CommonLit The Library
CommonLit is a free collection of fiction and nonfiction for 3rd-12th grade classrooms. Search and filter our collection by lexile, grade, theme, genre, literary device, or common core standard.
Making college matter
Leo M. Lambert and Peter Felten
Leo M. Lambert and Peter Felten discuss how students can make their time in college matter.
The Race Factor in Trying Juveniles as Adults
Jennifer L. Eberhardt & Aneeta Rattan
Jennifer L. Eberhardt and Aneeta Rattan discuss the impact that race has on sentencing juvenile offenders.
Excerpts from "The Perils of Obedience"
Stanley Milgram summarizes and discusses the experiments he conducted in 1963 regarding human obedience.
Rethinking One of Psychology's Most Infamous Experiments
Cari Romm reexamines Milgram’s shocking experiments regarding human obedience.
Making college more affordable: more than one funder has to step up
Jill Tiefenthaler, President of Colorado College, discusses how different funders could help make college more affordable.
Why double-majors might beat you out of a job
Matthew J. Mayhew and Benjamin S. Selznick
Matthew J. Mayhew and Benjamin S. Selznick discuss why employers are interested in double-majors.
The Cost of Prison in Dollars and Lives
Michael P. Jacobson
Michael P. Jacobson discusses the punishment and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders.
Animal emotions stare us in the face — are our pets happy?
Mirjam Guesgen discusses how one day we might be able to understand our pets’ facial expressions with an app.
Five reasons why being kind makes you feel good — according to science
Jo Cutler, Robin Banerjee
Jo Cutler and Robin Banerjee discuss why being kind makes us feel good.
Life of a North Korean
Fyodor Tertitskiy describes the life of North Koreans from birth to legal adulthood.
Judge sentences youth offenders to chess, with promising results
Monique Sedgwick, Jeffrey MacCormack, and Lance Grigg
Researchers discuss the potential benefits of youth offenders participating in a chess program.
“Help Him Up!”: A Witness’s Account of Panic on a Subway Platform
A reporter describes witnesses’ reactions to a man falling onto New York City subway tracks.
I Got Myself Arrested So I Could Look Inside the Justice System
Bobby Constantino got himself arrested to see how the justice system operated from the inside.
What is a vaccine?
Lindsey Konkel describes what a vaccine is and how it works.
Jackie Kennedy Onassis: An Icon for the Ages
Shelby Ostergaard discusses Jackie Kennedy Onassis, the former First Lady of the United States.
How far away was that lightning?
Becky Bolinger discusses how you can tell how far away lightning is.
Carl Stoffers discusses how the justice system handles juvenile offenders.
Milgram experiment on obedience
In 1963 Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment to test human obedience in response to authority figures.
The American Criminal Justice System
Rachel Slivnick discusses the state of America’s criminal justice system.