Except, I just spoke with two educators last night, one a college professor and the other a high school teacher, about this very topic and both assured me they still teach literature.

I'm not sure how the college professor is relevant. Common Core doesn't apply to colleges. So you spoke to one relevant teacher and used that to determine the effects of Common Core? I don't mean to be rude, but it's extremely careless to draw conclusions based on such. I'm in high school every day, and I talk frequently to numerous teachers. I use Common Core daily. I have a much clearer picture of the impact of CCSS than you do.

As for what you quoted: There are a number of problems. One, it's from CCSS's website, so it is of course going to promote itself. Second, it doesn't discuss what one finds in Common Core materials and tests. Third, it largely proves my point: "However, because college and career readiness overwhelmingly focuses on complex texts outside of literature..." It starts with the assumption that the purpose of education should be to turn a person into a worker drone. Fourth, the text mentions literature, but it doesn't mention how literature is taught under Common Core. Common Core uses, almost exclusively, new criticism. There's nothing wrong with the new crit school, which excludes the reader, and states that only the text exists. A new crit reader looks only for evidence, not text-to-self connections or the social impact of literature. That's fine, but it is not the only school. Reader-response theory and feminist theory, off the top of my head, are two schools of thought that emphasize the individualized reading process more than the inviolability of the text. Just because they are not among the most popular mechanisms right now doesn't make them illegitimate. And it's OK to teach new crit. It's not OK to ignore other methods of reading -- especially if we're supposed to be differentiating for all learners.

Literature isn't taught simply because it gets one ready to work. It creates a rounded human being. We read in multiple ways for many reasons. Common Core ignores this fact, and admits as such. We don't read to grow as people in Common Core because it doesn't serve the purpose of turning a child into an alienated worker drone.

I am, however, grateful that, for now, it prevents schools from deviating from the core enough to teach religious myths and political lies as facts.

I'm not sure why you think CCSS prevents these things, or if it does, why it is needed to do so.