5 Tips for Using Materials Strategically to Close Learning Gaps

Selecting materials to remediate students' learning gaps can be a daunting task. If you have access to multiple materials, and you are feeling overwhelmed by the choices, here are five tips to help you identify which of your current materials to use and how to use them effectively to address your students' learning gaps. 

(1) Use available assessment data to identify your students' learning gaps.

(2) Identify the state standards associated with those learning gaps.

(3) Identify the materials you have available. Then, use the publisher's correlations for each material to identify which material addresses those specific standards.

(4) Select one or more of those materials and check citations (i.e., lessons, activities, quizzes) listed in the publisher's correlation for alignment to the content, context, and cognitive rigor of each of those standards.

• If you originally used a particular resource to teach those standards, you may use the same resource to address learning gaps, provided you choose different citations from that resource when re-teaching the standards.

(5) Use the aligned citations in the material(s) you have selected to reteach the content and/or skills your students did not learn the first time.

• The citations you select must be aligned to the standards your students are struggling with to ensure that the material will help close students' learning gaps.

If your district subscribes to Learning List, our alignment comparison tool makes it easy to compare the alignment of your current materials and identify which material(s) is/are aligned to the standards your students are struggling with.

Our alignment reports are downloadable to help teachers import aligned citations into curriculum documents, lesson plans, or IEPs.

About Learning List

Learning List offers curriculum support services for schools and districts. Through our affordable subscription-based instructional materials review service, educators gain access to comprehensive evaluations of alignment, quality, and technology compatibility for thousands of widely used K–12 instructional resources. To learn more about our services, contact info@LearningList.com