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ELA Common Core Standards

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ELD Standards

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History/Social Studies Standards

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Integrated or Designated ELD Instruction

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TPEs

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TPE Examples

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Academic Language Function Toolkit

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UDL: The UDL Guidelines

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Academic Language Function Toolkit for ELs

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6+1 Writing Traits

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Multi-Tiered System of Supports

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RTI², PBIS, and MTSS

MTSS, Response to Instruction and Intervention (RtI²), and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) are often spoken of synonymously, and for those new to MTSS, it can be difficult to determine what people mean when these terms are used interchangeably. It is important to keep in mind, though, that MTSS is a framework for aligning resources and initiatives; it is a method of organization. As such, MTSS encompasses both RtI² and PBIS, and systematically addresses support for all students.

Since MTSS is a framework that brings together both RtI² and PBIS and aligns their supports to serve the whole child, it also relies on data gathering through universal screening, data-driven decision making, and problem solving teams, and focuses on content standards. MTSS aligns the entire system of initiatives, supports, and resources, and implements continuous improvement processes throughout the system.

In particular, MTSS assists LEAs in:

Promoting LEA participation in the focus to align the entire system of initiatives, supports, and resources

Relying on a problem-solving systems process and method to identify problems, develop interventions, and evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention in a multi-tiered system of service delivery

Transforming the way LEAs provide support and setting higher expectations for all students through intentional integration of instruction and intervention services and supports so that systemic changes are sustainable and based on standards-aligned classroom instruction

Endorsing Universal Design for Learning instructional strategies so that all students have opportunities for learning through differentiated content (i.e., teachers reacting responsively to a learner's needs), processes, and products

Challenging all school staff to change the way in which they have traditionally worked both in and out of the classroom

Supporting high-quality standards and research-based, culturally and linguistically relevant instruction with the belief that every student can learn and excel, including students of poverty, those who are gifted and high achievers, students with disabilities, English learners, and students from all ethnicities evident in the school and LEA cultures

Implementing a collaborative approach to analyze student data and work together in the intervention process

RtI² is an approach that focuses on individual students who are struggling academically and pulls together resources from the LEA, school, and community to promote students' success before they fall behind. It is systematic and data-driven with tiered levels of intervention to benefit every student.

PBIS is an approach that focuses on the emotional and behavioral learning of students, which leads to an increase in engagement and a decrease in problematic behavior over time. It assists the LEA in adopting and organizing evidence-based behavioral interventions that improve social and emotional behavior outcomes for all students.
So, while RtI² focuses on academics and PBIS focuses on social and emotional learning, MTSS encompasses them all. It acts as a way of organizing supports within an LEA so that both the academic side and the social-emotional-learning side are aligned to serve the whole child.
Statewide Initiative

The focus of the Scaling Up MTSS Statewide (SUMS) Initiative is to develop resources for MTSS within an LEA that align the academic, behavioral, and social-emotional supports in an LEA in order to serve the whole child. It involves family and community engagement, administrative leadership, integrated education frameworks, and inclusive policy and practice.

Background

In 2015, Assembly Bill 104, Chapter 13, Statutes of 2015, appropriated $10,000,000 for developing, aligning, and improving systems of academic and behavioral supports (ISABS). The CDE conducted a competitive grant process and awarded the funds to the OCDE for their SUMS proposal, which included the Butte County Office of Education (Butte COE) as a rural partner. In 2016, an additional $20,000,000, appropriated by Senate Bill 828, Chapter 29, Statutes 2016, augmented the original grant award. The Budget Act of 2018 authorized an additional $15,000,000, appropriated by AB 1808, Chapter 32, Statues of 2018 and SB 840, Chapter 29, Statutes of 2018. This phase of the grant focuses on improving school climate statewide.

The purpose of the full $95,000,000 awarded to date is to encourage LEAs to establish and align schoolwide, data-driven systems of academic and behavioral supports to more effectively meet the needs of California's diverse learners in the most inclusive environment. The SUMS initiative enables the OCDE and its partners to develop and disseminate statewide resources and technical assistance for this purpose. Finally, the Budget Act of 2021 appropriated an additional $50,000,000 to the SUMS initiative. The legislation required the OCDE to award $30,000,000 of these funds as subgrants to LEAs. The legislation also required the CDE to conduct a process to select a partner entity to work with the OCDE and the Butte COE to support high quality professional learning for educators.

Additional information about the application process for each phase of the grant funding is available below:

OCDE MTSS SUMS Funding

For the first two funding phases of the SUMS grant, the OCDE subcontracted with the Schoolwide Integrated Framework for Transformation (SWIFT) Technical Assistance Center at the University of Kansas and the Butte COE to partner with the SUMS effort. The Butte COE shares SUMS professional learning resources through an online platform, and engages rural areas of the state to support their unique needs. SWIFT is a technical assistance center that builds school capacity to support all students both academically and behaviorally. The SWIFT staff supports the SUMS grant by providing technical assistance and professional learning opportunities to participating LEAs.

During the first two funding phases, the OCDE provided subgrants to LEAs to engage them in a process to assess their strengths, coordinate supports to their Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAP) and align their MTSS efforts with the eight state priorities. The OCDE distributed the grant funding into three separate cohorts with up to $6,000,000 awarded in each round of applications.

For the third funding phase, the OCDE and the Butte COE partnered with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Center for the Transformation of Schools to expand the state's MTSS framework. Through this collaborative effort, they developed evidence-based tools and training for educators and school systems. Their work expands restorative justice, bullying prevention and positive behavior interventions and minimize the use of emergency interventions. Their joint effort also established a pilot program to help LEAs to promote positive school climates by improving student-teacher relationships, increasing student engagement, and promoting alternative discipline practices.

The Budget Act of 2021 appropriated $50,000,000 to the OCDE for the SUMS project. The OCDE will award $30,000,000 as subgrants to LEAs. Additionally, $12,500,000 was awarded to the CDE will also selected Placer County Office of Education as the partner entity to expand the state's capacity to support LEAs' implementation of social-emotional learning, trauma-informed practices, and culturally relevant, affirming, and sustaining practices. To learn more about the SUMS Partner Entity Request for Applications, visit the CDE's SUMS Partner Entity Request for Application web page.

Visit the OCDE's MTSS SUMS web page for more information about SUMS.

OCDE MTSS Phase Three Subgrants: Request for Applications

The CDE, in partnership with the OCDE and the Butte COE, is pleased to announce that the Phase Three California MTSS grant opportunity is now open. This grant will provide an opportunity for school sites, LEAs, and county offices of education to build capacity toward full implementation of the California MTSS framework to improve outcomes for all learners. This grant is open to public schools and LEAs, public charter schools or county offices of education and county run schools in California.

Review the criteria for the application on the attached flyer and on the OCDE Phase Three web page . For questions, please email the OCDE Leadership team at camtss@ocde.us.

Application Deadline: October 15, 2022

Preliminary Award Announcement: November 15, 2022

Appeal Deadline: November 18, 2022

Final Award Announcement: December 1, 2022

Grant Period: March 1, 2023 through June 30, 2026

ISABS/SUMS Legislative Reports

ISABS Grant Annual Reports are required pursuant to AB 104 (Chapter 13, Statutes of 2015) and amended by SB 828 (Chapter 29, Statutes of 2016), beginning in the 2015-16 fiscal year and continuing until all grants funds are expended. Included in these reports are: an overview of the ISABS grant reporting requirements; a summary of the ISABS annual reports; and a copy of the annual reports, in their original form as submitted to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction by the OCDE. The ISABS Grant Annual Reports provide details regarding how the OCDE used the grant funds. The OCDE's fiscal reporting for each year includes an expenditure narrative, a budget narrative, and a budget detail report. The ISABS Annual Reports also include a description of how OCDE met the legislative requirements of the grant. These reports are available through the following links:

Frequently Asked Questions for the SUMS Grant and Other Resources

Frequently Asked Questions
This CDE document provides answers to questions regarding the 2015-16 Request for Applications.

For additional information on the SUMS grant, contact Julia Agostinelli by phone at 916-322-9503 or by e-mail at jagostinelli@cde.ca.gov. The OCDE also has a Questions and Inquiries web page .

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A framework that aligns Response to Instruction and Intervention with the California State standards and the systems necessary to ensure academic, behavior, and social success.

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Academic Language Demands for edTPA

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Academic Language and ELLs: What Teachers Need to Know

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This article helps educators understand the role that academic language plays in their classrooms and in ELL student success.

The article also includes information on social vs. academic language, as well as numerous examples of the different kinds of academic language needed for all students to fully participate in classroom activities and assignments. Additional articles, books, and videos can be found in our Academic Language and ELLs Resource Section.

Academic Language: An Overview

Why is academic language important?

Perhaps you or your colleagues have taught a student, who, like Carlos, gave every sign of being fully "fluent" in English, only to find that the student struggled on more academic kinds of assignments.

Many students, including English language learners (ELLs), have difficulty mastering the kinds of academic language needed to succeed in school, especially if they have never been explicitly taught how to use it. These students include long-term ELLs, students who have attended U.S. schools for much or all of their education but have not yet mastered the language of school.

At the same time, many educators have never learned how to teach academic language since language has traditionally been considered the domain of English as a Second Language (ESL) or English language arts teachers. Yet the use of academic language is more important than ever in preparing students for academic and professional success, particularly in the era of rigorous college- and career-ready standards (such as the Common Core State Standards) that require an increased use of academic language in and across all disciplines.

What is your role?

It may seem daunting at first, but you have an important role to play in supporting your students' academic language development. You do not need an in-depth background in linguistics or ESL methods to do so; rather, you need some guidance and practice in learning how to recognize the role academic language plays in your subject area and classroom, as well as support from colleagues who can guide you in your efforts. Many ESL and bilingual colleagues have extensive experience in identifying students' academic language needs and collaborating with colleagues and will be more than happy to do so if asked!

In this article

To get you started, this article shares three things you need to know about academic language:

The difference between social and academic language

The importance of looking beyond vocabulary

How academic language will be used in your classroom

The article will also share recommended resources for further review. For specific instructional strategies on increasing the use of academic language in your classroom, see these ideas from ELL expert Kristina Robertson, as well as the resources at the end of the article, and check in with your ESL/bilingual colleagues for additional suggestions!

The difference between social and academic language

As the example of Carlos above suggests, teachers may be most familiar with the level of students' social language - the language they hear students using with their friends in the hallways or on the playground. Students typically achieve proficiency in social language long before they have mastered a grade-appropriate level of academic language. As a result, a student's ability to use language in social settings is not necessarily an accurate indicator of their mastery of academic language.

What is academic language?

Academic language is the language of school and it is used in textbooks, essays, assignments, class presentations, and assessments. Academic language is used at all grade levels, although its frequency increases as students get older.

It is also the language of the workplace - for example, the language used to write a business letter as opposed to a casual e-mail to a co-worker.

Examples

One strategy that academic language expert Dr. Robin Scarcella uses to help her college students understand the difference between social and academic language is to provide them with similar sentences or passages that convey the same meaning but that are written in different styles, such as the following:

I like this book more.

This story is more exciting than the first one we read.

Because they were brave.

The soldiers received the medal because of their courage.

If you were to compare other kinds of passages or documents, some examples might include:

A business letter vs. a personal e-mail (noted above)

A newspaper's summary of a research report vs. the actual abstract of the report

A customer review of a book vs. the publisher's description of the book

As your students become more familiar with the differences between social and academic language, it will be easier to identify which is which and what is most appropriate for a certain setting. Kristina Roberston notes in her video clip on our academic language playlist that her students call this "sounding smart" - and they know it when they hear it. When they hear themselves "sounding smart," it is a source of excitement and motivation in the classroom.

Additional resources

To learn more about the distinctions between social and academic language, take a look at the following resources from Colorín Colorado:
Discussion questions:

Have you had any students who were proficient in social language but struggled with academic language?

If so, how did their social and academic language use differ?

Did anything in their language abilities surprise you?

What are some examples that could be used to compare social and academic language in your classroom?

Beyond vocabulary

Many people think of vocabulary first when it comes to academic language. While content-area vocabulary words and terms are certainly an important component, academic language also refers to the words and phrases used to connect these key words and to communicate concepts. Here are two different ways to understand a broader interpretation of academic language.

"Bricks and mortar"

Dr. Cindy Lundgren explains the idea of " bricks and mortar" in our academic language video playlist, where "bricks" are the key vocabulary words and concepts in a sentence, and "mortar" is the language (such as signal words and phrases) holding the bricks together. Here is the example she explains in the video:

Even though bats have wings, they are not birds.

In this sentence, the bricks are the key vocabulary words in bold:

Yet to fully understand the sentence, students must understand the meaning of "even though." Here is a sample definition:

"Even though" means that two items are similar, but they are not the same. In this case, bats and birds both share a similar feature (having wings), but they are not the same animal.

Understanding signal words and phrases is a key step in a student's ability to "unlock" the academic language they encounter, as well as to start using it correctly themselves.

Video: Bricks and mortar in language instruction

Dr. Cindy Lundgren discusses the concept of "bricks and mortar" when thinking about effective vocabulary instruction for ELLs.

TWIPs

Debbie Zacarian and Judie Haynes (2010) also look beyond discrete vocabulary words in their academic language definition, including a range of structures they call TWIPs ( Terms, Words, Idioms, and P hrases). Here are some examples:

Note that, in the second example, the "Declaration" is a single word standing in for the official name of a specific document (the Declaration of Independence). Many textbooks used abbreviated terms in the interest of space, which requires students not only to track the references back to the original term but to build on existing background knowledge about the subject being discussesd. ELLs may need some extra preparation to draw upon or build background knowledge in order to fully understand the academic language being used.

Same Word, Different Meaning

Keep in mind that some key words or terms may have different meanings across disciplines and may be used as different parts of speech in different contexts (i.e., noun vs. verbs):

Lunch table (Social language)
Periodic Table of Elements (Science)
Table of Contents (ELA)
Multiplication tables (Math)
To table (delay) the discussion (Social Studies)

Plot of a story (ELA)
Plot of land (Geography)
Plot ordered pairs on a graph (Math)
To plot a government coup (History)

Branch of government (Social Studies)
Branch of a river (Geography)
To branch out (Idiom)

Your foot (Health)
One foot in length (Math)
Foot in your mouth (Idiom)
Foot of the mountain (Geography)
To foot the bill (Idiom)

As you identify the academic language you will be focusing on in a particular lesson, take a moment to think about whether any of the words or phrases may have another definition so that you can anticipate any possible confusion. You may wish to share your list with your ESL colleagues for input as well.

