TEXT COMPLEXITY Text Complexity Robust and Relevant “The worth of a text is to be measured by what you can carry away from it”. James Bryce ESSENTIAL QUESTION #2 (REFER TO posted EQs) A shift in instruction for CCSS reading : (1) to increase the complexity of texts at all levels, (2) use short, challenging texts for explicit instruction in vocabulary, comprehension and critical thinking and (3) “gradual release of responsibility and assessment of independence and proficiency. Comprehending complex texts is everywhere in the CCSS. This is why text complexity matters. Robust and Relevant 21st Century Demands

Why Text Complexity Matters How do you know if a student is college-or career-ready? According to ACT’s Reading Between the Lines, “what appears to differentiate those who are more likely to be ready from those who are less likely is their proficiency in understanding complex texts.” Over the last 50 years, the complexity of college and workplace reading has increased, while text complexity in K-12 have remained stagnant. . Why Text Complexity Matters Over the last 50 years, the complexity of college and workplace reading has increased, while text complexity in K-12 have remained stagnant: •Research indicates that the demands that college, careers, and citizenship place on readers have either held steady or increased over roughly the last fifty years. •The difficulty of college textbooks has increased since 1962.•Students in college are expected to read complex texts with substantially greater independence than are students in typical K–12 programs. *Adapted from Appendix A, page 2 of the Common Core State Standards for English Langua

ROAD BLOCKS TO ROBUST LEARNING K–12 Schooling: Declining complexity of texts and a lack of reading of complex texts independently Not enough informational reading—too much note taking without students having to read Too much copying vocabulary and just “looking” up words versus understanding and using academic language Limited reading and writing connection activities The learning from complex texts in content areas and literature needs to be the centerpiece of schooling in the 21st century” (Hiebert, in press). Average length of sentences in books published between 1963 and 1991 was shorter than that of books published between 1946 and 1962. In the 7th and 8th grade, the mean length of sentences has decreased from 20 words to 14 words, “the equivalent of dropping one or two clauses from every sentence.

The Staircase of Text Complexity In many respects, text complexity is the hallmark of the CCSS as it reveals the depth of educators’ commitment to providing American students every opportunity to be prepared to meet future global challenges. The combination of the increased text complexity and the depth of cognitive demand within the task, such as incorporating discipline-specific questions, generates higher levels of rigor. Just as the Aorta carries blood from the heart, Common Core State Standard number 10 carries increasing levels of text complexity up from Grade 2 through Grade 12 and into College and Career Readiness.

The Staircase of Text Complexity Providing a specific Standard 10 presence in each grade level, the Common Core’s text complexity standard provides a backward-mapped format to scaffold instruction. Notice the scaffolded expectations in the Staircase for Text Complexity within the standard on the next slide. Shift 3-addresses the staircase of complexity –the scaffolding students need on that staircase of preparedness for college and career readiness… Shift 4/5-Rich and rigorous conversations about classroom experiences based on text…evidentiary arguments in conversation and writing. Shift 6- Academic vocabulary Other big ideas: Closely read complex texts, evaluate and gather evidence. Integrate information into clear coherent writing that illustrates critical thinking

Recent Research Study Confirm and extend the preliminary research in Appendix A. Test and validate quantitative measures of text complexity and difficulty (led by Chuck Perfetti, U of Pitt) In particular, assessed the capabilities of six quantitative metrics to predict text difficulty for students on standardized tests: ATOS - ATOS® (Renaissance Learning) DRP - Degrees of Reading Power ®(Questar) FK - Flesch Kincaid ® Lexile - Lexile Framework® (MetaMetrics) SR - Source Rater ©(Educational Testing Service) RM- Pearson Reading Maturity Metric© (Pearson Education)

Results of Research Study All the metrics were reliably, and often highly, correlated with how students perform with texts on tests (No measure was better than any other in predicting text difficulty for students) All measures were equally good when situating informational texts on the scale (less so with respect to narrative fiction) No measure can yet rate drama and poetry. Six measures now share a common scale of text complexity that aligns to college and career readiness A number of tools are now valid, transparent, user-friendly and reliable to use

Implications for Educators General Rule: Use any one of the quantitative analyzer tools to place text into a complexity band level. For decisions about whether to place a text at the upper, lower, or middle of a band, use qualitative analysis. For drama and poetry, use qualitative measures.

