Teaching and Learning for College Readiness: The Role of Standards, Feedback, and Support — Summary

District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) has been widely heralded in recent years as one of the nation’s fastest-improving urban public school districts. Most coverage has focused on the district’s strong and stable leadership and its sustained focus on educator effectiveness.

Much has been written and debated on the state-led shift toward more rigorous, consistent K-12 education standards commonly known as Common Core. At the same time, that intense focus on the standards has obscured an equally important shift – the adoption of instructional resources aligned to the new standards.

The Mathematics Design Collaborative (MDC) brings to mathematics teaching and learning high-quality instructional tools and professional support services that play a pivotal role in helping the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation realize its ambitious goal of having 80% of low-income and minority students ready for college by 2025.