Using Aligned Standards
We use InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards and Learning Progressions for Teachers 1.0[1] to align every element of this course. This enables instructors, regardless of the state in which they teach, to identify exactly what content aligns to the state standards they must address in their specific courses. Below, we explain what InTASC is, how to crosswalk InTASC standards to a state’s standards, and how instructors can efficiently filter for and find the content they need without having to review the entire course. We provide an example from Minnesota’s teacher education standards so instructors can see how this works.
What is InTASC and why did we align to it?
The 10 InTASC standards model core teaching practices that K-12 teachers should be able to demonstrate as effective teachers. Originally released in 1992, these standards were created to help guide early-career teachers, but the group realized that these characteristics were actually applicable to all teachers. In 2011, InTASC revised the standards and expanded them to include all teachers; an additional 174 specific standards called “Learning Progressions” were added under each broad standard in 2013. Many states draw from InTASC standards and Learning Progressions to create their state standards, often word-for-word. The 10 standards are explained in further detail below and are broken into the four overarching categories of the standards.
We created a spreadsheet version of all the InTASC standards and their Learning Progressions to make them easier to explore. You can filter or search the spreadsheet to view by type (the broad standards, or the three types of Learning Progressions: Knowledge, Disposition, and Performance), one standard at a time, or by keyword (e.g. “technology”).
InTASC Standards and Learning Progressions
We have aligned every module, activity, assessment, and interactive learning object in this course to one or more the 173 InTASC learning progressions (which we call “specific standards”) that fall under the 10 overarching InTASC standards. Using the tables we have placed throughout this course, instructors can
- Identify which InTASC Learning Progressions crosswalk to the state standards applicable to the course they are building.
- Type an InTASC Learning Progression into the search box at the top of a table to see what module content, activities, assessments, and interactive learning objects align to that standard.
- Go directly to the aligned material to review it for use in their own course.
- Easily add the chosen materials to their uniquely-designed course, LEGO-style, knowing that all materials have been
- CC-BY licensed (so may be used with attribution and no copyright permissions/cost),
- vetted for accessibility compliance according to WCAG 2.1 standards, and
- designed with research-informed learning science and culturally-inclusive pedagogy prioritized.
Below are two ways to search for material aligned to your desired InTASC standard. The first table provides a list of every InTASC Learning Progression that is aligned in this course, including the full text of each specific standard, and links by module to the aligned ancillary materials. The second table flips the information around a bit, offering a list of every ancillary resource in the course and all the specific standards aligned to it. The search function in either table will help you filter for the specific resources you would like to review.
InTASC Learning Progressions in This Course
InTASC Alignments in Introduction to Special Education
This table lists all InTASC specific standards aligned to materials in this course. Click on the hyperlink for a module to explore the resources in greater depth.
| ref# | Type | InTASC Standard | Modules where covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1c | Performance | The teacher collaborates with families, communities, colleagues, and other professionals to promote learner growth and development. | M5 |
| 1f | Knowledge | The teacher identifies readiness for learning, and understands how development in any one area may affect performance in others. | M4 |
| 1h | Disposition | The teacher respects learners’ differing strengths and needs and is committed to using this information to further each learner’s development. | M2, M6 |
| 2b | Performance | The teacher makes appropriate and timely provisions (e.g., pacing for individual rates of growth, task demands, communication, assessment, and response modes) for individual students with particular learning differences or needs. | M4 |
| 2g | Knowledge | The teacher understands and identifies differences in approaches to learning and performance and knows how to design instruction that uses each learner’s strengths to promote growth. | M6 |
| 2h | Knowledge | The teacher understands students with exceptional needs, including those associated with disabilities and giftedness, and knows how to use strategies and resources to address these needs. | M2, M4, Course Project |
| 3i | Knowledge | The teacher understands the relationship between motivation and engagement and knows how to design learning experiences using strategies that build learner self-direction and ownership of learning. | M6 |
| 4j | Knowledge | The teacher understands major concepts, assumptions, debates, processes of inquiry, and ways of knowing that are central to the disciplines s/he teaches. | M3 |
| 6u | Disposition | The teacher is committed to making accommodations in assessments and testing conditions, especially for learners with disabilities and language learning needs. | M4 |
| 7e | Performance | The teacher plans collaboratively with professionals who have specialized expertise (e.g., special educators, related service providers, language learning specialists, librarians, media specialists) to design and jointly deliver as appropriate learning experiences to meet unique learning needs. | M5 |
