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Teaching Strategies for Students With Special Needs

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In the United States, special education is free in the public education system, thanks to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

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Students with Disabilities: Special Education Categories

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Special education (i.e., special ed, SPED) plays an important role in our schools.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 14% of all public school students in the United States currently receive special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). One-third of these students have a specific learning disability, which means that they learn and think differently from their peers.

Teaching this subset of your students requires particular resources. You need a program that recognizes the unique value of each student.

Enter Positive Action, a complete curriculum from Pre-K through high school that provides academic, physical, social, and emotional guidance in a safe, supportive environment, as well as promoting partnerships between school, home, and community.

How Does the Positive Action Program Work with Special Education?

The Positive Action system is a research-backed program designed specifically to give students with special needs a skill set that will help them succeed in their other subjects, including math, reading, writing, grammar, science, and social studies. While the curriculum doesn't directly address these subjects, children's test scores improve with the program, particularly in the math and reading assessments.

Positive Action strengthens core educational programs by:

1. Teaching skills for learning

2. Incorporating state standards

3. Developing intrinsic motivation

4. Reducing classroom disruptions

It helps special needs students integrate into mainstream classrooms and achieve academically and otherwise.

Our special education curricula can help schools assess special education students' needs and create a strategy for meeting them with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). A Positive Action committee provides the school's leadership with helpful tools, including:

a committee handbook

surveys

calendars

templates for meeting logs and agendas

behavior management forms

"Dear Parents" letters.

Positive Action Works for Students with Special Needs of All Types

Positive Action Special Education Curriculum by Grades

Preschool (Pre-K)

The Pre-K program helps young children develop important communication abilities, social skills, and concepts like self-concept and self-control. The curriculum uses interactive materials like hedgehog puppets to make the learning process fun.

Elementary School

From kindergarten through fifth grade, each lesson helps the students learn new interpersonal skills. By reading and acting out stories of characters in different scenarios, each student learns vital skills such as how to solve problems or form meaningful friendships.

Middle School

During their pre-teen and early teenage years, students in the Positive Action program develop critical thinking skills that they use to analyze a variety of scenarios. The curriculum also involves group activities and journaling. Through writing in a journal, students with special needs may benefit from learning how to express their thoughts and emotions.

High School

As students prepare to enter the real world, Positive Action focuses on helping them develop the skillset they'll need going forward. Assignment formats like creative projects, community service, and peer leadership accommodate different learning styles. By the end of the program, each student should have the resources they need to lead a productive life.

Free Sample Lessons

Each of Positive Action's kits includes the materials for two free, downloadable sample lessons from Positive Action's special education curriculum.

Outcomes

As an evidence-based curriculum, the Positive Action program results in tangible improvements that special education teachers can see among their students, including:

9% improvement in standardized reading tests

51% increase in math achievement (Hawaii)

13% increase in language achievements (Nevada)

19% decrease in disruptive behaviors

22% improvement in self-concept

18% increase in social bonding

Success Stories

See the ways that teachers and communities all over the country are using the Positive Action curriculum to address their special education students' needs:

"We focus on giving each student lots of support and attention. Our philosophy is to teach the whole child, and the Positive Action program helps us teach social and emotional skills-the part of our curriculum not covered by our academic subjects." -Margaret Carvajal, school counselor at Noonan Elementary School in Alice, TX

"Due to the daily reinforcement, my students' behavior has improved immensely and, therefore, has made a positive impact on their academic achievement." -Mr. Watkins, teacher in Compton, CA

Program Comparison

Compared to other special education curriculums, Positive Action provides the most content, meets the most state and national standards, and offers the most support, training, teaching, and learning resources.

FAQs

What is the importance of special education in the curriculum?

A special education student often has a different starting point from their peers. For instance, maybe they're reading at a lower grade level, struggling with math concepts or grammar, or lacking basic social skills. Unfortunately, general education standards typically don't address this type of student's needs.

By targeting specific areas where these learners need extra help, bringing special education instruction into the curriculum can level the playing field.

What can educators do to support their special needs students in the classroom?

As a teacher, you want to help all learners succeed, including your students with different grade-level abilities. When you can, try teaching subjects at your student's cognitive level. For the most part, though, you want to help your special needs students join the other kids in general instruction.

Use helpful technology like text-to-speech readers or on-board writing tools to help them access the curriculum and participate. You should also strive to make your curriculum as interactive as possible to give students who learn differently some new ways to engage with the material.

Is your curriculum suitable for homeschooling?

Yes, you can definitely use the Positive Action curriculum if you teach your special needs child at home. This program supplements all general curriculum areas, including math, reading, grammar, science, and more. Parents can always modify Positive Action's pre-packaged curriculum to make any group activities work in a homeschool setting.

Ready to take the next steps?

If you want to see how the Positive Action SpEd curriculum can help your special needs students thrive, let us know when you're available for a webinar. Or simply contact us to learn more.

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Evidence-Based Special Education Curriculum & Program | Positive Action

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Special education (i.e., special ed, SPED) plays an important role in our schools. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 14% of all public school students in the United States currently receive special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

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https://www.nysed.gov/special-education/continuum-special-education-services-school-age-students-disabilities

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Research on specially designed instruction clearly supports high quality instruction provided to the greatest extent possible to meet the student's individualized education program (IEP) in the general education classrooms where students with disabilities have the greatest likelihood of receiving curriculum content delivered by highly qualified teachers. Schools may utilize a variety of combinations of special education supports and services to serve students with disabilities in general education settings and promote meaningful access, participation and progress in the general curriculum, including consultant teacher services, paraprofessional support, resource room services and integrated co-teaching.

Access to and participation in the general education curriculum does not occur solely because a student is placed in a general education classroom, but rather when students with disabilities are actively engaged in learning the content and skills that define the general education curriculum. Meaningful access to the general education curriculum means that a student with a disability has the appropriate supports, services and accommodations to address his or her disability in consideration of the content of the curriculum, instructional materials, how the curriculum is taught to the student, the physical environment and how the student's learning is measured. It is the consideration of the individual needs of the student and the support, services and/or modifications needed to the general education curriculum, instructional methods, instructional materials and/or instructional environment that determine which of the service delivery options would be most appropriate to assist the student to meet his/her annual goals and to meet New York State's (NYS) learning standards.

This document, which replaces the document issued in April 2008, should assist school personnel to understand the regulatory requirements under which each service must be provided and to assist in the determination of which of these special education services might be most appropriate for an individual student. Questions regarding this document may be directed to the Special Education Policy Unit at 518-473-2878 or to the local Special Education Quality Assurance (SEQA) Office.

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Research on specially designed instruction clearly supports high quality instruction provided to the greatest extent possible to meet the student's individualized education program (IEP) in the general education classrooms where students with disabilities have the greatest likelihood of receiving curriculum content delivered by highly qualified teachers.

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At a glance

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires public schools to provide special education services to eligible students.

IDEA covers 13 disability categories.

Not every student who struggles in school qualifies.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires public schools to provide special education and related services to eligible students. But not every child who struggles in school qualifies. To be covered, a child's school performance must be "adversely affected" by a disability in one of the 13 categories below.

1. Specific learning disability (SLD)

The "specific learning disability" (SLD) category covers a specific group of learning challenges. These conditions affect a child's ability to read, write, listen, speak, reason, or do math. Here are some examples of what could fall into this category:

SLD is the most common category under IDEA. In the 2018-19 school year, around 33 percent of students who qualified did so under this category.

2. Other health impairment

The "other health impairment" category covers conditions that limit a child's strength, energy, or alertness. One example is ADHD, which impacts attention and executive function.

3. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

ASD is a developmental disability. It involves a wide range of symptoms, but it mainly affects a child's social and communication skills. It can also impact behavior.

Various mental health issues can fall under the "emotional disturbance" category. They may include anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depression. (Some of these may also be covered under "other health impairment.")

5. Speech or language impairment

This category covers difficulties with speech or language. A common example is stuttering. Other examples are trouble pronouncing words or making sounds with the voice. It also covers language problems that make it hard for kids to understand words or express themselves.

6. Visual impairment, including blindness

A child who has eyesight problems is considered to have a visual impairment. This category includes both partial sight and blindness. If eyewear can correct a vision problem, then it doesn't qualify.

Kids with a diagnosis of deafness fall under this category. These are kids who can't hear most or all sounds, even with a hearing aid.

The term "hearing impairment" refers to a hearing loss not covered by the definition of deafness. This type of loss can change over time. Being hard of hearing is not the same thing as having trouble with auditory or language processing.

Kids with a diagnosis of deaf-blindness have both severe hearing and vision loss. Their communication and other needs are so unique that programs for just the deaf or blind can't meet them.

10. Orthopedic impairment

An orthopedic impairment is when kids lack function or ability in their bodies. An example is cerebral palsy.

11. Intellectual disability

Kids with this type of disability have below-average intellectual ability. They may also have poor communication, self-care, and social skills. Down syndrome is one example of a condition that involves an intellectual disability.

12. Traumatic brain injury

This is a brain injury caused by an accident or some kind of physical force.

13. Multiple disabilities

A child with multiple disabilities has more than one condition covered by IDEA. Having multiple issues creates educational needs that can't be met in a program designed for any one disability.

Having a disability is not enough to qualify for special education. The disability has to have an "adverse effect" on a child's education.

Key takeaways

Each of the 13 disability categories in IDEA can cover a range of difficulties.

Dyslexia, dyscalculia, and written expression disorder fall under the "specific learning disability" category.

"Other health impairment" can cover ADHD.

About the author

About the author

Andrew M.I. Lee, JD is an editor and attorney who strives to help people understand complex legal, education, and parenting issues.

Reviewed by

Reviewed by

Rayma Griffin, MA, MEd has spent her 40-year career advocating for the rights of children with learning and thinking differences, both in the classroom and as an educator.

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See a list of the 13 IDEA disability categories. Find out which disabilities can qualify kids for special education.

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What Are Functional Life Skills for Special Education Classrooms? | Full SPED Ahead

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Top Skills Required for Special Education Teachers

While the previously mentioned qualities are essential to your success as a special education teacher, there are additional qualifications and skills that can boost your potential for landing a special education teaching job.

When preparing to become a highly qualified special education teacher, it's important to consider the baseline skills needed to be an effective educator. According to our analysis of job postings data, here are the top skills school districts and principals want in prospective teachers and how they can enhance your performance as a special education teacher.

Top Skills for Teachers

1. Teaching

As an educator, you'll have the rewarding opportunity to guide and inspire students in the classroom. In the case of special education, this means breaking down complex concepts, adapting instructional strategies, and providing individualized support is crucial. No matter what population of students you work with though, effective teaching ensures all students receive the knowledge and skills they need to thrive academically and personally.

2. Communications

Communication is fundamental to your success as a teacher because it's the cornerstone to how students absorb instruction, curriculum, and guidance. All children process information in their own way, but students with learning challenges may have impairments that limit speech, hearing, vision, or social awareness. As such, developing effective communication methods enables you to convey instructions, provide feedback, and address concerns that ensure everyone is on the same page in supporting student growth.

3. Writing

Writing skills are indispensable for teachers since assessments and curriculum materials are often written by the instructor. Special education teachers are responsible for additional written materials, such as individualized education plans (IEPs), progress reports, and other documentation to track student development. Writing also enables you to communicate clearly with other professionals-such as psychologists or speech therapists-who collaborate on education plans.

