Achieve Professional Learning Services

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Achieve Professional Learning ServicesAfter facilitating the development of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the EQuIP Rubric for Science, Achieve is now publicly offering professional learning services to guide the education community in using its instructional materials evaluation tools.

Since the release of the EQuIP Rubric for Science, Achieve developed and provided professional learning to support the entire EQuIP Suite of Tools, including the NGSS Lesson Screener and PEEC. That support has directly reached over 2400 educators; state, regional, and district staff; professional learning providers; and materials developers over the past four years.

The professional learning for these tools will help people to use the tools, but their real power comes from the productive and thoughtfully facilitated conversations educators have while evaluating materials. Even with high-quality materials, teachers use their professional judgement in selecting and shaping lessons in their classrooms. Learning how to use this tool in a collaborative way can help bring out to what extent a group of reviewers has a common understanding of the NGSS or designing lessons for the NGSS. 

Every professional learning opportunity that we offer is tailored to the goals of the local coordinator and to the level of expertise of the participants. This professional learning does assume that participants are generally comfortable with navigating the NGSS and are ready to take the next steps in thinking about how instructional materials designed for the NGSS look different.

Who is this professional learning for?

  • State or district leaders charged with evaluating and selecting science instructional materials;
  • Educators who are developing, modifying, or selecting instructional materials designed for the NGSS.
  • State, regional, and private professional learning providers wanting to support educators
  • Science instructional materials developers who are working to design their materials for the NGSS.

What professional learning services does Achieve offer?

Achieve offers several versions of this professional learning opportunity:

  • Curriculum Support: Building or Evaluating Lessons and Units (2 days)
  • Assessment Support: Evaluating Classroom Assessment Tasks (2 days)
  • Assessment Support: Building Classroom Assessment Tasks (3-4 days)
  • Curriculum Support: Building or Evaluating Full Year Programs (4-5 days)

Curriculum Support: Building or Evaluating Lessons and Units (2 days)
This two-day professional learning session supports the use of either the NGSS Lesson Screener or the EQuIP Rubric for Science as a mechanism to help educators deepen their understanding of the NGSS while providing criteria by which to measure the degree to which lessons and units are designed for the NGSS. The goals of the two-day training are to help participants use either the NGSS Lesson Screener or the EQuIP Rubric for Science to (1) develop an understanding of three-dimensional learning and identify some of the key shifts in instruction to better target the NGSS, (2) evaluate the extent to which lessons or units are designed for the NGSS; and (3) determine what revisions are needed and provide constructive, criterion-based feedback. This learning opportunity helps state and district leaders and educators understand the NGSS better and ascertain the degree to which newly designed instructional materials embody the NGSS innovations.

Assessment Support: Evaluating Classroom Assessment Tasks (2 days)
In this two-day professional learning session, participants will learn how to use Achieve’s EQuIP Task Screener for Science tool and corresponding student work protocol to examine science assessment tasks to (1) build educators’ capacity to select and implement quality classroom tasks that ask students to demonstrate grade-appropriate, three-dimensional performance; (2) analyze to what extent the task connects to instruction, instructional materials, and classroom learning; and (3) revise classroom assessment tasks as needed based on feedback from student work samples. 

Assessment Support: Building Classroom Assessment Tasks (3-4 days)
In this multi-day professional learning session, participants will learn how to use Achieve’s EQuIP Task Evaluation Tool for Science tool and corresponding student work protocol to develop science assessment tasks. Educators will (1) unpack grade-appropriate three-dimensional expectations, creating assessment targets that correspond with formative and summative needs; (2) develop phenomenon- or problem-based scenarios that can drive student thinking ; (3) develop a task, grounded in phenomena and problems, designed to meet the unpacked assessment targets, and (4) build capacity for three-dimensional assessment development and literacy. 

Curriculum Support: Building or Evaluating Full Year Programs (4-5 days)
The Primary Evaluation of Essential Criteria (PEEC) for NGSS Instructional Materials is a process that provides tools and criteria that can be used to (1) help educators determine how well instructional materials under consideration have been designed for A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the NGSS, and to (2) help curriculum developers construct and write science instructional materials that are designed for the Framework and NGSS. This professional learning is intended to help build a solid understanding of PEEC design professional learning for a review team that will be evaluating instructional materials programs. The PEEC process consists of three phases: (1) Prescreen, (2) Unit Evaluation, and (3) Program Evaluation. Completing this professional learning will provide educators with an understanding of the processes necessary to use PEEC to evaluate instructional materials programs.

Specifically, this professional learning session can help support the:

  • Review and/or selection of entire school science instructional materials programs—school science textbooks, textbook series, kit-based and other instructional materials and support materials for teachers—that are designed for the NGSS; or
  • Evaluation of current science instructional materials programs to identify adaptations and modifications to support NGSS implementation.

How should I learn more about hosting an Achieve professional learning session for my state, district, or organization?

For more information about these professional learning opportunities and their cost, please email us at ngss@achieve.org. Please allow 2-3 business days for a response.