| 7j | Knowledge | The teacher understands the strengths and needs of individual learners and how to plan instruction that is responsive to these strengths and needs. | M2 |
| 7m | Knowledge | The teacher knows when and how to access resources and collaborate with others to support student learning (e.g., special educators, related service providers, language learner specialists, librarians, media specialists, community organizations). | M4, M5, Course Project |
| 7p | Disposition | The teacher takes professional responsibility to use short- and long-term planning as a means of assuring student learning. | M4 |
| 7q | Disposition | The teacher believes that plans must always be open to adjustment and revision based on learner needs and changing circumstances. | M6 |
| 8l | Knowledge | The teacher knows when and how to use appropriate strategies to differentiate instruction and engage all learners in complex thinking and meaningful tasks. | M6 |
| 8m | Knowledge | The teacher understands how multiple forms of communication (oral, written, nonverbal, digital, visual) convey ideas, foster self expression, and build relationships. | M5, Course Project |
| 9i | Knowledge | The teacher understands how personal identity, worldview, and prior experience affect perceptions and expectations, and recognizes how they may bias behaviors and interactions with others. | M1, M3, Course Project |
| 9j | Knowledge | The teacher understands laws related to learners’ rights and teacher responsibilities (e.g., for educational equity, appropriate education for learners with disabilities, confidentiality, privacy, appropriate treatment of learners, reporting in situations related to possible child abuse). | M1, M3, Course Project |
| 9n | Disposition | The teacher sees him/herself as a learner, continuously seeking opportunities to draw upon current education policy and research as sources of analysis and reflection to improve practice. | M1, Course Project |
| 9o | Disposition | The teacher understands the expectations of the profession including codes of ethics, professional standards of practice, and relevant law and policy. | M1, M3, Course Project |
| 10d | Performance | The teacher works collaboratively with learners and their families to establish mutual expectations and ongoing communication to support learner development and achievement. | M5, Course Project |
| 10l | Knowledge | The teacher understands schools as organizations within a historical, cultural, political, and social context and knows how to work with others across the system to support learners. | M3, Course Project |
| 10n | Knowledge | The teacher knows how to work with other adults and has developed skills in collaborative interaction appropriate for both face-to-face and virtual contexts. | M5, Course Project |
| 10p | Disposition | The teacher actively shares responsibility for shaping and supporting the mission of his/her school as one of advocacy for learners and accountability for their success. | M1 |
| 10q | Disposition | The teacher respects families’ beliefs, norms, and expectations and seeks to work collaboratively with learners and families in setting and meeting challenging goals. | M5, Course Project |
Ancillaries in This Course (with InTASC Alignments)
Introduction to Special Education Ancillary Resources
All activities, assessments, and interactives in the Introduction to Special Education course are listed here. Use the search function to find all resources for a specific InTASC standard or other whole-course ancillary information.
| Item Type | Item Name | Alignments | Module |
|---|---|---|---|
| Activity | M1: District Policy | 9o | 1 |
| Activity | M1: Procedural Safeguards | 9j, 9o | 1 |
| Activity | M1: Unlearning Special Education | 9i, 9j, 9n, 9o, 10p | 1 |
| Activity | M2: Equity in IDEA | 1h, 2h | 2 |
| Activity | M2: What Did You Unlearn? | 1h | 2 |
| Activity | M2: Scenario-Based Exploration | 1h, 2h | 2 |
| Activity | M3: Frames of Reference | 9i | 3 |
| Activity | M3: Which Decade? | 9j, 9o, 10l | 3 |
| Activity | M4: Is Special Education Really Broken? | 2h, 6u, 7p | 4 |
| Activity | M4: Navigating Parental/Guardian Refusal of Special Education Services | 7m, 7p | 4 |
| Activity | M5: Collaborative Problem Solving | 7e, 10q | 5 |
| Activity | M5: IEP Communication Bingo | 1c, 7e, 7m, 10d | 5 |
| Activity | M5: Just One Thing | 1c, 10q | 5 |
| Activity | M5: Respond to an Angry Email | 10n | 5 |
| Activity | M5: What is Collaboration? | 7m, 10d | 5 |
| Activity | M6: UDL Exploration Activity | 2g | 6 |
| Assessment | M1: Explain a Law | 9j, 9o | 1 |
| Assessment | M1: What Would You Do? | 9i, 9j, 9o | 1 |
| Assessment | M2: Explain Your Strategy | 1h, 2h, 7j | 2 |
| Assessment | M3: What's Wrong with This Picture? | 4j, 9j, 9o | 3 |
| Assessment | M3: Now and Then | 9i, 10l | 3 |
| Assessment | M5: Propose an IEP Change | 1c, 8m, 10d | 5 |
| Assessment | M6: Motivate Your Students Discussion | 3i, 8l | 6 |
| Assessment | IEP Team Member Guide: Open Pedagogy Project | 2h, 7m, 8m, 9i, 9j, 9n, 9o, 10d, 10l, 10n, 10q | Cumulative |
| Additional Resource | Special Education Law Jeopardy Game | 9j, 9o | 1 |
| Interactive | 1.1: AAE Code of Ethics | 9o | 1 |
| Interactive | 1.1: Federal Education Laws | 9j, 9o | 1 |
| Interactive | 1.1: For All Educators | 9i, 9j, 9n, 9o, 10p | 1 |
| Interactive | 1.1: Legal and Ethical Responsibilities for Educators | 9j, 9n, 9o | 1 |
| Interactive | 1.1: NEA Code of Ethics | 9o | 1 |
| Interactive | 1.1: School Governance | 9o, 10p | 1 |
| Interactive | 1.2: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) | 9j, 9o | 1 |
| Interactive | 1.2 Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Special Education Professional Ethical Principles and Standards | 9o | 1 |
