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Learning List has reviewed CodeCombat. This comprehensive product supports computer science instruction in grades 4-12, including Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science Principles courses. Content is available online and includes printable resources. Instruction is game based and addresses the structure and syntax of computer programming using the JavaScript and Python programming languages. < Read=">Read" more... ="more..."> Content is organized in ten “courses” that vary in length. The first course introduces students to concepts in computer science, including syntax, variables, and while loops. Subsequent courses address game development, computer science, and web development. Courses are broken into a set of modules that may be taught in a 55-minute period. Instruction is formatted in engaging games that students play independently. Each game begins with a list of its goals (e.g., “Defeat all the ogres.”) and strategies to accomplish goals (e.g., “Give your soldier instructions using functions and event triggers!”). Games are broken into “levels” that follow a logical progression from basic skills to more sophisticated applications. About CodeCombat* CodeCombat is a platform for students to learn computer science while playing through a real game. CodeCombat courses have been specifically play-tested to excel in the classroom, even by teachers with little to no prior programming experience. Gaming is a medium that encourages interaction, discovery, and trial-and-error. A good game challenges the player to master skills over time, which is the same critical process students go through as they learn. Games excel at rewarding “productive struggle” -the kind of struggle that results in learning that’s engaging and motivating, not tedious. *Information in this section is provided by or adapted from CodeCombat . Subscribe to Learning List for access to the spec sheet, full editorial review and alignment reports for these materials and thousands of other widely used PreK-12 resources.

An August 2017 report from the Education Commission of the States and the College Board explores rural students’ access to and participation in Advanced Placement (AP) courses, as well as their performance on AP exams, relative to students who reside in urban and suburban areas. Below we summarize some key findings from the report, which relies on data collected across 15 school years (i.e., 2000-01 to 2014-15): Access to AP courses has increased significantly for rural students. In 2001, only 56% of rural high school seniors had access to at least one AP course; by 2015, this percentage had increased to 73% of high school seniors. While access to AP courses improved for rural students (73%), it still lagged that of urban (92%) and suburban (95%) students in 2015. Of the rural high school seniors who had access to at least one AP course in 2015, only 31% took an AP exam. This compares with 40% of urban and 39% of suburban high school seniors. On average, rural students earned an AP exam score of 2.6, compared with 2.73 for urban students and 2.98 for suburban students in 2015. Note that AP exams use a standardized score that ranges from 1 to 5, with a score of 5 indicating the highest level of performance. Scores of 3 or higher are often awarded college credit by post-secondary institutions. < Read=">Read" more... ="more..."> The report does not provide a detailed analysis of the reasons behind rural students’ outcomes beyond explaining that rural schools have difficulty hiring and retaining high-quality teachers and often lack sufficient technology infrastructure. For rural districts with sufficient infrastructure, distance learning programs and self-paced courses can facilitate access to diverse AP course offerings in the absence qualified teachers. College Board-approved distance learning programs, such as the Apex Learning Virtual School and The Virtual High School , enable students to participate in a range of AP courses that are taught online by experienced AP teachers. Self-paced courses that provide AP instruction using an online curriculum are another option for rural districts. While most self-paced courses require some support from a classroom teacher, they can help inexperienced teachers by offering valuable background information as well as prepared lessons and assessments. Regardless of experience, teachers are more likely to be effective if they have access to instructional materials that are closely aligned to the AP course frameworks and include supports , such as teaching guides, detailed lesson plans, and online professional development. A key strategy that all districts, including rural districts, can use to help improve AP outcomes is to use instructional materials that are aligned to the College Board’s course frameworks. For each AP course, the College Board publishes a course framework that specifies the knowledge and skills that the course should cover and that will be assessed on the course’s AP exam.  While there is variation across courses, the frameworks contain content standards which are generally organized in terms of big ideas or themes that are then broken into learning objectives and essential knowledge statements.  