Amie Wright New York Public Library

amiewright@bookops.org

21st Century Children’s Nonfiction Conference

June 20-22, 2014

Common Core in Public and School Libraries….

Practical Aspects

1) leveling* - lots of systems + how it fits into the common core text complexity triangle

2) meta data - doesn’t match requests (‘I need informational texts’ or ‘I need books with opposing viewpoints/unreliable narrator’ etc.)

3) marketing - ‘common core aligned’....but what does this mean?

4) materials confusion - ‘where is the common core list?’

5) politics - disagreement over what common core is, what it should be achieving, and how materials collection should support it

*want to know more about this? Click through to the end of the presentation where I have embedded additional information about leveling and the library

Pedagogical Aspects

6) Uneven professional development or awareness especially about common core materials, leveling, and the text complexity triangle*. Some school or state districts have comprehensive professional development; many do not.

7) New standards for school librarians - AASL Standards for 21st Century Librarianship stresses the inquiry process, the sourcing and evaluation of content rich materials, and the development of digital and information fluency

*want to know more about this? Click through to the end of the presentation where I have embedded additional information about leveling and the library

What does this mean?

OR, how do we cope? library responses

back matter really matters - with the focus on evidence based instruction and learning, we really do read and evaluate the back matter on every title and scrutinize the text (especially direct quotes)

why we don’t level in library* - but how we can still work with educators and parents to find ‘on level’ materials through tools like Scholastic Book Wizard and professional expertise about materials

lots of training and outreach - especially about materials, materials use, and 21st century learning (importance of ‘e’)

*want to know more about this? Click through to the end of the presentation where I have embedded additional information about leveling and the library

What does this mean?

OR, how do we cope? common core strategies Market and Promote your texts using a variety of terms to reach the widest audience describing how they can use this text – not just ‘common core aligned’ or the dot notation of a particular standard (ex. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.2). A text only becomes ‘common aligned’ through its instructional use.

...and don't reserve this information to marketing alone - promote educational uses in your back matter too!

The Boy Who Harnessed the WindGood for: STEM, Picture Book Biography, Innovation, Nonfiction Read Aloud

GO: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design Good for: Informational Text, STEM to STEAM, award winners (YALSA NF Award Finalist 2013)

What does this mean?

OR, how do we cope? common core strategies

Fact and Fiction book displays, lists, and bundles further expand on the

connections and possible uses for your text. Many publishers/authors are using social

media – like Pinterest – for this (#commoncore is a very popular hashtag)

Teacher’s Guides give educators directed resources to guide their instructional uses for the text, as well as providing additional

resources to explore the topic further

Common Core - not just Lexile

It is also….● focus on primary source content

● ‘stretch reading’ – to both build confidence, and expand skills

● firsthand accounts

● compare/contrast evidence

● multiple perspectives and formats

● opposing viewpoints

Common Core is an opportunity to EXPLORE topics in great depth

Questions? Amie Wright / amiewright@bookops.orgAll presentations on SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.net/aedwright/presentations

Learn More Comics and the Common Core: Full presentation from NYC Comic Con 2013; additional Common Core resources, research links and standards that refer to graphic novels.

Classroom Connections: Teacher created Common Core aligned resources using primary sources from NYPL Digital Collections

And, due to popular demand, keep clicking for more information on Leveled Books….next slide!

Leveled Books and the Common Core Amie Wright, New York Public Libraryamiewright@bookops.org

Leveled Books – A (Short) History

Around for 20+ years

Many programs – the three most popular…..

1. Lexile (0-1600L) - ex. ‘600L’ (grades assigned target ranges – Gr. 2-3 reading between Lexile 420L-820L)

2. Accelerated Reader AR (1-14) - ex. ‘4.5’

3. Fountas Pinnell (Guided Reading A-Z) - ex. ‘F’ (students assigned a level – “I’m a Q reader”)

Leveled Books – A (Short) History

However, each system differs in…

Their use and range

Lexile is the recommended leveling system for Common Core; however, Guided Reading and AR are still widely used. Common Core is national standards - locally enacted; ultimately, leveling, what system to use, what books to use is a local decision. There is no one universally used level system.

Leveled Books – A (Short) History

And each system also differs in…

How they determine their levels:

Lexile is a measure from 0L to 1600L determined by a computer algorithm measuring sentence length, syllables, and word frequency

Guided Reading is a letter gradient from A-Z determined through length of sentences, length of words, complexity of letter-sound patterns, and many other characteristics including Genre/Form, Text Structure, Content, Themes, Vocabulary, Words, Illustrations, etc. Guided Reading is determined by computer – and human readers.

Level - Grade Band Correspondence

Level – Grade Band Correspondence

Is the Level of a book what determines if it is appropriate/recommended for a certain grade?

Yes and No.

Lexile/Guided Reading/AR are only part of what makes a title recommended for a certain grade.

Common Core uses a 3 part model to determine text complexity (of which level is only a part)….

Text Complexity TriangleAs defined in Common Core Appendix A ‘text complexity’ is three-part model composed of 3 equally important parts….

1) Qualitative measure of a text (captured to a certain extent in Guided Reading)

2) Quantitative measure of a text (such as Lexile)

3) Reader and Task - this looks at reader interest, text suitability to a particular topic or curriculum unit, and overall 'fit' for a certain reader

Why we don’t Level in the Library Levels only capture a part of text complexity – not the overall fit of the text for a particular reader/purpose.

Example: Of Mice and Men…

Lexile score: 630L [based on Lexile recommended for Gr. 2-3]

Guided Reading: Z [based on GR recommended for Gr. 6]

Why we don’t Level in the Library

Levels are not available for all books – only ~10-20% of all titles have a ‘level’ of some sort.

1) There is a fee and process involved to have a book leveled - this can be cost/time prohibitive to publishers.

2) Some publishers choose not to have their materials leveled – fearing that a text’s qualitative and instructional properties may be overlooked or distilled

3) Many international publishers do not see leveling as a priority given its use is almost exclusive to the US.

Why we don’t Level in the Library

Levels work best with traditional narrative form – not with nontraditional texts such as graphic novels, poetry, or dialogue based text like plays

Example:

Persepolis: A Childhood

Lexile score: 380L [based on Lexile recommended for Gr. K-1 range]

How can find ‘on level’ materials to support Common Core learning? Tools like Lexile.com and Scholastic Book Wizard allow you to look for titles by level, or to look up the level of a certain title (provided it has a level); Lexile.com also allows you to upload sample text to determine Lexile.

In the library we always try to meet parents and students halfway – finding one title ‘on level’, then complimenting that with 2 books that fit the child’s interests – even if they are ‘harder’/‘easier’ than their assigned level(s) – for example: the DK Eyewitness books tend to have high levels (just as most dinosaur books do) – yet they are popular with readers even as young as 2nd or 3rd Grade due to interest.

Bottom line: If children enjoy reading, they will be better readers

Questions? Amie Wright / amiewright@bookops.orgAll presentations on SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.net/aedwright/presentations

Learn More Comics and the Common Core: Full presentation from NYC Comic Con 2013; additional Common Core resources, research links and standards that refer to graphic novels.

Classroom Connections: Teacher created Common Core aligned resources using primary sources from NYPL Digital Collections