Blog | ThinkCERCA

We're Sunsetting Our Free Offering. Here's Why.

-->

We've Refreshed Part of the ThinkCERCA Curriculum

-->

8 Questions to Consider when Looking for Teacher Professional Development Options

-->

How Bibb County Designed their Literacy Plan to Align with the Redesigned CCRPI

-->

Introducing the New ThinkCERCA

-->

Meeting the Redesigned CCRPI Indicators

-->

Q&A With the Lead Teacher at One of Our Top-Performing Partner Schools

-->

Our Favorite Videos Showing How Teachers Use ThinkCERCA

-->

Quality Review: 3 Ways New York Principals Can Empower Their Team

-->

5 Questions to Spur Critical Thinking in the Classroom

-->

Examples of Critical Thinking in Everyday Life

-->

Why Writing in Math and Science Matters

-->

Using ThinkCERCA to Impact the Instructional Core on the Quality Review

-->

5 Tips from Educators on Giving Effective Feedback

-->

What Instructional Leaders Must Do to Be Successful with ThinkCERCA

-->

Product Update: Print Class and Grade Usage Reports

-->

How to Support Long-Term English Learners Across the Curriculum

-->

12 Ideas for Improving NWEA Scores at the School and Classroom Level

-->

Personalized Learning Strategies that Make a Difference

-->

How to Set Ambitious Goals with OKRs

-->

Why Personalized Learning Is Important

-->

Personalized, Blended Learning: How to Make It Work

-->

What Is Personalized Learning?

-->

5 Reasons to Focus on Being 10 Percent Better and Grateful Every Week

-->

How to Teach Entrepreneurship to Students

-->

Teacher Perspective: How I Teach Critical Thinking

-->

Writing Across the Curriculum Checklist

-->

VIDEO: What Does "Critical Thinking" Mean to You?

-->

13 Narrative Writing Prompts About Family

-->

Product Update: Favoriting Lessons

-->

9 Writing Prompts to Prepare Students for the College Admissions Essay

-->

Product Update: Better Highlighting, Navigation, and Scrolling Experiences for Tablet Users

-->

3 Activities to Help Students Make Sense of the News

-->

Product Update: Interactive Skills & Concepts Instruction

-->

The Best Test Prep? It's Great Instruction Every Day

-->

Building Trust With New Students

-->

How Are Your Users Responding to the Learning Environment You Have Designed?

-->

Transform Your School with Google’s Approach to Decision-Making

-->

Using CHAMPS to Influence Classroom Behavior

-->

Making Thematic Connections Between Literature and Current Events

-->

From Mesopotamian Civilization to the Classification of Organisms, Here are Two New CERCA Sets

-->

Improve Your School’s Approach to Cross-Curricular Collaboration

-->

3 Ways Instructional Leaders Can Champion Technology in the Classroom

-->

Project Planning Using MOCHA

-->

Make Your Senior Team Smarter with Annual "Teach-ins"

-->

Creating a Culture Where Rigor is the Norm

-->

9 Movie Trailer Writing Prompts

-->

Product Update: New Lesson Details Page and Assignment Workflow

-->

Using the Fogg Behavior Model to Drive Change in Your School

-->

Cultivating a Growth-Mindset Culture Throughout Your School or District

-->

Building Community Between Teachers and Admins

-->

10 Tech Tools Every Administrator Needs

-->

What Does Differentiation Look Like for Teachers?

