High-quality K-12 instructional materials can meaningfully improve teaching practice and student achievement, especially when paired with professional learning support. Yet state policymakers have usually left ultimate authority for textbook selection to school district leaders. Consequently, the quality of materials across U.S. classrooms and…

Through extensive research, the Foundation has identified the most critical levers for success in the classroom -- high standards, high-quality feedback, and effective tools -- and worked with teachers to develop, test, and strengthen them. This report describes what we know about these factors, why they are important, and what we need to learn,…

The following profiles address how the state departments of education are supporting local educators in classroom implementation of the Common Core by providing and/or facilitating the development of instructional resources and materials aligned to the new standards. In order for instructional resources and materials to be aligned to the Common…

To date, 44 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Achieve has prepared this planning document to help all states in the American Diploma Project Network (ADP) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) consortium engage educators in the essential work of…

The Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) incorporates challenging literacy standards into middle grades and high school content areas within a variety of academic disciplines, not just English/language arts courses. The Mathematics Design Collaborative (MDC) provides schools with instructional tools needed to help teachers understand and implement…

The Future Educators Association[R] (FEA), sponsored by Phi Delta Kappa International, convened a group of distinguished education leaders to discuss the nature of teaching and learning in the year 2020. The year 2020 was selected because today's middle school students involved in FEA programs will begin teaching 11 years from now. The group was…

In this article, the author presents a listing of Web resources which showcases sites created by school districts to support staff use of available technologies. These include Online Technology Tutorials from the Kent School District, Tips and Tutorials from the Kenton County (Kentucky) Schools Office of Instructional Technology, and Teacher…

This paper summarizes information from interviews with four states regarding their Universal Design for Learning (UDL) initiatives, i.e., state or regional level efforts to promote the principles and practices of UDL via professional development or the production and/or dissemination of universally designed instructional materials. Discussion of…

The Sex Equity Workshops for Adult Education Teachers Project was designed to provide eight training sessions for part-time and full-time instructors of adult education in Jefferson County, Kentucky. The project, which was funded through the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Act, was intended to help staff examine their own personal attitudes about sex…

This description of a three year project of services to educators by the Kentucky Department of Education Materials Center includes the current collections, future collections, and the anticipated procedures necessary to provide optimum service and best utilize those materials. The plan involves better coordination between the three major…

Describes the Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP), a program in Kentucky that teaches students about technology so they can help troubleshoot and maintain school technology, help teachers create lessons and projects, and train fellow students, teachers, and others to use hardware and software. Discussions mission and goals of STLP;…

The Commission to Study the Future of Community Colleges in Kentucky was established in 1988 to review the accomplishments of the Kentucky Community College System (KCCS) and to provide direction for the KCCS towards the year 2000. Developed as part of a collection of reports on the KCCS for use by the Commission in its work, this report provides…

The Older Worker Readiness Program, a demonstration program funded by the Kentucky Department for Employment Services during 1987-88, developed three centers to provide a combination of job search skills and literacy skills for individuals over 54 who want to enter the work force. A job placement component eventually was put in place for…

A project was conducted to develop and field test comptency-based modules of a Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) Student Manual, to write a descriptive report about the process of developing the manual, and to evaluate both these products and the infusion process through descriptive research. Following development, 11 modules were…

The 1980-81 Jefferson County (Kentucky) Adult Reading Program served 601 students functioning below 6.0 grade level during the 1980-81 year. The project's instructional methods and materials were developed based on the experiences of the program for the previous two years. The program was considered a success not only from the viewpoint of the…