Center for Standards, Assessment, and Accountability

Grade Level: Early Learning

Classroom Language Models: A Leader’s Implementation Manual

This resource provides detailed guidance on implementing four early childhood classroom language models: (1) English with Home Language Support, (2) Dual Language, (3) Home Language as a Foundation for English Development, and (4) English. Suggestions are offered on how to provide effective leadership and ongoing professional development towards supporting teachers and improving child outcomes in […]

What Works Best in Education: The Politics of Collaborative Expertise

From the introduction: “What we need…is a defensible and compelling narrative that leads to long-term, coherent and focused system-wide attention on student learning. I call this territory ‘the politics of collaborative expertise’. Its premise is that there is differential expertise across our schooling system and that there can be wide variation within schools. At the […]

Assessment Tools in Informal Science

This searchable website, created by the PEAR Institute, provides assessment tools for informal science learning. This website allows practitioners, evaluators, researchers, and policy makers with the information to choose appropriate tools for assessing program quality and outcomes for children and youth. The tools found on the website were reviewed by the PEAR staff.

Lesson Planning Materials

This website includes a variety of tools for teachers to create lessons, classroom assessments, and presentations. It also provides tools for students. Its lesson creation tool enables teachers to build lessons around any of the PBS videos on the website. For each video there are also tools such as teaching tips and discussion questions. The […]

What We Know About Creativity (4Cs Research Series)

From the introduction: “Creativity is widely acknowledged to be a key 21st century skill, and it is included in many countries’ lists of desired college and career-ready outcomes for students…The well-documented, shifting global paradigm from manufacturing to knowledge-based to innovation economies makes the ability to solve problems creatively a necessary skill for educational and workforce […]

Newcomer Tool Kit

This tool kit is designed to support educators and school staff in implementing and improving programs for immigrant students, including asylees, refugees, and their families. The stated goals of this resource are to help teachers, school leaders, and school site personnel expand opportunities for newcomers, realize our legal obligations to newcomers, provide welcoming classrooms and schools, provide rigorous […]