10 Key Policies and Practices for Explicit Instruction with Strong Evidence of Effectiveness from High-Quality Research
This guide provides 10 practices for explicit instruction and includes various scenarios for using each. Incorporating these practices supports all students.
Publication Date: 2021
Publisher: Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk
Content Area and Disciplinary Literacy Strategies and Frameworks
This document defines the terms content area literacy and disciplinary literacy and their distinct approaches, what they mean, and how they are best combined in classroom literacy instruction. It includes a table of sample combination approaches using literacy strategies and disciplinary literacy frameworks.
Publication Date: 2017
Publisher: International Literacy Association
Defining High Quality PBL: A Look at the Research
This white paper explores this research to clarify the criteria, describe how and why they contribute to High Quality Project Based Learning, and propose a set of terms that can be used by the educational community and others to describe and discuss High Quality Project Based Learning.
Author: John Mergendoller
Publication Date: April 2018
Publisher: High Quality Project-Based Learning
Differentiated Instruction: Maximizing the Learning of All Students
This module discusses the importance of differentiating three aspects of instruction: content, process or instructional methods, and product or assessment. It explores the student traits of readiness level, interest, and learning preferences that influence learning.
Publication Date: 2022
Publisher: IRIS Center Vanderbilt University
Framework for Teaching
The Framework for Teaching has proven to accelerate teacher growth, improve student outcomes, and create a more rewarding and sustaining professional environment. Explore the 2022 updates in the Framework for Teaching with this interactive, digital resource that transforms the guide into a hands-on online tool to gain a deeper understanding of the domains, components, elements of success, and more.
Publication Date: 2022
Publisher: The Danielson Group
Graphic Organizers: Guiding Principles and Effective Practices
Research and best practices have shown that, for graphic organizers to be effective instructional tools, several factors must be addressed. This packet will present strategies and approaches for incorporating these elements, along with outlining the primary categories and uses for graphic organizers.
Publication Date: 2015
Publisher: William and Mary Training and Technical Assistance Center
High-Leverage Practices and Evidence-Based Practices: A Promising Pair
High-leverage practices and evidence-based practices when used together can become powerful tools for improving student outcomes. This brief shows the promise of these practices in advancing educator preparation and practice and, subsequently, outcomes for students with disabilities and those who struggle.
Authors: Erica D. McCray, Margaret Kamman, Mary T. Brownell, and Suzanne Robinson
Publication Date: October 2017
Publisher: CEEDAR Center
High-Leverage Practices Videos
These videos accompany High-Leverage Practices for Students with Disabilities and provide revised and updated information supporting the four domains. The videos provide High-Leverage Practices within each domain and concrete examples to anchor and reinforce both knowledge development and application.
Publisher: CEEDAR Center
High School Early Warning Intervention and Monitoring System Implementation Guide
This guide describes the early warning intervention and monitoring system (EWIMS) as an evidence-based process for identifying, supporting, and monitoring students who show signs that they may not meet key educational milestones for graduating high school. The EWIMS process provides a data-driven decision-making approach to systematically identify students who are showing signs of being off track in school, match these students with appropriate interventions, and monitor their progress within those interventions.
Authors: Jenny Scala, Marie Husby-Slater, Rachel Chamberlain, and Kate McPhee
Publication Date: November 2023
Publisher: American Institutes for Research
How Does Changing “One-Size-Fits-All” to Differentiated Instruction Affect Teaching?
This rigorous literature review analyzed how 28 research studies conducted between 2001 and 2015 have defined, described, and measured changes in teaching practices related to implementation of differentiated instruction in P-12 classrooms.
Authors: Rhonda Bondie, Christine Dahnke, and Akane Zusho
Publication Date: March 2019
Publisher: Review of Research in Education
How to Engage High School Students in Active Learning
Active learning strategies can help engage high school students, as long as educators are willing to be creative and set a solid example for their students. This blog post offers seven different strategies for engaging high school students in the classroom with which educators can experiment.
Author: Matthew Whalen
Publication Date: October 2023
Publisher: National Society of High School Scholars
Identifying and Supporting English Learner Students with Learning Disabilities: Key Issues in the Literature and State Practice
This study describes the key elements to inform policymakers interested in developing more effective procedures for identifying, assessing, and supporting English learner students who may have learning disabilities.
