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Is your district looking for a way to improve students’ critical thinking and writing abilities? Take a look at Learning List’s reviews of ThinkCERCA for Practical Writing. ThinkCERCA is a supplemental literacy program that supports English language arts instruction for grades 3 -12. Learning List recently reviewed the material for high school Practical Writing. This fully digital program scaffolds instruction through close reading and academic writing.   The lessons for Practical Writing are a subset of the lessons for English language arts. The material organizes student learning around an academic writing process, using the CERCA framework, which consistently requires students to cite textual evidence to support their statements. The editorial review notes that the program differentiates instruction by student level and provides extensive practice for students who need support with critical reading and analytical writing. Learning List’s alignment report can support your teachers’ successful implementation of this product by identifying precisely to which standards the material is and is not aligned. Learning List has completed a standard-by-standard alignment report, qualitative review of the instructional content, and a review of the technology compatibility for each grade level covered by this material.  To learn more about this product and thousands more PreK-12 instructional materials, contact Learning List for subscription information,. About ThinkCERCA* ThinkCERCA’s personalized literacy platform helps educators teach critical thinking skills through argumentative writing. With students and teachers using its platform in all 50 states and 130 countries, the company has partnered with leaders in education, including Follett Corporation, and has been featured by The Atlantic and EdSurge. In a recent controlled study of 26 ed-tech tools by LEAP Innovations, ThinkCERCA was proven to help students achieve two years of academic growth per year on average. *Information in this section is provided by or adapted from ThinkCERCA.

Is your district looking for a way to improve students’ critical thinking and writing abilities? Take a look at Learning List’s reviews of ThinkCERCA for grades 9-12. ThinkCERCA is a supplemental literacy program that supports English language arts instruction for grades 3 -12. Originally submitted for state adoption, this product was withdrawn and submitted to Learning List for review instead.   This fully digital program scaffolds instruction through close reading and academic writing with the goal of developing students’ critical reading, writing, and thinking skills. The materialorganizes student learning around an academic writing process, using the CERCA framework. ThinkCERCA focuses heavily on authentic, informational text and critical writing. The program can be used as the core ELA material with supplemental resources or as supplemental material in ELA or other content areas. Learning List’s reviewers found that one strength of this material is how it is organized around themes based on current events. The themes and reading selections are engaging and help students make connections to the real world, to science and social studies content, and to current events. Since this product did not go through the state adoption process, Learning List completed an alignment review showing to which standards for English I-IV the material is and is not aligned. To learn more about this product and thousands more PreK-12 instructional materials, contact Learning List for subscription information. About ThinkCERCA* ThinkCERCA’s personalized literacy platform helps educators teach critical thinking skills through argumentative writing. With students and teachers using its platform in all 50 states and 130 countries, the company has partnered with leaders in education, including Follett Corporation, and has been featured by The Atlantic and EdSurge. In a recent controlled study of 26 ed-tech tools by LEAP Innovations, ThinkCERCA was proven to help students achieve two years of academic growth per year on average. *Information in this section is provided by or adapted from ThinkCERCA.