In addition to content standards, each framework includes a set of skills or practices that students are required to learn. In  partnership with the College Board, Learning List has reviewed AP instructional materials for alignment to the content standards as well as to the skills or practices contained in the course framework for each of the courses listed in Table 1. Table 1. AP Courses for Which Learning List Has Reviewed Instructional Materials The College Board used Learning List’s reviews to select the materials for the 2016 and 2017 Example Textbook List for each of the courses listed in Table 1. Educators can use Learning List’s reviews to distinguish among the materials on the Example Textbook Lists, and identify the instructional materials that are aligned to course frameworks, meet their teachers’ instructional needs, and fit with the district’s existing technology infrastructure best. Tools on Learninglist.com allow educators to compare the key attributes and standard-by-standard alignments of multiple materials for the same AP course. In addition to lacking qualified AP teachers, many rural districts lack administrative resources, such as curriculum staff and AP coordinators, that support AP teachers in delivering high-quality instruction. In large suburban and urban districts, trained curriculum staff, AP coordinators, and experienced AP teachers are often available to fully vet the instructional materials for AP programs and support teachers in using the selected materials. Learning List’s reviews of AP materials can help level the playing field for rural districts that lack such administrative support. Learning List’s alignment reports identify the specific citations (i.e., pages, lessons, videos) in each material that are fully aligned to each standard. Like a GPS through the material, the alignment reports guide teachers to the parts of their materials that teach all of the knowledge and skills the course framework holds students accountable for learning. AP materials also tend to be quite expensive, and smaller, rural districts often do not get the volume discounts offered to larger suburban and urban districts. So, mistakes in selecting materials may be particularly costly. In addition to reviewing publisher-produced AP materials, Learning List has reviewed some AP open-educational resources (OERs) that are available at no cost to districts. OERs may help districts seeking to introduce or expand AP offerings without incurring expenses for instructional materials. While the gap has narrowed over time, the August 2017 report shows that significantly fewer students in rural districts have access to AP courses, take AP exams, and score as high on those exams as their urban and suburban peers. Recognizing those trends, College Board partnered with Learning List to provide the AP community with independent reviews of AP materials. Learning List’s reviews have informed the College Board’s selection of materials for inclusion on the 2016 and 2017 AP Example Textbook Lists. Similarly, the reviews can inform districts’ selection of AP materials.  Moreover, Learning List’s reviews help teachers use AP instructional materials most effectively to ensure that students are learning the standards and skills that will be tested on the AP exam.

Learning List has reviewed Texas Instruments’ 10 Minutes of Code. This supplemental online product introduces students to programming concepts and the basics of coding using Texas Instruments’ TI-84 Plus and TI-Nspire™ graphing calculators. Instruction is provided in short, hands-on lessons that may be completed in about 10 minutes. Resources may be accessed at no cost on the Texas Instruments website and support instruction in Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles courses. < Read=">Read" more... ="more..."> Content is presented in units that are made up of three “Skillbuilder” lessons followed by an “Application” task. Each lesson begins with an “Introduction” that clarifies learning objectives. Subsequent instruction is presented in short “steps” that provide clear instructions (e.g., “Press the key.”) with accompanying screenshots of what students should see on their calculators. A progress bar indicates how much content remains in each lesson. Application tasks ask students to apply what they have learned and write a program that that solves a specific problem (e.g., a program that uses students’ grades and test scores to create a warning notice for students at risk of failure). Additional “Beyond Basics” extension activities are provided to support more advanced learning. Students and teachers have access to online “TI Basic Programming eGuides” and “TI Reference Guides” for their respective graphing calculator. For each lesson and application activity, teachers have access to printable “Teacher Notes” that list learning objectives, provide background information on concepts, answers to problems, and “Teacher Tips” with useful information about programming and the TI-84 Plus or TI-Inspire. About Texas Instruments* Texas Instruments helps educators develop skills for 21st-century success with free project-based learning activities that help students explore, understand and connect the principles of science, math, coding, engineering design and electronics. 10 Minutes of Code introduce students to the basics of coding and build their understanding of math with simple, 10-minute lessons for their TI-84 Plus CE or TI-Nspire™ CX graphing calculators and the TI-Innovator™ Hub with TI LaunchPad™ Technology. Information in this section is provided by or adapted from Texas Instruments . Subscribe to  Learning List  for access to the spec sheet, full editorial review and alignment reports for these materials and thousands of other widely used PreK-12 resources.

