Curriculum & Alignment Institute
Overview
The Alaska Department of Education & Early Development will provide training for district-based teams in Alaska in the implementation of effective curriculum management strategies. Regardless of a district’s current level of curriculum management, the Institute will assist districts in identifying next steps toward having manageable, locally informed, and efficiently-operating curriculum practices. The workshops are supported by the Alaska Comprehensive Center.
Objectives for the March.....
Improving K-3 Reading Comprehension
The Center on Instruction has published a series of four Improving K-3 Reading Comprehension professional development modules designed to provide key principles and practices that support classroom instruction. Each module provides resources useful to federally funded School Improvement Grant (SIG) programs. The webinar modules introduce the Center on Instruction (COI) and Doing What Works (DWW) websites' tools and resources and address 1) the supporting research, 2) teaching comprehension strategies, 3) engaging students with text, and 5).....
Collaborative Meetings

Based on the research literature, this guide was developed specifically to support Alaska educators’ efforts to increase student learning by meeting together to collaboratively monitor the progress of their students, assess students’ learning needs, and decide how to tailor instructional practice in response to those identified needs. There is a DVD that accompanies this guide that.....
Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8
This resource from The National Academies Press is an update to the previous round of National Research Council publications that redefine what it means to be proficient in science. It provides key ideas on what it takes for teachers to provide high-quality science instruction and to support students in learning science effectively. It also provides a framework for thinking about the core elements of scientific knowledge and practice and provides evidence to support these key elements that ultimately form a foundation for science education in.....
Behavior and Classroom Management: Online Professional Development Modules and Resources for Implementation
Webinar: Wednesday, May 25 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. AK Std Time
Are you concerned about how to implement and sustain classroom management and behavioral interventions? This interactive webinar will highlight the free, online professional development modules and resources on Classroom and Behavior Management provided by the IRIS (IDEA '04 and Research for Inclusive Settings) Center for Training Enhancements. Silvia DeRuvo, Senior Program Associate at the California Comprehensive Center at WestEd, and two classroom teachers will discuss how.....
Using Additional Teacher Collaboration Time to Improve Student Achievement
May 26 9:30am–11:00am (AK Std Time) Teacher collaboration is crucial to improving instruction and accelerating student achievement. In this last session in our webinar series on extended learning time, Ben Lummis, Vice President for the National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL) and Sarah Gallagher, Program Associate at NCTL will share how more time can be best used to improve teacher collaboration and professional development. The session will explore the essential components of productive teacher time through examples of effective.....
Making Choices to Prioritize Learning Time for Students
May 12 9:30am–11:00am (AK Std Time) Do you wonder how districts, unions, and schools can collaborate to create innovative time and prioritize expanded learning time for students?
Budgets, staffing, and negotiated agreements don’t have to place strict limits on the length of the school day. In this third session of a webinar series on expanded learning time, Ben Lummis, Vice President for the National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL) and Sarah Gallagher, Program Associate at NCTL will share a framework for flexibly thinking about.....
Webinar: Writing and Writing Instruction Improve Reading: What We Have Learned from Research
The Center on Instruction hosted a webinar on April 21, 2011, featuring Dr. Steve Graham, co-author of "Writing to Read", a meta-analysis that examines the influence of writing on reading skills. He presented an overview of the findings and described implications for practice. He also provided specific examples of how writing facilitates reading and reading development. The archived WebEx file can be accessed here. The PowerPoint presentation used during the webinar and a synopsis of the report is available for download below, and the full.....
Conversations with Practioners: SUPPORTING STATE-LEVEL COLLABORATION AMONG GENERAL AND SPECIAL EDUCATORS
About this document
This booklet has three main parts:
• What is collaboration?
• Recommendations for supporting state-level
collaboration
• Building capacity for collaboration
Part one compares collaboration to other forms of
active partnership (cooperation and coordination) and
encourages readers to consider which type of
partnership is most appropriate for their situation.
Part two describes seven recommendations for
fostering collaboration at the state level and illustrates
them with examples of “collaboration in.....
Coaching for School Improvement: A Guide for Coaches and Their Supervisors (CII)
A Guide for Coaches and Their Supervisors offers tools, tips, and strategies for coaches working with school improvement teams. The guide also offers examples and recommendations for coaches working with teams who are using the online Indistar® tool created by CII.
http://www.centerii.org/restructuring/
Center on Instruction (COI) Launches New Website
The Center on Instruction is pleased to announce the launch of its new website, designed to provide easier access to your specific needs for high-quality educational resources. It is updated to provide a more contemporary look as well as provide better ways to draw attention to latest resources that, as always, are high quality, useful, and relevant to clients.
COI has also added a new topic, eLearning. COI will be posting resources on web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual classrooms, and digital collaboration. IMPORTANT: To.....
Developing and Using Common Assessment to Monitor Student Learning
with Deb Farrington and Julia Payne-Lewis
February 3, 17, March 3 and 17, 2011
Are your common assessments measuring the intended learning and providing useful data to inform decisions about curriculum and instruction?
Learn strategies for developing and implementing common assessments, how to analyze the characteristics of quality assessments, strategies for using multiple choice items and constructed response tasks, and how data can be used to inform instruction and monitor student learning.
FREE-DVD-Principal Walk-Throughs A Tool for Alaskan Instructional Leaders
THIS DVD IS AVAILABLE FOR FREE!
Produced by Education Northwest through the Alaska Comprehensive Center for the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development (EED), this 15-minute video looks at how four principals carry out “walk-throughs” in their schools. Walk-throughs—sometimes called learning walks or data walks—are quick classroom visits that can help principals systematically gather data on instructional practices. Alaska EED is particularly interested in using.....
Terms of Engagement—Rethinking Teachers' Independent Learning Traits (NCREL)
This Critical Issue piece focuses on teachers as students. It looks at their own independent learning traits in light of today's imperative that they both foster lifelong learners in their classrooms as well as become lifelong learners themselves
Toolkit for Implementing the School Improvement Grant Transformation Model (CII)
This document is intended for use after the LEA has determined that the Transformation model is the best fit for the school. The purposes of this document are to:
•outline action items involved in implementing the School Improvement Grant (SIG) Transformation model and •provide tools and resources to help districts and school implement the Transformation model.
Find Youth Info provides information, strategies, tools, and resources for youth, families, schools and community organizations that promise to improve school climate
FindYouthInfo.gov was created by the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs (IWGYP), which is composed of representatives from 12 Federal agencies that support programs and services focusing on youth. The IWGYP promotes the goal of positive, healthy outcomes for youth in three significant ways:
» Create and Support youth-serving organizations
» Identify and Disseminate Promising and Effective Strategies
» Promote Enhanced Collaboration
National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality Resource Library (Publications Database)
In the last several years alone, hundreds of books and articles about teacher quality and leadership quality issues have been written. Using standardized criteria to evaluate many of these publications, Learning Point Associates has assembled a database with detailed information about many of the most significant teacher quality publications of the past 20 years.
This TQ Source publications database houses information for publications in the following issue areas: preparation, recruitment and retention, certification and licensure,.....
The Teachers Page - The Library of Congress
This rich website from the Library of Congress contains ready-to-use materials that bring the Library’s primary sources into the classroom. In addition, it builds teacher skills with the Library's professional development curriculum.
Educators can find classroom materials, professional development activities, Teaching with Primary Sources partners, news and events, class starters, teacher updates, and more Library of Congress resources.