Smarter Balanced Launches Tools for Teachers
Created by Educators, Website Provides Lessons and Activities to Support Instruction
Santa Clara, Calif. (September 30, 2020) — Smarter Balanced announced the grand opening of Tools for Teachers, an easy-to-use website featuring standards-aligned lessons and strategies designed by educators to save teachers time and boost student learning.
Educators can use Tools for Teachers to find trusted lessons and activities that they can use flexibly for remote or in-person instruction. The website was developed with a commitment to accessibility, making it easy for educators to find strategies that support diverse learners.
Tools for Teachers includes lessons, formative assessment strategies, performance progressions, professional learning resources, and links to additional Smarter Balanced resources that dive into how test questions are structured and scored.
“During the past few years, we collected feedback from teachers across the nation about what resources they need to help their students. We heard that teachers want a single site that contains high-quality resources for them to use so they can focus on teaching. Tools for Teachers saves educators time because they can easily access and adapt lessons to meet their students’ needs and preferences.”
Tony Alpert, Smarter Balanced Executive Director
Tools for Teachers was created in collaboration with hundreds of educators and includes differentiated lessons and activities that are effective across grades and content areas. Preview sample resources in math and English language arts to see how these educator-created resources can help teachers help students.
To get started, visit SmarterToolsForTeachers.org and Smarter Balanced’s new Pinterest channel, which provides an easy way to organize strategies and lessons.
Media: Please contact Chris Barron, Senior Director of Communications
About Us
Smarter Balanced is a public agency currently supported by its members. Through the work of thousands of educators, we created an online assessment system aligned to college and career ready standards, as well as instructional resources for educators to help them improve teaching and learning. Smarter Balanced is housed at the University of California Santa Cruz Silicon Valley Extension.