4. Planning

On a daily basis, teachers must manage their time well and plan activities to meet learning goals. Special education teachers have additional planning responsibilities that focus on the short- and long-term goals of students with various learning challenges. While short-term planning in special education may involve more immediate activities that can help inform students' IEPs, long-term planning is meant to anticipate potential challenges, develop assessment models, and adapt strategies to accommodate diverse learning styles.

5. Management

Teachers are responsible for maintaining a positive learning environment that promotes student engagement. "Classroom management is key because without a managed classroom, learning's not happening," says Boerger. By implementing consistent rules, routines, and behavior management strategies, you can support students in achieving their full potential and minimize disruptions. In this way, strong management skills enable you to create a safe and nurturing space where students can focus on learning.

6. Mathematics

Math proficiency is an important skill in the classroom because teachers often work with students who require additional support in this subject. Having a solid foundation in mathematical concepts and problem-solving strategies can actually aid in designing the most beneficial instruction techniques.

7. Interpersonal communications

In addition to communication with students, teachers are also constantly communicating with fellow educators and parents. Since special education teachers frequently collaborate with students, parents, and support professionals, having strong interpersonal communication skills can greatly improve the ability to advocate for student needs.

"Communication with parents and guardians is so critical to building partnerships with the families," Boerger explains. "Teachers can't always do it alone, so having those families work with the teachers for their child's success is going to be critical."

8. Research

Thorough research skills are beneficial when educators encounter unfamiliar situations. Not only does research keep you informed about best practices, but it also helps you discover new interventions and evidence-based strategies. By fostering ongoing professional development through research, you can make more informed decisions that positively impact student outcomes.

9. Leadership

Leadership skills are important for empowering teachers to advocate for students, influence positive change, and collaborate well within teams. By taking initiative, demonstrating strong communication skills, and being proactive in problem-solving, you can better support the overall success of your students.

10. Problem-solving

While all teachers need to be adaptive, special education teachers have to be flexible and creative when facing a variety of challenges. Some of these problems can range from disruptive behavior to resource management. By analyzing situations, assessing student abilities, and developing creative solutions, you can adapt your teaching strategies to address student needs.

Top Skills for Special Education Teachers

While these highly valued skills for teachers are important to your success in special education, there are a number of skills that are specific to the industry.

According to our analysis of job postings data, here are the top job-specific skills employers look for in a special education teacher.

11. Special education

Special education training equips teachers with the skills to evaluate learning disabilities and provide a safe, equitable learning environment. Special education teachers need to be knowledgeable of inclusive practices, legal requirements, and strategies to support students with diverse needs.

12. Individualized education programs (IEP)

Individualized education programs outline the specific goals, accommodations, and services for students with disabilities. Gaining a better understanding of how to develop and implement IEPs allows you to effectively assess students' strengths and needs, and ensure they closely align with the IEP objectives.

13. Lesson planning

Well-structured lesson plans are a major part of creating a rewarding classroom environment that caters to different learning abilities. For special education teachers, lesson planning involves selecting appropriate resources, setting benchmarks, incorporating accommodations, and designing objective-driven activities.

"From the very beginning, students write lesson plans in our program," says Boerger. "They actually do what's called a 'gateway assessment,' which is where we assess them on reviewing a lesson to see if they can find things that are missing or how to make it better."

14. Disabilities

A comprehensive understanding of disabilities is necessary to accommodate the unique challenges faced by students with learning differences. By recognizing the strengths and limitations associated with various disabilities, you can foster a nurturing environment for all students and implement individualized learning plans.

15. Classroom management

"Classroom management is not only important, but it's the skill that we hear from our supervising practitioners in the classrooms that students lack the most," Boerger notes. Special education teachers must establish clear expectations and boundaries while offering positive reinforcement. They have to strike a good balance between offering consideration, driving progress, and limiting disruptions-which requires a mix of patience, confidence, and experience.

16. Autism spectrum disorders

Since children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are prevalent in special education, learning to identify characteristics, needs, and interventions specific to ASD is crucial. Teachers must be prepared to manage challenging behaviors and adapt instructional techniques to communicate better with these students. As a result, knowledge of ASD empowers you to promote social and academic growth for students on the spectrum.

17. Curriculum development

Special education teachers often play a role in curriculum development, ensuring that it's accessible and adaptable for students with disabilities. By modifying curriculum materials, differentiating instruction, and incorporating multi-sensory approaches, you can provide meaningful learning experiences, while also addressing individual student goals.

18. Working with children

Educators who are passionate about working with children will be most successful in this career. Patience, empathy, and the ability to build rapport are essential in establishing positive relationships with your students and recognizing their individual strengths and interests. Focus on being an active listener, providing emotional support, and fostering a nurturing environment, so you can create a sense of belonging and trust.

19. Behavior management

Special education teachers have to be skilled at recognizing the underlying factors behind challenging behaviors. By promoting positive reinforcement, using visual cues, and implementing structured routines, you can support students in self-regulation and social-emotional development.

20. Instructional strategies

Having a rigid outlook won't serve you well as an educator. Classroom teachers draw from a broad toolkit of instructional strategies, which they can tailor to different students based on cognitive and physical disabilities or behavioral challenges. To make the learning experience both practical and enjoyable, special education teachers must learn to deliver information in ways that are engaging and encourage students to take an active role in their own education.

Technology Skills Teachers Need

With the evolution of technology found in today's classrooms-and the emergence of hybrid online learning-teachers are often expected to have a number of computer/technology skills to succeed. Special education is no exception.

According to our analysis of job postings data, here are the most sought-after technology skills for special education employers.

21. Microsoft Office (Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word)

Proficiency in Microsoft Office programs improves organization, communication, and instructional delivery. Educators need tools to track student progress, analyze data, create classroom materials, present information, connect with parents and peers, and keep records. Above all, mastery of widely used tools will make it easier to get acclimated to the teaching environment and support student learning.

22. Zoom (video conferencing tool)

Zoom and other video conferencing tools have become essential for remote learning and collaboration. Learning to host video calls enables you to conduct live online classes, hold virtual meetings, and facilitate remote check-in sessions with students and families. Video conferencing also allows for seamless communication and instructional continuity when students have health issues or personal challenges keeping them out of the classroom.

23. Student information systems

Student information systems (SIS) streamline administrative record-keeping and allow smoother collaboration across different special education services. Familiarity with SIS ensures efficient data management, improved student assessments, and increased evidence-based decision-making. Teachers also need to learn how to input and retrieve data correctly in these systems so school systems can maintain accurate records.

24. Learning management systems

Learning management systems (LMS) provide a centralized platform for delivering and organizing educational content. LMS tools help special education teachers create online learning materials, track student participation, enhance accessibility, and promote independent learning. Boerger urges prospective teachers to gain exposure to learning technologies as much as possible during training. "When you do observations or volunteer work, really pay attention to the technology being used so that you can become well-versed in it."

25. Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets continue to be go-to tools for organizing and analyzing data, which helps teachers gain valuable insights into student performance. Having an advanced knowledge of spreadsheet functions also allows you to streamline common tasks and generate reports for more efficient decision-making.

26. Google classroom

Google Classroom is a popular platform for delivering online learning and managing workflows. By leveraging the platform's many features, teachers can facilitate real-time collaboration, distribute assignments and resources, monitor student progress, and provide timely feedback.

Become a Qualified Special Education Teacher

The impact of effective special education extends far beyond academics, as demonstrated by these top skills in the field. "Teaching special education is not for everybody, but we do need qualified teachers. There are a lot of kids who need a different way of teaching, and a different way of learning," says Boerger.

Qualified special education teachers can help close today's learning gap and build more inclusive environments that foster academic growth and social development. Luckily our analysis of occupation data reveals that special education teaching jobs are expected to grow at a rate of 9.5 percent from 2021 to 2031.

So if you're interested in supporting children with unique needs, consider speaking with an admission counselor to learn more about the special education degree program at Regis College. This program can help you develop the skills needed to provide quality special education needed to reap the many benefits of becoming a special education teacher.

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Special Education Teachers: Top 26 Skills and Qualities Needed

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Considering a career as a special education teacher? Here's an overview of the skills and qualities you'll need to be successful in this role.

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Curriculum and personalized guidance for educators

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See why IXL is the leader in personalized learning! Our PK-12 curriculum automatically differentiates for every student and is easy to integrate in every classroom.

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By using personalized learning platforms, you'll be able to efficiently cultivate a sense of self-learning so your team can acquire new skills that go beyond their current roles. Explore our recommended personalized learning platforms that you can use to facilitate personalized learning in your organization.

1. EdApp

EdApp is a mobile learning management system that supports you in setting up personalized learning for your team through its many user-focused features. With its easy-to-use course authoring tool, you can quickly create beautiful online training and immersive lessons to tailor to every learner's needs. You can also choose from over 80 intuitively designed templates to populate your training content in a matter of minutes. If you need inspiration or are unsure of where to start, EdApp has a vast library of world-class and scalable courseware like hospitality, sensitivity training courses for employees, healthcare, and even free OSHA 10 hour certification courses that you can edit and customize to make your own.

To step it up a notch, you can also reward and incentivize each employee's excellent learning habits through EdApp's Custom Achievements feature. You can name your achievement, upload your own image or design one on Canva, and choose your preferred color scheme to match your organization's tone of voice. You can even include a personalized message to display whenever an individual earns a specific achievement. It's all up to you to determine the ingredients of each achievement and set up a "recipe" for success based on your personalized learning strategy.

With EdApp, you can also create personalized quizzes for each employee through Brain Boost. It's completely automated, so all you have to do is choose which course, lesson, or slide you want to quiz your team on, and EdApp will do the rest for you. The frequency with which each individual receives a quiz depends on how many answers they get right. The more they get correct answers, the less frequently they'll receive one.

Cost: Free

Key features: SCORM authoring tool, course library, easy-to-use authoring tool, customizable Achievements
Create personalized learning experiences for your team with ease and at no cost! Join EdApp for free now.
2. Schoox

Schoox is a cloud-based, personalized learning platform that focuses on learning and talent development. It has a course library that includes a wide range of topics, such as safety, security, human resources, and many more. With Schoox, you can create sensitivity training courses for employees in any format with its drag and drop authoring tool. Adaptive learning paths can also be set for employees so they can take the right learning resources to hone their skills. Schoox's Impact Factor feature considers aspects like the employee's job responsibilities, their skills performance, and skills strength, to better assign personalized courses.

Cost: Contact Schoox for pricing

Key features: Content curation, personalized course suggestions, drag-and-drop authoring tool

3. WalkMe

The need for in-person training can be eliminated through WalkMe 's self-service feature called Walk-Thrus. Learners can go through their training content on their own from start to finish by following clear and simple directions provided in the Walk-Thrus on their screen. These Walk-Thrus take the form of tooltips, pop-up messages, and notifications that you can fully customize. This self-serve feature empowers learners and lessens any unnecessary back and forth which speeds up and increases completion rates. WalkMe is also invested in the user experience which is why it allows you to create engaging and personalized on-screen content with its no-code authoring tool.