| Interactive | 1.2: Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) | 9j, 9o | 1 |
| Interactive | 1.2: Key Federal Laws in Special Education | 9j, 9o | 1 |
| Interactive | 1.2: Legal and Ethical Responsibilities for Special Education | 9j, 9n, 9o | 1 |
| Interactive | 1.2: Parts of the IDEA | 9j, 9o, 10p | 1 |
| Interactive | 1.2: Rehabilitation Act | 9j, 9o | 1 |
| Interactive | 1.2: Special Education Abbreviations | 9j, 9o | 1 |
| Interactive | 2.0: Theoretical Frameworks | 1h | 2 |
| Interactive | 2.1: Disability Types Overview | 7j | 2 |
| Interactive | 2.1: 13 Disability Types Recognized by the IDEA | 2b | 2, 4 |
| Interactive | 3.1: Key People | 4j | 3 |
| Interactive | 3.1: Key People 2 | 4j | 3 |
| Interactive | 3.1: Public Understanding of Disability | 10l | 3 |
| Interactive | 3.2: Inclusive Approaches and Laws | 9j | 3 |
| Interactive | 3.2 Key People | 4j | 3 |
| Interactive | 3.2: Special Education Legislation | 9j | 3 |
| Interactive | 3.2: Which Decade? | 9j, 9o, 10l | 3 |
| Interactive | 4.1: Special Education Services Process | 1f, 2b, 2h, 7m, 7p | 4 |
| Interactive | 4.1: Steps of the Special Education Process | 2b | 4 |
| Interactive | 4.2: 10 Steps in the Special Education | 2b | 4 |
| Interactive | 4.2 Accommodations versus Modifications | 2b, 6u | 4 |
| Interactive | 4.2: Accommodation or Modification | 2b, 6u | 4 |
| Interactive | 4.2: IEP Versus IFSP | 6u | 4 |
| Interactive | 4.2: Label the Parts of an IEP | 1f, 2b | 4 |
| Interactive | 4.2: Special Education Services Process | 6u | 4 |
| Interactive | 5.1 Communication and Culture Basics | 1c, 8m, 10n, 10q | 5 |
| Interactive | 5.1 Self-Discrepancy Theory | 10n | 5 |
| Interactive | 5.1 Cultural Dimension Theory | 8m, 10n, 10q | 5 |
| Interactive | 5.1 Ecological Systems Theory | 8m, 10n, 10q | 5 |
| Interactive | 5.2 High-Leverage Practices for Students with Disabilities: Collaboration | 1c, 7e, 10d | 5 |
| Interactive | M5: IEP Communication Bingo | 1c, 7e, 7m, 10d | 5 |
| Interactive | 6.1 Universal Design for Learning | 2g, 3i | 6 |
| Interactive | 6.1 Common Myths UDL | 7q | |
| Interactive | 6.1 UDL Scenarios | 1h, 2g, 3i | |
| Interactive | 6.2 Differentiation | 1h, 7q, 8l | 6 |
| Interactive | 6.2 Visual Explanation of Differentiation | 8l | 6 |
| Video | A Landmark Study Strikes a Resounding Note for Inclusion | 9n | 1 |
| Video | What Happens When I File a Complaint? | 9o | 1 |
| Video | Every Student Succeeds Act | 9j | 1 |
| Video | What is the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment? | 9j, 9o | 1 |
| Video | Implicit Bias Defined | 9i | 1 |
| Video | Teach Teachers How to Create Magic | 10p | 1 |
| Video | Rosa’s Law | 9i, 9o | 1 |
| Video | The Social Model of Disability | 9i, 10p | 1 |
| Video | Strengths of Students with Learning Disabilities and Other Disorders | 1h, 2h, 7j | 2 |
| Video | Autism Spectrum Disorder: ASD | 1h, 2h, 7j | 2 |
| Video | Teaching Children Who Are Deaf-Blind | 1h, 2h, 7j | 2 |
| Video | Impact on Speech and Language with Kim Hassack | 1h, 2h, 7j | 2 |
| Video | Emotional & Behaviorally Disturbed Students (EBD) | 1h, 2h, 7j | 2 |
| Video | Intellectual Disability: Students with Disabilities | 1h, 2h, 7j | 2 |
| Video | Multiple Disabilities | 1h, 2h, 7j | 2 |
| Video | Orthopedic impairment | 1h, 2h, 7j | 2 |
| Video | Other Health Impairment: Students wit Disabilities | 1h, 2h, 7j | 2 |
| Video | Ask an Expert: Why is early intervention so important for kids with dyslexia? | 1h, 2h, 7j | 2 |
| Video | Speech Language Impairment: Students with Disabilities | 1h, 2h, 7j | 2 |
| Video | What Schools Need to Know About Children with Brain Injury | 1h, 2h, 7j | 2 |
| Video | Visual Impairment Strategies: Moving From Object Activities to Contracted Braille | 1h, 2h, 7j | 2 |
| Video | EDUCATE-ABLE: A History of Educating Children With Disabilities in America | 4j, 10l | 3 |
| Video | A Brief But Spectacular take on the disability rights movement | 4j, 10l | 3 |
| Video | The 1960s in America: Crash Course US History #40 | 4j, 10l | 3 |
| Video | Voices From Fairview | 4j, 10l | 3 |
| Video | Jennifer Keelan video | 9i, 10l | 3 |
| Video | 2018: The Year of ESSA | 9j, 9o | 3 |
| Video | Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: 40 Years Later | 9j, 9o, 10l | 3 |
| Video | Supporting Students Through Response to Intervention | 1f, 2b, 2h, 7p | 4 |
| Video | Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) | 2b, 2h, 7p | 4 |
| Video | Mock IEP Meeting: A Student with Special Needs | 6u, 7m, 7p | 4 |
| Video | How Culture Drives Behaviours | 10n, 10q | 5 |
| Video | A Tale of Two Conversations: Take One | 10n | 5 |
| Video | A Tale of Two Conversations: Take Two | 10n | 5 |
| Video | Ensuring Equity: Engaging Families Using Culturally Responsive Practices | 1c, 7m, 8m | 5 |
| Video | IEP Meetings - Core Components and Key Considerations | 1c, 7e, 8m | 5 |
| Video | IEP - Profile Page - Student Preferences and Interests | 1c, 7e | 5 |
| Video | UDL at a Glance | 2g, 3i | 6 |
| Video | Seeing UDL in Action in the Classroom | 1h, 2g, 3i | 6 |
| Video | Differentiating Instruction: It’s Not as Hard as You Think | 2g, 7q, 8l | 6 |
Example Crosswalk: Minnesota (PELSB) Standards to InTASC
Below is an example of a crosswalk between a state’s teacher certification standards, in this case, Minnesota’s Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) Standards of Effective Practice and Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) standards. You may opt to download the Excel spreadsheet version of this crosswalk, or you can search the standards from within this page. If you are a teacher outside of Minnesota, you are encouraged to find your state’s most recent standards of practice; many states have their standards crosswalked to InTASC standards, allowing you to adapt this tool to your state’s standardized needs.
