Text Complexity Shift Kit (Shift One)

The Text Complexity Kit was designed to give administrators and teachers some background information on what is expected for student achievement with the Illinois Learning Standards (ILS) in the area of Text Complexity.  

SIP Day Materials:
​Looking for materials to use on School Improvement Days?  Condensed materials are marked with a double asterisk **​​

Critical Directions

• Appendix A
• Supplemental Information for Appendix A;New research on Text Complexity
• Supplement to Appendix A and Supplemental Resources 
• Student Achievement Partners: Text Complexity Resources

PowerPoints

• **ISBE Presentation: 
  • Facilitator’s Guide K-12
  • PowerPoint Slides
  • PowerPoint Notes
  • Handouts
    • ​​Guidelines for Text Complexity Analysis
    • Text Complexity Analysis Worksheet
    • Qualitative Rubrics:
      • Literary
      • Informational Rubric
    • Reader and Task Considerations
    • Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass
• CCSSO Text Complexity
  • PowerPoint with Notes

• Elfreidah Hiebert of TextProject, Univ. of CA, Berkeley 
  • The View of Text Complexity within the Common Core Standards: What Does it Mean for Struggling Readers?

Tools to Determine Text Complexity 

• CCSSO Rubrics
  • Qualitative Measurement Rubric: Literary Texts
  • Qualitative Measures Rubric: Informational Texts
  • CCSSO Suggested Considerations for Reader and Task
• Student Achievement Partners
  • Quantitative Analysis Tools
• Review Form for Selecting Text Suitable for CCSS Instruction
• Advancing Our Students’ Language and Literacy by Marilyn Jager Adams. The Challenge of Complex Texts 
• Guide for Determining Text Complexity:  Kindergarten – Grade 12
• Teaching Books.Net
  • Informational Text Complexity Rubric and Worksheet
  • Literacy Text Complexity Rubric and Worksheet

Videos

• What does text complexity mean for English learners and language minority students? By Lily Wong Fillmore and Charles J. Fillmore
• Simplifying Text Complexity:  The Teaching Channel

Podcast/Webinars

• Metametrics:  Finding texts: "Hidden Resources at Your Fingertips” 

Websites

• All Grades: Kansas State Department of Education offers a wide variety of Common Core literacy and text complexity resources. 
• All Grades:  The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) provides several free tools and resources regarding text complexity. 
• All Grades:  New York has developed a page with links to text complexity resources. 
• Teachingbooks.net:  Complete a qualitative measures rubric online and see how other educator’s rated the qualitative dimension of a plethora of books.

​Professional Books

• Rigorous Reading: 5 Access Points for Comprehending Complex Texts
• Unlocking Complex Texts: A Systematic Framework for Building Adolescents' Comprehension

Research/Articles

• Measures of Text Difficulty: Testing their Predictive Value for Grade Levels and Student Performance --  by David Liben, Jessica Nelson, Charles Perfetti, Meridith Liben
• ACT Reading Between the Lines 
• Jager-Adams, M. (2010). Advancing our students language and literacy: The challenge of complex text.  American Educator,   34:4, 3-11.
• What does text complexity mean for English learners and language minority students? By Lily Wong Fillmore and Charles J. Fillmore
• A Discussion of Increasing Text Complexity By Karin Hess and Sue Biggam, 2004
• Examining Three Assumptions about Text Complexity by Elfrieda H Hiebert and Katie Van Sluys
• 5 Easy Strategies for Increasing Text Complexity by Barbara R. Blackburn:   Eye on Education
• 7 Actions that Teachers Can Take Right Now: Text Complexity by By Elfrieda H. Hiebert Text Project & the University of California, Santa Cruz