Jamie Gass excoriates the Common Core standards for de-emphasizing classic literature and replacing it with informational text. The decision by state officials in Massachusetts to drop its outstanding English language arts standards–which were rich in literature–and adopt the mundane Common Core was a disservice to the children of the Commonwealth.
He writes:
“Until recently, classic literature and poetry saturated the commonwealth’s K-12 English standards. Between 2005 and 2013, Massachusetts bested every other state on the reading portion of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, called “the nation’s report card.” Great fiction and poetry contributed to Massachusetts’ success on virtually every K-12 reading test known to the English-speaking world.
“But in 2010, Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration succumbed to the temptation of $250 million in one-time federal grant money, killing off our edifying English standards in favor of inferior nationalized benchmarks known as Common Core. These national standards – an educational gooney bird – cut enduring fiction and poetry by 60 percent and replaced it with “informational texts.”
Since then, he says, Massachusetts has lost its position as first in the nation.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
To reiterate:
“Reading great literature, it has long been averred, enlarges and improves us as human beings. ”
“The Neuroscience of Your Brain on Fiction “- The New York Times.pdf 3/17/12
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscience-of-your-brain-on-fiction.html?_r=1 – http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscience-of-your-brain-on-fiction.html?_r=1
“Brain scans are revealing what happens in our heads when we read a detailed description, an evocative metaphor or an emotional exchange between characters. Stories, this research is showing, stimulate the brain and even change how we act in life….
These findings will affirm the experience of readers who have felt illuminated and instructed by a novel,…. Reading great literature, it has long been averred, enlarges and improves us as human beings. Brain science shows this claim is truer than we imagined.”
LikeLike
This is your brain on Common Core
LikeLike
Loved the link!
LikeLike
““Brain scans are revealing what happens in our heads . . . ”
No, they’re not revealing “what happens in our heads”. At best they some bits of proxy information about what occurs in our brains, but to focus on those bits as “revealing what happens in our heads” is simplistic thinking at best and more like non-thinking at worst.
LikeLike
The misguided attempt to use informational passages in history and science in lieu of actual history and science classes at the elementary level did a great disservice to young learners. They ended up getting short changed in literature and history and science – all in the name of “rigor”????
Heck of a job Davey!
LikeLike
“The misguided attempt to use informational passages in history and science in lieu of actual history and science classes at the elementary level did a great disservice to young learners.” Bob Shepherd’s comments here at the Diane Ravitch blog also illuminate the “new lite criticism” and the methods that are implemented when they strip out a particular page from something like a primary source document, or a selection from a “novel”…. I loved his description of the “New Lite” criciticsm as a method of teaching — I don’t get his exact term correct — will have to look up Bob Shepherd’s words again as it is clearly what has gone wrong in presenting informational passages or as in the example I saw in my niece’s high school class near Albany New York a speech given by Elie Wiesel used in this dreadful manner of “new lite”….
LikeLike
That’s a major problem. Science and social studies may be “taught” in reading, but unless the teacher sequences the history, it doesn’t teach history at all. If the kids are reading about ancient China one day and a Civil War battle the next day and about World War II the next, there’s not any context, and the kids can’t see the patterns.
I now have to teach my 8th graders at the beginning of the year, the difference between a country and a continent. Most of them don’t know the seven continents or five oceans. I have to start from square one, because most of my student have never a true history class before.
LikeLike
I had an 8th grade student who came to class wearing a t-shirt that read, “Ocean City, Maryland”. When asked, she told me that she did visit Ocean City on summer vacation, and yes, she did swim in the ocean. When I asked her which ocean, she smiled, shrugged her shoulders and said, “I don’t know”. This level of ignorance for students coming out of elementary schools fixated on math and ELA is sadly, now the norm.
LikeLike
Rager,
I’d have to put the blame for that student’s ignorance on the parent’s.
LikeLike
” misguided attempt to use informational passages in history and science in lieu of actual history and science classes at the elementary level did a great disservice ” when I go to an IEP meeting — I might ask “is the student doing science or reading about science”? and, frequently it comes back to “reading about science”…. there is a difference as you have pointed out … the college I went to had no lab but we were expected to pass physics… A former governor of NH (Sununu) wanted labs removed because “the teachers take that time off and don’t do anything.”” So I can take those incidents and generalize to “misguided” approaches or attempts… (see my earlier comment on primary sources) — I saw that work well in a history class for AP students in Millbury High by an excellent teacher… When it is “formulaic” and when the dictates come down from the top , the actual practice often doesn’t measure up to the ideal … Another example, is a college student trying to define “reciprocal teaching” on an exam (with a time limit)… her name is Maya and she knew she had done “reciprocal teaching” in a class with a supervising teacher to practice the approach; one way she can finish the exam is to “google” it but you don’t get good sources or understanding of the concept that way. Putting a concept into practice is like the “procedures” they do in hospitals and we have a long way to go before we are experts at “procedures” (similar to the expectation of a practicing physician). Passing around lists of objectives from state to state (there are tens of thousands of objectives) doesn’t quite fill the bill in order to improve on what we have done in the past.
LikeLike
please be aware (take with a grain of salt) that Jamie Gass is at the Pioneer Institute; I have told them they often get the diagnosis correct but then they only offer the same old Friedman model — vouchers, charters, ESAs etc… private schools (not supporting the public schools)… Jim at Pioneer also knows that I write this everywhere. Jamie Gass is a dedicated person; he assisted a high school teacher in setting up a non-profit (a good thing) to do more with and for civic education… But, when working in the Pioneer Institute there is one message over all (this is also where they print some of Sandra Stotsky’s articles but she is now listed as emerita at University of Arkansas in the Jay P Greene Walton funded department.) Look at the diagnosis but separate out from the prescriptions …
Also, I hope that people realize a list of objectives (there are tens of thousands of those) that can get titled “Standards” is just that — a list of objectives…
The states that want to model after MA should look carefully at the Curriculum Frameworks ; this is where the local school district staff can maintain professional autonomy in what they build into the program and subject offerings.
Sandra Stotsky wanted to be sure that the MA documents would be aligned with the NAEP… if that is your ultimate goal (and you are convinced of the validity of NAEP ) then by all means take the documents with MA DESE source but know it is not perfection. Even the work that teachers did to expand the Curriculum Frameworks was shelved by the commissioner because they needed the money to buy more Pearson tests and compeers … so you may not get the best of the teacher’s work when you grab hold of the documents — yet, I can say use them with discretion and develop local autonomy in the choices for math/ELA etc… while further developing and especially adding on (what was shelved — the work of the MA Social Studies Council in particular but also other teachers who “got the shaft’ so to speak when the PARRC tests were introduced)
LikeLike
The Prioneers seem to have their prions into everything in Massachusetts.
Prion: coined from a combination of “protein and infection”; cause of “mad cow disease”
LikeLike
To jeanhaverhill, THANK YOU for pointing this out!
