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Try out some of these four student-centered assessment practices: self-assessment, peer assessment, exhibitions, and process portfolios.

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When interpreting assessment results, it is useful to set a performance standard that specifies the acceptable level of student work or response. For each learning outcome the program should ask "What is an acceptable performance standard for this learning outcome?" This performance standard may be a passing score on an exam, a rubric rating of "meets program standards" on a student paper or another indicator of the quality of student work.

Suskie offers the following suggestions for setting specific, appropriate standards:

Do some research, perhaps with peer institutions or professional associations.

Involve others in the discussion such as students, employers, and faculty members teaching in other programs.

Use samples of student work to inform the discussion of setting expectations.

By setting expected results for the percentage of students meeting or exceeding performance standards before data collection begins, the program can gauge its effectiveness in helping students meet the learning outcomes. For example: Seventy-five percent of students met the performance standard set by the department for the outcome measure on ethical reasoning. This can be compared to the expected result of 85% meeting the performance standard which reveals an area for improvement.

Suskie also offers the following tips for setting targets for collective performance:

Express targets as percentages rather than means to improve understanding.

Vary targets depending on the circumstances.

Consider multiple targets (e.g., at least 90% of students score above the adequate level, and at least 30% score above the exemplary level).

Suskie (2009) identifies the following types of benchmarks or standards for framing expectations (the table below). If you are examining findings for the first time, it is most likely that you will want to ensure you are achieving Local Standards, the Capability Benchmark, and the Strengths & Weaknesses Perspective. If you make changes to your program and then re-assess student learning, you would use the Value Added Benchmark and the Historical Trends Benchmark.

The remaining standards and benchmarks in the table below rely mostly upon coordinating similar assessments across areas. For example, many professions that require accreditation, such as Nursing, Engineering, and Education, have standardized tests that lead to accreditation. One of the benefits of having such tests in place is the capability to determine External Peer Benchmarks and Best Practices Benchmarks.

Which standard or benchmark you should use depends on the purpose of the assessment. For example, in examining the performance of a group of students on a certification exam, you might compare against national norms, against the performance of students in the best programs in the country, or against students at peer institutions if the assessment is being conducted for purposes of accountability or accreditation. Then, you might compare against your own students at another point in time or within groups of students if your purpose is self-analysis and improvement.

Once you determine the performance standards and expected results for the learning outcome, you will want to compare the results with the specified performance standard and discuss the implications of the data as they relate to the program. Both strengths and areas for improvement are discussed, because showcasing program success is just as important as identifying areas for improvement, when it comes to making data based decisions about the program.
*adapted from Marymount University Assessment Handbook (2015)
Consider the extent to which your findings can help you answer the following questions:

What do the data say about your students' mastery of the program's learning outcomes?

Do you see indications in student performance that point to weakness in any particular content areas, skills, etc.?

Do you see areas where performance is okay, but not outstanding, and where you would like to see a higher level of performance?

Are there areas where your students are outstanding? How might you learn from the curriculum design used to develop these learning strengths to improve student learning in other areas?

Are they consistently weak in some respects? How might you adjust the program's curriculum design to improve student learning in these areas?

These are compelling and central questions for faculty, administrators, students, and external audiences alike. If your assessment information can shed light on these issues, the value of your efforts will become all the more apparent.

Including program faculty in all steps of the assessment process is important to ensure its meaningfulness and effectiveness. The inclusion of faculty insights is probably most important in interpreting results and identifying strategies for improving student learning. The methods used for sharing results is driven by character of the department, with some pouring over all the data generated and others simply reviewing summary analysis outlined in Section IV of the handbook. Using summary reports of assessment results, and the University Assessment Committee's review of the previous year's report will typically facilitate rich discussion and generate useful interpretation for the assessment report.

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Interpreting Assessment Results | Office of Curriculum and Assessment

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When interpreting assessment results, it is useful to set a performance standard that specifies the acceptable level of student work or response. For each learning outcome the program should ask "What is an acceptable performance standard for this learning outcome?"

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Great Student-Centered Learning Resources | Common Sense Education

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Tools to harness students' enthusiasm and let them dig into what interests them. Explore this Great Student-Centered Learning Resources Top Picks list of 37 tools curated by Common Sense Education editors to find relevant and engaging edtech solutions for your classroom.

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Professional Development Tips for Teachers - TeachHUB

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Becoming an effective educator requires continuous evaluation and growth. Check out these professional development tips for teachers.

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Jon Konen
District Superintendent

One of the most controversial educational topics in the past two decades... a four-letter word... is "TEST!" If you ask an educator, they may have more four-letter words to accompany it! Many of us do not shirk our responsibilities to assess our students....we know it needs to be done. What many of us are upset about is the amount of testing we do as compared to instruction. There has been an increase of accountability at every level, which has required more and more testing. We have state tests, district tests, unit tests, and other tests. In fact, students may be tested over 100 hours of their roughly 1,080 hours of school each year. A recent article, titled "Confirmed: Standardized testing has taken over our schools. But who's to blame?" listed a study that tallied the average yearly amount of time for standardized testing for a student in the United States is 25 hours (that does not include district testing, school assessments, teacher created testing, etc.). Here is a brief history of standardized assessments as I see it!

Many of us who grew up in the 1980s were required to take standardized tests when we were kids. Many of us took the either the Iowa Test of Basic Skills or ITBS each year. These were a series of multiple-choice questions in several different subject areas. A majority of these questions were low-level "knowledge" based questions according to Bloom's Taxonomy. Then, starting in the early 2000s, criterion-referenced tests were developed during the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Era. This raised the bar for what standardized testing looked like. I believe NCLB created a billionaire testing industry...like we had never seen before. The questions were more difficult, yet still mostly multiple-choice with one or two short answer questions (or structured responses). All questions were built around criterion designed by testing companies whom used each states standards. What we learned more about a decade into NCLB was that what was proficient in some states did not equate to other states. These tests pitted state proficiency processes against each other. For example, what was proficient in Arkansas was not proficient in Massachusetts. Accountability and sanctions increased for schools that were found insufficient. In fact, one such sanction for a school that was failing for seven straight years was to fire its teachers and administrators. A cry for nationalized standards to compare data, compare schools, and be held accountable similarly across the nation arose. Common core standards were devised by the National Governor's Association. Though they did not involve all the major education organizations, these standards gave educators a common playing field across the nation. Forty-two states currently use these standards. Though there is much controversy with the implementation of the Common Core, a majority of teachers interviewed accept and are even thankful for the detailed and rigorousness of these standards (What teachers really think of Common Core math: Lessons from a new Fordham study. June 19, 2016).

The new Smarter assessment is computer-based with several different types of question formats... including a lot of writing on most questions. Students have to explain their thinking, be analytical, and detailed in their structured responses. The tests are built from the Common Core standards. Though results in many states are not received for several months after the testing date, the information can be used to develop curriculum, instruction, and further assessments.

Master teachers understand this dilemma and make sure they are doing what is best for students, as well as meeting their school district's requirements. They know that formative assessments drive the day-to-day, hour-by-hour instruction in their classrooms. They understand that multiple data points including both quantitative and qualitative data, tell the best picture of a student. One test on one day only gives you a small snapshot of each learner. Even when the emphasis is on growth, one test only gives a small portion of each student's story. We must dig deeper and learn more about our students to create a Monet art masterpiece, a distinguishing dashboard of discourse, and a vital informational vitae.

Here are eight questions to tackle in order to design effective student assessments:

1 - What Criteria Do You Chose When Creating an Assessment?

Strong assessments are in the eye of the beholder. What one educator believes, as compared to an administrator, or even a student can all be different. The more we can argue why an assessment is strong and can back it up with evidence and rationale, the stronger the assessment. This is the most difficult task an educator will be challenged with...creating an assessment that gives the teacher, student, parent, and administrator information about the students' progress towards proficiency of a learning objective. Textbook companies, states, school districts, and educators are all tasked with designing assessments that give the best possible data on student progress; data that can drive instructional decisions. Much of these assessments are based on research, but we have to remember that they are also only a snapshot of a student at one point in time. What master teachers look for and use most regularly is formative data over time; it can illustrate trends, patterns, and effectiveness. Master teachers put more relevance in their instructional decisions by focusing on growth over time. They understand that they can affect a student's growth by the decisions they make with curriculum, instruction, assessment, and engagement.

