Why High-Quality Content Matters in K-12 Instruction

High-quality, authentic content deepens engagement with students and advance literacy achievement.

Standards-aligned curriculum may prevail in K-12 classrooms around the country, yet teachers still look for culturally responsive, individualized, and timely content to meet the learning needs of diverse student populations.

A recent CCC webinar, hosted by Velocity of Content’s Chris Kenneally, covered the state of K-12 literacy in public schools; contrasted the value of high-quality, authentic content in curriculum with the challenges of using synthetic text and freely available resources from online; and outlined best practices for the use of copyrighted content. 

The discussion featured educators with extensive classroom experience who have developed innovative uses of authentic content that support state and district ELA standards. These efforts further have helped to address learning loss associated with pandemic-related school closures.

Guest included:

• Marjorie McKeown is Founder and CEO of ALEE, the Alexandria Learning Ecosystem for Educators. She has worked in education as a teacher, principal, and school leader and has served as president of Matterlab Enrollment, where she partnered with more than 100 schools and districts to achieve enrollment goals.       
• Ellen Brooks is K-12 School Improvement Coach and Educator at Monroe Public Schools in Monroe, Michigan. She brings classroom experience as a teacher in both lower and upper elementary classrooms to her role as a School Improvement Coach specializing in professional development. As a digital learning expert and then as a webinar coordinator with Teacher Quality department of the National Education Association (NEA), Ellen helped to create, schedule, and develop educator-led sessions supporting more than 35,000 school educators during the pandemic.
• Kimberly Andersen is Director of Curriculum and Instruction at Twin Valley School District in Pennsylvania. She has previously taught at the elementary and college level for over 30 years and has served in school district administration for 10 years as a principal.
• Roy Kaufman is Managing Director, Business Development and Government Relations, for CCC. He previously served as Legal Director, for academic and instructional publisher John Wiley and Sons.