A recent New York Times article titled Why Kids Can’t Write explores the reasons behind U.S. students’ poor writing skills.  The article asserts that the root of writing problems lies with teachers, most of whom have not been trained in how to teach writing, and who are not confident writers themselves. The article goes on to cite specific efforts, such as the National Writing Project and The Writing Revolution , that are focused on training educators how to teach writing skills, as well as the research on effective writing instruction, which suggests a few concrete strategies. For example, students should learn to transcribe by hand and using a computer. Instruction should teach students to write strong sentences before introducing paragraphs. Students benefit when writing instruction integrates grammar, includes models of good writing, and provides frequent feedback about the students’ own writing. At Learning List, we believe that high-quality, standards-aligned instructional materials, including writing materials, are critical to teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom. In our work this summer, we have reviewed several supplemental products that focus on teaching writing skills and preparing Texas students for the grade 4 STAAR Writing test. These products use different approaches, but each strives to improve students’ writing skills: < Read=">Read" more... ="more..."> WriteSteps is a stand-alone writing program for grades K-5. Resources address the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and state standards (i.e., Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) for writing and grammar. Instruction focuses on developing writing skills using the “6 Traits of Quality Writing” framework (i.e., ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions) and include a 7 th trait, presentation. Across grade levels, WriteSteps focuses on developing writing skills characterized by “text types” that include opinion, informative/explanatory, narrative, research, and, at grades 3-5, response to literature and informational texts. Content is organized in multi-day units that integrate grammar instruction and focus on a specific text type. Empowering Writers’ Editing, Revising, and More structures writing instruction for students in grades K-8 using predictable routines. Learning List has reviewed resources for grade 4. Each lesson begins with a “Think and Discuss” activity that introduces learning objectives and the skills students will practice. Teachers provide explicit instruction in key concepts (e.g., simple sentences) and model new skills. Activities include opportunities for whole group, small group, student pairs, and individual student work. “Student Resource Books” contain simple activities that accompany teacher-led instruction and allow students to practice what they are learning. Edmentum’s Study Island is an online test-preparation program that helps students in grade 4 master the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for writing and prepare for STAAR exams. Instruction begins with a pretest and a diagnostic test that assess students’ writing skills (e.g., punctuation, use of transitions). Content is broken into topics organized in terms of the Writing Process (e.g., revising, editing), Expository and Procedural Texts (e.g., topic sentences), Oral and Written Conventions (e.g., transitions, subject-verb agreement), and Research (e.g., citing sources). Instruction emphasizes preparation for standardized tests and questions are generally multiple choice and/or drop down menu selections. In addition to these newly reviewed products, Learning List’s library includes a variety of writing products for a range of grade levels that we have reviewed in previous years. Such products include:  Heinemann’s Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing  and  Istation Reading & Writing . For each product on Learning List, subscribers have access to three different professional reviews: Spec Sheet, a two-page overview of the material’s key academic features and technology interoperability. As part of this review, Learning List tests each online material to determine which devices, browsers and operating system it works on and does not work on. The goal of this review is to help curriculum and technology teams quickly narrow the number of products they will need to review. Editorial Review , a deep dive into the material’s content and design. This review addresses the material’s instructional model and organization, coherence, focus and rigor, the grade-appropriateness of the text, whether the content would be engaging for students, the adaptions available for each special student population, the ease of use, assessments, resources available to support teachers and much more. The goal of this review is to help educators identify the materials that will meet their students’ (and teachers’) needs best. Alignment Report , a detailed review of the citations listed in the publisher’s correlation for alignment to the content , context and cognitive rigor of each state standard. The alignment report shows which standards the material is/is not aligned to, and even more importantly which reviewed citations are aligned to each standard and which are not. Each “non-aligned” citation is accompanied by a Reviewer’s Comment that explains which part of the standard the citation failed to address. This review helps educators choose and then use the material most effectively for instruction

