Publishers Are Aligning to the CCSS

Last week, EdWeek ran an article about a study by two professors evaluating whether commonly used K-12 textbooks are aligned to the CCSS.  Though the study has not yet been released, the article seems to suggest that the professors found none of the textbooks to be suitably aligned.  I applaud the authors of the study and the article for cautioning …

Read more

WARNING – Poor Instructional Decisions Cause Failure

This is the time of the year when all hands are on deck to help struggling students achieve. We, as educators, have a tendency during the crunch time before state testing to work harder and faster but not always smarter. Due to this sense of urgency, teachers often give students stacks of worksheets designed in the same format as the …

Read more

ING Unsung Heroes Programs Provides Funding for Innovative Teaching

The ING Unsung Heroes Program recognizes K-12 educators who are innovative in the classroom and positively influence students.  The program provides 100 educators statewide with grants of $2,000 grants each year to implement creative projects in schools or school systems. The top three finalists receive awards of $27,000, $12,000, and $7,000. All K-12 educators working full-time in an accredited public …

Read more

Trust But Let Learning List Verify

A recent post on EdWeek’s Digital Education blog underscores the value of Learning List’s service verifying publisher-provided alignments to the Common Core State Standards. In the post, Benjamin Herold reports on current research indicating that many instructional materials that claim to be aligned to the CCSS are only “modestly” aligned.  His post cites research results indicating that many CCSS-aligned instructional …

Read more

New Perspectives

Recently, I presented to a group of school board members and a superintendent. The superintendent made the following observation that I’ve been chewing on since our meeting. In his opinion, instructional materials increasingly are geared towards teachers, rather than students, and, specifically, towards making teachers’ jobs easier. Most people think that’s a good thing; he does not. Teacher editions typically …

Read more

Ensuring Instructional Materials Are Aligned to the CCSS

Catherine Gewertz’s recent Edweek column, New Tools Gauge Fidelity of Lessons to Common Core, summarizes current efforts to ensure that instructional materials are aligned to the Common Core State Standards.  Not surprisingly, the column mentions Learning List as one new tool to help educators “size up” instructional materials and their alignment to the CCSS.    

How to Use Online Instructional Materials Effectively – Part 2 – Personalized Learning

As educators seek ways to improve student learning and decrease the dropout rate, individualized learning or what many now call personalized learning is taking the stage in the mainstream classroom.  If used correctly, personalized learning may provide students with the specific instruction that meets their needs and thus improves their achievement. In the ASCD INFObrief, “The Building Blocks of High …

Read more

CEOs Push for Cheaper Broadband for Schools

In this morning’s New York Times, Quentin Hardy reports in the Bits blog on a push by the non-profit group EductaionSuperHighway to change the way the Federal Communications Commission provides broadband to schools.  With the support of 40 executives, including the CEOs of American Express, Dell, Ebay, and Facebook, EducationSuperHighway has written a letter to the FCC demanding greater transparency …

Read more

Learning List Steps Up

Increasingly, policy groups and thought leaders are pointing to the need for a resource, such as Learning List, that provides objective reviews of instructional materials.  They assert that the need for independent, objective reviews has increased (1) as new instructional materials are introduced to support Common Core implementation, and (2) as more states deregulate their instructional materials markets and allow …

Read more

Why Should You Visit Learning List’s Booth at TASA Mid-Winter?

Learning List doubles/triples/quadruples the capacity of your district’s curriculum staff. Tools on LearningList.com make it easy for curriculum directors to identify products (state-adopted, non-adopted, open-source) that address 100% of the TEKS.  Learning List helps superintendents and board presidents comply with the 100% Rule. Campus Leadership Teams can use Learning List’s alignment reports to design TEKS-aligned curriculum maps and lesson plans for each instructional material …

Read more

©2024 Learning List
Privacy Policy | Methodology

Learning List, 3575 Far West Blvd. Ste. 29571
Austin, TX 78731 | PH: 512.234.4458