Stretch Continuum

Specifically, within reading standard #10: Anchor Standard: R.CCR.10 Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently. Example Grade-level Standard (6th grade): RI.6.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. The combination of the increased text complexity and the depth of cognitive demand within the task, such as incorporating discipline-specific questions, generates higher levels of rigor. “ A high school graduate who is a poor reader if a post secondary student who must struggle mightily to succeed.” “ If students cannot read challenging texts with understanding-if they have not developed the skill, concentration and stamina to read such texts, they will read less in general” Appendix A-Students need opportunity to stretch reading abilities but also need to experience the satisfaction and pleasure of easy, fluent reading, both of which the standards allow.

The Question is… What do the Common Core State Standards mean by text complexity? What is a text complexity band? and How do we ensure the texts our students are reading are in the appropriate text complexity band? What is a text complexity band? It is a grade level band that has assigned readability levels.

Common Core Text Types Literary Text Informational Text In elementary grades this includes stories and poetry for both read alouds and independent reading. Read alouds include chapter books, even at the kindergarten level. In secondary grades this includes novels, short stories, poetry, and drama. Informational text and literary non-fiction for both elementary and secondary grades includes: Exposition Historic non-fiction Biographies and auto-biographies Speeches Historical documents Technical documents **However, informational text that does not have literary merit, does not belong in the secondary language arts classroom; it belongs in the specific content area. As stated in the standards: Note on range and content of student reading…discuss in terms of a literacy rich curriculum. To build a foundation for college and career readiness, students must read widely and deeply from among a broad range of high-quality, increasingly challenging literary and informational texts. Through extensive reading of stories, dramas, poems, and myths from diverse cultures and different time periods, students gain literary and cultural knowledge as well as familiarity with various text structures and elements. By reading texts in history/social studies, science, and other disciplines, students build a foundation of knowledge in these fields that will also give them the background to be better readers in all content areas. Students can only gain this foundation when the curriculum is intentionally and coherently structured to develop rich content knowledge within and across grades. Students also acquire the habits of reading independently and closely, which are essential to their future success. We are building readers with the end result, college, in mind.

This is Doug Reeves’ work These factors represent continua rather than discrete stages or levels, thus numeric values are not associated with these rubrics. Introduce “exemplars” of narrative and informational text.

Measuring Text Complexity Quantitative Quantitative measures – readability and other scores of text complexity often best measured by computer software. Qualitative Qualitative measures – levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands often best measured by an attentive human reader. Reader and Task Reader and Task considerations – background knowledge of reader, motivation, interests, and complexity generated by tasks assigned often best made by educators employing their professional judgment. Quantitative measures – readability and other scores of text complexity often best measured by computer software. Qualitative measures – levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands often best measured by an attentive human reader. Reader and Task considerations – background knowledge of reader, motivation, interests, and complexity generated by tasks assigned often best made by educators employing their professional judgment.

Where do we find texts in the appropriate text complexity band? . Choose an excerpt of text from Appendix B: Or… Use the Georgia Text Complexity Rubric! Appendix B of the Common Core Standards contains text exemplars for content areas and grade levels. NOTE: Exemplars are not a required or suggested reading list. They are just examples for us to see. However, choosing excerpts from Appendix B may be less effective because it removes the reader and task considerations from the equation. OR, you can evaluate your own book using the Georgia Text Complexity Rubric.

