CCRStandardsAdultEd

APPENDIX C. RATIONALES FOR THE SELECTION OF THE COMMON CORE 108
Rationales for Selecting Writing Standards
While panelists gave narrative writing (Writing Standard 3) prominence in the
beginning levels of adult education, by the time students reach Levels D or E,
narrative writing gives way to writing arguments (Writing Standard 1), writing to
inform and explain (Writing Standard 2), and writing to sources (Writing Standard 9).
Several stakeholders wondered why the narrative writing standard had not been
selected up through high school. As panelists noted, writing arguments and writing to
inform and explain have enormous relevance in the workplace; writing narratives do
not. Their decisions were supported by overpowering data from college faculty and
employers about the importance of expository writing—almost all faculty in the EPIC
survey rated these as more or most important. 25
The panel’s selections require students not only to show that they can analyze and
synthesize sources, but also to present careful analyses, well-defended claims, and
clear information in their writing (Writing Standards 4 and 5). Again, almost all of the
data included in the reference documents rated these standards as important. Panelists
also included a standard requiring students to produce, present, and exchange
information using technology, including the Internet (Writing Standard 6). Employers
specifically noted the importance of students’ ability to retrieve, access, and evaluate
digital sources of information and use technology to organize, share information, and
give and receive feedback. Finally, panelists selected the three CCSS research
standards—short, focused projects that include gathering, synthesizing, and drawing
evidence from texts—citing them as commonly required in the workplace and
important in much college instruction that asks students routinely to develop answers
to questions (Writing Standards 7–9). Both the college faculty survey and the
employer survey gave high marks to this content. While panel members expressed
some concerns about the amount of time that could be devoted to research in adult
education classes, on balance they recommended that this standard was worth the
time and could easily be integrated with other standards.
Panelists declined to select Writing Standard 10, which calls for routine writing,
stating that it was more an instructional strategy than a standard.
Rationales for Selecting Speaking and Listening Standards
Panelists cited the ability to work effectively in collaborative teamwork settings and
articulate one’s thoughts and ideas clearly and coherently (Speaking and Listening
Standard 1) as critical to college and work. Data from the employer survey stressed
the value of collaborating effectively with diverse people from different backgrounds
25 Data from surveys of college faculty and employers show that they rate narrative writing as unimportant compared with other
standards, so panelists chose not to extend narrative writing in its final analysis.