-->

How to Help Teachers Differentiate in the Classroom Effectively

-->

Product Update: Grade Level and Classroom Usage Reporting for Admins

-->

Why Students Need to Learn to Write Online to Be Successful

-->

These Were the Most-Assigned Lessons in the 2016-17 School Year

-->

Making the Most of ThinkCERCA's Standards-Aligned Rubrics

-->

Why a Shared Calendar Makes All the Difference for Your Team

-->

Making Time for Cross-Curricular Collaboration

-->

The 2017 CERCA Slam Winners

-->

Stories from the Classroom: Incorporating ThinkCERCA into Special Education Curriculum

-->

Media Bias: What It Is and How to Spot It

-->

Why Differentiation is the Most Effective SAT Prep

-->

VIDEO: Student Voice and Choice at Work in Chicago's Ashburn Elementary

-->

Break Out of ‘Sit-and-Get’ PD with These Hands-On Workshop Tips

-->

The Teachers Who Made a Difference

-->

What Effective Professional Development Looks Like

-->

62 Differentiated Poetry Lessons for Elementary, Middle, and High School Students

-->

Why CERCA is a More Rigorous Writing Framework than RACE

-->

Blended Literacy Scorecard: How can you strengthen your school or district’s approach to personalized literacy?

-->

Why Teachers and Administrators Should Take Time for Themselves

-->

5 Non-Education Newsletters Every Educator Should Read

-->

9 Questions You Should Ask Before Planning a Blended Adventure

-->

Test or No Test: Skills That Matter

-->

How to Teach Informative or Explanatory Writing

-->

Step-by-Step Guide: Planning an Argument Unit

-->

How to Teach Narrative Writing

-->

Infographic: 8 Ways to Build Your Students' Argumentation Skills

-->

The Best Productivity Tools to Make Your School More Efficient (and Fun)

-->

Using the Start–Stop–Continue Framework to Optimize Classroom Strategies

-->

How to Teach Argumentative Writing

-->

Announcing the 2017 Social Impact Challenge Winners

-->

The Power of Adaptive Learning Spaces in Schools

-->

Immigration Lessons for Elementary, Middle, and High School Students

-->

Real News and Sponsored Articles: Distinguish them with this Checklist

-->

Beyond the Performance Review

-->

The Power of Repeat Actions and Traditions

-->

Product Update: New ELA Teaching Resources

-->

How Students Can Use Argumentation to Evaluate Super Bowl Predictions

-->

How Art on Walls Can Make a Difference in Schools

-->

10 Football Argumentative Writing Prompts

-->

Why Writing Opens Doors for Students

-->

When Articles Link to Evidence, How do We Know the Evidence is Accurate?

-->

Differentiated Lessons on Martin Luther King, Jr. for Grades 9-12

-->

Differentiated Lessons on Martin Luther King, Jr. for Grades 6-8

-->

Differentiated Lessons on Martin Luther King, Jr. for Grades 3-5

-->

Designing Classrooms that Promote Rapid Teacher Feedback

-->

Free and Easy Storytelling Tools for Educators to Leverage

-->

Dear Mr. President

-->

Discover Individual Strengths to Optimize Your Team

-->

Activity: Improve Your School’s Decision-Making with the Marshmallow Challenge

-->

Helping Students Think Critically in a Post-Truth World

-->

Improve Collaboration (and Save Time) with a Stand-up Meeting

-->

We Added a 4-Point Rubric to ThinkCERCA

-->

Using Math to Tackle One of the World's Biggest Challenges

-->

Organizing Schools for Success: 5 Levers for Improvement

-->

Improve Student Outcomes with a Time-on-Task Chart

-->

How Selling Milkshakes Can Help Us Select Better Ed-Tech Products

-->

5 Principles for Approaching School Improvement Like an Entrepreneur

-->

ThinkCERCA Named K-12 Pedagogy Winner at “Oscars of Education”

-->

6 Things Any Teacher Can Do to Help Close the Achievement Gap

-->

New Math Literacy Lessons on Systems and Structure

-->

Product Update: Mid-Year Assessments Are Here!

