Instructional Impact Collaborative

“Pursuing equity in the details of teaching and learning.”

Lacy Robinson

03-17-2026 ⭐ 03-18-2026

10-27-2026 ⭐ 03-09-2027

10-26-2027 ⭐ 03-09-2028

10-24-2028 ⭐ 03-20-2029

Teacher working with students in a small group

Overview

The Instructional Impact Collaborative brings educators serving in Partnership Districts together in a community of practice focused on strengthening the instructional core to improve student achievement. Through shared learning, networking, and capacity-building, participants align efforts using the GLEAM framework to drive coherence and excellence across classrooms.

Graphic showing a horizontal arrow with six circular icons representing stages of instructional impact: Educational Improvement with a handshake and school icon; Curriculum & Instruction with a lightbulb; High Leverage Strategies with a magnifying glass; Learning Environment with connected nodes; Data Analysis & Goal Setting with a target and arrow; and Celebrating Impact with an upward-trending bar graph

Grounded in GLEAM™️

Framework for Meaningful Learning

Wayne RESA believes that true and lasting improvement happens when we focus intentionally on the instructional core. The dynamic relationship between teachers, students, and content are the foundation for lasting educational transformation. To further aid in these efforts, we’ve adopted the GLEAM Framework as a core driver of our continuous improvement efforts that centers equity, rigor, and relevance

Instructional Core - The relationship between Student, Teacher, & Content

Developed by UnboundEd, GLEAM centers on the importance of mindset, planning, action, and experiences. This Framework is designed to help educators provide instruction that is grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful for all students. It serves as both a lens for reflection and a guide for action. The deliberate focus on the instructional core, paired with intentional leadership connections, enables meaningful implementation across classrooms and buildings

What is GLEAM?

GLEAM stands for Grade-Level, Engaging, Affirming, and Meaningful instruction. It is not a set of prescribed strategies or checklists but rather a mindset and framework guiding how educators think about teaching, learning, and equity. The framework draws from research on learning sciences and culturally relevant pedagogy in order to provide the structure to think about teaching and learning.

GLEAM instruction ensures that:

Every student has access to grade-level learning opportunities.
Classrooms are engaging, promoting persistence, curiosity, and academic agency.
Students’ identities and experiences are affirmed.
Learning is meaningful, connecting classroom work to real-world issues and civic agency

Table titled GLEAM with four colored rows. Grade-Level: Provide text, tasks, and materials aligned to appropriate College and Career standards. Engaging: Foster persistence in grade-level work that builds students’ interest and connects to knowledge and culture, helping them see themselves as learners with agency. Affirming: Honor and acknowledge students’ ethnic, racial, and linguistic identities and their current and historical experiences within grade-level work. Meaningful: Understand and critique dominant cultural norms and examine their community’s social position to foster advocacy and change.

Putting Gleam into Practice

Mindsets & Relationships

GLEAM begins with a teacher’s unwavering belief in students’ ability to succeed with grade-level work and that access to rigorous instruction is a right, not a privilege. Additionally, classrooms must be welcoming and affirming, emphasizing learning partnerships built on trust and mutual respect. Teachers model curiosity and position students as co-constructors of knowledge. This fundamental belief in the ability of students to achieve and the willingness to invest in the development of teacher/student relationships is paramount to the success of any school.

Instructional Planning

Teachers intentionally plan grade-level lessons individually, within PLCs, and with the support of the instructional coach, that include:

Opportunities for higher-order thinking and productive struggle.
Formative assessments to ensure multiple entry points for students.
Connections between academic content and students’ identities, families, and communities.

Graphic titled ‘7 Principles of the Instructional Core.’ It lists seven numbered principles: Increases in student learning occur only as a consequence of improvements in content, teachers’ knowledge and skill, and student engagement. Changing any single element of the instructional core requires changing the other two. If an element can’t be seen in the instructional core, it isn’t there. Task predicts performance. Accountability lies in the tasks students are asked to do. Learning the work happens by doing the work, not by telling others to do it or relying on past experience or outside experts. Description before analysis, analysis before prediction, prediction before evaluation. The source is cited as City, Elmore, Fiarman, and Teitel (2016).

Student Experience

When GLEAM instruction is implemented effectively, students:

See themselves as partners in learning.
Feel their identities and experiences are valued and visible.
Engage in rigorous, relevant tasks that connect to authentic contexts.
Develop confidence, critical consciousness, and pride in their learning

Graphic titled ‘Questions for Reflecting on Instruction’ with four prompts labeled G, L, E, A, and M. • GL: What did most of your questions or tasks push students toward? • E: Were your scaffolds mostly intentional or reactive, and did they support keeping rigor high? • A: Who did you hear from most? Who did you not hear from? Why? • M: How did your classroom feel on a scale of 1–5? What’s your evidence? The source is cited as UnboundED, 2025

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