Cognates

Finally, there is a great tool you can use to bolster academic language for students who speak a language related to English. This is the use of cognates - words that have a similar spelling and meaning in both languages. More than a one third of words in English have a Spanish-language cognate! These often include technical or content-specific words that can help students make a connection between both languages, such as the following:

You can see many more in our list of Spanish-English cognates, and your ESL or bilingual colleagues may be able to think of other related examples as well. Once students know how that a connection exists, they will start noticing more words that are related and they will be able to apply their own existing background knowledge about those words to the vocabulary they encounter. They may need some guidance initially, and we provide some tips on how to use cognates in this Colorín Colorado article to help you get started.

Note: There is such a thing as a false cognate, the most famous one being that embarazada in Spanish is not "embarrassed" - it means "pregnant"! It is not a 100% foolproof strategy - but it is generally a very useful tool.
Discussion questions:

What are examples of key vocabulary words, terms, idioms, and phrases that are useful to know in your subject area?

Can you think of some phrases or signal words that are not content specific but are commonly used in your area (such as "In comparison...")?

Looking at the list of cognates from Colorín Colorado, find 10 words related to your subject area.

Planning for purpose and products

Now that you have some more background on what academic language is, it's time to think about how it is used in your subject area. Academic language is used for a variety of purposes across disciplines:

Students may write a lab report in science class.

Students may orally explain their reasoning in math class.

Students may listen to and compare two famous speeches in history class.

Students may compare a scene from a novel and a movie in an English language arts class.

Domains of language

As you can see in these examples, academic language is used in all four domains of language (reading, writing, speaking, and listening), and all four domains are needed to achieve the above tasks. While the uses of academic language may be more obvious for reading and writing, academic language is also necessary for listening to class discussion, lectures, and debates, as well as delivering speeches, presentations, and oral arguments. Students may need just as much help using academic language in their speaking as in their writing, and they may be at different levels across different domains. Carlos, for example, has strong academic listening and speaking skills, but weaker writing skills.

Students may also need help moving from the word level to the sentence, paragraph, or essay/project level in these sophisticated assignments. The most important thing you can do is to provide examples and model the kinds of language you expect students to use on a regular basis. By doing so, you will help familiarize students with the kinds of academic language needed to succeed in your classroom, as well as the purpose of the language they are using. Our Academic Language booklist and webcast include a number of subject-specific strategies for helping students master the kinds of language needed in different content areas.

This is also another area where ESL/bilingual colleagues can help you; they may have tried and true strategies, graphic organizers, and suggestions for modeling academic language and for helping students transition into more sophisticated assignments. One great example is the process that high school ESL teacher Michelle Lawrence uses to help her students transition from sentences and paragraphs to essays. (See Playlist: Writing Process 2.)

Note: Another helpful tool for communicating expectations about academic language is the use of language objectives , which you can learn more about from Colorín Colorado.
Discussion Questions:

As you consider how academic language is used in your discipline, what kinds of assignments are students expected to produce in your classroom and in higher grades?

What are some examples of academic language that are needed for each of these activities?

How are different language domains used at different steps of the process? (For example, a lab may require spoken language to be used in discussions between partners, and then writing to be used for the final written lab report.)

Based on what you now know about academic language, what kinds of support do you think Carlos needs in his chemistry class?

Do you have any ideas on how Mrs. Wilson can support his written academic language?

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Academic Language and ELLs: What Teachers Need to Know

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This article helps educators understand the role that academic language plays in their classrooms and in ELL student success. The article also includes information on social vs. academic language, as well as numerous examples of the different kinds of academic language needed for all students to fully participate in classroom activities and assignments.

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Fifteen Things Teachers Can Do to Support ELL Success in the New Year

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During the New Year, we reflect on past joys and concerns from the previous year and take the opportunity to look ahead. During these difficult times and uncertain times, it is especially important to take time for reflection, identify our strengths and challenges, and consider where our efforts will be most effective.

In this article, I will recommend some specific and measurable actions you can implement to support the success of your English language learners (ELLs). You may wish to focus on just one of these strategies so you can work on it consistently, or try different strategies at different times through the year.

I also suggest teachers employ the "support group" method and use the chosen strategy as a topic for a professional learning community. Sharing strategies, achievements, and challenges with colleagues will help you all grow professionally, and more students will benefit academically. It will also provide the team with much-needed support and you can use some of these ideas to jumpstart collaboration.

Note: We have added some ideas around advocacy and collaboration to this article due to the additional responsibilities and uncertainties educators are currently facing.

Connecting with Students

1. Look for ways to build relationships with your ELLs.
Specific and measurable goal: I will try one new strategy that can boost my connections with students.
When asked for their top piece of advice for working with ELLs, veteran ELL educators often talk about the importance of building relationships with their ELLs and how the time invested in those relationships pays dividends in the future. There are lots of ways to support those connections by learning more about students' interests, strengths, and talents, as well as by making sure students have information about extra-curricular activities.

You can learn more strategies such as those in the article below, which also includes many tech tools that can be used online or in-person with students.

Recommended resources

Videos: Building relationships with ELLs

2. Look for ways to welcome your students' language and cultures.
Specific and measurable goal: I will find a new way to incorporate students' languages and cultures into my classroom and instruction.
There are many ways to welcome students' languages and cultures in your classroom. These include:

posting signs in students' languages

bringing in books in students' languages

inviting students' to teach the class some phrases from their languages

learning a few phrases of students' languages

inviting students to share information about their culture and traditions

looking for ways to connect content to students' experiences

incorporating students' languages in instruction through bilingual glossaries, peer work, and bilingual materials

Recommended resources

Dearborn Public Schools ELD Director Rose Aldubaily discusses the value of using students' home language as a resource. You can see more from Dearborn in our award-winning video project from Dearborn, MI.

3. Ensure that ELLs are included in social and emotional learning (SEL).
Specific and measurable goal: I will review our SEL and classroom routines, activities, and instruction with an eye on ELLs' full access and participation.
When you take a closer look at what SEL looks like in your classroom, you might find that ELLs aren't accessing the same tools, strategies, and supports to the extent that their peers are. You can increase their access through the following:

Make any routines and expectations explicit through visuals and repetition.

Encourage students to express themselves in their home language as needed.

Ensure students know the vocabulary and language needed to participate in activities.

Be prepared to make adjustments in order to accommodate students who are still acclimating to a new culture and language by looking for ways to make students comfortable in the classroom.

Recommended resources

4. Make sure students know what supports are available for them.
Specific and measurable goal: I will share information about 3 types of school supports that students may not be familiar with. I will connect with one community organization on behalf of my students and families.
Students and families may not be aware of the kinds of support that are available within your school and community, including in the areas of health and wellness, mental health, social services, academic support and tutoring, college credits, college applications, financial aid, scholarships, enrichment activities, and much more. Take some time to think about what kinds of services and supports would be most beneficial to your students; you can start by asking for their input and even turn this into a research project so that the whole class can learn from each other. Avoid making assumptions about what students do or don't need and remember that students can benefit from different kinds of support even if they haven't asked for any help or shared information about their private situations. In addition, you may wish to reach out to organizations in the community that can provide further support and resources to your families.

Visit Wolfe Street Academy in Baltimore, MD, a school with more than 76% ELLs, to see how this community school is supporting its students and families through programs and services that include dental screenings, food giveaways, after-school activities, and much, much more!

Strategies for Instruction

5. Increase ELL students' English language production and peer interaction.
Specific and measurable goal: I will use one or two key strategies that can support oral language in my instruction and share ideas that work with my colleagues.
There are two key items students need in order to further develop skills in a new language - time and practice. There is nothing teachers can do to rush language acquisition, but there are many ways to provide opportunities to practice their skills in the classroom. If activities are structured to support student-to-student or group interaction, ELLs will need to use their oral language skills to explain concepts and contribute to the work. This gives teachers an opportunity to gauge what the student has learned, and it demonstrates student progress in language development.

Teachers can also informally assess for correct use of language structures and academic vocabulary. If ELLs are having difficulty with phrases or vocabulary, the teacher will be able to offer guidance or further instruction to support language development.

Recommended resources

Albuquerque teacher Ali Nava walks her students through a cooperative paragraph summarizing the beginning, middle, and end the children's book Burro's Tortillas and uses the exercise as an opportunity to practice their writing skills.

6. Explicitly teach academic language vocabulary and structures.
Specific and measurable resolution: I will identify one key area where my students need more practice in academic language and look for ways to support their language development.
In, "What Teachers Need to Know about Language" by Lily Wong Fillmore and Catherine Snow, the authors state that:

Teachers play a critical role in supporting language development. Beyond teaching children to read and write in school, they need to help children learn and use aspects of language associated with the academic discourse of the various school subjects. They need to help them become more aware of how language functions in various modes of communication across the curriculum. They need to understand how language works well enough to select materials that will help expand their students' linguistic horizons and to plan instructional activities that give students opportunities to use the new forms and modes of expression to which they are being exposed. Teachers need to understand how to design the classroom language environment so as to optimize language and literacy learning and to avoid linguistic obstacles to content area learning (Wong Fillmore & Snow, p. 7).

The need to understand academic language structures and language acquisition theory is increasingly important as the number of ELLs increases in classrooms. However, very few teachers have had the formal training required to be prepared to identify and teach the English vocabulary and structures found in specific content areas. When I first started teaching ESL, my students knew way more about grammar than I did. I joked with them, "I don't know English; I just speak it."

Content teachers can begin by collaborating with ESL teachers to learn how to identify the academic language demands of content-area lessons and how to scaffold academic language and vocabulary instruction. With practice, it will become easier to review a content-area lesson and identify not just the vocabulary that every student needs to know, but other vocabulary words and grammar structures that ELL students may not be familiar with.

Recommended resources

Video: What are sentence frames?

ESOL specialist Sheila Majdi explains what a sentence frame is and how she might use this strategy with ELLs.

7. Build on ELLs' background knowledge to support comprehension.
Specific and measurable goal: I will elicit background knowledge from ELLs in one content area through a variety of activities, including questioning and graphic organizers.
Learning something new is like stacking building blocks. The more you have, the higher you can go. ELLs come with many building blocks, but it takes practice learning how to identify what they are. That is where the teacher's skill at drawing on background knowledge becomes so important.

Teachers can work creatively to elicit background knowledge from students on content topics in order to increase comprehension of the material. This may be as simple as taking the time to do a "K/W/L" (Know, Want to Know, Learned) chart, or as individualized as asking questions about the topic: "Has anyone ever visited the jungle? A jungle is like a rainforest. What do you see in a jungle?" Students can share their knowledge and see how it is connected to new academic information.

Recommended resources

Videos: ELL educators speak about background knowledge

8. Increase opportunities for writing.
Specific and measurable goal: I will choose one targeted activity that focuses on developing a certain skill such as creative vocabulary use, the correct format of an essay or the peer editing process.
The ability to write effectively and accurately to convey a message is a critical skill for a college student and in most careers. Students need to have many positive opportunities to develop writing skills in a variety of formats in order to strengthen their communication skills, and for ELLs, this is particularly important. Depending on their writing skill level in their first language and their English language abilities, writing may be frustrating. Students need to engage in a variety of writing to develop an understanding of different types of writing and to identify their strengths and weaknesses as a writer.

I want to underscore the importance of interacting with writing in a positive way by examining creativity and word usage, in addition to the mechanics of writing. Many ELLs will focus negatively on problems with mechanics and miss the strengths they display in their writing. We write the way we think and speak, and by analyzing our writing we begin to analyze our thoughts and speech as well. When students discuss their writing, they are able to see their thoughts and statements from someone else's perspective and they gain awareness of their own language development. In this age of technology where a lot of communication is done electronically, it is more important than ever that students develop the ability to state their thoughts clearly and accurately in writing - as well as to know the difference between texting a message to buddies and sending an email to the boss.

Recommended resources

Strategies: ELL Family Engagement

Multilingual families are legally entitled to information in their home language. Here are some ideas to improve and expand outreach and partnerships with ELL families.

9. Start positive, strengths-based conversations with families.
Specific and measurable goal: I will contact one family each week to share a success story about their child.
No matter what language they speak, ELL families want their children to succeed as much as any other family. Regular, open and friendly communication from the teacher can make a big difference in ELL parent engagement, especially if families are intimidated by the U.S. school system.

It can also feel daunting to call an ELL family, but often there is someone in the family who speaks enough English to interpret the message for the parent, or the parent speaks enough English to understand a simple message. It may also be possible to get help from a bilingual school staff member to assist in making a quick phone call.

ELL families will be very pleased and excited to hear positive news about their child and will feel more comfortable asking questions and visiting the school in the future. The more informed the families are, the more likely it is that the student will get support at home and families will have the information they need to help their child be successful.

Recommended resources

Video: Our parents value education and their children's teachers

ELD Specialist Diana Alqadhi explains how the fact that teachers are held in high esteem in Yemeni culture helps strengthen family partnerships at her middle school.

10. Try a new tool to support family engagement.
Specific and measurable goal: I will try a new way to reach out to a multilingual family.
There are more tools than ever before to support multilingual family outreach. These include the app TalkingPoints, as well as innovative ways to use social media and video conferences with families. The more you know about resources and staffing your district has in this area, the more effective your outreach will be!

Recommended resources

Video: Partnering with families in the service industry

This video features Juliana Urtubey, 2021 National Teacher of the Year and the 2021 Nevada Teacher of the Year, sharing her experiences in partnering with families who work in Las Vegas.

Strategies for Collaboration & Advocacy

11. Look for ways to collaborate informally with colleagues.
Specific and measurable goal: I will reach out to one colleague to see if we can increase our collaboration.
There are a lot of ways you can initiate collaboration on behalf of ELLs with very small steps.

If you are a classroom or content-area teacher, you can:

send your ELL or bilingual colleagues a question about a student or an area of instruction where you'd like some support

ask your ELL colleagues to share some favorite strategies with you.

If you are an ELL/bilingual teacher or specialist, you can:

write a letter to colleagues introducing yourself and some of the ways you collaborate with others

invite colleagues to share questions about their ELLs with you

approach a content-area colleague and ask them how their ELLs are faring.

There are a few different benefits to this kind of collaboration:

Students can benefit as more teachers' capacity for ELL instruction increases.

Staff get to know each other's areas of expertise better.

Colleagues can team up to ask for more support for formal collaboration opportunities for ELLs.

Staff can increase the number of voices speaking up for ELLs, which is more critical than ever during COVID-19.

Recommended resources

Video: Tips for collaboration from an ESOL specialist

ESOL specialist Katy Padilla shares some of the tips she's learned in her experience collaborating with classroom and content-area colleagues.

