ELA Guidebooks is an English language arts curriculum for core instruction. Made by teachers for teachers, the guidebook units ensure all students can read, understand, and express their understanding of complex, grade-level texts, ensuring their readiness for college or a career. Each text collection has a shared idea and contains authentic texts…

Common core standards, interdisciplinary education, and discipline-specific literacy are common international education reforms. The constructive-interpretative language arts pairs (speaking-listening, writing-reading, representing-viewing) and the communication, construction, and persuasion functions of language are central in these movements.…

In January 2007, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) inaugurated the Teacher Performance Pay Model, 2005-2006, becoming the first school district in the nation to implement a performance pay system of this magnitude based on individual teacher effectiveness. Improvements and enhancements were made to that model to form the district's…

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is creating next-generation assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language arts/literacy and mathematics. With more than 40 states implementing the CCSS, the Smarter Balanced assessment system will allow states to certify that students have the knowledge and skills to…

In January 2007, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) inaugurated the Teacher Performance Pay Model, 2005-2006, becoming the first school district in the nation to implement a performance pay system of this magnitude based on individual teacher effectiveness. Improvements and enhancements of that model became the "Recognize"…

Schools nationwide are transitioning to the Common Core--our advice to you: Be prepared, but don't go it alone! Our new book, "Common Core Literacy Lesson Plans: Ready-to-Use Resources, 9-12," shows you that teaching the Common Core State Standards in high school doesn't have to be intimidating! This easy-to-use guide meets the particular needs of…

The federal "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" (NCLB) legislation required school districts to ensure that all teachers of core academic subjects met the requirements to be designated highly qualified by July 1, 2006. However, because no Maryland counties were able to comply with the 100 percent highly qualified designation by July 1,…

Historically, teacher-assigned grades have been seen as unreliable subjective measures of academic knowledge, since grades and standardized tests have traditionally correlated at about the 0.5 to 0.6 level, and thus explain about 25-35% of each other. However, emerging literature indicates that grades may be a multidimensional assessment of both…

To support the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation invested in the development and dissemination of two tools aimed at operationalizing classroom instruction based on the standards: (1) the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC)'s Framework; and (2) the Math Design Collaborative (MDC)'s…

This technical report provides an overview of the New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSAA), including a description of the purpose of the NYSAA, the processes utilized to develop and implement the NYSAA program, and Stakeholder involvement in those processes. The purpose of this report is to document the technical aspects of the 2013-14 NYSAA.…

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in the development and dissemination of high-quality instructional and formative assessment tools to support teachers' incorporation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) into their classroom instruction. Lessons from the first generation of standards-based reforms suggest that intense…

Math experts developed Formative Assessment Lessons that teachers can incorporate throughout the year's curriculum. Both tools target the "instructional core." A study by Research for Action (RFA) examining the first year of piloting the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) and Math Design Collaborative (MDC) tools (2010-11) found…

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in the development and dissemination of instructional tools to support teachers' incorporation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) into their classroom instruction. Literacy experts have developed a framework and a set of templates that teachers and other educators can use to develop content…

Previous research on students with learning disabilities has indicated that they benefit most from explicit instruction. However, few studies have examined how explicit instruction may be translated to the logistical demands associated with large-group instruction in high school general education settings in ways that are socially acceptable to…

In 2010-11, the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) framework was piloted in six districts, a teacher network, and a network of schools. In most cases, school districts applied for and received grants to implement LDC; in others, regional intermediaries served as the grantee and as primary organizer of the work; and, in still others, national…