Empowering Writers’ Editing, Revising, and More is a supplemental writing product that supports writing instruction in grades K-8.  Content is available in print format with some teaching materials available on CD-ROM. Instruction focuses on developing students’ effective use of language, including grammar, punctuation, and mechanics. Learning List recently reviewed resources for grade 4. < Read=">Read" more... ="more..."> Editing, Revising, and More organizes instruction in four 9-week modules. Instruction begins with foundational skills (e.g., capitalization, subject-verb agreement) and progresses to more complex concepts (e.g., transitions, run-ons and sentence fragments). Modules contain between 14 and 29 lessons and between two and four assessments. Although pacing will vary based on students’ prior knowledge and skills, Empowering Writers suggests that teachers incorporate between two and four lessons each week. Instruction is structured using predictable routines. Each lesson begins with a “Think and Discuss” activity that introduces learning objectives and the skills students will practice.  Teachers provide explicit instruction in key concepts (e.g., simple sentences) and model new skills. Activities include opportunities for whole group, small group, student pairs, and individual student work. *About Empowering Writers Most teachers can easily distinguish weak from effective writing, but often have few specific strategies to move students from point A to point B. Teachers, like any other skilled professional, need training and resources.  Whether you’re looking for a comprehensive writing program or a supplemental resource, Empowering Writers offers customizable options for your Professional Development needs. For the past 20 years, Empowering Writers has transformed instruction for over 100,000 educators by providing the training and resources to make them confident, skillful teachers of writing. Empowering Writers’ approach to writing instruction provides a proven methodology that improves student writing. *Information in this section is provided by or adapted from Empowering Writers . Subscribe to Learning List for access to the spec sheet, full editorial review and alignment reports for these materials and thousands of other widely used PreK-12 resources.

Increasing the available instructional supports for Advanced Placement (AP) teachers and students is one of the key themes that emerged from College Board’s AP Annual Conference 2017 .  At the conference, the College Board announced that in 2019-20, it will roll out a new dashboard that enables AP teachers to create instructional materials tailored to their students’ individual needs. The dashboard will provide access to AP assignments, benchmark tests, unit guides, and related unit tests, as well as other materials to help teachers prepare their students for AP exams. Learning List applauds the increased emphasis on supporting teachers in the College Board’s plan for new services. As our subscribers know, any material included on the College Board’s “Recommended List” must have been reviewed by Learning List. Our AP reviews consider how well each product is aligned to its respective course framework; the product’s instructional content and design, including supports for teachers; and the product’s technology specifications.  Taken together, our reviews provide a holistic view of a product that enables educators to understand whether a product will meet their students needs. < Read=">Read" more... ="more..."> Supports for teachers are integral part of our reviews of all the products we review, including AP products. AP Products vary significantly in the number and types of supports they provide. Some AP products include few instructional resources; others provide multiple tools to enable teachers to customize instruction and tailor remediation in preparing students for AP exams. Below are examples of supports we have observed in the AP products we have reviewed. An adaptive reading program that highlights important information in the text and presents practice questions at key points in the reading. Students toggle between reading and practice activities.  Based on results of practice questions, the adaptive reader highlights in yellow the information students need to revisit and highlights in green the content that they have mastered. The program generates reports that allow teachers and students to track progress, identify frequently missed questions, and highlight the AP topics and learning objectives that present challenges. Self-paced modules that provide interactive learning experiences, videos, and animations that address the core content of particular AP courses. For example, resources for science courses include interactive learning experiences, videos, and animations that address the core content of each course framework, including big ideas, math skills, and data analysis. Resources include a pre-test, self-check quizzes, and a comprehensive post-test. An adaptive test preparation program that provides self-study resources to help students prepare for AP exams. The program provides adaptive practice questions and practice tests that mirror the AP exam in timing and format. Practice questions help teachers and students identify areas of strength and weakness in order to better prepare for the AP exam. Practice tests are available online and in PDF formats. The program automatically scores multiple choice items; rubrics are provided for free response questions. Online reporting tools allow teachers and students to identify gaps in learning and individualize remediation and review. A publisher of AP history courses provides an online tool for analyzing primary and secondary source documents . Teachers may choose from a library of sources that includes documents, images, maps, data, and historians’ arguments for each period of study. Teachers and students also may upload their own documents. The program guides students through the process of document analysis by posing critical thinking questions linked to AP’s Historical Thinking Skills. While some publishers are already providing instructional supports for AP teachers, we anticipate that the College Board’s dashboard will be a wonderful addition to AP teachers’ toolkits to prepare students for the rigors of AP testing. Learning List’s reviews are designed to help districts differentiate between products and identify the resources that are the best fit for their students. Because teacher supports are an area of distinction, our reviews, including reviews of AP materials, highlight the supports available in each material that enable teachers to tailor instruction to meet their students’ needs.  Learning List offers district- and campus-wide subscriptions, as well as AP-only subscriptions.

