Search Results

Although the state of Texas has chosen not to adopt the Common Core State Standard s (CCSS) as the state’s K-12 English language arts and math standards, Texas school boards are, nevertheless, facing an ongoing struggle over the CCSS. In 2013, the Texas legislature passed a law, Texas Education Code §28.002(b) which prohibits: (1)   The State Board of Education from adopting the CCSS as the “essential knowledge and skills” for the State of Texas; (2)   School districts from teaching the CCSS as the essential knowledge and skills for any foundation or enrichment course; and (3)   School districts/charter schools from being required to teach the CCSS (as, for example, a condition of accepting federal or grant funding). “Common Core” resources are seeping into Texas classrooms, and some people allege that districts are breaking the law if their teachers use CCSS-aligned materials.  When asked whether it is illegal for Texas educators to use instructional materials aligned to the CCSS, the Texas Attorney General decided that as long as a resource aligns to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills ( TEKS ) it is permissible for Texas school districts to use it, even if the material also aligns to the CCSS. Therefore, a district is not necessarily breaking the law just because its teachers are using materials that claim to be aligned to the CCSS. Why are Texas teachers using CCSS-aligned materials?  Publishers of K-12 instructional materials develop products to appeal to their largest potential market. In the past, California and Texas were the two largest potential markets for K-12 materials. However, the widespread adoption of the CCSS changed that calculation. Because more than 40 states have adopted the CCSS, the number of potential customers for CCSS-aligned materials far exceeds the number of districts that need TEKS-aligned materials. Therefore, many more publishers develop materials that address the CCSS than materials that address only the TEKS. CCSS-aligned materials may, however, also be aligned to other states’ standards, including the TEKS. The materials may address each state’s standards to a different degree and in different locations within the product. Therefore, to ensure that they are not violating the law against teaching the CCSS, it is critical that Texas educators ensure that the materials they use are aligned to the TEKS. How do districts accomplish this? (1)   Purchase state-adopted materials. The state has a rigorous process for validating that materials submitted for state adoption are aligned to TEKS. However, for a variety of reasons, many publishers choose not to submit their materials for state adoption. Texas law allows districts to purchase non-state-adopted materials and many choose to do that because non-adopted materials may meet their students’ needs better or may be less expensive than state-adopted materials. (2)   Districts can rely on the publisher’s alignment report to ensure that the products they use align to the TEKS. However, many educators evaluate alignment differently from publishers. (3)   Districts can require their teachers to verify the alignment of the materials the district is using. It takes between 8 and 10 hours to verify the TEKS alignment for one product in one grade level; 104 to 130 hours to do the same for one product that spans grades K-12. (4)   A low-cost, time-saving alternative is to subscribe to Learning List . Learning List features a detailed, independent TEKS alignment report for each state-adopted and non-adopted instructional material. Subscribing districts may access any completed alignment report and may request that Learning List develop a TEKS alignment report for the materials (in the four core subjects) that their district already uses. In this way, Learning List gives districts peace of mind that the materials their teachers are using are aligned to the TEKS and thus, that the district is in compliance with the law.

Big Ideas Learning ® provides comprehensive courses for Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra II in its Big Ideas Math® series for Texas high schools.  Courses integrate the Mathematical Process Standards throughout instruction and include support for English language learners and Response to Intervention at each tier. Instruction encourages students to think mathematically, justify their conclusions, and communicate their reasoning using precise language. Virtual samples are available here .  Learning List  has reviewed this series relative to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills ( TEKS ). In each course, chapters begin with two short features: (1) a review of prior learning titled “Maintaining Mathematical Proficiency” and (2) a set of exercises focused on Texas’ Mathematical Process Standards. New concepts are framed by an “Essential Question” and include a brief set of “Explorations” exercises that help students make sense of what they are learning. Online resources include a “See the Big Idea” video that connects each chapter’s content to real-life STEM issues.  Each chapter has a TEKS-based practice test (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) and a performance task in which students apply new learning to a real-life problem. Big Ideas Learning provides a comprehensive correlation to the TEKS as well as point-of-use references to the relevant TEKS in each course’s teacher edition.  Teacher resources also include point-of-use pacing guides, answer keys, and guidance in differentiating instruction, designing interventions, and supporting ELLs. Print teacher editions reference the online resources that are available to support each lesson. Big Ideas Math® is a registered trademarks of Larson Texts, Inc.

