Posts about instructional materials trends
A recent Gallup poll of superintendents reported that 45 percent of respondents intended to make budget cuts during the upcoming school year. The respondents commented that they intended to make cuts in the areas of operations and maintenance, instruction, salary and wages, and administration. Note: A full copy of the survey results is available here. Given the deep cuts districts …
Today, Learning List released market insights drawn from hundreds of alignment verifications we have completed. Although Learning List reviews both comprehensive and supplemental instructional materials, this analysis only included materials that publishers claimed to be aligned to 100% of the relevant standards. Learning List’s Subject Matter Experts (experienced educators) found that, on average, those materials were aligned to: 87% of Common Core …
As 1-to-1 and BYOD* initiatives proliferate in K12 education across the country, keyboarding skills increasingly are taking precedence over handwriting instruction in elementary school classrooms. In June, Scientific American cited a 2014 study by psychologists at the University of California Los Angeles and Princeton found that college students who took notes using longhand had better retention and understanding of lecture information than students who took notes on laptops. In light of these findings, educators may want to seek a balance between instruction in keyboarding and handwriting skills, particularly in the elementary grades.
Today, the Texas Attorney General issued the much-anticipated opinion GA 1067, addressing “Use of the Common Core State Standards Initiative by Texas school districts to teach state standards.” We were among the sources asked whether the AG’s opinion prohibits Texas school districts from purchasing instructional materials aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The Austin American-Statesman has a brief article …
During June 2-4, several hundred representatives from publishing companies, EdTech companies and other educational service providers will be gathering for the Content in Context (CIC) Conference in the Capital Hilton in Washington. D.C. ; as the learning resource industry changes at an exponential pace, CIC is the premier event for presenting preK-12 strategies and advice to develop quality education content …
One of the ironies we are seeing at Learning List is that although most publishers are selling online instructional materials, most districts still request materials that are also available in print. Why? These are the three reasons we hear most often: (1) Schools don’t have the technical infrastructure to enable all students to be online simultaneously; (2) Teachers are not …
Research has increasingly shown that many children from low-income homes arrive at school with weaker language skills than their more affluent peers, and that early gaps in literacy are difficult to close and frequently predict lower academic outcomes as students progress through school. Recognition of the importance of early literacy has fueled the push for government funded pre-K programs for …
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 …
Yesterday afternoon, KERA broadcast Trey Kay’s radio documentary about the culture wars surrounding Texas’ public school curriculum. The Long Game: Texas’ Ongoing Battle for the Direction of the Classroom provides a rigorous and balanced exploration of the controversies surrounding what is taught in Texas public schools. As Kay reports: For more than a half a century, citizens of the Lone …
The State Board of Education today adopted a list of 405 science, math and technical application instructional materials, 303 of which state review panels determined to be 100 percent aligned to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). The remaining 102 state-adopted products are aligned to between 50 and 100 percent of the TEKS. How are you going to review all of the available products to determine which are best for your students? Learning List can help!
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