Cost: Contact WalkMe for pricing

Key features: No-code authoring tool, on-screen guidance, self-serve tools

4. WorkRamp

WorkRamp is a personalized learning platform that serves as an all-in-one corporate learning platform for your personnel, especially those in sales, support, retail, marketing, and HR. This centralized LMS gives you a streamlined process in creating customized learning pathways for your personnel based on their role, teams, skills, or seniority. It provides a specialized onboarding process, advanced corporate training content creation, and learning progress tracking through dashboards and analytics. It also gives a blended learning experience with support for virtual instructor-led sessions.

Cost: Contact WorkRamp for pricing

Key features: Streamlined onboarding, learning pathways, analytics

5. Raptivity

Raptivity is a cloud-based employee training software that delivers distance learning through visually stimulating content. It incorporates gamification in the workplace by including games in the training material, such as bowling and dart game quizzes. It also has an interactive template library suited for different learning styles that you can customize with various themes and colors. In this distance learning tool for teachers, learning programs can run on different devices, including mobile. This helps you focus more on your content as you're sure that it will seamlessly display your training materials regardless of the device used.

Cost: US 0/user (monthly)

Key features: Gamification, template library, mobile-friendly

6. Raven360

Raven360 is a personalized learning platform dedicated to sales training and enablement but can also be used by any business. Raven360 supports different learning methods such as instructor-led training, virtual instructor-led training, and on-demand learning to cater to different learning styles. It also allows for the creation of Learner Paths so you can guide your employees to training content that's important and relevant to them. This platform also provides analytics to check on your team's performance and measure the effectiveness of your training program.

Cost: Contact Raven360 for pricing

Key features: Flexible training methods, learning paths, analytics

7. Continu

Continu touts itself as a learning platform built for today's modern workforce. With its powerful course authoring tools, you can build sop training courses and create training and development tracks to suit each learner's needs. You can tailor learning experiences through its Smart Segmentation feature which allows you to filter by geography, department, or by using custom variables. Continu also comes with custom reporting so you can fine-tune reports to gain insights on the performance of your employees. On the other hand, learners will have access to their unique dashboard so they can stay on top of their training and progress.

Cost: Contact Continu for pricing

Key features: Personalized learning tracks, Smart segmentation, custom reporting, learner dashboard

8. Whatfix

Whatfix makes it easy for learners to digest training material no matter what learning style they have. When logging in for the first time to the platform, they'll be greeted with a personalized message and will be given a tour to introduce them to the application. With Whatfix, you can create interactive training material with its straightforward, no code authoring tool. To further personalize the learning experience, you can create condition-based walkthroughs that fit a learner's role, competence, and location. It's SCORM-compliant so you can easily construct training programs at scale. Whatfix provides advanced real-time analytics as well so you can measure the effectiveness of your training program.

Cost: Contact Whatfix for pricing

Key features: No code authoring tool, smart user targeting, SCORM-compliant, real-time analytics

9. Explain Everything

Explain Everything leverages the use of digital whiteboards to create a personalized learning experience, especially for visual learners. It goes beyond the typical whiteboard as learners can fully interact during training sessions through drawings, GIFs, animations, audio files, and many more. Explain Everything's tools are not just limited to a simple whiteboard as it allows you to create dynamic visual lectures, animated illustrations, and even games to engage learners with your training content. To make sure everyone is on the same page, you can summarize each session with a short video that learners can revisit as often as needed.

Cost: Free and paid plans

Key features: Digital whiteboard, gamification, video summaries

10. Axonify

Axonify is an eLearning platform whose goal is to deliver quick, valuable training content to get employees up to speed with the knowledge and skills needed for their roles. To help them reach their goals, you can set up structured learning paths and deliver relevant training content in as little as three minutes per day. You can create training content, repurpose existing materials, or choose from their vast content marketplace. Learners are also given the flexibility to pursue additional training activities that they can complete in their own time to drive continuous learning.

Cost: Contact Axonify for pricing

Key features: Bite-sized training, structured learning paths, content marketplace

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10 Free Personalized Learning Platforms | EdApp Microlearning

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By using personalized learning platforms, you'll be able to efficiently cultivate a sense of self-learning so your team can acquire new skills that go beyond their current roles. Explore our recommended personalized learning platforms that you can use to facilitate personalized learning in your organization.

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Differentiation has been a buzzword in education for years. As a literacy specialist, it is a critical part of my job. Differentiation is how a teacher adapts instruction to meet the specific learning needs of an individual or group of students. It means meeting the needs of all learners through differentiated instructional ideas. In this article, we'll explore differentiated instruction in the classroom and opportunities to incorporate it into lessons. Also, available for download is a tip sheet with 13 ideas for differentiated reading instruction in the elementary classroom.

Differentiated Instruction in the Classroom

Differentiation can be applied to: the instructional approach, the subject matter, and/or to the learning environment. Differentiated lesson plans are based on learning styles and incorporate a variety of modalities in order to reach all learners. During differentiated student work time, students can work independently on a personalized goal or in small flexible groups based on interest, topic or ability.

There are endless opportunities to incorporate differentiation into your classroom!

With instruction...
Be sure to not only verbally explain the topic or idea you are instructing on, but also to have a visual. You can create an anchor chart to use as a reference guide or draw a picture/table/diagram/graph to foster a clearer understanding. If applicable, provide a video clip on the smartboard (this is a sure-fire way to engage students). Remember to always repeat what you are teaching with varying explanations. Also, tap into background knowledge for students to build upon, and pre-teach any vocabulary words that might be unfamiliar to your students.
With subject matter...
Hold conferences with students to find out what they want to learn more about. Use surveys to incorporate student interests whenever possible. If students are interested in the topic, they are more likely to retain what you are teaching them. Use inquiry-based learning to allow students to investigate areas of interest. Inquiry-based learning is also great for cross-curriculum work!
With the environment...
There are many things you can do to design a classroom that promotes learning for all students. Some examples include preferential seating and seating that allows for movement, partnerships, or small group work. Anchor charts should be displayed for students to reference. Graphic organizers and resource guides should be readily available for students to take as needed. Students should have access to technology for many reasons. Of course, one important reason is for research, but for me as a literacy specialist a very close second is to help improve a student's reading ability. There are many online resources that support students in the areas of fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary by using leveled texts with corresponding reading exercises.

You can also differentiate based on ability!

Differentiated Instruction Ideas Based on Diverse Learners

For struggling students...
Scaffold your instruction by giving clear explicit explanations with visuals. Next, practice the strategy with your students. Then have your students try it independently. Offer a variety of graphic organizers to help focus their thinking. This method of scaffolded instruction is known as the I, We, You method. Be sure to give these students self-monitoring and fix-up strategies to allow them more independence when working alone.
For average students...
Offer opportunities for small group work or partnerships (often, hearing the thoughts of peers will inspire students, and being a member of a group can motivate students to contribute to the best of their ability). These are students you want to challenge, as well, so offer extension activities when they are ready. For example, a good extension activity in reading is to rewrite the end of the book or to write about what would you like to discuss with the main character or the author.
For above average students...
Raise the bar with challenge/enrichment activities ( Making Thinking Visible activity downloads, which encourage students to think more deeply about a topic or text, are great resources). Pull questions for these students from DOK levels 3 and 4.

Using Assessments to Guide Differentiation

Personally, I have found the best way to differentiate for my students is by using assessments to guide my instruction. Students need to be assessed in order to collect information about how much knowledge and skill they have acquired (assessment as a measurement tool). Students also need to be assessed so as to gauge the student's level of learning (assessment as an evaluative tool).

There are two basic types of assessments: formative and summative.

Formative assessments are assessments FOR learning and include journaling, conferring, observation, self-assessment, portfolios, and so on.

Summative assessments are assessments OF learning and include unit assessments, standardized assessments, portfolios, and so on.

Assessing students is critical for differentiation because it...

allows you to get to know individual readers

provides summaries of student learning

gives information about student learning progress

diagnoses strengths and weaknesses of an individual's learning

supplies direction for further learning

helps with goal-setting for very targeted instruction

I find the best way to differentiate for my students is to periodically set personalized goals with each student, based on formative and/or summative assessment data. I use a variety of assessments with my students to help them set these goals. Below are some resources you may find helpful in assessing individual students.

Revised Bloom's Taxonomy Reading Conference Forms

Reading Survey for Students

Ideas for Differentiated Reading Instruction In the Elementary Grades

1. Have students read books at their own level.

Level the classroom library in order to help students find appropriate books for independent reading time. Color-coordinating the shelves is an easy way for students to find books that are suitable for their reading skills.

2. Provide different levels of support after a class lesson.

Create a "Teacher Station" or "Center" and meet with your struggling learners to give them extra support and instruction. Have on-level learners work in small groups to complete a task. Invite above-average learners to complete the same task in pairs or alone.

3. Differentiate text assignments.

After students have read (or listened to) the same text, vary follow-up assignments. For example, after a read aloud, ask struggling learners to complete a simple story web. Have on-level learners complete questions about key ideas and details. Task above-average learners to retell the story from a character's point of view.

4. Scaffold instruction by giving clear explicit explanations with visuals.

Verbally and visually explain the topic or idea you will be teaching. Use anchor charts, drawings, diagrams, and reference guides to foster a clearer understanding of the topic you will be reading about or teaching. If applicable, provide a video clip for students to watch.

To get nine more differentiated reading instruction, download my What Does Differentiation Look Like? Tip Sheet now.

Conclusion

Differentiation is how a teacher adapts instruction to meet the specific learning needs of an individual learner or of a group of students. It means the instructor is meeting the needs of all learners through differentiated instructional ideas and methods. Differentiation can be applied to the instructional approach, the subject matter, and/or to the learning environment. One key approach to differentiation is individualized goal-setting based on assessment data. Use formative and summative assessment data to differentiate instruction for individuals or small groups of students.

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13 Ideas for Differentiated Reading Instruction in the Elementary Classroom

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Ideas for meeting the needs of all learners through differentiated instruction. Here are 13 ideas for differentiated reading instruction in elementary...

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Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning Through Research

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Multidisciplinary Teaching | Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning Through Research

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Multidisciplinary teaching helps students learn how to tackle today’s complex problems.

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Interdisciplinary Learning in Your Classroom: Explanation

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Interdisciplinary Learning in Your Classroom. Start with the Explanation section to gain a good understanding of the CONCEPT of interdisciplinary learning. Then go on to Demonstration, where we move from CONCEPT to CLASSROOM! For the purposes of this workshop, our interdisciplinary expert, Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Ed.D., has recommended that instead of going to the Exploration section after Demonstration, participants should proceed to the Implementation section.

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Differentiation means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Whether teachers differentiate content, process, products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction.

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Importance of Multidisciplinary Approach in Teaching

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A multidisciplinary approach combines knowledge and skills from several academic disciplines to address complex issues and difficulties.

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In traditional education, students learn in a siloed format in which each subject is taught independently from the others. Although math, science, language arts, and social studies may appear in the same curriculum, the lesson plan of one course usually has no relation to the other courses.

Interdisciplinary education is different. An alternative form of student learning, it reforms the traditional education model by combining subjects to address complex problems that can't be solved using only one discipline. For example, when analyzing national political poll numbers, students must draw upon their combined knowledge of math, geography, and social studies.

