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JUNE 2021
Partner Spotlight: Newsela Leverages Academic Benchmarks for Efficient Alignment
As the provider of instructional content and resources for teachers and students across the United States, Newsela needed a way to confidently (and quickly) associate state and national standards to that content. Using Academic Benchmark’s relationship insights across standards, concepts, and topics, Newsela is able to associate concepts and standards tags across thousands of content assets, which in turn helps users more quickly find articles and instructional resources related to their state standards.
Prior to leveraging Academic Benchmarks, the Newsela team gathered, stored, and manually maintained standard information in spreadsheets. The team recognized that their manual processes did not support scaled growth, which is why they turned to Academic Benchmarks.
Newsela is known for making learning accessible to students - offering a variety of texts all published at five different reading levels, with targeted maturity levels. Much of Newsela’s content is appropriate for learners across wide grade bands. Academic Benchmarks allows Newslea to start with the concepts covered in an article, then zero in on the associated standards and select those most appropriate for the content. Using this approach, it takes the team about 10 minutes to review standards from all states and all grade levels to align an article, a task that would otherwise take at least an hour per article, likely more.
Employee Spotlight - Chad Kinart
As a sales executive, Chad demonstrates the benefits of AB Connect to new and existing clients, helping them to understand learning standards, the power of machine learning, and the importance of content discoverability.
Most recently, Chad was independently consulting, and his passion for collaborating with others to solve problems led him to Instructure. He’s excited to join a team of intelligent, empathetic, and passionate professionals all aligned to solving education problems that impact students.
Chad looks forward to sharing with clients the power of AB Connect, and how it can be utilized in 1000's of creative ways through the use of API's.
What's New With Standards This Month
Standards Released
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Alabama > Course of Study (COS) > English Language Arts (2021)
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Arizona > Career and Technical Education Programs > various subjects (2011 r2021)
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Canada > Newfoundland and Labrador Curriculum > Science (2009 r2021) > Biology 3201
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Illinois > Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness (PWR) > Transitional Math (2018 r2021)
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Indiana > Social-Emotional Learning Competencies > Social-Emotional Learning Competencies (2019 r2021)
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Kentucky > Academic Standards (KAS) > Technology (2021)
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Massachusetts > Curriculum Frameworks > World Languages (2021)
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Mississippi > College- and Career-Readiness Standards > Learning Standards for Libraries (2021)
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Missouri > Early Learning Standards (MELS) (2021)
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North Carolina > Career and Technical Education - High School various subjects (2014 r2021)
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Rhode Island > Core Standards > English Language Arts/Literacy (2021) > Grades 11-12 Reading Standards for Literacy in the Content Areas: History/Social Studies (11-12)
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South Dakota > Content Standards > Educational Technology (2021)
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South Dakota > Content Standards > Physical Education (2021)
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Texas > Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) > Science (2020)
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Utah > Core Standards > Mathematics > Various HS Courses (2016 r2018)
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Virginia > 21st Century Workplace Readiness Skills > Workplace Readiness (2019)
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Virginia > Early Learning & Development Standards (ELDS) > (2021)
Upcoming Standards
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Canada: Saskatchewan Curriculum Social Studies High School Courses (2020)
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Georgia Standards of Excellence Computer Science High School Courses (2021)
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Georgia Standards of Excellence Health Education (2021)
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Singapore Subject Syllabuses Humanities (2020)
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Wisconsin Standards Mathematics (2021)
Standards Updates
You can view the List of Standards released this month. Download the Obsolete List to view standards marked obsolete for Q1, or visit the Canvas Community to learn about previously released standards.
To learn more about these updates, contact us at absupport@certicasolutions.com.