Download the example: Minnesota (PELSB) standards to InTASC crosswalk
NOTE: Some of the PELSB standards are aligned to more than one InTASC standard. Due to formatting, you must use the scroll bar at the bottom of the embedded table to view additional alignments.
Crosswalk: MN PELSB Standards to InTASC Standards
Type in a standard's reference number (for example, 3E) to see all the other standards aligned to it.
| PELSB Ref# | PELSB Standard | InTASC Ref# 1 | InTASC Type 1 | InTASC Standard 1 | 2nd InTASC ref# | 2nd InTASC Type | 2nd InTASC Standard | 3rd InTASC ref# | 3rd InTASC Type | 3rd InTASC Standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1A | The teacher understands that students bring assets for learning based on their individual experiences, abilities, talents, prior learning, and peer and social group interactions, as well as language, culture, family, and community values, and approaches their work and students with this asset-based mindset, affirming the validity of students' backgrounds and identities. | 2j | Knowledge | The teacher understands that learners bring assets for learning based on their individual experiences, abilities, talents, prior learning, and peer and social group interactions, as well as language, culture, family, and community values. | ||||||
| 1B | The teacher understands multiple theories of identity formation and knows how to help students develop positive social identities based on their membership in multiple groups in society. | 2j | Knowledge | The teacher understands that learners bring assets for learning based on their individual experiences, abilities, talents, prior learning, and peer and social group interactions, as well as language, culture, family, and community values. | 2n | Disposition | The teacher makes learners feel valued and helps them learn to value each other. | |||
| 1C | The teacher understands how students construct knowledge and acquire skills. | 1d | Knowledge | The teacher understands how learning occurs-- how learners construct knowledge, acquire skills, and develop disciplined thinking processes--and knows how to use instructional strategies that promote student learning. | ||||||
| 1D | The teacher understands how alignment with a student's cultural background is necessary to make meaningful connections that enable the construction of knowledge and acquisition of skills. | 2d | Performance | The teacher brings multiple perspectives to the discussion of content, including attention to learners’ personal, family, and community experiences and cultural norms. | ||||||
| 1E | The teacher understands the cognitive processes associated with various kinds of learning, including critical and creative thinking, problem framing and problem solving, invention, memorization, and recall. | 5m | Knowledge | The teacher understands critical thinking processes and knows how to help learners develop high level questioning skills to promote their independent learning. | 8j | Knowledge | The teacher understands the cognitive processes associated with various kinds of learning (e.g., critical and creative thinking, problem framing and problem solving, invention, memorization and recall) and how these processes can be stimulated. | |||
| 1F | The teacher understands how culture influences cognitive processes and how these processes can be stimulated in a cultural frame. | 8j | Knowledge | The teacher understands the cognitive processes associated with various kinds of learning (e.g., critical and creative thinking, problem framing and problem solving, invention, memorization and recall) and how these processes can be stimulated. | ||||||
| 1G | The teacher understands that each student's cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical development influences learning and makes instructional decisions that build on learners' strengths, needs, and cultural ways of knowing. | 1e | Knowledge | The teacher understands that each learner’s cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical development influences learning and knows how to make instructional decisions that build on learners’ strengths and needs. | ||||||
| 1H | The teacher understands the role of language and culture in learning and knows how to modify instruction to make language comprehensible and instruction relevant, accessible, and challenging. | 1g | Knowledge | The teacher understands the role of language and culture in learning and knows how to modify instruction to make language comprehensible and instruction relevant, accessible, and challenging. | ||||||
| 1I | The teacher understands language development and the benefits of multilingualism and multiliteracy and knows how to incorporate instructional strategies and resources to support language development. | 2i | Knowledge | The teacher knows about second language acquisition processes and knows how to incorporate instructional strategies and resources to support language acquisition. | ||||||
| 1J | The teacher understands the exceptional needs of students, including those with disabilities and giftedness, and knows how to use strategies and resources to address these needs. | 2h | Knowledge | The teacher understands students with exceptional needs, including those associated with disabilities and giftedness, and knows how to use strategies and resources to address these needs. | ||||||
| 1K | The teacher is able to recognize the distinguishing characteristics of reading disabilities, including dyslexia, and knows how to implement appropriate accommodations. | 2b | Performance | The teacher makes appropriate and timely provisions (e.g., pacing for individual rates of growth, task demands, communication, assessment, and response modes) for individual students with particular learning differences or needs. | 6g | Performance | The teacher effectively uses multiple and appropriate types of assessment data to identify each student’s learning needs and to develop differentiated learning experiences. | 6p | Knowledge | The teacher understands how to prepare learners for assessments and how to make accommodations in assessments and testing conditions, especially for learners with disabilities and language learning needs. |
| 1L | The teacher understands the diverse impacts of individual and systemic trauma, such as experiencing homelessness, foster care, incarceration, migration, medical fragility, racism, and micro and macro aggressions, on learning and development and knows how to support students using culturally responsive strategies and resources to address these impacts. | 1c | Performance | The teacher collaborates with families, communities, colleagues, and other professionals to promote learner growth and development. | 1k | Disposition | The teacher values the input and contributions of families, colleagues, and other professionals in understanding and supporting each learner’s development. | 3a | Performance | The teacher collaborates with learners, families, and colleagues to build a safe, positive learning climate of openness, mutual respect, support, and inquiry. |
| 1M | The teacher is able to recognize symptoms of mental health illnesses and their impact on learning and knows how to use strategies and resources to address these impacts. | N/A | ||||||||
