Education Week - November 14, 2012 - Special Report - S20

BUILDING KNOWLEDGE
focus more on the ability to understand primary and secondary texts and the differences between them, and on making use of them in writing to provide evidence and argument. “I’m glad they’ve given a nod to history, and at least recognized its importance and the fact that it is unique,” he said. At the same time, Mr. Fischer, a history professor at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, has concerns with the standards. “They are much too narrow and incomplete” when it comes to literacy in history, he said. “There is so much more to reading historical texts than is in that section, and some of it leans too much toward literacy and not enough toward issues of historical context.” Another concern Mr. Fischer has is whether teachers who lack history expertise will get the support they need to effectively teach more history texts, such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” which is cited as a text exemplar in the appendix. “I’m afraid that an elementary teacher who doesn’t have any training in or understanding of history will just go to Wikipedia, and that will be their historical context,” he said. Several other experts also offered cautions about implementation. “With science and literacy, don’t force the issue,” said Christine A. Roye, a professor of science education at Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, Pa. “There will be natural places where it will be a great match. ... Maximize those [rather than] trying to make everything connected.” Dennis L. Schatz, a program director at the National Science Foundation who is on leave from the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, said he hopes the standards don’t lead some teachers to move away from valued science practices. “The basic idea is great,” he said of the science-literacy connection in the standards, “but the reading [focus] could easily make people think, ‘Oh, I don’t have to do hands-on science.’ ” More broadly, he said: “It’s easy to talk about integration, but the challenge is making that model come alive.” n
Coverage of the implementation of the Common Core State Standards and the common assessments is supported in part by a grant from the GE Foundation, at www.ge.com/ foundation.

“Note on range and content of student reading,” in the Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects:
“Reading is critical to building knowledge in history/ social studies as well as in science and technical subjects. College- and career-ready reading in these fields requires an appreciation of the norms and conventions of each discipline, such as the kinds of evidence used in history and science; an understanding of domain-specific words and phrases; an attention to precise details; and the capacity to evaluate intricate arguments, synthesize complex information, and follow detailed descriptions of events and concepts.”

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The Common Core State Standards include a seven-page section for grades 6-12 explicitly on literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Grades 6-8 Excerpts • Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text. • Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the topic or text, using credible sources. • Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. Grades 9-10 Excerpts • Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information. • Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 9-10 texts and topics. • Conduct short [and] more sustained research projects to answer a question ... or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject. Grades 11-12 Excerpts • Evaluate authors’ differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors’ claims, reasoning, and evidence. • Synthesize information from a range of sources (e.g. texts, experiments, simulations) into a coherent understanding of a process, phenomenon, or concept, resolving conflicting information when possible. • Develop and strengthen writing ... by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant.
SOURCE: Common Core State Standards

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READING IN THE COMMON-CORE ERA www.edweek.org/go/common-reading EDUCATION WEEK • November 14, 2012

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Education Week - November 14, 2012 - Special Report

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