Total Instructional Alignment: from Standards to Student Success

With all the programs, reform efforts, and innovations designed to fix our schools and improve student achievement, there is one basic question that often goes unasked: Are students actually being taught those things we expect them to learn? Total Instructional Alignment (TIA) explains why the answer to this question is often No, and then details how to implement the TIA three-step process so there is alignment between standards, curriculum, classroom instruction, and assessment. The TIA process ensures that students are being taught what we expect them to learn. It is not teaching to the test ; rather, TIA is teaching to the tested concepts. Leaving no child behind requires all schools design an instructional program that not only aligns instruction to standards, benchmarks, and assessments, but also presents instruction that is aligned to the learning needs of each individual student. The TIA process is a step beyond curriculum alignment; it ensures that alignment occurs in every classroom throughout the entire school and district. Total Instructional Alignment examines vertical and horizontal alignment structures; flexible grouping practices; and the roles of policy, practices, and leadership in redesigning the educational system to ensure that all students learn. Also included are a variety of alignment tools and information on how to sustain the process.