Common Core

Schools around the country are preparing to adopt the Common Core State Standards, a national set of educational expectations for all students.  These standards will impact both school curricula as well as school library collections, but they will also have implications for public library collections as youth services librarians often provide materials for school children. The Common Core calls for students to read a “diverse array of classic and contemporary literature as well as challenging informational texts in a range of subjects.”  The Common Core Standards name many of these works, and librarians should be aware of them.  Unfortunately, while the list includes excellent titles, many of them have old copyrights, and may be difficult to find.  Here’s the list of supplemental titles for the English Language Arts standard (See Appendix B).  You can also download the entire set of standards on the homepage, which includes the core titles recommended by the standards committee.