Pioneer institute is playing both sides of the fence. They want everything Common Core helps usher in, but they don’t want to throw their baby out with the bath water. Perhaps by “fighting” it, they entrench themselves further into MA politics, people will see them on the “right side”, even though they’re cancer on MA body politic.
Neoliberal turf wars, privitization bum fights, whatever you like to call it, that’s essentially what it is. Parents, children, & teachers still lose.
LikeLike
my recollections of timelines may not meet perfection but I did save this from ETS Wellesley office; and the standards were locally identified by teachers, principals, curriculum administrators.. .people who knew the students and the curriculum in their local districts. It was only later (after Greg Anrig) that standards became something that was handed on down from “on high”…. Even with this regard, I have praised the MA curriculum frameworks everywhere that I comment and I keep saying .. you will get very little if you adopt “standards” (which are merely lists of objectives) and you do not have Curriculum Frameworks….
ERIC ED 183 619
Title : Manual for Project Management. -ETS
Standard Setting Studies Conducted for Improving Basic Skills Project. Manual for Project Management. Wellesley Hills, Mass- Merrimack Education Center, Chelmsford,Mass,
LikeLike
Abstract from ETS Manual (Wellesley MA)
This’ document is designed to.assist school districts to implement the Massachusetts State Board of Education requiring the setting of performance standards in basic skills at three grade levels. The appropriate procedures are described in the manual: (1) setting of basic skils objectives; (2) the selection of test scores that measure that adequately cover the objectives: (3).the.setting of a minimum acceptable score on each.test or measure; and,( 4) ‘the reporting of the number and characteristics (gender,race,etc,) of. those students achieving below the local standard. ”
Please note that the manual clearly stated these were local standards (they were not passed through the state board and then directed to the schools; that only came when MEAP was published and it became the first iteration of MCAS)….then it became (somewhat) teach to the test… which only escalated with MCAS and worsened with PARRC.
LikeLike
To get out of that mood set by the “Burn fights” I like to read something in “high above court side”. This one has an article by Rick Perlstein. Of course we’ve known of the Friedman and the Schumpeter (pushed by Fordham Institute Pete Peterson et al ) but it was the first time I had seen the name F. Bastiat… so I will have to do some more research on that one.
Also, it was interesting in The Nation article to find out where those Goldwater voters from the 60s went (the ones who were opposing integration in the north and south in the public schools in particular).
http://www.thenation.com/article/is-the-party-system-about-to-crack-up/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign&utm_term=daily
LikeLike
P.S. also be aware that the former Commissioner Antonucci is working deliberately AGAINST the parents who have the signed petitions to get the issue on the November ballot — that we revert back to the Curriculum Frameworks — and drop this whole MCAS 2.0/Pearson PARRC… they have some very powerful lawyers, plus former commissioner Antonucci and former commissioner David Driscoll (thanks, David for bringing the “grit” measurements to NAEP by request of Marty West at Education Next/Fordham Institute). (please note my sarcasm for Driscoll)
LikeLike
Introduction to the Wellesley MA ETS office, Standard Setting Manual : “INTRODUCTORY NOTE
–
This second edition of the project managers’ manual for the standard setting study includes several changes based on the review of the earlier draft by Dr. Michaelieky. The earlier draft was
also reviewed informally by Massachusetts Department of Education staff.
Since the publication of the first draft, the project has proceeded on a schedule with a minimum of difficulty. The steps outlined in the manual have met…….(you get the drift)
It was signed by George Elford , ETS, Wellesley Office.
**************************************
again, please note that these were developed locally with ETS providing the computer printouts of the local data and the Dept of Ed “informally reviewed” the material… This was a local process (not coming down from on high by the “experts” but people who actually knew both the curriculum and the students. I imagine once they found out a computer was involved it became more and more of a “business” to sell space/time in the computer.
LikeLike
p.s. my use of pronouns may confuse by “they” I meant Antonucci, Driscoll, Commissioner M. Chester and the DESE staff who are fighting the parents who want the question on the November ballot — drop this whole Pearson PARRC 2.0MCAS — just in case my mixing up pronouns doesn’t convince you which side I am on.
LikeLike
Literature should remain at the center of the English curriculum and we have been able to maintain it in our district. Valuing literature does not require being anchored to a canon of “enduring fiction and poetry” however. I know this was wrapped up as a critique of the Common Core, but it is more a paean to the old canon.
“British Romantic poetry, a wellspring of our language, profoundly influenced the flowering of the American Renaissance. That antebellum age of spiritual idealism was charted by Bay State writers, including Emerson, Longfellow, Dickinson, Hawthorne and Melville. Schoolchildren should know their names, and that these authors were shaped by Coleridge’s poetry.” I personally enjoy these authors and some of their texts are present in our high school’s English syllabi, but one can depart from Brit Lit and American 19th century classics without engaging in “an irresponsible decent from established academic excellence.”
“When we allow policymakers to cut off schoolchildren’s access to timeless poetry, we deprive students of far more than just some old book. British Romantic poets awaken us to the intellectual mission of education through spiritually uplifting words that can elevate young lives.” Really? I’m not saying the old canon should be banished, but I’d like to think that most English teachers are more open minded about what students could be reading in class. I know ours are.
There is a big universe of quality English literature that is larger than the old canon. If a teacher wants to teach “The Road” instead of “The Scarlett Letter”, Flannery O’Connor instead of Emily Dickinson, and Maya Angelou instead of Longfellow, I don’t see this as a lowering of standards. YMMV.
LikeLike
Cross-posted http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/How-Common-Core-Killed-the-in-Life_Arts-Common-Core_Great-Society_Literature_Massachusetts-160506-445.html#comment595702
with this comment which has embedded links:
“Here is a very funny video
that says in 2 minutes what the public needs to hear as more and more community public schools are run by corporate charter chains It was produced by the Progressive Magazine. the same team that created this video. It’s all about the money. and when you are finished and want to hear the absolute truth about Common Core, don’t miss this, 5 minute video which EXPLAINS exactly what the CC is, who created it, and how lobbyists pushed this on America, BRANDED as standards when nothing was farther from the truth.
A longer speech by Dr Duke Pesta, as he travels around the nation to explain this travesty, is here, The info on Common Core begins at 3:10, but I would watch the whole thing..It will blow your mind when you discover the extent to which this plan to end real learning in our schools was implemented.
Moreover, if you want to be frightened …look who writes curriculum in a NC high schools, when public school curriculum is gone.
The oligarchs that you all talk about here at OPED, have waged a 20 year assault on the INSTITUTION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION. Their weapons of mass deception have hidden the destruction and soon, it will be too late.
LikeLike
Are the colleges looking at students being able to demonstrate competency with informational texts more than classic literary texts?
Because if the colleges aren’t signalling that change, then it’s hard to see how one could argue that this change in common core standard would improve college readiness.
LikeLike
I teach philosophy at a community college in NC. I don’t know what colleges are looking for, but I just need students who can read, write, and have a decent vocabulary. I will teach them how to read a philosophical text.
I’m not even sure how useful this distinction is between an informational text and a literary one. Take something like Plato’s dialogues or Descartes’ Meditations. What are those? What box do they fit into?
