Common-Core Aligned Basal Readers – Or Something Different?

In this Education Week article, Stephen Sawchuk reports on how textbook publishers are working to align their basal readers with the Common Core State Standards. Sawchuk reviewed the fifth-grade reading series published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (Journeys), Pearson (Reading Street), and McGraw-Hill (Treasures) and found significant changes in the most recent editions in terms of the demands made on students, as well as shifts in the teachers’ guide suggestions. The companies have also created supplementary guides to upgrade their pre-common-core editions, although, Sawchuk reports, some state adoption committees have been critical of these backfill efforts. 

Some state leaders are having doubts about whether the new basal editions truly reflect the common core. John White, state commissioner in Louisiana, says he is hesitating to recommend any basals to his board for adoption. “I’m very concerned that the questions, the assessments, the text complexity, and other dimensions of the textbooks are not remotely ready to be called ‘aligned’ with the common core,” says White. “My strong belief is that if we make a mistake and allow textbooks to go forward with our endorsement, it will indicate that they are rigorous in a way many, if not all of them, probably are not.”

Other educators wonder whether children’s books might be better than textbooks to bring students up to the new standards. “If you read deeply into the common core,” says Peter Dewitz of Mary Baldwin College, “it’s the ability to trace and track the development of an idea or a character over time. Essentially from 3^rd grade up, they are talking about books.” 

Some districts are moving in this direction, and are hoping for an iTunes-type service that will make books and other materials readily available online. There’s also interest in using free and open-source Internet materials to craft lessons. “I have a sense from teachers,” says White (the Louisiana commissioner), “that they are going to want greater control over decisions that heretofore have been oftentimes left to publishers or central offices.” 

Another approach is working with smaller publishers to customize materials. The New York State Education Department is working with Expeditionary Learning and the Core Knowledge Foundation to create a comprehensive K-2 literacy curriculum and modules for grades 3-5. “It’s really, really hard work,” says Kate Gerson, a New York official. “We are really struggling and celebrating as we toil to make sure the materials we are producing will support teachers in their implementation of the standards, while leaving room for them to adapt and improve, and to inhabit texts in a very different way with students.” 

“New Texts Aim to Capture Standards” by Stephen Sawchuk in Education Week, Nov. 14, 2012 (Vol. 32, #12, p. S21-S22), www.edweek.org 

From the Marshall Memo #462