Text Complexity: What Is It, How Is It Measured, and, After All, Why Is It Important?

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

This Reading Hall of Fame session purpose is to theorize and critically examine a significant literacy research and measurement issue brought to the fore nationally in the recently released Common Core State Standards (CCCS) Initiative—text complexity. Objectives of the session are to: a) explore a theory of text complexity; b) critique the construct as defined in the CCSS; c) consider implications for text complexity measurement, d) point to needed research, and d) critically examine implications of the construct definition for educational, policy, and political contexts surrounding the construct and its measurement. Three permeating questions will lend coherence to the presentations: What makes a text complex; how should complexity be measured; and why should we care about text complexity?

Sub Unit

• SIG-Research in Reading and Literacy

Chair

• Peter P. Afflerbach, University of Maryland - College Park

Papers

• Text Complexity: Toward Construct Definition Through Epistemological Analysis - Jill Fitzgerald, MetaMetrics and UNC Emerita

• Contrasting Views on Increasing Capacity for Complex Text: Common Core State Standards and Jeanne Chall - Elfrieda H. Hiebert, University of California - Santa Cruz

• Structural Approaches to the Analysis of Text Complexity - Robert Calfee, Stanford University

• A Proposal for New Comprehension Assessments: Addressing Issues of Text Complexity and Reading Process - Sheila Valencia, University of Washington; Karen K. Wixson, University of North Carolina - Greensboro

Discussant

• Peter P. Afflerbach, University of Maryland - College Park