Abstract
Forty-five states and four U.S. territories have committed to implementing the new
Common Core State Standards, with the goal of graduating students from our K–12 programs
who are ready for college and careers. For many, the new standards represent a shift
in genre focus, giving much more specific attention to informational genres. Beginning
in the primary grades, the standards set high expectations for students’ interaction
with informational text, many of which are significantly more linguistically demanding
than the standards that they replace. These increased demands are likely to pose difficulties
not only for students currently receiving language support, but also for students
without identified delays or disabilities. This article describes several of the kindergarten
through fifth-grade standards related to informational text, highlighting the linguistic
demands that each poses. In addition, instructional strategies are provided that teachers
and speech-language pathologists can use to support the understanding and formulation
of informational text for listening, reading, speaking, and writing.
Keywords
common core state standards - informational text - literacy - linguistic demands -
speech-language pathologists
