ALAMEDA, Calif., April 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Center for the Collaborative Classroom, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to providing curricula that support the academic, ethical, social, and emotional development of children, and ThinkCERCA, a research-based literacy platform for engaging students in personalized reading, writing, and critical thinking, today announced a partnership that aligns with K-8 TEKS approved English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum. Texas schools can now use Proclamation 2019-allocated funds to adopt the combined curriculum.
The announcement comes at an interesting time for the educational system in Texas. On March 8th, 2019 a bill was filed in the Texas Legislature to require the State Board of Education to adopt standards for social and emotional learning. Both Collaborative Classroom and ThinkCERCA provide research-based curriculum that is rooted in social and emotional learning.
“We’ve partnered with ThinkCERCA to help Texas school districts deliver continuous improvement through a unified approach to rigorous K-8 literacy instruction,” said Kelly Stuart, Chief Operating Officer, Collaborative Classroom. “ThinkCERCA’s literacy platform helps educators teach critical thinking skills through close reading and academic writing across subjects. When combined with our Collaborative Literacy curriculum the program gives districts and teachers TEKS approved K-8 curriculum.”
“Collaborative Classroom is an ideal partner and allows us to round out our offering with a focus on literacy education that has strong social and emotional learning integration,” said Eileen Murphy, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ThinkCERCA. “Together, we believe that students and teachers should be engaged in lively, relevant conversations about real-world texts and issues. Both Collaborative Classroom and ThinkCERCA provide teachers with engaging curricular materials and ongoing professional learning to accomplish authentic, visible shifts in instruction and teacher practice.”
Collaborative Literacy, aligned with TEKS and ELPS, is a rigorous, yearlong curriculum that addresses the core reading, writing, and speaking and listening skills that students need to thrive academically and socially. By integrating literacy instruction with social and emotional learning (SEL), Collaborative Literacy enables students’ development as readers and writers who think critically, while simultaneously fostering their growth as caring, collaborative, and principled people.
Through a rigorous, TEKS- and ELPS-aligned English language arts and reading curriculum, ThinkCERCA helps educators effectively teach 21st-century literacy skills. At the heart of its personalized literacy platform is a research-based framework, CERCA, for teaching students how to read, write, and think critically in ELA and across subjects. CERCA helps students become prepared for the world ahead, by teaching them how to make Claims, support their claims with Evidence, explain their Reasoning clearly, civilly address Counterarguments, and use language appropriate for their Audience. Multiple studies show that as students practice and strengthen these advanced literacy skills, they can achieve two years or more of growth in a single school year.
About Center for the Collaborative Classroom
Center for the Collaborative Classroom is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to providing curricula that supports the academic, ethical, social, and emotional development of children. The organization’s mission is to provide schools and districts with a path to harness research-supported teaching practices that help students grow as readers, writers, and thinkers as they develop the social and emotional skills necessary to thrive. For more information visit collaborativeclassroom.org.
About ThinkCERCA
ThinkCERCA’s personalized literacy platform helps educators teach critical thinking skills through close reading and academic writing across subjects. With students and teachers using its platform in all 50 states and 130 countries, the company has partnered with prominent leaders in education, including Follett Corporation, and has been featured by The Atlantic, Tech & Learning, and EdSurge, among others. In a recent controlled study of 26 ed-tech tools by LEAP Innovations, ThinkCERCA was proven to help students achieve two years of academic growth per year on average. The winner of the 2019 IATE Classroom Essentials Awards for secondary grades and a 2016 SIAA CODiE Awards finalist for Best Reading/English/Language Arts Instructional Solution, ThinkCERCA has also been named one of the best tools in ed tech by Common Sense Media. In July 2013, ThinkCERCA was the recipient of a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Literacy Courseware Challenge grant, and in December 2012, graduated from the inaugural class of Impact Engine’s social impact accelerator. To learn more, please visit www.ThinkCERCA.com.