TOOLS FOR CONQUERING THE COMMON CORE Wins a 2016 Learning Magazine Teachers' Choice Award

Tools for Conquering the Common Core, by Dr. Harvey Silver and Dr. Abigail L. Boutz, wins Learning Magazine's prestigious Teachers' Choice Award for 2016. These awards recognize outstanding products for today's teachers. Winners are selected after being reviewed by a panel of practicing educators who test the products in their classrooms.

The guiding principle in the development of Tools for Conquering the Common Core was practicality. Co-author Abigail Boutz explains, "Based on feedback from hundreds of teachers, we designed Tools for Conquering the Common Core to be classroom-ready, with easy-to-follow steps, lots of classroom examples, and expert tips and suggestions."

Tools for Conquering the Common Core contains 35 instructional "tools," or ready-to-implement techniques that teachers at all grade levels can integrate seamlessly into their lessons. These tools require little to no advanced planning and are directly aligned to the key literacy skills embedded in the Common Core and other college and career readiness standards. The book includes tools that target reading skills, writing skills, speaking & listening skills, and language/vocabulary skills.

Co-author Harvey Silver believes that Tools for Conquering the Common Core has struck a chord because teachers, students, and parents are frustrated with the skill-and-drill worksheets and online exercises that predominate in many classrooms. "It's clear that teachers are looking for a better, more engaging, and more long-term way to build essential literacy skills," Silver says. "They're looking for tools."

Tools for Conquering the Common Core is being used in schools across the nation to help teachers develop students' thinking and literacy skills. One such school is Children's Aid College Prep Charter School (CACPCS) in the South Bronx, NY. Casey Vier, Academic Dean of CACPCS, explains, "By building key professional learning goals around the tools in Tools for Conquering the Common Core, we have given all of our teachers an easy-to-understand set of classroom techniques to raise student achievement."

This tools-based approach to professional development has made a real difference for CACPCS-a school that gives enrollment preference to socially and economically disadvantaged students, yet has significantly outperformed many schools across the state. The percentage of CACPCS students who passed the ELA portion of the NY State Assessments was more than 17 percentage points higher than the state average. In math, the percentage of passing students was more than 40 percentage points higher than the state average.

The 2016 Learning Magazine Teachers' Choice Award for Professional Development is the fourth Teachers' Choice Award for Silver Strong & Associates' publishing division, Thoughtful Education Press. Matthew Perini, who serves as the Series Editor for the Tools line, says, "This latest Teachers' Choice Award is a wonderful reminder of what can happen when committed educators are given the tools they need to help all their students succeed."

Educators may obtain a free sample tool from Tools for Conquering the Common Core at http://bit.ly/FreeSampleTool.

TOOLS FOR CONQUERING THE COMMON CORE
published by Silver Strong & Associates - Thoughtful Education Press
Harvey F. Silver, Abigail L. Boutz

AWARDS:
2016 Learning Magazine Teachers' Choice Award for Professional Development

CATEGORIES:
Education
K-12

Paperback
ISBN 978-1-58284-203-5

Available at http://www.ToolsForTodaysEducators.com

What education professionals are saying about Tools for Conquering the Common Core:

"Tools for Conquering the Common Core enriches the learning experience for all my students, from my most skilled to my most challenged. My copy is full of Post-its and highlights, and it's always close at hand. I don't leave home without it!"
-Mary Jo Ferguson, 2008 Teacher of the Year, Ohio School Resource Officers Association (OSROA), Lorain City Schools, Lorain, OH

"These essential tools provide supervisors with targeted resources to help teachers make instruction more effective. Whether using the tools to provide one-on-one assistance or planned professional development for small and large groups, the result will be the same: significant gains in student achievement."
-Marcia Knoll, former ASCD President, current Associate Professor and Program Coordinator for the Administration and Supervision Program at Hunter College, New York, NY

"The Common Core State Standards told us what we should be teaching our students. This book tells us how by providing effective, teacher-friendly strategies for strengthening students' reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language skills."
-Tom Colabufo, Principal, Woodland Elementary School, East Syracuse, NY

About the Authors:

Harvey F. Silver, EdD, president of Silver Strong & Associates, is the lead developer of The Thoughtful Classroom, a professional development initiative dedicated to the goal of "making students as important as standards," and The Thoughtful Classroom Teacher Effectiveness Framework. He has authored several bestsellers in education and conducts workshops in schools throughout the country.

Abigail L. Boutz, PhD, has taught, tutored, and mentored students at the elementary through college levels, most recently for UCLA's Life Sciences Department and as University Field Supervisor for its Teacher Education Program. With Silver Strong & Associates, she has developed numerous training modules and workshops on effective teaching.

Silver and Boutz also collaborated on the bestselling Tools for Thoughtful Assessment, winner of a Teachers' Choice Award for Professional Development last year (2015) and an IPPY Award in Education in 2013.

About the Publisher:
Silver Strong & Associates' Thoughtful Classroom program has helped hundreds of schools and districts improve teaching and learning by offering the most personalized, hands-on approach to professional development. Thoughtful Education Press, the publishing division of Silver Strong & Associates, publishes practical resources for educators.

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