Learning List recently reviewed WriteSteps, which is a supplemental stand-alone writing program for grades K-5. Resources address the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and state standards for writing and grammar and are available in print and digital formats. Instruction focuses on developing writing skills using the “6 Traits of Quality Writing” framework (i.e., ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and include a 7 th trait, presentation).The CCSS are referenced throughout materials; pacing guides and correlation documents for the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) are provided. < Read=">Read" more... ="more..."> Across grade levels, WriteSteps focuses on developing writing skills characterized by “text types.” Text types include opinion, informative/explanatory, narrative, research, and, at grades 3-5, response to literature. Content is organized in multi-day units that focus on a particular text type. Units are made up of lessons that cover a day’s worth of content and address a short “Focus Skill” writing task (e.g., write an informative text that introduces a topic and incorporates facts). Across grade levels, instruction includes opportunities for students to work with peers, participate in collaborative writing projects, and to develop editing and revision skills. Students begin revising their writing in Kindergarten, and editing skills are introduced in the first grade. In grade 2, students begin the process of reviewing and scoring their own writing using rubrics. In grades 3-5, students reflect on their writing experiences and work with peers in the editing and revision process. About WriteSteps* WriteSteps is an evidence-based, award-winning, digital and print, K-5 Common Core writing and grammar program that covers narrative, informative/explanatory, and opinion writing texts aligned to the Common Core writing and grammar conventions standards. The daily lesson program gives teachers and students everything they need to develop their craft with confidence. *Information in this section is provided by or adapted from WriteSteps . Subscribe to  Learning List  for access to the spec sheet, full editorial review and alignment reports for these materials and thousands of other widely used PreK-12 resources.

Do your teachers ever tell you that the material you have just purchased is not aligned to the standards? If so, breathe deeply and read on… At Learning List, we have learned the scope of the citations listed in the publisher's correlation can be determinative of whether a material is aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) or Advanced Placement (AP) standards. What do we mean? Some publishers’ correlations consist of citations that cover one or two pages. Those citations are "narrow" in scope. Other publishers' citations are broad in scope, consisting of a range of pages, a whole module, a chapter, or a 15-minute video.  Both types of citations have their merits; broader citations are most likely to incorporate all of the knowledge and skills dense standards require; narrow citations can be useful instructionally, because they pinpoint  more precisely where certain content or a skill is addressed in the text. < Read=">Read" More="More" ... ="..."> The CCSS, NGSS and AP standards are dense . Each standard typically references multiple nouns (i.e., content knowledge the student must learn) and multiple verbs (i.e., actions the student must do).  Because standards articulate what students should know and be able to do by the end of the school year, a material may spiral parts of standards, particularly dense standards, across several lessons, units, or chapters. Thus, it is highly unlikely for a single two-page citation to completely address all of the knowledge and skills required by a standard. That is likely why publishers list multiple citations as aligned to each standard.  If teachers are assessing the material's alignment by reviewing individual narrow citations for alignment, they likely will decide that the material is not aligned to the standards. But, it may be... Learning List's reviewers check the alignment of multiple citations listed in the publisher's correlation for each standard. Each citation is reviewed individually for alignment to the content , context and cognitive demand of the standard. If the citations are narrow in scope (i.e., one or two pages long), each may be partially aligned to the standard, but few citations will be fully aligned to standards.  However, multiple partially aligned citations may collectively align to the standard in its entirety. If a publisher correlation lists multiple citations as aligned to a standard, and our reviewers determine that several of the citations reviewed if used together would address the standard completely, we note which citations must be “bundled” together to achieve alignment to the standard. Thus, our alignment reports show not only which standards each material is aligned to but also which citations teachers could use (individually or bundled together) to fully teach each standard. Without this knowledge, your teachers may dismiss a perfectly great material or may only partially teach the standards, creating gaps in your students' knowledge.