The goal of interdisciplinary education is to shape well-rounded individuals who can think critically and solve problems that span multiple disciplines. Teachers who have completed an advanced degree program understand the value and the benefits that an interdisciplinary education yields.

Interdisciplinary Education Defined

Interdisciplinary education is a method of teaching and learning that combines multiple subjects to create a new line of thinking and address complex problems. This method accomplishes two things that the traditional method of education does not. First, it expands the learning experience by drawing upon multiple subjects at the same time. Second, it promotes critical thinking by encouraging students to engage in complex problem solving.

According to the Science and Research Institute at Carleton College, interdisciplinary learning teaches students the four following cognitive skills.

Recognizing biases

Thinking critically

Embracing ambiguity

Analyzing ethical concerns

The Challenges of Interdisciplinary Education

Interdisciplinary education is not the traditional format for teaching and learning. Much of that can be explained by the various challenges educators face when implementing it. Teachers who wish to offer their students this type of education must:

Become sufficiently knowledgeable in each discipline they plan on teaching

Find the right balance and level of complexity for the subjects they plan to teach

Convince the student body that interdisciplinary education is a worthy pursuit

Remain objective and open to other opinions and viewpoints

Promote the synthesis of ideas from multiple disciplines

Refrain from offering too much guidance during lessons, as it may interfere with students' critical thinking and problem solving

Practice effective classroom management to keep students calm, organized, and focused on the task at hand

Collectively, the challenge of interdisciplinary education is that it requires students and teachers to invest additional time and effort while remaining open minded about the learning model.

The Benefits of Interdisciplinary Education

Although implementing interdisciplinary education poses its challenges, the array of short- and long-term benefits make it a worthwhile endeavor. In addition to learning essential cognitive skills that are valued in professional environments, the interdisciplinary method of teaching and learning can yield the following benefits for students.

They can explore a wider range of topics.

They are capable of understanding multiple viewpoints.

They can objectively evaluate conflicting perspectives.

They are capable of forming their own ideas and opinions.

They can utilize the knowledge of multiple disciplines at once.

They can confidently approach complex problems.

They gain a more comprehensive worldview.

Many companies list "outside the box thinker" as one of the ideal traits they're looking for in a job candidate. However, people who think outside the box are usually those who have received an interdisciplinary education. Their cognitive training to think critically, creatively, and beyond the boundaries of a single subject enables them to approach problems and leverage knowledge in ways most people can't.

Examples of Interdisciplinary Education

Interdisciplinary education draws from several subjects that are presented in concert to facilitate the learning process. For example, the evolution of Japanese cinema requires knowledge of history, a foreign language and culture, and the art of filmmaking. Since era and culture directly influence artistic expression, the interdisciplinary approach to teaching Japanese cinema is the most appropriate.

Yojimbo, released in 1961, depicts the feudal Japanese era when ronin-samurai without a master-are bodyguards for hire. The film directly influenced A Fistful of Dollars, which is a 'Spaghetti Western' remake that was released in 1964, starring Clint Eastwood. In terms of interdisciplinary education, comparisons between Eastern and Western culture, film genres, and historical accuracy could all be explored.

Another example of interdisciplinary learning can teach students how to determine probability using genetic conditions that occur in certain dog breeds. Students would need to draw on their knowledge of both mathematics and science to correctly determine the likelihood of a certain breed developing respiratory issues or other healthcare problems.

For example, pugs are 54 percent more likely to develop brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS) compared to non-pug breeds. When students research the anatomical factors that make pugs most susceptible to BOAS, they will discover the breed has an enlarged tongue, elongated soft palate, and narrow nostrils, all of which can lead to breathing issues. Further, students will discover that pugs have DNA mutations, which are reported to be the source of BOAS. The combination of math, canine anatomy and health issues, and molecular structure all play a role in demonstrating the advantage of interdisciplinary education.

Elevate the Classroom Experience With an Advanced Degree in Education

The array of skills and cognitive abilities that students learn through interdisciplinary education cannot be overstated. When educators put in the time and effort to implement this method of learning, it results in more well-rounded individuals who are capable of critical and creative thought and objective analysis. It's a good universal design for learning model because it removes the barriers between educational subjects and finds meaningful ways to integrate them.

If you are interested in developing the skills and knowledge to help students achieve academic success, you would do well to explore your educational options. The Online Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program at American University prepares graduates to lead a diverse student body in the classroom by using the most effective methods and practical teaching tools.

Ready to usher in the next generation of creative thinkers and problem solvers? Take the first step toward becoming a highly qualified educator by learning more about the program.

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What is interdisciplinary education and how do students benefit? Learn more by reading our comprehensive breakdown of this method of teaching and learning.

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Formative assessments may be low stakes for students, but this method of monitoring student learning plays a crucial role in overall student progress monitoring throughout the school year. Looking for formative assessment examples to use in your classroom that will give you the information you need but also keep your students engaged?

The teachers on the Teach Starter team have put together a variety of formative assessments to help you make sense of your students' understanding!

What Is Formative Assessment?

If you've already got a handle on this student monitoring concept, feel free to skip ahead to the examples! Still here? Let's dive in! Formative assessment is a method of monitoring your students' learning in the midst of your lessons. Assessing in this manner allows you to quickly provide feedback or make adjustments to your teaching.

Formative assessments are helpful for both teachers and students. As a teacher, a formative assessment helps you see where students might be struggling and address the problem immediately. For students, these brief knowledge checks help them identify their own weaknesses and ask for help. These assessments are not to be graded and do not carry any significant weight since they're only part of the learning process.

Formative assessments differ from summative assessments, which are typically subject to grading. Summative assessments occur at the end of a learning progression and are solely focused on evaluating content mastery.

Formative Assessment Examples

Jumping Letter Recognition

Let's start off with a formative assessment example for primary teachers that doubles as both a letter recognition assessment and an active activity to get some of those wiggles out.

Grab the painter's tape, and tape letters to your classroom floor! Students line up, and you call out a letter for students to "jump" to.
See more active games you can use for formative assessment!
Hands Up Fun

Need a quick and easy formative assessment? Instead of having students simply raise their hands if they feel they understood the lesson or need help, make things a little more fun with hand signals. A fist in the air could be "I need more practice" or using the "hook 'em horns" signal in the air could mean "I mostly understand and could show a classmate."
Download a set of fun number talks hand signal posters to guide your students!
Emoji Assessment

Kids love emojis, and they're a perfect way to gauge how well students feel they've grasped a concept. Download free emoji self-assessment cards for the entire class, and instruct students to hold up the emoji that best fits how they're feeling! Alternately, students can leave their emoji cards on their desks while performing independent work, so you know which students need help.

Tweet Tweet

Elementary students may not be on Twitter, but that doesn't mean you can't take a nod from the social media platform to make formative assessments more fun for students. Challenge them to sum up the lesson in 280 characters or less on a sticky note, or ask them to create three hashtags that describe the day's lesson. The sticky notes can be posted on a parking lot on your wall.

Exit Tickets

Exit tickets are a classic formative assessment example and for good reason! They're an easy way to collect student feedback, and you can make them as simple or as detailed as you want!
Explore a collection of exit tickets already created and ready to print!
Doodle Notes

Doodling has been proven to improve memory recall and help visual learners. So lean into the benefits for your formative assessments! Allow students to draw a picture to show you what they've learned, rather than requiring them to write something out.

Hit the Target

Set up a target on your classroom wall (this printable target is available as a PDF or in Word for editing!), and ask students to evaluate how well they understand a lesson by placing a sticky note with their name on the target. If they feel they can explain the concept to a classmate, for example, their sticky should go on the bullseye! Need help? Their sticky goes on the outer ring.

Spot the Error

Present your class with a list of "facts" from the lesson, including some common misconceptions or points of confusion related to your lesson. Ask your students to "spot the error" to determine if they're caught up in those confusion points.

Two Truths and a Lie

A similar version to the spot the error formative assessment example, you can present your class with two truths and a lie about the subject, challenging students to activate prior knowledge to identify the lie.

Create a Comic Strip

Bring the fun of superheroes and villains into your formative assessments by assigning students to create a comic strip that details what they've just learned!

Sentence. Phrase. Word.

Have your students write down a sentence that summarizes the lesson. Next, they should circle the most important phrase in the sentence, and draw a line beneath an important word.

Solve 3

After a math lesson, write out three problems on the whiteboard, and ask students to solve them on a sticky note. Students should write their names on their sticky notes and hand them in so you can read through and evaluate how well they did. This is a great way to determine your intervention groups.
Want to pre-design your sticky notes? Download a template for printing your own sticky notes!
Write it on the Whiteboard

It's simple, we know, but if your students have individual whiteboards, this is an effective formative assessment idea. Similar to using hand signals, assign a value to numbers or letters such as "A means I don't understand," and "Be means I almost have it." Direct students to write the letter (or number) on their whiteboards and hold them up.

Think, Pair, Share

Getting to talk to a friend during class is always a hit with students, and think, pair, share exercises make great formative assessments too. All you need to do is walk around, listen in, and take a quick anecdotal record to identify students showing mastery.

Concept Map

Direct students to walk you through their thoughts about the lesson with a concept map. Students can answer questions like "What is it?" or "What are some examples?" Concept maps work extremely well as formative assessments and activities during vocabulary instruction.
Download a concept map template to use as a scaffold!
Headline It

This is another quick and easy formative assessment idea. If your students were going to write a newspaper article about the lesson, what would their headline be?

Wanted Poster

We saved one of our favorite formative assessment examples for last! Direct students to create a wanted poster for anything from a historical figure they're learning about in social studies to a numeral in math class!

Banner image via Shutterstock/Monkey Business Images

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17 Formative Assessment Examples Elementary Students Love as Much as Teachers Do

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Formative assessments may be low stakes for students, but this method of monitoring student learning plays a crucial role in overall student progress monitoring throughout the school year. Looking for formative assessment examples to use in your classroom that will give you the information you need but also keep your students engaged?

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Every teacher knows the end-of-the-unit drill: TESTS. And just like that, the groans echo around the room. Let's face it, traditional testing isn't always the most engaging or accurate way to see what our students have absorbed. That's where our superhero, Summative Assessment Ideas, comes in, swooping down to save us all from the monotonous and often dreaded routine of standard exams!

What are Summative Assessments?

Summative assessments are like those candid shots photographers love to capture - they give us a geniune glimpse into what our students have learned throughout a unit or term. Imagine how much more we could understand about our students' learning if we took time to capture a range of these candid shots, rather than relying on the formal, posed (and often stressed) portraits of standard tests.

In essence, summative assessments are a method of evaluation used to measure a student's understanding, knowledge, or skills at the end of a unit, term, or academic year.

Summative assessments are employed at strategically planned points during the academic year. They are used to determine whether the objectives of the educational program have been met, and if the learning outcomes align with the set of curriculum standards. These assessments not only allow us to review and grade student performance, but they also help us refine and adjust our teaching strategies. They are essential to ensure that learning is taking place and that it's effective and impactful.

Gone are the days when assessments were merely limited to standardized tests or weekly quizzes. With creativity and innovation, we can make this process exciting and comprehensive. Here are 15 creative summative assessment examples that you can implement in your elementary classroom.

