While federal policies such as NCLB, IDEA, and ESSA have placed increased accountability on states to deliver instruction aligned to the grade-level mathematics standards for all students, teaching functional skills to students with significant intellectual disabilities remains a predominant practice. The purpose of this study was to explore…

Curriculum is the core of the classroom experience, but what makes a quality curriculum? What lessons, learning experiences, and assessments are most effective, and how should they be embedded within the curriculum? The answers to these and other questions appear in this definitive, step-by-step guide. Drawing from her work with teachers and…

This dissertation takes a close look at how district-level instructional coaches support teachers in learning to shifting their instructional practice, related to the Next Generation Science Standards. This dissertation aims to address how re-structuring professional development to a job-embedded coaching model supports individual teacher learning…

In the ongoing effort to improve instructional standards in our nation's urban public schools, the Council of the Great City Schools has released resources to help districts determine the quality and alignment of instructional materials at each grade level; to ensure that materials for English language learners are rigorous and aligned to district…

Is the Common Core really "dead"? Though no longer called the Common Core in our three study states, the "new" college-and-career readiness standards still guide much of education policy in Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky. In our new feature article in "Educational Researcher," lead author Dr. Laura Desimone, along with…

Since 1999 South African learners have participated in various international studies but sadly the learners have continued to perform dismally, which brings to question the quality of their education. Meanwhile, Singaporean students have been among the top achievers in all these competitions. Many comparative studies have been done between…

British Columbia (BC) has experienced a significant teacher shortage for years. While every region of the province is impacted, rural and remote communities have experienced a worsening shortage especially during the pandemic. Additionally, there is a critical shortage of specialist teachers across the province. This Education Brief outlines five…

The 2007 Bondar Report, "Shaping Our Schools, Shaping Our Future," generated a vision for environmental curricula in Ontario. It has been the basis for the mandated framework introduced in 2009 by the Ministry of Education for environmental education (EE) in all Ontario schools. Based on our research and personal reflections, this paper…

Dr. William Alexander, a noted curriculum authority and a central founder of the middle school movement, shared in a presentation in 1963 that teachers must have a goal of stimulating a "love for learning, an attitude of inquiry, a passion for truth and beauty, a questioning of mind." He asserted, "Learning the right answers is not…

The Native American Needs Assessment Action Plan is designed to assist educators and administrators in addressing the needs and areas of possible opportunity that have been identified through the annual Native American Needs Assessment conducted by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. The Action Plan is organized around areas of need…

This article recounts some of the motivations, hurdles, and successes the Cuyamaca ESL Department in San Diego encountered while transforming its curriculum to an accelerated model. The college discovered that the new program, while challenging, increased the success and rate of passing among its language learners and improved the quality of their…

With increasing numbers of students receiving gifted services every year, it is more important than ever to make certain we are meeting their unique learning needs in the classroom. Differentiated instruction for these learners must go beyond adjusting content levels, task complexity, or product choice--it must truly challenge and support learners…

This paper explores the challenges for teachers in positioning them as independent curriculum makers. History teachers in New Zealand have recently entered uncharted territory with the abandonment of prescribed topics for history and a new-found authority to determine the selection of historical knowledge taught to their senior secondary students.…

Focusing on the science knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge that teachers need to realize the vision of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in their classrooms, this article presents findings from efforts to (a) adapt existing criteria and design heuristics for educative features of curriculum materials and apply them in the…

This Framework is built upon the foundation of the 2010 "Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts and Literacy," as well as earlier versions of the "Massachusetts English Language Arts Frameworks" published since 1997. The current Framework incorporates improvements suggested by Massachusetts educators after…