Resources on Alignment
Alignment: Resource allocation, communication, planning, and program implementation all work together to support the district's vision, goals, and priorities.
Additional Resources
The Keys to Board Excellence
Highly effective boards have a strong student achievement plan in place and then align all aspects of the district's resources and operations to achieve it.
Standards and Tests: Keeping Them Aligned
Alignment is at the core of standards-based education. NCLB requires that states align K-12 assessments with their academic standards for what students should know and be able to do. This article addresses some basic questions about Alignment.
Rethinking Issues of Alignment under No Child Left Behind
This knowledge brief from WestEd is intended for designers and consumers of alignment students as they begin or continue to address this issue. It first defines alignment and compares it to related concepts, then discusses key alignment issues states and districts face. It concludes with recommendations for districts and states intending to conduct alignment studies.
Alignment Analysis and Research
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) has worked to promote the development and application of models for alignment analysis. Their goal is to assist state and district policymakers in making informed decisions about the design of alignment studies based on local needs, and to provide leadership to states and districts in carrying out alignment analysis using one of the available models.
Aligning Assessment to Guide the Learning of All Students: Six Reports on the Development, Refinement, and Dissemination of the Web Alignment Tool
This downloadable publication from the Council of Chief State School Officers represents the work of a 16-state collaborative and is intended to empower state and district practitioners in the use of an automated, online alignment system.
Characteristics of Improved School Districts; Themes from Research
The authors of this 2004 study reviewed numerous research articles that investigated the characteristics of school districts that have improved over time. They identified 13 themes or attributes that emerged from the data and developed a framework to express the relationship of these themes, including Alignment.