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Advanced Quantitative Reasoning’s (AQR) Mathematics for the World Around Us  is a comprehensive course for high school students who have successfully completed Algebra II or Integrated Mathematics III. Learning List reviewed the course’s print teacher and student editions as submitted for state adoption in Texas.  AQR’s materials indicate that an interactive electronic version of the textbook was in development at the time of Learning List’s review (summer 2014). Mathematics for the World Around Us  combines the traditional high school mathematics content (i.e., algebra, geometry, and functions) with college and career readiness topics (e.g., financial literacy, statistics, and modeling). The course serves as an option for fourth-year high school math instruction in Texas. Prerequisites includes: Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II OR Integrated High School Mathematics I, II, and III.  Content is broken into three parts: Numerical Reasoning Probability, Statistical Reasoning, and Modeling With Algebra and Discrete Mathematics. Across parts, instruction focuses on exploration and inquiry of concepts. Content includes frequent textbox activities titled “Quick Questions,” “Explorations,” and “Investigations.” Quick Questions take a few minutes to complete, explorations take a little longer, and investigations may take the full period. Each part also includes a larger capstone project focused on a real-world problem.  Mathematics for the World Around Us  does not include formal tests. However, the course’s activities, exercises, and projects support performance-based assessments of learning. Teacher editions include appendices with teaching notes and answer keys. Students will need a graphing calculator. AQR provides course files for use with TI- ns pire CAS calculator on its website .

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.

Agile Mind is a comprehensive, online program to support mathematics instruction in middle school and high school.  Agile Mind resources are designed to support teacher-led instruction and include interactive animations, simulations, and collaborative learning experiences to engage students with mathematics concepts. Agile Mind resources are aligned to the Common Core State Standards and the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills . Instruction is organized in three-part lessons: Overview activities spark students’ interest using animations and visualizations to introduce new concepts. Exploring activities provide core instruction in the context of real-world problems. Interactive simulations allow students to manipulate variables, make predictions, and analyze data. Instruction incorporates multiple representations of math concepts (e.g., words, tables, graphs, and equations) and provides opportunities for students to communicate their thinking in written and spoken formats. Summary sections review and reinforce key concepts and vocabulary . Agile Mind resources include Bloom’s and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK) questioning taxonomies and Mathematics Assessment Resource Service (MARS) problem sets that are aligned to national and international standards. An Algebra I teacher from Lyford High School in Texas commented: “Even though I didn’t think I had time to implement another new program at our school, I found out that having students work on Agile Mind to explore a new topic before I taught the lesson actually saved me time in the long run!” Agile Mind provides extensive instructional support for teachers, including topic-specific support for planning and implementing lessons and downloadable student work sheets to support note-taking and lab-based activities. The program’s browser-based learning management system (LMS) is easy to use and includes tools that allow teachers to plan instruction; manage assignments, quizzes, and assessments; and communicate with students. The teacher dashboard is formatted as an interactive calendar that includes an “at-a-glance” feature that allows users to track individual student and class progress on assignments. LMS resources include comprehensive guidance in using online tools and professional development and support for instruction in print and video formats. About Agile Mind: With over 2.3 million students served in 27 states, Agile Mind was founded in 2002 to enhance one thing: the opportunity to learn. The team focuses on equity and high achievement in mathematics and science because of its importance to both the lives of students and to the future of our nation. Agile Mind’s mission—and promise—is to provide the programs, tools, and the instructional improvement systems educators need to transform student achievement through exemplary, sustainable teaching practices. Click here to learn more about Agile Mind courses and programs.

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.

August 24, 2014 will mark the beginning of the 365-day countdown to when high school teachers will be required to teach the new high school math Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills ( TEKS ).  Teachers across the state have been working hard to prepare for the changes. Districts are adjusting instruction, instructional materials and assessments to ensure students will learn the new standards successfully. On Friday, July 25, 2014, the Texas Education Agency released a document to better assist teachers in this process, The Revised Mathematics TEKS: Side-by-Side Comparison documents for Algebra I, Algebra II and Geometry. The documents show educators in a user-friendly, color-coded template, what content has been added, deleted, has remained the same and/or has been clarified. In addition, the document provides critical instructional implication details in the Supporting Information column. Since the  value of collaboration  is far greater than the knowledge of any one person, we ask you: "How are you preparing to teach the new high school math TEKS?" (See comment box below) We look forward to your responses via the comment field of this blog. All answers will be compiled anonymously in an upcoming blog post by the end of July.  Thank you for participating. * If you enjoyed reading this article, you may also enjoy: Before Buying Instructional Materials, What Would You Ask?

