In our recent work on cognitive complexity, we came to the question of whether the ELA construct is really two constructs or is one united construct? Norman Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (wDOK) breaks out the reading construct from the writing construct, and some tests report separate writing scores from reading scores. On the other hand, other content areas report just a single score.
We were — and still are — unsure how to proceed.
The reading process often feels different and distinct from the writing process. The 3R’s lists them separately. But we know that no one can learn to write without reading — and cannot write well without doing a lot of reading.
On the other hand, if you look at the the first Anchor Standards for both the Common Core State Standards for reading and for writing, you see that CCSS links reading and writing from the beginning.
CCSS-L’s first Anchor Standard for Reading:
Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. [emphasis added]
CCSS-L’s first Anchor Standard for Writing:
Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. [emphasis added]
Reading and writing are incredibly intertwined — especially in CCSS with its emphasis on writing about text. Beyond the route to skill acquisition I mentioned above, reading and writing remain incredibly intertwined even through the most advanced application of the various reading and writing skills — and are even usually particularly intertwined in the most advanced applications of these skills.
In fact, we believe that assessment of reading skills — certainly at the middle and upper grades — is best done through writing. Perhaps the most basic sorts of reading comprehension (e.g., literal or surface meaning of a text that is disconnected from broader contexts) can be well assessed without authentic writing. However, even at the middle grades, real display of reading skills — especially the most important grade appropriate reading skills — occurs when test takers’ understanding of the text is wielded in their writing.
While some of CCSS’s writing standards do not require writing about text, generally Common Core’s writing standards presume that most academic writing would be about text — which means writing about reading.
Reading is best assessed through writing and writing is quite often supposed to be about reading.
Now, we still think that these two strongly linked constructs are, nonetheless, two (not entirely distinct) constructs. They are linked through reasoning in many tasks, but there are some cognitive processes that are particular to each of them. However, eliciting high quality evidence of middle and upper grade reading skills seems quite unlikely without writing tasks. And Common Core’s standards strong preference for writing about reading meaning making eliciting high quality evidence about writing quite unlikely without reading tasks.
Which, of course, leaves us quite troubled.