15 Summative Assessment Ideas for Elementary Students

1. Create a Trailer or Video
Students will create an orginal video or movie trailer explaining the topic.

2. Create an Anchor Chart or Poster Board
Students will create an anchor chart or poster that integrates graphics and texts to teach the topic.

3. Create a Comic Strip
Students will create a 10-frame comic strip. The focus should be on teaching the topic throughout the comic strip.

4. Create a Podcast
Students can create a radio-style podcast report that highlights details about your topic.

5. Build a Model or Diorama
Students can create a model or diorama to show what you've learned about the topic. Include index cards or sticky notes to explain extra facts or information.

6. Write a Song, Skit, Poem, or Play.
Students will write (and peform, if they want!) a song, poem, skit, or play that teaches the topic at hand.

7. Create your Own Board Game.
Design your own board game or use one of these templates to help you. Students will create question cards and answers to show what they've learned. Bonus tip: Give students time in class to play their created games with other students!

8. Create an Art Collage
Students can create a collage using a variety of images and words to visually show what they've learned about the topic.

9. Become a News Reporter
Allow students to write out their news report, record it, and/or present it to their classmates to show what they've learned.

10. Create Your Own Kahoot! Or Jeopardy Game
Allow students to create a game online and play it with classmates. My students have loved Kahoot! and JeopardyLabs.

11. Make a Google Slides or PowerPoint Show
Students can create a presentation that includes text and images to teach key points about the topic.

12. Write Your Own Test Questions & Answer Key
Instead of taking a traditional test, students can actually write their own test questions. The important part here is that they also include an answer key!

13. Write an Essay
I know this one can seem boring, but some students who enjoy writing will excel with this. Students will write a 4- or 5- paragraph essay about the topic.

14. Design an Advertisement
Students can create a radio ad, magazine ad, or a TV commercial to share key points about the topic.

15. Create a Google Site
Studetns can create a website that teaches about the topic in a creative way.

Yes, these projects can often be more time-consuming to grade. Yes, it often takes up valuable class time. But I have discovered that it is worth it every.single.time.

BONUS TIP! Create a rubric so you and your students will know exactly how to get a good grade and show what they've learned. It may help to also create a checklist for students to know exactly what topics they need to cover in their project tohow that they've accomplished the task.

Story time: I've had several students like this throughout my career, but let's name this one Carlos. Carlos was disengaged during traditional tests. He always knew he wasn't a great preformer on tests, so why try? I turned a traditional paper-pencil test into a project-based assessment, and Carlos blossomed! His creativity showed as he designed an eco-friendly city model for a social studies project. He detailed the reasoning behind every element and showed deep understanding far better than any multiple-choice test could. That's when I realized creative summative assessments need to happen in my classroom.

Let's treat summative assessments like a blank canvas and let our students paint a comprehensive picture of their knowledge and understanding. It's our job to step away from the "same old, same old" and explore how we can best engage our young learners. Sure, it might be new, and it might be a bit daunting, but remember the transformation of your students when they are given the opportunity to shine. So let's dive in, get creative, and allow our students to surprise us with what they can truly achieve. After all, we're all here to discover and nurture their potential, one engaging assessment at a time!

Read about 15 Formative Assessment Ideas For Elementary Students HERE!
👇SAVE THESE IDEAS ON PINTEREST 👇

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15 Summative Assessment Examples for Elementary Students

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Every teacher knows the end-of-the-unit drill: TESTS. And just like that, the groans echo around the room. Let's face it, traditional testing isn't always the most engaging or accurate way to see what our students have absorbed. That's where our superhero, Summative Assessment Ideas, comes in, swooping down to save us all from the monotonous ...

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Summative Assessment: Overview & Examples

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Middle School Writing Rubrics - Dr. Catlin Tucker

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In my book Blended Learning in Grades 4-12, I shared the following middle school writing rubrics with my readers. Unfortunately, the short links I provided in my book have timed out, so I wanted to share these on my blog so any middle school teachers interested in using them have access!

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State Testing

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The New York State Education Department (NYSED) asks all educators who wish to participate in test development activities to complete our online application located at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NYSTestDevOpps.

The Department offers many opportunities for New York State (NYS) certified teachers and administrators and other qualified professionals (including Higher Education faculty and administration) to contribute to the creation and review of state assessments including:

Item Writing/Development

Educational Passage Review

Test Form Construction

Item Review

Final Eyes Review

Bias Review

Rangefinding/Marker Response

Standard Setting and Verification

Performance Level Description Development

Scoring Material Development

These activities, and others that arise on an ad-hoc basis, are key steps in the NYSED Test Development Process. NYSED relies on expert guidance from hundreds of educators every year to successfully develop assessments for NYS students. The teachers' and administrators' expertise in their subject areas, and their knowledge of their students' needs and proficiencies, make it possible for the Department to achieve the critical goal of developing fair, reliable and valid tests.

Participation in each of these activities provides an excellent opportunity for professional development as educators learn more about New York State Testing Program (NYSTP) assessments and the test development process, collaborate with colleagues from around the state, and share their knowledge as content experts.

All NYSTP exams are developed in accordance with national industry and professional standards for educational testing. State assessments are used to measure examinees' knowledge and skills and to determine whether schools, districts, and the State meet the required progress targets specified in the NYS accountability system and in the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015.

Educators are asked to consider participating in test development activities for one or more of the following assessment programs:

NYSED will directly contact educators via email or phone when there is an opportunity for participation. These communications will be made as far in advance of any opportunity as possible in order to allow for educators to make necessary arrangements.

We ask all educators who are interested in contributing to this process to complete an online application at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NYSTestDevOpps.

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The New York State Education Department (NYSED) asks all educators who wish to participate in test development activities to complete our online application located at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NYSTestDevOpps.

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Testing

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NYSED General Information: (518) 474-3852

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5 Reasons Why We Love Progressive Education - Park Day School

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We may not be able to imagine half the jobs our children will have in 20 years, but we do know they will be in peer environments, working alongside others. Group work and partner projects are a key part of Park Day's progressive curriculum.

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Although a career working with children can be fun and rewarding, it is not without challenges. One of these is managing challenging behaviour. Although there are many strategies out there to help manage behaviour, occasionally you will need to gather information and evidence to help you understand the context of behaviour in relation to the student's environment. This will help you develop an effective approach.

In this article, we will outline the ABC recording method, and how using it might help you analyse the behaviour of children you work with. We provide a handy downloadable chart which you can print off and use as part of your strategy.

What is the Antecedent Behaviour Consequence (A-B-C) model?

A-B-C or ABC recording is a way of collecting information to help determine the function of a child's behaviour. It does this by breaking down your observations into three elements:

Antecedents (A): what happened directly before the behaviour occurred.

Behaviour (B): the specific action(s) or behaviour of interest.

Consequences (C): what happened directly after the behaviour occurred.

Thinking of behaviour in these terms helps to understand why a child is behaving in a particular manner. This allows more meaningful interventions rather than just trying to prevent the behaviour itself.

Once collected, ABC information can provide some valuable insights on its own. It can be used informally by you to identify patterns of behaviour and subsequently develop effective management strategies. This can be applied in all sorts of settings, from parents at home, to teachers in the school classroom.

More formally, ABC information can be used as just one part of a larger ' functional behaviour assessment '. These functional assessments of behaviour may be carried out by specialists as part of the process of addressing challenging behaviour for children with autism or learning disabilities, as recommended in NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidelines (links in Further Reading).

History and Context of the ABC model

Fundamental theory

Breaking down behaviour into antecedents, behaviours and consequences has its roots deep within behavioural psychology of the 20 th century. B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) described this as the 'three-term contingency' of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is the theory that learnt behaviours can be encouraged by positive reinforcement, or discouraged through withholding positive reinforcement or applying punishment. It makes the crucial link between the behaviour itself (which occurs due to a trigger/antecedent) and the consequences after the behaviour occurred.

Application of theory

This concept underpins the field of applied behaviour analysis (ABA) which originated in the 1950s. ABA subscribes to the general modern view that all behaviour has a purpose o r function. ABA attempts to reduce the occurrence of challenging behaviour by understanding this function, then changing the antecedents, consequences, or both. It also aims to replace challenging behaviours with those of a more socially accepted function. For example, giving a child coloured cards to obtain attention from a teacher instead of standing up and shouting out.

Although closely linked to autism intervention, ABA principles form the basis of behaviour management strategies in a wide range of settings from home to healthcare. There are even whole books dedicated to using ABA for behaviour management within general school classrooms.

Modern iterations and extensions of ABA include the development of the functional assessments, function-based intervention and implementation of positive behavioural support (PBS) systems that we know today.

How ABC charts developed

ABC charts arose from a need for better methods for recording direct behaviour observations. The ABC method was first described by the applied behavioural scientist Sidney Bijou in a 1968 research paper (though note that the terms 'ABC analysis' or 'ABC chart' and the like, were coined later).

At the time, this paper was revolutionary in influencing the way behaviour was recorded. Previous behaviourists often described observations as a running narrative of events without any separation. Applying the A-B-C structure broke these narratives down into a series of events defined by triggers, actions and consequences.

Bijou emphasised the importance of doing this over multiple timepoints, and recording behaviours without inferring any emotional significance. Crucially, working with the ABC method of recording enabled patterns to be more easily identified and better integration of observational work with experimental work.

Modern usage of ABC charts

Recording behaviour through ABC charts is now common practice among many professions addressing challenging behaviour. Several reports suggest using ABC charts to help identify patterns behind challenging behaviour in the classroom environment. (See primary schools, secondary schools, general classroom, and the Further Reading section at the end of this article).

The use of ABC charts can be particularly valuable for those individuals who may struggle to articulate themselves. In these circumstances, behaviour - including self-injurious behaviour - may be serving as a way for the individual to communicate their wants and needs. This includes people recovering from brain injury, people with dementia, children with special educational needs (SEN) and individuals with autism.

The ABCs in more detail

All ABC charts record the core components of antecedents, behaviours and consequences. Below, these are discussed in more details, with some examples for each element.

Antecedents

Antecedents are the events that directly precede the observed behaviour and are also known as 'triggers'. They may include:

Being asked to stop or start specific tasks or activities, e.g. task transition.

A particularly easy or difficult assignment/activity.

Independent work.

Group work.

Being told 'no'.

Loud noises or bright lighting.

A comment or action from another child.

Absence of attention (e.g. teacher diverted to another student, or peers working quietly and not looking at the child).

Being in 'free-play' (no instructions or guidance).

Praise.

It is also important to consider antecedents that are not immediate and include the wider environment. These 'slow' triggers are noted at the start of a recording session, and could include:

Time of day (influencing hunger and energy levels/tiredness).

Medication.

Routine disruption.

Family events such as new sibling or bereavement.

Specific people/children being present.

Consequences

Consequences may serve to maintain, decrease or increase the frequency of behaviour depending on whether they are positive or negative. Typical consequences could include:

Repeat of request by teacher or other adult.

Being given a choice.

Behaviour being ignored (no action).

Item or toy taken away/received.

Time-out/sent out of class.

Reprimand by teacher or other adult (negative attention).

Praise or reassurance from a teacher or other adult (positive attention).