Learning List recently reviewed Edgenuity’s PreCalculus course for Texas high schools. Content addresses the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) and is appropriate for blended learning and/or self-paced instructional environments. Video-based lessons focus on developing students’ understanding of the concepts in algebra, trigonometry, and geometry that are the foundation for the study of calculus. < Read=">Read" more... ="more..."> Content is presented in video-based lectures with accompanying whiteboard notes and demonstrations. Each lesson begins with an interactive warm-up that frames the lesson topic, establishes learning goals, connects to prior learning, and introduces new vocabulary and concepts. Lectures are broken into short, manageable sections. Videos are closed captioned and include transcripts to support ELLs and students with hearing impairments. Lectures provide direct instruction, opportunities for guided and independent practice, and include embedded questions and learning tasks. Many lessons in PreCalculus include hands-on “Lab” activities that allow students to explore new concepts. Lab activities use ExploreLearning’s Gizmos. Gizmos are online interactive mathematics simulations that may be used with classroom presentation technology, such as an interactive whiteboard. About Edgenuity* Edgenuity provides engaging online and blended learning education solutions that propel success for every student, empower every teacher to deliver more effective instruction, and enable schools and districts to meet their academic goals. Edgenuity delivers a range of Core Curriculum, AP®, Elective, Career and Technical Education (CTE), and Credit Recovery courses aligned to the rigor and high expectations of state, Common Core and iNACOL standards and designed to inspire life-long learning. * The content in this section is provided by or adapted from Edgenuity . Subscribe to  Learning List  for access to the spec sheet, full editorial review and alignment reports for these materials and thousands of other widely used PreK-12 resources.

When reviewing the alignment of a material, our subject matter experts review multiple citations (e.g., pages, lessons, videos) listed in the publisher’s correlation for alignment to each state standard. For some products, this means that Learning List will have reviewed all of the citations listed in the publisher’s correlation; for others, it means that Learning List has reviewed several but not all of the publisher’s citations. We constructed our review methodology to balance subscribers’ need for a thorough review against  their need for a timely review. Some publishers list more than 20 citations as aligned to each standard. If we were to review all of the listed citations, it would take months instead of weeks to complete a review, and educators told us that the resulting alignment reports would be too cumbersome to use. A subscriber once asked, "Do you think that the fact you don't review all of the citations in the publisher's correlation diminishes the usefulness of your service?"  Even though we have not reviewed every citation listed in the publisher’s correlation, our alignment reports help educators focus on the parts of the material that will give them the greatest instructional value. < Read=">Read" More="More" ... ="..."> Here are five ways educators can use our alignment reports to inform their instruction: 1. To Identify Resources Aligned to Certain Standards: Our alignment reports help educators quickly identify which materials,  and even more important, specific citations within each material that are fully aligned to the standards they intend to teach. 2. To Reteach Standards : Teachers who use their core material “cover to cover” can use our alignment reports for the supplemental materials their district owns to identify “aligned citations” that will help reteach standards students are struggling with. 3 . To Identify Multiple Resources to Use In Lessons/For Differentiation : Instead of going to the internet to find additional resources, industrious teachers who want to incorporate multiple resources in their lessons can use Learning List’s alignment reports for each of their district’s materials to identify "aligned citations" for the standards they want to cover. Teachers tell us that this has saved them hours of work, and administrators have greater peace of mind about the resources teachers are using. 