The role of the school librarian is evolving from keeper of library materials to leader in school reform. The digital age has elevated information literacy from the mechanics of searching and finding to thinking and inquiry. To meet this challenge the library facility is reconceptualized as a learning environment and the collection as a dynamic process of curation and access. Library staff, including paraprofessionals, student peers, and parent volunteers are viewed as instructional support. Allocated budgets are supplemented by funding sources such as grants and donations. The school librarian, trained in Action Research, can realize the library as learning center as she systematically collects evidence, sets priorities, and constructs a Strategic Plan. This module brings together the processes of action research, including identifying a problem in practice, formulating a research question, collecting and analyzing data to conduct a Community Scan and School Library Needs Assessment. She will apply her findings to building a Strategic Plan that will transform the school library into a learning center, or improve its existing functions.

This document is based on an analysis that determined the sub-skills students need to achieve in each of the Foundational Skills (K–5) in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). It contains five sections, each targeting one grade level in: Print Concepts, Phonological Awareness, Phonics and Word Recognition, and Fluency. It also includes instructional examples aligned to the sub-skills, giving teachers samples of activity types that facilitate acquisition of the sub-skills. Each chart includes up to three grade levels to inform instruction for students who are either struggling and need extra support or intervention, or for students performing above grade-level expectations and require enrichment, to allow a teacher to see which skills should have been mastered in the previous year and what students are preparing for in the upcoming years.

Overview of how the Pennsylvania Common Core Standards for Mathematics are driving changes in classrooms and schools, and where resources can be found to support the implementation of those changes.

Pennsylvania Assessment Anchors and Eligible Content eBook to assist educators in preparing student for the Keystone Exams.

What To Do Before, During, & After Testing. Accommodations Guidelines produced by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Achieve and the U.S. Education Delivery Institute have developed a practical Common Core Implementation Workbook for all states in the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC).

The workbook uses a proven performance management methodology known as “delivery” to lay out clear action steps for states and districts. It provides relevant information, case stories of good practice, key questions and hands-on exercises for leadership teams to complete together. Regardless of your state's timeline, the workbook offers state and district leaders the means to plan for the CCSS and then drive successful implementation.

Document Publishers’ Criteria for the CCSS in ELA/Literacy for Grades K-8 Provides criteria for publishers and curriculum developers as they work to ensure alignment of materials in grades K-8 with the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and literacy for history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. 9-pg PDF.

Thorough explanation of the how and why of text-dependent questions for close, analytic reading. Includes examples.

The Common Core State Standards for reading strongly focus on students gathering evidence, knowledge, and insight from what they read. Indeed, eighty to ninety percent of the Reading Standards in each grade require text dependent analysis; accordingly, aligned curriculum materials should have a similar percentage of text dependent questions.

As the name suggests, a text dependent question specifically asks a question that can only be answered by referring explicitly back to the text being read. It does not rely on any particular background information extraneous to the text nor depend on students having other experiences or knowledge; instead it privileges the text itself and what students can extract from what is before them.

Students are more likely to meet Common Core expectations for reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language if they are working with texts on a regular basis. Organizing a curriculum around a series of text sets can provide those opportunities for students. This organization is supported by the PARCC Model Content Frameworks.

Collection development, a foundational component of the library program, is the formal, professional process of selecting, with the aid of appropriate evaluation tools and knowledge of the school, comprehensive and balanced materials to meet the diverse needs of the community.Rather than using a comprehensive and balanced acquisitions procedure, curriculum curation is a tightly targeted selection process to meet the knowledge and/or cognitive goals of instruction in service of student learning. Rather than generalized pointers to resources, curation will identify a specific section or element within each resource. Therefore, curriculum curation requires co-planning with faculty and using professional discernment, adding value to the chosen resources. Dialogue between librarian and instructor must be part of the curation process In order to surface student learning goals. Such negotiated curation shines a light on the expertise that each educator brings to the conversation about the thinking tasks and relevant experiences that will augment student learning. This module scaffolds and models curating an interdependent set of OER sources and tools to support the instructional core of a unit.Granite State Learning Outcomes3. Demonstrate the ability to facilitate developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences based on the unique needs of each learner (and) make the discipline(s) accessible and meaningful for learners;6. Design and implement instructional strategies that engage students’ interests and develop their ability to: inquire; think both critically and creatively; and ethically gain and share knowledge;15. Complete a narrative reflection on the course and personal growth.AASL CompetenciesAASL Standard 1.2 a: Implement the principles of effective teaching and learning that contribute to an active, inquiry-based approach to learning.AASL Standard 1.2 b: Make use of a variety of instructional strategies and assessment tools to design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments in partnership with classroom teachers and other educators.AASL Standard 1.3 a: Model, share, and promote effective principles of teaching and learning as collaborative partners with other educators.AASL Standard 1.4 c: Integrate the use of technologies as a means for effective and creative teaching and to support P-12 students' conceptual understanding, critical thinking and creative processes.PSEL Standard 4 a: Implement coherent systems of curriculum, instruction, and assessment that promote the mission, vision, and core values of the school, embody high expectations for student learning, align with academic standards, and are culturally responsive.PSEL Standard 4 e: Promote the effective use of technology in the service of teaching and learning.

While common usage of the word, text, often refers to written or printed matter, literary and cultural theory extends the term to refer to any coherent set of symbols that transmit meaning to those who know how to read them. In an age where ideas may take many forms and be expressed across different media, texts and reading take on new implications.One goal of the Flows of Reading project is to inspire teachers and students to reflect on what can be considered as reading and what kinds of reading they perform in their everyday lives. Flows of Reading introduces an expanded concept of the term, text, and models a new type of readerĺ䁥ŕone who reads across different media and who understands reading as an activity of sharing, deconstructing, and making meaning.We have created a rich environment designed to encourage close critical engagement not only with Moby-Dick but a range of other texts, including the childrenĺ䁥_s picture book, Flotsam; Harry Potter; Hunger Games; and Lord of the Rings. We want to demonstrate that the bookĺ䁥_s approach can be applied to many different kinds of texts and may revitalize how we teach a diversity of forms of human expression.

This 1-2 hour module provides participants with an introduction to the key shifts required by the Common Core State Standards for ELA / Literacy.

This 1-2 hour module provides an introduction to the key shifts required by the CCSS for Literacy in the content areas: history / social studies, science, and technical subjects.

This module provides participants with an introduction to the key shifts required by the Common Core State Standards for Math. Depending on the activities selected, this module could support up to four hours of Math PD.

This presents a general discussion of the development of the Common Core Mathematics Standards and the aspirations within them for student college-and-career readiness and success.

Rather than focusing exclusively on literacy skills, the Common Core State Standards set expectations for the complexity of texts students need to be able to read to be ready for college and careers.

This resource outlines three steps that will help teachers choose texts that are on grade level for the CCSS.