The Common Core State Standards’ Emphasis on “Close Reading”

The Marshall Memo #423

In this Education Week article, Catherine Gewertz reports on one aspect of the Common Core State Standards that is drawing particular attention: the emphasis on “close reading” of complex literary and informational texts. In contrast to the time-honored practice of teachers explaining reading passages to students and supplying background information before they get started, the close-reading approach asks students to do more of the work, hunting for answers and deeper meaning guided by a “let’s find out” prod from the teacher. “That scenario,” says Gewertz, “… requires profound shifts not only in how teachers teach, but how districts choose texts, how they test what students know, and how they evaluate teachers.”

In a simulated close-reading lesson at a recent gathering of chief academic officers at the Aspen Institute, David Pook, a New Hampshire teacher who helped write the Common Core ELA standards, guided educators through a sixth-grade text by Russell Freedman on Marian Anderson’s historic 1939 recital in Washington D.C. One question asked, “What words did Freedman use to characterize what happened next?” Many teachers would ask what happened next when guiding students through this text, but the close-reading question asks for the exact words the author used to say what happened next – a more demanding intra-passage approach. 

The idea, says Pook, is that this kind of question “moves students toward independence” – it develops their ability to build vocabulary, understand a text’s structure, grasp the meaning, build arguments based on text evidence, and develop the confidence and skill they need to understand challenging passages on their own.

Two concerns have been raised about the close-reading approach. First, there are differences in background knowledge among students, especially those who have special needs or are English learners. “The attempt is to make it just about the text,” says Richard Long of the International Reading Association, “but it is never just about the text. Our concern is that this doesn’t take into account that prior experience exists and always affects the way the student interacts with the text.” 

A second concern is the fact that most teachers are accustomed to being providers of information rather than facilitators in inquiry. “The teachers themselves don’t know many of these concepts,” says one state curriculum official, referring to the idea of a “pivot point” in a paragraph. 

“Common Core’s Focus on ‘Close Reading’ Stirs Worries” by Catherine Gewertz in Education Week, Feb. 8, 2012 (Vol. 31, #20, p. 6), http://www.edweek.org