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Classroom Instruction that Works

With nearly a million copies sold, McREL’s Classroom Instruction that Works is one of the most widely used professional development manuals in education today.

Since its publication in 2001, educators nationwide have been using the simple but powerful strategies in this research-based manual to improve teaching and learning in their classrooms.

McREL continues to expand this product line, offering a wide array of products, workshops and training, and free resources to help you translate the guidance from this popular manual into results for students in your district, school, or classroom. We have also teamed up with other organizations and publishers to create other Classroom Instruction that Works-embedded programs.

Products

Classroom Instruction that Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement. Available from our publisher, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), this manual distills decades of research on effective instruction into nine categories of instructional strategies that maximize student learning. It examines the research and theory behind those instructional strategies, along with explicit examples, suggestions for classroom practice, and advice for instructional planning.

A Handbook for Classroom Instruction that Works. Developed specifically for self-study or school study groups, this handbook shows how to apply the teaching practices from Classroom Instruction that Works. The handbook is also available through ASCD.

Classroom Instruction that Works with English Language Learners. This new ASCD publication describes ways for mainstream K–6 teachers to adapt the instructional strategies in Classroom Instruction that Works to meet the needs of ELLs at different stages of language acquisition.

Classroom Instruction that Works: Participants' and Facilitators' Manuals. Available through School Improvement Network, these materials support a two-day workshop on the nine categories of effective instruction described in Classroom Instruction that Works. Workshops are designed for a K-12 audience, as the instructional strategies can be widely applied and generally are effective for any student, at any grade level, in any subject area. In addition to a synthesis of the research for each type of instruction, the manuals provide many suggestions for classroom practice.

Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works cover Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. This workshop manual, which ASCD will publish as a guidebook in summer 2007, help educators use technology tools available in most classrooms to enhance the strategies described in Classroom Instruction that Works.

What Works in Classroom Instruction Video Series. This professional development series, available in both DVD and VHS, headlines McREL consultant Salle Quackenboss showing teachers how to use the nine instructional strategies featured in What Works in Classroom Instruction, which was the original version of Classroom Instruction that Works. It also provides examples of effective teachers using these strategies in their high-achieving classrooms.

Workshops & Training

McREL provides a wide array of on-site training related to Classroom Instruction that Works. We can offer workshops for teachers as well as training-of-trainer sessions for districts and intermediate agencies.

Classroom Instruction that Works. This training presents an overview of the best instructional practices as found in the research literature and then shows how these practices can be implemented in the classroom. Specific types of knowledge such as vocabulary, terms and phrases, details, generalizations, and principles are applied to instructional practices, and a model for sequencing instructional techniques is also examined. McREL offers a CITW institute for teachers as well as advanced training for teacher leaders and professional developers.
Audience: K-12 educators, all subject areas; staff developers

Classroom Instruction that Works with English Language Learners. In this three-day interactive workshop, the research-based strategies from Classroom Instruction that Works are applied to teaching English language learners in mainstream K–6 classrooms. Since sociocultural theory informs us that a student's learning is closely linked to teacher interaction, classroom teachers will learn ways to help ELLs be active participants along with the rest of the English-dominant class.
Audience: K-6 mainstream classroom teachers

Classroom Instruction that Works in Secondary Science. Learn how the nine instructional strategies in Classroom Instruction that Works are applied to secondary science instruction to develop in-depth content understanding. Learn how to develop student understanding by

Engaging in instruction that research demonstrates to be effective
Constructing content understanding through science inquiry
Experiencing a learner-centered classroom environment

Audience: 6-12 science teachers and professional developers

Classroom Instruction that Works online courses. In partnership with Jones Knowledge, McREL offers a series three, four-week graduate-level courses based on manual of the same name. All courses are taught by expert instructors and provide up to three graduate credits from Jones International University . You'll emerge as a more effective teacher who's ready to make a difference in your classroom and school.
Audience: K-12 teachers

Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works . This workshop is designed for educators who want to infuse their curriculum with technology to a greater extent. You’ll study research on nine effective instructional practices, learn how technology can be embedded in those practices, and plan an implementation strategy.
Audience: Administrators, curriculum specialists, staff developers, and teachers

Free Resources

A Theory-Based Meta-Analysis of Research on Instruction. Read the original 1998 research report that formed the foundation for Classroom Instruction that Works. Using a sophisticated research technique called a meta-analysis, McREL analyzed and synthesized the results of more than 100 research reports on effective instruction.

What Works in Classroom Instruction. This document was the original version of Classroom Instruction that Works. After publishing A Theory-Based Meta-Analysis of Research on Instruction, McREL analyzed additional research findings and used the combined results of these syntheses to develop What Works in Classroom Instruction, which is available for free download here.

Classroom Instruction that Works-Embedded Programs

Lifting Literacy for Academic Achievement. Rigby Professional Development partnered with McREL to review and evaluate Rigby’s Lifting Literacy for Academic Achievement program. Together, Rigby Professional Development and McREL aim to make Lifting Literacy ever more effective by infusing into its content the nine categories of research-based strategies from Classroom Instruction that Works.

Teachscape® High-Yield Instructional Strategies. McREL has collaborated with Teachscape, a provider of traditional and Web-based professional development, to create seminars for elementary and secondary teachers and leaders that incorporate the “high-yield instructional strategies” of Classroom Instruction that Works.

“[McREL] conducted a three-day Classroom Instruction That Works workshop for teachers and administrators in our district. It was so well received that we are having [McREL] back to conduct the same workshop this summer for a second group. … I recommend [McREL] and the workshop to any teacher or administrator who desires to challenge their thinking and approach to student achievement.”

William J. Miller
Superintendent
Polk County Schools
Columbus, NC

“In my current position as principal, I have introduced many of the research-based strategies in [Classroom Instruction that Works]. Teachers are excited, students are learning and we are all looking for more effective ways to improve student performance!”

Cynthia J. Matthew
Principal
Cape Girardeau, MO

“McREL’s training related to Classroom Instruction that Works was terrific. [The McREL trainer] was an excellent presenter who reads her audience and its needs quite well. She accommodates for differing learning styles; she varies her pace; and she KNOWS her ‘stuff’. The information from [Classroom Instruction that Works] was an excellent companion to our district-wide Literacy Initiative. … All said, this is among the best of the trainings I have been engaged in during my 25 year work in public education.”

Mary-Alice Yarbrough
Director, Elementary Instruction & Federal Programs
Orange County Schools
Hillsborough, NC

“McREL’s consultants are top-notch, and their content and delivery had a positive impact on student achievement in many of our districts.”

Gretchen Schaeffer Almeida
Former Assistant
Director, Southeast
Regional Professional Development Center,
Cape Girardeau, MO