Shift #3 - Why text complexity is important

The current complexity of texts students are expected to read is way below what is required for college and career readiness.  Take into consideration:

• High school textbook complexity has declined over several decades.
• The average length of sentences in K-8 textbooks has declined from 20 to 14 words.

• Vocabulary demands have declined.  Current 8th grade textbooks have the equivalent text complexity to former 5th grade textbooks, and current 12th grade anthologies are equivalent to former 7th grade texts.

Complexity of college and career texts has remained steady or increased resulting in a significant gap.

Too many students are reading at too low a level, less than 50% of high school graduates can read sufficiently complex texts.

The complexity of what students can read is the greatest predictor of success in college. 

(Source:  ACT)

your assistant to finding text complexity

Shift #3 - Staircase of Complexity

Staircase of Complexity - Shift #3 (please print and complete)

Appendix_B    

Shift #2 - Knowledge and Discipline

I have elected to skip Shift #2 - Knowledge and Discipline as it applies more for addressing the role of content area teachers in the secondary grades. However, the video will still be embedded within the blog primarily for our upper grades.  

Shift #1 - continued

Balancing Literature and Informational Text 

source

Click here to view 6-12 map

At first glance, these two charts have a tendency to be a bit overwhelming due to the amount of data presented.  This entry will help you disaggregate the data allowing you to begin the process balancing literature and informational text. 

From this point on, I will only reference the far left column of the top graph titled Reading Complex Terms and all of the bottom graph.  

As you can see, the Reading Complex Text column is broken down into four modules A, B, C, & D.  Each individual module has two subcategories that include a non-specified allotment of short texts and 1 extended text. Think of the four modules (A, B, C & D) as you would the 4 grading quarters over the course of one school year.  This will help you to understand the academic pacing for these reading lessons.  We will used module A as our first example.  

This is a hypothetical break down for a third grade classroom.  For module A we will assign 5-9 reading passages to be our short texts. Of those texts, 3-5 will be literature, 1-2 science articles and 1-2 social science or art informational items.  Additionally, as indicted by the chart above, module A will have one extended text that is devoted to a literature component.  

You have either read or heard that elementary grades will have a 50-50 split among the passages that students are to read. According to the standards students at the elementary level are to have their reading content allocated so that 50% of material read is non-fiction, while to remaining 50% is devoted to fiction. 

Based on our hypothetical scenario how will this look for the first nine weeks of school.  The literature component is half of module A, this means that at least four weeks should be devoted to the literature piece, possibly five.  Myths and fables with 3-5 text pieces should allocate three weeks of intense study, while science, social science/art should each receive one week of study as the only have 1-2 pieces to be read and studied.  

This is an alternate look at paragraph above: 

Week 1 - extended literature

Week 2 - extended literature

Week 3 - extended literature 

Week 4 - extended literature 

Week 5 - extended literature transition to short text literature 

Week 6 - short text literature 

Week 7 - short text literature  

Week 8 - science 

Week 9 - social science/art

* please keep in mind that these weeks do not need to follow this order *

As we proceed to Module B or our second academic quarter, you notice the Model Content Framework Chart now shifts the complexity of text to now focus on informational passages. Again 50% of our quarter (or four weeks time) will be devoted to teaching an informational passage, with the remaining five weeks balancing literature, science, and social science passages. 

Shift #1 - A shift toward informational text

EdWeek - Informational Text

Click to print PDF document and complete the four questions on page 2

The Standards' Grade-Specific Text Complexity Demands

Illustrating text complexity

To help illustrate the importance of weighing quantitative complexity equally with qualitative complexity, Appendix A uses The Grapes of Wrath as an example.  Many widely used qualitative measures such as the Lexile Framework and Flesch-Kincaide Grade Level Test rate this novel as appropriate for grades 2-3.  This counterintuitive result emerges because works such as The Grapes of Wrath often express complex ideas in relatively commonplace language (familiar words and simple syntax), especially in the form of dialogue that mimics everyday speech.

This is an excellent document that illustrates how to determine text complexity in literary and informational text:

A Beginner's Guide to Text Complexity