Scientific Minds MC 2 in Agriculture is a supplemental video-based science resource for high school courses in agriscience and biology.   Learning List  has reviewed this relative to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills ( TEKS ). Content covers fundamental concepts in agriculture and supports instruction in the core content areas, particularly science and math. Lessons are presented in 30 short videos with accompanying worksheets and extension activities. Content addresses topics in soil, plant, and animal science and issues in environmental science (e.g., pollution and conservation of resources). Lessons are presented in short, narrated videos (8 to 10 minutes) that include images, animations, and brief sets of notes. Videos present core agricultural content aligned to national Agriculture, Food, & Natural Resources (AFNR) standards and include an “Explore the Core” section that focuses on the core content areas and reviews SAT vocabulary. Each video lesson includes an accompanying worksheet that may be downloaded in PDF format. See the sample video on the right. Worksheets review video content and include cross-curricular activities specific to each of the core subject areas. Worksheets also include hands-on extension activities.  Some of these activities are quite detailed (e.g., retrieving ovum from the reproductive tract of a cow). Each Lesson also includes a multiple-choice quiz. Students with accounts may take quizzes online or quizzes may be downloaded for paper-and-pencil delivery. About Scientific Mind s: Scientific Minds ® , LLC is a publisher of technology-based science education products built from  state standards . Their product development is based on research proving that students absorb information best in small yet thought-provoking chunks. Their versatile, supplemental products will support any science curriculum.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Texas High School Math Series provides comprehensive Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II courses designed specifically for Texas students. Learning List has reviewed each course as submitted for state adoption in Texas.  The courses support instruction in blended learning environments and include videos, interactive tools, and adaptive software that customizes instruction based on individual student needs. Instruction combines Texas’ math content and process standards and includes performance-based assessments and opportunities for students to write about math concepts. Online content includes interactive problem sets, videos and tutorials, and the Personal Math Trainer (PMT), powered by Knewton™, through a Student Dashboard. Interactive problems provide students with immediate corrective feedback. Videos highlight the real-world applications of algebra, and video tutorials explain example problems. Lesson videos include scannable QR codes that enable students to access them on smartphones. The PMT is an adaptive practice, homework, and formative assessment tool that pinpoints students’ needs to deliver targeted remediation, extension, and enrichment in order to help them learn more efficiently and effectively. The PMT prescribes intervention activities based on individual student work and automatically grades assignments. Grades are reported on the teacher dashboard. Teacher resources include links to the TEKS , background in key content, questioning strategies, planning and pacing guides, and support for differentiating instruction and teaching struggling readers. Teachers have access to materials for English language learners, Response to Intervention, and advanced learners. Online professional development resources include teaching tips and videos in which master teachers model effective strategies in the classroom. About HMH:  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is dedicated to providing forward-thinking solutions in educational innovation, content, and technology. W e help meet the needs of students and teachers preparing for the Texas assessment.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s (HMH) Texas Social Studies Series provides comprehensive core social studies courses for grades 6 through 11. Learning List  reviewed the course for each grade level as submitted for state adoption in Texas. Middle school courses include: Contemporary World Studies: People, Places, and Societies ; Texas History ; and United States History: Early Colonial Period Through Reconstruction. High school courses include: World Geography , World History , and The Americans: U.S. History Since 1877. Courses are available in print and online versions and may be downloaded as eReader files. Each course integrates literacy instruction and support for active reading with engaging social studies content. Courses focus on making historical events relevant to students’ lives through videos, interactive learning experiences, and features that help students see why content matters to them. Course videos are provided by History® . Content is organized around essential questions and includes frequent references to primary source documents. Instruction emphasizes the development of skills such as accessing and evaluating information, reading maps and graphs, and collaborating with others and each course includes specific resources to help students master the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills). A Spanish-language student edition is available for each middle school course and a Texas Guided Reading Workbook in Spanish and English is available for courses across grade levels. Courses include formative quizzes and summative chapter tests. Chapter tests are provided in multiple versions for students at different levels. Teachers also have access to the ExamView® Assessment Suite, which allows users to create customized tests in English and Spanish. Teacher editions include comprehensive alignments to the TEKS and the ELPS; planning guides; and support for introducing content, pre-teaching, and providing direct instruction. Online teacher resources include editable PowerPoints with interactive content and point-of use links to videos, maps, and primary sources. You can find more information at HMH Texas Social Studies website .

