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What came first…the NAEP Chicken or the CCSS Egg?
In 2009, there were revisions to the reading content in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the “largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America’s students know and can do in various subject areas.” The revisions increased nonfiction reading.
In 2009, the development of the the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) as “a set of goals and expectations for the knowledge and skills students need in English language arts and mathematics at each grade level” was underway. An emphasis was placed on including nonfiction at all grade levels and in all disciplines.
Six years later, one of the anecdotal findings released from the 2015 NAEP is the increase in nonfiction assigned by teachers in both grades 4 & 8 . This information came from a voluntary survey where teachers could select the genre they emphasized in class “to a great extent.”
In 2015, fourth-grade teachers who had previously created a 25% point gap favoring fiction over nonfiction in 2011, led the reduction of fiction to 15% in 2013 and to single digit 8% in 2015.
Similarly, in eighth grade, the 34% preference for emphasizing fiction declined to 24% in 2013, and to 16% in 2015.
The Egg Hatches…and It Looks a Little Different
The truth is, all the emphasis on increasing nonfiction in schools at the expense of fiction has had an positive impact on the genre. An article in the October issue Publisher’s Weekly Moment of Truth: Trends in Nonfiction for Young Readers by Sophie McNeill offered comments from bookstore owners and librarians about the increased interest in factual prose:
Suzanna Hermans of Oblong Books & Music in Rhinebeck, New York who says,
“Common Core has raised awareness of kids’ nonfiction. We are seeing parents and teachers talking about it differently in home and at school.”
Sharon Grover, head of youth services at Hedberg Public Library in Janesville, Wisconsin, adds:
“Nonfiction has really improved in recent years. Books are more readable, with more pictures and less straight recitation of facts. Kids really appreciate that, since they have become used to reading websites and apps.”
The article also referred to the 21st Century Children’s Nonfiction Conference (2014) which advertised its aim “to display the verve and capabilities of nonfiction, and to show that it can be just as creative as fiction.”
Creative?
Verve?
All this added attention to increasing nonfiction appears having an impact on the genre itself, not only in the in quantity produced but also in the characteristics of nonfiction itself. While the nonfiction genre is generally understood to be based on real events, a statement by the Newbery Award-winning children’s nonfiction author Russell Freedman seems to blur those clear lines that the NAEP and Common Core have tried to separate as distinct. Freedman has stated:
“A nonfiction writer is a storyteller who has sworn an oath to tell the truth.”
Note the word storyteller?
Can truth be that objective?
Sounds a little like non-fiction is borrowing a little from the fiction genre playbook.
Eggs and Evolution
Whether it began with the NAEP Chicken or the CCSS egg, the pressure to emphasize nonfiction is like any other evolutionary force in nature. While the Common Core has fallen out of favor with many states, with at least 12 states introducing legislation to repeal the CCSS standards outright, the nonfiction genre is growing and responding and adapting under the current favorable conditions.
The reduction of fiction in favor of more readable nonfiction in grades 4 & 8, as evidenced by the NAEP survey, continues. The evolution of the nonfiction genre may increase readership as well, especially if engaging texts increase interest in reading in the content areas of history, social studies, science and the technical subject areas.
Today’s educators may break a few more fictional eggs, but the end result could be a better omelet.
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