| 1N | The teacher understands the influence of use of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs on student life and learning. | N/A | ||||||||
| 2A | The teacher knows how to collaborate with students to create a welcoming and inclusive classroom community that reflects the diversity of student cultures in the design of the physical and virtual space, expectations, and organizational routines that represent the needs of all students. | 3k | Knowledge | The teacher knows how to collaborate with learners to establish and monitor elements of a safe and productive learning environment including norms, expectations, routines, and organizational structures. | ||||||
| 2B | The teacher understands the relationship between motivation and engagement and knows how to design learning experiences using strategies that build student self-direction and ownership of learning. | 3i | Knowledge | The teacher understands the relationship between motivation and engagement and knows how to design learning experiences using strategies that build learner self-direction and ownership of learning. | ||||||
| 2C | The teacher understands the importance of relationship-based, culturally affirming, and proactive approaches to behavior and implements these approaches in order to improve student outcomes and reduce exclusionary practices. | 2n | Disposition | The teacher makes learners feel valued and helps them learn to value each other. | 3a | Performance | The teacher collaborates with learners, families, and colleagues to build a safe, positive learning climate of openness, mutual respect, support, and inquiry. | 9e | Performance | The teacher reflects on his/her personal biases and accesses resources to deepen his/her own understanding of cultural, ethnic, gender, and learning differences to build stronger relationships and create more relevant learning experiences. |
| 2D | The teacher fosters an environment that ensures student identities such as race/ethnicity, national origin, language, sex and gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical/developmental/emotional ability, socioeconomic class, and religious beliefs are historically and socially contextualized, affirmed, and incorporated into a learning environment where students are empowered to learn and contribute as their whole selves. | 2d | Performance | The teacher brings multiple perspectives to the discussion of content, including attention to learners’ personal, family, and community experiences and cultural norms. | 2j | Knowledge | The teacher understands that learners bring assets for learning based on their individual experiences, abilities, talents, prior learning, and peer and social group interactions, as well as language, culture, family, and community values. | 3f | Performance | The teacher communicates verbally and nonverbally in ways that demonstrate respect for and responsiveness to the cultural backgrounds and differing perspectives learners bring to the learning environment. |
| 2E | The teacher understands and supports students as they recognize and process dehumanizing biases, discrimination, prejudices, and structural inequities. | 5g | Performance | The teacher facilitates learners’ ability to develop diverse social and cultural perspectives that expand their understanding of local and global issues and create novel approaches to solving problems. | ||||||
| 2F | The teacher communicates verbally and nonverbally in ways that demonstrate respect for and responsiveness to the cultural backgrounds and differing perspectives learners bring to the learning environment. | 2n | Disposition | The teacher makes learners feel valued and helps them learn to value each other. | 3f | Performance | The teacher communicates verbally and nonverbally in ways that demonstrate respect for and responsiveness to the cultural backgrounds and differing perspectives learners bring to the learning environment. | |||
| 3A | The teacher understands the varying types and multiple purposes of assessment. | 6a | Performance | The teacher balances the use of formative and summative assessment as appropriate to support, verify, and document learning. | 6j | Knowledge | The teacher understands the differences between formative and summative applications of assessment and knows how and when to use each. | 6k | Knowledge | The teacher understands the range of types and multiple purposes of assessment and how to design, adapt, or select appropriate assessments to address specific learning goals and individual differences, and to minimize sources of bias. |
| 3B | The teacher understands how to design, adapt, and select appropriate assessments to address specific learning goals and individual differences. | 6k | Knowledge | The teacher understands the range of types and multiple purposes of assessment and how to design, adapt, or select appropriate assessments to address specific learning goals and individual differences, and to minimize sources of bias. | ||||||
| 3C | The teacher understands bias in assessment, evaluates standardized and teacher-created assessments for bias, and designs and modifies assessments that minimize sources of bias. | 6b | Performance | The teacher designs assessments that match learning objectives with assessment methods and minimizes sources of bias that can distort assessment results. | 6k | Knowledge | The teacher understands the range of types and multiple purposes of assessment and how to design, adapt, or select appropriate assessments to address specific learning goals and individual differences, and to minimize sources of bias. | |||
| 3D | The teacher understands the positive impact of effective descriptive feedback for learners, engages students in understanding and identifying quality work, and uses a variety of strategies for communicating this feedback. | 6d | Performance | The teacher engages learners in understanding and identifying quality work and provides them with effective descriptive feedback to guide their progress toward that work. | 6n | Knowledge | The teacher understands the positive impact of effective descriptive feedback for learners and knows a variety of strategies for communicating this feedback. | |||
| 3E | The teacher knows how and when to engage students in analyzing their own assessment results and setting goals for their own learning. | 6m | Knowledge | The teacher knows when and how to engage learners in analyzing their own assessment results and in helping to set goals for their own learning. | 6d | Performance | The teacher engages learners in understanding and identifying quality work and provides them with effective descriptive feedback to guide their progress toward that work. | 8b | Performance | The teacher continuously monitors student learning, engages learners in assessing their progress, and adjusts instruction in response to student learning needs. |