Consequences may also serve as an antecedent to another behaviour and need to be recorded as such. For example:

Pupil asked to put book away

Pupil ignores request

Request repeated, with deliberate eye contact

Repeat of request to put book away, with deliberate eye contact

Pupil puts book away

Praise

Behaviours

The behaviour is the action which the child takes. When describing behaviour in the context of ABC the aim is to be precise and specific. For example, 'threw book on floor', 'ignored request and carried on playing with toy', 'tapped pen loudly on desk', 'spoke without putting hand up', 'got up from chair'.

Behaviour is commonly thought of as having one of four functions (often referred to using the acronym SEAT):

Sensory - it feels good.

Escape - from environment or situation.

Attention - from others (adults or peers).

Tangible - access to a specific thing, such as a toy or food.

When analysing ABC data, you can look to see if the same behaviour often results in a particular consequence. For example, if biting another child keeps resulting in the bitten child surrendering a toy to the 'biter', then this behaviour has a 'tangible' function. With this knowledge, an appropriate intervention can be devised to encourage the use of a more appropriate behaviour to serve this function (teaching the child to ask nicely), and discourage the use of the biting behaviour (ensure toy is removed from the biter).

The same behaviour may serve alternate functions in different contexts. This is why it is important to collect information on the antecedents and consequences each time the behaviour happens, so you can consider the function for each occurrence.

When is it useful to apply the ABC model?

There are many strategies and techniques for managing challenging behaviour in children. You can find some helpful advice in our Hub article ' How to Deal with Challenging Behaviour in the Classroom '.

However, sometimes your go-to strategies may not be working. You might have difficulties with a particular child, or there could be a certain class-wide behaviour which frustrates you. In these circumstances, it could be useful to conduct your own informal ABC analysis to help you really get to the root of the problem.

You might also be asked by your school or another colleague to fill in an ABC chart for a particular pupil if they want to track how a child behaves throughout the day across different subjects or classrooms. If this is the case, make sure you have a clear definition of the specific behaviour that they want you to monitor (if applicable).

For example, instead of 'becomes aggressive', you could have this clarified as 'uses hands, feet, body or objects against others in a forceful way' and/or 'deliberate use of language (verbal or nonverbal) directed at others in a harmful or threatening manner'.

ABC analysis is very useful when you need to manage behaviour of children who have special educational needs (SEN), learning difficulties or autism, where challenging behaviour often presents as the result of an unmet want or need. You can conduct your own informal ABC analysis at any time, however if you have serious behaviour concerns you should also approach your school SENCO or behavioural support team for help and advice.

Our Challenging Behaviour training course is recommended for professionals who want to have a better understanding of how to respond to the behaviour of the children that they work with. The course includes a series of activities for you to complete in order to help you relate the information given to your setting.

Why Should I Use an ABC Chart for Challenging Behaviour?

An ABC chart is one of many types of behaviour recording, but it is often appreciated due to its simplicity and the depth of information it provides. Using an ABC chart as an observational tool helps you to analyse the circumstances and consequences of a child's behaviour. This helps form strategies of behaviour management that are person-centric, and ensures the needs of the individual are fully met. This is important because if the underlying reason for the behaviour is not identified and addressed, then problems may manifest themselves in additional challenging behaviours.
Some benefits of using an ABC chart include:

Recording behaviour on multiple occasions, enabling you to see patterns.

Checking for wider triggering context for problem behaviour, for example, being hungry or tired.

Identify situations when the challenging behaviour is most likely to occur so you can take steps to avoid these situations, or know what to expect if the situation is unavoidable.

Identifying and eliminating any positive consequences of inappropriate behaviour.

Identifying consequences which motivate the child, which you can then use to encourage desirable behaviours.

Establishing a plan for moving forward

At the end of collecting ABC observations, review your data and try to formulate a summary statement about the function of the behaviour (for example, using 'SEAT'). Additionally, try to draw conclusions about the potential triggers and identify any reinforcing consequences of the behaviour. It is a good idea to share this with colleagues to get a second independent opinion about your thoughts. You can then start to plan behaviour management strategies.
Helpful questions to consider during this process include:

Does the unwanted behaviour often occur at similar times during the day? What does this tell you?

Does the behaviour occur most often with a particular antecedent/trigger?

What changes could you make to your classroom or teaching methods to avoid particular antecedents?

If tracking multiple behaviours, do they occur with similar antecedents or consequences?

Looking at the antecedents and consequences, what is the most likely function for each instance of the behaviour? Is it often the same function?

What behaviour would you like to see instead?

How can you teach or explain this replacement behaviour to the child?

How can you develop 'good' consequences that will reinforce a preferred behaviour, and how do they relate to the original function of the behaviour?

How can you remove the 'good' consequences if the unwanted behaviour is displayed again in the future?

Was the behaviour deliberately provoked by others - are there other children you also need to consider?

Do you need any additional support to manage the behaviour?

Example Use of an ABC Chart (Case Study)

Here we provide an example of how ABC analysis can help develop a successful behaviour support plan for a child exhibiting challenging behaviour. Use the drop-down to expand the text.

Example details

Taking care with conclusions

One thing to take care with when using ABC charts is the possibility for false conclusions. This is because the ABC data you collect is correlational, not causal, so you can't be totally certain that the associations you make relating behaviours to functions and triggers are correct. In most cases, you will be able to draw meaningful conclusions. But, if you find an intervention strategy is not working, try some other ideas or collect some additional data. Don't forget to use your school's support system if needed.

Using ABC charts to identify things that work

Although the majority of examples for using ABC charts focus on developing strategies for managing challenging behaviour, they can be used effectively in positive ways. For example, you could use an ABC chart to gather information on consequences which seem to positively reinforce good behaviour. Everyone is an individual, so knowing what motivates a particular child can help you to create effective rewards for good behaviour.

Additionally, you could identify antecedents that seem to result in a desirable behaviour. For example, you might find that hand raising rather than calling out occurs more often when the student is reminded of this at the start of the lesson, and positive praise is given each time.

Free ABC Chart for Behaviour Template

Below you can download our ABC chart template to help you collect data in an organised and meaningful way. You can print out our chart and have it in a handy location on your desk or wall, so you can fill it in upon the occurrence of a behaviour, and have the relevant information in one convenient place.

How to fill in the chart

Firstly, define the specific behaviour you want to address and which is causing you most issues. ABC charts are most commonly used to track just one or two target behaviours at once, because it allows you time to record each instance whilst also managing a class or group. However, you can monitor multiple challenging behaviours in an individual or one particular behaviour across a whole class if you wish.

If you have a classroom assistant, you may want to explain what you are doing to them and ask them to help you record the behaviour.

Next, decide when you will take records. It might be too much to fill in the ABC chart throughout the whole day - if so, you could choose a particular lesson when you know the behaviour is likely to occur.

When you are ready to fill out the chart, make sure you keep it in an easily accessible place. Note down the time, then detail the antecedent and consequence each time the behaviour(s) occur as objectively as possible.

When observing a high frequency behaviour, it can be useful to create a system to record common antecedents and consequences using letters or numbers to save time. For example, consequence A: time out, B: choice given to student, C: reprimand, D: attention from peers, etc.

How often you should use it

To use an ABC chart effectively it is recommended to collect data several times, or until you are able to see patterns emerge.

One guide suggests that for a single target behaviour, observations should be carried out over 2-3 sessions, depending on the frequency of the behaviour. If you aim to record multiple behaviours, you will need more data to draw meaningful conclusions - ideally between 3 to 7 school days. (Reference: Martella et al., 2012).
Click the button below to download your free ABC chart template now: This article has outlined the background and theory behind the ABC model of behaviour and provided you with some practical information on how you can use an ABC chart to monitor challenging behaviour. Hopefully this will aid you in developing more effective, meaningful interventions. Finally, we provide you with a template ABC chart which you can download and print for your own use.
What to Read Next

Further Reading and References

This article was written using many different sources. In addition to the links in the article, you may find the following references of particular interest:

NICE guidelines for addressing challenging behaviour of children with autism or learning disabilities. They recommend that practitioners should try to 'develop a shared understanding about the function of the behaviour'. In sections 1.5.9 (learning disabilities) and 1.4.7 (autism), requirements of functional assessments of behaviour are outlined to include information such as time of occurrence, triggers and consequences/reinforcers. ABC charts are an efficient way to gather this information.

Moreno, G. (2011). 'Addressing challenging behaviours in the general education setting: conducting a teacher-based Functional Behavioural Assessment (FBA)'. Education 3-13, vol 39(4), p.363-371. Available from: link. This article discusses how applying the principles of FBA, including use of A-B-C recording, can be useful for teachers in the classroom for students both with and without learning disabilities. It also provides practical advice on conducting analysis and developing subsequent behaviour intervention plans.

Martella, R.C., et al. (2012). 'Functional Behaviour Assessments and Behaviour Support Plans.' Chap. 4 in Comprehensive behaviour management: individualized, classroom, and schoolwide approaches, p.110-145. California: SAGE Publications, Inc. Available from: link. Provides detailed information and context on use of FBA in schools to aid behaviour support plans. Guidance on how to perform A-B-C analysis can be found on page 124.

Moxley, R.A. (1998). 'Why Skinner is difficult'. The Behaviour Analyst, vol 21(1) p.73-91. Available from: link. This is a historical overview of the influential work of B.F. Skinner, explaining the origins and development of the theory of operant conditioning and the three-term contingency (viewing behaviour through antecedents and consequences).

Mendres, A.E.; Frank-Crawford, M.A. (2009). 'A Tribute to Sidney W. Bijou, Pioneer in Behavior Analysis and Child Development: Key Works That Have Transformed Behavior Analysis in Practice'. Behaviour Analysis in Practice, vol 2(2), p.4-10. Available from: link. This article explains the importance of Bijou's development of A-B-C recording in the context of modern behaviour analysis.

Bijou, S.W.; Peterson, R.F.; Ault, M.H. (1968). 'A method to integrate descriptive and experimental field studes at the level of data and empirical concepts'. Journal of Applied Behaviour Analysis. Vol 1(2) p.175-191. Available from: link. This is the original paper describing the method of ABC analysis and observation. The origin of ABC charts can be seen on page 178.

Gore, N.J.; McGill, P.; Toogood, S. et al. (2013). 'Definition and scope for positive behavioural support'. International Journal of Positive Behavioural Support, vol 3(2), p.14-23. Available from: link. Discusses positive behavioural support (PBS) as a strategy for managing challenging behaviour in relation to the UK systems for multiple school or care settings and people with a variety of needs. Explains the roots of PBS in applied behaviour analysis (ABA) and use of functional assessments.

The University of Kansas 'Special Connections' Website. Available from: link. This website contains a lot of practical advice on strategies to manage behaviour, including the use of functional assessments, ABC charts, positive behaviour intervention plans and case studies. The resource was developed to aid teachers, parents and other practitioners in supporting students with special educational needs, but the information is applicable to many other settings as well.

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ABC Chart for Challenging Behaviour: Free Template

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Recording behaviour through ABC charts is now common practice among many professions addressing challenging behaviour. We provide a free ABC chart, here.

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When it comes to student assessment and evaluation, there are a lot of methods to consider. In some cases, testing is the best way to assess a student's knowledge, and the answers are either right or wrong. But often, assessing a student's performance is much less clear-cut. In these situations, a scoring rubric is often the way to go, especially if you're using standards-based grading. Here's what you need to know about this useful tool, along with lots of rubric examples to get you started.

