While standards-aligned curriculum remains vital, educators are increasingly seeking culturally responsive, personalized resources to meet the diverse needs of their students. This shift reflects a dynamic educational landscape where flexibility and relevance are key, especially considering challenges such as pandemic-related learning loss.
CCC hosted an expert panel of educators to discuss the importance of authentic content and the role it can play in K-12 education. This three-part blog series, using excerpts from that webcast, will explore K-12 literacy education by comparing the benefits of authentic content with the limitations of synthetic text; demonstrating how authentic text can help districts meet necessary standards while supporting real-world relevance; and sharing best practices for using published content to close learning gaps.
Meet the Educators
Marjorie McKeown: Founder and CEO of ALEE, The Alexandria Learning Ecosystem for Educators. Marjorie brings a wealth of experience as a teacher, principal, and educational leader, with a focus on innovative approaches to curriculum development.
Ellen Brooks: K-12 School Improvement Coach and Educator at Monroe Public Schools in Michigan. Ellen’s expertise spans classroom teaching, digital learning, and professional development, making her a valuable resource in navigating educational challenges.
Kimberly Andersen: Director of Curriculum and Instruction at Twin Valley School District in Pennsylvania. With over three decades of experience in teaching and school administration, Kimberly brings a deep understanding of curriculum design and implementation.
Using Authentic Content to Meet Educational Standards
Authentic content mirrors real-life scenarios, facilitating a deeper understanding and application of curriculum concepts. By using real-world examples, educators can more effectively address district and state curriculum standards while promoting critical thinking, problem-solving, and cultural competency. Students engage more actively with the material, meeting educational goals while gaining practical skills applicable beyond the classroom.
Curriculum standards serve as benchmarks for literacy development intending to provide consistent learning outcomes. They guide educators in designing instruction and fostering essential language skills like reading comprehension, writing proficiency, and communication. Standards can also promote equity, providing all students with a strong foundation for academic success and lifelong learning.
English Language Arts (ELA) standards aren’t just about the importance of reading comprehension and developing communication skills. Marjorie McKeown addressed the misconception of ELA standards while talking about the importance of aligning content, “There’s really a pervasive misunderstanding about the purpose of ELA standards. They are skills and strategies that allow students to conquer complex texts. They’re a means to an end – not the end.”
By centering instruction around authentic, challenging texts, educators can cultivate the skills and strategies needed for academic success while also meeting the standards that are in place. Standards serve as the basic framing of a student’s education. With that scaffolding in place, real learning occurs, cultivating curious adults who are better prepared to apply their knowledge and skills.
Using authentic content to meet ELA standards is a relevant way to address real-world problems. Kimberly Andersen used the example of teaching Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. She illustrated how literature can serve as a lens through which students explore historical and contemporary issues. Authentic content, for Andersen, provides students with opportunities to grapple with complex themes and develop critical thinking skills.
Educators looking to meet educational standards and foster a deeper understanding of the world can lean into authentic content to cultivate the essential skills for lifelong learning. Educators can use this type of content to empower their students to engage meaningfully in the classroom while equipping them for success in an ever-changing world.
It May Seem Elementary…
If you are reading this, there is a good chance that you understand what a noun, verb, and adjective are. But do you remember “how” you learned those concepts and how you connected them to your life at the time?
All of the educators on the panel agreed that the use of high-quality content is a game changer for connecting K-12 students to their educational journey. Andersen shared, “We know that they need to develop an understanding of the critical skills at each level because it can scaffold and build into the next grade level. But when it’s in a text that they’re engaged in, then the students are able to make relevant connections to their life and also start to make connections of, ‘Oh, yeah. That is a noun because of this and this.’ They start to see and understand why a noun is important and how it plays a role within that text feature.”
Andersen continued to say, “When teachers have the strong, high-quality materials that they’re using within their instruction, they’re able to build those scaffolds in as needed. But when they are teaching a skill in isolation, they often water down…to a much lower level of understanding of that [educational] standard because they don’t have a connection to that high-quality content. They’re printing a worksheet related to a particular skill, and it doesn’t have any relevance to the students, so they’re [the students] not engaged.”
CCC’s Samantha Kalman, a former K-12 educator, shares her insights into the latest trends in curriculum development including giving teachers what they want – high-quality content. To make this point, she cites EdReports’ 2021 State of the Instructional Materials Market, “Teachers want materials that are aligned to state standards, offer support for multilingual learners, and provide culturally relevant content and approaches, but few believe their materials meet these needs.” Only 51% of ELA teachers and 44% of Math teachers agree that they have access to high-quality content to supplement their lesson planning. Teachers spend hours online trying to gather materials to make their lessons as relevant as possible – but at what cost?
Kalman goes on to say, “Schools, districts, and state DOEs need to give teachers what they want: standards-aligned, high-quality, culturally relevant curriculum. However, this must be done with proper consideration for copyright. Ensuring copyright compliance becomes an additional task for teachers, and despite all that the public domain, OER, and the Creative Commons License have to offer, it’s not enough. The students require more;they deserve the opportunity to read texts, even ones that may not be readily accessible due to licensing and other access limitations.”
Access and Reuse High-Quality Copyrighted Content
Whether you are working in a state or local district or an EdTech, you can easily provide teachers access to high-quality copyrighted content to support their curriculum development. RightFind Curriculum allows users to easily search for, discover, and incorporate high-quality, copyrighted content into curriculum and instruction while managing copyright compliance. RightFind Curriculum includes an advanced search and discovery tool, a curated collection of high-quality, standards-aligned content, consultative support with a CCC content expert, and print and digital rights to use 1M+ copyrighted English and Spanish language works from 90+ leading publishers, including books, magazines, newspapers, and websites.
This is part 2/3 of a blog series inspired by the webcast Why High-Quality Content Matters in K-12 Instruction. Attendees included educators, administrators, and curriculum developers from across the United States. We are grateful to our expert panelists for sharing their insights.