| 3F | The teacher regularly assesses individual and group performance in order to design and modify instruction to meet students' needs in each area of development, including cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical, and scaffolds the next level of development. | 1a | Performance | The teacher regularly assesses individual and group performance in order to design and modify instruction to meet learners’ needs in each area of development (cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical) and scaffolds the next level of development. | ||||||
| 3G | The teacher, independently and in collaboration with colleagues, uses a variety of data, including data disaggregated by student race, ethnicity, and home language, to evaluate the outcomes of teaching and learning and to adapt planning and practice. | 9c | Performance | Independently and in collaboration with colleagues, the teacher uses a variety of data (e.g., systematic observation, information about learners, research) to evaluate the outcomes of teaching and learning and to adapt planning and practice. | ||||||
| 3H | The teacher uses assessment strategies and devices that are nondiscriminatory, and takes into consideration the impact of disabilities, methods of communication, cultural background, and primary language on measuring knowledge and performance of students. | 6b | Performance | The teacher designs assessments that match learning objectives with assessment methods and minimizes sources of bias that can distort assessment results. | 6k | Knowledge | The teacher understands the range of types and multiple purposes of assessment and how to design, adapt, or select appropriate assessments to address specific learning goals and individual differences, and to minimize sources of bias. | |||
| 4A | The teacher understands Minnesota's English Language Development Standards Framework and uses the framework components to develop learning experiences that support the development of language in content instruction. | 2e | Performance | The teacher incorporates tools of language development into planning and instruction, including strategies for making content accessible to English language learners and for evaluating and supporting their development of English proficiency. | 2i | Knowledge | The teacher knows about second language acquisition processes and knows how to incorporate instructional strategies and resources to support language acquisition. | |||
| 4B | The teacher understands cross-disciplinary instruction, with particular attention to historically marginalized disciplines to engage learners purposefully in applying content knowledge. | 4b | Performance | The teacher engages students in learning experiences in the discipline(s) that encourage learners to understand, question, and analyze ideas from diverse perspectives so that they master the content. | 7h | Knowledge | The teacher understands how integrating crossdisciplinary skills in instruction engages learners purposefully in applying content knowledge. | |||
| 4C | The teacher creates or adapts lessons, unit plans, learning experiences, and aligned assessments based on Minnesota's academic standards, or if unavailable, local, national, or international discipline-specific standards. | 7g | Knowledge | The teacher understands content and content standards and how these are organized in the curriculum. | ||||||
| 4D | The teacher designs instruction to build on learners' prior knowledge, culture, and experiences, allowing learners to accelerate as they demonstrate their understandings. | 2c | Performance | The teacher designs instruction to build on learners’ prior knowledge and experiences, allowing learners to accelerate as they demonstrate their understandings. | ||||||
| 4E | The teacher plans how to achieve each student's learning goals by choosing anti-racist, culturally relevant, and responsive instructional strategies, accommodations, and resources to differentiate instruction for individuals and groups of learners. | 7b | Performance | The teacher plans how to achieve each student’s learning goals, choosing appropriate strategies and accommodations, resources, and materials to differentiate instruction for individuals and groups of learners. | ||||||
| 4F | The teacher demonstrates the ability to feature, highlight, and use resources written and developed by traditionally marginalized voices that offer diverse perspectives on race, culture, language, gender, sexual identity, ability, religion, nationality, migrant/refugee status, socioeconomic status, housing status, and other identities traditionally silenced or omitted from curriculum by offering a wide range of curriculum materials. | 2d | Performance | Performance. The teacher brings multiple perspectives to the discussion of content, including attention to learners’ personal, family, and community experiences and cultural norms. | 5g | Performance | The teacher facilitates learners’ ability to develop diverse social and cultural perspectives that expand their understanding of local and global issues and create novel approaches to solving problems. | |||
| 4G | The teacher creates opportunities for students to learn, practice, and use language of the content area. | 4h | Performance | The teacher creates opportunities for students to learn, practice, and master academic language in their content. | ||||||
| 4H | Consistent with the local curriculum and state and local academic standards, the teacher demonstrates the ability to create opportunities for students to learn about power, privilege, intersectionality, and systemic oppression in the context of various communities and empowers learners to be agents of social change to promote equity. | 2d | Performance | Performance. The teacher brings multiple perspectives to the discussion of content, including attention to learners’ personal, family, and community experiences and cultural norms. | ||||||
| 4I | The teacher explores and applies instructional design principles to create innovative digital learning environments that engage and support learning. | 5l | Knowledge | The teacher understands how to use digital and interactive technologies for efficiently and effectively achieving specific learning goals. | ||||||
| 5A | The teacher collaborates with students to design and implement culturally relevant learning experiences, identify their strengths, and access family and community resources to develop their areas of interest. | 4m | Knowledge | The teacher knows how to integrate culturally relevant content to build on learners’ background knowledge. | 8c | Performance | The teacher collaborates with learners to design and implement relevant learning experiences, identify their strengths, and access family and community resources to develop their areas of interest. | |||
| 5B | The teacher understands the value of and knows how to implement instructional approaches that integrate real-world learning opportunities, including service learning, community-based learning, and project-based learning, into instruction. | 5b | Performance | The teacher engages learners in applying content knowledge to real world problems through the lens of interdisciplinary themes (e.g., financial literacy, environmental literacy). | 5d | Performance | The teacher engages learners in questioning and challenging assumptions and approaches in order to foster innovation and problem solving in local and global contexts. | 5s | Disposition | The teacher values flexible learning environments that encourage learner exploration, discovery, and expression across content areas. |
