Achieve Posts 50th Common Core-Aligned Lesson through EQuIP Initiative

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MEDIA CONTACT: Chad Colby (202) 419-1570, ccolby@achieve.org  NEWS STATEMENT Achieve Posts 50th Common Core-Aligned Lesson through EQuIP Initiative   50 Exemplar or Exemplar If Improved Lessons and Units are Now Publicly Available to Educators   Washington, D.C. – October 28, 2014 – For implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) to be successful, all educators need access to high quality and aligned instructional materials. Achieve launched the Educators Evaluating the Quality of Instructional Products (EQuIP) initiative to build the capacity of educators to evaluate and improve the quality of instructional materials for use in their classrooms and schools. EQuIP builds on a collaborative effort of education leaders from Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island that Achieve facilitated, which resulted in a set of criterion-based rubrics designed for educators to use in evaluating the quality and alignment of lessons and units.    In June 2013, Achieve launched the EQuIP Peer Review Panel, a group of expert reviewers who have been trained to apply the EQuIP Rubrics and quality review process to lessons and units that have been submitted by states, districts, partners and educators. To date, this group has included 55 educators who collectively represent 875 years of classroom experience. The EQuIP Peer Review Panel has reviewed and provided constructive, criterion-based feedback on close to 200 lessons or units. Achieve announced today that 50 lessons and units rated Exemplar or Exemplar if Improved are now publicly available to educators nation-wide. The Exemplar rating indicates that a lesson or unit is well-aligned with the Common Core and ready for immediate use in classrooms; lessons or units rated Exemplar if Improved are aligned and require some improvement in one or more dimensions of the rubric. These materials reflect all grade bands (K-5, 6-8, 9-12) in both mathematics and English language arts/literacy.    Educators are invited to submit lessons and units for review through the EQuIP website.    Susan Whelte, former Director of Literacy and Humanities at the Massachusetts Department of Education, found the EQuIP process to be a helpful and highly useful guide in her state’s efforts to create and refine model instructional units.    “Massachusetts is pleased that Achieve’s EQuIP project has selected six of our Model Curriculum Units as exemplars to be shared with educators throughout the world,” she says. “Massachusetts’ adoption of the Common Core State Standards in 2010 provided the impetus for engaging teachers in using the standards in coherent and intelligent ways. Aligning curriculum, instruction, and assessment to standards takes skill and attention to detail: it’s not always easy at first, but it surely helped to have the EQuIP rubric as a guide. It is thrilling now to see the units in action in classrooms throughout the Commonwealth and to see the educators from our original design teams leading similar curriculum writing work in their districts.”    Educators have also found the peer review panel’s suggestions for improvement to be highly valuable. Angela Orr, K-12 Social Studies Coordinator for Washoe County School District in Nevada, incorporated feedback from the EQuIP peer review process as part of continual curricular improvement.    “When we received detailed and specific feedback from the EQuIP panel of reviewers, we were able to continue our learning and revisit some of our earlier work,” she says. “The process reminded me to include important information in core-aligned lessons and has facilitated my work as professional developer.”    “The EQuIP process is designed to elevate the expertise of educators and to foster a culture of continuous improvement grounded in high-quality feedback. We are honored to work with such a highly-skilled panel of educators to highlight exemplary work. We are thrilled to reach this milestone, but the work is far from over. Achieve is striving to raise awareness of these open source exemplary materials and encourages others to make them available or include them in repositories or other platforms. We hope to double the number of exemplars while also building the capacity of educators to integrate this process and the criteria embedded within the rubrics into their everyday work,” says Alissa Peltzman, Vice President of State Policy and Implementation Support at Achieve.   To learn more about EQuIP or download exemplary lessons and units, please visitwww.achieve.org/EQuIP.    