Instructional Tools

Aligning Preschool through High School Social and Emotional Learning Standards: A Critical and Doable Next Step

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Alignment of standards requires more than just addressing the developmental continuum of specific domains of children’s learning, it also requires aligning those domains — in particular, aligning social and emotional skills with content-based skills. This brief discusses the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL) for children’s early and sustained success, as well as key […]

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PreK-3rd: Getting Literacy Instruction Right

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This brief focuses on the importance of developing children’s language and reading skills through strong PreK-3rd grade literacy instruction. Lesaux identifies effective literacy instruction as that which spans the early childhood through elementary years; is responsive to the developmental needs of students; combines direct instruction and inquiry-based learning; integrates skills-based and knowledge-based instruction; and is centered

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Washington State Early Learning and Development Guidelines: Birth Through 3rd Grade

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These early learning guidelines, from the State of Washington’s Department of Early Learning and Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, outline what children know and are able to do at different stages of their development from birth through age eight. The guidelines’ easy-to-read format supports parents as their child’s first and most important teachers

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PK-3: What Does it Mean for Instruction?

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This report provides guidance for policymakers and education practitioners alike on how to purposefully connect instructional approaches from PreK to the early years of elementary school. As the authors note, “simply stating that there is a need for continuity from the preschool years to the early years of elementary school is not enough. Continuity can mean continuing poor educational practices,

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Turning the Page: Refocusing Massachusetts for Reading Success

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This report exposes the high costs of childhood reading failure and examines external and in-school barriers to reading achievement within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Recommendations featured in this report include the need to conduct early and ongoing assessments of children’s language and reading and of the quality of services and supports; bring language-rich, rigorous and

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Issues in PreK-3rd Education: A FirstSchool Framework for Curriculum and Instruction

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The aim of the FirstSchool curriculum framework is to ensure an effective, essential, and ethical curriculum for all children in PreK-3rd grade. This framework calls for instruction that responds to children’s curiosities and respects their lives both inside and out of the classroom; attends carefully to the tentative balance between a rigorous and challenging curriculum, and

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