Common Core State Standards

Everyday Literacy is an 100% Informational Text program that gives all students access to the same text, as encouraged by the Common Core State Standards. For additional alignments, please call 1-800-387-1437.

Research Base

Information is the currency of democracy.
~Thomas Jefferson

Why We Need More Everyday Text in Our Classrooms

Research suggests that in our complex, interconnected world, informational text may be the key to success in later schooling. In his chapter “The New World of Work and the Seven Survival Skills,” Tony Wagner (2007) identifies the sixth survival skill as “accessing and analyzing information.”

And, perhaps in recognition of this reality, the Common Core Standards call for more informational text than ever before, and, in response, districts around the country are ramping up their use of nonfiction and informational texts (Fertig, 2010). Plus, as our attention shifts to the so-called “new literacies”— civic, technological, global, economic, health, and environmental—and 21st century learning Everyday Literacy—Every Day 6 skills, which emphasize problem solving and collaboration (Trilling and Fadel, 2009)—we can draw on potent research that demonstrates the learning potential of informational text. When students read to find answers to their own questions about the world, they become engaged and motivated because they are searching for answers to issues that matter to them and—no surprise—they achieve or even exceed our instructional goals for them. (Guthrie, 2008).