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Standards committee refines reading wording; clarifies 'retell' vs. 'recall' and 'central idea' terminology
Summary
Committee members revised multiple reading standards to improve vertical alignment, recommended glossary definitions for 'retell/recount/recall' and agreed to use central‑idea language consistently across middle and high school, while asking staff to align K–5 wording.
A State Board standards committee spent several hours reviewing proposed wording changes to the reading standards, focusing on two recurring issues raised in public and teacher feedback: (1) whether the committee should use "retell / recount / recall" and how to define those terms across grades, and (2) whether to use "main idea" or "central idea" in vertical progression.
Lede: The committee agreed to standardize language and asked staff to prepare glossary and standards‑guide text that (a) defines the difference between retell/recount/recall and (b) uses a single phrase for the top‑level idea (adopting "central idea" through the upper grades), with K–5 phrasing to be clarified for classroom use.
Nut graf: Teachers and TDOE staff said inconsistent phrasing has caused confusion in classrooms and instructional materials. The committee directed staff to produce precise glossary definitions and to make small wording adjustments in the draft standards to ensure a clear, grade‑by‑grade progression for comprehension tasks.
Key actions and decisions - Retell/recount/recall: Committee members heard extensive public feedback that those three words had overlapping but not identical meanings. The committee decided to keep "retell/recount" phrasing in elementary literature standards but to prepare a glossary entry that explicitly distinguishes the terms and shows the intended grade‑by‑grade expectations (for example: kindergarten—retell key events; grade 2—recount essential elements in sequence; middle grades—use textual evidence for summary and inference). The committee asked standards staff to draft the glossary text for review. - Central idea vs. main idea: Committee members agreed to use "central idea" as the preferred term at the middle and high school bands and to align earlier grades where appropriate. Staff were directed to update references so that the vertical progression uses consistent terminology (main idea / central idea were used inconsistently in the earlier draft). - Figurative language and alignment: Members were asked to tighten vertical alignment for vocabulary instruction across K–12 (for example, specifying that early grades focus on similes and basic idioms and higher grades add multiple types of figurative or domain‑specific meanings). Teachers had asked that technical meanings be framed as "discipline‑specific" language in the standards guide rather than as a separate, unclear category.
Why it matters: The clarifications will affect instructional materials, lesson planning and teacher training. Several teachers on the committee said consistent terminology, plus an explicit glossary, will reduce teacher preparation time and make it less likely classrooms will interpret the same standard differently across districts.
Next steps Standards staff will produce: (1) a glossary section defining retell / recount / recall and giving examples at each grade band; (2) a consistent set of references replacing “main idea” with “central idea” at the middle/high bands; and (3) suggested exemplars for figurative and discipline‑specific word meaning across grades. The committee assigned members to monitor the TDOE feedback threads on these points and to review the updates at the next meeting.
Speakers (attribution whitelist) - Miss Singletary, Committee member (unknown) - Miss Winters, Committee member (unknown) - Dr. Stout, Committee member / staff participant (unknown) - Vice Chair Hilliard, Vice Chair (government)
Clarifying details - Glossary task: staff will draft definitions for retell/recount/recall and for 'central idea' and circulate to the committee for review by the next meeting. - Vertical alignment: committee requested a grade‑by‑grade mapping showing where (and how) the standards introduce figurative language (examples requested: simile/metaphor in 4–5, idiom/proverb added at upper elementary, more complex figurative/figurative references at middle school).
Ending Committee members agreed the textual edits are editorial but crucial for teachers; they asked staff to return an annotated draft that shows the precise wording changes together with glossary text and examples.