-->

College and Career Pay Off in New Math Literacy Lessons

-->

Infographic: 7 Conversational Strategies for Developing Bilinguals

-->

ThinkCERCA Wins NewSchools Ignite ELL Challenge

-->

How Getting My Class to Talk More Made a World of a Difference for a Bilingual Student

-->

Transform Your Math Class with New Geometry Lessons

-->

#CERCAtheVote: Nate Silver’s Election Predictions

-->

115 Lessons for Teaching 2016 Election Issues in Any Classroom

-->

New Math Literacy Lessons: Patterns in Integers

-->

Educator Spotlight: Caroline Schmitt of Fayette County Schools

-->

#CERCAtheVote: Clinton Defends Family Foundation Against “Pay to Play”

-->

Crack the Code of Math Literacy with Our New Ciphers Lessons

-->

#CERCAtheVote: Trump Claims Election Is 'Rigged'

-->

#CERCAtheVote: Michelle Obama Says Trump Comments Can't Be Ignored

-->

The Best Policy? Teaching Literacy in Math!

-->

#CERCAtheVote: Does the Chicago Tribune Make an Effective Argument in its Endorsement of Gary Johnson for President?

-->

New Math Lessons to Connect with Tonight's Debate and More

-->

#CERCAtheVote: Who Makes a Stronger Accusation on Aiding Terrorism – Trump or Clinton?

-->

Prepare for Assessments with Great Instruction Every Day

-->

Kick Off Your Math Class with New Sports Statistics Lessons

-->

Back to School with a New Math Lesson Set!

-->

Building Knowledge and Skills in a Meaningful Sequence

-->

This Toilet Paper Icebreaker is Perfect for the First Day of Class

-->

Product Update: New Lesson Names

-->

Product Update: A New Back-to-School Look for the Lesson Library

-->

5 Tips for Curating a Tech Culture in the Classroom

-->

Product Update: New Benchmark Assessments

-->

Infographic: Setting Expectations for Successful Blended Learning Structures

-->

A Bingo Chart for Adventurous Reading

-->

Infographic: How Teachers do Summer Reading

-->

How ThinkCERCA Helps Teachers Support a Growth Mindset

-->

ThinkCERCA's Year in Review

-->

ThinkCERCA Wins NewSchools Ignite Math Challenge

-->

Prepare Your Students for Success on PSSA TDAs

-->

Stories from the Classroom: Aida Coullias of McIntosh High School

-->

Stories from the Classroom: Dylan Porter of Patrick Henry Elementary School

-->

And the 2016 CERCA Slam Winners Are ...

-->

Artful History Lessons about the Renaissance

-->

Revolutionary History Lessons about Thomas Paine

-->

New Leveled Science Lessons for Chemistry, Biology, and Engineering

-->

Our Evidence-Based Arguments for Why Teachers Are Awesome

-->

Shake, Rattle, and Roll! Leveled Lessons on Plate Tectonics

-->

Stories from the Classroom: Observations from Healy Elementary School

-->

Product Update: Downloadable Class Reports and Insights on Standards Performance

-->

Leveled Industrial Revolution Lessons: It's About Time!

-->

Product Update: End of Year Assessments

-->

The Incredible Lives Behind the New Faces of U.S. Currency

-->

Video: Bill Gates Highlights ThinkCERCA as Innovative Literacy Tool at ASU GSV

-->

New Leveled U.S. History Lessons: Westward Expansion and Great Depression

-->

Go Green with ThinkCERCA: Differentiated Literacy Lessons for Earth Day

-->

On 400th Anniversary, Analyzing Shakespeare Through the CERCA Lens

-->

Product Update: "CERCA Starter" Is Now "Progress Monitoring"!

-->

Find Your Way to Math Success with "Geometry of Maps" Lessons

-->

Celebrate National Poetry Month with New Sonnets Lessons

-->

New Differentiated Social Studies Literacy Lesson Sets

-->

Build Your Students' Math Literacy Skills: Geometry in Architecture

-->

Evolve Your Students' Critical Thinking Skills with New Science Literacy Lessons

-->

Women’s History Month: Resources for Your Classroom

-->

New Narrative Writing Lessons and Spanish-Language Lessons

-->

Report Shows ThinkCERCA Demonstrates Gains Equal to One Year of Growth

-->

LEAP Innovations Praises ThinkCERCA’s “Significant Impact”

-->

Comparing Traditional Tales, Plus More Policy and Debate!