Are your teachers ready for new ELA materials for high school?  Take a look at Learning List’s reviews of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s (HMH) Into Literature. Into Literature is a comprehensive literacy program that supports English language arts instruction for grades 9 through 12. Content is available in print and digital formats. Instruction develops students’ reading, writing, listening, speaking, and thinking skills with learning activities that provide numerous opportunities and structures for effective group and partner work. The material integrates reading and writing instruction. An abundance of high-quality, thought provoking reading selections are provided.  Text sets for each unit correlate to numerous themes and topics. Formal writing instruction occurs at the end of units and generally serves as a culminating task. Into Literature supports a blended learning environment with numerous online tools and resources. Online teacher and student resources are housed in HMH's Ed: Your Friend in Learning platform.  A robust set of online teacher resources provide content knowledge, pedagogy, and implementation assistance. Successful implementation of this program will require time for professional learning and planning throughout the school year. Learning List has completed a standard-by-standard alignment report, instructional quality review, and a review of the technology compatibility for each grade level covered by this material.  To learn more about this product and thousands more PreK-12 instructional materials, contact Learning List for subscription information. About Houghton Mifflin Harcourt* Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is a global learning company committed to delivering integrated solutions that engage learners, empower educators and improve student outcomes. As a leading provider of K–12 core curriculum, supplemental solutions and professional learning services, HMH partners with educators and school districts to uncover solutions that unlock students’ potential and extend teachers’ capabilities. HMH serves more than 50 million students and 3 million educators in 150 countries, while its award-winning children's books, novels, non-fiction, and reference titles are enjoyed by readers throughout the world. Information in this section is provided by or adapted from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Is your district looking for a product that provides flexibility for teachers and choice for students?  Take a look at Learning List’s reviews of Savvas’s myPerspectives. Savvas’s myPerspectives is an English language arts program for grades 6-12.  Learning List has reviewed the materials for English I-IV.  The material focuses on making learning relevant for students and on developing skills to support college and career readiness. Most lessons focus on text analysis and writing to learn and demonstrate learning. Lessons encourage students to set goals, make choices, and reflect on their learning. Student choice is a key component of this product. Students are encouraged to make choices about reading material, writing topics, and activities. Reading, writing, listening, and speaking are seamlessly and consistently integrated throughout the materials. A substantial number of resources, including texts at varying levels and numerous differentiated activities, are available to support students with specific learning needs. Many of the student and teacher resources are part of the online platform, so access to the online resources for teachers and students is necessary to realize the full benefit of this program. Read Learning List’s full editorial review of MyPerspectives to learn more about the student learning experience with this product, the rigor of the instruction, the instructional models it supports and other critical attributes that will help you determine whether MyPerspectives will meet your students’ needs. Learning List has completed a qualitative review of the instructional content and a review of the technology compatibility for each grade level covered by this material.  To learn more about this product and thousands more PreK-12 instructional materials, contact Learning List for subscription information. About Savvas* Savvas provides expertise in educational courseware and assessment, and a range of teaching and learning services powered by technology. Savvas’s mission is to help people make progress through access to better learning. Bringing digital learning to school children worldwide, Savvas is helping to transform education with full-time online and blended schools, online courses, technology, and host of support services. With a focus on successful student outcomes, these programs deliver high-quality, highly personalized, and flexible learning experiences -- students are able to complete schoolwork when and where they learn best, 24/7. Information in this section is provided by or adapted from Savvas .

Learning List recently completed reviews of the instructional materials submitted for state adoption in Texas for the following courses: English I-IV, Practical Writing, Reading, Journalism, English Learner Language Arts (ELLA), and College Readiness and Study Skills (CRSS). We reviewed materials from eleven publishers for English I-IV, two publishers each for Journalism, College Readiness and Study Skills, and Practical Writing Skills, and one publisher each for Reading and ELLA (middle school). All reviews are published on the Learning List.com . Learning List reviewers noted the following seven trends in the materials reviewed for English I-IV. We did not review a sufficient number of materials for the ELA elective courses to observe trends. To varying degrees, most materials integrate reading, writing, listening, speaking, and thinking . The strongest materials reflect an intentional design that requires students to consistently think, write, and speak about the selections they have read. There are a few materials that focus more strongly on reading or on writing. Writing instruction is embedded as an integral part of the learning experience in most materials. Instruction often stresses writing for specific purposes and audiences. Writing assignments typically require students to write in order to learn and to process their thinking through writing often embedding some form of writing in each lesson. Formal writing instruction, including modeling and use of the writing process, is part of the strongest materials. Close reading is a primary instructional strategy for many of the materials. Most publishers include a diverse anthology, although there are some publishers that do not include reading materials. Reading selections are generally a mix of classics and modern texts, across genres and time periods. Some materials include qualitative and quantitative measures of text complexity. Some of the publishers have distinguished their materials by capturing the TEKS’ emphasis on student choice and independent reading . These materials provide numerous opportunities for students to make choices about their learning, their reading selections, and their writing topics. The majority of materials provide a level of rigor appropriate for most students by including questions and activities at all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy or DOK and a variety of options for differentiating instruction. Some of the materials include open-ended writing assignments, projects, or culminating tasks to develop and/or assess students’ critical and analytical thinking. These often require students to collaborate and to use the writing or speaking skills they are developing to present evidence of textual analysis or results of research. Most publishers have included resources to differentiate instruction . The most robust materials provide instructional resources and strategies, at point-of-use, to support teachers in meeting the instructional needs of all students (i.e., above-, on-, and below-level). Several materials include a comprehensive student and teacher dashboard that allows full digital access to the materials. In some cases, all resources are provided “at your fingertips” and are accessible on a variety of devices.  While educators can expect to see these trends in many of the materials submitted for state adoption, they are not present in all of the materials. Learning List’s editorial reviews distinguish each material, providing a qualitative analysis of the program’s strengths, instructional model, rigor, ease of use, adaptions for student populations, and teacher resources.  A technology review accompanies the editorial review to show with which devices and operating systems each materials is compatible with and provide other critical interoperability information. Learning List’s reviews will be published before the end of September. In October, the SBOE will release the List of Instructional Materials Eligible for Adoption Under Proclamation 2020. In Novembers the SOBE will take action regarding materials submitted under Proclamation 2020. In early December, the List of Instructional Materials adopted Under Proclamation 2020 will be posted on the TEA website.