12. Identify an area where you'd like to advocate for your ELLs.
Specific and measurable goal: I will choose one topic where I would like to see change for our ELLs and identify some small steps I can take to make a difference.
When you consider how your ELLs are currently doing, you may feel overwhelmed by a constellation of factors that are impacting them. Try identifying one issue that you think could make a difference if it were to improve or change. This might be an area of instruction, family engagement, language access, services and support, or creating a more welcoming environment at the school. For some ideas on first steps you might take to work on that issue, take a look at the following resources.

Recommended resources

13. Help administrators develop their capacity to serve ELLs.
Specific and measurable goal: I will reach out to one administrator to set up a conversation about our ELLs.
Communicating with administrators about ELL instruction, support, and family engagement can make a big difference. Not only can it bring important issues to administrators' attention, it can help them understand the role and value of ELL educators and why collaboration on behalf of ELLs is so valuable.

Try reaching out to an administrator with a question, issue, topic, or resource you'd like to share related to ELLs, such as the issue you identified above. Keep in mind, however, it doesn't have to be a big question to get the conversation started. Even though everyone is working within challenging circumstances right now, shining a light on ELLs' experiences, challenges, and needs can help put some important changes in motion.

Recommended resources

Learn more about the laws and regulations relating to the education of ELLs in the following article:

Video: What administrators need to know about what ESOL specialists do

Dr. Karen Woodson shares an overview of the expertise that ESOL educators bring to their schools and districts.

14. Strengthen your network of support.
Specific and measurable goal: I will take one step to expand my network of support, such as reaching out to another colleague or joining an online community of educators.
There is a lot of wonderful work being done and shared in schools, districts, professional learning communities, and online networks. If you need some ideas, encouragement, or validation, these can be powerful connections to make. There are recommended resources and ideas in the article below to help you get started.

Recommended resources

15. Keep returning to self-care & reflection.
Specific and measurable goal: I will share one self-care goal with a friend or colleague so we can check in about it in the near future.
Even if self-care is the last thing you've been able to think about during COVID-19, it's never to late to bring it back into focus.

Keep conversations going with your colleagues about what self-care means to you and what might help support it at the school level.

Don't give up on trying to make the self-care you need for your physical and mental health a regular part of your routine.

Share your success stories with colleagues to help boost motivation.

Take some time for reflection. While the reflection article below focuses on end-of-school-year questions, they could be used at any time during the year.

Together, colleagues can support each other and each other's self-care as part of their important work on behalf of students.

Closing Thoughts

I hope that this list will be helpful as you set goals for the upcoming year. You may find, of course, that if you create your own, they will be more meaningful, and you're more likely to stick with your plan. I hope you will be able to pick at least one thing and give it a try. Baby steps are better than no steps at all. So give it a try and go easy on yourself if it doesn't go as well as planned or if you get busy and don't keep up as well as you'd like.

The most important thing is that you explore an area that you think will support your ELLs' success, and commit yourself to continued improvement in the coming year. All the best in the New Year!

Video: Bonus Tips from Kristina

Here are some bonus tips from Kristina for educators ELLs!

Video: Try one new thing at a time

Video: When a new strategy doesn't work

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Fifteen Things Teachers Can Do to Support ELL Success in the New Year

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During the New Year, we reflect on past joys and concerns from the previous year and take the opportunity to look ahead. During these difficult times and uncertain times, it is especially important to take time for reflection, identify our strengths and challenges, and consider where our efforts will be most effective.

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Twenty Ways You Can Help Your Children Succeed At School

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As a parent, you are your child's first and most important teacher. When parents and families are involved in their children's schools, the children do better and have better feelings about going to school. In fact, many studies show that what the family does is more important to a child's school success than how much money the family makes or how much education the parents have. There are many ways that parents can support their children's learning at home and throughout the school year. Here are some ideas to get you started!

Develop a partnership with your child's teachers and school staff

1. Meet your child's teacher. As soon as the school year starts, try to find a way to meet your child's teacher. Let the teacher know you want to help your child learn. Make it clear that you want the teacher to contact you if any problems develop with your child. Talk with your child's teacher offers some great tips for developing a partnership with your child's teacher.

If you feel uncomfortable speaking English, don't let a language barrier stop you. What you have to say is more important than the language you say it in! Ask the school to find someone who can interpret for you. There may be a teacher or parent liaison who can help. Or you can bring a bilingual friend or relative with you.

2. Get to know who's who at your child's school. There are many people at your child's school who are there to help your child learn, grow socially and emotionally, and navigate the school environment. Who's Who at Your Child's School describes the responsibilities of teachers, administrators, and district staff. Each school is different but this article will offer a general introduction to personnel of your child's school.

3. Attend parent-teacher conferences and keep in touch with your child's teacher. Schools usually have one or two parent-teacher conferences each year. You can bring a friend to interpret for you or ask the school to provide an interpreter. You can also ask to meet with your child's teacher any time during the year. If you have a concern and can't meet face-to-face, send the teacher a short note or set up a time to talk on the phone. For more ideas about how to prepare for parent-teacher conferences, see Tips for Successful Parent-Teacher Conferences at Your Child's School.

Support your child academically

4. Find out how your child is doing. Ask the teacher how well your child is doing in class compared to other students. If your child is not keeping up, especially when it comes to reading, ask what you or the school can do to help. It's important to act early before your child gets too far behind. Also be sure to review your child's report card each time it comes out. For more information, see How To Know When Your Child Needs Extra Help.

5. Apply for special services if you think your child may need it. If your child is having problems with learning, ask the school to evaluate your child in his or her strongest language. The teacher might be able to provide accommodations for your child in class. If the school finds out your child has a learning disability, he can receive extra help at no cost. For more information, see Where To Go For Help.

6. Make sure that your child gets homework done. Let your child know that you think education is important and that homework needs to be done each day. You can help your child with homework by setting aside a special place to study, establishing a regular time for homework, and removing distractions such as the television and social phone calls during homework time. Helping Your Child With Homework offers some great ideas for ensuring that your child gets homework done.

If you are reluctant to help your child with homework because you feel that you don't know the subject well enough or because you don't speak or read English, you can help by showing that you are interested, helping your child get organized, providing the necessary materials, asking your child about daily assignments, monitoring work to make sure that it is completed, and praising all of your child's efforts. Remember that doing your child's homework for him won't help him in the long run.

7. Find homework help for your child if needed. If it is difficult for you to help your child with homework or school projects, see if you can find someone else who can help. Contact the school, tutoring groups, after school programs, churches, and libraries. Or see if an older student, neighbor, or friend can help.

8. Help your child prepare for tests. Tests play an important role in determining a students grade. Your child may also take one or more standardized tests during the school year, and your child's teacher may spend class time on test preparation throughout the year. As a parent, there are a number of ways that you can support your child before and after taking a standardized test, as well as a number of ways you can support your child's learning habits on a daily basis that will help her be more prepared when it's time to be tested. Learn more standardized tests and general test-taking in How to Help Your Child Prepare for Standardized Tests.

Get involved with your child's school

9. Learn what the school offers. Read the information the school sends home, and ask to receive information in your native language if necessary. Talk to other parents to find out what programs the school offers. Maybe there's a music program, after-school activity, sports team, or tutoring program your child would enjoy. Remember to keep track of events throughout the school year.

10. Volunteer at your child's school and/or join your school's parent-teacher group. Teachers appreciate it when parents help out at the school! There are many ways you can contribute. You can volunteer in your child's class or in the school library. You can make food for a school event. If you work during the day, you can attend "parents' night" activities or your child's performances. At most schools, a group of parents meets regularly to talk about the school. This group is usually called the PTA or PTO. The meetings give you a good chance to talk with other parents and to work together to improve the school. How to Get Involved in Your Child's School Activities offers some more ideas that you can get involved, especially for busy parents.

Get informed and be an advocate for your child

11. Ask questions. If something concerns you about your child's learning or behavior, ask the teacher or principal about it and seek their advice. Your questions may be like these - What specific problem is my child having with reading? What can I do to help my child with this problem? How can I stop that bully from picking on my son? How can I get my child to do homework? Which reading group is my child in?

12. Learn about your rights. It's important to know what your rights are as the parent regarding special services, English instruction, immigration status, and more. Learn more in Your Rights as the Parent of a Public School Student.

13. Let the school know your concerns. Is your child doing well in school? Is he or she having trouble learning, behaving, or studying? Is there a problem with another student, teacher, or administrator? If you have a concern, How to Let the School Know About Your Concerns describes some steps to take.

Support your child's learning at home

14. Demonstrate a positive attitude about education to your children. What we say and do in our daily lives can help them to develop positive attitudes toward school and learning and to build confidence in themselves as learners. Showing our children that we both value education and use it in our daily lives provides them with powerful models and contributes greatly to their success in school.

In addition, by showing interest in their children's education, parents and families can spark enthusiasm in them and lead them to a very important understanding-that learning can be enjoyable as well as rewarding and is well worth the effort required.

15. Monitor your child's television, video game, and Internet use. American children on average spend far more time watching TV, playing video games and using the Internet than they do completing homework or other school-related activities. How to Monitor TV Viewing and Video Game Playing and Help Your Child Learn to Use the Internet Properly and Effectively offer some ideas for helping your child use the media effectively.

16. Encourage your child to read. Helping your child become a reader is the single most important thing that you can do to help the child to succeed in school-and in life. The importance of reading simply can't be overstated. Reading helps children in all school subjects. More important, it is the key to lifelong learning. Learn more in Fun Reading Tips and Activities and Fun and Effective Ways to Read with Children.

17. Talk with your child. Talking and listening play major roles in children's school success. It's through hearing parents and family members talk and through responding to that talk that young children begin to pick up the language skills they will need if they are to do well. For example, children who don't hear a lot of talk and who aren't encouraged to talk themselves often have problems learning to read, which can lead to other school problems. In addition, children who haven't learned to listen carefully often have trouble following directions and paying attention in class. It's also important for you to show your child that you're interested in what he has to say. Talking With Your Child offers some great ideas for using conversation to stimulate language development.

18. Encourage your child to use the library. Libraries are places of learning and discovery for everyone. Helping your child find out about libraries will set him on the road to being an independent learner. Remember that libraries also offer a quiet place for students to complete homework, and are often open in the evening. Learn more about resources for students in Library Services for School-Aged Children.

19. Encourage your child to be responsible and work independently. Taking responsibility and working independently are important qualities for school success. You can help your child to develop these qualities by establish reasonable rules that you enforce consistently, making it clear to your child that he has to take responsibility for what he does, both at home and at school, showing your child how to break a job down into small steps, and monitor what your child does after school, in the evenings and on weekends. If you can't be there when your child gets home, give her the responsibility of checking in with you by phone to discuss her plans. Learn more in Encourage Responsibility, Independence, and Active Learning.

20. Encourage active learning. Children need active learning as well as quiet learning such as reading and doing homework. Active learning involves asking and answering questions, solving problems and exploring interests. Active learning also can take place when your child plays sports, spends time with friends, acts in a school play, plays a musical instrument or visits museums and bookstores. To promote active learning, listen to your child's ideas and respond to them. Let him jump in with questions and opinions when you read books together. When you encourage this type of give-and-take at home, your child's participation and interest in school is likely to increase.

Recommended Resource from Understood.org

For more great ideas, take a look at the bilingual resources on Partnering with Your Child's School from Understood.org, a free website focused on learning and attention issues.

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Twenty Ways You Can Help Your Children Succeed At School

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As a parent, you are your child's first and most important teacher. When parents and families are involved in their children's schools, the children do better and have better feelings about going to school. In fact, many studies show that what the family does is more important to a child's school success than how much money the family makes or how much education the parents have.

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Bloom's Taxonomy

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Cite this guide: Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom's Taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [todaysdate] from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/.

Background Information | The Original Taxonomy | The Revised Taxonomy | Why Use Bloom's Taxonomy? | Further Information

The above graphic is released under a Creative Commons Attribution license. You're free to share, reproduce, or otherwise use it, as long as you attribute it to the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. For a higher resolution version, visit our Flickr account and look for the "Download this photo" icon.

Background Information

In 1956, Benjamin Bloom with collaborators Max Englehart, Edward Furst, Walter Hill, and David Krathwohl published a framework for categorizing educational goals: Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Familiarly known as Bloom's Taxonomy, this framework has been applied by generations of K-12 teachers and college instructors in their teaching.

The framework elaborated by Bloom and his collaborators consisted of six major categories: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. The categories after Knowledge were presented as "skills and abilities," with the understanding that knowledge was the necessary precondition for putting these skills and abilities into practice.

While each category contained subcategories, all lying along a continuum from simple to complex and concrete to abstract, the taxonomy is popularly remembered according to the six main categories.

The Original Taxonomy (1956)

Here are the authors' brief explanations of these main categories in from the appendix of Taxonomy of Educational Objectives ( Handbook One, pp. 201-207):

Knowledge "involves the recall of specifics and universals, the recall of methods and processes, or the recall of a pattern, structure, or setting."

Comprehension "refers to a type of understanding or apprehension such that the individual knows what is being communicated and can make use of the material or idea being communicated without necessarily relating it to other material or seeing its fullest implications."

Application refers to the "use of abstractions in particular and concrete situations."

Analysis represents the "breakdown of a communication into its constituent elements or parts such that the relative hierarchy of ideas is made clear and/or the relations between ideas expressed are made explicit."

Synthesis involves the "putting together of elements and parts so as to form a whole."

Evaluation engenders "judgments about the value of material and methods for given purposes."

The 1984 edition of Handbook One is available in the CFT Library in Calhoun 116. See its ACORN record for call number and availability.

Barbara Gross Davis, in the "Asking Questions" chapter of Tools for Teaching, also provides examples of questions corresponding to the six categories. This chapter is not available in the online version of the book, but Tools for Teaching is available in the CFT Library. See its ACORN record for call number and availability.

The Revised Taxonomy (2001)

A group of cognitive psychologists, curriculum theorists and instructional researchers, and testing and assessment specialists published in 2001 a revision of Bloom's Taxonomy with the title A Taxonomy for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment. This title draws attention away from the somewhat static notion of "educational objectives" (in Bloom's original title) and points to a more dynamic conception of classification.

