One of the many opportunities provided by the transition to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is the chance to develop high quality instructional materials for teachers and schools that are aligned to the rigor and college- and career-ready expectations found in the standards. At the same time, determining how aligned and effective instructional materials are also poses one of the most significant challenges to the implementation of the CCSS.
To take on that challenge, teachers should be empowered to evaluate lessons and unit plans at their disposal. To help with that large task, Achieve formed EQuIP (Educators Evaluating the Quality of Instructional Products) in the spring of 2012.
EQuIP brings together a network of more than 20 states already participating in the American Diploma Project (ADP) Network to focus on increasing the supply of high quality lessons and units aligned to the CCSS that are available to elementary, middle and high school teachers as soon as possible; and building the capacity of educators to evaluate and improve the quality of instructional materials for use in their classrooms and schools.
EQuIP builds on the collaborative effort that Achieve facilitated when Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island joined together to develop the Tri-State Rubrics. The EQuIP rubrics have since been revised to reflect feedback and to ensure strong alignment with the Publisher’s Criteria.
Many states and districts are already using the rubrics and review process to support their implementation of the CCSS in a variety of ways including:
- Guiding the development of lessons and units
- Evaluating existing lessons and units to identify improvements needed to align with the CCSS
- Building the capacity of teachers to gain a deeper understanding of the CCSS
- Informing vendors of criteria that will be applied in the evaluation of proposals and final products
To date, EQuIP states have submitted nearly 100 English language arts/literacy or mathematics lessons/units for review and feedback during EQuIP cross-state convenings. Twenty-five states and New York City have participated in one of the EQuIP cross-state convenings. Since last fall, 12 of these states have collectively trained more than 7,000 educators on the EQuIP rubrics. Achieve staff have made more than 20 presentations on the EQuIP rubrics and quality review process for individual states and partner organizations.
In response to the significant and ongoing interest of states, Achieve is establishing a cross-state EQuIP Jury. Achieve has selected 24 jurors from 12 states during their first selection process. Selected jurors will meet in mid-June to calibrate and establish inter-rater reliability so that they can begin reviewing materials. States, districts and partner organizations will be welcome to submit materials for review; submission guidelines are posted on Achieve’s website. Achieve anticipates hosting a second round of jury selection in the late fall/early winter.
For more information, please visit: http://www.achieve.org/EQuIP and http://www.achieve.org/files/AboutEQuIP.pdf
