Visit Classrooms
Our Knowledge Matters School Tour has had the honor of visiting top districts to see inspiring work with knowledge-building curriculum.
These classroom stories highlight the many benefits of this powerful approach to teaching and learning.
Benefits
Curricula
Video
1st Grade Students – Elizabethton City Schools , Elizabethon, TN
“If there’s a big word, I just think in my head and sound it out. I love sounding out big words.”
03/14/2022
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7th Grade Teacher – Brandywine School District, Wilmington, DE
“The curriculum encourages kids to find different methods to do the same problem.”
03/29/2022
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Aiden Leary – Brandywine School District, Wilmington, DE
“This year I actually enjoy math…I have definitely improved. Grades have shown it. Not just grades, but actually understanding it.”
03/29/2022
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Alesia Dinsmore – Sullivan County Schools, Blountville, TN
“They’re [teachers] really letting the kids own the learning, really let the children engage, and let them reteach, respond, stand up.”
02/18/2020
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Amanda Archambault – Cape Henlopen School District, Lewes, DE
“Change can be uncomfortable….Teachers have to know the standards. You have to know the why behind your instruction.”
04/20/2021
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Amanda Machado – Taunton Public Schools, Taunton, MA
“If you give them the opportunity to really explore it on their own, it will blow you away what they are capable of.”
09/17/2021
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Amy Morris – Haywood County Schools, Brownsville, TN
“What is so encouraging to me is to…observe the level of engagement from our male children, particularly our male children of color.”
03/10/2020
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Amy Morris – Haywood County Schools, Brownsville, TN
“They have an opportunity to be better and stronger intellectually.”
03/10/2020
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Amy Morris – Haywood County Schools, Brownsville, TN
“It went from you being quiet, you taking notes, you doing exactly what I’m doing and copying exactly what I’m writing to now they talk about it.”
03/10/2020
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Amy Townsend – Elizabethton City Schools , Elizabethon, TN
“I can’t wait for the year after next when I am getting children who have had it for two years….We’ll be able to go so far.”
03/14/2022
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Angie Baker – Sullivan County Schools, Blountville, TN
“I think the change for the teachers came in that the questions were planned to start with.”
02/18/2020
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Ann Guglielmo – Taunton Public Schools, Taunton, MA
“Trust the process. Don’t feel as though you can put every one of the routines in place the first time.”
09/17/2021
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Anna Eaton – Milan Special School District, Milan, TN
“I have seen a lot of growth since the beginning of the year with my kids, especially my struggling readers.”
04/05/2022
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Ashley Jarratt – Sumner County Schools, Gallatin, TN
“With this curriculum, everyone is getting it, everyone is pushed. High learners, lower learners, everybody is being pushed.”
02/24/2020
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Ashley McKnight – Milan Special School District, Milan, TN
“It is all there for us. So it makes it less stressful, and we are able to prepare more and be more prepared to teach it to the students.”
04/05/2022
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Becky Neubert – Seaford School District , Seaford, DE
“Through this process, we got to understand how kids start the reading process and how they excel through the reading process.”
04/19/2021
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Becky Neubert – Seaford School District , Seaford, DE
“How can you coach someone in any kind of instruction if you haven’t done it?….We challenge our potential as leaders by also being teachers.”
04/19/2021
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Becky Neubert – Seaford School District , Seaford, DE
“They were able to dive deep with students into content….All of the students had equal access to the text, no matter what their skill level was.”
04/19/2021
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Brandee Hoglun – Lenoir City Schools, Lenoir City, TN
“You see the confidence of kids who have never been reading the same texts… now everybody’s on the same playing field.”
02/11/2020
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Brittany Ferrell – Lebanon Special School District, Lebanon, TN
“We have the high expectations that come naturally and we have the high expectations that have been proven through the use of HQIM.”
03/14/2022
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Bryan Hutto – Lebanon Special School District, Lebanon, TN
“Knowing all of our schools had the same curriculum, and they have all of that at their availability to use, that was very helpful.”
03/14/2022
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Candace Reed – Lebanon Special School District, Lebanon, TN
“I have never seen anything like this before. Kids going from no English to reading a reader. They feel success, they are bought into it.”
03/14/2022
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Carinne Gale – Boston Public Schools, Boston, MA
“Student engagement has been phenomenal this year.”