A master teacher starts with the end in mind; what they assess drives the subsequent lessons that lead up to that assessment. They chose learning objectives based on educational standards. Designing effective assessments contain these two main components, knowledge of content and reasoning skills. A master teacher not only designs such assessments, but they include the students in its creation. Though many assessments are created by textbook companies and school districts, educators can also create assessments that take into account the individual students in their classrooms. These assessments can be required by school districts to report student progress. Please understand that this data can be powerful, but it cannot be the only way we assess students. Most of those assessments are paper and pencil, multiple-choice and short answer tests. Some of the newer assessments taken online can adapt to how the student answers the question. After the student answers a question, the proceeding question may be more difficult if the student answers correctly and vice versa if the answer is incorrect. These adaptive tests over time will narrow in on a proficiency level of the student. Yet, overall, they are not much different from a paper-pencil test. Master teachers get outside of this box to create assessments that are tailored specially to an individual students learning style.

RELATED - Master's in Curriculum and Instruction

Here is an example of a learning objective based on a 5 th grade standard for English Language Arts, as well as a multiple choice test question the student may see on a textbook company's assessment.
Common Core Standard: English Language Arts: Reading: Literacy: Standard 5 Component 6 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6
Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described. Read each group of sentences in the paragraph above. Decide if it is written in first person or third person point of view. Here is an example of the same learning objective assessed that includes choice and can be tailored to an individual student. TASK: Please circle how you would like to be assessed on ELA 5.6. (*This is just an example and would need to be tailored towards the standard more effectively; this meets the purpose as a possible example)
A possible test question a student may see for this question is the following...

Here is alternative way to assess the same standard that can be tailored to each student's learning style, and give valuable information into the student's progress. By letting a student choose the learning the style, the final product, and process, the educator can get valuable information towards that student's progress towards proficiency of the standard. By setting up an easy chart based on Howard Garner's Learning Styles, a student can be empowered to complete an assessment with more ownership at their differentiated level.

(from an article by Linda Campbell in Educational Leadership, 9/97)

Formative assessments, or assessments for learning, can be designed that lead to the above assessment, and will give the teacher information that he or she can use to drive instructional decisions. A teacher can modify, or allow a student to modify and self-assess. Here is a great list of formative assessments from an Edutopia resource titled, 53 Ways to Check Understanding.

2 - Do Your Assessments Provide for Student Choice?

A freshman history course at the University of Montana in 1994 required me to take a mid-term and a final...both of which contained one question each. We were to bring as many Blue Books as we could fill in the timed 120 minutes slotted for each assessment. We were basically asked to write as much as we remembered about the history covered in the course. I did not fair well! I wished I had more choice.

In the above examples of assessments, summative and formative, there are fabulous opportunities to provide students with choice. Assessment should drive instruction and master teachers know they can tailor learning experiences to individual students or groups of students with the harvested data.

1. Create good choices - Choices should align with learning goals and what you want to learn from the assessment. They should resonate with students-matching their varied interests, needs, and abilities. They should also make sense logistically-involving light prep on your part and about the same amount of time for students to complete.

2. Help students choose well - Give students some guidance about which choice might be best without overly directing them. Aaron might say, "Think about which of these similes will best help you highlight your understanding of the human body. For example, if you're into sports or music, you might choose one that matches those interests." Chris might say, "If one of these problems seems to match up with how you're doing on division, you might pick that one. If you think making one up will best help show your level of understanding, that might be a good choice for you."

3. Practice, practice, practice - The first few times you offer choices like this, students may struggle. They might not know where to start, or they might pick options that aren't great fits. That's OK! The more often you try simple choices like this with students, the better they will get at the skills of self-assessment and effective decision-making.

4. Don't force it - If there really is one assessment that is the best way to check in on students' learning, don't give a choice. When choices are forced and aren't appropriate, they feel inauthentic and aren't effective.

Master teachers develop assessments with standards and student involvement. Here are four great tips from another Edutopia article titled, " Using Quick Check-Ins to Measure Student Understanding:

Tips for building student choice into your formative assessments," by Mike Anderson (March 29, 2017).

3 - Are the Assessments You Create Authentic and Applicable to Real-World Applications?

When a student asks, "When will I ever have to use this?" A teacher should be ready to give rationale and how it applies to real-world situations. Without rationale for learning the information, students cannot connect it to something for further retention. Master teachers create assessments that makes the content relatable and relevant to their lives. Sadly, many assessments that teachers are required to give do not meet this criteria, making it difficult for teachers to create buy-in, as well as applicable to their lives.

Some tips and tricks that master teachers use when the information is difficult is to provide rationale, choice, matching a student's learning style ( Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences), and do some more research. By providing choice, students take ownership of their learning as they are the one that gets to choose how they are assessed. Students can be assessed in multiple learning styles (See above); they chose to be assessed in one of their strengths or chose to challenge themselves in a deficit area. Lastly, master teachers do the research to find rationale. When something does not seem easy to connect, they spend time researching to connect the learning objectives and assessment to a student's personal life.

4 - Do Your Assessments Adapt to Individual Students in Your Classroom as Needs Arise?

Many schools use district-created tests that give teachers summative data about their students and their instructional effectiveness. Many students have required testing accommodations through either an Individual Education Plan or a 504 Plan. In addition, master teachers find ways to individualize assessments through customized learning plans or tiered learning supports (Response to Intervention, RtI). Tiered learning supports can be as simple as providing testing accommodations from a paper-pencil assessment to a verbal assessment. The goal of individualizing assessments is to score the student against proficiency levels for any given learning objective, or score them for growth versus their prior assessment data.

Deciding on what adaptions to make to an assessment is both an art and a science. The teacher must study and pin point what the student is struggling with, and then know what types of accommodations to implement. As previously mentioned, adapting to students can be done through choice and learning style. Here is a list of other possible testing accommodations that can support the teacher in individualizing an assessment.

5 - Are Students Involved in Designing Assessments and Rubrics for Their Own Work?

Control of creating assessments is large factor between a proficient and exemplary levels of a teacher according to Charlotte Danielson's evaluation model. An exemplary teacher gives up control by teaching his or her students how to create a strong assessment, summative or formative. These teachers are able to specify the learning objectives required to meet standards when students are developing the assessments. The teacher and student then works together to develop an assessment that meets desired requirements and expectations.

By sharing and giving up the ownership of assessments, teachers can empower students learning. A bonus for this learning strategy is that students also know exactly what to do and how to get the score they want when they develop the assessment or rubric. The idea of agency, where students take on their own learning, is strengthened with such strategies.

Here is an example of assessment that was create by students and teacher in a fifth grade science and social studies project:

5 Points = 100 % on task, all required work completed, supported other student's learning

4 Points = 100% on task, all required work completed, 0 teacher reminders

3 Points = 80% on task, all required work completed, and/or teacher supported behavior once

2 Points = 80% on task, almost all work completed, and/or teacher supported behavior 1-2X

1 Point = <80% on task, most of work incomplete, and/or teacher supported behavior 3+X

0 Points = no evidence of participation, no work completed, a behavior disruption

6 - Do You Have Students Complete Self-Assessments on a Rubric (Rate Their Understanding of a Concept, Participation, Etc.)?

3 Points = able to identify 3 causes for the Revolutionary War and can communicate them clearly with detail

2 Points = able to identify at least 1 cause and can communicate it clearly with detail

1 Point = able to identify 1-3 causes, but can communicate them clearly

0 Points = unable to identify at least 1 cause, nor communicate it

Formative assessments, rubrics and checklists, can be used for students to self-reflect about their learning. When students self-assess, they score themselves against specific expectations. Using a simple rating system with points from 0-5 give a numerical value for the rubric. For example, a rubric for a 45-minute learning period might include the following criteria:

Another example is a 3-point rubric that is criterion-based on content from a fifth grade social studies lesson:

These types of assessments are powerful as students are asked to reflect on the work they accomplished in a given time period. Setting these expectations prior to instruction is also a strong component of classroom management. The better a teacher sets these expectations, the better the students will do. Then, when students score low on the devised rating scale, one-on-one conferences and goal setting can occur. This type of feedback and data tracking is useful for students, teachers, and even parent communication when discussing progress or looking for patterns.