The authors of the revised taxonomy underscore this dynamism, using verbs and gerunds to label their categories and subcategories (rather than the nouns of the original taxonomy). These "action words" describe the cognitive processes by which thinkers encounter and work with knowledge:

Remember

Understand

Interpreting

Exemplifying

Classifying

Summarizing

Inferring

Comparing

Explaining

Apply

Analyze

Differentiating

Organizing

Attributing

Evaluate

Create

In the revised taxonomy, knowledge is at the basis of these six cognitive processes, but its authors created a separate taxonomy of the types of knowledge used in cognition:

Factual Knowledge

Knowledge of terminology

Knowledge of specific details and elements

Conceptual Knowledge

Knowledge of classifications and categories

Knowledge of principles and generalizations

Knowledge of theories, models, and structures

Procedural Knowledge

Knowledge of subject-specific skills and algorithms

Knowledge of subject-specific techniques and methods

Knowledge of criteria for determining when to use appropriate procedures

Metacognitive Knowledge

Strategic Knowledge

Knowledge about cognitive tasks, including appropriate contextual and conditional knowledge

Self-knowledge

Mary Forehand from the University of Georgia provides a guide to the revised version giving a brief summary of the revised taxonomy and a helpful table of the six cognitive processes and four types of knowledge.

Why Use Bloom's Taxonomy?

The authors of the revised taxonomy suggest a multi-layered answer to this question, to which the author of this teaching guide has added some clarifying points:

1. Objectives (learning goals) are important to establish in a pedagogical interchange so that teachers and students alike understand the purpose of that interchange.

2. Organizing objectives helps to clarify objectives for themselves and for students.

3. Having an organized set of objectives helps teachers to:

"plan and deliver appropriate instruction";

"design valid assessment tasks and strategies";and

"ensure that instruction and assessment are aligned with the objectives."

Citations are from A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.

Further Information

Section III of A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, entitled "The Taxonomy in Use," provides over 150 pages of examples of applications of the taxonomy. Although these examples are from the K-12 setting, they are easily adaptable to the university setting.

Section IV, "The Taxonomy in Perspective," provides information about 19 alternative frameworks to Bloom's Taxonomy, and discusses the relationship of these alternative frameworks to the revised Bloom's Taxonomy.

This teaching guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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by Patricia Armstrong Print Version Cite this guide: Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom's Taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [todaysdate] from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/. Background Information | The Original Taxonomy | The Revised Taxonomy | Why Use Bloom's Taxonomy? | Further Information The above graphic is released under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

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First Class (May 7th)

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Reading Notes 1

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Reading Notes 2

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Reading Notes 3

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Reading Notes 4

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EDU 512 Weekly Schedule

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EDU 512 Syllabus

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Teaching and Learning / English Language Development (ELD)

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Teaching and Learning / English Language Development (ELD)

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Constructing Meaning provides teachers with the process and tools for weaving explicit language instruction into content-area teaching. Lesson planning is driven by the content and academic language demands of discipline-specific learning. Based on backward design and a gradual release of responsibility model, the Constructing Meaning process prompts teachers to:

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13 Characteristics of ELD Lessons

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edTPA Modalities for Learning

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EL Continuum

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ELD Classroom Observation Checklist

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Framework for Language Function

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Six Components of SDAIE

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What Is Depth of Knowledge?

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It's a concept we in education have heard a lot about since our states transitioned to college and career ready standards, be it the Common Core State Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards, or whatever each individual state has decided to call their academic standards that promote college and career readiness.

It's also one of the most misinterpreted and misrepresented concepts in education that is not only confusing but also frustrating us educators. Most of it is due to the infamous DOK Wheel.

Perhaps you are familiar with this wheel. Perhaps you were presented a copy of the wheel as part of the Race to the Top training that addressed transitioning to the Common Core State Standards. Perhaps you were provided a copy of this graphic as a poster or instructional tool you can use develop and deliver lessons that not only address depth of knowledge but also promote cognitive rigor.

This graphic is an effective and useful tool - for teaching and learning for higher order thinking. It categorizes the levels of thinking students are expected to demonstrate, which is what cognitive taxonomies such as Anderson and Krathwohl's revision of Bloom's Taxonomy, Cognitive and Metacognitive Systems of Marzano's New Taxonomy , and Biggs and Collis's SOLO Taxonomy . In fact, out of all the taxonomies that categorize higher order thinking, the DOK Wheel is most aligned to the SOLO Taxonomy and its four quadrants. This should be called the HOT Wheel or even the SOLO Wheel and could be used to plan and provide instruction that marks and measures higher order thinking.

However, it does not designate the depth of knowledge students are expected to communicate - or, at least, how Webb's Depth of Knowledge Model designates these levels.

(You can to read further about why the DOK Wheel does not accurately depict Webb's Depth of Knowledge.)

Now before you look wide-eyed or with a narrowed gaze at your school leaders or the professional development coordinators of your local education agency for giving you the DOK Wheel and having you use it to plan and provide your instruction and assessment, don't blame them! They were only using the resource they were provided in their own training by either an academic organization or professional development provider who specialized in training that addresses the cognitive rigor of college and career ready standards. Also the DOK Wheel is everywhere! Just conduct a Google search for depth of knowledge or DOK, and you'll find The DOK Wheel linked to state and local education agencies as an instructional resource for educators.

So from where did the DOK wheel come?

The origins of the DOK Wheel are unknown. No one seems to know from where it came or who designed it. What is confirmed, however, is that it was not designed by Norman Webb and he does not endorse it as a tool for educators to use to plan and provide complex instruction and assessments ( Walkup, 2014a ).

Unfortunately, the DOK Wheel has been widely addressed and included in professional development trainings and materials on college and career ready standards. The widespread saturation of the DOK Wheel and other poorly designed visuals and maps has also been due to educators and professional development providers downloading these visuals and incorporating them into their presentations and trainings with the assumption the visual was a credible source that was developed by Dr. Webb. There's a citation at the bottom of the DOK Wheel graphic that references the developer of depth of knowledge, Norman Webb along with a url link, which is why many people believe this wheel was authorized by Dr. Webb. However, if you try the link , you'll not only find it has no connection to the DOK wheel whatsoever but is also a dead link.

The concept of depth of knowledge that is addressed in the college and career ready standards was developed by Norman Webb (; 2002). Webb designed his model as a means of increasing the cognitive complexity and demand of standardized assessments. Traditionally, standardized assessments measured students to think deeply about the academic content, concepts, ideas, and procedures they were learning. However, these assessments were limited in measuring students ability to transfer and use what they were learning in different contexts. They were also limited in measuring the depth of understanding students must develop and demonstrate. Students were challenged to demonstrate - or show - the ability to think deeply about how to answer questions, address problems, accomplish tasks, and analyze texts and topics. However, they were not being challenged to communicate - or tell - how and why they could transfer and use what they were learning in different contexts.

Webb first introduced the concept of depth of knowledge in his paper "Research Monograph No. 8: Criteria for Alignment of Expectations and Assessments in Mathematics and Science Education" (1997). The purpose of this monograph was "to define criteria for judging the alignment between expectations and assessments" (Webb, 1997). He explains how depth of knowledge consistency serves as attribute under the criteria of content focus, explaining how DOK can vary on a number of dimensions such as the following

the level of cognitive complexity of information students should be expected to know

how well they should be able to transfer this knowledge to different contexts

how well they should be able to form generalizations

how much prerequisite knowledge they must have in order to grasp ideas

Essentially, depth of knowledge designates how deeply students must know, understand, and be aware of what they are learning in order to attain and explain answers, outcomes, results, and solutions. It also designates how extensively students are expected to transfer and use what they have learned in different academic and real world contexts.

In 2002 Webb published his paper "Depth of Knowledge in the Four Content Areas" in which he not only describes how depth of knowledge can be addressed in all the content areas but also established the following levels within his model:

DOK-1: Recall and reproduce data, definitions, details, facts, information, and procedures. ( knowledge acquisition)

DOK-2: Use academic concepts and cognitive skills to answer questions, address problems, accomplish tasks, and analyze texts and topics. ( knowledge application)

DOK-3: Think strategically and reasonably about how and why concepts, ideas, operations, and procedures can be used to attain and explain answers, conclusions, decisions, outcomes, reasons, and results. ( knowledge analysis)

DOK-4: Think extensively about what else can be done, how else can learning be used, and how could the student personally use what they have learned in different academic and real world contexts. ( knowledge augmentation)

The focus of these levels are not on the type of thinking or even the kind of knowledge students are expected to demonstrate. That's what taxonomies such as Bloom's, SOLO, or Marzano's do - establish the level of thinking students will be expected to demonstrate as part of a learning experience. Webb's establishes the context - the scenario, the setting, or the situation - which students will express and share the depth and extent of their learning. Are they expected to acquire knowledge ( DOK-1)? Apply knowledge ( DOK-2)? Analyze knowledge ( DOK-3)? Augment knowledge ( DOK-4)?

These levels may seem to scaffold similarly to taxonomies like Bloom's. However, they establish how in-depth students will express and share their learning. DOK-1 is content-specific, focusing on the specific text or topic being taught and learned. DOK-2 and DOK-3 is item-oriented, focusing on how and why learning can be transferred and used to attain and explain reasons, relationships, and results. DOK-4 is extensive and practical, focusing on how and why learning can be transferred and used across the curriculum and beyond the classroom. Karin Hess () describes these levels not as steps but rather "ceilings" that establish how far or in-depth students will study and share knowledge and thinking.

It was Karin Hess along with Dennis Carlock, Ben Jones, and John Walkup who extended the concept of using depth of knowledge to instruct and assess student learning by superimposing Webb's Depth-of-Knowledge Model with Bloom's Revised Taxonomy to mark and measure the cognitive rigor of learning experiences ().

In teaching and learning for cognitive rigor, Bloom's determines the cognition or thinking students are expected to demonstrate as part of a learning experience. That's the verb that starts the educational objective or academic standard. Webb's designates the context - the scenario, setting, and situation - students are expected to express and share what they are learning. To align Bloom's and Webb's, Hess, Carlock, Jones, and Walkup created the Cognitive Rigor Matrix / Hess Matrix to categorize educational objectives and questions based upon their cognitive complexity.

The DOK Wheel represents a poor attempt to visualize depth of knowledge similar to how Bloom's Taxonomy has often been graphically represented as a pyramid. According to John Walkup's blog (), the DOK Wheel "most likely it grew out of crude attempts to map the familiar six levels of Bloom's Taxonomy into the four levels of Depth of Knowledge, therefore creating a shortcut to understanding the new rigor measure". In a phone interview with Walkup, Webb himself commented how "[t]he only possible use of the chart I can see is if someone took a verb and asked how it could be placed in each of the four sectors" ( Walkup, 2014a ). Hess refers to the DOK Wheel as the "DOK wheel of misfortune" and tell people in my workshops to discard it. It flies in the face of what DOK is about: What comes AFTER the verb" (Walkup, 2014b ).

My own work with depth of knowledge and analysis of the wheel led me to design a visual I hope not only teachers will use to plan and provide their instruction and assessment but also administrators will use as a guide for observing and evaluating teacher instruction and effectiveness. I have attempted to create a graphic representation that not only embodies Webb's concept of depth of knowledge but also how Hess, Carlock, Jones, and Walkup explain how the Webb's DOK model superimposes with Bloom's Revised Taxonomy in their Cognitive Matrix. I call this visual Webb's Depth of Model Context Ceilings. Each block represents how in-depth or extensively students will develop, demonstrate, and discuss their learning. I also incorporated my strategy of asking good questions to set the instructional focus and serve as an assessment - formative, summative, or authentic - for student learning.

DOK-1: What is the knowledge? At this level, students are asked to acquire and gather the information they need to develop deeper knowledge and thinking. They are asked mostly factual questions ( who, what, where, when) about the texts and topics they are reading and reviewing. They might also might be asked to recall or reproduce how or why a concept or procedure works or is used. The answers to these good questions are either correct or incorrect. Good questions at this level ask students to describe what are the ideas and information presented in texts and explain how concepts and procedures work.

DOK-2: How can the knowledge be used?At this level, students are asked to demonstrate and communicate conceptual and procedural knowledge. They are asked analytical questions that challenge them to examine and explain how can the concepts and procedures they are learning be used to answer questions, address problems, accomplish tasks, or analyze texts and topics. They also begin to show and tell self-knowledge and personal understanding of how can and could they (or you) use what they ( you) are learning. They also begin to think critically about how would you use the concepts and procedures to answer a question, address a problem, accomplish a task, or analyze a text or topic. Good questions at this level ask students to show and tell how concepts and procedures are used. The emphasis is more on the application of ideas and information rather than the item being addressed.

DOK-3: Why can the knowledge be used? Students learning at this level are still demonstrating and communicating conceptual and procedural understanding. However, the instructional focus and assessments shift from applying to analyze and evaluating how and why concepts and procedures can be transferred and used to attain and explain certain scenarios, settings, situations, and solutions. Students are also asked hypothetical questions that prompt them to think strategically and creatively about how could you use what they are learning. They are also asked argumentative questions that engage them to think reasonably about the credibility and validity of ideas and theories, critique different perspectives and points of view, and defend or refute conclusions and decisions.

DOK-4: How else can the knowledge be used? At this level, students are encouraged to extend their thinking deeper within the subject they are learning, across the curriculum, and even beyond the classroom. These learning experiences focus heavily on developing and demonstrating metacognition - specifically, conditional and contextual knowledge and self-knowledge. Students are asked to think critically about the impact, implications, and influence ideas and information have on a much grander scale. They are also encouraged to express and share their own perspectives and points of view about a text or topic using oral, written, creative, or technical communication. These learning experiences are time and thought-intensive and are typically presented and provided as active and authentic learning experiences such as project-based or problem-based learning that require in-depth research, examinations, investigations, and demonstrations of learning through design.

The Webb's Depth of Knowledge Ceiling Context and the driving questions at the top of each ceiling provides administrators, teachers, and hopefully even students and parents an understanding of how deeply and extensively students will be expected to demonstrate and communicate their learning. The question stems within the ceilings actually encourage more flexibility in the level of thinking students are expected to demonstrate within these levels. However, as Walkup () says in his blog, "With Depth of Knowledge, context (notably absent in the wheel chart) is everything" - or, as Hess simply puts it, "w hat comes AFTER the verb" in a performance objective or academic standard establishes the DOK. When planning for teaching and learning for depth of knowledge, consider how deeply or extensively you want your students to go with their learning. Establish the scenario, setting, or situation teaching and learning will be developed, delivered, and demonstrated.

That is teaching and learning that promotes depth of knowledge.

