Challenging Common Core the Research: A Reanalysis of Text Complexity

This study offers an independent analysis of third- and sixth-grade reading textbooks used throughout the past century.

Contrary to the authors of the English Language Arts component of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) – which builds a case for higher complexity in textbooks and reading materials for students by pointing to research showing a steady decline in the difficulty of student textbooks over the past 50 years – the authors find that text complexity actually has either risen or stabilized over this time.

This has serious implications for the justification of the CCSS, which has been adopted in all but a handful of states.

The authors studied books from 117 textbook series issued by 30 publishers between 1905 and 2004.