Again, I just need students who can read decently and write sentences. I can do the rest.
LikeLike
and that is all I enabled… the kids to read well, and write decently…. and allI asked for was my dignity and some respect for my professional work.
LikeLike
Wdf1, you asked, “Are the colleges looking at students being able to demonstrate competency with informational texts more than classic literary texts?”
Regardless if the standards are emphasizing non-fiction, professors today study both fiction and non-fiction in their literacy classes as they have done in the past. Professors explain to their students that regardless how much non-fiction is mandated, there are ways to be creative, engaging, and relevant in studying non-fiction such as using Process Drama and Tableaux experiences- apropos for both fiction and non-fiction. Some expository text can address the affective realm depending upon how the teachers study the text.
Regardless how expository text is taught, as the NYTimes article explains, non-fiction can’t take the place to fiction. You can’t refute that the reading of novels makes one a better person.
LikeLike
I don’t know how this tale got invented:
“Sandra Stotsky wanted to be sure that the MA documents would be aligned with the NAEP… if that is your ultimate goal (and you are convinced of the validity of NAEP ) then by all means take the documents with MA DESE source but know it is not perfection. Even the work that teachers did to expand the Curriculum Frameworks was shelved by the commissioner because they needed the money to buy more Pearson tests and compeers …”
Not one claim in that paragraph can be supported by evidence. I vas dere, Charlie. In no way were the 1997 and 2001/2 ELA standards designed to align with NAEP’s ELA assessment standards. For one thing, MA emphasized dramatic literature, along with poetry and fiction. NAEP doesn’t and won’t assess dramatic literature. Second, the reason I was put on the 2003/4 NAEP committee to revise its reading assessment standards was because there were problems with its reading and literature standards and the scheme for organizing them–at all grades tested by NAEP. I and others fought reading researchers on the committee to get poems to be at least 5% of the selections.
Most important of all, the secondary English teachers on the MCAS assessment committees chose the passages (authors/works) they wanted on the MCAS tests, and in 1997/8, developed the criteria for passage selection and balance: 60% imaginative/literary to 40% nonfiction, and of the 60% for poetry, drama, and fiction, at least half were to come from Appendix A (civic and literary heritage) and the rest from Appendix B (multicultural/contemporary). These appendices were mainly recommended authors, and in K-8 they were vetted by the editors of The Horn Book in Boston. Authors for 9-12 were vetted by a diverse group of literary scholars. Sandra Stotsky
LikeLike
I apologize for the “Tale” it is spoken … I have only seen it written in once place so I will have to check the source.. I apologize to Ms. Stotsky for repeating something that I had heard/read only in one place….
“Sandra Stotsky wanted to be sure that the MA documents would be aligned with the NAEP…
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
LikeLike
most of those “reading” researchers have retired … I don’t know who they were as I was not in the “inner circle” with the state department but out in the “hinterlands” in school districts …. again, this is going back to 1993 and I probably only remember the things that I wanted to remember about Ed Reform…. At that time, ETS was in our camp and they would come and help do workshops in 15 cities/towns where they taught several methods of standard setting. Again, I was not “privy” to the inside workings at the DESE.
I and others fought reading researchers on the committee to get poems to be at least 5% of the selections.
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
LikeLike
for this part of the statement I was referring to the MACouncil for the Social Studies and how their work was not supported through DESE this was not “reading” teachers or ELA teachers. I would have to check which year and which commissioner when that occurred …. it was mainly to provide resources for civic education in curriculum frameworks; I only know of one person who worked on that and he has been retired for more than 5 years now. I believe the letters from the MA Council for Social Studies still exist in files on the internet (this is a larger group than those that worked with DESE ; they represent the outlying regions not just Boston.) Civics Education is still in flux yet decisions are beingI believe they are going ahead with plans under the current commissioner Chester.
to expand the Curriculum Frameworks was shelved by the commissioner because they needed the money to buy more Pearson tests and compeers …”
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
LikeLike
sstotsky: your clarification is much appreciated.
😎
LikeLike
this is still in flux…. the term “Civic Learning” has been tossed around and there is still discussion about “Civic Education” …. nevertheless, the Board/Commissioner are moving ahead based on this goal… (if you recall the Cheney discussions of the social studies goals, the discussion is still happening decades later… ) This is what I was referring to when I said the teachers work had been “shelved” in order to purchase PARRC tests and computers to deliver the tests.
Establish a statewide network of regional advisory councils that will provide the Board with advice and recommendations to improve and enrich civic learning in the Commonwealth. We are exploring different strategies for addressing the goal of this recommendation, which the working group described as enlisting “a wide range of K-16 educators, their partners in school committees, government, business, non-profits, and communities to provide concrete, specific recommendations to the Board regarding civic learning.” The strategy that the working group recommended entails setting up and coordinating a statewide network of regional advisory councils on top of our current array of over 20 statewide advisory groups, including advisory councils established by statute, legislative commissions, the superintendents’ advisory council, our teacher leadership cabinet and principal advisory groups, and so on – each of which requires staff support. The Department has reduced staff capacity as a result of the early retirements that took effect earlier this summer and I need to determine the most efficient and effective use of our resources in relation to the Board’s priorities. I plan to report back to the Board on this later in the fall. DESE/Commissioner goals
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
LikeLike
as of 2016 school year… this is one comment by the MA Council for Social Studies (I was referring to their work being “shelved” in the past.. here he says it was “eroding” and “cannibalization” but he doesn’t say what year that began to occur ) .
“Based on the past history of the MCAS test in history and social studies, to have this recommendation read “effective as early as the 2015-2016 school year” means never. Without a date certain or at least a “no later than” date, this can will be kicked down the road indefinitely resulting in further eroding of civic education in the elementary schools, what little of it remains. In addition, we will experience a continuation of the cannibalization of middle and junior high social studies/civic programs to support testable subjects, as has been happening since the test was originally postponed. If one of the goal [sic] is to stem the degradation of civic education in K-12 schools, in my opinion and the opinion of most social studies educators (speaking as immediate past president of the Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies) it is essential that social studies, history and civics be restored as a testable subject.
I would suggest that the recommendation read “………..effective as early as possible but no later than the 2016-2017 school year.”
This would give DESE and school districts time to tweak their curriculum as well as design a test that will include portfolio components as well as a defined community service element so that students get an opportunity for “hands-on” social studies and civics.”
LikeLike
There was a time when well-written history was considered a form of great literature. History had its own muse, Clio, and good histories (by Tacitus, Thucydides, et al) were on the list of classics any educated person was expected to read.
Additionally, English teachers often favor the Great Works of White Europeans in the liberal arts canon, and foist these on students who are in no position to appreciate them. It’s like expecting music teachers to teach every student to appreciate Bach and Verdi. And all that fiction, drama and poetry at the expense of good journalism, history, biography and memoirs? Why?
I would wager that if you polled them, you’d find that most high school graduates grew to like “great” literature LESS after having it foisted upon them in high school.