How will you get there? What steps should I take? A Four-step Process: Determine the quantitative measures of the text. Analyze the qualitative measures of the text. Reflect upon the reader and task considerations. This is the process you will use if you choose to determine the appropriateness of a text on your own, using, for instance, the Georgia Text Complexity Rubric. What is important to note is that we need to re-evaluate and validate what books we do use. Recommend placement in the appropriate text complexity band.

Step 1: Quantitative Measures Measures such as: Word length Word frequency Word difficulty Sentence length Text length Text cohesion

The Quantitative Measures Ranges for Text Complexity The following chart outlines the suggested ranges for each of the text complexity bands using -Rigor Expectations of the CCGPS: Lexile Alignment to College & Career Readiness to Close the Gap: Grade Band Old Lexile New Lexile 2-3 450-725 450-790 4-5 645-845 770-980 6-8 860-1010 955-1155 9-10 960-1115 1080-1305 11-CCR 1070-1220 1215-1355 What is a Lexile measure? There are two kinds of Lexile measures: the Lexile reader measure and the Lexile text measure. Students receive a Lexile reader measure as a score from a reading test - it describes his or her reading ability. Books and other texts receive a Lexile text measure from a software tool called the Lexile Analyzer - it describes the book's reading demand or difficulty. When used together, these measures can help match a reader with reading material that is at an appropriate difficulty, or help give an idea of how well a reader will comprehend a text. The Lexile reader measure can also be used to monitor a reader's growth in reading ability over time. Lexile helps readers grow, and helps parents and teachers know. When a Lexile text measure matches or is in the range of a Lexile reader measure, this is called a targeted reading experience. The reader will encounter some level of difficulty with the text, but not enough to get frustrated. This is the best way to grow as a reader - reading text that's not too hard but not too easy. Source: Susan Pimentel, November 3, 2010

Step 1: Quantitative Measures Let’s imagine we want to see where a text falls on the quantitative measures “leg” of the text complexity triangle, using the Lexile text measures. (Video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjc2yKfHEso For illustrative purposes, let’s choose Harper Lee’s 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Themes are truth, lies, bondage, prejudice, equality, freedom, bondage, justice, discrimination… This is a book trailer project by high school students.

Looking through the Lexile lens… You can search for a book by title, author or ISBN. If you are uncertain of a title, try using the keywords to search. You type in your information and click search. If the book is in the database it will pull it up, often with a picture of the cover and give you a brief description of the book as well as the lexile level. Be sure to double check the title and author as sometimes titles overlap.

Step 1: Quantitative Measures Lexile Text Measure: 870L ATOS Book Level (a measure used in the state of Kansas): 5.6 In which of the text complexity bands would this novel fall?

Quantitative Measure Ranges for Text Complexity Grade Bands—Taken from Kansas Common Core State Standards Text Complexity Grade Bands Suggested Lexile Range Suggested ATOS Book Level Range** K-1 100L – 500L* 1.0 – 2.5 2-3 450L – 790L 2.0 – 4.0 4-5 770L – 980L 3.0 – 5.7 6-8 955L – 1155L 4.0 – 8.0 9-10 1080L – 1305L 4.6 – 10.0 11-CCR 1215L – 1355L 4.8 – 12.0 Most of you will be familiar with Lexiles and the ATOS used by AR. What is interesting is when you look at both. * The K-1 suggested Lexile range was not identified by the Common Core State Standards and was added by Kansas. ** Taken from Accelerated Reader and the Common Core State Standards, available at the following URL: http://doc.renlearn.com/KMNet/R004572117GKC46B.pdf

Remember, however, that the quantitative measure is only the first of three “legs” of the text complexity triangle. Our final recommendation may be validated, influenced, or even over-ruled by our examination of qualitative measures and the reader and task considerations.

