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McGraw-Hill Education’s Texas High School Math Series is a set of comprehensive courses for Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and Pre-calculus that includes print and digital resources.  Courses reference the TEKS throughout the instruction and focus on preparing students for end-of-course exams. Math Process Standards are integrated throughout the instructions and each course includes specific Response to Intervention (RtI) resources. Courses begin with a “Chapter 0” review of the knowledge and skills needed to be prepared for instruction. Subsequent chapters include a “Get Ready” feature that provides a quick check of prerequisite skills and knowledge, an overview of new vocabulary in English and Spanish, and instructions on how to use graphic organizers to support retention of content. Chapters include a mid-point quiz and end with a test preparation feature that includes a study guide, lesson-by-lesson review problems, sets of test-taking strategies, and a TEKS-formatted practice test. “Student Handbooks” provide extra practice problems, selected answers and solutions, a glossary, and reference materials, including formulas, measures, and mathematical symbols and properties. Online course resources include tutorials in key content, BrainPOP® animations of concepts, graphing software, and virtual manipulatives. Teacher editions include comprehensive correlations to the TEKS and ELPS and a “TEKS Skills Trace” feature that allows teachers to track students’ mastery of specific TEKS and preparation for end-of-course exams. Teacher editions provide background information in key content, RtI strategies, and guidance in teaching the math process standards. More information is available at the McGraw-Hill Education Texas site .

McGraw-Hill Education’s Texas Social Studies Series includes comprehensive courses for high school social studies electives, including Economics, Psychology, Sociology, and U.S. Government.  Learning List  has reviewed this series relative to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills ( TEKS ). The Economics course introduces students to the fundamentals of economics, including the effects of economic policies and decisions on daily life. Instruction addresses principles of economics and includes background on the key figures and events that have contributed to development of contemporary economic theories. Understanding Psychology covers fundamental concepts in psychology with a focus on research and statistics in the field. Sociology and You addresses how social structures shape human societies and behavior. U.S. Government addresses the foundations, structures, and processes of U.S. government and their effect on civic life. In each course, content is organized using Understanding by Design® (UBD) model, which frames instruction in terms of “Enduring Understandings” and “Essential Questions.” Course resources support instruction in blended learning environments and include interactive content and include engaging multimedia features, such as videos and interactive learning tools.

Learning List has reviewed McGraw Hill’s Reading Mastery, Signature Edition , which is a comprehensive resource to support reading and language arts instruction in grades K-5. The program emphasizes structured direct instruction, rapid intervention, and ongoing support for struggling learners. Resources are available in print and online formats and addresses the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for each grade level. Reading Mastery provides carefully sequenced direct instruction in the concepts, skills, and strategies students need to become proficient readers. Content is presented at a controlled pace that ensures students have the requisite skills and knowledge to master increasingly complex reading and language arts content. The reading and language arts strands of the program are presented separately. Reading lessons integrate phonemic and phonological awareness, vocabulary skills, reading comprehension strategies, and fluency. Language arts lessons focus on developing oral language and writing skills. Lessons for both strands provide opportunities for guided and independent practice with scaffolded support, and for students to apply what they have learned. Content follows a logical progression and builds on students’ prior learning when introducing new skills. Instruction focuses on preventing the misunderstandings and frustration that may discourage struggling readers. Resources for each Response to Intervention (RtI) tier are provided and Reading Mastery: Fast Cycle is available for high performing students. About McGraw Hill* At McGraw-Hill Education, we believe that our contribution to unlocking a brighter future lies within the application of our deep understanding of how learning happens and how the mind develops. It exists where the science of learning meets the art of teaching. Educators have been and always will be at the core of the learning experience. The solutions we develop help educators impart their knowledge to students more efficiently. We believe that harnessing technology can enhance learning inside and outside of the classroom and deepen the connections between students and teachers to empower greater success. By partnering with educators around the globe, our learning engineers, content developers and pedagogical experts are developing increasingly open learning ecosystems that are proven to improve pass rates, elevate grades and increase engagement for each individual learner while improving outcomes for all. *The content provided here was provided by or adapted from McGraw Hill. Subscribe to Learning List  for access to the spec sheet, full editorial review and detailed alignment report for this material.