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Depth of knowledge. It's a concept we in education have heard a lot about since our states transitioned to college and career ready standards, be it the Common Core State Standards, the Next Generatio

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DOK and COG Tax Question Stems

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Language Functions Tool 2.0

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Step Up to Writing - Research-Based Writing Program (K-12)

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Compatible With Any Core Curriculum

Grades K-12

Writing Instruction That Adapts to Every Student's Needs

Step Up to Writing® is a comprehensive program of multisensory writing strategies that develop students' ability to create thoughtful, well-written compositions. The solution's explicit and systematic approach to teaching writing is designed to provide clear strategies, methods, and supports for increased writing success in all content areas. Created for all students, the strategies can be integrated into any curriculum or implemented as a standalone writing solution.
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Propel Students Forward with Explicit Instruction

Step Up to Writing instructional strategies help students understand the importance of each step in the writing process. Beginning writers explicitly learn and practice each phase of the process. Common expectations and language for writing across every grade level builds confidence as students grow into more advanced writers and the process becomes fluid and automatic. This writing program provides:

Multimodal instruction/differentiation

Flexible implementation options

Support for writing instruction across all content areas

A full body of proven writing strategies

The Power of Step Up to Writing

Support the Individuality of Each and Every Learner

One size fits all never works. With this in mind, Step Up to Writing provides variation and differentiation based on each student's needs throughout hundreds of strategies, across all four grade bands. Optional "Craft and Style" callouts within the strategies teach the three major text types while also providing opportunities for additional depth and richness.

Step Up to Writing provides the specialized instruction to meet the needs of diverse student groups.

General Education

Strategies boost student writing to the next level

Solid structure across the types of writing assignments

Revision guidance

Consistent strategies and multiple opportunities for practice

Gifted & Talented

Focus on organizing information strategically to increase written impact

Writers learn to effectively articulate complex thoughts and content

Students perceive shades of meaning within words

English Language Learners

Oral language development is encouraged

Students develop an academic vocabulary

Students stay actively involved

Emphasis on relating and organizing information

At Risk & Special Education

Strategies make abstract concepts concrete

Guidance for better reading comprehension

Use of multisensory approaches

Confidence is built incrementally

Organization and planning skills are emphasized

Step Up to Writing Customer Success

We are committed to a long-term partnership with every district that implements our solutions. Districts can choose from a menu of training and support options including in-person or online. Visit our Customer Success page to learn more.
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Featured Step Up to Writing Resources

Brochure: How Step Up to Writing Aligns to the Science of Reading

Although reading and writing instruction are usually taught separately, they are both informed by the science of reading and reinforce each other throughout literacy development. Just as teaching students how to read requires explicit and systematic instruction, the same is true of writing instruction. In fact, writing is one of the most effective ways to improve reading proficiency.
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Podcast: How Handwriting Supports the Science of Reading

While assistive technology can help students with writing problems, it does not remove the importance of teaching explicit handwriting. Handwriting reinforces reading and spelling skills, and is linked to reading and spelling achievement. In this insightful podcast, you will learn how handwriting supports the science of reading and strategies educators can use immediately in the classroom to build handwriting into their daily lessons.
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White Paper: Connecting Handwriting to the Science of Reading

Handwriting is back in the curriculum after a long absence. Educators now understand teaching handwriting explicitly is firmly linked to reading and spelling achievement. Although it never disappeared totally, it was de-emphasized in most districts. But it's now clear handwriting plays a critical role in literacy and is making a comeback.
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Step Up to Writing - Research-Based Writing Program (K-12)

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Unparalleled instruction designed for learners of all levels and types in grades K-12. Provides variation and differentiation based on each student's needs throughout 1,100+ strategies. Compatible with Any Core Curriculum.

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ELD Strategies

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A word map is a strategy to help learners learn new vocabulary word. There are many different variations of how to use this strategy. One way is to use the four-corner vocabulary chart, and with this method students write the definition, use it in a sentence, they draw picture of the word, and write the word in the corner. Other methods to use this strategy is to add antonyms, synonyms, dictionary definitions, part of speech and more. This strategy can be adjusted to meet the needs of all learners. Throughout this strategy students are making personal connections, because they are drawing their own picture, writing their own sentence and the definition in their own words. By doing this, it gives more meaning to learning the vocabulary word, and this would help struggling readers tremendously. Graphic organizers are helpful for all learners because it really helps them organize their thoughts. According to Echevarria, Vogt & Short (2014), "These charts provide more context and "clues" than typical word walls, because they include an illustration, definition, and sentence for each vocabulary word" (p.81). According to Robert Marzano (2009), an educational researcher, he mentions that in order for students to effectively learn vocabulary they need to follow a six-step process. The steps are as followed:

(Marzano, 2009).
The first three steps are in a word map. The following three steps can be done after the word map has been completed.

The image above is an example of a very common word map. In this word map, students write the vocabulary word in the center, they define the word, provide synonyms, use it in a sentence, and draw a picture of it.

In this example above students go into more detail with the word. They find the synonym, antonym, dictionary definition, sentence from the text and other forms of the word.

The image to the left is similar to the other two word maps above. Students write the word, use it in a sentence, write the definition, find a synonym for the word, illustrate it and determine it's part of speech.

Math- For a math lesson, a word map can be easily adapted just like in the photo to the left. In one corner the student can write the word, in another corner the student can write the definition. In the other two corners students can write an example and then some facts to go along with the math vocabulary word. By providing examples it brings meaning to the word, just like a picture does when learning reading vocabulary words.

History- For a history lesson, one way to adapt this strategy is to change the headings slightly. On this graphic organizer it could include: the vocabulary word, time period, definition, and picture. By adding the time period it gives an understanding of when the word was used, and it give more meaning to the word. For example if a student is learning about what a Red Coat is, they could write Revolutionary War (1775-1783) in the time period section.

Science- For a science lesson, the template would not change very much. However, a teacher could ask the student what area of science the word falls under. This might help students categorize what vocabulary words belong where. For example, if the vocabulary word is cumulus, the area of science might be meteorology.

Physical Education- For a physical education lesson, a student could still write the word, draw picture, define the word, and maybe list games they can play relating to the topic. For example, if students are learning about basketball students can list lightning, 3 vs. 3, and others for possible games they could play.

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Direct Instruction Lesson Plan

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Student Work 1-Direct Instruction

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Concept Attainment Lesson Plan

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Student Work 2-Content Attainment

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Generalization Lesson Plan

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Generalization Lesson Plan rubric 512 23

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Student Work 3-Generalization

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Inquiry Lesson Plan

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Student Work 4-Inquiry

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Grammar, Spelling, and Vocab Minilesson

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Student Work 5-Handwriting

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Student Work 5-Spelling

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Speaking and Listening Minilesson

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Writing Minilesson Plan

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I Can Statements

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I Can Statements are family-friendly guides that can be used to help your family and ensure your students are on track for their grade level. All learning objectives for English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies are provided, written in family-friendly language. I Can Statements help make grade-level learning targets clear for families and they address the standards students of the same grade level learn in all public schools.

Multi-Grade Level Lists

The skills noted in the multi-grade level lists for science and social studies can be learned and applied to the content areas for their respective grade level groupings. These lists should be used in conjunction with the content standards. These skills can be assigned to the lessons in your personalized curriculum to demonstrate the following intellectual, reasoning, reflection, and research skills.

K-8th Grade: Science & Engineering Practices-Crosscutting Concepts

K-8th Grade: Historical & Social Studies Analysis Skills

I Can Checklists

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I Can Statements - Cabrillo Point Academy

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e-Game: Reading

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e-Game: Writing

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Most of us find writing so tedious. We would all just prefer someone to write down our thoughts for us if we had the chance. Imagine then what children must face when they are expected to learn writing and write well.

There is no escape from learning writing. Although we are in a digital age where the art of writing is fast diminishing, still the practice of writing is a crucial motor-building skill in children.

The Love, Flair, and Fun of Writing

Some parents want children who write neatly, others want children who can express their thoughts well on paper, and then some want both. Whatever you want for your children, it's all possible! You just need to start early and work on nurturing your child's skills.

If you can make it fun while it happens, you have a clear winner on your hands. Here are some fantastic writing games that can bring out the creative genius in your child:

Wise writing: A great way to get a child to write is to make it appear secretive. After all, only you can see what you've written till you show someone. Show children abstract shapes, colors, and objects and ask them to think about as many possible things that come to their mind. This is an excellent exercise in creativity and writing.

Opposites attract: Imagine learning words, spellings, writing, and grammar all at once. It's not a dream - we tell you it's true! Take some paper cups and write simple words on them. Play a game of ring toss, or ask your child to close their eyes and pick one. They need to read the word out and quickly write down its opposite on the glass the moment they choose. You can take turns and see who has a larger stack at the end of the game.

Complete my thoughts: This is another great writing exercise. Write down a series of sentences and place them in a jar. Now get your child to pick one and read it out aloud. Once it is read, you need to write down the sentence that possibly follows this one. If it were a story, what happened next, or if it's a book, what followed. Ensure both you and the child write, so the child feels excited about it. Share your thoughts.

Color it up: The art of writing involves various parts of speech. Write down some nouns in one color, adjectives in another, and verbs in a third. Get your child to pick one of each and use them in a sentence together. This is a very impactful way to get them to use a varied presentation of ideas interestingly.

Bringing forward the Budding Writer

Everyone is a born writer; they just have a different story to tell. So, how do you get your child to tell theirs?

Read to them. Stories have a way of unleashing your child's imagination like nothing else can. The more you read to your child, the better they will be able to imagine characters, settings, and plots when it's their turn to write.

Write with them. Start with collaborative stories, so children get inspired by some ideas and methods. They will be able to work better on their own after that.

Start small. Begin with small sentences or tiny paragraphs. You can move on to bigger stories after that. Picture stories are good ways for children to build on visual elements.

Supporting your Little Writers

Writing takes plenty of effort. Not all children do well. Some have their limitations despite their best efforts. The key is to evolve as they practice. And you have a large role in making it happen.

Applaud their effort. It takes a lot to come up with even a few lines, and children do try hard to do well. Give them constructive feedback so they know what can be done better, and perhaps share how you would write. Motivate and reassure your child, so they believe they can work better. Most importantly, give the process some time. It is not a skill that is built overnight.

We combine the best online educational practice games and tasks to help your children evolve into creative thinkers and writers of the future. Browse through SplashLearns resources that combine fun and learning all at once.

Suggested Writing Worksheets

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Writing Games for Kids Online - SplashLearn

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Most of us find writing so tedious. We would all just prefer someone to write down our thoughts for us if we had the chance. Imagine then what children must face when they are expected to learn writing and write well. There is no escape from learning writing.

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e-Games: Language Arts

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Want to have fun while learning the parts of speech? With ABCya's fun and educational games, you'll laugh your way through lessons on language arts topics ranging from alphabetical order to idioms.

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With ABCya's suite of fun and educational games, kids will laugh their way through lessons on language arts topics ranging from alphabetical order to idioms!

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e-Games: Social Studies

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Learn about social studies and play games with your favorite PBS KIDS characters like Elmo, Daniel Tiger, Molly of Denali, and Let's Go Luna!

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Student Writing Samples

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Explore annotated writing samples from kids in pre-K through grade 3, and see next-step suggestions for instruction. You'll also learn about writing milestones and different purposes of writing - along with ideas for how to make room for writing during the day.

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Poems for Kids

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The following selections of poems are curated around specific themes and are appropriate for young readers.

Find poetry lesson plans, essays about teaching, a glossary of poetry terms, and other educator resources on our Materials for Teachers page. Visit our Poetry for Teens page to find more selections of poems tailored to a high school audience. Encourage students to participate in the Dear Poet project. And, celebrate Poem In Your Pocket Day virtually on April 30.

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Poems for Kids - The following selections of poems are curated around specific themes and are appropriate fo

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"Oreo" Opinion Writing

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Writing and Editing Checklists

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Useful Writing And Editing Checklists For Elementary Schoolers - Studentreasures Blog

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We have put together this blog full of helpful worksheet with writing and editing checklists for elementary schoolers. Dive in!

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All Fieldwork Activities

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Fieldwork Activities and TPE Tracking Sheet

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Formative Assessments for Social Studies

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Checking for student understanding during the learning process in the social studies classroom can help inform instruction. Using formative assessment is a way to evaluate student knowledge as they learn. Formative assessment monitors learning; therefore, teachers can use this in-the-moment feedback to guide students.

Formative assessments can range from formal to informal, and teachers can conduct them via technology or without it. There's no one-size-fits-all formative assessment strategy to implement in the classroom, but there are plenty of techniques teachers can try.

What Is Formative Assessment?

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) defines formative assessment as a process used during instruction to elicit evidence of learning to improve student understanding. Dr. Julie Miles, Senior Vice President, Learning Sciences at HMH, describes the purpose of formative assessment like this: "[The] primary purpose is to inform teachers about how their students are progressing, where gaps exist in students' learning, and how their instruction needs to be adjusted to improve student learning, possibly by slowing down the pace, repeating instruction, or even challenging some students with new and potentially more difficult tasks."

It's a normal part of learning for students to be challenged along the way. Unlike summative assessment, which happens after the end of a course or learning activity, formative assessment allows teachers to evaluate student comprehension on the go and provide support where needed.

8 Formative Assessment Examples for Social Studies

We've provided formative assessment examples for social studies teachers can use in their classrooms to collect the data they need to improve student learning:

1. Exit Tickets

Using exit tickets is an informal way to check for learning across subjects; this formative assessment allows students to reflect on their learning and think critically. One benefit of exit tickets is that teachers have much flexibility when deciding on what to include on exit tickets. Authors of Improving Adolescent Literacy: Strategies at Work Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey believe exit tickets fall into three categories:

Prompts that document learning

Prompts that emphasize the process of learning

Prompts that evaluate the effectiveness of instruction

These categories aren't all-inclusive, but no matter what, completing this process should only take a few minutes.

Teachers can use paper, index cards, or even digital tools to create exit tickets, and students respond to a question related to the lesson taught in class that day on the ticket at the end of a class or lesson. The posed question might also align with a social studies concept covered during the lesson. For example, if teaching Native American history, an exit ticket could ask students what they know about the Native American cultures in their local area or what they learned about that surprised them and why it did.

Afterward, students can hand their tickets to the teacher or digitally submit their responses. Senior assessment specialist Amanda Bratten provides more information on implementing an exit ticket strategy into your instruction.

2. Class Discussions

Teachers can learn about students' understanding of concepts by conducting an informal class discussion. By evaluating classroom discourse, teachers can gain real-time data to help guide their instruction.

Teachers can ask open-end questions to initiate the discussion and allow students to discuss their knowledge and opinions. One egalitarian way to conduct a discussion is using the popsicle stick formative assessment strategy. A teacher writes each student's name on a popsicle stick (or another item) and randomly draws a name-one by one-to give everyone a chance to respond. This method allows for teachers to check for gaps in understanding and, by giving everyone a chance to speak, teaches students that their thoughts are valuable.