7 - Do Your Formative Assessments Drive Small Group Instruction Or "Workshop Time?"

Small group instruction is a researched-based strategy that John Hattie states in his book, Visible Learning has a d. = 0.44 effect size. When master teachers use it effectively, it is a highly valuable instructional strategy. The ability to group students is also an art and a science. A teacher must use data to decide what needs to be addressed with students. Teachers can teach more efficiently and effectively when they find students with some of the same learning difficulties. Teachers can group by skill, concept, ability, modality, or even learning style to name a few.

The art of grouping students by master teachers is deciding what student needs should be differentiated with instruction. Using data, teachers change content, alter instructional strategies, or provide alternative assessment opportunities. They have set goals for the group and for each individual within that group. The teacher and students know what they are working on during the small group or workshop time and the both can communicate their progress towards the specified goals.

Teachers and students both know the expectations of the small group time. Master teachers understand that time is limited and what is completed in group time is vital. Setting expectations through the use of a rubric during will give the teacher valuable data to use to set further goals. The teacher can set a learning target, then develop a 1-4 scoring rubric like the ones listed below. This data can be used to drive instruction.

Here are two examples of small group learning rubrics from a blog by Adam Socket titled, " Formative Assessment for Writing."

8 - Are Your Designed Summative Assessments Based on Learning Outcomes That Assess Reasoning Skills, as Well as Factual Knowledge?

State and district assessments should be assessing both reasoning skills and factual knowledge. When a teacher designs the assessment, Bloom's Taxonomy can play a role in determining what types of questions will be on the assessment. Knowledge-based multiple choice or true/false questions are usually the quickest to grade, but do not give you as much information as an open-ended question that requires the student to evaluate and analyze.

Assessing reasoning skills from a student may be problematic. If they can explain why they are making the decisions they are, it automatically raises the level of difficulty of the assessment. Scoring student thinking becomes gray. As educators, we must delineate the criteria to score the student against as we grade their thinking. This criteria is based on how a student would respond in order to show proficiency in a given area.

In the assessment rubric on Christopher Columbus below, the assessment asks for students to create a product that contains ten events that tell his journey to the New World. Students must evaluate and reason why they chose those ten events, as well as deciding what events to not put in the final product. With this open-ended nature of the assignment, getting students to discuss their rationale will give you the strongest feedback on whether they met the learning objective. In the assessment below, students must have a grasp on the factual knowledge of Christopher Columbus; both assessment types as listed by Charlotte Danielson are covered.

MORE ROCK MY EVALUATION RELATED READINGS:

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Designing Student Assessments | Teacher.org

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Jon Konen District Superintendent One of the most controversial educational topics in the past two decades... a four-letter word... is "TEST!" If you ask an educator, they may have more four-letter words to accompany it! Many of us do not shirk our responsibilities to assess our students....we know it needs to be done.

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When I was a new teacher, I got a lot of practical teaching tips from veteran colleagues. One tip was to seat kids alphabetically so I'd learn their names quickly. Another was to use a laminated hall pass to avoid writing a new one every time a student asked to go to the bathroom. Most, but not all, of their tips were useful-I decided not to make kids turn their desks around and face the wall if they misbehaved.

As a veteran educator myself, it's now my duty to share teaching tips, based on what I've learned over time, that might be useful to perspective teachers or those just starting their careers.

1. Don't Grade Everything

When I was a new teacher, I dragged home a briefcase stuffed with students' work every night. I collected everything-homework, rough drafts, work sheets-and spent my evenings and weekends trying to grade it all.
Further reading: Formative Assessments
Then I went to a workshop that explained that grades should indicate progress toward mastery, not whether kids had done homework. I continued to grade tests, of course, but I learned to use classroom strategies like writing workshops and think-pair-share so kids could share their work and learn together.

2. Let Students Know What's Going On

I used to just hand out the books and start teaching, but it's a lot easier to get where you want to go if everyone's onboard. Students should know what they're going to learn, why they're learning it, and how it'll be evaluated. I also learned to use a rubric so that kids know right from the beginning how their work will be evaluated and, therefore, what they should strive for.

3. Explain Procedures and Expectations

It's a mistake to assume the students in your class know how to work in a group or how to behave on a field trip. However, most kids will cooperate if they know what they're supposed to do. Remember, as an educator, you have to teach not only the "what" but the "how."

4. How You Treat Students Matters

What you say to students, or how you treat them, can make or break their day. When I was a new teacher, I didn't fully understand how an off-handed comment or criticism could affect a child. Once my own kids started school and came home with stories about what their teachers said or did, I realized the impact we can have on students. After that, I kept a poster in my room that said, "They won't always remember what you taught them, but they'll always remember how you treated them."

5. You Don't Know Every Kid's Home Life

A friend of mine teaches at a high school where 44 different languages are spoken, and she told me that she overheard a student say, "I'm really tired. Last night, I had to sleep next to someone who snored." Kids might be dealing with issues we know nothing about, so don't assume video games are to blame when homework isn't done.

6. Keep Your Sense of Humor

I was so serious about being a good teacher, I didn't see the role humor could play in my classroom. After a few years though, when I had more skills and more confidence, I was able to let my guard down and actually be funny or silly. Even better, my students began to understand that they could make jokes now and then, and we could all laugh together.

7. Socializing with Colleagues Is Good for You

Whether it's the faculty holiday party, Relay for Life, or stopping at the local pub for a drink on Friday, sharing the joys and frustrations of teaching and supporting one another is essential to your well-being. Forming close bonds with a colleague can even improve your levels of job satisfaction, so don't isolate yourself.

8. Your Connection to Your Students Might Surprise You

I've known teachers who loved their subject and loved teaching, but who didn't necessarily love kids. They didn't dislike kids; they just kept their professional distance. I was like that at the very beginning of my career. But as I became more skilled and comfortable in the classroom, I began to really enjoy connecting with my students as people, and teaching became a lot more fun.

At the end of the year, I always ask my students to write a letter to their core teachers, telling us what they liked, what they didn't like, and how we could improve. The letters are honest, funny, and often heartfelt. One student wrote: "I loved all my classes (math best of all) and I knew you guys cared about us." I didn't even teach math, but I kept that letter.
Further reading: A Teacher's Love for Punk Rock Music Helps Her Connect to Students
As I look back, I realize that my focus as an educator was always on the best ways to interact with kids. Maybe that's the most important tip. Make sure your students know that you care about them, and the rest will fall into place.

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8 Essential Teaching Tips from Someone Who Has Seen It All

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When I was a new teacher, I got a lot of practical teaching tips from veteran colleagues. One tip was to seat kids alphabetically so I'd learn their names quickly. Another was to use a laminated hall pass to avoid writing a new one every time a student asked to go to the bathroom.

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Free Learning Resources for Elementary Students | Goodwin University

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Help your little one get back into school-mode while at home. Check out these free learning resources for elementary school students.

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The primary purpose of assessment is to use the results to make programmatic changes that improve student learning/development. This learning improvement process requires practitioners to

1. meaningfully assess student learning/development,

2. effectively intervene via theory-based programming, and

3. re-assess to verify better learning/development.

This assess, intervene, re-assess model is called the Simple Model for Learning Improvement. For more information about the simple model, click here.

Assess It is important to collect data before a new intervention has been administered. These data provide a baseline to which future student achivement can be compared. Without this comparison, we cannot say that any changes in students' knowledge/skills/behaviors are due to the program.

Intervene The most important part of the simple model is to administer a theory-based intervention. This step is often overlooked in the rush to collect and analyze data, but it's important to remember: garbage in, garbage out. The assessment of weak programs with no theoretical/empirical support rarely provides information that can be readily used for improvement. Thus, just as much time should be devoted to developing an intervention as is spent assessing its impact.

Re-Assess A quick look at the assessment cycle above shows "use of results" as the last step. Understandably, then, this is where practitioners often stop-they collect, analyze, and interpret their data, then make logical changes to their programs accordingly. But this misses a crucial step. Unless practitioners re-assess after implementing a programmatic change, they cannot say that this change to the program was an improvement. In other words, assessment work is not complete until we collect evidence that a programmatic change actually improved student learning/development.

For more information about learning improvement at JMU, click here.