| 5C | The teacher develops learning experiences that engage students in collaborative and self-directed learning and that extend student interaction with ideas and people locally and globally. | 10g | Performance | The teacher uses technological tools and a variety of communication strategies to build local and global learning communities that engage learners, families, and colleagues. | 3b | Performance | The teacher develops learning experiences that engage learners in collaborative and self-directed learning and that extend learner interaction with ideas and people locally and globally. | |||
| 5D | The teacher uses learners' native languages as a resource in creating effective differentiated instructional strategies for multilingual learners, including those who are developing literacy skills. | 4i | Performance | The teacher accesses school and/or district-based resources to evaluate the learner’s content knowledge in their primary language. | 2e | Performance | The teacher incorporates tools of language development into planning and instruction, including strategies for making content accessible to English language learners and for evaluating and supporting their development of English proficiency. | |||
| 5E | The teacher provides multiple models and representations of concepts and skills which consider diverse cultural ways of knowing with opportunities for learners to demonstrate their knowledge through a variety of products and performances. | 6e | Performance | The teacher engages learners in multiple ways of demonstrating knowledge and skill as part of the assessment process. | 8e | Performance | The teacher provides multiple models and representations of concepts and skills with opportunities for learners to demonstrate their knowledge through a variety of products and performances. | |||
| 5F | The teacher asks questions to stimulate discussion that serves different purposes, such as probing for learner understanding, helping students articulate their ideas and thinking processes, stimulating curiosity, and helping students to question. | 8i | Performance | The teacher asks questions to stimulate discussion that serves different purposes (e.g., probing for learner understanding, helping learners articulate their ideas and thinking processes, stimulating curiosity, and helping learners to question). | ||||||
| 5G | The teacher engages all students in developing higher-order questioning skills and metacognitive processes. | 8f | Performance | The teacher engages all learners in developing higher order questioning skills and metacognitive processes. | ||||||
| 5H | The teacher encourages critical thinking about culture and race and includes missing narratives to dominant culture in the curriculum. | 4p | Disposition | The teacher appreciates multiple perspectives within the discipline and facilitates learners’ critical analysis of these perspectives. | ||||||
| 5I | The teacher varies learning activities to involve whole group, small group, and individual work, and to develop a range of learner skills. | 3 | Standard | Learning Environments: The teacher works with others to create environments that support individual and collaborative learning, and that encourage positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self motivation. | ||||||
| 5J | The teacher uses technology to create, adapt, and personalize learning experiences that foster independent learning and accommodate learner differences and needs. | 5l | Knowledge | Knowledge. The teacher understands how to use digital and interactive technologies for efficiently and effectively achieving specific learning goals. | ||||||
| 5K | The teacher employs a variety of strategies to assist students to develop social and emotional competencies, including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. | 1a | Performance | The teacher regularly assesses individual and group performance in order to design and modify instruction to meet learners’ needs in each area of development (cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical) and scaffolds the next level of development. | 1e | Knowledge | The teacher understands that each learner’s cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical development influences learning and knows how to make instructional decisions that build on learners’ strengths and needs. | 3h | Performance | The teacher intentionally builds learner capacity to collaborate in face-to-face and virtual environments through applying effective interpersonal communication skills. |
| 6A | The teacher understands the standards of professional conduct in the Code of Ethics for Minnesota Teachers, including the role of social media, privacy, and boundaries in relationships with students. | 9o | Disposition | The teacher understands the expectations of the profession including codes of ethics, professional standards of practice, and relevant law and policy. | ||||||
| 6B | The teacher understands laws related to student rights and teacher responsibilities, such as for educational equity, appropriate education for students with disabilities, confidentiality, privacy, appropriate treatment of students, data practices, and mandatory reporting requirements in situations of known or suspected abuse or neglect. | 9j | Knowledge | The teacher understands laws related to learners’ rights and teacher responsibilities (e.g., for educational equity, appropriate education for learners with disabilities, confidentiality, privacy, appropriate treatment of learners, reporting in situations related to possible child abuse). | ||||||
| 6C | The teacher understands the historical foundations of education in Minnesota, including laws, policies, and practices, that have and continue to create inequitable opportunities, experiences, and outcomes for learners, especially for Indigenous students and students historically denied access, underserved, or underrepresented on the basis of race, class, disability, religion, gender, sexual orientation, language, socioeconomic status, or country of origin. | 10l | Knowledge | The teacher understands schools as organizations within a historical, cultural, political, and social context and knows how to work with others across the system to support learners. | ||||||
| 6D | The teacher understands how prejudice, discrimination, and racism operates at the interpersonal, intergroup, and institutional levels. | 9i | Knowledge | The teacher understands how personal identity, worldview, and prior experience affect perceptions and expectations, and recognizes how they may bias behaviors and interactions with others. | ||||||
| 6E | The teacher explores their own intersecting social identities and how they impact daily experience as an educator. | 9i | Knowledge | The teacher understands how personal identity, worldview, and prior experience affect perceptions and expectations, and recognizes how they may bias behaviors and interactions with others. | 9m | Disposition | The teacher is committed to deepening understanding of his/her own frames of reference (e.g., culture, gender, language, abilities, ways of knowing), the potential biases in these frames, and their impact on expectations for and relationships with learners and their families. | |||