4. As a Predictor of Alignment :   If a teacher wants to use a citation from the publisher’s correlation that we have not reviewed, our alignment report can serve as a guide to/predictor of the probability that additional citations listed in the publisher’s correlation are aligned to that standard. For example: if our alignment report shows that only two of the five citations we reviewed were aligned to the standard, then there is a strong possibility that the additional citation may not be aligned to that standard. Thus, the teacher would probably want to review the alignment of that citation carefully before using it. If, on the other hand, our alignment report shows that all of the citations we reviewed were aligned to standard, the teacher can be more confident that the additional citation he/she wants to use will be aligned to that standard. 5.  As a Self-Check on the Teacher’s Own Alignment Decisions : We strongly encourage teachers to review the alignment of their materials themselves.  In such cases, teachers can use our alignment reports as a reference or independent self-check, since alignment determinations often are not black-and-white. Moreover, our alignment reports for many materials are more detailed than the publisher’s correlation. For example, College Board requires publishers to submit Advanced Placement (AP®) materials for our review in order to for the materials to be eligible to be selected for an AP Example Textbook List.  Often, publishers submit to us a correlation that is significantly more specific than the correlation sold with their material. The same is true when publishers submit adaptive materials for our review. Thus, our alignment reports often provide teachers with more textual evidence of the alignment of a material than provided in the publisher’s correlation that is sold with the product.

Savvas’s Integrated High School Mathematics is a set of comprehensive products that support instruction in high school integrated math pathways I-III as described in Appendix A of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Content is available in digital format with accompanying print resources. Core instruction is presented using an “Interactive Digital Path” that includes engaging interactive content, including videos and animations. Learning List recently reviewed resources for Integrated High School Mathematics courses I-III.< Read=">Read" more... ="more..."> Core instruction is presented in an Interactive Digital Path that relies on digital teaching tools, such as an interactive whiteboard or LCD projector. Students have an accompanying two-volume consumable Student Worktext in which to record their work and enter solutions to problems. Worktexts contain additional practice problems and homework assignments, as well as hands-on lab activities that facilitate extension and collaborative student work. Each chapter begins with a “Get Ready” diagnostic test and a “My Math Video.” Chapters are broken into lessons that incorporate the Understanding by Design (UbD) instructional model. Each lesson is organized in five steps: Lessons open with Interactive Learning and a “Solve It!” activity that builds on prior learning to to frame the core content. Core instruction is provided in Guided Learning, where new concepts are introduced and new skills are modeled. Lesson Check is a formative assessment of student learning . Practice builds conceptual understanding and procedural fluency through additional practice, application, and challenge problems. Each lesson ends with an Assess and Remediate About Savvas* Savvas is the world’s learning company, with 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 . Subscribe to  Learning List  for access to the spec sheet, full editorial review and alignment reports for these materials and thousands of other widely used PreK-12 resources.

