Core Component 1: Classroom Instruction

The following Web sites provide resources for boosting standards-based learning for all students through instructional practices with reliable evidence of effectiveness.

Web sites with multiple resources on high-quality classroom instruction:

1. Achieve the Core
   Provides content designed to help educators understand and implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). GE Foundation.
   
   
2. Best Evidence Encyclopedia
   Presents reliable, on-going reviews of research-proven educational programs. Johns Hopkins University School of Education's Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education. US Department of Education (ED).
   
   
3. California Common Core State Standards
   Provides current information and resources on the California CCSS, including the Common Core Search for locating Web resources, California’s Implementation Plan, pages for teachers, administrators, students/parents, higher education, and community partners. CDE.
   
   
4. The California Subject Matter Projects
   Support on-going quality professional educator development, including instructional strategies that emphasize the CCSS, and technology-infused 21^st Century skills of collaboration, creativity, and communication.  Subjects include California standards-based subjects of Arts, History-Social Science, Mathematics, Reading & Literature, Science, and Writing. University of California Office of the President.
   
   
5. CC.BetterLesson
   Provides thousands of reviewed grade three through twelve Common Core-aligned lessons created by classroom teachers in the Master Teacher Project. (2011) Better Lesson, National Education Association.
   
   
6. Doing What Works (DWW)
   Provides research results on instructional materials that can be accessed through WestEd's “app box.” Topics include reading, writing, mathematics, science, behavior, professional learning, Response to Invention, and dropout prevention. WestEd.
   
   
7. Edutopia Resources for Understanding the Common Core State Standards
   Provides lessons, and access to blogs, Web sites, organizations, articles, and other resources looking at the CCSS and other standards-based subjects. George Lucas Foundation.
   
   
8. edWeb.net
   Provides a professional social network for the education community to deliver support on latest instructional strategies through online discussions, recorded webinars and resources. MCH Strategic Data and edWeb.
   
   
9. Hattie Ranking: Influences And Effect Sizes Related To Student Achievement
   Presents a list of some of the most and least successful influences on student learning, based on Professor Hattie’s 15 year meta-study of over 800 interventions with a links to background information. (2009). Visible Learning.
   
   
10. PBS Learning Media
    Contains over 34,000 digital resources designed and aligned to Common Core and national standards, delivering research-based, media-rich experiences that engage students, for pre-kindergarten through grade twelve in multiple subject areas. (2014)  PBS & WGBH Educational Foundation.
    
    
11. ReadWriteThink     
    Provides access to reviewed practices and resources in reading and language arts instruction. International Reading Association, National Council on Teachers of English.
    
    
12. Teaching Channel Videos of Exemplary Teaching
    Provides videos of lessons selected by committee on a variety of relevant topics, such as CCSS. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
    
    
13. What Works Clearinghouse
    Provides educators with information about the quality of findings from research studies on educational programs, products, practices and policies to help them make evidence-based decisions.  Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Department of Education (ED).

Web sites with targeted resources on high-quality classroom instruction:

1. AdLit.org
   Provides adolescent literature resources for parents and educators of kids in grades four to grades twelve, such as classroom strategies, college readiness, research and reports, book and author talks, multimedia presentations. WETA Public Television, The Carnegie Corporation, Friedman Family Foundation.
   
   
2. Art & Science of Teaching / What Teachers Gain from Deliberate Practice
   Offers guidance on creating classroom environments that provide opportunities for mastery learning and other deliberate instructional practices that have been found to be related to significant increases in student engagement and to overcoming barriers to learning. Marzano, R. (2011) Educational Leadership. ASCD.
   
   
3. CaCCSS-M Resources Home
   Provides teaching resources for California's version of the CCSS Mathematics, on the topics of: K-2, Number Sense and Place Value, Fractions from a Number Line Approach, Model with Mathematics, Transformational Geometry, High School Mathematical Modeling, and Statistics. (2011)  California Mathematics Project.
   
   
4. Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten through 3^rd Grade
   Recommends five specific steps that teachers, reading coaches, and principals can take to successfully improve reading comprehension for young readers. What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Institute of Educational Sciences.
   
   
5. Inside Mathematics  
   Features classroom examples of innovative teaching methods and insights into student learning, tools for mathematics instruction that teachers can use immediately, and video tours of the ideas and materials on the site.
   
   
6. Khan Academy
   Provides an extensive number of California standards-aligned math problems and courses created and reviewed by math educators, along with support for teachers and parents, data tracking, and rewards for students. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
   
   
7. National Center on Universal Design for Learning
   Provides multiple examples and resources that help educators build UDL understanding, implementation skills, and leadership abilities.
   
   
8. Reciprocal Teaching
   Provides instructions and resources to support implementation of this strategy, where teachers model, then help students learn to guide group discussions using four strategies: summarizing, question generating, clarifying, and predicting. Reading Rockets, Colorin Colorado.
   
   
9. Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers
   Provides four recommendations for improving elementary students’ writing, which include implementation steps, solutions for common roadblocks, and videos by WestEd. WWC and Mathematica Policy Research.