3. Venn Diagram

There are plenty of opportunities in social studies to make connections between topics. A Venn diagram is a tool that can help students understand the similarities and differences between two or more ideas. Plus, this graphic organizer can act as a formative assessment by providing teachers insight into how much students comprehend the topics they're studying.

Students can create a Venn diagram on paper or using an online tool. Alternatively, they could use a template. The Venn diagram will likely align with the lesson they're learning to gauge their understanding of the topic or a concept. For example, students might compare different cultures, economic trends, or historical eras-the possibilities are endless.

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Formative Assessments for Social Studies

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Choose the formative assessments for social studies that work best for your classroom to improve student learning.

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Informal Classroom Assessments: Language Arts

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You are welcome to print copies or republish materials for non-commercial use as long as credit is given to Reading Rockets and the author(s). For commercial use, please contact info@readingrockets.org.

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Types of Informal Classroom-Based Assessment

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There are several informal assessment tools for assessing various components of reading. The following are ten suggested tools for teachers to use.

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13 Formative Assessments That Inspire Creativity

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13 Formative Assessments That Inspire Creativity

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Sometimes mixing in formative assessments that go a step beyond exit slips and low-stakes quizzes can inject some fun—and creativity—into learning.

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Reading Notes 5

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Reading Notes 6

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Reading Notes 7

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Reading Notes 8

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Inquiry Rubric

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Generalization Rubric

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Content Attainment Rubric

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Do2Learn: Educational Resources for Special Needs

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Special Education Toolkit

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This toolkit helps make sense of an often confusing system and educates families of newly diagnosed children with special needs on how to get the best special education, services and resources available to them.

Getting Started: An introduction to the Special Education process and how to advocate for your child.

From Pre-K to Graduation: Transitioning your student throughout his or her school career and preparing them for college or the workforce after graduation.

Understanding Federal Policy: An overview of federal disability and special needs policies, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

A Parent's Dictionary: Key terms to know when getting started in special education.

Acronyms: An overview of acronyms used in special education and disability policies and programs.

Resources: A directory of tools and organizations that families can access for assistance.
Material presented on the National PTA website is intended for information purposes only. It is not intended as professional advice and should not be construed as such. National PTA is not engaged in rendering legal or other professional services by posting said material. Professional services should be sought if legal or other specific expert assistance is required.

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This toolkit helps make sense of an often confusing system and educates families of newly diagnosed children with special needs on how to get the best special education, services and resources available to them. Getting Started : An introduction to the Special Education process and how to advocate for your child.

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Educating All Learners

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Get the Latest Updates, Events & Resources from the Educating All Learners Aliance!

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Getting Started with a Struggling Reader with Visual Impairments

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Parents and Teachers of the Visually Impaired (TVI) often have questions about struggling readers. These are:

Melissa brought her infant son, Trey, home from the hospital with the knowledge that he would be a braille learner. She had two older sons who were doing well in school, but wondered how she could encourage school readiness in general for Trey. She knew that his needs would be different but just how different? What would be the best strategies she could use during the early years of his development?

Everything suggests that reading is one of the more complex tasks that a child will master. It requires multiple abilities for children with vision as well as those with visual impairments. Some of the requirements for all children are:

Certain level of cognitive as well as language abilities

An efficient means of processing information

Basic experiences to support the concepts they learn through reading

Regular practice in reading in different environments and for different purposes

Any child with a visual impairment will have some additional challenges as they develop reading skills. These will need to be mastered in addition to those listed above. Some of these include:

Development of special skills such as the use of Low Vision devices and/or braille

Enriched environments that allow them to experience various activities that help them build concepts

Special efforts to be sure that the child sees coded language, i.e. written words in their world

Melissa realized how important experiences were for Trey. She also wanted to be sure that braille was a regular part of his world. The whole family participated in helping Trey build his vocabulary and concepts. hey went around the house and found different shapes of tables. They went to a petting zoo and explored different ways that "soft" might feel. Everyone tried to ensure that Trey really "knew" all about the words he was using in his vocabulary. To help Trey understand that words could help in many ways, Melissa put braille labels on the microwave and other kitchen appliances. Melissa bought braille books and read them each night. Trey could follow along with "reading" by touching the braille. Melissa was proud that Trey could sing the alphabet song independently by age 2 ½. He was able to read the braille letters of a through c. Trey was always interested in "reading" the braille labels in his house. When Trey started more formal educational programs at age 3, Melissa was confident that he would be able to start reading when he reached kindergarten. His background was solid, and the interest was there.

Parents can provide a solid background of concepts, experiences, and exposure to words. Initial observations indicate a clear readiness to read, however struggles soon become apparent when formal instruction in reading begins.

Reasons for the struggles are not always apparent.

The difficulties are often not seen in early childhood.

Formal reading instruction will frequently be the first indicator of problems.

The good memories of many children with visual impairment may help mask later difficulties.

Trey was now in first grade, and had made little progress in reading braille. He was able to show good hand skills and could track from left to right. He recognized approximately half of the alphabet but often confused them in the context of words. He continued to enjoy having stories read to him, but was less and less willing to try to read the simple books the teacher sent home. The parents advocated for additional services from the TVI in hopes that would improve his reading skills. Melissa began to wonder if there were difficulties with processing of information. She wondered about the early signs of a struggling reader who is also a braille reader.

In spite of good early intervention, some children will have difficulties with reading. For some children it is a temporary setback because they may be slower to mature. They will develop the skills at a slightly later age. Some children will never learn to read because of cognitive limitations. About 20% of all children will always have difficulties with reading. We don't know how many children with visual impairments will have these types of difficulties, but think that it is at least 20% and probably more.

The early signs of a struggling reader are similar for print and braille learners. Many of these signs are present at an early age often when parents are reading to the child. Some of these signs are:

Problems in remembering names of letters

Reciting alphabet in a rote manner, often mispronouncing and confusing letters

Difficulty in completing familiar rhymes or stories

Little interest in "what is this word/letter" when parent is reading

Little interest in "what is this word/letter" in environmental words

Problems with rhyming words in stories. Cannot tell you what word might rhyme with another

Problems in hearing the difference between different sounds

Reading skills had improved a little for Trey now that he was in the second grade, however Melissa was still concerned. Trey was very resistant to reading at home, and evenings often held some major battles to get the 10 minutes of reading done. Although Trey knew all of his letters and could read simple words and books, Melissa still knew that his skills were far below his peers. Melissa just did not know what might be related to the issues with learning braille. The TVI assured her that Trey was making good progress with learning braille. Trey just could not put it all together to do much in the way of reading. Both continued to be curious about what behaviors might indicate significant problems with reading.

Once a child begins to read, there are some clear indicators that reading will not come easily to this child. Some of the indicators are:

Lack of interest in reading

Resistance to reading in any environment

Problems in identifying the sounds that letters make

Problems in recognizing the difference between the sounds of two letters

Difficulty in remembering repeating words in stories

Problems in repeating what has been read

Melissa and the TVI began to think that it would be wise to have some additional intervention to determine what might be the problem. Once they determined the problem, they felt that intervention would be more efficient. However, they found that it was difficult to actually have any intervention since Trey was visually impaired. Other staff felt that this was not appropriate or even necessary. In their minds, any educational problem was best identified and met through the TVI. Melissa began a process of advocating for appropriate services to help plan an appropriate education for Trey.

To support the need for intervention, it is important that all staff understand the relationship between vision and development of reading skills. Specifically they need to understand the following:

Reading is primarily the result of a child's ability to discriminate different sounds and the ways that they combine to form words.

Visual-perceptual problems are infrequently the cause of reading difficulties.

The TVI can provide appropriate information about the possible impact of visual impairment upon reading.

Early intervention is crucial to ensure successful readers and academic success

Intervention during the first grade results in 90% of children "catching up" with their peers.

Intervention during the fourth grade results in 20% of children overcoming their problems.

Reading problems are a significant factor in students leaving school before graduation.

Who provides intervention in the school? How do students become eligible for this intervention?

Melissa now felt that Trey required additional support and that this could not be provided solely by the TVI. Her new challenge was to see how this could be provided, and to see what factors might limit the services. Melissa could see that Trey was making progress in his reading, but was concerned at how slow the progress was. In spite of the progress, he seemed to be falling further behind his peers each day. She needed to understand just how the intervention process worked. Being a good advocate always requires good knowledge.

Intervention services for reading improvement are broadly outlined by federal laws, but each state has developed their own procedures. General concepts that seem to be present in all are:

Systematic intervention must occur and progress monitored before more formal testing occurs.

TVI should be a part of planning the intervention .

A reading specialist will also need to be an important part of planning intervention.

The reading specialist will have a variety of titles in different schools and states.

Actual services will be delivered in different environments but most often in a separate classroom.

Parents frequently will need to advocate for these services to be accessible for their child.

There is a continuing tendency in schools to feel that visual impairment is the reason for all problems.

The TVI will need to provide clear information about the true implication of the visual impairment on the reading process during intervention.

Parents will need to support efforts with home activities.

Melissa felt that Trey was now getting the services that he needed. He saw the reading specialist three times per week and his TVI four times per week. The family felt that he was progressing, and continued to work with Trey at home. They asked Trey to help read materials around the house, such as reading books aloud. They tried to think of everyday activities that required reading and asked Trey to help. He frequently read instructions and often brailled and read recipes for dinner. Melissa knew that some children would develop good reading skills after intervention and never need additional help. Melissa also knew that some children would continue to struggle. She wanted to learn if there were any indicators that Trey might continue to have problems.

Predicting future problems is always difficult. There are some general indicators of continued reading difficulties. Like any predictor, these are not 100% correct but they provide some general information. Continued problems are more likely to be noted if there are problems with the following:

Chooses extremely simple materials to read

Has a reading level is far below vocabulary

Skips words and does not seem to notice or correct

Has trouble with basic sight words

Reads a word differently each time that it appears

Reads a word that makes no sense in the passage but does not notice

Writing samples leave significant sounds out of words

Can't retell what has just been read

Reads at a broken pace and with little expression

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Getting Started with a Struggling Reader with Visual Impairments - Paths to Literacy

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Paths to Literacy Getting Started with a Struggling Reader with Visual Impairments. For teachers, families, and others interested in literacy for children and youth with visual impairments

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Tips for Students w/ ADHD

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Tips for Students w/ Attention Behavior Difficulties

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Tips for Students w/ Autism

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Tips for Students w/ Hearing Difficulties

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Tips for Students w/ Emotional/Behavioral Disorder

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Tips for Non-Readers

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Tips for Students w/ Orthopedic Impairments

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Tips for Students w/ Physical Impairments

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Tips for Students w/ Sensory Impairment

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SDAIE Strategies

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Differentiate Instruction in Project-Based Learning

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Help Young Students Speak With Confidence

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Early Childhood Education

As early as preschool, students can learn how to improve their speaking skills using techniques borrowed from actors.

Jacob Wackerhausen / iStock

During class, you might ask a student to say the morning message, share about their weekend, discuss a topic with a classmate, or even practice reading aloud. Their days are filled with speaking, which makes sense because it's a competence required in most elementary schools and a life skill that sets them up for future success, personally, academically, and in their chosen careers. Yet the experience can be riddled with anxiety for some students, and there is little research around interventions for educators to support reluctant speakers.

With some practical tools from drama education, we can certainly help our scholars with their communication. In my work as a director and educator, I've seen how the techniques that actors use to connect with their audiences can also be helpful for students in developing these skills and building a comfort and joy with speaking.

Preparing to Speak

Strategy 2: Acknowledge and reframe nerves. Notice if your body is reacting to the prospect of speaking. The physiological response (sweaty palms, fast heartbeat, dry mouth, etc.) of nerves is simply our body's way of preparing us for, and protecting us from, danger. Ask students to get attuned to what they are sensing, and then validate the anxiety. Remind students that these are normal, albeit outdated, reactions to nerves that we inherited from our ancient ancestors. We aren't being chased by a bear; we are just sharing information with our classmates!

Flip the narrative on anxiety, and reframe it as an emotion that will help us prepare for the task at hand. Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, PhD, neuroscience professor and author of Future Tense, says, "Anxiety is an advantageous emotion that evolved to protect us and strengthen our creative and productive powers." When we feel anxious, there's a spike in dopamine that is meant to protect us and also spring us into action.

So, ask students to use different-and potentially positive-vocabulary when they are describing how they feel about public speaking. This will help them redefine their experience: "I'm feeling nervous and lively; scared and prepared; anxious and excited." You can do this by having students practice more feeling words in a game like emotions charades or physically expressing them in a song like " Shake Your Sillies Out." As students get savvy about recognizing their feelings (and the sensations they cause), they are more likely to be in control of them when they speak.

Stretch your mouth wide (like you are surprised!), and then pucker your lips (like you ate a lemon).

Blow through your lips, using sound, as if you were a car or a speedboat.

Pound on your chest and back (like a gorilla!) while vocalizing on the "huh" sound.

Practice simple tongue twisters like "toy boat" or "flash message" (say it three times fast!).

Strategy 3: Ground your feet. Anytime we rock back and forth, we are giving our energy away. Have students squirt pretend glue on the bottom of their feet, or have them pretend that tree roots grow from there. The goal is: Plant your feet. With that newfound steadiness coming from the ground up, their messages will be clearer, and they will have more energy for volume and expression.

Strategy 4: Warm up your instrument. It's easy to get tripped up on words or even feel like you have a frog in your throat. Actors use vocal exercises to make sure their "instruments" are warmed up before speaking. Here are some of my favorite, simple ways to warm up that can also help students:

Technical Tips for Better Public Speaking

Strategy 5: Get louder with music or a "playground" voice. If students have a tendency to speak too quietly as they present, sometimes they simply need to tap into the vocal energy they would use in another context. Before they speak, have them pretend they are on the playground and trying to get someone's attention. Alternatively, ask them (and the entire class) to sing a song like "If You Are Happy and You Know It (...give a shout!)" and then go right into speaking or reading. Inevitably, this trick will help them access more powerful volume.

Strategy 6: Breathe with punctuation. Kristin Linklater, a world-renowned vocal coach and acting teacher, says, "If you're holding your breath in any way, part of you is absent." Breathing isn't just important as we prepare to speak; it's also essential to breathe effectively while we speak. Students will often run out of air, making what they say have less impact and less volume. If your early elementary students are reading, you can coach them to be expressive and not race through their words, by having them take a breath every time there is a period. This simple trick will make their speech clearer, giving them more vocal variety and connection to what they are saying.

