Tools for Teachers, by Teachers: The Literacy and Math Design Collaboratives

The connection between teachers and students is at the heart of learning. Our work focuses on ensuring that all teachers have the goals, skills and tools to form and strengthen that powerful bond with their students. The first step in doing that is asking teachers what works and what they need to strengthen the teacher-student bond—and then trusting and listening to what they tell us.

What happens when teachers trade isolation for collaboration? Teachers in Colorado and Kentucky wanted to find out so they created the Common Assignment Study (CAS) to show the positive impact of teachers working across district and state lines to better serve students.

When many of us think of “tutoring”, we picture the “homework help” model, where a student brings assignments for a tutor to coach them through. However, this type of model is not what every student needs to deeply learn new concepts. In fact, an effective tutoring program often looks very different.