Here's what your 10th-graders will be tested on under Common Core: Ovid

[HereSince1628]

111. I don't think this is a teaching to the test issue...because the nature of the assessement

actually requires object novelty in the text passage in order for the exam to be interpreted as only reading skills.

I do think that passages used in a reading test must be examined for appropriateness. And I do recognize that appropriateness is less sensitive to reading ability than the political culture of the educational system in which the test is implemented.

From the perspective of proper test making...whether or not a disturbing passage should be on a 10th grade reading assessment depends first upon what skill is being tested. Not being bowled over by the emotionality of a topic is generally not something that is tested at the 10th grade level. So, avoiding topics which could bias some students capacity to respond to the exam on a facet that is outside the assessment is something that I would expect test makers to avoid.

I can imagine passages on such a test that discuss solving the potato famine in Ireland by eating Irish babies. Swift's "Modest Proposal" essay would test a variety of advanced reading skills AND also test the students' ability to detect indications of a literary tool called IRONY (a fundamental reading skill that I can say after 10 years experience is apparently often missing among a significant number of DUers)

On the otherhand, although it is completely worthy of 10th grade consideration, I can imagine passages from Catcher in the Rye would be strenuously avoided because it would interfere with the marketability of the exam to many school districts.