Step 2: Qualitative Measures Measures such as: Levels of meaning Levels of purpose Structure Organization Language conventionality Language clarity Prior knowledge demands Qualitative Quantitative Reader and Task What Are the Qualitative Measures? Only a human reader can analyze this.   Layers of meaning Levels of purpose Structure Organization Language conventionality Language clarity Prior knowledge demands Cultural demands Vocabulary Another way to look at this: Is this an apple book where you can just bite into it, or Is it an onion book that you have to peel back the layers?

Structure: Complicated text-structures (chronological, problem-solution, cause-effect, etc.) will add to a text’s complexity level. *Holes, by Louis Sachar Quantitative Measurement: 660 L Qualitative Measurement: Structure: Story continuously jumps back and forth between three different time periods/settings, and character groups. Adjusted text-complexity value: 5.9 – 7.5 for independent reading. Possible “Stretch-Text” : In order to challenge students’ reading capacity—stretching them to grow to a higher reading level--teachers might have students read the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, (7.9) describing the effects of racism during the slavery period. Scaffolding needed: Teacher should provide critical backgound knowledge, along with teacher-directed reading of the text.

Levels of Meaning or Purpose: Texts that contain multiple levels of meaning or purpose (connotative or implicit language, satire in narrative texts; informational texts with implicit purposes) have a greater text complexity than texts with a singular meaning or purpose. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway Quantitative Measurement : 610 L Qualitative Measurement: Hemingway uses images and word choice to convey emotion rather than describing it; words are sparse but and have multiple connotative meanings; the novel as a the story contains multiple themes. Adjusted text-complexity value: 11.5+ Similar “stretch-texts”: The poems of Emily Dickinson (11.5+) and Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (12+) also use sparse, precise word choice with multiple connotations.

Language Conventionality & Clarity: Texts that rely on literal, clear, contemporary, and conversational language tend to be easier to read than texts that rely on figurative, ironic, ambiguous, purposefully misleading, archaic or otherwise unfamiliar language or on general academic and domain-specific vocabulary. Examples: Shakespeare Arcane classics Medieval, Puritan, or other dialects/ language patterns The actual reading level is not difficult, but due to unfamiliar language patterns and old-fashioned language, the reading becomes more difficult.

Knowledge Demands: “Texts that make that make few assumptions about the extent of readers’ life experiences and the depths of their cultural/literary and content/discipline knowledge are generally less complex than are texts that make many assumptions in one or more of those areas.” *A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry Quantitative Measurement: 6.8 (Fry Readability value). (NP) Qualitative Measurement: Knowledge Demands: To fully understand and appreciate the play, students require a knowledge of the following: assimilationist debate Pan-African Movement, the Great Migration, racial tension of the time period, race/real estate issues Adjusted text-complexity value: 9-11 Possible “Stretch-Text” : In order to challenge students’ reading levels and “bridge the gap” to the next reading level, teachers might also want students to read Black Boy by Richard Wright (10-11) or Black Like Me by John Griffin (10-11) Scaffolding needed: Teacher should provide critical backgound knowledge along with teacher-directed reading of the text.

JIGSAW-EXPERT GROUPS Four Corner Jigsaw Activity: Teacher Perspectives Levels of Meaning Structure Language Conventionality Background Knowledge Qualitative Quantitative Reader and Task

Qualitative Dimensions Discussion Four Corner Jigsaw Activity: Directions Levels of Meaning Structure Language Conventionality Background Knowledge Step 1: Move to your assigned color station. Step 2: Discuss and become experts about your assigned qualitative dimension. Step 3- Return to your original table, use the qualitative dimensions flip-book graphic organizer to write down key points that you learn from colleagues about their expert areas of study. Levels of Meaning: satire, pun, allegory, symbolism or abstract thought Structure: legal document, technical manual, non-traditional use of time or language Language Conventionality: Colloquialism, figurative language, dialect or sophisticated academic langauge Background Knowledge: Are kids familiar enough with concepts to understand?