Authors: Elizabeth Burr, Eric Haas, and Karen Ferriere
Publication Date: July 2015
Publisher: Institute of Education Sciences
Implications for Educational Practice of the Science of Learning and Development
This article seeks to contribute to the process of integrating insights across multiple fields and connecting them to knowledge of successful approaches that is emerging in education by drawing out the implications for school and classroom practices of an emerging consensus about the science of learning and development outlined in a recent synthesis of the research.
Authors: Linda Darling-Hammond, Lisa Flook, Channa Cook-Harvey, Brigid Barron, and David Osher
Publication Date: February 2019
Publisher: Applied Developmental Science
Improving Student Engagement—A Practice Guide
This practice guide will offer a practical and working definition of student engagement and a concept map for local analysis and action. It will also offer instruments for assessing both schoolwide and individual student engagement levels, and for selecting target areas for individual and campus engagement improvement.
Authors: Sandy Addis, Ray McNulty, and Thomas Hawkins
Publication Date: February 2024
Publisher: National Dropout Prevention Center
Innovative Education Methods: Transforming Teaching and Learning
Modern teaching methods emphasize interaction, adaptability, and the application of technology to create dynamic and engaging learning environments. This blog explores innovative strategies, methodologies, and actionable techniques that foster effective teaching and learning in a modern educational context.
Author: Michele McCraney
Publication Date: January 2025
Publisher: American College of Education
Integrating High Leverage Practices for Students with Disabilities within a PBIS/MTSS Framework
This guide aligns the implementation of high-leverage practices (HLPs) for students with disabilities with the PBIS framework. Integration of HLPs across the full continuum of supports offers a systematic way to meaningfully include support students with disabilities.
Authors: Kelsey Morris, Laura Kern, Kathleen Strickland-Cohen, and Lisa Powers
Publication Date: June 2024
Publishers: Center on PBIS, University of Oregon
Intensive Intervention Practice Guide: Explicit Morphology Instruction to Improve Overall Literacy Skills in Secondary Students
This guide includes information about teaching students about morphemes for the purpose of
improving students’ word recognition and spelling skills. Students need to learn the meaning of
parts of words and be able to read those parts to develop quality word recognition. Morphology instructional activities with examples are included.
Authors: Lauren Hennenfent, Lindy Johnson, Christina Novelli, and Erin Sharkey
Publication Date: Fall 2022
Publisher: Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education
Interest Matters: The Importance of Promoting Interest in Education
This research manuscript describes four interest-enhancing interventions: attention-getting settings, contexts evoking prior individual interest, problem-based learning, and enhancing utility value. It includes the science behind the interventions and policies that put student interest at front of the class.
Authors: Judith Harackiewicz, Jessi Smith, and Stacy Priniski
Publication Date: October 2016
Publisher: Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Multi-Tiered System of Supports Within Schools: The What and The How
MTSS offers a reorganization of the school setting and how educators provide instruction and supports to students. This brief explains what MTSS educators can experience with appropriately identifying students with disabilities, proactively using data to support every student, and creating a framework that improves the overall system and meets the needs of individual students.
Authors: Jason Harlacher and TR Bailey
Publication Date: January 2025
Publisher: American Institutes for Research
Myths and Facts Surrounding Assistive Technology Devices and Services
This document is designed to increase understanding of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act’s (IDEA’s) assistive technology (AT) requirements, dispel common misconceptions regarding AT, and provide examples of the use of AT devices and services for children with disabilities and to highlight the different requirements under Part C and Part B of IDEA.
Publication Date: January 2024
Publisher: U.S. Department of Education
Neuroscience and Learning: Implications for Teaching Practice
The authors considered recent studies in the neuroscience of learning and memory, with particular emphasis on working and semantic memory, and suggest that neuroscience research into self-referential networks may improve understanding of the learning process. They propose advances in understanding the neural basis for metacognition may encourage the development of new perspectives that may help to motivate students to learn about their own learning processes
Authors: Richard Guy and Bruce Byrne
Publication Date: August 2013
Publisher: Journal of Experimental Neuroscience
Planning for Instruction
This research brief highlights planning explicit instruction that provides access to the general education curriculum and meets the unique needs of students with disabilities across a variety of outcome areas. It covers setting a meaningful learning target, determining appropriate sequence for instruction, and setting clear objectives for each lesson.
Publication Date: August 2021
Publisher: PROGRESS Center at the American Institutes for Research
Progress Monitoring for MTSS at the Secondary Level
This article is directed to secondary teachers working under the practice of MTSS or the RTI process.
It covers why you should be progress monitoring, what assessments are appropriate for progress monitoring, how these assessments are administered, and when you should progress monitor students.
