English Teachers Express Concerns About Common Core's "Informational Text" Standards

The Huffington Post (12/10, Zhao) reports on growing concerns among "teachers and parents that literary classics will go the way of the dinosaurs" under the Common Core Standards, which "call for 12th grade reading to be 70 percent nonfiction, or 'informational texts' - gradually stepping up from the 50 percent nonfiction reading required of elementary school students." The Post notes that "the new guidelines are increasingly worrying English-lovers and English teachers, who feel they must replace literary greats like The Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye with Common Core-suggested 'exemplars,' like the Environmental Protection Agency's Recommended Levels of Insulation and the California Invasive Plant Council's Invasive Plant Inventory." However, the piece adds that David Coleman, who helped to craft the standards, says educators "are misreading the guidelines. The boost in informational texts, he says, is intended across disciplines: When social studies, science and math teachers increase nonfiction and informational reading assignments, English teachers won't have to alter their literature lessons."

 

Voxxi (12/10, Gillette) also runs an article on the angst teachers are expressing about deciding "which novels and poems will be eliminated from the classroom in favor of informational reading. ... Proponents of the new non-fiction book reading policies – including the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers - claim students are entering college ill-prepared for the rigors of research." However, teachers argue that students' boredom with school will be exacerbated by emphasizing non-literary prose.