Conclusion: Good for Teachers, Good for Students, Good for Schools
Instructional strategies like the Core Six give teachers proven and practical ways to respond to the rigorous demands of the Common Core. When used well, they also incite students' thinking, turn the process of learning into an active quest, and build the skills students need to be ready for college and careers.
The Core Six also increase schools' capacity as professional learning communities. In high-functioning professional learning communities, educators learn together, share their best ideas with one another, and help every member improve. All of these collaborative learning activities are predicated on a common language. The Core Six are a foundation for that common language. When teachers learn a manageable number of strategies, and when these strategies are commonly named and defined, teachers can have substantive conversations just by comparing notes. From there, the conversation grows and takes on nuance: What happened when you used Reading for Meaning with a primary document? With a word problem? With a website? How did students respond? Let's look at some of the student work we got when we used this strategy. How did the strategy help students meet Common Core State Standards? What do students still seem to be struggling with? How can we get better results next time?