Does your district have students who need to work at their own pace in English? Take a look at Learning List’s reviews of Edmentum’s Texas English I. Edmentum’s Texas English I is a fully digital, comprehensive program for English I.  The material provides a variety of activities to support students’ development of reading and writing skills. The goal of the program is to provide rigorous, relevant curriculum through interactive, media-rich content.   Students complete activities that are similar to those completed in traditional, face-to-face English classes, such as literary analysis, writing about reading selections, and collaborating with other students. The material requires the students to write for a wide variety of purposes and audiences. Learning List reviewers recognized the variety of high-quality reading selections, and the provision of all required reading selections as distinguishing features. They noted, however, that students have limited choice in their reading assignments. Read Learning List standard-by-standard alignment review to understand how this material is aligned to the TEKS, and see our full editorial review to see what teachers in the classroom thought about the instructional features of the program. Learning List has also completed a review of the material’s technology compatibility. To learn more about this product and thousands more PreK-12 instructional materials, contact Learning List for subscription information. About Edmentum* Edmentum’s Courseware is a standards-based online learning program grounded in a tradition research, pedagogy, and innovation. Edmentum develops curriculum that challenges students with a 21st century approach - engaging them with interactive, media-rich content. Whether students are falling behind, at grade level, or advanced, Edmentum accommodates their unique needs in an environment in which they will thrive. Courseware can be used in a lab setting, a blended model in which online courses supplement the traditional classroom, or through a completely virtual experience. *Information in this section is provided by or adapted from Edmentum .

Does your district need a fully digital, comprehensive Algebra program? Take a look at Learning List’s reviews of Edmentum’s Texas Algebra I. Edmentum Algebra I is a fully digital, comprehensive program.  The goal of the program is to provide rigorous, relevant curriculum through interactive, media-rich content.  The design of the program supports an independent, self-paced instructional model, but would equally support a teacher facilitated, blended model. The program is flexible and can be customized to meet a variety of student learning needs. Learning is carefully sequenced, building on prior knowledge to provide increasingly complex instruction. Learning List’s reviewers noted the variety of assignment types and how the numerous digital tools contribute to the rigor of the material. Read Learning List’s alignment report to see how well this material is aligned to the TEKS and our full editorial review to learn more about the degree to which the material supports a rigorous instructional experience for students.    Learning List has also completed a review of the technology compatibility for the material. To learn more about this product and thousands more PreK-12 instructional materials, contact Learning List for subscription information. About Edmentum* Edmentum’s Courseware is a standards-based online learning program grounded in a tradition research, pedagogy, and innovation. Edmentum develops curriculum that challenges students with a 21st century approach - engaging them with interactive, media-rich content. Whether students are falling behind, at grade level, or advanced, Edmentum accommodates their unique needs in an environment in which they will thrive. Courseware can be used in a lab setting, a blended model in which online courses supplement the traditional classroom, or through a completely virtual experience. *Information in this section is provided by or adapted from Edmentum .

Is your district in need of a new material for integrated high school math courses? Take a look at Learning List’s reviews of National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning’s Big Ideas Integrated Math. Big Ideas Integrated Math is a comprehensive high school math program, available in print and digital formats.  The design of the material is consistent with the Common Core’s Integrated Pathways and is provided in three levels. Each of the three courses integrates instruction in algebra, geometry, probability, and statistics at increasingly complex levels. Big Ideas Integrated Mathorganizes instruction around major topics in mathematics, such as solving linear equations or parallel and perpendicular lines. Learning List’s editorial reviewers were impressed by the material’s use of essential questions and performance tasks to connect each new mathematical concept to a real-world situation or problem. They also noted the material’s numerous resources for differentiating instruction to support all students, including separate, differentiated lessons to present the material in a more concrete manner for students who benefit from reteaching. Learning List’s alignment reports reveal how well the Standards for Mathematical Practices are integrated throughout the material.   Read Learning List ’s alignment reports, qualitative reviews technology compatibility reports to learn more about this and thousands of the most widely used  PreK-12 instructional materials. , contact Learning List for subscription information. About National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning* National Geographic Learning, part of Cengage Learning, believes education is one of the great transformative forces of this century. Among the company’s goals is to help learners and teachers to achieve personal success and be better citizens of the 21st century. National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning wants teachers and their students to experience the excitement and joy of learning, and to bring their classroom to life. Their mission is to inspire students to learn and acquire the skills they need to be successful in their careers or educational experiences, as well as to become lifelong caretakers of the planet. *Information in this section is provided by or adapted from National Geographic Learning/Cengage Learning .

