Where to Start?

What is a Unit Plan?

We begin with national and Pennsylvania standards of content areas, breaking them down to behavioral terms.

These are then transfered into a unit and daily instructional objectives.

Creating a Unit Plan
Eight steps to help you develop a creative, cohesive unit plan.
Elements for a Unit Plan
Broken down into 3 main categories (organization, lesson plan, and assessment) to help identify needed elements.

Other higher education institutions and professional organizations can be great places to begin your research for resources.

However, when resources have not been vetted for you, look for these characteristics:

Relevance to Your Topic
assess timeliness and subject coverage

Validity of the Research
determine the quality of the research

Are all sources cited?
Does the author's evidence support the claim?
Is the evidence objective research instead of personal narrative?
Does it come from a peer-reviewed publication (which means the research was evaluated by experts before it was published)?

Author
evaluate credentials, education, experience, etc.

Pennsylvania Academic Standards
Source: PA Department of Education
Covers pre-K through 12. Includes PA Core.
PA Core Standards Implementation
Source: PA Department of Education
Academic expectations in English Language Arts and Mathematics by grade level. Resources for teachers, students, and parents.

Common Core State Standards Initiative
Source: CCSSO and NGA Center
Standards voluntarily adopted in 42 states.
National Education Standards: Getting Beneath the Surface
Source: Educational Testing Service (ETS)
Report on history and development of national standards.
MCREL Directory of National Subject Benchmark Standards
Source: Mid-Continent Regional Education Laboratory
Directory of benchmark standards for a variety of subjects.

Kids Count Data Center
Source: Casey Foundation
State-level data from the Kids Count Data Book. Generates custom graphs, maps, ranked lists, and state-by-stat
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
Source: NCES
Federal data related to education in the U.S.
National Institute for Early Education Research
Source: NIEER
News, data, research reports, policy briefs, etc. on early childhood education for all young children
What Works Clearninghouse
Source: Institute of Education Sciences
Central and trusted source of scientific evidence for what works in education.

ERIC: Education Resources Information Center This link opens in a new window
Contains journal articles, conference proceedings, government documents, theses, dissertations, books, in the area of education. Maintained by the U.S. Department of Education.
PsycArticles This link opens in a new window
Provides access to full-text journal articles in subject areas such as applied psychology, health, theory, research, social/personality, and more.
Summon This link opens in a new window
A research tool that searches all DelVal databases simultaneously. Contains books, ebooks, dvds, online videos, journals, magazines, newspapers, conference proceedings, and more.