Join Sue Pimentel, the lead writer of the Common Core State Standards for ELA, as she shares her insights on literacy in education. She breaks down the critical role of text complexity and advocates for knowledge building as essential for equity in learning. Sue questions the effectiveness of leveled readers, noting the importance of returning to research for true comprehension. The conversation emphasizes integrating rigorous content to prepare students for life and highlights the interconnectedness of reading and writing in fostering a richer educational experience.
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insights INSIGHT
Core Standards' Key Focuses
Common Core standards emphasize knowledge building and college and career readiness.
They highlight the importance of both literary and informational texts for content access.
insights INSIGHT
Complex Text Replaces Leveling
Level texts are replaced by complex texts with teacher support in Common Core.
Complex text needs scaffolding, not just handing out harder books to tougher readers.
insights INSIGHT
Understanding Text Complexity
Text complexity includes quantitative, qualitative, and reader considerations.
Knowing students and their prior knowledge guides how to teach complex texts.
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This book serves as a quick-start guide for survivors of a global catastrophe, detailing the necessary knowledge to restart civilization. It covers a wide range of topics including agriculture, food and clothing production, material science, medicine, power generation, transportation, communication, and chemistry. Dartnell emphasizes the importance of understanding the fundamental principles of science and technology and the scientific method to rebuild an advanced technological society. The book is designed to help survivors navigate the immediate aftermath of a disaster and eventually rebuild a functioning society[1][2][4].
In this episode, Susan Lambert welcomes back Sue Pimentel to discuss the history and impact of the Common Core State Standards on English Language Arts and Literacy (ELA) education in the United States. Susan and Sue revisit what the standards were designed to focus on: knowledge building, college and career readiness, and fluency in both literary and informational texts. Their conversation covers the importance of text complexity, the lack of a research base to support leveled readers, and knowledge building as a matter of equity and content as a matter of access. While acknowledging the value of these standards, the discussion also highlights their limitations. Sue underscores the importance of always returning to the research to ensure students are truly learning, preparing them to navigate the world and ultimately, live happier lives.
Quotes: “Vocabulary is how we describe concepts; it's how we know how to talk to one another.” —Sue Pimentel
“What the standards say is, ‘Leveled texts are out and complex texts are in.’ There's no research behind assigning a level to students reading and then sort of imprisoning them in that.” —Sue Pimentel
“The more stuff you know, the better you're able to navigate the world….and I think the happier life is. And certainly the happier kids' lives are when they're actually learning stuff.” —Sue Pimentel
Episode timestamps* 02:00 Looking Back at the Common Core State Standards for ELA 04:00 Knowledge Building and Text Evidence 08:00 Text Complexity and College Readiness 14:00 Standards Organization 23:00 Collaborative Effort in Standards Development 26:00 Integrating Standards into Instruction 26:00 The Importance of Contextual Learning 27:00 Challenges with Early Curriculum Implementation 31:00 Standards vs. Curriculum 35:00 The Role of Knowledge Building in Literacy 50:00 Final Thoughts and Advice *Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute
Science of Reading: The Podcast 