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The primary purpose of assessment is to use the results to make programmatic changes that improve student learning/development. This learning improvement process requires practitioners to meaningfully assess student learning/development, effectively intervene via theory-based programming, and re-assess to verify better learning/development. This assess, intervene, re-assess model is called the Simple Model for Learning Improvement.

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Guidelines for Developing and Using Different Methods of Assessment
These assessment strategies provide valuable information to both teachers and learners. Each strategy offers unique methods and instruments. The key is to understand their different purposes, how they can be structured, and finally, what to do with the results. Assessment strategies can be broken into five main categories. It is not necessary to use all methods within a category, but all categories should be included in an assessment plan.

Strategies for Gauging Learner Needs >
Use these strategies prior to the project to help determine a learner's background experiences, skills, attitudes, and misconceptions. These strategies help to assess each learner's learning needs and assist learners in making connections between what they already know (prior knowledge) and what they will be learning.

Strategies for Encouraging Self-Direction and Collaboration >
Use these strategies to assess the ability of learners to take ownership of their learning, demonstrate interpersonal skills, produce higher-quality work, understand feedback, and assess classmates' work.

Strategies for Monitoring Progress >
Use these strategies to help learners stay on-track during a project. Learners become more self-managing when they are provided with these assessment methods and instruments as they complete open-ended tasks. These strategies also assist in determining when and where learners need extra help or additional teaching. Many of these strategies provide documentation of learning growth over time.

Strategies for Checking for Understanding and Encouraging Metacognition >
Use these strategies to check for learner understanding as they progress through the project. Learners also use these strategies to think about their own learning. The same method can be used for both purposes, but it is important to provide explicit questions and prompts to help learners think about what and how they are learning.

Strategies for Demonstrating Understanding and Skill >
Use these strategies to assess learner understanding and skill at the end of the project. Two different types of strategies are in this category:

Products and performances

Portfolios and learner-led conferences

Products are things that learners create, sometimes known as artifacts. Performances are things that learners do. Portfolios are the purposeful collection of products and performances over time that exhibit the learner's efforts, progress, and achievements while learner-led meetings are the means by which learners share portfolios, samples of their work, and discuss their interests, learning, and goals.

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Guidelines for Developing and Using Different Methods of Assessment These assessment strategies provide valuable information to both teachers and learners. Each strategy offers unique methods and instruments. The key is to understand their different purposes, how they can be structured, and finally, what to do with the results.

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Being a first-year teacher is stressful. There are so many things that just aren't covered in your teacher education program, and it can be nearly impossible to keep up with all the things on your to-do list. Here are 15 great pieces of advice for new teachers from some veterans who've gone before you.

Last year, I asked some veteran teachers to share their most valuable tips for new teachers getting ready to start their first year teaching. There were so many great tips that I wanted to share so I grouped the advice into six common themes. Keep reading to find out what the vets want you to know!

1. Give yourself some grace & celebrate successes.

During your first year of teaching, every day is another first. You'll encounter different challenges and learn something new every single day. One big theme among the advice veteran teachers shared about making it as a new teacher was to have realistic expectations for yourself and celebrate the progress you are making.
Here's what the veteran teachers had to say:
" Balance your time by accepting help, enjoying life outside of teaching, and by not expecting perfection! " - Libby from CuriousFox

"Keep a journal celebrating your successes and areas you want to work on." - Carrie from My Book Boost

" Veteran teachers aren't perfect and neither are you. Give yourself a break and look at what you have accomplished instead of what you still need to do. " - Renee from City Girl in Third

2. Ask questions...lots of questions.

If we expect our students to ask questions to learn, it is okay to expect the same from ourselves!
Here's what the veteran teachers said about asking questions:
" It's okay to not know everything!! Your teammates would much rather you ask them how to do something or what something means instead of guessing!" - Georgia from Anderson Academics

" Don't be embarrassed to ask questions! You will NOT know everything you need to know your first year, and nobody expects you to. Smile and ask! " - Jan from Laughter and Consistency

3. Don't try to do it all.

Teacher burnout is real, and the fastest way to get there is by trying to do everything. This is especially true for a first-year teacher. While there is no surefire way to prevent burnout, there are a number of things you can do so you're less likely to experience teacher burnout.

You can read more about them and take steps to create your own burnout prevention plan in this post about finding work-life balance.
Here's some tips for new teachers on preventing burnout:
" Keep it simple. New teachers often find themselves burnt out by November. Use premade materials (like those on Teachers pay Teachers) to keep your sanity. " - Brenda from Enjoy Teaching

" You don't have to be perfect and original. Give yourself time to relax and sometimes say to yourself, "This is good enough and I'll make it better next year." - Jenny from ELA at Home and School

4. Get organized and have the right supplies.

Getting organized can make a huge difference in your first year teaching. Whether it's collecting student information at the beginning of the year or figuring out a system for tracking missing assignments, you'll have to figure out how to set up systems.

One big piece of this is having the right supplies. Right now you are probably worried about getting a ton of cute organizers and containers from the Target Dollar Spot, but you can also think about how you'll organize important information you'll need to lesson plan and communicate with families.

You'll very likely have students receiving special education services or intervention supports in your classroom. Here's a quick tip for new teachers out there: Creating a simple student info sheet, like the one below, can help you quickly and easily track what accommodations and supports you'll need to plan for when you're working on lesson planning.
Here's some more great advice on organizing and preparing your supplies.
" Buy yourself a Keurig. If you don't life coffee, start to like it. You're going to need it! " - Ashley from Ashley's Brainy Centers

" Create a couple of sets of materials you need for each student when they start with you - nameplate, cubbie/hook labels, birthday icon, workbook, etc - and put it in a large ziplock bag. Keep the sets in a spot easy to access. You'll get a new student at some point in the year! If you are able to quickly grab everything you need it will save you time and stress." - Growing Roots Classroom

4. Build relationships first.

Relationships are the foundation of good classroom experiences for both you and your students. Spend time getting to know your students from Day 1, and you'll have fewer issues with behavior and more engaged learners throughout the entire year. In fact, you could argue that building relationships is the key to good classroom management.

If you're unsure how to get started with relationship building, check out this blog post about the first steps to take to build relationships with your students.

Speaking of relationships, get to know the school secretary and custodians. Building relationships with them can really help make things easier because the reality is they run the school in many ways!
Here are some more great tips about the importance of building relationships as a first-year teacher:
" Parents are often one of the most intimidating parts of being a new teacher, but you are actually on the same team. Relax, they are people just like you looking out for the best interests of their child. " - Kelly from Created by Kellyann

" Get to know your students! Learn each students' background and what motivates them; This builds a trusting relationship which is the first step to classroom management." - Laura from Discovering Hidden Potential

5. Take care of yourself.

Self-care is SO important.
Here's some more great advice about self-care:
" During this exciting and hectic first year remember to take time for yourself through a hobby, exercise, or friends & family. Staying balanced will help both you and your students have a great year. " - Rachel from Classroom Confetti

" Don't forget to pay attention to your health! Exercise and a good night's sleep will help you be the best teacher you can be for your students." Princess Netherly from Teaching, Love, Cupcakes

6. Classroom management is the foundation for success.

Having a strong classroom management system probably doesn't belong down here at the bottom of the list because it is one of the most important pieces of having an effective classroom.
Here's what veteran teachers have to say about classroom management for learning:
" Classroom management is one of the critical factors in a positive learning environment. One of the most important things for first-year teachers to consider is how you will organize and teach your classroom expectations, procedures, and routines." - Queen of the Jungle

" Students come to our classes with multiple capabilities, diverse interests, and awesome brains. One brain-compatible way to optimize more of their talents is to co-lead with them, so they help develop authentic learning tasks to meet your shared goals and rubric criteria. Co-leading accesses unique brainpower in students to increase learning, while it also decreases new teachers busy planning workload. " - Ellen from Brain Leaders and Learners

You can do this!

You only get to be a first-year teacher once. This last piece of advice is a perfect reminder that you will be great, and to enjoy the ride!

" Your first year of teaching is like riding the world's most thrilling roller coaster. Your learning is at a crazy scary incline when you first start off, but once you get through that climb the ride is AMAZING! Good luck this year! " - Learning Lane
If you enjoyed this article, check out these other posts:

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15 Must Read Tips for Success as a First Year Teacher

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Being a first year teacher can be overwhelming. There is so much to learn that it can constantly feel like you're struggling to keep your head above water. These helpful tips from teachers who've been can help you navigate life as a new teacher.