Author: Sandra Spruell
Publication Date: May 2023
Publisher: Branching Minds
Project-Based Learning for Curriculum Enhancement
Project-Based Learning (PBL) has emerged as a powerful tool for enhancing classroom curriculum and student engagement. This blog post breaks down the principles and implementation of PBL and how you can incorporate PBL strategies into your classroom to improve students’ learning experience.
Publication Date: August 2025
Publisher: University of Kansas
Reciprocal Teaching
Reciprocal teaching is a strategy that asks students and teachers to share the role of teacher by allowing both to lead the discussion about a given reading. This webpage explains reciprocal teaching and provides examples of the four strategies that guide the discussion: predicting, question generating, clarifying, and summarizing.
Publication Date: 2023
Publisher: AdLit, WETA Washington, DC
Reviewing and Intensifying Instruction
Some students with disabilities will experience difficulties with making progress toward academic and behavioral learning targets. This research brief highlights a process of intensifying instruction through intervention dosage, opportunities to respond, alignment, and transfer.
Publication Date: August 2021
Publisher: PROGRESS Center at the American Institutes for Research
Right to Supportive Learning Environments and High-Quality Resources
This research brief discusses every child’s right to literacy-rich learning environments that provide high-quality, open educational resources such as types of books, texts, and digital resources for all to use, manipulate, and learn from.
Publication Date: 2019
Publisher: International Literacy Association
Secondary Reading Instruction (Part 1): Teaching Vocabulary and Comprehension in the Content Areas
This module describes how teachers can incorporate vocabulary and reading comprehension skills instruction into content-area lessons and introduces a variety of effective practices—including the use of graphic organizers—to help students better understand what they read.
Publication Date: 2022
Publisher: IRIS Center, Vanderbilt University
Secondary Reading Instruction (Part 2): Deepening Middle School Content-Area Learning with Vocabulary and Comprehension Strategies
This module examines some of the reasons that adolescents struggle with content-area text and overviews effective strategies teachers can use to improve the vocabulary and comprehension skills of students with a wide range of abilities and across a variety of subjects.
Publication Date: 2022
Publisher: IRIS Center, Vanderbilt University
Semantic Mapping to Grow Vocabulary
This post provides details for how to use Semantic Mapping which is a well-researched activity that helps students draw on background knowledge of a topic and see connections between ideas and words related to that topic. It is highly interactive and offers opportunities for rich, collaborative discussion among students.
Author: Joan Sedita
Publication Date: December 2020
Publisher: Keys to Literacy
Steps of Interactive Modeling
This article describes how interactive modeling incorporates key elements of effective teaching: modeling the skill or procedure, engaging students in active learning, and immediately assessing their understanding.
Publication Date: 2017
Publisher: Center for Responsive Schools
Strengthening Literacy Routines in Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts
This webinar explores how metacognitive routines can elevate disciplinary literacy and learning in social studies, English Language Arts, and science for all students. Discover practical tools to help students explicitly reflect on their thinking as they build academic confidence and engage more deeply with complex texts, scientific inquiry, and the writing process.
Authors: Alicia Ross, Jenell Krishnan, and Karen Lionberger
Publication Date: June 2025
Publisher: WestEd
Student-Centered Learning: Enhancing Classroom Experiences
This article explains student-centered learning and shares strategies to build student-centered learning environments that not only improve academic outcomes but develop critical thinking skills essential for success beyond school walls.
Author: Nikki Muncey
Publication Date: April 2025
Publisher: SchoolAI
Student Engagement: Evidence-Based Strategies to Boost Academic and Social-Emotional Results
This guide creates a shared understanding of the many ways that engagement can profoundly influence a student’s relationship with school and some of the obstacles to becoming and staying engaged. It offers six research-based strategies related to student engagement and provides one or two tactics for each.
Authors: Cheryl Abla and Brittney R. Fraumeni
Publication Date: 2019
Publisher: McRel International
Student Engagement: Why It’s Important and How to Promote It
Student engagement makes teaching more fun, engaging, and rewarding, and it has been shown to have critical impacts on students. This article discusses what student engagement is, why it’s important, and factors that contribute to student engagement.
Author: Essie Sutton
Publication Date: Updated July 2025
Publisher: Branching Minds
Students Experiencing Inattention and Distractibility
This information sheet is designed to help teachers identify inattention and distractibility in school, behaviors that are similar in school and virtual learning environments, behaviors unique to virtual learning environments, what to do, and when to act.
