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Teaching Content to English Learners in the Era of the Common Core Standards

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were released in 2010 (for mathematics, English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects). These new standards set high benchmarks for what K–12 students need to know to compete in a global, knowledge-based economy (Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010; Hanushek, Peterson, & Woessmann, 2012). The standards, adopted by 45 states, require students to demonstrate high levels of competency in literacy skills. For example, the CCSS require all students to demonstrate critical thinking skills when processing texts of different lengths and levels of complexity, to extract important concepts from a large amount of print and digital media, to explain their point of view based on evidence, and, while doing so, to meet the standards already established by content-area experts in mathematics, science, social studies, and other disciplines. It has been pointed out that the standards are intended to increase students’ ability to handle complex texts (Hiebert & Mesmer, 2013). Due to this specific change alone, it will be challenging for all students throughout the nation to demonstrate the levels of academic competency defined by the CCSS. Furthermore, the emphasis on text complexity has consequences for a subgroup of the student population, English learners (ELs), whose English proficiency may be limited and who will be required to demonstrate complex literacy and content skills that are highly dependent upon language ability. ELs might demonstrate limited proficiency levels in academic English and native language literacy skills due to a wide range of factors, including educational opportunities in their native country or in the United States, the quality of schooling they have received in the United States, and so on.