-->

Product Update: New Reports for Classroom and Schoolwide Progress Monitoring

-->

New Differentiated Lessons on Narrative Writing and STEM

-->

Prepare Your Students for Success on New York Regents Exams

-->

Resources to Engage Students in Political Debate

-->

Study Materials for U.S. History and Civics Exams

-->

ThinkCERCA's Social Impact Challenge: And the Winners Are....

-->

More Free Spanish Close Reading Lessons!

-->

4 Quick Tips for Integrating ThinkCERCA into Your Curriculum

-->

Leveled Lesson Ideas for Presidents’ Day

-->

Geckos and Spiders and Chameleons, Oh My! New Science Lessons

-->

New Math Literacy Lessons Help Students Prepare for New State Assessments

-->

46 Differentiated Lessons for Black History Month

-->

Product Update: The Case of the Mysterious Multiple Choice Answers

-->

We're Cooking Up Something New: More Math Literacy Lessons!

-->

Get to Know Your ThinkCERCA Account in 3 Steps

-->

President Obama's CERCA of the Union

-->

Differentiated Lessons to Gear Students Up for National History Day

-->

Back from Break with Something for Everyone! New ELA, Math, Science and Social Studies Lessons

-->

From Ancient History to Current Events: New Social Studies Leveled Lessons

-->

New Leveled Physics and Life Science Lessons

-->

Writing Personal Narratives to Prepare for New State Assessments

-->

History, Science, and ELA -- New Lessons Now Live!

-->

(ThinkCERCA + Math) x Support = One Awesome Product Update

-->

Differentiated Earth and Life Science Lesson Sets

-->

Two Weeks Left Before the Holidays: Your Social Impact Challenge Plan

-->

ThinkCERCA Named a Winner of the Chicago Inno 50 on Fire Awards

-->

New Common Core-Aligned Social Studies Lesson Sets

-->

Remembering Nelson Mandela: Leveled Texts Paired with Automated Assessments

-->

Leveled Close Reading Lessons About the Origins of Thanksgiving

-->

Gather Baseline Writing Measures with CERCA Starter's New Writing Assessment

-->

New Differentiated Social Studies and Science Lesson Sets

-->

Free Close Reading Lessons: Physics of Skating, History of Weather, and More

-->

Blended Learning Quick Tip: Parking Laptop

-->

National Bullying Prevention Month: Lessons for Educating Your Students

-->

New Differentiated STEM Lessons: Scientists Take On Batteries

-->

Free Lessons with CCSS-Aligned Assessments: Historical Figures, Sports Health, and More

-->

Product Update: Change Reading Levels Within CERCA Starter

-->

New Lessons for ELA and Social Studies: Columbus Day and Kid Inventors

-->

Stories from the Classroom: Yinka Teibo of West Phoenix High School

-->

ThinkCERCA Gives Administrators Insights into Student Performance

-->

Who Knew Differentiation Could Be This Easy?

-->

New Social Studies and Science Lessons

-->

More Lessons! Science and Social Studies for Grades 3-5

-->

New Science and Social Studies Lessons for Grades 3, 4, and 5

-->

Understanding CERCA Starter Insights

-->

Can't Get Access to a Computer Lab? Try Our Paper-Based CERCA Starter

-->

Product Update: New Student View, District-Level Insights

-->

ThinkCERCA Co-Founder, Abby Ross, Profiled on BusinessCollective

-->

ThinkCERCA and Cricket Media Extend Partnership

-->

6 Reasons We Love Back-to-School Season

-->

New Multitext Social Studies Lessons: Progressive Era Child Labor

-->

Getting Started With CERCA Starter

-->

Personalized Learning: Reaching All Students with ThinkCERCA

-->

New This Week: Technology and the Fourth Amendment

-->

Chicago Startups "Make Thinking Visible"

