Curriculum Insight Project

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Generally the science of learning movement has been "program agnostic" - fine - but it can't be "design agnostic." Not all designs are equally good, despite what publishers say. Ask for the instructional theory (if there even is one) underpinning the design before purchasing!

I’d add… The jury is still out on the evidence for whole vs small group phonics approaches at scale, as strong whole group approaches like UFLI gain traction.

The strangest thing about the ability group conversation – which is everywhere lately – is that it ignores the prevalence of ability grouping (based on reading level), which was the norm for elementary reading instruction in the Balanced Literacy era (~2002-2022ish).…

Controversial teacher opinion: Every primary student should have a maths textbook. It should be low variance, with built in review, worked examples and faded guidance. Comment why I’m wrong or share if you agree.

As I head back to teaching high school English this fall, I've been rereading Timothy Shanahan's "Letting the Text Take Center Stage." It's making me rethink how I teach. Looking back, I spent way too much class time on pre-reading - vocab worksheets, background presentations,…

I've been Facebook lurking in big ELA groups. The reach and influence of large TpT sellers is a major issue.

My longest held belief about PD is that it should be this kind of stuff, especially for el ed Every time we start a new curricular program it's endless sessions on how to navigate the website instead of content. PD on why magnets work or the fall of Rome would be better!

Dosage Matters:

Understanding that good instruction and pacing and expectations and routines and modeling and practice all help to create better conditions that support a calm and safe classroom is something I will never tire of talking about. Behavior + academics aren’t in silos. BOTH/AND

“Behavior and academics aren’t in silos.” A REALLY important point. I have personally visited schools where they changed to better curriculum and reported that referrals to the principal went down. Because more kids were academically successful and/or engaged by the strong…

Another case of romantic but inequitable. Open-plan environments are terribly demanding on executive functions and put an unnecessary strain on our learners’ cognition.

Many schools rely on excerpts & short texts as a way to teach comprehension skills. Students may rarely or never read a whole book. Listen to @Doug_Lemov to find out why this is a big problem & what we can do about it! Improved behavior is just one of the benefits.

This is why we can't have nice things... I came across the poster on a teacher’s Facebook page the other day—she has nearly 200,000 followers—and many teachers were eager to use it. Several educators gently warned, “Please don’t share or use this; it’s not backed by science.”…

We’re loving this learning series for teachers!

"There is a tendency for schools to buy new intervention packs marketed as solving all their problems without reference to empirical evidence (Slavin, 2002)." This ought to make you angry.

Keys to rich vocabulary: “Converse with your child. Read together daily. Narrate your life. And don’t feel the need to shy away from complex language.” Yup! This little guy is well on his way! Good fork skills as well.

Researchers should run their "implications for practice" sections past a practising teacher's eyeballs. They're often ideologically loaded and say more about their own preferences and lack of classroom experience than the research (including their own) suggests.

I felt patriotic when they sang the Star Spangled Banner at my 10K today. I credit my time teaching Core Knowledge for forcing me to learn more American history so I could teach it. There may be chaos now, but I hope that the American spirit can shine just as it has in the past.

How do you get 78% of Ks reading at/above benchmark (up from 43%) in 2 years at a Title 1 school? In this powerful piece, @Erin_sharon2 explores the work that she led...and reflects on where she and her colleagues need to go next. Because 78% is NOT good enough.