I find it bizarre that we expect all high school students to appreciate Shakespeare. His work, while excellent, is not a model for good writing now — we don’t talk or write like Elizabethans. Likewise Dickens and the Victorians. So why assign them to students who need good models of modern writing to emulate? Time is limited; give the students good writing to read that they can use as models for their own writing. It’s wonderful for students to express their feelings; let them do so in clear, modern prose informed by reading clear, modern prose.
LikeLike
Ok… two things… first, ‘get literature is not necessarily old, or written by white guys.
I picked stories by O Henry pearl S Buck and John Stinebeck…and others,,, great STORIES which writing that modeled good writing.
SECOND: This link ENDS YOUR ARGUMENT about the VALUE of great literature, and offers you a look at what happens when a teacher (in this case, Filmmaker/director Andee Kinzy) has the AUTONOMY TO introduce kids to the way language was used before screens, tweets and even phones and tv. NO FOISTING ALLOWED!
My son’s wife, Andee Kinzy started the ImprovEd Shakespeare – Shakespeare for Kids by Kids. Doing theater, the kids learn critical thinking skills, discipline, cooperation and many artistic skills. They also write scripts and have related readings.
When I taught 9th grade one year, I did much the same thing and my Bronx kids had a ball doing scene form The Taming of the Shrew” They loved the theme, so perfect for a world where women like to choose whom they will wed!
It has also given the kids more than school could have achieved. Beyond the vocabulary and the facility with language that they displayed when they were barely 7, my kids learned poise, and social skills like cooperation and discipline (how to do hard work and learn lines).
Yeah, Elizabethans had 50,000 words at their disposal, and our kids have about 500 that they use, but can barely write, because they do not HEAR or READ LANGUAGE as it needs to be heard.
http://improvedshakespeare.com/is-shakespeare-only-for-accomplished-readers/ImprovEd Shakespeare
Listening, speaking, reading and then WRITING… does anyone out there recognize this ‘theory’ of the way in which THE BRAIN actually ACQUIRES the skills!
So who are our kids listening to, speak, today in the media.
So when do our kids get a chance to really use language well… not in their Facebook posts and tweets.
So, if teachers don’t give them a chance to see words as they can be used in print, if READING is limited to what Mr Gates thinks a 10 year old in Alabama should read, then how do they learn to WRITE!
Here is the theater http://improvedshakespeare.com
created for the home-school ( but now available to all Austin Kids) where Shakespeare is presented in ways that kids can grasp, and so the wonderful dramas and comedies are NOT FOISTED ON THEM.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpknQTDYRswlRSSr39NEuaw
Just listen to this link… It is just a (home-school) class rehearsal, but notice the kids are not noisy or out of control while the players practice. (the girl in the red pants is MY, grandchild Zia whom I saw this week , in Texas – at age 13, playing Joan of Arc)
Last year she was Petruchio. She learns her lines, and yes it is work, but learning to do Work is what kids must DO!
Doing real WORK, IS WHAT THE NATIONAL STANDARDS RESEARCH SAID IS THE MAJOR TASK for our schools.
my grandson Brant was 8 in “A Winter’s Tale.
He comes in at 5:25 the curly-headed boy,
I watched him play Hamlet last week, when I visited Texas.
No longer that sheltie boy, he hammed it up, and He brought down the house with his TO BE OR NOT TO BE SPEECH at age 10.
ALL of these kids speak and talk with clarity, and all love drama and many are now writing their own plays and films.
http://amysmartgirls.com/four-austin-girls-changing-the-face-of-theatre/
and I do not even have a link to my 12 year old grandchild playing Joan of Arc
So what was YOUR point?
LikeLike
Civic Education: still in flux… a lot of conversation and discussion…
Tue, Apr 12, 2016 2:21 am
Subject: civic education
To: Commissioner Mitchell Chester
I am requesting copies of the “curriculum units” that are being recommended for the civics education programs and curriculum in Massachusetts.
It is my understanding that these curriculum units are coming from a “working group” and Dave Buchanan is coordinating the work. If so, I want to see how the curriculum is going to be changed in our high schools.. I also want to know what priorities are being set and how the Commissioner is performing in an era where “there is no money” and “we have no staff because of early retirements in summer 2015” under the Governor’s new plans. I am recommending that parents and teachers in the school districts review what the Commissioner is proposing under these conditions of austerity (no funds and no staff).
************************************
I received a polite response but it did not describe the supposed “curriculum units” so I tossed out the response from Commissioner’s office; if I could find it I would post it here but it was unsatisfactory. In the meantime, they are proceeding with measuring”grit” .
LikeLike
Civic Education: MA Council for the Social Studies appeals to the Commissioner M. Chester
May 1, 2012
Dear Commissioner,
Recently NEA President Dennis Van Roekel stated in an editorial the following:
“Under NCLB, students as young as six or seven years old are subjected to weeks of preparation for high stakes tests. Because math and reading are the dominant testing subjects, history, civics, music, and art are squeezed out of the school day. For the last 10 years we have shortchanged countless children because of NCLB’s overemphasis on standardized multiple choice tests. Or as Gary Miron, professor of education at Western Michigan University, wrote, ‘The bigger problem is a more serious type of cheating – one that’s perfectly legal and apparently acceptable. Students are being cheated of a broader education’…”
The Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies (MCSS) and its representatives have appeared before you and the Board numerous times over the past few years, representing the local voice on the identical issue that Mr. Van Roekel and Mr. Morton speak, and we have yet to hear your voice on this matter. Your silence speaks volumes.
Here we are in another election year and most students’ civics education will consist of yet another overview of the electoral process and then civics education will be ignored while more and more social studies are squeezed out of the normal school day. While most high schools (state and nation-wide) maintain a traditional three-year History requirement for graduation, it is in grades 1-8 that Social Studies is increasingly pushed aside and/or taught by disinterested specialists of other disciplines. A society that is kept ignorant is the most poverty stricken and easily controlled society, and therefore the danger of a lack of social studies and civics education is indeed a grave one. Once again, we ask that the state of Massachusetts be the educational leader it claims to be by instituting a required numbers of hours per week of Social Studies instruction for grades 1-8.
Commissioner Chester, we are still waiting to hear your voice and the voice of the Board in response. How long do you intend to allow this cheating to continue?
Sincerely,
Norm Shacochis
President – MCSS
LikeLike
I used to work with Norm Shacochis — a great teacher and a fine leader.
To my point about Shakespeare and the canon: Plenty of videos can be found showing kids enjoying literature. But as someone who taught for years in the poorest neighborhood in an urban center in Massachusetts, a place filled with crime and social dysfunction, I was teaching high school students who read at the 4th or 5th grade level. Nor was I given text that was written at the 4th or 5th grade level; I was given the standard high school text in history – one classroom set.
So what happened to those high school students before they reached me in the 9th grade that they couldn’t read at grade level? And given that they couldn’t read standard English at grade level, what was the point of teaching the to read Elizabethan English, given that they had only a few years more of school left to remedy their situation?