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To be more self-assured about your teaching, try making these subtle shifts in how you think about and react to events in your classroom.

It's common for new teachers to doubt themselves, to feel like their best isn't good enough, and to wonder if they're cut out for the profession. And confidence matters. In fact, research indicates that teacher self-confidence can have a greater impact on student achievement than student-teacher relationships, home environment, or parental involvement. So much of why teachers lack confidence, however, is the result of what they say to themselves.

Three subtle shifts in mindset can add up to a huge impact in how new teachers approach their classrooms and become models for their students as learners.

What You Can Do

1. Think of yourself as a learner (who is therefore not perfect). This allows you to release unrealistic expectations of yourself and in turn become a model for your students as they take risks in their learning. I hate to state the glaringly obvious, but the reason you don't feel like you know everything as a new teacher is because you don't. You're a new teacher. That means you're a beginner-just like your students.

And here's the other obvious thing that you may forget when you're placing unrealistic expectations on yourself: Everyone else knows you're a new teacher, too. You may spend a lot of time worrying that administrators will think you don't know what you're doing, but they didn't just step into the education game yesterday. They know it's your first year, and they've been where you are. They don't expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to do your best, however, and to continue to learn. That's why they hired you-they saw great potential in you.

So, rather than expecting yourself to improve in all areas at once, do for yourself what you are so good at doing for your students: Choose one skill area to work on at a time, and give yourself the grace and space and permission to fail forward as you improve-just as you ask students to do.

2. Become more aware of your thinking. Lack of self-confidence is often directly tied to what we say to ourselves when things don't go as we want them to. To apply the basic premise of The Life Coach School to teaching, our thoughts about the events in our classrooms (especially when they don't go well) contribute to our feelings about teaching. This, then, impacts how we react, which determines our results.

Here's how this looks in action: Imagine you have an observation lesson and one of your students acts out. The thought you might have is "I'm so embarrassed. My classroom management is horrible. When will I ever figure this out? I should just give up." How are you going to feel as a result of those thoughts? Hopeless? Lost? Depressed? As a result, you may put in less and less effort and maybe even start considering that bartending job instead of teaching.

But what if you instead say to yourself, "Hmm... he's sure having a tough day. I wonder what's going on." When you choose to think about what's going on for the student (instead of what you might be doing right or wrong), your subsequent feeling about the situation will be one of compassion and curiosity. You might take the student aside after the lesson and ask some questions to find out how you can help. The result? Your student feels seen and cared for, and you get to experience that incredible feeling that comes from knowing you're supporting your students.

The one thing that changed in that cascade of experiences was the thinking. It's powerful. It matters. I encourage you to start paying careful attention to what you say to yourself when things don't go well in your classroom and work on consistently shifting those thoughts to more compassionate, positive responses.

3. Accept constructive criticism for what it is. Don't make it mean something negative about yourself. It takes time to become an expert at anything ( Malcolm Gladwell suggested 10,000 hours), and you can't become an expert without constructive criticism. Confidence is a by-product of learning how to do something well, from overcoming obstacles to learning to trust that you have what it takes to get to the next level. As Winston Churchill said, "Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things."

Following up on our example of critical feedback from an observation lesson, what crushes us is not the criticism, but what we tell ourselves that it means about us. The growth in our teaching happens when we start to accept criticism as a gift-as the next clue in our treasure hunt toward becoming the teacher we've always dreamed of being. So the next time you get what feels like negative observation feedback (or an angry email from a parent), follow the trail, my friend, and ask yourself what you can learn from this-not what it means about you.

Here's what's most powerful about applying these three strategies: It isn't easy, but nothing outside of you has to change in order for you to experience the dramatic results that you're looking for-and to feel much more confident in your teaching.

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3 Ways New Teachers Can Build Confidence

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To be more self-assured about your teaching, try making these subtle shifts in how you think about and react to events in your classroom.

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Top 10 Resources on Literacy in the Content Areas

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Discover ways to support core literacy skills like vocabulary development, reading comprehension, and higher order thinking throughout content area instruction.

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How Do You Create Authentic Assessments?

Authentic Assessment: Students are asked to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills

Fortunately, you do not have to develop an authentic assessment from scratch. You may already be using authentic tasks in your classroom. Or, you may already have the standards written, the first and most important step in the process. Perhaps you have a task but need to more clearly articulate thecriteria for evaluating student performance on the task. Or, you may just want to develop arubric for the task. Wherever you are in the process, you can use the information on this page (and the ones that follow it) to help you through the steps of creating authentic assessments. If at any time the terminology is confusing, click a link to that concept or go to the glossary.

I tend to think of authentic assessment development in terms of four questions to be asked. Those questions are captured in the following graphic:

1) What should students know and be able to do?
This list of knowledge and skills becomes your . . .
STANDARDS
2) What indicates students have met these standards?
To determine if students have met these standards, you
will design or select relevant . . .
AUTHENTIC TASKS
3) What does good performance on this task look like?
To determine if students have performed well on the task,
you will identify and look for characteristics of good
performance called . . .
CRITERIA
4) How well did the students perform?
To discriminate among student performance
across criteria, you will create a . . .
RUBRIC

CUT SCORE or BENCHMARK

ADJUST INSTRUCTION

1. Identify your standards for your students.

2. For a particular standard or set of standards, develop a task your students could perform that would indicate that they have met these standards.

3. Identify the characteristics of good performance on that task, the criteria, that, if present in your students' work, will indicate that they have performed well on the task, i.e., they have met the standards.

4. For each criterion, identify two or more levels of performance along which students can perform which will sufficiently discriminate among student performance for that criterion. The combination of the criteria and the levels of performance for each criterion will be your rubric for that task (assessment).

Now, I will guide you through each these four steps for creating an authentic assessment in more detail.

Step 1: Identify the Standards
Step 2: Select an Authentic Task

Step 3: Identify the Criteria for the Task

Step 4: Create the Rubric

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How Do You Create Authentic Assessments? (Authentic Assessment Toolbox)

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How Do You Create Authentic Assessments? Authentic Assessment: Students are asked to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills Fortunately, you do not have to develop an authentic assessment from scratch. You may already be using authentic tasks in your classroom.

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The goal of professional development (PD) for educators is improvement: Improved instructional strategies, improved teaching, and improved outcomes for students.

Too often, however, teacher PD is simply a waste of time. " Teaching the Teachers," a report by National School Boards Association's Center for Public Education, indicates that most PD neither changes teaching practices nor improves student learning.

This is because PD typically:

Focuses on too many goals, which are sometimes conflicting

Is not relevant or meaningful to teachers

Is delivered in an ineffective lecture style

Does not involve ongoing support or feedback for teachers

Is often associated with unrealistic expectations for implementation time, outcomes, etc.

Effective Teacher Professional Development That Works

But effective teacher professional development is possible. Here's how to make the most of your PD to drive positive change.

1. Set goals

Much like planning a lesson, start with your target outcome. What problems at your school do you want to solve? What student learning outcomes need improvement?

Encourage teachers to provide input during the goal-setting process. PD needs to address issues that are relevant to your staff.

2. Narrow it down

Ultimately, you'll choose just one or two instructional practices to focus on each school year.

Research has shown that brief, one-off workshops make little to no impact. In fact, teachers often need up to 50 hours of instruction, coaching, and practice to master and implement a new instructional strategy.

Effective teacher professional development must be continual and ongoing. If you want your teachers to actually use a strategy and use it effectively, give them time.

3. Make it hands-on

Lectures aren't effective in the classroom, and they aren't effective for professional development either.

Instead, provide hands-on opportunities for teachers to practice new strategies during PD sessions. Give teachers the chance to learn by doing.

4. Foster collaboration

Another way to make learning active is through collaboration. Break teachers into small groups to discuss what they're learning and how they can use it in their classrooms.

When possible, group teachers by subject area. Research shows that PD is best delivered in the context of the teacher's subject area. Teachers don't find information on generic topics useful.

However, they do benefit from analyzing how the skill or strategy applies to their content. This approach is well-received by teachers and has been shown to improve teacher practice and student learning.

