WHAT RESEARCH SAYS ABOUT TEXT COMPLEXITY AND LEARNING TO READ

The CCSS framework indicates more difficult texts are to be used with students. However, the rationale for increasing text difficulty, decreasing text difficulty, is unsupported by the research that shows texts have been increasing in difficulty for at least 50 years. Oral reading accuracy is a traditional method of estimating text difficulty. For 70 years oral reading accuracy of at least 95% accuracy has been the accepted standard. The research available suggest that this traditional level of accuracy is supported by the evidence as optimal for developing reading proficiency.