Better Tests, Fewer Barriers: Advances in Accessibility through PARCC and Smarter Balanced
As the title implies, this Center for American Progress publication provides an overview of the general movement toward increased accessibility for students with disabilities (SWDs) and English Language Learners (ELLs). The authors present statistics showing a substantial increase in the numbers of...
Statement from the Working Group on ELL Policy Re: Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015
The Working Group on ELL Policy consists of experts who research effective educational policy and strategies for ELL students. The Working Group advocates four guiding principles for the inclusion of ELLs in federal legislation that affect state and local agencies:
What Are Teachers' and School Leaders' Major Concerns About New K–12 State Tests?
The implementation of new consortia-based tests (Smarter Balanced and PARCC) has created concern among both educators and school leaders about increased test difficulty, score accuracy, technology, and educator readiness to prepare students for the new assessments. In this brief report, the authors...
Supporting the Implementation of NGSS through Research: Assessment
From the authors: "The NGSS [Next Generation Science Standards] identify three dimensions essential for providing students with a quality science education: science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts across domains of science, and disciplinary core ideas.
Professional Learning Modules for the Common Core State Standards: Assessment Literacy
As part of its Common Core State Standards (CCSS) professional learning module series, the California Department of Education, in collaboration with the San Joaquin Valley County Office of Education, has developed an online module focused on the topic of assessment literacy. The resource is...
Freedom to Talk
Stanford University Professor Kenji Hakuta and his son Luis are the creators of Freedom to Talk, a short video about the civil rights movement and English Language Learners (ELLs). Hakuta narrates the history of how the principles of civil rights are extended to today’s new state academic content,...
“Why Are There So Many Words in Math?”: Planning for Content-Area Vocabulary Instruction
This article, published by the National Council of Teachers of English, describes a planning tool for vocabulary instruction called the 5 Cs. It was developed to help teachers consider which words to teach in content-area classes such as mathematics, science, and social studies. The tool supports...
EQuIP Rubric for Lessons & Units: Science
The Educators Evaluating the Quality of Instructional Products (EQuIP) Rubric for science supports educators conducting in-depth evaluations of the quality of lessons and units that appear in published materials or are educator-created. The EQuIP Rubric for science extends the work of previous...