06/07/2022
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Carinne Gale – Boston Public Schools, Boston, MA
“It’s so helpful to have the rigor come from the curriculum and not be some added piece the teacher is having to fit in.”
06/07/2022
Media Type
Curricula
Articles
Tipton County Schools, Covington, TN
Using High-Quality Curriculum Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Still Have Fun Learning
02/07/2023
Articles
Hamilton County Schools, Chattanooga, TN
New Curriculum Adoption Helps Tennessee District Achieve Joy in Classrooms
01/24/2023
Video
Melissa and Lori Love Literacy Podcast featuring Barbara Davidson
Episode 139: Knowledge and Comprehension with Daniel Willingham and Barbara Davidson
01/14/2023
Articles
Murfreesboro City Schools, Murfreesboro, TN
Students in This Tennessee District Are More Literacy-Proficient Post-Pandemic
01/10/2023
Press Release
National Campaign to Visit Schools Transforming Science Instruction with the Help of High-Quality Science Curricula
Visits seek to shine a light on the role science can play in the effort to build students’ background knowledge.
01/05/2023
Press Release
National Campaign to Visit Tennessee Schools to Highlight Exemplary Literacy Instruction
“Our continued spotlight on Tennessee is absolutely warranted."
09/26/2022
Video
Delaware Delivers: Three Delaware districts implement HQIM
"We have built a community amongst ourselves in which we learn these skills from one another."
07/07/2022
Articles
Brandywine School District, Wilmington, DE
Quality Curriculum Is Not Enough: Committed Educator Supports Are Key
06/23/2022
Articles
Appoquinimink School District, Middletown, DE
In Delaware, How a District 'Started Slow to Go Fast' on a New Math Curriculum
06/16/2022
Articles
Caesar Rodney School District, Wyoming, DE
With the World Shut Down, Bringing a Global Prespectiive to Math Class Changed Everything
06/14/2022
Articles
Lebanon Special School District, Lebanon, TN
How Literacy Skills Developed for English Language Learners in Weeks, Not Months
06/06/2022
Articles
Milan Special School District, Milan, TN
School Director's Belief that All Students Can Learn Is Long-Held and Personal
05/31/2022
Articles
Elizabethton City Schools, Elizabethton, TN
How Grade-Level Literacy Doubled in Just 2 Months in a Rural Tennessee District
05/23/2022
Video
Knowledge Matters Campaign Tour Visit, Brandywine School District, Wilmington, DE
"The content hasn't changed, the teachers are still teaching, but students are doing much more of the thinking."
05/04/2022
Social Media
See a second grade foundational skills lesson in Milan Elementary
From practice with sounds to practice with decodable readers, a look at a foundational skills lesson in a Milan second grade classroom.
04/05/2022
Social Media
Hear from teachers about improved reading progress and stellar student work
Come for the knowledge-rich lessons, stay for the stories of kindergarten reading and writing progress from Lebanon teachers in this inspiring thread.
03/30/2022
Articles
Town Square Live: National campaign caps excellence in math tour at Springer
“The curriculum we use forces teachers to really listen to the kids."
03/30/2022
Social Media
Experience our visit to Brandywine School District in Wilmington, DE
Our tour of Springer Middle School and their implementation of Illustrative Mathematics.
03/29/2022
Social Media
Experience our visit to Appoquinimink School District in Middletown, DE
See high-quality math curriculum Bridges in Mathematics in action.
03/23/2022
Social Media
Experience our visit to Caesar Rodney School District in Wyoming, DE
Two middle schools implementing high-quality math curriculum Illustrative Mathematics.
03/21/2022
Social Media
A detailed look at a kindergarten foundational skills lesson
Mrs. Clawson's kindergarten learns the /ch/ sound in this detailed look at a strong foundational skills lesson.
03/17/2022
Articles
Delaware Live: National tour to celebrate Delaware’s shift in math education
“Students have really taken ownership of the classroom, and teachers have become facilitators that connect the dots.'”
03/14/2022
Articles
It’s Undeniable — Curriculum Matters for Everyone. Why Now Is the Time, MA
It's Undeniable — Curriculum Matters for Everyone. Why Now Is the Time
12/27/2021
Articles
Salem Public Schools, Salem, MA
How a Mid-Pandemic Shift to High-Quality, Evidence-Based Literacy Curriculum Helped Not Just Students — But Teachers, Too
12/20/2021