One of the joys of being involved in Learning List is working with the outstanding, passionate educators from across the country who do our alignment verifications and editorial reviews.  The other night, I contacted one of our reviewers to ask if she would be available to complete an alignment verification. She mentioned that she was about to host a dinner and asked if we could talk in the morning. The next morning, I asked her how her dinner was. She explained that her guest was a very special former student. "I met Jorvis when he was a 12-year-old student in the high-poverty, high-minority middle school where I was principal. Jorvis was always well-spoken and believed in speaking his mind, particularly where he felt injustice occurred. During this time, I met one of Jorvis' older brothers, who became active on the streets. This brother, truly a challenge, was diagnosed with cancer during this time and died soon thereafter. Through this illness, Jorvis and his younger brother struggled. Jorvis fought harder to be successful; his young brother went the other direction, getting into trouble and mixed up with drugs. Then Jorvis' oldest brother and his dad were incarcerated due to an incident where the dad shot the oldest brother. Jorvis went on to high school to become a positive leader and role model.  As the new high school principal, I had the privilege of watching him become Vice President of his senior class and handed him his diploma when he graduated. Jorvis enrolled in Texas A&M Kingsville and quickly became a leader in organizations, his classes, and his work. He even became a speaker on the local university radio station. When he returns to Bryan, Jorvis visits his high school to see his teachers, speak to students about their power to be successful regardless of their circumstances, and he continues to be a leader in his home church. Jorvis has a Facebook page titled, “Keys2Succeed” which contains his favorite quote: "It's not what they call you, it's what you answer to." Jorvis dreams big and truly believes God has a plan for his life. He dreams about owning his own TV station and working with Oprah Winfrey. Recently, his youngest brother was accepted to Texas A&M University College Station because, as he expressed to Jorvis, he has seen how successful Jorvis has become." Jorvis has high expectations for himself and believes he can inspire others to have high expectations for themselves no matter what their circumstances. Jorvis' "Blueprint for Success in Life!"   that got me thinking … setting goals and expectations, isn’t that what standards are all about? Read more about Jorvis’ "Keys2Succeed" on his website . Jorvis McGee is a motivational speaker for schools and is founder of Keys2Succeed. He's also a senior at Texas A&M University in Kingsville - Class of 2015. Jorvis can be contacted at jorvismcgee@hotmail.com.

We welcome all teachers, students and school administrators back to school across the country. With over 3.7 million views, Kid President's Pep Talk to Teachers and Students is a great way to start the school year. Enjoy the video: Kid President's Pep Talk We wish all a happy new school year.

As the industry-leading instructional materials review service for schools and districts, Learning List has designed a robust review process specifically intended to inform educator choice. As one curriculum director observed: “Learning List was built from the ground up to respond specifically to educators’ needs. And it does.” Learning List is a standards-neutral, independent review service accountable only to subscribing schools and districts. However, the service creates value for publishers, as well. Learning List’s reviews are descriptive, not critical. The reviews do not rate products or determine which materials are best or most appropriate. Learning List believes that educators are the most qualified to determine which materials would be best for their students. The reviews help each school or district select the standards-aligned instructional materials that will lead to the greatest success of their particular students. Though our reviews are independent, Learning List partners with publishers to provide rigorous, clear, and complete assessments of instructional materials. Publishers preview the editorial reviews before they are published to ensure their factual accuracy. Publishers are also afforded an opportunity to respond to Learning List’s alignment decisions before alignment reports are posted. By working together, Learning List and publishers ensure that the reviews are more valuable to educators and the instructional materials are more valuable to students. Today, anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of information technology and no actual content knowledge can publish materials and claim alignment to standards. Conversely, in today’s world of high-stakes testing, districts have a greater need than ever before for instructional materials that are truly aligned to the content, context, and cognitive demand of their state’s chosen curriculum standards. Through collaboration, Learning List and publishers can help educators navigate the increasingly chaotic instructional materials market by providing districts with the timely and accurate information they need to find the instructional materials that are best for their students. For more information about the benefits of Learning List, you can schedule a webinar via this link .

One of the most significant goals that educators have is developing 21st-Century critical thinkers. The portfolio of instructional materials that Mentoring Minds has developed is designed to work toward that goal.  Mentoring Minds provides grade-specific supplemental instructional materials to support K-8 students’ preparation for STAAR tests in reading, writing, math, and science. Products include: Motivation Reading (grades 2-5) Motivation Writing (grade 4) Motivation Math (grades 1-5) Motivation Science (grades 3-5, and grade 8) Motivation products for each subject and grade level are organized in terms of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) and focus on preparing students for STAAR tests.  Content is provided in TEKS-specific units and includes opportunities for students to practice for standardized exams.  In both teacher and student editions, the table of contents reference the specific TEKS addressed by each unit, and the header of each page references the unit’s TEKS focus standard.  Instruction includes critical thinking activities, opportunities to work with peers, games and puzzles, and activities to be completed at home with parents. Mentoring Mind resources include TEKS support for teachers and tools to help teachers and students track TEKS mastery. Teacher edition units begin with an overview of the unit’s focus standard. An “Unpacking the Standards” feature clarifies the standard’s student expectations and the prerequisite knowledge and skills needed to master the standard. Teacher editions provide comprehensive guidance in implementing unit activities with students and include charts and references that link each unit activity and assessment question to the relevant TEKS, Bloom’s Taxonomy level, and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge level. A “Class Performance Chart” helps teachers track class mastery of the TEKS. Student editions have a “Chart Your Success” tool that allows students to monitor their own progress. About Mentoring Minds : Mentoring Minds is a national educational publisher developing proven K-12 instructional materials that encourage critical thinking for life. Their mission and commitment is to motivate children to think critically and to learn effective problem-solving skills in the classroom that will increase their success and prepare them for life in the 21st-century global marketplace.