I’m not saying that great literature has no value — you misread me, or I have failed to make my point entirely clear. But badly taught, as it so often is, by teachers who are unable to make literature relevant to students who cannot read plain English at their own grade level, you might as well be teaching middle school students to read A Clockwork Orange or Riddley Walker: Great books, with relevant themes, but the language is so hard to wade through that they would be better off spending their limited time learning to read text they can master without all the unnecessary obstacles of non-standard English.
To her credit, the English teacher at the school I worked in used approachable texts that the kids could relate to. Plenty of fiction, but also journalism and memoirs. All in standard, modern English. It worked very well. So they graduate without reading Dickens and Shakespeare — at least they will have not learned to hate them.
LikeLike
Just because their reading is not “up to snuff” doesn’t mean the students can’t be exposed to good literature and if a full length novel is too much, there are numerous short stories which could actually be read aloud to the students. Listening level is not the same as reading level.
My son was dyslexic but that didn’t mean he shouldn’t be exposed to books which were appropriate to his age but that he couldn’t read independently. We listened to all the Harry Potter books as well as numerous other titles he enjoyed. My daughter, with her own reading issues, read along with the tapes of classical literature every night before bed.
Interest level is another issue, but there are various minority authors whose recognized works are accessible and appropriate.
A good ELA teacher knows which are the best choices for her class, not some suit in an office pulling titles out of their butt.
LikeLike
what you describe is also a technique strongly recommended for reading fluency; (cf Torgeson et al in FL)… Many people might condemn the practice but for the student who needs it and when it is done appropriately it is an excellent idea… I’m so pleased you encourage it at home and keep extending the listening comprehension as well. The teacher preparation programs that develop “clinical judgment” help teachers to sort out when to use the techniques/strategies for which students. When it becomes “one size fits all” or it becomes formulaic then we run the risk of using the wrong approach with students who might not need it. When I mention someone like Torgeson or even Louisa Moats I get pounced on for not passing the “litmus” test or the “purist” test … but those are specialized approaches that need to be in the repertoire — just brought out for the right reasons at the right time with the students who need that approach.
My daughter, with her own reading issues, read along with the tapes of classical literature every night before bed.
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
LikeLike
reminds me of a class I had in 8th grade English… a student came up to me after reading Robinson Crusoe and said “that’s the first book I’ve read in 4 or 5 years” but I didn’t know how to choose the books… or what would be the one book that would pull him in… I remember I did read to them the Bill Cosby biography (at least a part); I think the author was Bill McSweeney (sports writer for the Boston Herald), John McPhee and one of his sports/outdoor adventures; and a section from a Michener novel… It was always difficult to choose but at least I had the professional autonomy to make some choices and not have to go by the text as you describe when they hand it to you …. depending on the students that were with me that year I could make adaptations and I figured if they heard some writers and improved their listening comprehension it might help a lot in their reading of literature.
Glad that you mentioned the social studies/history teacher. Wish I had known him… I knew one of the AP history teachers from Millbury High School and he is on that “working group” for civics education so I hold out some Hope!!!
I was teaching high school students who read at the 4th or 5th grade level. Nor was I given text that was written at the 4th or 5th grade level; I was given the standard high school text in history – one classroom set.
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
LikeLike
cx…Sorry, I meant Norm…
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
LikeLike
I fully understand; my music teacher used to tell me to listen to CDs with the best performers selected for the instrument you are studying… Durrell also stressed that listening comprehension was significant and Keith Stanovich verifies it with research today so I don’t think I was wrong in reading some of the good writing aloud to them — I still like McPhee for my own personal interests….
I’m not saying that great literature has no value — you misread me, or I have failed to make my point entirely clear.
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
LikeLike
A student near me in a private tuitioned school and is reading a very important work of Western literature and I think about another student who is in high school and has an information processing problem (affects her reading comprehension; but she has a wonderful working memory so that helps to moderate her difficulties and her exceptional gift is math )… and I know it will be another 3 or 4 years before she could tackled the book the private school is teaching at the same grade level. It’s the language as well as the setting/context/social and cultural understandings in the book that are so vastly different from what is experienced today — it is a huge jump for her …. I just hope we can get back to the professional autonomy that I thought we had in the halcyon days to make those kinds of choices instead of this “one size fits all” .
Great books, with relevant themes, but the language is so hard to wade through that they would be better off spending their limited time learning to read text they can master without all the unnecessary obstacles of non-standard English.
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
LikeLike
“Even the work that teachers did to expand the Curriculum Frameworks was shelved by the commissioner because they needed the money to buy more Pearson tests and compeers …”
This refers specifically to the MA Council for the Social Studies in the letter above; when it is discussed in the state, you will get constant criticism on whether civic education is spelled with civic or civics… and whether it is “education or learning.” the arguments go on from there….
When attempting to clarify with the Commissioner’s office what are the “curriculum units” I found their response to be negligible… not helpful… There is a tremendous battle going on….I hear from teachers in the “Hinterlands and the boondocks” that the current status is not “perfection” to their way of thinking….
LikeLike
“states have bitten the bullet and administer tests closely aligned with NAEP. Massachusetts is one such state, and the payoff for their integrity is the highest NAEP scores in the nation in both English language arts and math at both the fourth and eighth grade levels. The Bay State achieved this by toughening up instructional standards ” this has been commonly reported.
My error was in thinking which commissioner was in charge when the “alignment” was worked through… Was it Antonnucci before he went to Fitchburg U. as President, or David Driscoll (now with NAEP)? I really don’ remember… but I do know it is now under Driscoll that they will measure “Grit” because Fordham Institute (Marty West) tells them they must. Also, Jay P Greene is boasting about his department’s work on measuring “character” so Petrilli and Jay P Greene will continue that mandate … to pass on to schools to delve into personality theory to look for the lazy , unmotivated kids, the feckless parents and the horrible teachers.
LikeLike
State Department responds to my question on “curriculum” for civic education.
Dear Ms. Sanders –
Thank you for your inquiry about our work on civic education. Commissioner Chester forwarded your message to me.
As you noted, I am the coordinator for the Task Force on Civic Learning and Engagement. The goals of the group are as follows:
The purpose of the Civic Learning and Engagement Task Force is to provide guidance and recommendations to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on ways in which the state can support effective practices and greater involvement by students in civic learning. The Task Force will:
(1) Provide expertise and facilitate input from the field to identify existing initiatives, effective practices, and supporting data to inform recommendations; and
(2) Make recommendations for the development of a strategic plan that will provide guidance on steps that ESE may take to strengthen civic learning and engagement for students.
As you will note in these goals, the purpose of the group is not to create curriculum units, but to make recommendations for ways in which ESE may strengthen civic learning and engagement. We have only met once, but have already started outreach to the field through direct meetings with educators. We also will have a feedback form available later this spring in order to register input from educators and others.
