All Instruction Resources
The National Archives has launched a new online tool for teaching with documents. Not only does DocsTeach.org welcome educators to explore thousands of documents in a variety of media from the holdings of the National Archives, but it also allows teachers to combine these materials using clever tools to create engaging activities. Teachers can create lessons from scratch, adapt lessons from others, or let their students create the lessons, and a single suite of tools can be applied to a range of subjects and skill levels. FOR MORE.....
This brief from the Center on Instruction endeavors to distill the research on science learning to inform a common vision of science instruction and to describe the extent to which K-12 science education currently reflects this vision. A final section on implications for policymakers and science education practitioners describes actions that could integrate the findings from research into science education.
This Second Edition of Effective Science Instruction: What Does Research Tell Us? provides more detailed information for users. In.....
The Assessment and Accountability Center has published a report describing the purposes of benchmark assessments that includes recommendations for selecting and using benchmark assessments. The report addresses issues of validity, alignment, reliability, fairness and bias and accessibility, instructional sensitivity, utility, and reporting. The Center also presents recommendations on building capacity to support schools' and districts' use of benchmark assessments for improved learning.
"Content standards" are broad statements of what students should know and be able to do as a result of their public school experience. In addition to providing "meaningful opportunities" for students in state assessed reading, writing, mathematics, and science standards, districts are expected to provide "meaningful exposure" to content standards not tested by the state so that students receive a balanced education. The concept of meaningful exposure comes from a ruling by Judge Gleason in Moore v State of Alaska.
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.
“An increasing body of evidence points to the link between effective data use and student learning,” said Margaret Heritage who managed the comprehensive revisions. She noted that the “Race to the Top” program goals place a high priority on better data systems that inform schools and teachers.
The new site includes a data users guide plus specific examples from states, school districts, and schools of successful data use. This site also has components of formative and diagnostic assessment.
This document lists information and resources relating to principal and teacher evaluation that districts may find helpful as they develop tools to review a teacher's or principal’s performance. ACC has identified a number of tools, some of which provide examples that include student data in the evaluation process, which are research-based and offer promise as an effective practice. However, any resource’s inclusion or omission from this list does not constitute ACC’s endorsement or lack of endorsement.
A new report from the High School Tiered Interventions Initiative (HSTII), a collaboration among the National High School Center, the Center on Instruction, and the National Center on Response to Intervention, summarizes what HSTII has learned thus far about effective implementation of RTI in high schools.
Tiered Interventions in High Schools: Using Preliminary ‘Lessons Learned’ to Guide Ongoing Discussion, provides a brief description of the RTI framework and the essential components of RTI, illustrates how the essential components of.....
This source describes seven characteristics of culturally responsive teaching:
1. Positive perspectives on parents and families
2. Communication of high expectations
3. Learning within the context of culture
4. Student-centered instruction
5. Culturally mediated instruction
6. Reshaping the curriculum
7. Teacher as facilitator
A key aspect of effective teaching and learning is helping students retain information over the course of the school year and beyond. Research has shown that exposing students to key concepts and facts on at least two occasions, separated by several weeks to several months, greatly reduces the rate at which information is forgotten. This is accomplished by spacing the introduction of material over time and by reviewing material with short quizzes, review games, targeted homework assignments, and exams.
View this multimedia overview to learn.....
Alaska State System of Support (SSOS) Operations Manual,
Building Local Capacity, 2011-2012
The Alaska SSOS's mission is to support districts as they build their capacity to implement sustainable school improvement strategies with fidelity. Authority for developing and implementing a system of support for districts and schools comes from both State and Federal law. This document provides an overview of the SSOS program and resources that are available to districts and schools in Alaska.
The Alaska Native Knowledge Network (ANKN) is an AKRSI partner designed to serve as a resource for compiling and exchanging information related to Alaska Native knowledge systems and ways of knowing. It has been established to assist Native people, government agencies, educators and the general public in gaining access to the knowledge base that Alaska Natives have acquired through cumulative experience over millennia. Anyone wishing to participate in the Alaska Native Knowledge Network or contribute to the development of the resources in this.....
Alaska's History & Cultural Studies provides students, teachers and others interested in the state access to a rich source of facts and viewpoints about Alaska and its history.
There are six UNITS, each encompassing an important theme or historical period. Linked to the UNITS you'll find extensive information that includes an historical account of that era, stories of the people who lived then, photographs, maps, oral history, letters and other primary resources.
This website provides art lesson plans for teachers. All lessons have been developed and time-tested by the specialists at the Art Center in the Fairbanks, Alaska public schools. Although developed for a specific grade, all lessons are easily adaptable to others levels. Many of the lessons developed for 4th and up are easily relevant for middle school art students. Please keep in mind that these lesson plans are designed to be taught with an ‘Art Kit’ and may not be easily usable without the visuals in the kit.
The Fairbanks North Star.....
Master teacher Chris Opitz, from Anchorage, shares resources for integrating social and emotional learning into math class.
"Skills and understanding in social and emotional learning don't just happen. The ultimate hope is that children come to school with healthy hearts and minds and the skills to communicate and interact effectively. But we all know that this is often not the case. Children come from wildly different backgrounds and experiences, and they bring their diverse skills and struggles to school.
As social, emotional, and.....
This document developed by the Tigard-Tualatin School District in Tigard, OR includes information on EBIS (Effective Behavior and Instructional Support) as a structured, systematic process (1) to review school-wide behavior and academic data in order to evaluate the effectiveness of core programs, (2) to screen and identify students needing additional academic and/or behavior support, and (3) to plan, implement, and modify interventions for these students. The document can be downloaded below, or you can click here for more information.
This publication offers educators and policy-makers guidance on research-based strategies that have been effective in instructing English Language learners (ELLs). Regardless of the model that school districts select, teachers--especially those who have not been trained to work with ELLs--need help to determine the most effective strategies to accelerate student learning and maximize instructional time. This document outlines key contextual factors that decision-makers should take into account when making instructional choices for ELLs,.....
The Self-Study Tool (SST) was developed to help schools conduct an internal review as part of their school improvement effort. The SST materials are based on the Instructional Audit Tool that has been used throughout Alaska to conduct on-site school audits by external teams of educators. The SST process provides teams from a school community an opportunity to engage in discussion and evidence-based inquiry. It is not intended to be the basis for evaluation or for making comparisons across schools. The end product is not a score, but the.....