The material(s) teachers use in the classroom and for remediation can either prepare students for success or contribute to poor test performance. For this reason, it is that imperative teachers and students use instructional materials that are aligned to the content, context and cognitive demand of each standard. Evaluating instructional materials for alignment can be a daunting and time-consuming task. School districts spend an average of $6,000 in staff time reviewing the alignment of one K-12 instructional material. Learning List’s detailed alignment reports are designed specifically to help educators quickly assess whether and precisely where their comprehensive or supplemental materials are aligned to a particular standard or group of standards. This is important because not all standards are tested equally on state assessments. For example, the bundle of standards referred to as Figure 19 were tested more frequently than any other standards on the 2013 and 2014 “Reading STAAR (State of Texas Assessments for Academic Readiness)” and on the “English Language Arts End-of-Course (EOC)” assessments. Figure 19 accounted for: 46% of the  6 th grade 2013 Reading STAAR test; 52% of 6 th grade 2014 Reading STAAR test; 50% of the 2013 English II Reading EOC; and 28% of the 2014 English II EOC. When reviewing state test data, subscribers can use Learning List’s alignment reports to ensure that the materials they are using are aligned to the critical Figure 19 standards. If their material is not aligned to 100% of those standards, Learning List’s Fill-in-the-Gap™ tool instantly identifies other materials, including open educational resources, which align to the remaining standards.

People often ask what is the definition of “instructional material.”  While some states define the term, Learning List reviews comprehensive and supplemental preK-12 instructional content delivered in multiple formats, including: print, DVDs and online materials. Though we’ve adopted an expansive definition of “instructional material, ” you won’t find this video reviewed on LearningList.com  even though it is one of the more popular grammar lessons with over 14 million views. However, we thought we’d just share it to ease your transition back into the school year. Learning List is currently reviewing the social studies and high school math materials that have been submitted for state adoption in Texas and will publish those editorial reviews when school begins.  We will post the state’s alignment reports for those materials as soon as TEA releases them, likely in early December. We are also reviewing non-adopted and open-education resources in all four core content areas: math, ELA, science and technology applications.  If there is an instructional material your school is interested in and you would like an independent evaluation of its alignment to the TEKS or Common Core standards, and an objective assessment of its instructional content and design , request a review now , and we’ll have those for you shortly after school begins. Contact us for more information.

Imagine Learning is a supplemental program of computer-based tutorials that supports the development of language and literacy skills for students in grades K-5. Instruction addresses reading, vocabulary, grammar, speaking, and listening skills, and is targeted to meet the needs of English language learners, struggling readers, early elementary students, and Response to Intervention programs. Content is presented in short, interactive tutorials that are highly visual and engaging. At grades K-2, tutorials address the foundational skills for reading, such as letter and word recognition and basic vocabulary. Tutorials for grades 3-5 build on foundational skills and address academic vocabulary, grammar, and strategies for reading and understanding informational and literary texts. Across grades, content addresses phonological awareness, reading comprehension and fluency, and speaking and listening skills. Instruction incorporates games, age-appropriate characters, and videos of students in authentic situations (e.g., borrowing a pencil from a classmate). Imagine Learning uses pre-test and performance data to customize the sequence and pace of instruction for individual students. The program includes Evaluative Checkpoints to provide an ongoing measure of student learning.  Checkpoints consider performance in previous activities to determine the type of support needed for an upcoming set of lessons. Online activities include easy-to-understand instructions, guided and independent practice, immediate corrective feedback, and first-language support for English language learners in 15 languages. Imagine Learning also provides printable resources, such as stories and articles, vocabulary flashcards, graphic organizers, worksheets, and journal pages to supplement computer-based instruction. To access the reviews on Learning List, click here to subscribe or contact us for more information. About Imagine Learning Imagine Learning was founded in 2004 by a team of education and software professionals committed to helping students develop language and literacy skills. Today Imagine Learning’s programs are used in schools in the United States, Korea, Costa Rica, Brazil, and the UAE. Imagine Learning delivers award-winning language and literacy solutions to elementary students throughout the US and around the world. The team creates educational software that uses engaging, one-on-one instruction to meet students’ individual learning needs. The software is research-based, instructionally differentiated, and fun to use. Also available on iPad and Chromebook, Imagine Learning supports a dynamic blended learning experience. For more information, please visit www.imaginelearning.com.