As you point out, at the moment there is not much funding targeted on civic education and our staff capacity is limited. Nevertheless, by redirecting what resources we currently have available, we are moving ahead with the work of the Task Force, planning a civics conference as well as laying the groundwork for the revision of the 2003 History-Social Science Framework that will get fully underway in the next school year.
In closing, to your original question, although the Task Force is not working on curriculum units, ESE has a number of units already developed under the Model Curriculum Unit Project. A number of them directly focus on civic learning, and have received strong reviews from teachers who have used them. The link to the Model Curriculum Unit Project page is:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/candi/model/
I hope that this message has clarified the role of the Task Force and addressed your concerns.
David Buchanan, Assistant Director
Office of Humanities and Literacy
Center for Curriculum and Instruction
Massachusetts Dept.of Elementary and Secondary Education
75 Pleasant St.
Malden, MA 02148 – 4906
phone: (781) 338 – 6235
fax: (781) 338 – 3395
**************
Note: please call him and let him know what you think at this time…
LikeLike
Who wants to read that old fashioned crap. Fiction is for wimps. Our society needs individuals who can read informational text not day dream in the world of romance or fantasy.
After all, if a book is any good it will be made into a movie and we are a nation of visual learners.
Luckily, I went to school in an era where good literature was revered, but I’m sure the creators of Common Core felt reading Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter was a waste of time. I personally think they should have a scarlet letter stamped on their forehead. . .
I for idiot
A for asshole
F for fool
C for corrupt
S for self serving
P for pompous
G for greed
The list goes on. Good exercise for vocabulary development.
LikeLike
As an educator who has successfully implemented the CCSS, saying common core wants to take away from great literature is a lie (in fact our school has increased literature). If we are to have an adult conversation, we have to be honest. I know the reformers aren’t truthful about stuff, but we can’t say “informational texts” like a dirty term either. It has been extremely beneficial for students to include a greater amount of reading materials to study. Did we ever think current events was bad? Analyzing the Preamble of the US Constitution instead of JUST singing the school rock song (I stressed JUST, because, I mean, who doesn’t want to sing that song?) Are reading biographies and memoirs the worst thing ever? A Tale of Two Cities, The Jungle, or Uncle Tom’s Cabin are very informative texts and great literature. There is a lot of negative things to say about the CCSS, but if we go to extremes, then we are guaranteeing whatever replaces the CCSS will suck as well.
LikeLike
Brooklyn Teacher,
Last fall, I posted an article by Tom Loveless showing that the teaching of fiction has declined sharply since the adoption of the Common Core.
There is no evidence whatsoever for the arbitrary guidelines for teaching literature and informational text.
If the CCSS referred to literature as both fiction and nonfiction, we would agree. I write nonfiction every day.
But CCSS refers to “informational text,” which is more likely to be a manual or a set of instructions than Emerson or Thoreau. No one would ever refer to great literary essays or works of history and politics as “informational text.” The telephone book is informational text.
LikeLike
Showing that the teaching of fiction has declined sharply since the common core, has the same weight as when Bloomberg used a study showing “great” teachers can teach a classroom of fifty students. They might have great class management skills, but there is no way they are able to provide conferencing, individualized guidance, and well-written feedback on assignments.
I am sure that districts and administrators made quick CC changes without analyzing the standards themselves. For years, many school officials thought that text complexity meant high lexile reading scores (sadly some probably still think this way). There was a lack of understanding because people want to quickly turn everything into a checklist. But is that the fault of the standards? I remember an early example the CCSS used to demonstrate an informational text included Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. It was also very clear that they were talking to all subject areas (not just English Language Arts).
Using the term “informational texts” is inclusive for all reading materials. You admittedly made assumptions about what would be an informational text on the idea that no one would classify great literature as such. Everything is informative. The CCSS was just opening up minds to offer a variety of reading. They trusted the professional not to select the telephone book as reading material (but I would use it to show students an example of a simple database — to help them access authoritative databases online).
LikeLike
The trouble with The Narrative of Frederick Douglas, a difficult read even for high school juniors, is that the CC reading list arbitrarily “recommended” it for 7th graders.
The list included articles from old magazines as well as out of print publications. It was a hedge podge of titles, and many worthy books were assigned to the wrong age/grade/interest level. It also didn’t include much current literature, but was mainly mired in the distant past.
it would be difficult to compose a national bibliography, even with a group of professionals, but this list was so haphazard (originally meant as a sampling of possible titles but adopted as is) that it is an embarrassment. The moment I studied this list (and I have created many of them for both my school and district) I knew that, if this was the way CCSS was created, the entire program would be a disaster.
LikeLike
University of Wisconsin professor Herb Klausmeier offered a model from middle school on that was “individually guided motivation” that includes the conferencing… he was form the psychology department instead of the “reading” department; and his organizational model for the secondary (middle – 12) was based on the conferencing techniques in subjects. Some of the work that Nancy Atkins and others described included these conferencing techniques with feedback ; when you have a computer score an student essay it can measure a couple of traits but it does not offer analytic scoring of the essays and cannot provide feedback or extend the student’s writing into further developments. “Trait” scoring is not what the secondary ELA staff is doing — that is what a machine does… and I compare it to the people who get mistakenly blocked on Facebook or other social media because the “bot” is picking up something that isn’t there and putting the work into “spam”… Yet, ETS puts out these research studies on the computer scoring of essays… it sickens me.
but there is no way they are able to provide conferencing, individualized guidance, and well-written feedback on assignments.
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
LikeLike
Brooklyn Teacher,
Read my earlier comment. Textbooks are informational text. So are telephone books and newspaper. Great works of nonfiction are literature.
LikeLike
i can understand what you are saying; however, the experimental tests, tied to “objectives” that have no proven validity, and the delivery of the tests through computer systems (with no reliable procedures to measured adequacy and stability ) and FORCING the tests onto the curriculum through repeated practice for the tests.. Those have been my biggest complaints. And the fact that teachers were locked out of the process and parents and professional educators are treated with contempt when they bring these issues to the fore.
A state cannot take lists of “objectives” from any published list (even if they come from a state that has high test scores) and implement that expecting “Success” defined as higher test scores. Aligning with NAEP tests in order to get higher test scores is a false security … and with the experimental tests PARRC and SBAC — it is horrendous. Teachers who support professional autonomy and know their curriculum and their students — should be in all of these conversations at the state department level and they are not … I don’t think that is too much to ask for. If they think you can take a list of “objectives” that have no proven validity or reliable measurement and force them onto a school and not allowing any discretion or judgment with severe sanctions if you speak up ? That is wrong.
The canon wars have been with us for 50 or more year…. that is true for math, for ELA and for other aspects of the curriculum as well.. I don’t expect it to end (the canon war) because that is the new and growing edge that has to occur to develop further improvements 9as you say without going to extremes, hopefully)… Sounds like your experiences with CC have been vastly different from the individuals that i speak with.