GEORGIA TEXT COMPLEXITY RUBRIC The Georgia Text Complexity Rubric allows educators to evaluate the important elements of text that are often missed by computer software that tends to focus on more easily measured factors. Intended as a tool for quantifying text determinations within the CCGPS parameters. Rubric dimensions allow for unique merits of the text and for the score to be an aggregate of multiple dimensions. This rubric is intended to streamline and create consistency within the text consideration process, not to be a definitive measure.

Use the qualitative section of the Georgia rubric with the To Kill A Mockingbird example. As Appendix A states, “Few, if any, authentic texts will be low or high on all of these measures.” The goal is not for all of the checkmarks to be in a single column; the goal is to accurately reflect these factors of the text. The marked rubric can then serve as a guide as educators re-evaluate the initial placement of the work into a text complexity band. Such reflection may validate the text’s placement or may suggest that the placement needs to be changed. LEVELS OF MEANING- Multiple levels of meaning STRUCTURE: Narrative, flashback LANGUAGE CONVENTIONALITY: Register, figurative or ironic language BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE: Cultural literacy knowledge –high Some content knowledge

870L 5.6 From examining the quantitative measures, we knew: Lexile Text Measure: 870L 5.6 ATOS Book Level: But after reflecting upon the qualitative measures, we believed: Our initial placement of To Kill a Mockingbird into a text complexity band changed when we examined the qualitative measures. Remember, however, that we have completed only the first two legs of the text complexity triangle. The reader and task considerations still remain.

Step 3: Reader and Task Considerations Examples of variables specific to readers: Motivation Knowledge Experiences Examples of variables specific to tasks: Purpose for reading Complexity of task Complexity of questions asked Note the attention to reader as well as task variables. This is where you as a professional educator use your judgment in matching the right book, to the right student, at the right time. Examine who your readers are. What background experiences do they bring or not bring to the book in question? This usually includes open ended questions that help educators think through the implications of using a particular text in the classroom. Cognitive capabilities, reading skills, motivations and engagement with the task, prior knowledge and experience, content or theme concerns, complexity of associated task. YOU are the best judge of what your students can manage.

READER AND TASK CONSIDERATIONS are best evaluated by teachers employing their professional judgment, experience, and knowledge of their students and the subject. (Please keep in mind, this process is really designed for teachers of students who already are independent readers of novels.) Questions we need to be asking ourselves: What do I have to pre-teach? What scaffolding will be needed and for whom? Bloom’s Taxonomy will be helpful here-and later DOK and Rigor and Relevance will have meaning as we look at the TASK. Think cognitive demand. What are any ELL needs I must address? Are they motivated to do their best work? We must remember that even though a book might work with one group of students, it may not be right for the next group. You have to look at the individuals who are in the group. National PTA has great resources Get your Media Specialist involved! CHECK GA DOE for lists “Trade” with grade levels

Based upon our examination of the Reader and Task Considerations, we have completed the third leg of the text complexity model and are now ready to recommend a final placement within a text complexity band. Step 1 Step 2 Using this protocol, we progressed through each leg of the text complexity model: (1) quantitative measures, (2) qualitative measures, and (3) reader and task considerations. Now we are ready to review all three legs one last time and make a final recommendation for placement of this text into a text complexity grade band. Step 3

Step 4: Recommended Placement Based upon all the information—all three legs of the model—the final recommendation for To Kill a Mockingbird is…. Based upon all three legs of the model, we felt the most appropriate placement for the novel was grades 9-10.

In this instance, Appendix B confirms our evaluation of the novel. To Kill a Mockingbird is placed within the grade 9-10 text complexity band. Validating our analysis, the Common Core Standards List of Exemplar Texts (Appendix B) came to this same conclusion.

Building Leaders of Teaching and Learning MetroRESA Resources for To Kill A Mocking Bird Evaluation —From Vermont State Department of Education and the Kansas State Department of Education Lexile Information from Susan Pimentel and MetaMetrics. Building Leaders of Teaching and Learning