What Should We Teach? 5 Steps for Keeping Kids on Track This Fall

| Education Week | Sarah Schwartz

To make the best use of limited time, experts suggest streamlining the curriculum to cover only the essential standards. Some state departments have put out lists of these priority standards, while organizations including Student Achievement Partners, the Council of the Great City Schools, and TNTP have released guides designed to help schools and districts adjust their curricular maps.

These guidelines advise focusing on skills and understandings that are going to be most important to students’ future success—and prioritizing depth rather than breadth.

For example, the Common Core State Standards say that 1st graders should learn how to tell time to the hour and the half-hour in math lessons. “We’re probably not going to do that this year,” said Bailey Cato Czupryk, a partner for practices and impact at TNTP.

Getting rid of lessons on analog clocks frees up time to make sure that students have a deep understanding of foundational concepts—like adding and subtracting within 20, another 1st grade math standard, Czupryk said.

Read the full article on Education Week.

Imali Ariyarathne, seventh-grade teacher at Langston Hughes Academy, stands in front of her students while introducing them to the captivating world of science

Imali Ariyarathne, seventh-grade teacher at Langston Hughes Academy, introduces her students to the captivating world of science.

About TNTP

TNTP is the nation’s leading research, policy, and consulting organization dedicated to transforming America’s public education system, so that every generation thrives.

Today, we work side-by-side with educators, system leaders, and communities across 39 states and over 6,000 districts nationwide to reach ambitious goals for student success.

Yet the possibilities we imagine push far beyond the walls of school and the education field alone. We are catalyzing a movement across sectors to create multiple pathways for young people to achieve academic, economic, and social mobility.

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