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
LikeLike
Brooklyn Teacher: perhaps you are not aware of some of the experiences in other states or schools outside of your own… This article has a good title : “Deliberate Deception” as to how the common-ness of core has been interpreted and “rebranded” …http://newbostonpost.com/2016/01/08/deliberately-deceiving-the-public-on-common-core/
LikeLike
Jeanhaverhill I agree with you 100%. The tests only include a very narrowed skill set, opposite of the standards as a whole. This makes, in my opinion, the tests invalid.
I do not believe the standards can fairly be tested. I like aspects of the standards that have never been addressed before. It would be a crime to lose them.
Ms. Ravitch,
Many librarians today refer to themselves as informational specialists. I do not believe they are removing great works of literature off the shelves. You might not like it, but informational text is an inclusive term.
On a side note, before the ccss, students in middle school had to read things like cookbooks to do there mandatory “how to” projects in 8th grade. Now, we don’t have to do that and are reading 1984 instead.
LikeLike
Brooklyn Teachers,
I admire librarians no matter what they call themselves. No one ever suggested that librarians are taking great works of literature off the shelves.
I will say it again on the interest of precision:
Exemplary works of nonfiction, such as the books written by David McCullough, the essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden,” Martin Luther King’s essays and speeches are LITERATURE, not mere “informational text.”
Informational text is telephone books, cookbooks, diet books, how-to manuals.
Your unwillingness to see the difference is not my problem
LikeLike
I had an open discussion in the very front of the library in my City — telling the library director what I thought for what she was doing in the City (not inside a school but the City library)…She told me that tax payers have no business commenting because the city library has an endowment. In the meantime, my group Friends of the Library just raised $5,000 at a book sale in order to purchase needed books…. One day after the library closed i went back and pulled out about 20 books from the dumpster. Why aren’t those books being set aside with a “free” sign .. I live in one of the least affluent cities in MA. I was in the Malden Public Library as a volunteer last Saturday and I had the feeling they have a paucity of books… Every city library in my state has been strapped. My friend who was a librarian in Lawrence MA was let go from the city… I don’t know what planet you live on but many books are being removed… One of the books I found in the trash outside our City library is in a museum in Russia … … To reapeat my good friend Barney Frank, “What planet do you come from?” Maybe I need to move to Brooklyn and you can guarantee there are no under-resources schools or libraries there?
suggested that librarians are taking great works of literature off the shelves.
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
LikeLike
Some school librarians are very diligent in their weeding and use the 5 year philosophy (any book not signed out in the past 5 years should be discarded) or the ten year policy (older books should be weeded from the collection to make way for more current titles). Where does that leave those rarely-read classics?
The Buffalo and Erie Publuc Library had (what I consider a scandalous) a new Director who had the Pages (not the librarians) weed the collection, tossing out scads of books, some never opened. The librarians were horrified at the indiscriminate way books were discarded, with no thought to the inherent value the book might represent. Unfortunately, this situation is not unique.
My local public libraries are always full of people who have to be kicked out at closing time. Yet, non users believe these same institurtions should be closed. Why should they pay for other people to read books? School libraries are painted with the same brush, with those in charge of the purse strings thinking a classroom collection is the same as a certified school librarian and a diverse collection of books and other materials. They save money by reducing or eliminating the library expense, then wonder why reading levels are lagging.
LikeLike
Unfortunately, your unwillingness to understand, I fear, has more to do with politics than improving education.
I am thankful and in agreement with so much of what you say and do. No one has had the ability to fight the good fight as you have proven. It’s a shame that in politics everything has to be an all or nothing approach.
I notice that this time you included “not mere.” Does this mean you at least acknowledge that they would be included under the term informational texts?
LikeLike
Brooklyn Teacher,
Some classifications are so generic as to be uninformative.
For example, I am a human, not a vegetable or mineral. Doesn’t tell you much does it?
Informational text includes the phone book and the Oxford Dictionary. A useless classification. Is the Bible informational text or literature?
LikeLike
My first comment stated that there are negative things about the CCSS.
Let’s break apart the actual standards and separate the good from the bad. Again, the term “informational texts” is valid and inclusive for all reading materials.
LikeLike
I prefer the approach taught in some of the social sciences/social studies/history where they use “primary sources” for information and they are carefully selected items and materials… based on the course development…. We used the Boston University Center for Founding Documents in that regard to help identify works that were appropriate … and there are other good resources for that …. Zinn Education project hast… and the Library of Congress make them classroom presentable on themes and topics. And it is “informational” … but not reading the stock market reports out of the local newspaper or tapes on line.
Let’s break apart the actual standards and separate the good from the bad. Again, the term “informational texts” is valid and inclusive for all reading materials.
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
LikeLike
Brooklyn Teacher,
“Informational text” includes telephone books, cookbooks, textbooks, newspapers, and diet books.
No one would describe the literary essays of George Orwell or Emerson or the speeches and writings of Martin Luther King Jr. as “informational text.” They are nonfiction literature! Informational text is a weasel phrase.
LikeLike
Brooklyn Teacher,
Don’t forget, the “Work Group “ were business men. They misused numerous terms because they were not educators. They appeared to have used the term “informational” because they didn’t realize the proper distinction is fiction verses non-fiction.
I read each standard on the primary level of ELA. I had a problem with each standard due to ignorance – misuse of terms, poor pedagogy, psychologically and socially unsound. Again, they were not educators and used their flawed reasoning power instead of research – experts in the field in writing the standards.
LikeLike
Adding nonfiction is a good idea. Keeping fiction is a good idea. Good education has both. But adding anything without doing the math on the time and effort undermines the idea. Consider the many good ideas you see in any curriculum. They will all fail and another will come from some place where something works. The failure will occur because top down reform does not work without a tremendous monetary effort to assure buyin by all stakeholders, relieve stress on the teachers who are being asked to change at their own time expense, and implement program changes that are fundamentally more expensive. No one wants to pay for common core. English teachers need 60 or fewer students to see in a day. All the public schools I know about send a teacher nearly twice that. Remediation efforts in my area are unfounded.
LikeLike
Harvard’s Roland Fryer, a proponent of Common Core $$, stated it clearly. (Deutsch 29 interview transcript). Shakespeare is for rich kids. Testing is for the rest.
LikeLike
“In K-5, the Standards follow NAEP’s lead in balancing the reading of literature with the reading of informational texts, including texts in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. In accord with NAEP’s growing emphasis on informational texts in the higher grades, the Standards demand that a significant amount of reading of informational texts take place in and outside the ELA classroom. Fulfilling the Standards for 6-12 ELA requires much greater attention to a specific category of informational text—literary nonfiction—than has been traditional.” —
http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/introduction/key-design-consideration/
It seems that literary non-fiction fits the definition of informational text in grades 6-12. The rationale is sound: “Part of the motivation behind the interdisciplinary approach to literacy promulgated by the Standards is extensive research establishing the need for college and career ready students to be proficient in reading complex informational text independently in a variety of content areas. ”
Part of the mission of many of the ELA secondary school teachers I’ve met is to help students develop an appreciation of great literature – a laudable goal. But it should take a backseat to developing the skills to read widely and independently on one’s own or in response to the demands of college and career. For many students, and particularly those who have the most difficult time graduating high school, the ability to read demanding text should be the primary focus in secondary school. I think the CCSS reflect that baseline goal and its primacy.