So, even if you can't offer separate professional development for each subject area, allow teachers to meet with their grade level/content area to discuss and process new information.

5. Develop something usable

Effective PD can be immediately practiced in the teacher's classroom. Immediate success is unlikely, but immediate practice is essential.

At PD sessions, guide teachers in creating related activities or lesson plans that they can implement within the next week or two.

6. Provide coaching and mentoring

Teachers may like and understand a new strategy, but implementation is tricky. As teachers begin implementing new strategies, they need support.

Visit classrooms and offer non-evaluative feedback on your area(s) of focus. If you can't offer feedback or it isn't your area of expertise, call on instructional coaches or master teachers.

When some teachers pick up the new strategy more quickly than others, assign them to mentor other teachers. Create opportunities for teachers to visit "model" classrooms and see the new strategies in action.

In addition, encourage teachers to share their experiences implementing the new skills in their grade level or subject area meetings. Tell them to send any questions your way, or choose an expert in the area(s) of focus to field questions.

Teaching a new strategy once or twice does not promote change. Ongoing coaching, support, and troubleshooting is essential for effective teacher professional development.

7. Revisit goals

Throughout the PD process, your staff should be aware of the goals you set for the school year. These goals should be referenced on a regular basis.

In addition, teachers should be provided with strategies to monitor progress toward these goals. Use student data and teacher evaluations to see whether changes are having an effect on student achievement.

Next, give teachers opportunities to discuss their data with others. Brainstorm ideas and develop plans in response to the data.

8. Be realistic

Remember that successfully implementing new strategies takes time. Provide ongoing support, even into the following school year.

One reason school initiatives fail is that they are quickly abandoned. Commit for an extended period of time. Continue providing support and tracking progress. You will gradually see improvement.

Final Thoughts: Effective Teacher Professional Development

Often, teachers aren't big fans of professional development. It's probably because PD rarely leads to actual change or improvement.

By following the tips in this article, you can change that. Remember to:

Set specific, student-oriented goals

Narrow your focus down to 1-2 goals

Make learning collaborative and hands-on

Provide support throughout the implementation process

Revisit and track goals

Have realistic expectations

You're busy, and so are your teachers. You don't want to waste anyone's time with PD that accomplishes nothing.

Try these tips, and you'll see improved teaching practices and better student outcomes. Now that's time well-spent!

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8 Tips for Effective Teacher Professional Development | TUIO

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Often, professional development for educators is ineffective. Learn 8 tips to provide effective teacher professional development that makes a difference.

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This list is not comprehensive, and the Ohio Department of Education does not endorse these products. We are making the list available to support engaging students in learning during the school-building closure period.
Instructional Resources Organized by Content

Computer Science

OHIO'S COMPUTER SCIENCE MODEL CURRICULUM

OHIO'S COMPUTER SCIENCE RESOURCES

Code.org - Learning computer science when schools are closed - (Grades 3-12) This site contains several resources to help students learn computer science programming at home.

Data Ethics - (Grades 7-12) This online course is shared by Neal O'Farrell of www.ethicause.com (approximately 65 minutes) and is divided into eight, easy-to-take lessons. There are worksheets for each video that include open-ended questions students can use for research and discussion.

Girls Who Code at Home is a weekly series of downloadable computer science activities to help girls keep learning while at home. New lessons and activities will be released every Monday.

Google - CS First - (Grades 3-12) This page has several programming activities using Scratch.

The STEMcoding Youtube Channel - (Grades 9-12) Recorded in Ohio, this channel features tutorials and hands-on coding activities illustrating how coding can be integrated into physical science, physics and math. The project also includes educational research and an assessment component.

TCS Ignite My Future in School - (Grades K-12) This online platform is filled with real-world and relevant teacher lesson plans and other resources to integrate computational thinking across all core subjects. Created in partnership with Discovery Education, this robust set of resources is aligned to Common Core, Computer Science Teacher Association and Next Generation Science Standards for grades 6-8. Educators across every K-12 subject area can easily ladder up or down content with relevant tasks for students. Teacher lesson plans are searchable and can be filtered by subject area and/or computational thinking skill.

English Language Arts

OHIO'S ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS MODEL CURRICULUM

OHIO'S ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCES

Amplify - (Grades K-5 and 6-8) This site is hub of resources for reading and writing.

Core Knowledge - (Grades PreK-8) This site offers a complete curriculum for English language arts.

Curriculum Associates - (Grades K-8) This site offers English language arts activity packages (not the full curriculum.)

Great Minds: Wit and Wisdom - (Grades K-8) This site provides free lessons, videos and online K-2 readable books (phonics practice).

LearnZillion English Languages Arts Guidebooks - (Grades 3-12) Comprehensive and high-quality guidebooks for educators, parents and students.

Scholastic Magazines - (Grades K-8) This is a collection of cross-curricular articles, stories and videos that incorporate discussion points, lesson plans and activities.

Storynory - (Grades K-5) - This site contains more than 600 audio stories, myths and poems to listen to or download.

Teaching Tolerance - (Grades 3-12) Educators can access ready-to-use lessons and teaching strategies about social justice through a global and historical lens.

Financial Literacy

OHIO'S FINANCIAL LITERACY MODEL CURRICULUM

EconEd Link - (Grades K-12) This site focuses on financial literacy, economics and personal finance lessons.

Econ Low Down - (Grades PreK-12) The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis' provides this education portal for financial literacy and economics, featuring high-quality resources for preK-college students.

EverFi - (Grades K-12) These interactive, online lessons and units can be assigned to students to complete if an educator registers his or her class.

History in Your Pocket (H.I.P.) - (Grades K-5) The United States Mint provides activities and games that provide an overview about what money is, how it's used and how it's printed.

Kiddynomics - (Grades K-5) This is the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis' resource for introducing elementary students to financial literacy, basic personal finance and economics concepts.

Fine Arts

Ohio's Fine Arts Model Curriculum

Ohio's Fine Arts Resources

Google Arts and Cultures - (Grades 6-12) Google Arts and Cultures is a place to view online museum tours.

British Museum - (Grades 6-12) This interactive site offers visual and audio tours of exhibits through time and cultures.

Google Art Project - (Grades K-12) This interactive website provides students, educators and parents with access to more than 40,000 artworks from 250 museums around the world.

The Kennedy Center - (Grades K-12) This interactive arts website has articles, how-to lessons and activities, resource collections and interactives.

Making Music Fun - (Grades K-12) This interactive music website provides sheet music, worksheets, lesson plans, an online music library, music theory arcade games and songs.

National Gallery of Art - (Grades K-12) This interactive website provides teaching resources, videos, lessons, activities and student interactives.

State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education (SEADAE)- (K-12) A repository of instructional resources for all arts content areas. Links and resources are continuously updated and tie in to all national arts organizations.

Literacy
Literacy resources are organized by grade band reading levels (PreK, Elementary, Middle, ETC.).
OHIO'S LITERACY TOOLKITS

PreK

Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning - This site provides a list of resources and practical strategies for educators and caregivers, including books that support social-emotional learning and guides designed around popular children's books.

HOMER Reading and HOMER Stories - HOMER Reading's Personalized Learning Pathway allows educators and families to customize a learning plan that's just right for every child based on his or her reading stage and interests. Learning games provide instruction in print knowledge, phonological awareness, letter sounds and more. Always free for educators; free trial for families, then $7.99 per month.

Sit Together and Read (STAR) and STAR@Home - This resource provides educators and families with book suggestions and targeted questions to ask children when reading aloud.

Storynory - This site provides free audio stories for all age levels, including fairytales, classic authors and myths.

Vroom - This free and easy-to-use app provides opportunities that support the development of literacy through life skills that promote executive function, positive adult-child relationships and back and forth interactions supported by science.

Elementary

InfOhio Bookflix - This site provides paired fiction and popular nonfiction texts that engage readers and support literacy.

Khan Academy Kids - This resource helps parents with instructions and tips for using Khan Academy Kids for remote learning, which includes personalized learning in various subjects and activities for skills practice.

Nessy Virtual School - The structured language programs automatically guide the instruction of phonics, reading, spelling and writing to all children ages 5-12 years. For school buildings closed by the coronavirus (COVID-19), educators may monitor student progress remotely

Phonemic Awareness at Home - This resource provides videos of educators providing daily phonemic awareness lessons using the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness curriculum. Each lesson is around 10 minutes.