Submitting Organziation or Developer Content Area Grade Name of Lesson  or Unit Title Rating Student Achievement Partners ELA 3 The Fisherman and His Wife Exemplar Odell Education, developed in partnership with New York State Department of Education ELA 6 The Wolf You Feed Exemplar Expeditionary Learning ELA 7 Development of the Adolescent Brain Exemplar New York State Department of Education, developed by Expeditionary Learning ELA 8 Finding Home: Refugees Exemplar Expeditionary Learning ELA 8 Varying Perspectives on World War II Exemplar Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education ELA 7 Analyzing an Author’s Style – Macaulay’s Unique Way of Explaining a Complex Process Exemplar Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education ELA 9 The Art of Persuasion and the Craft of Argument Exemplar if Improved Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education ELA  2 Informational Text: Reading for Inquiry and Writing a Report Exemplar CPALMS ELA  6 Freedom – Comparative Reading and Writing: Parts 1, 2 and 3 Exemplar if Improved Tennessee Department of Education ELA  8 Sherlock Holmes: Reading Like a Detective Exemplar Chicago Public Schools ELA 1 Julius Baby of the World Exemplar Fresno Unified School District ELA 11-12 Macbeth Exemplar Maryland State Department of Education ELA 11 Faces of War Exemplar WriteSteps ELA 3 Opinion Writing  Exemplar if Improved Fresno Unified School District ELA 4  Wildfires Exemplar Reach Associates ELA 5 Mother to Son Exemplar Odell Education, developed in partnership with New York State Department of Education ELA 6 Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford University Commencement Address Exemplar New York State Department of Education, developed by Expeditionary Learning ELA 7 Module 1 – A Long Walk to Water Exemplar Lyn Cannaday with Student Achievement Partners ELA 6 Great Fire Exemplar if Improved Odell Education, developed in partnership with New York State Department of Education ELA 7 Building Evidence Based Arguments: Doping Exemplar Albuquerque Teachers Federation ELA 8 The Story of an Hour Exemplar Odell Education, developed in partnership with New York State Department of Education ELA 9-10 Researching to Deepen Understanding Exemplar Washoe County School District ELA 12 Griswold v. Connecticut Exemplar Christina Suarez with by Student Achievement Partners ELA 11-12 “The Gospel of Wealth” Close Reading Exemplar The Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education ELA 9-12 Nutrition and Human Rights Exemplar Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education ELA 9 Satire: The Nose Exemplar Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education ELA 11 Nostalgia Exemplar Core Knowledge ELA K Seasons and Weather Exemplar if Improved Illinois State Board of Education Math 8 Unit 4 – Functions Exemplar Illinois State Board of Education Math  6 Rates, Ratios and Proportions Exemplar if Improved Common Core, Inc. in partnership with New York State Department of Education Math Algebra I Describing Variability Exemplar American Museum of Natural History ELA 10 Earth Systems Evolution Exemplar New York State Department of Education, developed by Common Core, Inc. Math 2 Sums and Differences to 20 Exemplar CPALMS Math 4 Two-Digit Array Multiplication Exemplar Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Math 6 Rates, Ratios, and Percents Exemplar Maryland State Department of Education Math 6 Writing and Evaluating Exponential Expressions Exemplar Maryland State Department of Education Math 6 Defining and Writing Ratios Exemplar if Improved Maryland State Department of Education Math 6 Unit Rate Exemplar if Improved New York State Department of Education, developed by Common Core, Inc. Math 7 Unit Rate and the Constant of Proportionality Exemplar Maryland State Department of Education Math 7 Factor, Expand and Combine Like Terms Exemplar if Improved Common Core, Inc. in partnership with New York State Department of Education Math 8 Module 1 – Integer Exponents and Scientific Notation Exemplar if Improved Maryland State Department of Education Math Algebra I Exponential Relationships Exemplar if Improved New York State Department of Education, developed by Common Core, Inc. Math Algebra I Transformations of Functions Exemplar Cleveland Metropolitan School District Math 1 Adding a Two-Digit Number and a One-Digit Number Using Ten Frames Exemplar if Improved Mathematics Vision Project Math Integrated Secodnary Mathematics I Linear and Exponential Functinons Exemplar if Improved Mathematics Vision Project Math Integrated Secondary Mathematics I Congruence, Constructions and Proof Exemplar Mathematics Vision Project Math Integrated Secondary Mathematics II  Geometric Figures Exemplar if Improved Common Core, Inc. in partnership with New York State Department of Education Math K Composing and Decomposing Shapes Exemplar Clark County School District with Student Achievement Partners Math 1 Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival Exemplar if Improved Washoe County School District ELA 12 Federalist 10 Close Reading Exemplar   Connect with Achieve                             About Achieve Achieve is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit education reform organization dedicated to working with states to raise academic standards and graduation requirements, improve assessments, and strengthen accountability. For more information about the work of Achieve, visit www.achieve.org.