Strategy 7: Play with dialogue and gesture and drama. For exciting read-alouds, turn storytelling into a game. If the text has dialogue, get kids saying it themselves with call-and-response. Depending on the character, model how to use rhythm, pitch, or volume to change how a character sounds. Those simple technical shifts will make their (eventual) reading more dynamic, too.

Similarly, gestures help make their ideas and characters come to life, and it's never too early to teach this. For example: Someone cheers, and they pump their fist. A character accuses someone, and they point. Another character dismisses an idea, and they flick their hand away. You can turn a story into a movement game and just isolate the gestures to show how much impact movement can have.

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7 Ways to Help Young Students Speak With Confidence and Poise

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Educators can use techniques from stage actors when it comes to teaching better public speaking to the youngest learners.

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Why Art Integration is Important

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New research reveals that the arts may prime our neural circuitry for a broad range of activities, boosting crucial cognitive and social skills like spoken and written language, focus, self-control, and empathy. In a 2016 study, for example, T. Christina Zhao and Patricia Kuhl demonstrated that babies exposed to simple melodies in a social setting developed a greater sensitivity to the rhythms of spoken language. More surprisingly, they noted, the processing of music was traced not just to the auditory cortex of the infants, but to the prefrontal cortex as well-the seat of higher-order cognitive faculties like attention and self-regulation.

"We can see that the babies who have been through the music experience have greater abilities to...hold attention when that's important, and to switch attention when it's appropriate to switch," Kuhl explained in a TED talk. "In other words, music is affecting executive function."

A 2019 study reached similar conclusions with professional musicians, finding that "executive attention is more efficient in musicians than non-musicians," and improves as musical training progresses.

But those weren't the only surprises in store for researchers. A major 2019 study tracked over 10,000 students in Texas as they participated in arts programs, concluding that they performed better on state writing tests, were better behaved, had more compassion for fellow students, and were more engaged in school. And a 2018 study showed that drawing had a dramatic effect on memory, outperforming writing, visualizing, and other retention techniques.

We also referenced other studies, reports, and news stories as we produced this video: A comprehensive 2017 American Institutes for Research study on arts integration; 2016 and 2014 research on executive function; a 2013 study on the value of field trips to museums; a 2019 news story on the recent discovery of ancient cave paintings; along with the following older research: a 2009 report; this 2011 research; this 2008 research; and this 2004 research, among others.

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New Studies Link the Arts to Crucial Cognitive Skills

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New research reveals that the arts may prime our neural circuitry for a broad range of activities, boosting crucial cognitive and social skills like spoken and written language, focus, self-control, and empathy. In a 2016 study, for example, T.

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Introduce Visual Notes to Students

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Alternative note-taking practices like mind-mapping and sketchnoting prompt students to organize their thoughts visually, boosting comprehension and retention.

kategisme/Twenty20; AJ_Watt/iStock; sydneyskye/Twenty20;

Unlike conventional note-taking, which can "border on the edge of transcription," allowing students to try more visual, interpretive methods of processing materials helps them "identify connections between topics and themes," writes Nimah Gobir for KQED.

One technique known as sketchnoting-simple, hand-drawn renderings of things like facts, dates, or abstract concepts-allows students to respond to complex new ideas by engaging multiple parts of the brain simultaneously to deepen learning and retention, says Gobir. Instead of passively writing down everything a speaker is saying, the practice pushes students to actively process and make sense of what they're learning.

"Sketchnoting doesn't just lead to gains in keeping students' attention, it's a useful way for learners to organize and retain information," she writes. "They're actively listening and creating a visual representation of what they're learning while continuing to stay engaged in class."

Findings from a 2018 study back that up: Students who were asked to draw what they'd learned were nearly twice as likely to remember information than students who wrote the same information down. Drawing wins out because it allows information to be processed in multiple ways, explained Edutopia's research editor Youki Terada: "When we draw, we encode the memory in a very rich way, layering together the visual memory of the image, the kinesthetic memory of our hand drawing the image, and the semantic memory that is invoked when we engage in meaning-making."

Here are some ways to introduce visual note-taking to your students:

Rethink Your Paper: Note-taking doesn't need to happen between the lines and within the margins of a sheet of notebook paper. The "more rigid structure of lines and lines of text" can bind the minds of some students, while the freedom to reimagine the space can free them, writes Gobir. Encourage students to play with spacing, vary text sizes, and add symbols anywhere on the page "to create a hierarchy of information that might be harder to capture in linear text."

Start With a Little Practice: Not all students will welcome the idea of sketchnoting and other visual note-taking methods at first, so encourage them to start off just scribbling. Artist and educator Todd Berman has students "scribble for the duration of a song," Gobir explains, which gets the creative juices flowing and creates a comfortable setting for the introduction of the concept. Berman then invites students to share what they've created with the class.

Develop a Symbolic Language: Educator Wendi Pillars has students "identify 10 key words or concepts" from the current learning materials and begin developing a visual library of shorthand-like an icon or character-to represent them, shares Gobir. Get students' input for the library too, recommends Pillars, so "you have a co-created visual vocabulary that everybody can refer to when they take their own notes." In time, students will develop their own vocabularies and visual note-taking styles independently.

Keep It Low-Fidelity: Communicate to your students that they don't have to be accomplished artists to use visual note-taking techniques: The process isn't about ensuring that the sketches and drawings look good, but that students find a way to tease out the relationships between topics and concepts. "It's giving them permission to say, 'You know what? Here's the key concept. Here's the key information," explains Pillars, who says she emphasizes to students that there is no right or wrong way to take visual notes.

Skip the Grading: Sketchnoting, diagrams, freehand drawing, mind-mapping, and similar techniques are vehicles to get student thoughts down on paper-not practices meant to demonstrate their mastery of subject material. Educator Sarah Schroeder suggests focusing on grading what is "construct relevant," or "avoiding measuring what is irrelevant or can't be measured," like creativity. Attaching a grade to visual note-taking might inhibit the student as they struggle to make sense of complex material, make them feel self-conscious, or simply be so subjective as to be meaningless-so provide feedback rather than a grade.

Join In: Modeling visual note-taking techniques for your students can be a great way to inspire them to try something new. Pillars uses her whiteboard and paper to show students how she visualizes her thoughts. "As we take the notes together, I will ask students, 'How would you represent it?'" she shared with Gobir. "And they'll shout out ideas like, 'You could draw this or this!' And sometimes I tell them 'I can't draw that! You want to come on up here and show [the class]?'"

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How-and Why-to Introduce Visual Note-Taking to Your Students

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Visual note-taking allows information to be processed by the brain in three different ways.

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Teach Students to Manage Their Own Conflicts

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7 Ways to Teach Kids to Manage Their Own Conflicts

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Strengthening students' capacity to evaluate their problems and consider a number of solutions leads to better, less impulsive conflict resolution.

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Address Bullying Among Girls

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Ideas for guiding girls toward positive interactions with each other.

©Shutterstock.com/Syda Productions

Responding to our male students' fights, sexual misbehavior, or general misconduct with the comment "boys will be boys" is widely recognized as unhealthy and unacceptable. But when faced with name calling, rumor spreading, exclusion, and social sabotage among female students, the phrase "it's just girl drama-don't worry about it" is so widely used that sometimes it's replaced with just an eye roll, a shrug, or a sigh-the phrase itself doesn't even need to be expressed in words.

Girls Will Be Girls-and Girls Will Be Mean

I wonder what would happen if we challenged the notion that "girls will be girls-and girls will be mean" in the same way that we currently challenge "boys will be boys." What if attributing bad behavior to the "mean girl" phenomenon-which can be defined as "publicly humiliating and spreading nasty rumors about each other, pitting friend against friend, excluding or rejecting former friends, and even engaging in physical aggression"-is an easy way out of a complicated situation? What if what we're really seeing and not understanding is girls learning about their own social power just as society finally allows them the space to do so? As researcher Lyn Mikel Brown says, "It's no coincidence that just as girls were exercising their power and challenging gender roles we saw more concern about meanness and aggression among girls. While they're feeling powerful and in control, girls are up against new pressure to act like traditional nice girls or risk being labeled mean. As a result, many take their strong feelings and competitive urges underground or at least out of sight of adults who might be watching."

What if, instead of rolling our eyes and telling girls to "be nice," or ignoring fraught situations altogether, we talked with girls early and often about power-their own and that of others-and helped them recognize that they have more power than they realize and that they can use it for good or to hurt? "Mean girls" are able to wield more than their share of power by co-opting the power of others. We need to help girls claim (or reclaim) their power.

1. Name what we see when girls engage in "mean girl" behaviors. Take the time to process it. Encourage young women to pay attention to how they feel as they gain and lose power through their social-emotional experiences. What could be gained by recognizing the power in their words, their energy, and their relationships? Use what they see in the media, from the Disney Channel to Real Housewives, as case studies. What do they notice in the shift of power when sarcasm, put-downs, exclusion, and even physical aggression become part of the story?

2. Use mindfulness techniques and self-compassion-defined by the three components of self-kindness, sensing oneself as part of a common humanity, and maintaining perspective in challenging circumstances-to help girls stay centered in the moment.

3. Teach girls to use social power for good. Organizations like Fearlessly Girl, Because I Am a Girl, Girl Talk, and Girls Inc. are just a few of the many that can help girls find ways to be "sheroes" in their schools and communities.

4. Encourage girls to claim academic autonomy by differentiating instruction based on interests and passions. "Voice and choice" is just one way to begin.

5. Understand that "girl" isn't a singular identity. When a girl is black, Latina, trans, lesbian, queer, disabled, autistic, poor, immigrant, etc.-or any combination of these-her relationship to power is different. Do the work to understand that and your role in supporting her.

6. Take a look at our dress codes and the systemic oppression that lives within them. Dress codes that target girls as potential distractions and force them to adhere to arbitrary rules around knees, shoulders, and collar bones teach them that their physical selves are something to be ashamed of, disempowering them at a time when they are most vulnerable.

7. Push back against traditional gender expectations that encourage girls to be nice at all costs. Pay attention to what we're modeling for our girls in our language and our behavior-and the cost of what we're teaching. Powerful, brave girls don't always fit into traditional roles, and we have to be mindful of our responses when girls behave in unexpected ways. Make space for the full range of human emotions and the myriad ways that femininity is expressed.

8. Help boys understand the roles they play. Emerging sexuality for heterosexual and bisexual girls can add a new dimension to power struggles between boys and girls, and between girls competing over boys. And slut shaming and sexual misbehavior change the power dynamic between girls no matter their sexual identities. By giving boys new ways of relating to the girls around them in terms of consent and bodily autonomy, we make room for them to generate new, healthier rules for relationships.

9. Most importantly, however, we as educators must begin by refusing to accept that "girl drama" is unavoidable. This work begins with us, but it can serve all of the students in our care.

A Few Ways We Can Help

For more ideas on how to help girls, read " 12 Ways to Prevent Girlfighting and Build Girl Allies."

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Rejecting the 'Mean Girl' Framework | Edutopia

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Ideas for guiding girls toward positive interactions with each other. ©Shutterstock.com/Syda Productions Responding to our male students' fights, sexual misbehavior, or general misconduct with the comment "boys will be boys" is widely recognized as unhealthy and unacceptable.

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Help Boys Who Are Falling Behind

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Boys and men aren't doing well. Once ahead by nearly every measure, today they're underperforming in school, dwindling as a percentage of college matriculants, and rapidly losing ground in the workplace. While the lives of women have markedly improved in recent decades, the outlook for boys and men-especially Black boys and boys from disadvantaged backgrounds-is increasingly alarming.

It's a problem that Richard Reeves has been thinking about for 25 years. "I knew some of the headlines about boys struggling at school and on campus, men losing ground in the labor market, and fathers losing touch with their children. I thought that perhaps some of these were exaggerated. But the closer I looked, the bleaker the picture became," writes Reeves, a senior fellow of economic studies at the Brookings Institution and author of the new book Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It.

Today, the gender gap in college degree attainment is wider than it was in the early 1970s-"but in the opposite direction," Reeves notes. While "men at the top" continue to flourish, and women's wages have risen substantially, wages for most men are lower today than they were in 1979. "One in five fathers are not living with their children," he writes, and "men account for almost three out of four 'deaths of despair,' either from a suicide or an overdose."

And yet it's not boys who need fixing, Reeves argues. It's the social institutions and systems-including schools-that must adjust because they no longer work well for many boys. "It became clear to me that the problems of boys and men are structural in nature but are rarely treated as such," Reeves writes. "My main message here is that there are stark gender gaps at every stage, and all around the world, many of which continue to widen. But policy makers, like deer in headlights, have yet to respond."

I recently spoke with Reeves about the book and about boys, not only generally but about our boys-my three teenage boys and Reeves's three, who are now young men. His insights reflect not only years of scholarship and research but real-life experience as a parent of boys.

Holly Korbey: Let's lay out the scope of the problem: Today's men and boys are really struggling, and on quite a few fronts. Can you describe what's happening to boys?

Richard Reeves: The basic story is that on pretty much every measure, on every level of the system, boys are now lagging behind girls, and men behind women. That's true in nearly every advanced economy.

In 1972, when Title IX was passed (protecting people from gender discrimination in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance), men were about 13 percentage points more likely to be getting a four-year college degree. Today, women are about 15 percentage points more likely to get a four-year college degree. So the gender gap in higher education is bigger today than when Title IX was passed-just the other way around.

In the typical school district in the U.S., girls are now almost a grade level ahead in English. They've caught up in math. In poor school districts, they're a grade level ahead in English and they're ahead in math.The top 10 percent of GPA scores, two-thirds of them are girls. In the bottom 10 percent, two-thirds of them are boys.

And there are very big gaps in terms of things like school exclusion and suspension. But one stat that really made me stop in my tracks is that 23 percent of boys in K-12 have been diagnosed with some kind of developmental disability-that's one in four boys.

You really have to ask at this point whether it's the system that's failing, rather than the boys who are failing within the system.

Korbey: Why is this happening now? It's not like boys and men have always struggled-as you point out in the book, men dominated for a long time. What's changed, and why should we pay attention, considering how long men have had the upper hand?

Reeves: The education system is structured in ways that favor girls and women, on average. To some extent it always was, but we couldn't see it, because we had these [other societal] brakes on women's aspirations and opportunities. It didn't really matter if girls were better if they weren't going to college. As soon as we took off the brakes, they blew right past.

We've done a pretty good job of leveling the playing field, and the result exposes the fact that on this field, girls are better players. They're more advanced, their brains develop earlier, they've got more of the skills that our education system rewards. Even saying that out loud sounds weird, given the history. But I can't look at the results and see it any other way.

Korbey: A lot of what's going wrong for boys and men seems to begin in school and is carried through K-12 into higher education. How are boys and young men struggling in K-12?

