Open Up the Ceiling on the Common Core State Standards: Preparing Students for 21st‐Century Literacy—Now

Abstract The Common Core State Standards Initiative is the latest effort to reform education through standards. This article examines how the Standards promise to prepare students for the changing world of the 21st century, yet do not consider the changing nature of literacy—especially the centrality of the Internet as a 21st century text, and online reading comprehension as a problem‐based experience. States and districts have begun to adopt and adjust the Common Core Standards as their own. This article seeks to inform teachers' understanding of the Common Core State Standards, so they can be active players in shaping literacy education based on the Standards.