McGraw Hill’s Wonders Leveled Readers are a supplemental resource to support reading and language arts instruction at grades K-6. Readers are available in print and eBook formats.  Readers meet the needs of students below, at, and above grade level, as well as English language learners (ELLs). Learning List recently reviewed materials for grade 3. Wonders Leveled Readers provide a balance of informational and literary texts.  Each text begins with an essential question (e.g., “How can others inspire us?” “What are different kinds of energy?”) and is broken into several short chapters. Texts at each level differ in complexity but address the same concepts, vocabulary, reading strategies and skills (e.g., making predictions, theme), and essential questions. eBooks have audio readers and note taking tools. Each reader ends with a set of activities that includes a comparison of the primary text to a second, shorter text (i.e., “Paired Read”). Literary texts support comprehension using colorful illustrations and “Stop and Check” questions. Informational texts incorporate visual elements such as photographs, timelines, graphs, and diagrams. New vocabulary is highlighted and resources include a glossary and an index.  Across both types of texts, illustrations and visual elements in ELL readers support vocabulary development using labels of depicted items (e.g., pencil, prairie). About McGraw Hill* At McGraw-Hill Education, we believe that our contribution to unlocking a brighter future lies within the application of our deep understanding of how learning happens and how the mind develops. It exists where the science of learning meets the art of teaching. Educators have been and always will be at the core of the learning experience. The solutions we develop help educators impart their knowledge to students more efficiently. We believe that harnessing technology can enhance learning inside and outside of the classroom and deepen the connections between students and teachers to empower greater success. By partnering with educators around the globe, our learning engineers, content developers and pedagogical experts are developing increasingly open learning ecosystems that are proven to improve pass rates, elevate grades and increase engagement for each individual learner while improving outcomes for all. *The content in this section is provided by or adapted from McGraw Hill. Subscribe to Learning List  for access to the spec sheet, full editorial review and detailed alignment report for this material.

Each year, school administrators are challenged to find meaningful ways in which to engage families in discussions of student learning that support improved outcomes. In the past, discussions of student achievement were often limited to parent-teacher conferences and report cards. However, technology-based tools have created a range of new opportunities that enable administrators, teachers, and parents to engage in meaningful, ongoing communication about student progress. For example, many districts have created websites portals that provide parents with access to information about student schedules, grades, and attendance. In addition, many online instructional resources include progress monitoring tools that allow parents to access student progress reports, and some popular student data management systems allow schools to share student data directly with parents. Recognizing that simply sharing data does not make it understandable or actionable for parents, the Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) has created a set of tip sheets to guide administrators, teachers, and parents in communicating about student data in ways that support student learning and forge strong partnerships between families and schools. According to HFRP: Many of the tips represent small but significant—and often overlooked—steps in sharing data with families that can make a big difference in families’ ability to access, understand, and act on information about their child’s progress. Some HFRP tips address steps that administrators may want to consider as teachers and students return to school. These tips include: Providing families with an orientation that covers how to access and understand student data, such as benchmark test scores, as well as how to logon to parent portals and other online data sharing tools; Building capacity for data sharing through staff professional development activities focused on effective communication about student data, student privacy requirements, and the use of technology-based data tools; and Ensuring equitable access to data by designating some school computers for parent use and providing data reports in parents’ native language.

Some teachers get excited when a new online product is purchased for the campus or the district, other's don't. Why is that? For one reason, teachers will have to spend time during the day (or evening) getting to know the product - how to navigate through it, how to input students’ names, how to assign lessons and assess students and how to create reports. More importantly, teachers often feel as if they have to review lessons completely themselves to make sure they align with the standards before they assign the lessons to their students. Most teachers are already burning their candle at both ends; they cannot find an extra minute in the day to review lessons in a new product. Learning List to the rescue! Learning List verifies each product’s alignment to state standards, either to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) or to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). When educators subscribe to Learning List, they have at their fingertips an alignment road-map for each product – a report listing multiple, specific citations (lessons or page numbers) that align to each standard addressed in the product. Teachers can assign with confidence the citations contained in Learning List's alignment road-maps, knowing that they align to the content, context and cognitive demand/rigor of the standards. With Learning List as a resource, teachers may even have time to work out or to see a movie.

As a means to support educators in identifying resources that will meet their students’ needs, Learning List provides periodic updates about grants and funding opportunities focused on improving education. Today’s post highlights some opportunities that are currently accepting applications and proposals. Emerging Teacher Leaders The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is providing grants of up to $6,000 to support the development of emerging teacher leaders in PK-5 mathematics. Grant recipients must have the support of campus principals and are expected to provide ongoing professional development focused on improving instructional practice and the understanding of mathematics in the elementary school classroom. Grants are limited to one teacher per campus.  Application packets must be postmarked by November 8, 2013. More information is available here . Improvements for At-Risk Youth The Interactive Intelligence Foundation is providing grants ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 for projects that foster life improvements for at-risk youth up to age 18.  Greater weight is given to projects that address STEM (i.e., science, technology, engineering, and math), as well as projects with clearly defined implementation periods and measurable outcomes.  Grant requests are due November 15, 2013. More information about the Foundation’s program is available here . California Gardening The California Fertilizer Foundation is providing 24 grants of $1,200 to support garden-related projects in public and private schools in California.  Grant applications are due January 15, 2014.  Application materials are available here .

