1. NCLB standards “varied wildly” in quality and rigor between states. While states have set standards, the “expectations guiding teaching and learning did little to advance quality curriculum and instruction.”
2. In an effort to meet NCLB requirements, many schools sidelined other “vital” subjects such as history and science. This could have negatively impacted reading, explains the report, since “reading comprehension itself depends on content knowledge and vocabulary, not just successfully ‘decoding’ groups of letter and words.”
3. “Too many people believe—incorrectly—that the best way to encourage students to read if to feed them a steady diet of ‘relevant’ and easily digested books,” notes the report. Even curricula at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Workshop discourage teachers from assigning texts thought to be challenging for students. “Texts that are more difficult—and might fall into a student’s ‘frustration’ level—are deemed simply too difficult and therefore to be shunned.”
4. Pedagogy has suffered as teachers were “admonished to function as ‘guides on the side’ rather than ‘sages on the stage;’” and texts were often scrutinized for possible bias. “This had the effect of making many of the [texts] boring and dull, hence not really worth reading—and certainly not worth reading deeply.
Combining these four factors, they “malign together and it’s no surprise that American students were not being challenged to read appropriately complex books, to do high-level analytical work, or to steep themselves in the kinds of literary nonfiction or informational texts that might help them make significant gains in reading comprehension,” explains Finn and Magee.
Still not implementing the Common Core
The report’s authors describe how the implementation of Common Core State Standards could help increase student reading levels, since CCSS texts for ELA emphasize the correlation between knowledge and reading comprehension, require regular practice with complex texts, and focuses on informational texts that deepen “critical thinking” skills.
“But will these shifts make their way into American classrooms?” asks the report.
(Next page: The report’s findings)
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