A Big Step Up: Announcing Anchor Pages in Goalbook Toolkit
Guiding students to success means anchoring learning with the right instructional supports and assessments.
“School-wide inclusion asks not, ‘What is the least restrictive
place to instruct this student?’ but asks, ‘What is the
best instructional situation for this student to successfully
engage the general curriculum?’”Wayne Sailor, Ph.D. Director, School-wide Integrated Framework for Transformation (SWIFT)
When we first launched Goalbook Toolkit in 2012, there was a seismic shift in learning standards taking place. A new “instructional situation” was taking form and many were worried that the new standards would erect new barriers that would prevent ALL students from being included in curricula. We designed Goalbook Toolkit to empower special educators to transform the new standards into universally designed instruction so that ALL students could succeed.
We are excited to announce a big step forward in that vision — Anchor Pages in Goalbook Toolkit. Anchor Pages help educators set long-term learning targets for the most foundational and critical grade -level knowledge and skills. They cast a line back to the student’s present levels by providing intermediary objectives based on research-based practices and Universal Design for Learning. Anchor Pages also provide teachers with teaching materials, instructional supports, and assessments so they can immediately take action towards implementing research-based instruction and monitoring student progress.
Learning targets are necessary. Tying them to solid daily instruction makes them reachable.
“The underlying premise of universal design is that teachers should plan instructional supports during the beginning of lesson planning instead of modifying materials as an afterthought.”
Chuck Hitchock, former Chief Officer of Policy and Technology at National Center on Accessible Educational Materials at CAST.
Students won’t meet long-term learning targets if those learning targets only live in meetings and documents; they need to drive instruction every single day. A key tenet of Universal Design for Learning is the belief that effective and accessible instruction is designed proactively. However, consistently designing daily instruction that builds toward a long term goal takes an immense amount of planning.
In the same way mountaineers strategically plan out how to climb a mountain incrementally, Anchor Pages help educators make a connection between the long-term target and the present levels of the student by providing meaningful instructional objectives. In contrast to typical objectives that may simply alter a student’s level of accuracy:
- … with 60% accuracy …
- … with 70% accuracy …
- … with 80% accuracy …
Our objectives are designed to serve as an instructional sequence informed by research-based instructional support strategies:
- … syllabize and read 2 syllable words on split-flashcards with 80% accuracy …
- …syllabize and read 2 syllable words using letter tiles with 80% accuracy …
- …syllabize and read 2 syllable words on whole flashcards with 80% accuracy …
Helping students reach higher levels of achievement requires teachers to use the right tools.
“For students with learning disabilities, many studies describe instructional methods that extend the typical adaptations and help to promote progress in the core content areas for all students (including those without disabilities). These include graphic or advanced organizers, self-regulation strategies, semantic maps, mnemonics, chunking, questioning, and visualizing strategies.”
Scott Baker, PhD, Associate Director, Center on Teaching and Learning, University of Oregon
For many of our students, making progress with learning complex skills is like scaling an advanced rock face; it requires additional supports if they are to make progress. Often the supports students need are beyond what might be found in the typical general education classroom and textbooks. The challenge is that designing instructional scaffolds that meet individual students’ needs is demanding and requires a lot of energy. It requires teachers to be intimately connected to a student’s present levels and learning goals to create or modify resources appropriately. Additionally, they have to strategically collaborate with the other instructional staff on campus.
Anchor Pages give teachers a head start with making student-specific modifications by providing research-based resources that are explicitly and tightly aligned to the objectives and standards they are targeting.
Embedded within each objective are…
- … graphic organizers
- … visualizing strategies
- … chunking strategies
- … sentence frames
- and more!
Explore our new Anchor Pages
Our initial release focuses on key reading and math standards from kindergarten to fifth grade.
We know that modifying lesson materials is part and parcel of the teaching craft, so we wanted to equip teachers with research-based tools that will help them implement the highest quality instruction while addressing the most complex student challenges.
This is the first version of the feature and as we continue to learn about our partners’ needs, we will begin to roll out Anchor Pages for grades 6–12 and for other subjects.
Here are a few Anchor Pages you can explore:
Reading
- Read Two-Syllable Words (RF 2.3)
- Support the Main Idea with Key Details (RI.4.2)
Math
- Represent Objects with Written Numerals (K.CC.3)
- Multiply Using Visual Strategies (4.NBT.5)
We’ve also released K-5 reading Anchor Pages for students who might be developing more foundational academic skills aligned to alternate assessment standards (e.g. DLM, NCSC)
Reading- Alternate Assessment
Learn more about Goalbook Toolkit and sign up for a trial to experience how we support educators with creating the best instructional situation for ALL students.
References
Sailor, Wayne. “Advances in Schoolwide Inclusive School Reform” Journal of Learning Disabilities 36.2 (2015) 1–6 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0741932514555021
Hitchcock, Chuck. “Balanced Instructional Support and Challenge in Universally Designed Learning Environments.” Journal of Special Education Technology 16.4 (2002): 23–30
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/016264340101600404
Baker, Scott K., Gersten, Russell M., Scanlon, David J. “Procedural Facilitators and Cognitive Strategies: Tools for Unraveling the Mysteries of Comprehension and the Writing Process and for Providing Meaningful Access to the General Education Curriculum.” Learning Disabilities Research & Practice 17.01 (2002): 65–77
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1540-5826.00032/abstract
