IPSI Spotlight | Institute for Public School Initiatives

Partnerships and High-Quality Support: A Comprehensive Structure to Standards-Aligned Planning

The University of Texas at Austin’s Institute for Public School Initiatives (IPSI) has established a partnership with Learning List. Learning List conducts independent reviews of instructional materials that provide support for teachers and leaders in developing standards-aligned lesson plans. IPSI team members will integrate Learning List tools and resources into professional development sessions or technical assistance support that focus on standards-based planning. Here is one example of what the beginning steps might include when developing a unit of study:

Review all Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for a given unit
Identify the critical content (i.e., TEKS to master) for that unit
Develop an assessment blueprint
Select instructional materials in Learning List that most closely align with the critical content and expected outcomes

You can learn more about Learning List at https://www.learninglist.com/.

IPSI has also established a partnership with Education Service Center (ESC) 20 in San Antonio. Collectively, IPSI and ESC 20 team members are designing several professional development series for teachers and leaders aimed at increasing knowledge of cross-disciplinary literacy and literacy instructional practices in elementary and secondary classrooms. In addition, team members are developing a series aimed at increasing the skill set of campus or district leaders in designing and implementing systemic practices. Thus far, the yearlong series include

You can find detailed information about each series by selecting one of the titles in the bulleted list above.