What is a scoring rubric?

In the United States, a rubric is a guide that lays out the performance expectations for an assignment. It helps students understand what's required of them, and guides teachers through the evaluation process. (Note that in other countries, the term "rubric" may instead refer to the set of instructions at the beginning of an exam. To avoid confusion, some people use the term "scoring rubric" instead.)

A rubric generally has three parts:

Performance criteria: These are the various aspects on which the assignment will be evaluated. They should align with the desired learning outcomes for the assignment.

Rating scale: This could be a number system (often 1 to 4) or words like "exceeds expectations, meets expectations, below expectations," etc.

Indicators: These describe the qualities needed to earn a specific rating for each of the performance criteria. The level of detail may vary depending on the assignment and the purpose of the rubric itself.

Rubrics take more time to develop up front, but they help ensure more consistent assessment, especially when the skills being assessed are more subjective. A well-developed rubric can actually save teachers a lot of time when it comes to grading. What's more, sharing your scoring rubric with students in advance often helps improve performance. This way, students have a clear picture of what's expected of them and what they need to do to achieve a specific grade or performance rating.
Learn more about why and how to use a rubric here.
Types of Rubric

There are three basic rubric categories, each with its own purpose.

Holistic Rubric

Source: Cambrian College

This type of rubric combines all the scoring criteria in a single scale. They're quick to create and use, but they have drawbacks. If a student's work spans different levels, it can be difficult to decide which score to assign. They also make it harder to provide feedback on specific aspects.

Traditional letter grades are a type of holistic rubric. So are the popular "hamburger rubric" and " cupcake rubric" examples. Learn more about holistic rubrics here.

Analytic Rubric

Source: University of Nebraska

Analytic rubrics are much more complex and generally take a great deal more time up front to design. They include specific details of the expected learning outcomes, and descriptions of what criteria are required to meet various performance ratings in each. Each rating is assigned a point value, and the total number of points earned determines the overall grade for the assignment.

Though they're more time-intensive to create, analytic rubrics actually save time while grading. Teachers can simply circle or highlight any relevant phrases in each rating, and add a comment or two if needed. They also help ensure consistency in grading, and make it much easier for students to understand what's expected of them.
Learn more about analytic rubrics here.
Developmental Rubric

Source: Deb's Data Digest

A developmental rubric is a type of analytic rubric, but it's used to assess progress along the way rather than determining a final score on an assignment. The details in these rubrics help students understand their achievements, as well as highlight the specific skills they still need to improve.

Developmental rubrics are essentially a subset of analytic rubrics. They leave off the point values, though, and focus instead on giving feedback using the criteria and indicators of performance.
Learn how to use developmental rubrics here.
Ready to create your own rubrics? Find general tips on designing rubrics here. Then, check out these examples across all grades and subjects to inspire you.

Elementary School Rubric Examples

These elementary school rubric examples come from real teachers who use them with their students. Adapt them to fit your needs and grade level.

Reading Fluency Rubric

You can use this one as an analytic rubric by counting up points to earn a final score, or just to provide developmental feedback. There's a second rubric page available specifically to assess prosody (reading with expression).

Learn more: Teacher Thrive

Reading Comprehension Rubric

The nice thing about this rubric is that you can use it at any grade level, for any text. If you like this style, you can get a reading fluency rubric here too.

Learn more: Pawprints Resource Center

Written Response Rubric

Rubrics aren't just for huge projects. They can also help kids work on very specific skills, like this one for improving written responses on assessments.

Learn more: Dianna Radcliffe: Teaching Upper Elementary and More

Interactive Notebook Rubric

If you use interactive notebooks as a learning tool, this rubric can help kids stay on track and meet your expectations.

Learn more: Classroom Nook

Project Rubric

Use this simple rubric as it is, or tweak it to include more specific indicators for the project you have in mind.

Learn more: Tales of a Title One Teacher

Behavior Rubric

Developmental rubrics are perfect for assessing behavior and helping students identify opportunities for improvement. Send these home regularly to keep parents in the loop.

Learn more: Teachers.net Gazette

Middle School Rubric Examples

In middle school, use rubrics to offer detailed feedback on projects, presentations, and more. Be sure to share them with students in advance, and encourage them to use them as they work so they'll know if they're meeting expectations.

Argumentative Writing Rubric

Argumentative writing is a part of language arts, social studies, science, and more. That makes this rubric especially useful.

Learn more: Dr. Caitlyn Tucker

Role-Play Rubric

Role-plays can be really useful when teaching social and critical thinking skills, but it's hard to assess them. Try a rubric like this one to evaluate and provide useful feedback.

Learn more: A Question of Influence

Art Project Rubric

Art is one of those subjects where grading can feel very subjective. Bring some objectivity to the process with a rubric like this.

Source: Art Ed Guru

Diorama Project Rubric

You can use diorama projects in almost any subject, and they're a great chance to encourage creativity. Simplify the grading process and help kids know how to make their projects shine with this scoring rubric.

Learn more: Historyourstory.com

Oral Presentation Rubric

Rubrics are terrific for grading presentations, since you can include a variety of skills and other criteria. Consider letting students use a rubric like this to offer peer feedback too.

Learn more: Bright Hub Education

High School Rubric Examples

In high school, it's important to include your grading rubrics when you give assignments like presentations, research projects, or essays. Kids who go on to college will definitely encounter rubrics, so helping them become familiar with them now will help in the future.

Presentation Rubric

Analyze a student's presentation both for content and communication skills with a rubric like this one. If needed, create a separate one for content knowledge with even more criteria and indicators.

Learn more: Michael A. Pena Jr.

Debate Rubric

Debate is a valuable learning tool that encourages critical thinking and oral communication skills. This rubric can help you assess those skills objectively.

Learn more: Education World

Project-Based Learning Rubric

Implementing project-based learning can be time-intensive, but the payoffs are worth it. Try this rubric to make student expectations clear and end-of-project assessment easier.

Learn more: Free Technology for Teachers

100-Point Essay Rubric

Need an easy way to convert a scoring rubric to a letter grade? This example for essay writing earns students a final score out of 100 points.

Learn more: Learn for Your Life

Drama Performance Rubric

If you're unsure how to grade a student's participation and performance in drama class, consider this example. It offers lots of objective criteria and indicators to evaluate.

Learn more: Chase March

How do you use rubrics in your classroom? Come share your thoughts and exchange ideas in the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

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15 Helpful Scoring Rubric Examples for All Grades and Subjects

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Scoring rubrics help establish expectations and ensure assessment consistency. Use these rubric examples to help you design your own.

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Free Google Slides themes and Powerpoint templates | Slidesgo

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Discover the best Google Slides themes and PowerPoint templates you can use in your presentations - 100% Free for any use.

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Social Emotional Learning (SEL), what is it, and why does it matter to educators? As an educator, some of the worst things you can hear a student say is, "This is stupid," or "Why are we learning this?" Think back to when you were in school and the subjects that caused you the most frustration.

You'd likely find some common ground with your students in wishing you were given clear reasons why something was important and how learning a subject or skill would benefit you now, as well as years later. That frustration and finding constructive ways to deal with emotions and interact with one another in respectful ways are just a few of the guiding principles behind social emotional learning, or SEL.

Today, in an ever-diversifying world, the classroom is the place where students are often first exposed to people who hail from a range of different backgrounds, hold differing beliefs, and have unique capabilities. To account for these differences and help put all students on an equal footing to succeed, social and emotional learning (SEL) aims to help students better understand their thoughts and emotions, to become more self-aware, and to develop more empathy for others within their community and the world around them.

Developing these qualities in the classroom can help students become better, more productive, self-aware, and socially-aware citizens outside of the classroom in the years ahead. Learn more about the importance of social emotional learning, as well as its benefits both in and out of the classroom.

Table of contents

1. What is Social Emotional Learning (SEL)?

2. T he Five Social Emotional Learning Competencies

3. How Educators Approach SEL

4. The Benefits of SEL

5. What is Social Emotional Learning Theory?

6. Incorporate Social Emotional Learning in the Classroom

7. Measuring Social-Emotional Learning Impact

8. Why is SEL Important?

What is Social Emotional Learning (SEL)?

Social emotional learning (SEL) is a methodology that helps students of all ages to better comprehend their emotions, to feel those emotions fully, and demonstrate empathy for others. These learned behaviors are then used to help students make positive, responsible decisions; create frameworks to achieve their goals, and build positive relationships with others

The Five Social Emotional Learning Competencies

According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), an organization devoted to students and educators to help achieve positive outcomes for PreK-12 students, SEL involves five core competencies that can be applied in both the classroom, at home, and in students' communities. These five core competencies are:

Self-awareness

To recognize your emotions and how they impact your behavior; acknowledging your strengths and weaknesses to better gain confidence in your abilities.

Self-management

To take control and ownership of your thoughts, emotions, and actions in various situations, as well as setting and working toward goals.

Social awareness

The ability to put yourself in the shoes of another person who may be from a different background or culture from the one you grew up with. To act with empathy and in an ethical manner within your home, school, and community.

Relationship skills

The ability to build and maintain healthy relationships with people from a diverse range of backgrounds. This competency focuses on listening to and being able to communicate with others, peacefully resolving conflict, and knowing when to ask for or offer help.

Making responsible decisions

Choosing how to act or respond to a situation is based on learned behaviors such as ethics, safety, weighing consequences, and the well-being of others, as well as yourself.

How Educators Approach SEL

While SEL isn't a designated subject like history or math, it can be woven into the fabric of a school's curriculum. When educators make academic lessons more personal and relatable to students, students may be more inclined to participate and may be less likely to mentally check out during their subjects. By fostering a sense of empathy, self-awareness, and feelings of safety and inclusiveness in the classroom, SEL can have a positive impact that lasts a lifetime.

There are several different approaches to SEL. Some teachers have a more formally designated portion of the school day devoted to SEL - sometimes taught in homeroom. These lessons become a recurring theme throughout the rest of the school day to help make the core competencies of SEL more real to students.

Teachers may want to have students journal or write about their thoughts and feelings on a particular SEL lesson, or even have younger students partner with an older " buddy classroom " (or vice versa) to help students across different age levels bond or find common ground.

Other teachers work SEL-related lessons into more formal subjects, like math, history, or reading. For instance, examples of SEL-in-action can include assigning a group project where students self-delegate roles to work together for the good of the group, role playing as historical figures to understand the rationale behind a person's actions, or for students to conduct formal interviews with one another to take a pulse-check on current events.

Teachers can also work with students to set goals in areas where they may need improvement and help chart their progress, giving them a measurable way to show their achievement and feel a sense of accomplishment.

The Benefits of SEL

SEL is beneficial to both children and adults, increasing self-awareness, academic achievement, and positive behaviors both in and out of the classroom. From an academic standpoint, students who participated in SEL programs saw an 11 percentile increase in their overall grades and better attendance. On a more individual level, the skills learned within an SEL program have been shown to help students better cope with emotional stress, solve problems, and avoid peer pressure to engage in harmful activities.

