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Our team has had the opportunity to work with schools for many years, observing the pendulum shift back and forth from whole school Project Based learning to the Reading First initiative and now back to the whole school Project Based Learning initiative.

Through action research and reading other folks research, what we know is for students to reach learning outcomes, teachers have to define a number of factors that affect learning: goals, resources, processes, expectations, timelines. These constraints, depending on how they are presented to students, can increase or decrease the amount of "student-directed" versus "teacher-directed" time.

Therefore, teachers trained in a balanced instructional design understand and maneuver through decisions that maximize the effective use of time, resources, and energy used during the learning process. Not all students respond the same to instructional techniques and different content may be better suited to different approaches. Thus, a balanced instructional design allows teachers and students the greatest opportunities for success. Self-efficacy is a focal point of all aspects of a balanced approach.

Check out a module we put together to explore the components of a balanced instructional design - specifically understanding when and how to use direct, explicit instruction and when to encourage student inquiry. Click here to view this information on the Edu-Sources site.

Educators Coop -2014

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What is the Balanced Instructional Design?

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Our team has had the opportunity to work with schools for many years, observing the pendulum shift back and forth from whole school Project Based learning to the Reading First initiative and now back to the whole school Project Based Learning initiative.

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OARS ++ Online Assessment Reporting System

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How does data analysis support our curriculum map(s) and classroom instruction?

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How does data analysis support our curriculum map(s) and classroom instruction?

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"Schools with the greatest gains in student
achievement consistently used common
assessments. Common assessments,
collaboratively developed and scored by every
teacher at a grade level because these
assessments are used to improve teaching and
learning, not merely to evaluate students and
schools." -Doug Reeves

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"Schools with the greatest gains in student
achievement consistently used common
assessments. Common assessments,
collaboratively developed and scored by every
teacher at a grade level because these
assessments are used to improve teaching and
learning, not merely to evaluate students and
schools." -Doug Reeves

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Data Tells Us..... Here are some guiding questions.....

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Data Tells Us..... Here are some guiding questions.....

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Describe what you learned when you looked over your student learning information: What do you see? What does the data say? What are the facts? What are some of your students’ areas of strength? What are your areas of concern? What are your questions? Discussing the Data • Describe what you discovered in the group data: What surprises you or jumps out at you? What patterns do you find among teachers? What do you think might explain these patterns? What information will you share and what questions will you ask? What might we include in an action plan to support the learning of our students and teachers? – What does the data seem to tell us? – What do they not tell us? – What else would we need to know? – What good news is there for us to celebrate? – What need for classroom or school improvement might arise from these data?

What ah-ha’’s did you have when analyzing the data or discussing the problem? • What is/are the UNDERLYING reason(s) (root causes) of the problem? Bother with only solving problems, not the conditions.

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Collaborative Data Teams Needs Assessment copy