Publication Date: October 2021
Publisher: American Psychological Association
Study Skills Strategies (Part 1): Foundations for Effectively Teaching Study Skills
This module examines the importance of effective study skills strategies and includes information on why some students struggle with those skills and why it's critical for teachers to explicitly teach such strategies.
Publication Date: 2022
Publisher: IRIS Center Vanderbilt University
Study Skills Strategies (Part 2): Strategies that Improve Students’ Academic Performance
This companion to the Study Skills (Part 1) module reiterates the importance of teachers providing explicit instruction on the use of study skills strategies and overviews several effective strategies: graphic organizers, note-taking, mnemonics, organizing materials, time management, comprehension strategies, and self-regulation strategies.
Publication Date: 2022
Publisher: IRIS Center Vanderbilt University
Supporting Students with Disabilities at School and Home: A Guide for Teachers to Support Families and Students
This guide highlights 5 key practices for teachers and families to support all students, including students with disabilities, at school and home. For each practice, the guide provides tips for teachers to support students with disabilities during instruction; tips for families that educators can share to support or enhance learning at home; and free-access resources that include strategies shown to be effective by research.
Authors: Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, National Center on Intensive
Intervention, and National Integrated Multi-Tiered Systems of Support Research Network
Publication Date: May 2020
Publisher: University of Oregon
Systematic Screening in Tiered Systems: Lessons Learned at the Middle and High School Level
This model demonstration paper features the experiences of four middle and two high schools in one district that were in the first year of implementing a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS). It summarizes the procedures, key findings, and lessons learned regarding conducting systematic screening at middle and high school level.
Authors: Rebecca Sherod, Zijie Ma, Kathleen Lynne Lane, Wendy Peia Oakes, and Mark Matthew
Buckman
Publication Date: May 2024
Publisher: Center on PBIS, University of Oregon
Teacher Digital Learning Guide
This guide is designed to provide important resources and recommendations to support teacher implementation of digital learning. Sections in this guide include key considerations, guiding strategies, resources, and reflection questions to help guide thinking and planning in a way that will be specific to each unique situation and the unique needs of students.
Publication Date: January 2021
Publisher: Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Department of Education
Teachers Know Best: Making Data Work for Teachers and Students
This study explores what teachers believe about data-driven instruction and the tools that support it, how teachers use data to tailor instruction, key challenges teachers identify with the tools that support data-driven instruction, and what teachers need to make data work to drive instruction in the classroom.
Publication Date: June 2015
Publisher: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Teaching as Brain Changing: Exploring Connections between Neuroscience and Innovative Teaching
This paper explores how one might conceptualize learning as a biological process in the context of a common teaching technique called the think–pair–share. It gives an overview of what is known from biological research about the neurobiological basis of learning and explores how various teaching techniques might harness known neurological mechanisms to promote the creation and retrieval of long-term memories.
Authors: Melinda Owens and Kimberly Tanner
Publication Date: Summer 2017
Publisher: CBE Life Sciences Education
Teaching Content-Area Literacy and Disciplinary Literacy
Many students struggle to master basic literacy skills, and many teachers in discipline-specific courses lack the knowledge and expertise to help students interpret the complex texts associated with each distinct discipline. This article focuses on two types of literacy that are crucial to helping students become college and career ready: content-area literacy and disciplinary literacy.
Authors: Ramona Chauvin and Kathleen Theodore
Publication Date: Spring 2015
Publisher: Southwest Education Development Laboratory, American Institutes for Research
Teaching Newcomer English Learners: Four Powerful Vocabulary Practices
Newcomer English learner students must navigate new social structures, school systems, and cultural dynamics—while learning new content in English. This video illustrates four proven ways teachers can help newcomer English learner students develop the academic vocabulary they need to succeed in school and beyond.
Publication Date: May 2019
Publisher: Institute of Education Sciences
Teaching Tuesday: Literacy in Content Area Instruction
This article discusses building foundational literacy skills to help students with formation of their self-efficacy in learning in all content areas. Topics include academic language and technology to assist with literacy across content areas.
Publication Date: October 2021
Publisher: Grand Canyon University
Teaching Tuesday: Top Collaborative Learning Strategies
There are a variety of strategies we can use to create an engaging environment of students that are excited about learning. One of the most effective strategies is the use of cooperative learning. This article explains four of the top cooperative learning activities that can be implemented in any grade level or content area, with the right amount of planning and supports.
