 27–29). Language standards four and six (L.4 and L.6) focus on meaning vocabulary knowledge, long known to be essential for reading comprehension (see NGA & CCSSO, 2010, pp. 27–29). Of course, the Speaking and Listening standards are valuable in their own right, but Speaking and Listening standard one (SL.1) also includes student interaction and discussion, which play a facilitative role during comprehension instruction (see NGA & CCSSO, 2010, pp. 23–24). In addition, Speaking and Listening standards two and three (SL.2 and SL.3) include being able to comprehend while listening in ways parallel to Reading standards one, two, six, seven, and eight (R.1–2 and R.6–8; see NGA & CCSSO, 2010, pp. 11–14, 23–24). Similarly, Writing standards seven through nine (W.7–9) require students to comprehend literature and informational texts well enough to write about them (see NGA & CCSSO, 2010, pp. 19–21).
Table I.2 presents the number of standards that focus on reading comprehension.
Table I.2: K–5 CCSS ELA for Reading Comprehension
* There is no literature standard for Reading standard eight (RL.8; see NGA & CCSSO, 2010, pp. 11–12).
By our calculation, improving students’ reading comprehension is a goal of 182 of the 250 ELA standards—more than two-thirds of them!
Since reading comprehension is a goal of so many of the standards, it is important to understand what the CCSS mean by reading comprehension. Reading comprehension in the CCSS for grades kindergarten through fifth grade includes both close reading and higher-level thinking about texts. For instance, Reading standard one (R.1) focuses on close reading and is a prerequisite to all other Reading standards. Inferential comprehension is not a separate standard in the CCSS but is required for every Reading standard. Reading standard two (R.2) focuses on main idea comprehension. Reading standard four (R.4) requires students to learn word meanings during text comprehension. Reading standard six (R.6) expects students to deduce or infer a character’s or author’s point of view. Reading standard eight (R.8) reflects critical reading. Students are expected to be able to compare, contrast, and synthesize two or more texts (Reading standard nine; R.9) or a text with media (Reading standard seven; R.7). Never before has there been such a full and rich view of comprehension reflected in reading standards (see NGA & CCSSO, 2010, pp. 11–14).
Most significantly, the Reading standards make a major distinction between comprehending literature (stories, dramas, or poems) and informational text (historical, scientific, or technical writings). Every K–5 Reading standard applies to informational text, and every Reading standard except eight (R.8) also applies to literature. An examination of Reading standards two through nine (R.2–9), however, reveals just how different comprehension is for the two kinds of text (see NGA & CCSSO, 2010, pp. 11–14).
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), or the Nation’s Report Card, has steadily increased its use of informational text in grades 4, 8, and 12 assessments (National Assessment Governing Board, 2008). To coincide with this growing emphasis on informational texts, the CCSS call for an even distribution of reading literature (50 percent) and informational text (50 percent) by third grade (Coleman & Pimental, 2012). The CCSS do not specify a split between literature and informational text for grades K–2. It seems prudent, however, to have primary students read enough informational text to prepare them for the 50 percent split they will encounter in third grade. Furthermore, in grades 6–12, the CCSS call for a shift to substantially more literary nonfiction reading and instruction (Coleman & Pimental, 2012). By twelfth grade, the CCSS call for a 30 percent literature and 70 percent informational text distribution (NGA & CCSSO, 2010). For this reason, we recommend a 70 percent literature and 30 percent informational text split for reading lessons in grades 1 and 2.
