Common Core State

Standards

(CCSS)

The School Librarian's

Role

The School Librarian’s Role

Librarians need to be the gurus of CCSS. They need to know the CCSS inside out. These standards are interdisciplinary, and it is school librarians who can help teachers make connections among courses. It seems to me that the role of school librarians, more than ever, is one of leader, designer, and educator. What some of us used to call a "library curriculum" is now embedded in CCSS. This describes the heart of what school librarians do on a daily basis.

Research indicates High Progress Classrooms have at least:

20 books per student

400 books per classroom of 20 students

Books at or above grade level along with books below grade level

Varied genres

Pressley et al., (1996, 1998, 2001)

High Progress Classrooms (student practice)

Children read from 40-45 minutes for each hour allocated to reading instruction

5-10 minutes were spent preparing children to read

5-10 minutes were spent engaging children in activities following reading

While the children were reading, the teacher worked with children in small groups

Allington & Johnston (2000)

Research in typically-progressing classrooms, showed that students read and wrote only a small portion of time.

Students read for only 15-20 minutes for each hour allocated to reading instruction, and in some classrooms, students read even less.

15-20 minutes were spent preparing children to read

20-25 minutes were spent with children engaged in a variety of follow-up activities including: responding to questions, completing workbook pages, reviewing the story, checking vocabulary, etc.

Why is this important?

…because accelerating progress for struggling readers depends on increased amounts of extended text reading and writing.

Benefits of Opportunity to Read and Balanced Instruction on the NAEP

Guthrie et al., (2001)

Students whose family background was characterized as low income and low education but who were engaged readers substantially outscored students from backgrounds with higher education and income.

“…this finding suggests the stunning conclusion that engaged reading can overcome traditional barriers to reading achievement, including gender, parental education, and income”

(Guthrie,et al., 2004)

CCSS: Profile of Students Who Are College and Career Ready

They comprehend as well as critique.

Students are engaged and open-minded—but discerning—readers and listeners. They work diligently to understand precisely what an author or speaker is saying, but they also question an author’s or speaker’s assumptions and premises and assess the veracity of claims and the soundness of reasoning.

Anchor Standards- broader standards

Grade-Specific Standards- additional specificity for grade levels

The grade specific Standards define what students should understand and be able to do by the end of each grade.

College and Career Readiness (CCR)

Common Core State Standards: College and Career Readiness(CCR) Anchor Standards for Reading (Literature, Informational, and Content Areas)

Key Ideas and Details Craft and Structure Integration of Knowledge and Ideas Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

Key Ideas and Details (Standards #1-3) Reading for understanding.

Craft and Structure (Standards #4-6) Reading like a writer.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas (Standards #7-9) Reading across texts and formats with critical literacy.

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity (Standard #10)

Read a lot with increasing facility.

School Librarian’s Role

To design and implement lessons that relate to the Common Core State Standards

To collaborate with teachers about focus lessons that will be the most timely and appropriate based on the group of students or the material being studied, written, or read.

Possible focus lessons for reading literary text

Choosing “Just Right” Books Knowing When to Abandon a Book Knowing When to Keep Going with a Book How to Discuss a Book with Your Friends (book

clubs) Comparison of Characters or Character Study Inferring (Reading Beyond the Literal) Teasing Out Big Ideas in a Book or Story

(themes)

Possible focus lessons for reading informational text Reading Captions Using a Table of Contents Understanding Bolded Words Using a Glossary Scanning to Find a Place to Begin

Reading Skimming to Find Specific Details Reading

School Librarian’s Role

To develop and maintain collections that support students as readers and writers as they move closer to the expectations outlined by the Common Core State Standards

School Librarian’s Role To develop collections that support CCSS, with a

balance of literary and informational text.

To establish and maintain library environments that are attractive and well organized, making them attractive and accessible to student readers.

To provide a wide variety of genres and formats, including web resources.

School Librarian’s Role

To assist students in developing independent inquiry skills research as outlined by the Common Core State Standards.

Collaborate with teachers and students to help them access appropriate materials for inquiry and research projects.

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards 7-9 Writing: Research to Build and Present Knowledge 7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research

projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

8. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.

9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Possible focus lessons for research/inquiry

Gathering Materials for Research: Where to Look and How to Use Them

Taking Notes

Paraphrasing Information

Synthesizing Information from Several Resources

School Librarian’s Role

To understand the complexities of text

To help students independently navigate the issue of text complexity in a way that honors their interests and abilities. Thus, scaffolding students as they read more challenging text.

Why is this important?

K–12 reading texts have actually trended downward in difficulty in the last half century. Furthermore, students in college are expected to read complex texts with substantially greater independence (i.e., much less scaffolding) than are students in typical K–12 programs. College students are held more accountable for what they read on their own than are most students in high school.

Erickson & Strommer, 1991; Pritchard, Wilson, & Yamnitz, 2007

Why is this important? There is also evidence that current standards, curriculum, and instructional practice have not done enough to foster the independent reading of complex texts so crucial for college and career readiness, particularly in the case of informational texts. K–12 students are, in general, given considerable scaffolding—assistance from teachers, class discussions, and the texts themselves (in such forms as summaries, glossaries, and other text features)—with reading that is already less complex overall than that typically required of students prior to 1962.

CCSS, Appendix A

Moreover, current trends suggest that if students cannot read challenging texts with understanding—if they have not developed the skill, concentration, and stamina to read such texts—they will read less in general. In particular, if students cannot read complex expository text to gain information, they will likely turn to text-free or text-light sources, such as video, podcasts, and tweets. These sources, while not without value, cannot capture the nuance, subtlety, depth, or breadth of ideas developed through complex text.

As Adams (2009) puts it, “There may one day be modes and methods of information delivery that are as efficient and powerful as text, but for now there is no contest. To grow, our students must read lots, and more specifically they must read lots of ‘complex’ texts—texts that offer them new language, new knowledge, and new modes of thought.”

CCSS, Appendix A

A turning away from complex texts is likely to lead to a general impoverishment of knowledge, which, because knowledge is intimately linked with reading comprehension ability, will accelerate the decline in the ability to comprehend complex texts and the decline in the richness of text itself. This bodes ill for the ability of Americans to meet the demands placed upon them by citizenship in a democratic republic and the challenges of a highly competitive global marketplace of goods, services, and ideas.

CCSS, Appendix A

Chesterfield County School District

Common Core State Standards