Scholastic Learn at Home - This free resource provides children with 20 days of exciting articles and stories, videos and fun learning challenges. Children can complete them anytime, in any order. They can work on their own or with their families.

Switch Zoo - This site provides activities for learning with a focus on animals. It includes plenty of opportunities for reading and writing.

Waterford - This site provides nine virtual field trips for elementary school students to build background knowledge and apply their literacy skills.

Middle School

Project Gutenberg- This site provides more than 61,000 books free to download for online learning.

Library of Congress Primary Source Analysis Tool - The Library of Congress digital primary source analysis tool is a resource for modeling a primary source analysis or for use when you want to complete a class or collaborative primary source analysis.

Middle/High School

Common Lit - This is a free collection of fiction and nonfiction that can be filtered by Lexile, grade, theme genre, literary device or Common Core standard.

Khan Academy: Grammar - This site provides an online course on grammar, including parts of speech, syntax, style and punctuation.

The New York Times Writing Prompts - This site provides authentic writing prompts to spark argumentative and opinion writing, as well as current events discussions.

Newseum Media Literacy Resources - Free resources and lesson plans for developing students' media literacy and evaluating news stories and information.

High School

Royal Shakespeare Company - This resource includes Shakespeare-focused cross-curricular activities with fine arts - drama.

K-12

Newsela - Newsela provides authentic informational texts at various reading levels on relevant topics.

Math

OHIO'S MATH MODEL CURRICULUM

OHIO'S MATH RESOURCES

Curriculum Associates - (Grades K-8) This site offers mathematics activity packages (not the full curriculum.)

Dan Meyer's Three Act Tasks - (Grades 6-12) Dan Meyer's Three Act Tasks are low floor, high ceiling tasks in three parts: an engaging and perplexing Act 1; an information and solution seeking Act 2; and solution discussion and solution revealing Act 3. The tasks allow students to ask mathematical questions, think critically, and develop estimation and number sense skills. These are usually presented in the forms of videos or photos and organized by standard.

EngageNY - (Grades K-12) EngageNY provides a full mathematics curriculum that is in-depth and aligned to learning standards. It has printable student worksheets and teacher answer keys.

Exploding Dots - (Grades 4-12) Exploding Dots by Global Math Project provides a way for elementary and middle school students to see arithmetic algorithms as a beautiful story. Students can use this resource to see the role they play in advanced high school mathematics. It uses video and interactive resources to help students reason about math.

Great Minds: Eureka Math - (Grades K-12) This site provides a complete curriculum, free lessons and videos.

Illustrative Mathematics Curriculum - (Grades 6-11) Illustrative Mathematics Curriculum has mathematics resources for students, families and educators.

The Math Learning Center - (Grades K-8) The Math Learning Center has free math apps for students. They are based on visual models featured in the mathematics program Bridges. It also has free lessons and publications.

The United States Census Bureau - (Grades K-12) The United States Census Bureau has lesson plans organized by grade bands K-5, 6-8 and high school. It has printable student lessons and teacher answer keys.

Zearn Mathematics- (Grades K-5) Zearn Mathematics offers a complete curriculum with digital lessons, onscreen teachers and supportive remediation. Their Distance Learning Resource Center has quick-start instructions and parent/caregiver packs in both English and Spanish. Walkthrough webinars are also available for administrators, teachers and parents.

Physical Education

Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) - (K-6) Coordinated Approach to Child Health is a learning resource for parents and educators. They focuses on community health programs and building lifelong health strategies that children can take with them throughout life.

Go Noodle - (Grades K-5) Students can find engaging content through this interactive video system for physical education and movement for brain breaks, indoor recess or at-home movement.

Les Mills - (Grades 9-12) This site houses a collection of free and for-pay workouts.

OPEN - Online Physical Education Network - (Grades K-12) This site includes physical education and social-emotional learning resources and activities for students in grades K-12 to do at home.

Pro Football Hall of Fame (HOF) - (Grades K-12) The Pro Football Hall of Fame's Youth and Education Program is based on its mission, vision and values and includes online and offline printable resources.

Shape America - (Grades K-12) This site includes a collection of high-quality, standards-based lessons, daily activities, charts and many other resources for educators and students that focus on physical education and health.

Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids (SPARK) - (K-6) Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids (SPARK) is a resource tool for at home health education. This link has a health and wellness link that will take you to resources and blogs. It has fitness resources if you want to add activity to your lesson.

Science

OHIO'S SCIENCE MODEL CURRICULUM

OHIO'S SCIENCE RESOURCES

Amplify Science - (Grades K-8) Portions of Grades K-5 and 6-8 curriculum with videos are available through Amplify. Science materials are available in both English and Spanish.

Core Knowledge Science (CKSci) - (Grades 3-5) Core Knowledge has comprehensive materials available online for free download, including Teachers Guides with detailed lesson plans, student books, and activity pages related to each lesson.

The Cornell Lab - (Grades K-12) Citizen Science Projects created by Cornell University provide opportunities for students to gather data to help scientists understand bird populations across the globe.

Great Minds: PhD Science™ - (Grades 3-5) Great Minds: PhD Science™ provides free lessons (not the complete curriculum) and videos.

Knowledge of the Go - (Grades 3-5) Great Minds is sharing recorded daily lessons for grades 3-5 of their PhD Science program which is free during the pandemic.

NASA - (Grades K-12) This site focuses on STEM engagement lesson plans, interactive activities and resources.

National Geographic - (Grades K-12) National Geographic has curated collections of activities for students of all ages using minimal supplies and includes engaging, fun and skill-building lessons in social studies, geography, science and more.

National Science Teaching Association - (Grades K-12) The National Science Teaching Association database for science lessons, curriculum planning and professional learning.

Smithsonian - (Grades K-12) The Smithsonian Institution provides access to resources for various subjects. This resource also has created a specific set of resources for distance learning.

Teaching Virtually - (Grades K-12) Char Shryock has created a Padlet to support educators teaching in an online environment.

Social Studies
Social studies include four main strands: history, geography, civics and economics. These strands are found in the K-8 social studies standards. High school courses focus more intently on each of these strands. Instructional resources have been provided to support each strand.
OHIO'S SOCIAL STUDIES MODEL CURRICULUM

OHIO'S SOCIAL STUDIES RESOURCES

Annenberg Learner - (Grades 3-12) Annenberg Learner provides resources for American history, world history, economics and geography. The majority of lessons are for middle and high school students, but there are elementary geography lessons.

Big History - (Grades 6-12) These online social studies courses emphasize skills development and making connections across disciplines.

C3 Teachers - (Grades K-12) C3 Teachers has government, economics, American history and world history lessons that are inquiry based and include lessons for students in grades K-12.

EdSitement! - (Grades 9-12) The National Endowment for the Humanities has lessons and resources on various topics in American history.

Ohio History Connection - (Grades K-12) Sign up with Ohio History Center to receive their Resource Roundup - a monthly collection of new classroom activities, lesson plans, new program offerings, and educational opportunities for you and your students.

World History for Us All - (Grades 9-12) World History for Us All provides lessons, resources and primary sources for world history.

Geography

Arizona Geographic Alliance - (Grades K-12) This site has geography lessons for educators to share with students in kindergarten through high school.

National Geographic Society's Education Portal - (Grades K-12) This resource includes lessons for educators to share with students about different geography concepts in kindergarten through high school.

Ted Talks for Education: Geography - (Grades K-12) This site provides animated Ted Talks specifically for education that have lessons and material to accompany the video.

Ted Talks about Geography - (Grades 9-12) This resource offers Ted Talks from people whose professions deal with topics surrounding geography. No lessons or educator resources included.

Civics

Center for Representative Government - (Grades 9-12) These interactive learning modules help students learn more about representative government.

iCivics - (Grades 6-12) This site has resources about various topics in government and what it means to be a citizen. Educators must register to access resources, but registration is free. There are online games for students to play and students can download the app in the Apple Store (currently only Apple) to access games.

National Constitution Center - (Grades 3-12) This interactive Constitution site has lessons and games to help build student understanding of the Constitution and how it has changed and continues to impact society today.

Economics

EconEdLink - (Grades K-12) This site focuses on financial literacy, economics and personal finance lessons on various topics.

