Center for Standards, Assessment, and Accountability

Grade Level: Middle School (6-8)

Planning Instruction to Meet the Intent of the Next Generation Science Standards

In this paper, the authors examine how to design instruction to support students in meeting a cluster or bundle of Performance Expectations (PEs) and how to blend the three dimensions of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to develop lesson-level PEs that can be used for guiding instruction. A detailed 10-step process is provided, along […]

Addressing Disciplinary Literacy Knowledge in the Common Core State Standards

This article from the Illinois Reading Council discusses the connections between Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and disciplinary literacy. Although related, disciplinary literacy and content area literacy differ in purpose and substance. Inquiry is at the heart of practices in disciplinary literacy. In order for students and teachers to use an inquiry-based approach, teachers need […]

Illinois Assessment Literacy Training Module

This website contains a 39-page guide, Guiding Principles for Classroom Assessment, that discusses assessment design, preparation, analysis, and quality (reliability, validity, cultural diversity, and fairness). A 4.5-minute webinar, Introduction to Balanced Assessment, gives an overview of a balanced assessment system and discusses the differences between summative and formative assessment. (Please scroll down the page to the […]

Illustrative Mathematics Task Review Criteria

This tool can be used to design lessons and tasks and to evaluate the alignment of existing ones. It was developed for use in vetting resources to be included in the Illustrative Mathematics task bank. Teachers, instructional coaches, and other educators will find it useful for classroom-level use as well. It provides an eight-point system […]

Illustrations and Elaborations of Math Practice Standards

This section of the Illustrative Mathematics website helps teachers become more familiar with standards for mathematical practice in order to integrate these standards effectively into instructional planning at both the lesson and unit levels. The exemplars give teachers a clear sense of what the standards look like in actual classrooms. The exemplars on this site […]