Lesson Plan
Short term planning tools that serve as a teaching and learning guide for a short, designated period of time. Lesson plans typically include information regarding what students need to learn, how they will learn it, and how learning will be measured. The timeframe for a lesson plan is typically 1-4 days.
Teaching, Learning, & Assessing (TLA) Document
A shared spreadsheet for each content area/grade level that includes the list of first and second priority standards, the Year-at-a-Glance, and learning targets. TLA documents are used for long, medium, and short term planning.
TLA documents can be found at the TLA website by selecting the applicable grade-span on the homepage.
Year-at-a-Glance (YGs)
Provides a big-picture overview of the priority standards taught in each unit and the level of thinking students must demonstrate. They help educators answer the first question of PLCs: What do we expect our students to know and be able to do?
Guides the development of unit guides, aligned instruction, and common unit assessments throughout the year.
Includes first priority standards in the top section and second priority standards in the bottom section.
YGs include: Total instructional days, unit titles, number of days per unit, standard codes, DOK of standard, and links to the standard proficiency scales.
Year at a Glances can be found at the TLA website by selecting the applicable grade-span on the homepage.
Standard Proficiency Scales
Describe increasingly complex levels of learning for a standard, from foundational skills to proficiency and extended learning.
Guide lesson planning, instruction, assessment, feedback, and reporting while helping students understand where they are and what they need to learn next.
Standard proficiency scales help educators answer the first and second questions of PLCs: What do we expect our students to know and be able to do? How will we know if they can do it?
Templates for Scales: K-2 scale & Gr. 3-12 scale
Standard Proficiency Scales that are already created can be found at the TLA website by selecting the applicable grade-span on the homepage.
Unit Assessments
Common summative assessments measure students’ proficiency on the priority standards taught during a unit.
Provide evidence of student learning, inform proficiency scores, and help teams determine needs for reteaching, additional support, or extension.
Unit assessments can consist of a variety of assessment methods and the method for assessment should be based on the most effective way to assess the standard. This could include, but is not limited to quizzes, tests, essays, projects, portfolios, discussions, and tasks.
Unit assessments help educators answer the second question of PLCs: How will we know if they can do it?
Templates and tools for designing assessments can be found here on the TLA website.
Unit assessments that are already created can be found at the TLA website by selecting the applicable grade-span on the homepage.
Unit Guides
Outline the priority standards, learning goals, key content, and assessments for a unit.
Help teachers plan aligned instruction, learning experiences, and assessments while supporting consistency across classrooms.
Unit Guides help educators answer the second, third, and fourth question of PLCs: How will we know if they can do it? How will we respond when they do learn it? How will we respond when they don’t learn it?
Unit Guides include: estimated timeframe, essential questions, key skills and concepts, priority standards, learning targets, links to unit assessments, teaching and learning resources.