| 6F | The teacher assesses how their biases, perceptions, and academic training may affect their teaching practice and perpetuate oppressive systems and utilizes tools to mitigate their own behavior to disrupt oppressive systems. | 9e | Performance | The teacher reflects on his/her personal biases and accesses resources to deepen his/her own understanding of cultural, ethnic, gender, and learning differences to build stronger relationships and create more relevant learning experiences. | ||||||
| 6G | The teacher uses a variety of self-assessment and problem-solving strategies to analyze and reflect on their practice and to make adaptations and adjustments toward more equitable outcomes. | 9g | Knowledge | The teacher understands and knows how to use a variety of self-assessment and problem-solving strategies to analyze and reflect on his/her practice and to plan for adaptations/adjustments. | ||||||
| 6H | The teacher demonstrates continual growth in knowledge and skills of current and emerging technologies and applies them to improve personal productivity and professional practice. | 9k | Knowledge | The teacher knows how to build and implement a plan for professional growth directly aligned with his/her needs as a growing professional using feedback from teacher evaluations and observations, data on learner performance, and school- and system-wide priorities. | ||||||
| 6I | The teacher advocates, models, and teaches safe, legal, and ethical use of information and technology, including appropriate documentation of sources and respect for others in use of social media. | 9f | Performance | The teacher advocates, models, and teaches safe, legal, and ethical use of information and technology including appropriate documentation of sources and respect for others in the use of social media. | ||||||
| 6J | The teacher actively seeks professional, community, and technological resources, within and outside the school, as supports for analysis, reflection, and problem solving. | 9d | Performance | The teacher actively seeks professional, community, and technological resources, within and outside the school, as supports for analysis, reflection, and problem-solving. | ||||||
| 7A | The teacher understands the importance of engaging in culturally affirming, reciprocal communication with families about student development, learning, and performance. | 10d | Performance | The teacher works collaboratively with learners and their families to establish mutual expectations and ongoing communication to support learner development and achievement. | 10q | Disposition | The teacher respects families’ beliefs, norms, and expectations and seeks to work collaboratively with learners and families in setting and meeting challenging goals. | |||
| 7B | The teacher knows how to collaborate with a culturally relevant and responsive lens with families to support student learning and secure appropriate services to meet the needs of students. | 10d | Performance | The teacher works collaboratively with learners and their families to establish mutual expectations and ongoing communication to support learner development and achievement. | ||||||
| 7C | The teacher plans collaboratively with professionals who have specialized expertise to design and jointly deliver, as appropriate, learning experiences to meet unique learning needs. | 7e | Performance | The teacher plans collaboratively with professionals who have specialized expertise (e.g., special educators, related service providers, language learning specialists, librarians, media specialists) to design and jointly deliver as appropriate learning experiences to meet unique learning needs. | ||||||
| 7D | The teacher demonstrates the ability to identify gaps where the curriculum does not address multiple perspectives, cultures, and backgrounds, and understands how curriculum and instruction impacts students that are not part of the dominant culture. | 4p | Disposition | The teacher appreciates multiple perspectives within the discipline and facilitates learners’ critical analysis of these perspectives. | 4q | Disposition | The teacher recognizes the potential of bias in his/her representation of the discipline and seeks to appropriately address problems of bias. | |||
| 7E | The teacher recognizes the responsibility to question normative school knowledge, conventional teaching and other professional practices, and beliefs and assumptions about diverse students, their families, and communities that adversely impact learning. | 5m | Knowledge | The teacher understands critical thinking processes and knows how to help learners develop high level questioning skills to promote their independent learning. | 5d | Performance | The teacher engages learners in questioning and challenging assumptions and approaches in order to foster innovation and problem solving in local and global contexts. | |||
| 7F | The teacher understands multiple leadership models for teachers; knows how to take on leadership roles at the school, district, state, or national level; and advocates for students, the school, the community, and the profession. | 10k | Performance | The teacher takes on leadership roles at the school, district, state, and/or national level and advocates for learners, the school, the community, and the profession. | ||||||
| 8A | The teacher understands multiple theories of race and ethnicity, including but not limited to racial formation, processes of racialization, and intersectionality. | N/A | ||||||||
| 8B | The teacher understands the definitions of and difference between prejudice, discrimination, bias, and racism. | N/A | ||||||||
| 8C | The teacher understands how ethnocentrism, eurocentrism, deficit-based teaching, and white supremacy undermine pedagogical equity. | N/A | ||||||||
| 8D | The teacher understands that knowledge creation, ways of knowing, and teaching are social and cultural practices shaped by race and ethnicity, often resulting in racially disparate advantages and disadvantages. | 4q | Disposition | The teacher recognizes the potential of bias in his/her representation of the discipline and seeks to appropriately address problems of bias. | ||||||
| 8E | The teacher understands the histories and social struggles of historically defined racialized groups, including but not limited to Indigenous people, Black Americans, Latinx Americans, and Asian Americans. | N/A | ||||||||
| 8F | The teacher understands the cultural content, world view, concepts, and perspectives of Minnesota-based American Indian Tribal Nations and communities, including Indigenous histories and languages. | N/A | ||||||||
| 8G | The teacher understands the impact of the intersection of race and ethnicity with other forms of difference, including class, gender, sexuality, religion, national origin, immigration status, language, ability, and age. | N/A |
- InTASC is the abbreviation for the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium, which is run by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). ↵