Author: Alicia Kozimor
Publication Date: September 2022
Publisher: Grand Canyon University
The Comprehensive Guide to Project-Based Learning: Empowering Student Choice through an Effective Teaching Method
By integrating authentic projects into the curriculum, project-based learning fosters active engagement, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. This comprehensive guide explores the principles, benefits, implementation strategies, and evaluation techniques associated with project-based instruction, highlighting its emphasis on student choice and its potential to revolutionize education.
Publication Date: 2025
Publisher: New Tech Network
The Five Dimensions of Differentiation
This article focuses on differentiation and the ways that teachers can meet the academic needs of all their students. It includes challenges and solutions about how differentiation can be implemented with a variety of strategies that can be used to differentiate, challenge, and engage all students.
Authors: Sally M. Reis and Joseph S. Renzulli
Publication Date: December 2018
Publisher: International Journal for Talent Development and Creativity
The Importance of Gathering Evidence of Learning
Teachers can use evidence of learning information to understand how students are thinking and learning, to see if students are or aren’t achieving milestones, and to effectively adjust their pedagogy accordingly. This article details the three key steps to gathering the evidence of learning process.
Publisher: School of Education and Human Sciences, University of Kansas
The UDL Guidelines
This new iteration, UDL Guidelines 3.0, addresses critical barriers rooted in biases and systems of exclusion for learners with and without disabilities. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.
Publication Date: July 2024
Publisher: CAST
Understanding and Responding to Writing Prompts Guide
This guide is intended to assist with better understanding of four kinds of writing prompts for creative, historical essay, argumentative essay, and literary analysis and what they require students to do. It can be used by instructors as they plan lessons to teach these skills. The information is appropriate for Grades 3–12, but some of the more complex aspects of understanding and responding to writing prompts are only appropriate for students in higher grade levels or those with better developed skills.
Authors: Deborah Reed and Shalini Jasti
Publication Date: May 2023
Publisher: Iowa Reading Research Center
Use Strategies to Promote Active Student Engagement
This video defines and provides background on a high-leverage practice for students with disabilities and highlights three essential components, demonstrating these components through video clips from real classrooms. The three key components are the importance of building positive teacher–student relationships, using a variety of strategies for ensuring student engagement during lessons, and actively monitoring for engagement while providing ongoing feedback.
Authors: Michael Kennedy, Katherine Peeples, John Romig, Hannah Mathews, and Wendy Rodgers
Publication Date: 2018
Publisher: Council for Exceptional Children
Using Universal Design for Learning to Design Standards-Based Lessons
This article presents a process that teachers can use as they develop standards-based lesson plans. By applying UDL during the lesson planning process, teachers can identify clear goals and develop flexible methods, assessments, and materials that address the needs and preferences of varied learners. General educators and special educators can use this process to develop lesson plans that address learners with and without disabilities.
Authors: Kavita Rao and Grace Meo
Publication Date: November 2016
Publisher: SAGE Journals
Video Examples of the Prioritized Educator Competencies
These video resources show educator competencies in action. These competencies have the most leverage in transforming classroom practices to be personalized, and student-centered. Footage includes teachers demonstrating key techniques and strategies, experts and peers discussing practice, students reflecting on their experiences.
Publication Date: April 2021
Publisher: KnowledgeWorks Foundation
What Is Disciplinary Literacy and Why Is It Important?
Teaching students to navigate literacy skills that differ by discipline is essential. This article explores disciplinary literacy, the research-proven benefits of teaching it, and how you can bring this to your classroom.
Author: Corey Humphrey
Publication Date: June 2024
Publisher: Carnegie Learning
What Is Inquiry-Based Learning? 6 Benefits to Know
Inquiry-based learning is a teaching method that encourages students to ask questions, explore, and investigate topics. It builds critical thinking and research skills by fostering curiosity and active participation in the learning process. This article explains problem-based, structured, guided, and open-ended inquiry and includes the benefits of inquiry-based teaching and learning.
Publication Date: July 2025
Publisher: Grand Canyon University
What Is Scaffolding in Education and How Is It Applied?
This article explains scaffolding in education as a technique that establishes a firm framework of foundational knowledge before gradually building upon that framework. It describes the instructional scaffolding process and provides six specific strategies.
Publication Date: September 2023
Publisher: Grand Canyon University
Which Study Skills Strategies Can Improve Students’ Academic Performance?
Graphic organizers can help these students more easily process information. More specifically, these tools allow students to organize information, see the relationships between ideas, and more easily understand, remember, and apply information. Examples of the most common graphic organizers and explanations of their purposes are included.
Publication Date: 2022
Publisher: IRIS Center, Vanderbilt University