Blog Posts

Tiered Reading Support (Grades 5 through 12) With disruptions caused by COVID-19, the importance of following the Science of Reading has gained the attention of parents, state legislatures, and the press. Even as we work on making our primary reading programs more robust, we have many older students who, through no fault of their own, […]

Welcome to the Fall 2022 edition of the CORE Academic Quarterly newsletter! In this edition of the Academic Quarterly, the Reading Expert discusses early screening for students who may be at risk for reading difficulties or dyslexia and evaluating a child for a diagnosis of dyslexia. The Marvelous Mathematician explores effectively utilizing student mistakes for […]

This newly-merged organization will become the largest equity-focused K-12 education development organization in the country FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 13, 2022 PRESS CONTACT Clay Willis, [email protected] Today, Pivot Learning, CORE Learning, and UnboundEd announced they will merge this fall under the UnboundEd banner. The three organizations support teachers to drive long-needed changes in learning, especially […]

In August, CORE Learning convened the inaugural meeting of our newly formed CORE Math Advisory Board, a group of teachers, instructional leaders, and researchers with expertise spanning math instruction, assessment, teacher education, and professional learning. This advisory board brings to CORE deep knowledge and expertise about the challenges and successes of math professional learning and […]

The problem with having students work in groups is getting students to work in groups. Educators have done a great job of overcoming many group-work challenges over the last couple of decades. For example, providing seating arrangements more conducive to collaboration, asking deeper-level questions focused on the why not just the what, and assigning more […]

Welcome to the Spring 2022 edition of the CORE Academic Quarterly newsletter! In this edition of the Academic Quarterly, the Reading Expert resurfaces an important topic related to the language comprehension portion of Scarborough’s Reading Rope—language structures, or syntax. The Marvelous Mathematician explores how developing teachers as self-directed learners can help organizations make the necessary […]

Professional learning and job-embedded coaching on how to deliver explicit reading instruction are essential to improving literacy outcomes for all students. But just as critical is the use of high-quality, evidence-based reading curricula, particularly when supporting striving readers at all grade levels. In a time when one in three K–3 students require major and systemic […]

The newest front in the never-ending wars and squabbles over how to teach reading involves English language learners (EL), students learning to read (and write) in English while simultaneously learning to speak and understand it. In the wake of renewed prominence of research supporting an early focus on phonics and decoding (aka the “science of […]

A Remembrance by Linda Diamond, former President of CORE Learning Almost 28 years ago while I was a senior policy analyst, sitting in my office at RPP International, a California education public policy think tank, I heard a commanding voice berating my boss, Paul Berman, for failing to address the most important policy issue of […]

Over the last few years, I’ve worked to support elementary teachers across several states with the teaching and learning of mathematics. Many times, the most meaningful activities I model in classrooms are those that build fluency and number sense. Almost everyone believes that learning how to read and being able to read fluently with comprehension […]

Welcome to the Winter 2022 edition of the CORE Academic Quarterly newsletter! In this edition of the Academic Quarterly, the Reading Expert provides recommendations for Tier 2 reading interventions in a time when universal screening data show that upwards of 80 percent of first- and second-grade students are performing below grade level on foundational literacy […]

100 AK educators will have the opportunity to strengthen their science of reading instructional practices  Portland, Ore., Oakland, Calif., Juneau, Alaska – February 3, 2022 – NWEA, CORE® and Alaska Staff Development Network (ASDN),  in partnership with the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), announced today a new learning, collaboration, and coaching program […]

We all know it, but we still don’t want to believe it. Many of our students have fallen further and further behind in reading after nearly two years of disrupted learning. A report by McKinsey & Company, “COVID-19 and Education: The Lingering Effects of Unfinished Learning” (July 2021), estimates that on average students started this […]

By Cyndia Acker-Ramirez and Katie Laskasky Teacher Practice Teams (TPTs) engage in collaborative inquiry to advance students’ sense of belonging and achievement in mathematics through professional learning routines that embrace teacher creativity and ownership of instructional decisions. Imagine a thriving team of math teachers, impassioned about growing students’ belonging in their math classroom communities and […]