Students who are equipped to deal with problems that affect them on a personal level are then better able to navigate the pressures of adult life. A report by the AEI/Brookings Working Group on Poverty and Opportunity noted that, "despite their importance to education, employment, and family life, the major educational and social reforms of the K-12 system over the last few decades have not focused sufficiently on the socio-emotional factors that are crucial to learning."

A study published by the American Journal of Public Health used data from the longitudinal, nonintervention subsample of the Fast Track Project, an intervention program designed to reduce aggression in children identified as at high risk for long-term behavioral problems and conduct disorders.

When educators are able to see which students do not grasp the core pillars of SEL, they can better work with them at an early age and help these students develop better self-control, empathy, and other positive qualities. Learning positive behaviors that extend beyond a purely academic level of achievement can help these students develop the "soft skills" required of many jobs, such as teamwork, and ability to understand others, and problem-solving. This can help set these students up for success throughout their school years and beyond.

What is Social Emotional Learning Theory?

Broadly speaking, social and emotional learning (SEL) refers to the process through which individuals learn and apply a set of social, emotional, and related skills, attitudes, behaviors, and values that help direct students. This includes thoughts, feelings, and actions in ways that enable them to succeed in school. However, SEL has been defined in a variety of ways ( Humphrey et al., 2011).

How Do You Incorporate Social Emotional Learning in the Classroom?

There are many ways to incorporate SEL in the classroom. The main idea is to provide an ongoing SEL influence throughout the day. In the beginning, you could start by checking in with students to see how they feel. Another great way is to provide students the opportunity to see how a tricky or troubling situation is being handled. This will give them some ideas on how to handle a tricky situation they may encounter. Utilizing students to role-play in front of the class would be a viable example. Make sure there is a place for students to calm down. This safe space will allow for the student to reflect.

Measuring Social-Emotional Learning Impact

Measuring the impact of implementing SEL inside the classroom goes way beyond just grades. As Dr. Christina Cipriano explains, "When students are struggling and school performance is poor, they are more likely to find school and learning as a source of anxiety, manifesting in diminished self-efficacy, motivation, engagement, and connectedness with school."

As a student is provided the tools associated with SEL, they will have more ownership of their actions, a sense of belonging, and will intrinsically care about their education. A student that has had consistent exposure to SEL is able to manage stress better and reduces the chance for that child to become depressed.

Why is SEL Important?

While SEL has been more formally stood up as a program in preschools throughout all 50 states, very few states have made SEL a designated part of school curriculum at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. To date, only three states have a fully-designed set of standards for SEL programs with benchmarks for students at every grade level from K-12, according to the AEI/Brookings report. These states are Illinois, Kansas, and Pennsylvania.

Because so few states have made SEL a part of their curriculum for K-12 students, statistical evidence showing the benefits of SEL has been anecdotal. However, preschool-age children who were able to participate in an SEL program and learned these principles early on in their school career were able to reap the intended benefits. As more states and schools consider weaving SEL into their curriculum, it can provide educators with more statistically significant evidence of the program's positive impact.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Becoming a teacher can be a rewarding experience that helps a new generation reach new heights and their full potential. If you've considered becoming a teacher, visit our program page to learn how National University's Sanford College of Education can help you achieve your goals. Learn more about our on-campus and online programs, including the Master of Arts in SEL program and the Education Specialist (EdS) in Leadership in SEL program. You can also hear more from our students and faculty.

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What is Social Emotional Learning (SEL): Why It Matters | NU

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Social emotional learning (SEL) is a methodology that helps students better comprehend their emotions & demonstrate empathy for others.

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Is "critical race theory" a way of understanding how American racism has shaped public policy, or a divisive discourse that pits people of color against white people? Liberals and conservatives are in sharp disagreement.

In truth, the divides are not nearly as neat as they may seem. The events of the last decade have increased public awareness about things like housing segregation, the impacts of criminal justice policy in the 1990s, and the legacy of enslavement on Black Americans. But there is much less consensus on what the government's role should be in righting these past wrongs. Add children and schooling into the mix and the debate becomes especially volatile.

School boards, superintendents, even principals and teachers are already facing questions about critical race theory, and there are significant disagreements even among experts about its precise definition as well as how its tenets should inform K-12 policy and practice. This explainer is meant only as a starting point to help educators grasp core aspects of the current debate.

Just what is critical race theory anyway?

Critical race theory is an academic concept that is more than 40 years old. The core idea is that race is a social construct, and that racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies.

The basic tenets of critical race theory, or CRT, emerged out of a framework for legal analysis in the late 1970s and early 1980s created by legal scholars Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Richard Delgado, among others.

A good example is when, in the 1930s, government officials literally drew lines around areas deemed poor financial risks, often explicitly due to the racial composition of inhabitants. Banks subsequently refused to offer mortgages to Black people in those areas.

Today, those same patterns of discrimination live on through facially race-blind policies, like single-family zoning that prevents the building of affordable housing in advantaged, majority-white neighborhoods and, thus, stymies racial desegregation efforts.

CRT also has ties to other intellectual currents, including the work of sociologists and literary theorists who studied links between political power, social organization, and language. And its ideas have since informed other fields, like the humanities, the social sciences, and teacher education.

This academic understanding of critical race theory differs from representation in recent popular books and, especially, from its portrayal by critics-often, though not exclusively, conservative Republicans. Critics charge that the theory leads to negative dynamics, such as a focus on group identity over universal, shared traits; divides people into "oppressed" and "oppressor" groups; and urges intolerance.

Thus, there is a good deal of confusion over what CRT means, as well as its relationship to other terms, like "anti-racism" and "social justice," with which it is often conflated.

To an extent, the term "critical race theory" is now cited as the basis of all diversity and inclusion efforts regardless of how much it's actually informed those programs.

One conservative organization, the Heritage Foundation, recently attributed a whole host of issues to CRT, including the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, LGBTQ clubs in schools, diversity training in federal agencies and organizations, California's recent ethnic studies model curriculum, the free-speech debate on college campuses, and alternatives to exclusionary discipline-such as the Promise program in Broward County, Fla., that some parents blame for the Parkland school shootings. "When followed to its logical conclusion, CRT is destructive and rejects the fundamental ideas on which our constitutional republic is based," the organization claimed.

(A good parallel here is how popular ideas of the common core learning standards grew to encompass far more than what those standards said on paper.)

Does critical race theory say all white people are racist? Isn't that racist, too?

The theory says that racism is part of everyday life, so people-white or nonwhite-who don't intend to be racist can nevertheless make choices that fuel racism.

Some critics claim that the theory advocates discriminating against white people in order to achieve equity. They mainly aim those accusations at theorists who advocate for policies that explicitly take race into account. (The writer Ibram X. Kendi, whose recent popular book How to Be An Antiracist suggests that discrimination that creates equity can be considered anti-racist, is often cited in this context.)

Fundamentally, though, the disagreement springs from different conceptions of racism. CRT puts an emphasis on outcomes, not merely on individuals' own beliefs, and it calls on these outcomes to be examined and rectified. Among lawyers, teachers, policymakers, and the general public, there are many disagreements about how precisely to do those things, and to what extent race should be explicitly appealed to or referred to in the process.

All these different ideas grow out of longstanding, tenacious intellectual debates. Critical race theory emerged out of postmodernist thought, which tends to be skeptical of the idea of universal values, objective knowledge, individual merit, Enlightenment rationalism, and liberalism-tenets that conservatives tend to hold dear.

What does any of this have to do with K-12 education?

Scholars who study critical race theory in education look at how policies and practices in K-12 education contribute to persistent racial inequalities in education, and advocate for ways to change them. Among the topics they've studied: racially segregated schools, the underfunding of majority-Black and Latino school districts, disproportionate disciplining of Black students, barriers to gifted programs and selective-admission high schools, and curricula that reinforce racist ideas.

Critical race theory is not a synonym for culturally relevant teaching, which emerged in the 1990s. This teaching approach seeks to affirm students' ethnic and racial backgrounds and is intellectually rigorous. But it's related in that one of its aims is to help students identify and critique the causes of social inequality in their own lives.

Many educators support, to one degree or another, culturally relevant teaching and other strategies to make schools feel safe and supportive for Black students and other underserved populations. (Students of color make up the majority of school-aged children.) But they don't necessarily identify these activities as CRT-related.

As one teacher-educator put it: "The way we usually see any of this in a classroom is: 'Have I thought about how my Black kids feel? And made a space for them, so that they can be successful?' That is the level I think it stays at, for most teachers." Like others interviewed for this explainer, the teacher-educator did not want to be named out of fear of online harassment.

An emerging subtext among some critics is that curricular excellence can't coexist alongside culturally responsive teaching or anti-racist work. Their argument goes that efforts to change grading practices or make the curriculum less Eurocentric will ultimately harm Black students, or hold them to a less high standard.

As with CRT in general, its popular representation in schools has been far less nuanced. A recent poll by the advocacy group Parents Defending Education claimed some schools were teaching that "white people are inherently privileged, while Black and other people of color are inherently oppressed and victimized"; that "achieving racial justice and equality between racial groups requires discriminating against people based on their whiteness"; and that "the United States was founded on racism."

Thus much of the current debate appears to spring not from the academic texts, but from fear among critics that students-especially white students-will be exposed to supposedly damaging or self-demoralizing ideas.

While some district officials have issued mission statements, resolutions, or spoken about changes in their policies using some of the discourse of CRT, it's not clear to what degree educators are explicitly teaching the concepts, or even using curriculum materials or other methods that implicitly draw on them. For one thing, scholars say, much scholarship on CRT is written in academic language or published in journals not easily accessible to K-12 teachers.

What is going on with these proposals to ban critical race theory in schools?

The bills are so vaguely written that it's unclear what they will affirmatively cover.

Could a teacher who wants to talk about a factual instance of state-sponsored racism-like the establishment of Jim Crow, the series of laws that prevented Black Americans from voting or holding office and separated them from white people in public spaces-be considered in violation of these laws?

It's also unclear whether these new bills are constitutional, or whether they impermissibly restrict free speech.

It would be extremely difficult, in any case, to police what goes on inside hundreds of thousands of classrooms. But social studies educators fear that such laws could have a chilling effect on teachers who might self-censor their own lessons out of concern for parent or administrator complaints.

The laws could also become a tool to attack other pieces of the curriculum, including ethnic studies and "action civics"-an approach to civics education that asks students to research local civic problems and propose solutions.

How is this related to other debates over what's taught in the classroom amid K-12 culture wars?

The charge that schools are indoctrinating students in a harmful theory or political mindset is a longstanding one, historians note. CRT appears to be the latest salvo in this ongoing debate.

In history, the debates have focused on the balance among patriotism and American exceptionalism, on one hand, and the country's history of exclusion and violence towards Indigenous people and the enslavement of African Americans on the other-between its ideals and its practices. Those tensions led to the implosion of a 1994 attempt to set national history standards.

The culture wars are always, at some level, battled out within schools, historians say.

"It's because they're nervous about broad social things, but they're talking in the language of school and school curriculum," said one historian of education. "That's the vocabulary, but the actual grammar is anxiety about shifting social power relations."

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What Is Critical Race Theory, and Why Is It Under Attack?

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Here's what you need to understand about the academic concept-and how it's portrayed in political circles.

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We define social and emotional learning (SEL) as an integral part of education and human development. SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.

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