Econ Low Down - (Grades 3-12) This is the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis' education portal for financial literacy and economics, including resources students in preK-college.

Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis - (Grades K-3) This link includes introductory lessons on money and economic topics designed specifically for young learners.

STEM

STEM resources were identified by their focus on the STEM discipline subjects, ability to support interdisciplinary learning, create connections to STEM careers and support STEM practices such as design-cycle thinking and problem-based learning.

The Concord Consortium - (Grades K-12) This site provides virtually guided STEM lessons that can be run remotely and through browsers. Common Online Data Analysis Platform (CODAP) is one of many resources included on this website. CODAP is a web-based data tool to help students summarize, visualize and interpret data for grades 6-12.

Discovery Education Virtual Field Trips - (Grades K-12) Discovery Education has virtual fields where students can explore corners of the world without an airplane. Virtual field trips include the Black and Decker MakerSpace, a trip to the tundra and a nuclear power plant to name a few.

Discover Engineering - (Grades K-12) Discover Engineering has provided a database of activities ranging from games to lesson plans.

LinkEngineering Educator Exchange - (Grades K-12) LinkEngineering is a teacher exchange site focused on providing educators with resources for implementing design-cycle thinking in their classrooms.

Technology
OHIO'S TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES
The Concord Consortium - (Grades K-12) Provides virtually guided STEM lessons that can be run remotely and through browsers. CODAP is one of many resources included on this website. CODAP is a web-based data tool to help students summarize, visualize and interpret data for grades 6-12.

Designing an Online Lesson Using the Five Es Instructional Model - (Grades 4-12) This site provides strategies for leveraging technology tools to design an online lesson that includes the components of the Five Es instructional model: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate.

Desmos - (Grades 3-12) These digital activities leverage dynamic, web-based tools to help students understand math concepts. Educators can use the Activity Builder to create their own lessons as well.

Esri GeoInquiries - (Grades 4-12) GeoInquiries are 15-minute inquiry activities that use interactive maps (geographic) to support instructional content from science, social studies, math and English language arts. Students use visual analysis to see patterns and think spatially about the concepts in the maps.

PBS LearningMedia - (Grades K-12) Within the engineering and technology collection, this website provides digital resources that address topics that include the relationship between technology and society, technological literacy and engineering design. Topics are real-world based.

World Languages and Cultures

OHIO'S WORLD LANGUAGES MODEL CURRICULUM

OHIO'S WORLD LANGUAGES RESOURCES

ACTFL TEMPLATE and RUBRIC for creating interpretive reading, listening and signing activities - (Novice, Intermediate, Advanced) All Languages. Access the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Appendix D (template) and Appendix F (rubric). It gives the choice of nine different activities to accompany a video, listening or reading resource. It can be used with any resource.

AudioLingua - (Novice, Intermediate, Advanced) Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish) Educators can access brief MP3 recordings of native speakers for language learners. They can search by keyword/topic, language and proficiency level.

Mary Glasgow Plus - (Novice, Intermediate, Advanced) Mary Glasgow Magazines is a specialist language publisher for French, German, Spanish and English as a second language (ESL). Educators can gain access to online news articles from Scholastic Magazine. Twelve months of free articles and recordings are in the archives.

FL Teach - Foreign Language Teaching Forum - (Novice, Intermediate, Advanced) Chinese, ESL, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish. Educators can access language websites, news, tv, radio, lessons, etc. It is organized by topic and then by language.

Career-Technical Education

CoderZ - This is a free, online virtual robotics and coding course for any student or teacher affected by COVID-19 in the U.S.

College & Career Academy Support Network (CCASNA) - This database provides curriculum resources (many are project-based and interdisciplinary) for academic courses connected to career and industry themes.

CTE Online - (Grades 7-12) This site provides lesson plans and projects and model course outlines educators can adapt to align to Ohio's Content Standards for all 16 career fields. In addition, the website has tools for users to create their own curriculum and collaborate in groups.

Digital Workforce Development Project Resources - (Grades 7-12) This site contains information and resources from public and private organizations that may be useful when developing content for digital career-technical education learning.

EducationProjects.org - This site provides free lessons and classroom agricultural science materials on the subjects of soil science, water quality, biotechnology, plant science and many others.

Grow Next GEN - This site includes e-learning courses, career videos and tested lessons that are student-led. This site also has access to industry leaders from around the state who are willing to do webinars with students (farmers, economists, seed scientists, researchers, soil scientists, etc.) Check them out here:  https://grownextgen.org/leaders.

Career Exploration and Planning

Bureau of Labor Statistics - (Grades K-12) This site provides students with resources to learn about careers linked to their interests.

Career Connections Teacher Resources - (Grades K-12) This site provides educators with lesson plans and videos for career awareness, exploration and planning.

Create Career Opportunities for Career Exploration - (Grades K-12) INFOhio brings together a variety of high-quality career exploration resources in one place.

EnvisionIT - (Grades 6-12) EnvisionIT (EIT) is a free, evidence-based, standards-aligned, digital curriculum for grades 6-12 that teaches English and languages arts, information technology literacy, college and career readiness and financial literacy and supports career planning through various learning management systems.

OhioMeansJobs - (Grades K-12) Ohio's no-cost, career planning system offers comprehensive, career exploration tools, online training and resources specifically for students, educators and school counselors.

Professional Learning with ESC of Central Ohio - (Grades K-12) The ESC of Central Ohio is offering several free professional learning courses and book studies for educators that also include options for college credit.

English Learners

Bitsboard - (Grades K-5) This site provides educators with flashcards and games with visuals for various contents.
EL Education - (Grades K-8) Resources to support remote learning for students during the COVID-19 pandemic. These materials can be used in conjunction with the EL Education curriculum. Additional resources from EL Education:

Khan Academy - (Grades K-12) This online database of lessons and practice exercises includes programs for English learners.

Social-Emotional Learning

Early Childhood

Ohio's Early Learning and Development Standards and Implementation Guides

Educator Tools from INFOhio - (Grade PreK) INFOhio provides resources for educators to support remote learning for young children.

INFOhio Early Learning Portal - (Grade PreK) The INFOhio Early Learning Portal is for parents, caregivers and educators of children ages three through five.

NAEYC Message in a Backpack (Pre-K) - This site provides tips and ideas for families about supporting preschool age children's learning at home (available in multiple languages).

Office of Head Start - This site provides resources for Head Start and early learning programs, including information related to COVID-19.

Gifted Education

DukeTIP: TIPs for Taking Your Course Online  - (Grades 4-12) The Duke University Talent Identification Program offers suggestions for online learning, including free lessons and other resources for educators.

Great Books Open Resources  - (Grades K-12) Great Books Foundation offers free open resources, including digital texts and sample lesson plans with a focus on critical thinking, reading comprehension and writing.

National Association for Gifted Children: Resources for Educators & Parents During COVID-19  - (Grades K-12) Information provided by the National Association for Gifted Children, including best practices in online learning and a list of free resources for educators, families and students.

National Council for Teachers of Mathematics: Free Resources for Teaching Math Online  - (Grades K-12) This site provides digital lessons and free resources from the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics.

Quality Matters Emergency Report Instruction - This document serves as a companion to the Quality Matters K-12 Emergency Report Instruction Checklist. It shows student accommodation examples, suggestions for how you can address it, and the connection they have to the Specific Review Standards from the QM K-12 Rubric™, Fifth Edition and the National Standards for Quality Online Teaching.

​ The Ohio Association for Gifted Children - (Grades K-12) A list of resources for gifted intervention specialists and families curated by the Ohio Association for Gifted Children.
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K-12 General Resources

​​Google Teach from Home is a temporary hub of information and tools for use during the COVID-19 crisis. Educators will find information on how to teach remotely with and without video calls, how to make lessons accessible to all, how keep students engaged and how to stay connected with other educators.

Grab and Go Instructional Materials - (Grades K-12) Grab and Go Instructional Materials (through School Source Hub) are readymade resources school leaders and teachers can use as a starting point or a model for their own materials. All resources can be used free of charge, are organized by materials and subject and customizable by districts or schools.

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Educators | Ohio Department of Education

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This list is not comprehensive, and the Ohio Department of Education does not endorse these products. We are making the list available to support engaging students in learning during the school-building closure period.