Guide to Evaluating Assessments Using the CCSSO Criteria for High Quality Assessments: Focus on Test Content
Because the results from state assessments are often used for high stakes purposes, it is important that the assessments themselves are of high quality. In this publication, the authors propose a methodology for evaluating state assessments for summative purposes. They describe their methodology...
“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...
PARCC Accessibility Features and Accommodations System
This web-based module is an interactive learning tool for educators to learn about PARCC's accessibility system. Topics in the module include: Introduction to PARCC Training Modules Accessibility Features and Accommodations Student Registration/Personal Needs Profile (SR/PNP) Make-Up Testing/ Undo...
Relationships and convergences among the mathematics, science, and ELA practices
A product of the Stanford University Understanding Language initiative, this Venn diagram is a tool that effectively illustrates the overlap and grouping of student practices (and student capacities) from four sets of seminal documents: the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language...
Persuasion Across Time and Space: Analyzing and Producing Complex Texts
WestEd's Teacher Professional Development Program developed the "Persuasion Across Time and Space: Analyzing and Producing Complex Texts" in conjunction with the Understanding Language Initiative. The goal of this unit (involving five conceptually linked lessons) is to provide exemplars...