Recently, at a friend’s birthday party, the conversation quickly turned to back-to-school issues. Several friends began discussing their school district’s continuing adoption of online materials. One friend commented that when her older son’s school had moved to online materials almost exclusively last year, he did fine in his Economics class but really struggled in Physics. She told him to check out a textbook for that course, and almost immediately, his grades improved. My friends then began comparing how their children each learn and debating the relative virtues of printed versus online materials. That conversation reminded me of the blog post we published recently about a Hechinger Report article titled, “A Textbook Dilemma: Digital or Paper?” Several of the points in this article align with distinguishing features we observe in our reviews of online materials.  If your district is considering online materials, here are five features that may speak to the likely impact those materials will have on students’ comprehension and learning: Density of text : Will students have to read extensively or are there videos and other features to support student learning of key concepts? Distracting Content:  Does the product feature ads, graphics, colors, or other content that will divert students’ attention and/or detract from the instruction? “Chunking” of Instruction: How frequently are activities and checks for understanding embedded in the instruction to help students process what they have read? How well does the material employ the use of text features to support comprehension? Available Adaptions: Does the material contain the adaptions your students need to access and understand the text? For example, can text be enlarged? Does the material provide a text-to-speech reader? Can the text be leveled up or down?  Compatibility: Does the core instruction and do the online tools students will need to complete the course work on the devices and/or the LMS your students will be using? As online instructional materials become more prevalent, parents and teachers around the globe will undoubtedly continue to debate whether their children learn better from print versus digital materials. Research on this topic is sure to continue, too, and as it does, digital instructional materials will evolve.  And, Learning List’s reviews will continue to highlight the features that districts need to focus on in determining which materials will meet their students’ needs best.

If your district is gearing up for an adoption this year, part of your selection calculation likely will be whether to purchase print or digital/online materials.  An article in the Hechinger Report  titled, “A Textbook Dilemma: Digital or Paper?” may be useful. The article discusses Patricia Alexander’s review of research on this topic. Ms. Alexander is an educational psychologist and a literacy scholar at the University of Maryland. Despite numerous (878) potentially relevant studies on the topic, Ms. Alexander pointed out that “only 36 directly compared reading in digital and in print and measured learning in a reliable way.” Despite the need for further research on this topic, Ms. Alexander found that numerous studies affirm the finding that: “if you are reading something lengthy – more than 500 words or more than a page of the book or screen – your comprehension will likely take a hit if you’re using a digital device.” This pertained to college students as well as students in elementary, middle, and high school.     The research highlights several reasons why: Reading online is more physically and mentally demanding (e.g, “the nuisance of scrolling and the tiresome glare and flicker of the screen") than reading a textbook. Online readers may not concentrate as well, distracted by social media alerts, the temptation to browse the internet, etc. Reading a printed book leaves spatial impressions in your mind (i.e., where something was on a page) that may not occur with the same frequency online. Ms. Alexander also addressed whether “note taking on paper offers measurable advantages for learning?” For example, whether highlighting and underlining online versus on paper affected comprehension more positively. She concluded, “Those kind of motor responses have never been of highest value in terms of text processing strategies.” Rather, “the studying strategy with ‘the greatest power,’ …. involves deeply questioning the text — asking yourself if you agree with the author, and why or why not.” The point of the research is not to identify a winner; print and digital materials are here to stay. As Ms. Alexander put it, “The core question when is a reader best served by a particular medium? And what kind of readers? What age? What kind of text are we talking about? All of those elements matter a great deal.” For more research on this topic, see " Don't throw away your printed books: A meta-analysis on the effects of reading media on reading comprehension ."