Reeves: The boys who are really struggling in the education system are those in poorer areas from working-class backgrounds, and above all, Black boys and men. The education system isn't serving Black girls very well, either. But by comparison to Black boys, girls are doing much better.

What you see is a combination of behavioral difficulties which often lead to these disability diagnoses, which are much more prevalent for boys. You'll see much higher rates of suspension and exclusion. And boys are struggling with the noncognitive skills: They don't turn in homework, because they didn't know there was homework, because it's harder for them to be future-oriented, etc.

Interestingly, on standardized tests, things like the SAT and ACT, you don't see much of a gender gap. It's important to show that there's no evidence of an intelligence gap.

Korbey: It sometimes feels like today's schooling, which is language and reading heavy, often with limited recess or hands-on activity, is tough for a lot of boys. What is it about the school environment, or how we structure school, that's not working for many boys?

Reeves: I think it starts when the first bell rings: the fact that we start school, especially high school, so early in the day. That's bad for girls too, but it looks like it might be even worse for boys. So I think starting school later is a good idea.

Then there's the need for more frequent breaks, which does seem to break [down] by gender. There is pretty good evidence that boys find it harder than girls to sit still, to focus. I know I did. I was put in a remedial English class because I just couldn't focus. Today, I would be diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. Moving around more is important. We've downgraded phys ed and regular movement, regular breaks: Students are flesh and blood, they're not brains on a stick. Girls will benefit from that too, of course.

Korbey: One of your proposed solutions is to "redshirt" every boy in America-to hold them back a year before they start kindergarten so they're a year older than all the girls. How did you arrive at this idea, and why do you think this intervention might help?

Reeves: Girls are 14 percentage points more likely to be school-ready at age 5 compared to boys. That's bigger than any other gap, bigger than the race gap.

The harder I looked at the differences in development, particularly around the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that helps you get your act together, girls are just ahead there. They develop that bit of the brain about a year earlier than boys; some people say it's more like two. Anybody who spends time with a group of 15-year-old boys and 15-year-old girls knows what I'm talking about. It's not just a physical thing-the girls are young women, effectively, and the boys are still boys.

So you would have 15-year-old boys in class with 14-year-old girls, but developmentally they'd be closer, so actually it creates a more level playing field. And I think that would help to close this developmental gap, which, in turn, is one of the drivers of educational outcomes. The boys start behind and never catch up. And that's because there's a brain development gap.

Korbey: I have to admit, I'm skeptical-two of my sons are the youngest in their classes and are doing very well! My thought is that this is a one-size-fits-all solution that may not be right for all kids, and it could possibly make many boys feel they're not up to the task in the same way their female counterparts are. In reactions to your book, the idea of redshirting all boys has met with some criticism-do you think some of those critiques have merit?

Reeves: I think it's very much something worthy of discussion, and there are reasons to be skeptical. If President Biden were to call me up and say, 'I'm going to try and pass a law [to redshirt all boys],' I'd say no, no, let's try it at a small scale, pilot it. There are costs associated with it-costs of finishing a year later, costs of extra childcare, potentially there's the stigma that you mentioned.

Yet I think the benefits would be significant enough to outweigh the costs, based on my reading of the literature. But the literature is not well developed yet, so my answer would be: Let's try it.

I think that the single biggest argument against it is that many boys don't need the extra year.

But the development gap I'm worried about isn't measurable at age 5; it is measurable at 15-but that's much harder to predict. So the reason I want to start boys later is not so that they're older in kindergarten, it's so they're older in sophomore or junior year of high school. And if you do it early enough, the stigma problems will not be as great. It seems weird now, but I can imagine a world where we get used to [redshirting all boys].

The last thing I'll say is that for the boys I'm most worried about, they actually very often end up doing an extra year of school anyway. One in four Black boys have repeated a year of school by the time they finish high school. We have a lot of boys who are held back anyway, or who just fail out of the education system. If they're failing out, is that better than giving them a head start?

Korbey: Another one of your proposed solutions has to do with career and technical education (CTE). We continue to struggle to gain traction in American CTE programs. What is it about CTE that would help some boys succeed better than in the traditional college track?

Reeves: The honest answer is, we don't know why [CTE helps boys succeed]. We do know that more investment in vocational training and education seem to particularly help boys and men.

In the book, I call for the creation of 1,000 new technical high schools with federal subsidies. We could double the number of students who had access to a technical high school. There's very little doubt that greater investments in more vocational, applied CTE-type learning would disproportionately help boys.

Korbey: Another factor at play, you say, is the lack of male K-12 educators. How can we attract more men to teaching jobs?

Reeves: The K-12 teaching profession now is 24 percent male, and only one in 10 elementary school teachers are male. In kindergarten and early years, about 3 percent of educators are male.

There are twice as many women flying U.S. military planes, as a share of the profession, than men teaching in classrooms. But interestingly, what's happening in the U.S. military is that they're redesigning the planes to be much more inclusive-the seats and the cockpits were designed for six-foot-tall men, so they're redesigning them.

What's the equivalent that we're doing to redesign the education system to get more men into it? I don't see us redesigning teacher training. I don't see us offering scholarships to men. I don't see any of that happening. We're just sitting on our hands.

English is a subject where boys seem to benefit really strongly from having a male teacher, yet we have the fewest men in the very subject where I think we would see the most benefit for boys. How about some scholarships to get men to be English teachers? We've had scholarships to get women into STEM subjects for decades. And I fully support that-it's a great idea because we're trying to make it easier to go against the grain.

Korbey: You write that the solution for helping boys and men "is not to go backward-back to the time of boys getting prioritized in education over girls, or to a wealth of hands-on manufacturing jobs-but instead to help men adapt to the present reality."

In order to help more boys and men thrive, what role should K-12 schools play in this reimagining of manhood in the 21st century?

Reeves: Have an environment and a culture that recognizes the current reality: Across the board, boys are the ones who are struggling most in our education system.

We've replaced an education system where male superiority was taken for granted with a new-and incredibly empowering-script for girls and women. It's one of educational success, economic independence, and of strong messages of "You go, girl!" and "Girl power!" And I love all that. But where are the equivalent messages for boys?

If we don't act quickly, my fear is that the very idea of educational success will start to be seen as female. The very idea of loving school, loving English class, loving metaphysical poetry in the way that I did-my English teacher was a Korean War vet, and he taught me how to love John Donne. He would have us in tears reading metaphysical poetry. And that made me feel like it's great to love words, and love poetry, and love English.

At the same time, don't be too quick to label as toxic, or somehow pathological, behavioral traits more commonly found in boys or men: If boys need to run around, be more physical, be more competitive, or take more risks, that means that something's wrong with them. We can't have educational institutions use a feminine standard against which to judge all students, because by definition that will be bad for the boys.

Be sure that we're not putting the brakes on empowerment for women and girls-but let's have equally empowering, strong, and positive messages in our schools and classrooms for boys and men.

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Boys Are Falling Behind. What Can We Do About It?

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Boys are underperforming in school, harming their future job prospects and potential for economic mobility. A new book argues it's the system that needs fixing, not boys.

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Develop Creativity in Students

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Creativity is a valuable skill, and there are common strategies teachers can use to help students develop it.

Creativity is the most difficult thinking skill to acquire, and also the most sought-after. We value it in our music, entertainment, technology, and other aspects of our existence. We appreciate and yearn for it because it enriches our understanding and can make life easier.

Creativity always starts with imagination, and history shows that many things we imagine are later actually created. Gene Roddenberry imagined the Star Trek flip communicators in 1966, and Motorola produced them in 1996. In the mid 1800s, Augusta Ada King envisioned a language for computing machines that didn't even exist; today she is honored as the founder of modern programing languages.

When Benjamin Bloom identified what he called the taxonomy of the cognitive domain, he ranked synthesis (creativity) as one of the most difficult skills to master because a person has to use all of the other cognitive skills in the creative process. Since, according to Bloom, creating is the highest order of thinking, it should be in the forefront of all learning environments and an end goal. When students create what they imagine, they're in the driver's seat.

Creativity in the Classroom

When designing learning experiences, teachers can plan and frame curriculum and provide tools that give students options, voice, and choice in order to enable them to be creative. In my work in schools, I've found four things that successful teachers do to develop creativity in their students.

1. Set up learning activities that allow students to explore their creativity in relevant, interesting, and worthwhile ways. Classroom example: Fourth-grade students are presented with a sample of rocks. They are to devise tests to determine what kind of rocks they have based on the definitions they've studied. Students find their own ways to determine differences in hardness, color, and shapes.

Another classroom example: A kindergarten class creates a new illustrated book each week that celebrates a different member of the class or an adult at the school. Each book is full of pages drawn by each student. They have the full liberty of depicting what the person likes and how they perceive him or her.

2. Value creativity and celebrate and reward it. Classroom example: Third-grade students are learning about polygons and to see if they know the concept, the teacher takes them outside and gives each student a sidewalk chalk. Each student is given the task of drawing several examples of polygons on the driveway.

Once the students have accomplished this, the teacher tells the students to transform those shapes into something they love. The students want to show everyone their geometric-based kittens, robots, and dragons and then have an opportunity to explain to the whole class why they liked them.

3. Teach students the other skills they need to be creative. Classroom example: A second-grade class is learning about the concept of freezing. The teacher asks one question to get them started, "Does only water freeze?" The students then design an experiment to determine what other things freeze. The limit is that they can only use what they have in the classroom at the time.

The students come up with a list of things that they will leave outside to see if they freeze: water, juice, vinegar, glue, glass cleaner, toothpaste, and paper. Some suggestions they decide are already solids and shouldn't go outside: pencils, erasers, and books (but somehow paper stays on the test list). The next day, they discuss their findings and have engaging conversations about why the paper is stiff and the vinegar has not frozen.

The initial discussion among students about what might freeze fosters skills such as advocating for one's ideas and compromising. The follow-up discussion encourages deductive reasoning and active listening.

4. Remove constraints for creativity and give the students space and a framework in which they can be creative. Classroom example: A sixth-grade class produces Halloween costume plays. In order to wear costumes to school, the students have to write a play that incorporates each of their characters into a plot and then present the play. For instance, they have to come up with how a giant soda can and the superhero Wonder Woman will interact. The students love the challenge.

We Learn by Doing

Imagination and creativity are the traits that fuel the future. Both serve to inspire students and should be integrated into every part of learning. In planning and designing learning for students, this we know: Teaching students how to think is more important than teaching students what to think.

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4 Ways to Develop Creativity in Students

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Creativity is a valuable skill, and there are common strategies teachers can use to help students develop it.

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Creating Effective Professional Learning Communities

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If managed well, these teams can help teachers innovate in the classroom and improve student outcomes.

Bob Daemmrich / Alamy Stock Photo

Many teachers work to guide students to take academic risks that will help them learn. Can schools apply that idea to teacher learning as well?

The answer may be found in the collaboration achieved in professional learning communities (PLCs). PLCs-which harness "an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve"-are a common and proven practice to promote teacher collaboration that increases student achievement.

However, it is possible to fall into collaborative work that stifles innovation. This can happen, for example, if PLCs focus too heavily on common assessments and a common understanding of what students are learning, leading to common everything-students getting the same lesson plan in each class. I've heard administrators use the term "common experience" when setting expectations for teaching and learning. That strikes me as going too far.

Although this is grounded in wanting to ensure student success through consistency, it can stifle innovation, and one of the purposes of a PLC is to try out new strategies. The PLC is designed for teacher learning, and thus the team must balance risk taking and teacher autonomy with shared expectations for student learning. It's important that teachers in a team have that clear understanding of purpose so that everyone feels safe to take risks.

A learning team constantly engages in a cycle of learning: analyzing data, setting goals, and learning individually and collaboratively, as well as implementing and adjusting practices to meet the needs of all learners. This process allows teachers to try new teaching practices and discover what's working and what isn't.

Determining Common Learning and Assessments

In PLCs, the fundamental questions teachers explore are: "What do we want students to learn?" and "How will we know if they have learned it?" These questions are foundational to any PLC, as they require teachers to come to a common understanding of the learning as well as common assessments that check for understanding.

PLC make this happen by prioritizing standards using specific criteria and then unpacking those standards, analyzing the nouns and verbs in the standards to understand which skills and concepts students will need to learn in order to be successful. Teachers identify what is hard to teach and what is hard to learn in the standards so that they can anticipate interventions and extensions.

It's important to note that parts of this process call for tight alignment between teachers and don't allow for the creativity and autonomy teachers may be used to. In order to achieve success for students, we do need some common practices. However, by agreeing as a team on what should be tightly aligned, we can set the stage for teacher autonomy and exploration of the art of teaching and instructional practice.

Making Space for Innovation

A PLC is constantly trying out new strategies to improve student learning, so individuals within the team must be given space to innovate. This is where the PLC should be only loosely aligned.

Teachers can never know what teaching works best for their students unless they are given the freedom to try out new strategies. PLCs can make this happen by having teachers collect evidence from common assessments and using data protocols to determine which strategies were most effective.

Ensuring That Teams Work Effectively

Sam Kaner coined the term Groan Zone to describe the space between a problem being posed and a solution being reached, and he described the divergent and convergent thinking that occurs there. Sometimes teachers in a PLC are afraid to engage in conflict or explore different ideas, worrying that even productive conflict signals that one is "not a team player." Conversely, teachers may feel pressured to get work done and feel they don't have time to spend in conflict.

But productive conflict can allow us to build better ideas and stronger teams, and PLCs should embrace productive conflict and create a space for it in order to innovate. PLCs can make this happen with clear norms as well as protocols to ensure that all voices are heard and that it is safe to engage in this conflict. It's also helpful to make sure the projected outcome of a meeting is clear: Are we "generating ideas" or "making a decision"? This clarity can make space for open conversation.

PLCs need strong facilitators in order to engage in conversations that promote learning, risk taking, and innovation. However, the facilitators or leaders of those teams may be torn between advocating for ideas and managing the complex process of moving the team forward. This can lead to situations where team members have a facilitator who is strongly advocating for an idea rather than allowing for all voices to be heard, and team members may not feel safe to speak up or take risks. If facilitators need to advocate, they should select someone else to facilitate, in order to continue to balance advocacy for new ideas against team consensus and integration.

I recommend clear decision-making process like the Gradients of Agreement structure, which allows for decision making that honors the Groan Zone and divergent thinking while still moving toward convergent thinking and consensus decision-making.

PLCs are the lifeblood of innovation and risk taking in school. When structured well, they can be teams that constantly learn together and work to discover what is best for students.

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If managed well, these teams can help teachers innovate in the classroom and improve student outcomes.