
Core Practices
A Vision for Improving Schools: Updated in 2018
Books | Public
- Core Resources about EL Education
The EL Education model compels students to produce high-quality work that demonstrates complexity, craftsmanship, and authenticity. Teachers plan deeply to support students in creating products that demonstrate these qualities. They support students to create products for audiences beyond teachers and parents (e.g., a whole-class scientific study of a local pond, resulting in a water-quality report for the city board of health). Creating real work for real audiences motivates students to meet standards and engage in revision. In the process, they develop perseverance and realize that they can do more than they thought possible.
To create a culture of excellence, teachers have high expectations for all students and support all students with the scaffolding and equitable opportunities they need to achieve excellence. Students analyze models of excellence—student work and professional work—and use those models to build criteria for excellence in that genre of work. They receive targeted feedback from teachers, experts, and peers based on established criteria and revise their work through multiple drafts.
Teachers and school leaders analyze student work samples, task descriptors, and rubrics in professional learning to develop a common understanding of how to build complex, engaging tasks and how to support students to achieve high-quality work and meet standards.
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