With school starting, districts across the country are scrambling to find teachers for their classrooms.  Yesterday, educators and policymakers gathered in Tulsa, Oklahoma to attend the Oklahoma Teacher Pipeline Summit to discuss long-term solutions to the teacher shortage.  Some of the policy-based solutions that were discussed include: State-funded loan forgiveness, scholarships or signing bonuses for university-prepared teachers who commit to working in a public school; State funded paid student teacher internships; University-created courses to prepare future educators for subject specific knowledge (e.g., the Tulsa University is creating a STEM minor for future teachers), pedagogical knowledge, and skills educators need to support today’s students, including courses in childhood trauma. An interim legislative study on policy solutions to address teacher shortages is anticipated. The problem of how to find qualified teachers and how to keep them working in schools is not unique to Oklahoma. Though not optimal, a practical, short-term solution that many districts turn to are online courses. As one rural Texas principal said, “We’re having to rely on online courses more heavily than ever before.  High school math teachers are hard to come by in small Texas towns. So, smaller districts like ours are using self-paced online courses when we can’t find a teacher for the course. What’s scary is that we don’t really know how good the courses are.”   Students can’t learn what they’re not taught. A material’s alignment to state standards becomes  even more crucial  when there’s not a certified teacher in the classroom to act as a safety net for a material’s deficits.  In such cases, students have to rely exclusively on the online course for the knowledge and skills he/she needs to master the state tests.  If the material is not well aligned, the district is setting the student up to fail. Learning List  gives districts peace of mind that the materials they are using will teach their students what they need to know to be successful.  Our detailed alignment reports show specifically where the material (e.g., specific page numbers, lesson titles) is aligned to each standard and which standards the material is not aligned to at all. If a material is not aligned to 100% of the state’s standards for a grade and subject, our Fill-in-the-Gap™ tool recommends additional materials that fill in the gap to ensure that students are getting materials that teach 100 percent of the state’s standards. These may be other comprehensive or supplemental products; they may be publisher-produced materials or free open educational resources we have reviewed. Beyond the alignment, our editorial reviews asses each product’s instructional quality, including the rigor, student engagement, adaptions for special student populations and ease of use. We also test which devices and operating systems each material works on and does not. Online materials not only differ in their alignment to standards, their instructional quality and design vary significantly.  Some products are text heavy, requiring students to read extensively; others provide text features and videos to support student learning of key concepts.  Some products require students to work through long segments of instruction before activities or checks for understanding are provided. Others chunk learning in manageable segments with regular checks for understanding and consistently embedded activities.  Some provide supports to help all learners access and understand the content; other do not. And, some online products are device agnostic while others only work on specific devices. With reviews for over 3000 of the most popular materials, Learning List has reviewed hundreds of online, self-paced courses aligned to most states’ English and Math standards. For Texas districts, we have reviewed online courses in all four core subjects. Contact us for access to reviews of online courses that can help your district support inexperienced teachers or fill in where teachers are not available.

Are your teachers ready for new ELA materials for high school?  Take a look at Learning List’s reviews of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Into Literature. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Into Literature is a comprehensive literacy program that supports English language arts instruction for grades 9 through 12. Content is available in print and digital formats. Instruction develops students’ reading, writing, listening, speaking, and thinking skills with learning activities that provide numerous opportunities and structures for effective group and partner work. Into Literature integrates reading and writing instruction. The program provides an abundance of high-quality, thought provoking reading selections.  Text sets for each unit correlate to numerous themes and topics. Formal writing instruction occurs at the end of units and generally serves as a culminating task. Into Literature supports a blended learning environment with numerous online tools and resources. Online teacher and student resources are housed in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Ed: Your Friend in Learning platform.  A robust set of online teacher resources provide content knowledge, pedagogy, and implementation assistance. Successful implementation of this program will require time for professional learning and planning throughout the school year. Learning List has completed a standard-by-standard alignment report, qualitative review of the instructional content and a review of the technology compatibility for each grade level covered by this material.  These reviews and the online tools available on LearningList.com not only inform selection decisions, they facilitate curriculum mapping and instructional alignment, as well. To learn more about this product and thousands more PreK-12 instructional materials, contact Learning List for subscription information. About Houghton Mifflin Harcourt* Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is a global learning company committed to delivering integrated solutions that engage learners, empower educators and improve student outcomes. As a leading provider of K–12 core curriculum, supplemental solutions and professional learning services, HMH partners with educators and school districts to uncover solutions that unlock students’ potential and extend teachers’ capabilities. HMH serves more than 50 million students and 3 million educators in 150 countries, while its award-winning children's books, novels, non-fiction, and reference titles are enjoyed by readers throughout the world. Information in this section is provided by or adapted from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.