-->

Gates Foundation Highlights One Middle School's Journey with ThinkCERCA

-->

Bill Gates Talks ThinkCERCA and Teacher Empowerment

-->

What’s New: New Insight Dashboard and CERCA Starter

-->

Increasing Rigor Through Close Reading and Argumentative Writing

-->

New This Week: Discovering Poetry's Sonic Techniques

-->

Event Wrap-up: EdTech Collaborative's Personalized Learning Summit

-->

Join the Innovators at EdTech Collaborative's 2015 Personalized Learning Summit

-->

Using Shared Language to Improve Student Outcomes

-->

New Lessons This Week: Mahatma Gandhi, Voting and Civil War

-->

ChicagoInno Looks at EdTech at Techweek

-->

How to Gain Ed Tech Startup Traction

-->

CPS Launches an EdTech Catalog with Vetted Software for Schools

-->

The Atlantic Examines Big Data in Education

-->

ThinkCERCA Launches 2015 Summer Reading Challenge

-->

New This Week: More Common Core-Aligned Grade 3-5 Science Lessons

-->

ThinkCERCA Co-Founders Receive 2015 Moxie Award

-->

Is Pearson the Biggest Obstacle or Opportunity to Getting Games in the Classroom?

-->

New This Week: Common Core-Aligned Science Lessons for Grades 3, 4, and 5

-->

2nd Annual CERCA Slam Winners

-->

ThinkCERCA Partners with We The Economy on Free Economics Lessons

-->

New ThinkCERCA Updates: Improved Lesson Library, Cleaner Design

-->

3 Ways Teachers Can Prepare Students for Testing Season

-->

ThinkCERCA and Follett Knowledge Fund Partner, Announce Completion of $3.2M Series A Round

-->

Eileen Murphy on the Startup Accelerator Experience

-->

Miriam Ivanenko and Natasha Buehler, ThinkCERCA Social Impact Challenge Winners

-->

The Benefits of Differentiation: ThinkCERCA CEO Interviewed by Edudemic

-->

Abby Ross’s 3 Strategies for Female Entrepreneurs Shared by Women 2.0

-->

Q&A with Amaya Fuentes and Guilianna Schamy, ThinkCERCA Social Impact Challenge Winners

-->

New ThinkCERCA Hires Featured in 'Chicago Business Journal'

-->

ThinkCERCA Hires VP of School Partnerships and School Success Coordinator

-->

Q&A with Jia Li, a ThinkCERCA Social Impact Challenge Winner

-->

Abby Ross: Leadership Lessons for Women in Tech Featured in 'TIME' Magazine

-->

Q&A with Victor Ren, a ThinkCERCA Social Impact Challenge Winner

-->

Abby Ross Interviewed by TechRepublic About Co-Working Options for Startups

-->

Q&A with Andrew Sacks, a ThinkCERCA Social Impact Challenge Winner

-->

Abby Ross: 3 Leadership Lessons for Women in Tech

-->

How ThinkCERCA Stays Organized: Abby Ross Shares Her Tips for Fixing Broken Meetings

-->

ThinkCERCA Named One of the Best Ed Tech Tools of 2014 by Graphite

-->

NationSwell Spotlights ThinkCERCA's Partnership with UN Foundation

-->

ThinkCERCA and UN Foundation Announce Nothing But Nets Partnership

-->

Huffington Post Details Eileen Murphy’s Journey from Educator to Entrepreneur

-->

ThinkCERCA Wins Chicago Innovation Up-and-Comer Award

-->

Huffington Post: ThinkCERCA COO on Creating Simple Solutions to Complex Problems

-->

'Forbes' Features Abby Ross's Leadership Lessons for Women in Tech

-->

ThinkCERCA Poetry Content

-->

How Long Should A CERCA Be?

-->

Using Google Translate

-->

Using Chrome Speak

-->

ThinkCERCA Wins $250,000 Grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

-->

See more