In the face of decreased budgets and increased pressure to improve students’ performance on standardized tests, many schools have reduced the number of field trips they provide to cultural institutions, such as museums and historical sites.  Instead, schools have focused on increasing the amount of time students spend in class preparing for tests and often allocate resources to “reward” field trips to entertainment venues, such as amusement parks, for students who improve their attendance or test scores.  However, research suggests that in de-emphasizing culturally enriching field trips, schools are missing valuable opportunities to develop students’ critical thinking skills as well as their ability to appreciate and understand diverse peoples, perspectives, and historical periods. The study, conducted by researchers a t the University of Arkansas, is the first large-scale, random-assignment analysis of the effects of cultural-enrichment field trips on student outcomes.  The research design compared survey results between matched pairs of K-12 students.  For each student pairing, one student was randomly selected to participate in a cultural-enrichment field trip during the period of the study and the second student’s participation was deferred.  Researchers found that the students who participated in field trips experienced significant increases in their critical thinking skills, as well as benefits in terms of historical empathy (i.e., the ability to understand the lives and perspectives of people who lived in different places or in different times), tolerance, and interest in cultural institutions.  Notably, the benefits of field trips were considerably stronger for disadvantaged students.  The study’s authors conclude: We don’t just want our children to acquire work skills from their education; we also want them to develop into civilized people who appreciate the breadth of human accomplishments.  The school field trip is an important tool in meeting this goal.

On Monday, the Business Roundtable released a report, Taking Action on Education and Workforce Preparedness , which outlines a plan for preparing the U.S. workforce to be competitive in the 21st century. The plan calls for full implementation of the Common Core State Standards , asserting that the CCSS are more rigorous than previous state standards, aligned with the expectations of higher education, and internationally benchmarked. Noting that “higher standards do not guarantee better student achievement,” the BRT provides a set of recommendations for successfully implementing the CCSS, including: Create an Independent Organization to Review Curricula: Educators need an independent organization to create Consumer Reports-type reviews that assess how well curriculum and instructional materials are aligned with the Common Core State Standards. Although there is currently a shortage of high-quality curricula aligned to the Common Core State Standards, eventually curricula of varying quality will be available from both nonprofit and for-profit sources. Independent review regarding the quality of these materials will assist educators with making well-informed, cost-effective decisions. Learning List meets this need. The editorial reviews and alignment reports featured on LearningList.com provide objective, qualitative information about instructional resources as well as their alignment to the Common Core and the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Learning List reviews both publisher-produced and open-source instructional materials. The goal of our service is to provide educators and parents with the information they need to select standards-aligned materials that will improve their students’ achievement. Launched just two weeks ago, districts large and small, urban and rural are subscribing to Learning List’s instructional materials review service.

When choosing instructional materials, it is imperative that we educators carefully consider if the materials are aligned to the standards. Too often, we make the mistake of choosing an instructional material by merely considering the content of the standard (what is being taught), such as ending punctuation or cause/effect. We often neglect to pay attention to whether the materials address the cognitive demand of the standard (what students are required to do to demonstrate their mastery of the standard). We spend countless hours finding what we think are the best lessons to teach a standard, but if the lessons we choose do not address the content, cognitive demand and context of the standard completely, then all of our hard work is for naught. No matter how well we teach the lesson, few students will be successful at mastering the standard. That’s why it’s so important to purchase materials that are aligned to the “depth and complexity,” or the 3 C’s of the standards. We’ll write more about the 3 C’s next week.

During a public hearing  over social studies lessons included in Texas’s CSCOPE curriculum management system, educators and members of Texas’s State Board of Education got into a discussion about the meaning of “rigor.” All agreed that giving students material that is developmentally appropriate for a higher grade may be “harder,” but is not more rigorous.  Research suggests that rigorous instructional materials: Engage students with complex but grade-appropriate, complex content, Require students to think critically about what they learn, and Ask students to solve problems linked to the real world and their own lives. As John Bogess explains in The Three Rs Redefined for a Flat World , these attributes address the quality of student thinking and may be found in instructional materials used at any grade level and in any subject area.

One of the keynote presentation speakers at the recent Texas ASCD Conference was Dr. Jackie Walsh.  Her presentation was, “Questioning for Thinking:  Helping Students make Connections”.  Dr. Walsh talked about the importance of asking quality questions and developing effective questioning strategies to activate, support, and sustain student thinking. Dr. Walsh shared the impact that teachers have on student learning when they think of the types of questions they want to pose while developing their lesson plans instead of thinking of them spontaneously while teaching.  As a teacher of teachers, I have observed how the quality of questions asked by teachers increased when they took the time to think of effective questions before teaching the lesson.  Their questions became more open-ended and required responses that were at a much higher level of thinking.  Students were more engaged and the discussions became much more in-depth.  Teachers would comment on how difficult it was to think of effective questions at first, but then the more they practiced, the easier it got.  They began to help students ask questions of each other and that’s when teachers really started seeing student progress increase.  Students were taking responsibility for their own learning! As with any new learning, teachers need to reflect on the questions asked after the lesson to analyze the responses given by students and how the questions could be improved.  Teachers not only need to carefully think of the questions they ask of their students, but they also need to analyze the type of questions presented in instructional materials before making any purchase.  LearningList.com can help educators be assured that the type of questions asked in instructional materials align with the level of thinking required in the standards.