The College Board is engaged in several related initiatives to help teachers prepare a broader, more diverse group of students to succeed in AP courses.   AP courses in several disciplines are being redesigned and new courses are being introduced to create AP courses that strike a balance between depth of understanding and breadth of content coverage. A critical next step in supporting AP teachers is ensuring that the instructional materials for AP courses address the knowledge and skills articulated in the new course frameworks.  To that end, the College Board partnered with Learning List ™ to provide educators with independent, professional reviews of AP materials . < Read=">Read" more... ="more..."> For each AP material, Learning List provides 3 types of reviews: (1) Spec sheet : an overview of the material’s key academic and technology attributes, including which devices, operating systems and browsers the material is compatible with; (2) Editorial Review : an in-depth review of the material’s instructional content and design, including student adaptions, teacher resources,  types and timing of assessments, ease of use, and reference districts and universities; and (3) Two alignment reports : A review of the material’s alignment (a) to the Learning Objectives and Essential Knowledge statements, and (b) to the Skills/Practices articulated in the relevant course framework. Tools on Learninglist.com make it easy to compare key attributes, as well as the standard-by-standard alignment of multiple materials for the same AP course. The College Board used Learning List’s reviews to decide which materials to include on the 2016 and 2017 Example Textbook Lists for each of these courses. However, as explained in our observations below, inclusion on an Example Textbook List does not indicate that the material is aligned to 100% of the standards in the course framework. Learning List has reviewed almost 100 AP instructional materials, including publisher-produced and free Open Educational Resources. The following observations gleaned from those reviews are offered to help inform educators’ selection and use of AP materials. Alignment of AP Materials: AP materials vary significantly in their alignment to the AP course frameworks. As this table shows, there is even a wide range in the alignment percentages among materials on the AP Example Textbook Lists.  In other words, teachers should not assume that because a material is on the Example Textbook list, it is closely aligned to the course framework. Alignment of the AP Skills/Practices : While many AP materials allow students to practice the requisite skills, few actually teach students how to develop the skills. Many AP history products still have a lot of progress to make in terms of historical thinking skills , particularly in terms of integrating the skills of historical argumentation (analyzing diverse interpretations) and chronological reasoning . Study Guides/Assessment Questions: Most of the study guides provided by publishers have simple, short questions that do not help students prepare for the new style of test questions on the AP exams. Additionally, students need to know why the answers are correct, not just what the correct answer is. Multiple choice questions need detailed answer explanations. Assessment questions provided by publishers seem more specific than AP released questions and test knowledge more than skills using the prompt; materials need to test more of the skills than the knowledge. Instructional Supports : Across subjects and publishers, AP instructional materials differ in the number and type of instructional supports provided for students and teachers. Because many AP materials are true college texts, they often do not include the instructional resources some high school students may need. For example, many college texts do not include glossaries, study guides, and AP-formatted example questions and practice tests to help students prepare for exams. Some college texts also do not provide instructional resources for teachers.  The lack of teacher resources combined with the new focus on skills in the AP Frameworks raised concerns among some Learning List reviewers. Noting the absence of support for the Mathematical Practices in AP Calculus resources, one reviewer cautioned, “Teachers using any of the standard textbooks <…> will need to be quite familiar with the Mathematical Practices and be sure their students are doing them across all the topics in the Framework.” Furthermore, some college resources contain learning tools that may not be appropriate for high school students, such as an app that when activated by teachers allows students to share, and even sell, their course notes. Learning List’s Spec Sheets list and Editorial Reviews explain the types of instructional supports for teachers and students available in each AP material. Rigor While a material may be aligned to the AP standards, it may not be rigorous enough to prepare students for the AP exam.  A handful of the Advanced Placement (AP) materials we recently reviewed had relatively high alignment percentages but our reviewers questioned whether the material would adequately prepare students to pass the AP exam. They explained that while the text was  aligned  to the College Board’s course framework, the depth of coverage needed to adequately prepare students for the AP exam was missing:  “While the text mentions an idea / concept /topic, it typically does not provide detailed visualizations, videos, definitions and other essential vocabulary needed for a student to get a well-rounded detailed knowledge about the topic.” The College Board-Learning List partnership provides the opportunity for teachers to make better informed, evidence-based choices when selecting and then using AP instructional resources.  Ultimately, this partnership strives to encourage publishers to develop resources aligned to AP standards and to empower teachers with information that supports their effective use of materials to prepare a diverse student population for success in AP courses. This 4-minute video provides more information about Learning List’s reviews of AP materials. Learning List is a subscription service. For more information, contact Info@LearningList.com . Stay tuned for our upcoming blog, “Advice to AP Publishers.” Learning List is a subscription-based instructional materials review service for schools and districts that publishes independent reviews of thousands of the most widely used PreK-12 materials, including AP materials.