The Common Core State Standards’ Quantitative Text Complexity Trajectory

Abstract

research focuses on longitudinal analyses of academic growth in reading and mathematics, the creation of growth velocity standards in education, and the detection of changes in student growth in response to long-term educational interventions.

An Examination of Text Complexity as Characterized by Readability and Cohesion

“…First, written materials are evaluated with a readability formula that assigns a grade level-equivalent or developmental scale score (i.e., Lexile; Williamson, Fitzgerald, & Stenner, 2013) to each text primarily based on the Downloaded by [Emory University] at 06:02 06 August 2015 length or frequency of its constituent words and the sophistication of its sentences (Chall & Dale, 1995). Second, students are assessed with either a formal or informal reading comprehension instrument that produces an instructional level grade level-equivalent or Lexile score teachers can use to match individuals to texts of a corresponding level.…”

Validating Automated Measures of Text Complexity

“…For example, Williamson et al. () argued that “word and sentence variables have been shown to predict as much as 94% of the variance in readers’ comprehension levels during encounters with texts” (p. 62). This claim also appears in Smith (), “These text proxies account for an extremely high amount of variance (94 percent) in readers’ comprehension” (p. 5), and in Stenner et al.…”

“…(); Stenner, Sanford‐Moore, and Williamson (); Swartz et al. (); Williamson, Fitzgerald, and Stenner (); and Williamson, Koons, Sandvik, and Sanford‐Moore (). An earlier version of the algorithm is also considered in Stenner et al.…”

Aligning TextEvaluator® Scores With the Accelerated Text Complexity Guidelines Specified in the Common Core State Standards

“…For example, Common Core (CC) aligned textbooks targeted at students in Grades 9–10 will now be written at the reading levels previously designated for students in Grades 10–12 (Hiebert & Mesmer, ). Williamson, Fitzgerald, and Stenner () noted that this new trajectory is designed to “close a current‐day gap between text complexity levels at high school graduation versus college and workplace,” and that it “intentionally target[s] higher levels of text complexity than many, if not most, students currently experience in nearly all grades” (p. 59).…”

“…Williamson, Fitzgerald, and Stenner () noted that “The CCSS set a controversial aspirational, quantitative trajectory for text complexity exposure for readers throughout the grades, aiming for high school graduates to be able to independently read complex college and workplace texts” (p. 59). This section provides a detailed description of the method used to establish that trajectory.…”