The Common Core Goes to College: The Potential for Disciplinary Literacy Approaches in Developmental Literacy Classes

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONA report from ACT states that clearest differentiation in reading between students who are college-ready and those who are not is the ability to comprehend complex (ACT, 2006, p. 25). However, the definition of college readiness is far from clear cut because individual states use a variety of methods to measure and assess college readiness (Collins, 2013; Lloyd, 2009). The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were created as an attempt to develop a set of standards for qualifying a student as college ready in English/language arts and mathematics (Rothman, 2011). Although there is currently a serious debate about the impact of standardized testing and the role of the CCSS, especially in the early grades, there is a general agreement that far too many students enter college unprepared for the academic tasks that will be expected of them (Attewell, Lavin, Domina, & Levey, 2006; Hart, 2005).K-12 standards have typically made little impact on college learning or developmental education because they were built from kindergarten expectations up to 12th-grade expectations. This model yielded 12th-grade standards that bore little resemblance to the types of tasks students would be expected to complete in college (Conley, 2007). One of the strengths of the CCSS is that the process originated with what is considered college and career ready and then systematically back-mapped the standards through each educational grade level, ending with kindergarten expectations (National Governors' Association and Council of Chief State School Officers [NGA & CCSSO], 2010). Ideally, they provide an opportunity for better K-16 alignment, with the goal of increasing the number of high school students who graduate adequately prepared for college-level work (Barnett & Cormier, 2014).The CCSS English Language Arts (ELA) standards comprise a set of anchor standards for reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language. These anchor standards form the broad competencies that students are expected to achieve. The standards are further delineated by grade-specific standards, which define the endof-year competencies for each grade level. Additionally, in grades 6-12, there are ELA standards for history/social science and science and technical subjects, which promote a cross-curricular approach to literacy with an emphasis on reading informational texts within the disciplines. For example, the first CCSS anchor standard for reading requires students to Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the (NGA & CCSSO, 2010, p. 35). Students in kindergarten begin the process of building toward this goal. The CCSS ELA reading standard 1 for kindergarten expects students to With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a (NGA & CCSSO, 2010, p. 11) by the end of the year. The expectations increase as students progress through the school grade levels. In sixth grade, students are expected to Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the (NGA & CCSSO, 2010, p. 36). By 11th and 12th grade, students must be able to Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain (NGA & CCSSO, 2010, p. 38). Reading standard 1 is further delineated into 11th- and 12th-grade expectations for history/social studies, from which students are expected to Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole (NGA & CCSSO, 2010, p. 61), and for science and technical subjects, from which students must be able to Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to important distinctions the author makes and to any gaps or inconsistencies in the account (NGA & CCSSO, 2010, p. …