The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts Instruction in Grades 6-12

           I do appreciate that the CCSS requires, even 9^th graders, to “analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone” in informational texts, as well as in reading literature.  By the 11^th and 12^th grade, they are required to look for “inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.” This is quite a chore for a majority of high school students and may require deviating from a “standard” curriculum to accomplish this.  I am heartened that the handout acknowledges that the standards to not specify what or how to teach. These standards provide for the teacher a “what is possible” for our kids to acquire in ELA. 

            For adolescents to learn these requirements, a good place to start in reading is for each student to have a book or a novel that narrates a topic of interest to that individual student.  If the school is going to adopt a curriculum written by the state or entity that is far removed from the school district, this may be difficult.  A student, or student(s), may not grasp the story line in an English classic, right away.  The state, or entity, may be comprised of the “dominant” culture and for a child in a “non-dominant” culture to be able to demonstrate the required standard, may have to happen in increments.  It will be up to the creativity of the teacher and the depth of collaboration with the English department to establish a curriculum that is not “fragmented,” and to see that the students understand and can demonstrate the knowledge.  This is not to say that all dominant culture students will succeed at CCSS and that all non-dominant students will not.  I believe it will be up to the individual teachers, as the handout states, “perceive the Common Core State Standards as a road map for developing your own curriculum that is relevant to your unique students.”

            When I read that the CCSS will be connected to the assessments the states adopt to measure the students’ learning, I would hope the teachers would be allowed plenty of input.  It is obvious that the standards and the assessment be linked and make sense.  I believe, also, that teachers be permitted to avoid multiple choice tests, depending on the student, to test for understanding.  I would let the students demonstrate to me, orally, the above requirements in a book as simple as The Hardy Boys before moving them on to Great Expectations.