DynaStudy ’s DynaNotes Science Course Notes are app-based supplemental learning aids that support instruction in high school biology and chemistry courses and science courses at grades 5 and 8. At each grade level, Course Notes complement TEKS -aligned comprehensive, core science curricula and support preparation for STAAR testing and end of course exams. Students can create easy, password-protected journals on individual or shared iPads or Android tablets . The apps are grounded in TEKS, personal to each student and connected to the outside world. Course Notes summarize fundamental concepts and define vocabulary in short easy-to-read passages that include clear examples, colorful illustrations, and links to external resources with relevant content (e.g., NBC Learn ). Instruction focuses content tested on STAAR exams and includes eligible content from prior grades.  Course Notes do not include hands-on activities or practice in problem-solving skills. However, teachers are able to expand notes to include additional information, activities, and experiments aligned to the TEKS. Course Notes are easy-to-use for both students and teachers. Students are able to add their own notes in text format or by using tablet camera functions to attach photographs. All notes are local to the device, so once the app has been downloaded, all course notes and student notes are accessible without an Internet connection. Links to external resources, however, continue to require Internet access. Effective student tools yield many benefits for teachers. While students use DynaNotes apps, teachers are freed to do more. DynaStudy, the creator of DynaNotes , is an award-winning educational publishing company headquartered in Austin, Texas. More information is available about this and other options on their website .

Over the past few weeks, we have been working our way through a series of 15 questions that are most commonly asked of Learning List by those who develop and deliver content. The series began with Part 1 : the first five questions and answers; that was followed by Part 2 - the answers to the second five. In this final installment, we’ll address the remaining questions. Who are Learning List's reviewers? Learning List’s reviewers, called Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), are experienced, certified educators with prior standards-alignment experience. To be eligible for selection as an SME for Learning List, a candidate must meet the following criteria: He or she must have at least five years of teaching experience, though most are far more experienced; He or she must be certified in the grade and subject related to the product(s) assigned for review; and He or she cannot have been employed by a publisher or K-12 online content provider for at least two years immediately preceding his or her relationship with Learning List. 2. How does Learning List protect the security of materials that are submitted? Learning List  is acutely aware of and respects publishers’ security concerns. Publishers upload all product data and access information directly into Learning List’s secure database. Products are accessible only to the subject matter experts assigned to review the material through the database; materials are not emailed during the review process.  Six weeks after product reviews are published on  LearningList.com , the product access information is deleted from Learning List’s database. 3. How many districts does Learning List have as subscribers? The number of Learning List’s subscribing districts is continuously growing, with over 500,000 students now served through the districts that subscribe to our service. While Learning List’s subscribers include very large urban and suburban districts, there are many small rural districts and private schools located inside and outside of Texas. 4. Can publishers subscribe to Learning List? What features are included in a publisher subscription? Yes. Publishers may  subscribe to Learning List . With a subscription, publishers have full access to all of Learning List’s reviews and have all but two of the same privileges as subscribing districts. The two exceptions are: 1) publishers cannot request the review of a product published by another company and 2) publishers are not able use the educator ratings feature. Subscribing publishers have commented that Learning List is an incomparable source of market intelligence (identifying gaps in the market) and competitive intelligence (better understanding competitors’ products). We offer a 15% discount for publishers that have submitted materials to Learning List for review. For more information about publisher subscriptions or submitting content, contact Christopher Lucas, Director of Publisher Relations, via ChristopherL@learninglist.com. 5. Can we get a trial subscription to LearningList.com to see what the reviews look like? Learning List does not offer trial subscriptions for publishers. However, we are happy to  schedule a webinar  to introduce our service and enable the publisher to see how product information and the reviews are presented  on LearningList.com . If you enjoyed this article, you may be interested in reading: Publishers: Meet Learning List (Part 1) Publishers: Meet Learning List (Part 2)

In the July 15 th issue of Education Week, there was a tech-related article about personalized learning titled: “ Before Buying Technology, Asking ‘Why?’ ” The same can be asked about the K-12 instructional materials selection process. Before you purchase anything, ask “Why?” Why is your proposed selection the best choice? Yet there are other key questions that must be asked. When we sampled school districts to better understand the cost of the selecting instructional materials (IM), we found that there are hidden costs. We learned more about the cost of selecting IM that remained unused within each district. Our sampling showed the value of unused materials sitting in district warehouses ranged from $50,000 to well over $1 million. Of course, this range was not a yearly total, but one that was a cumulative effect over a period of several years. So how can you best optimize a standards-aligned selection process that will use every dollar of the IM budget toward resources that your teachers will use  for the next 6-8 years? Ask the critical  questions before you buy. Districts often ask us which questions they should be asking publishers. Our editorial reviews answer the key questions the research suggests that differentiate high quality instructional materials. We also provide publishers' answers to the 12 most commonly asked questions from district RFPs across the country. Since the value of collaborating across school districts is far greater than the knowledge of any one school district, we ask you: Before Buying Instructional Materials, What Are the Key Questions You Ask Publishers? We look forward to your responses via the comment field of this blog or through Twitter via @LearningList using #IMkeyQs (hashtag for Instructional Materials Key Questions). All answers will be compiled anonymously in an upcoming blog post by the end of July. Thank you for participating.