According to Activate Instruction, this is the only free content aggregation resource in existence that “enables teachers to personalize instruction, because the technology allows curricular resources to link electronically to any school system’s student achievement data management systems.”
“Activate Instruction … is essentially a curricular Wikipedia,” explained Michele Hanson, president of the Girard Education Foundation.
As of press time, the resources reportedly had been accessed by more than 35,000 educators.
Common Core resource creation
Both schools that helped to build out the Common Core-aligned resources consistently rank among the best in California, with SPS’ flagship schools ranked amongst the top 100 best high schools in the nation, and 96 percent of SPS graduates are accepted to at least one four-year college or university.
HTH’s curriculum also contributed to their success in sending 98 percent of grads to go onto college, even though more than a third are first-generation college students.
Before SPS submitted their Common Core-aligned resources, the materials began when groups of subject teachers collaborated to determine objectives for curriculum playlists, an assessment created for those objectives was then reviewed by another teacher of the same discipline, and a playlist was created to align with those objectives and that assessment.
The resources were then vetted by other teacher outside of the department and were reviewed for “instructional quality” and whether the materials were likely to work from the student perspective.
In addition to SPS-created educator resources, materials on Activate also include resources that teachers at schools like SPS have curated from a variety of providers, such as BrainPOP, Quizlet, CK-12, Khan Academy, and Socrates.
Ongoing peer review and ratings are encouraged, and Activate will allow educators to quickly access the highest rated content, as more educators build out the platform.
So far, the resources provided on Activate include playlists, worksheets, lesson plans, graphic organizers, pictures, videos, websites, PowerPoint presentations, and assessments.
For examples of resources aggregated into a playlist, check out:
- Carrying Capacity, a biology playlist
- Bivariate Quantitative Data, an AP statistics playlist
- Early Humans: Paleolithic Culture, a history playlist
(Next page: Linking to assessment data)
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