The Literacy Implementation Guidance for the ELA Common Core State Standards white paper, issued by the IRA Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Committee, offers detailed guidance on seven issues that have proven enormously challenging to teachers, principals, administrators, and others who are charged with implementing the CCSS for English Language Arts.

• "A Primary Grade Science Unit Using the Language Arts/Literacy Common Core State Standards" by Lesley Mandel Morrow
• "Planning Curriculum to Meet the Common Core State Standards" by Dorothy Strickland
• "The Common Core's Staircase of Text Complexity: Getting the Size of the First Step Right" by Elfrieda H. Hiebert
• "Common Core Standards: Are We Going to Lower the Fences or Teach Kids to Climb?" by Tim Shanahan
• "Common Core State Standards: Approaching the Assessment Issue" by Richard Long
• "Kentucky Leads the U.S. in Implementing Common Core Standards" by Brenda Overturf

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In IRA’s Members-Only section, you’ll find exclusive columns from professional development authors such as IRA Board Member Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Diane Lapp. The following columns examine various elements of the CCSS—and help deepen your understanding of them.

• Rigorous Real-World Teaching and Learning: Teaching Students to Closely Read Texts: How and When? by Diane Lapp with Barbara Moss, Kelly Johnson, and Maria Grant (Fall 2012)
• Engaging the Adolescent Learner: Text-Dependent Questions by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey (April 2012)
• Rigorous Real-World Teaching and Learning: Navigating the Common Core State Standards by Diane Lapp with Julie B. Wise and Kelly Johnson (February 2012)
• Engaging the Adolescent Learner: Text Complexity and Close Readings by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey (January 2012)

To access the columns, log on to the Members-Only section of Reading.org. Select “Resources By Author” and use the drop-down menu to find the correct month. There you can print or download a PDF of each article.

Blog post: The Common Core State Standards for Literacy: How Do We Make Them Work?
Past IRA president Lesley Mandel Morrow poses questions about the CCSS in this thought-provoking blog post
(September 30, 2011).

Blog post: The Difference Between the 'What' and the 'How' of the Common Core
In this blog post, literacy specialist Lori DiGisi discusses some of the challenges she’s identified in terms of implementing the CCSS (August 17, 2011).

Teaching Tips: What Should Be Common in the Common Core State Standards?
Dr. Janet Allen (PLUGGED-IN TO READING) offers her thoughts on “finding and cultivating” the common ground when it comes to the CCSS (April 24, 2012).