LikeLike
Matthew,
It doesn’t matter whether a student reads fiction or nonfiction. Both hone reading skills. There are not two different reading skills, one for fiction, another for nonfiction. Whatever one reads, if the interest level is high, students learn to read and think.
LikeLike
Dr. Ravitch,
In response to your comment to Matthew,” It doesn’t matter whether a student reads fiction or nonfiction.”
Apparently you don’t buy into NYTimes article “The Neuroscience of Your Brain on Fiction “- The New York Times.pdf 3/17/12
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscience-of-your-brain-on-fiction.html?_r=1 – http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscience-of-your-brain-on-fiction.html?_r=1
According to their research, reading novels, non-fiction, makes one a better person.
All reading should enrich lives both intellectually and psychologically but Common Core negates the affective realm.
As regards higher order thinking skills Common Core ignores the most important thinking skill, the imagination. CC also ignores evaluation and application.
LikeLike
Mary,
I was not choosing. I like both. I believe that everyone should read both, especially children. I wish I had more time for femictuin.
LikeLike
this was my original thinning about “a grain of salt”… here is what teacher wrote about another study from the same Pioneer Institute where Jamie Gass is writing. “In a new report, the Pioneer Institute is characterizing Brockton and other Gateway Cities as profoundly dysfunctional and therefore ripe for privatization and takeover.
“The cities in our sample, after seismic shifts in transportation and the economy, no longer have a clear functional purpose, variously serving as points of entry for immigrants, lower-cost bedroom communities, central loci for social services, and as hubs for remaining industries,” the report says.”
It’s no surprise that they’re pushing a charter school for Brockton while they simultaneously cut the budget to the city and its schools. The method used for state takeovers that can be used to hand public services over to “public/private partnerships” is to starve the system of resources, inducing chaos and crisis, and “heal” with
privatization.” (comment by Greater Boston teacher S.D.)
********************************************************
These are the attitudes towards our cities so it is OK for them to remove school committees, “take over” schools, underfund the public schools, fire teachers and this is how they justify it? If we do not have a “functional purpose” then we are just the 47% of takers? that Mitt Romney defines… and Mitt always wanted us to self-deport.
LikeLike
Worcester Mayor spoke up in defense of the non-purposeful, non-functional cities. “”Any study that cites a declining percentage of white residents alongside issues like unemployment and declining graduation rates seems to be letting ideology influence outcomes,” Mr. Petty said in a statement.
LikeLike
as I look at my recent post (a) I was referring to the City library (I haven’t been inside a school library lately) (b) every year when the budget is set there is a threat “the city library has to be closed © my comments are more in line of resources, budget and priorities… in terms of what is being purchased, saved/moved in the library (as the director says space is limited. I didn’t meant to imply that a librarian was doing anything on purpose to remove “the Great Books”… if it comes across that way I apologize. When I find a “precious” or “rare ” book I try to get it to the historical society in the city ; and once or twice I have put the book on line (in one case a librarian in New York bought it to fill out her collection and the donation went to Friends of the Library.) Sometimes I get lost up among details and generalizations and type too quickly… under-resourced schools and libraries is my point (not to say a librarian has been destroying “great ” books)…. My busman’s holiday is to visit the Albany Libarary that is housed in the Educational Museum — My friend’s daughter is Principal in a Hebrew School and when she took over as principal she had the Rabbi bless the books that could no longer be salvaged and that is the value I place on “books” …
LikeLike
I agree that there is no difference between the skills needed for fiction versus non-fiction in general (although there are really different types of cognition involved for certain types of text — just try reading Euclid’s Elements). And I agree that having works that students will find interesting is crucial. However, different types of text demand different approaches, and it makes sense to focus on developing the approaches that a particular student will most likely find useful in the near term.
My real beef is with the approach that demands students master reading English that isn’t standard any more, from works that were written in the 18th or 19th century. It’s rarely necessary to require students to read entire works that, while relevant to today’s concerns, are couched in language that is so old that most students will struggle with it, and often fail to see its relevance. Students have to be able to understand the Constitution, but some will need it translated into modern English, just as they would require that the King James version of the Bible be translated into modern English, just for the sake of efficiency.
LikeLike
Matthew Brown you stated on May 8, 2016 at 2:45 pm
“I agree that there is no difference between the skills needed for fiction versus non-fiction in general …”
But there is a difference. You implied that when you stated,
“However, different types of text demand different approaches, and it makes sense to focus on developing the approaches that a particular student will most likely find useful in the near term.”
The Work Group, however didn’t realize that there are different reading skills used in fiction and non-fiction. In non-fiction /expository text there are different types of structures: cause/effect, sequential, comparing/ contrasting and questions/answer structure. History lends itself to cause and effect as well as sequence of events. Cause and effect lend itself to writing science reports. Textbooks often use question and answer approach.
Basically fiction has a different structure – rise and fall of action. Elements of fiction: characters, setting: what, when, and where; conflict; and a solution. You have characters who interact causing a problem or challenge. The solution brings the climax and the story quickly end. Add to that different genres have different structures.
As regards your “real beef”- if we had unlimited time to develop background knowledge, the text was age appropriate, and on their instructional level. I would suspect that you wouldn’t have that “beef.”
Here is another flaw in the CC standards: CC wants the Lexile scale to determine readability.
The “Work Group” didn’t understand that there is far more to readability than measuring the number of syllables in a word and the number of words in a sentence. Hemingway’s “Sun Also Rises” is a prime example of the importance of readability. “Sun Also Rises” is estimated at 6th grade readability level. No way could it be understood by sixth graders. Background experience is missing. Conversely, if the ”Lexile scale” level is too difficult the text cannot be understood. The CCSS doesn’t consider “Instructional” level which includes the complexity of the sentence structure, background knowledge and for primary children the format of the text and illustrations. The demands coming from the “Work Group” is flawed. They lack the background knowledge of the experts’ research.
LikeLike
Exactly. There is so much more hat ‘readability’ the is ‘taking an making meaning’ and the only way any human brain does that,is by comparing what they see to what they know… comparison and analysis, the critical thinking g TASK that begins at birth.
But have to caret his with you. My seventh grade NYC students were very bright, and we seen months reading and analyzing literature, looking for lyrical language in some pieces, and beautiful structures that use language effectively. We looked at plot and character driven stories, so the kids could create their one fiction. We look for the theme, the philosophy of the writer expressed through the behavior and dialogue. They talked about what they thought, how they felt, what they liked
I displayed reader’s letters that they wrote each week, in the hall, and people were astonished at their analysis… but there was one letter about Hemingway’s “old Man & the Sea” that brought chuckles from visitors. Nica, who was 13, wondered why anybody wanted to read that drunk old man’s story.
She lacked life’s knowledge.
Gosh, I miss those kids, but I have althea letters, as this tool was so unique that the national standards research studied it.
LikeLike