Center for Standards, Assessment, and Accountability

Keyword: Curriculum and Instruction

Instructional Practice Guide: Lesson Planning – ELA

The Lesson Planning Tool (digital version only) guides teachers through a series of prompts about lesson content, structure, and activities to ensure that the shifts required by the CCSS are central to the lesson. English language arts teachers will be guided through the process of creating a close-reading lesson. These lessons can be easily shared […]

Making Career Readiness Count

The purpose of this brief is to ensure that the “career” in states’ college- and career-ready standards is not an afterthought but features prominently in states’ accountability and public reporting systems. The brief examines how states are currently using career-focused indicators in accountability and in public reporting systems, and it highlights several states that are […]

College and Career Readiness: The Importance of Early Learning

This policy report by ACT discusses the importance of early learning, the components of a strong preschool and elementary school education, and barriers to strengthening early learning. Additionally, the report draws from the ACT Core Practice Framework to describe how school and district leaders can provide support for improving classroom practices. The report concludes with […]

Handbook for Culturally Responsive Science Curriculum

This handbook presents an overview of culturally responsive Alaska Native science curriculum, including vignettes and samples of classroom lessons. The author describes ways in which existing learning models can be modified to include Alaskan Native methods for teaching and learning, with suggestions of how to include Native elders in meaningful ways. The handbook discusses best practices within inquiry-based teaching and […]