[Feature Focus] EducationCity Standards Map

As instructional resources go, we all have our favorites. Whether it’s a social platform you use to curate ideas, an open-source site of your choosing, or some state, district, or fellow-educator-inspired resource, at least one (if not more than a dozen) comes to mind for me. As you think about those tools, what is it that makes them great? We have one tried-and-true answer to offer up. It’s usability—or how you are able to search, filter, and find just what you’re looking for without frustration.

When it comes to EducationCity, our targeted, instructional tool for pre-K–6th grade students, we designed the Standards Map feature with usability in mind. It’s the key to unlocking thousands of high-quality, standards-aligned resources in just a few clicks. So, for those of you not yet leveraging the full potential of this tool, let’s take a closer look at what it is, how it works, and why it matters for you and your students.

What is the EducationCity Standards Map, and how does it work?

The Standards Map, as its name suggests, maps all content within EducationCity to specific standards and expectations across all six available subjects—Language Arts, Math, Science, Computing, Matemáticas, and Learn English. Maps have been created to support the Common Core State Standards in Language Arts and Math as well as the Next Generation Science Standards. Additionally, state-specific maps are available for Alaska, Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas, and Virginia. Coming later this month, we’re pleased to announce that we’ll be adding a Georgia Standards Map to that list as well!

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For many who regularly use other standards maps to guide their teaching, you may be used to a comprehensive, fixed document pages upon pages long. In EducationCity, however, the Standards Map offers this traditional option and much more. As an interactive tool, you can filter by subject, grade, and content type to help pinpoint quality resources that fit your needs. Get a glimpse of the exact objective that the resource will meet and even read a short description for each piece of content before you ever go the extra step to preview it.

Why should you use the EducationCity Standards Map in your classroom?

The Standards Map is more than just a reference guide you look at once a year—it’s an actionable tool for lesson planning and daily instruction. Here’s how you can make the most of it:

Lesson Planning

So, it’ Sunday night and you haven’t yet finalized what you’re going to use to introduce fractions to your students this week? The EducationCity Standards Map can help (and even leave you with enough time for Netflix!). Dig into the subject and grade level you want to cover, perhaps as well as the specific strand and objective you’re tasked with teaching this week, and explore a rich variety of instructional tools right at your fingertips. EducationCity includes components that cover such diverse offerings as topic introduction, independent student practice, and whole-group tutorials—giving you options for each step of the lesson cycle.

Individualized Learning

We all know it’s not enough to plan only for what you’ll be teaching in whole-group or small-group instruction. You also have to ask, “What are students working on to meet their specific instructional needs?” To answer this question, you can take the resources you find in the Standards Map one step further. Use the orange plus sign next to each piece of content to add lesson components to an individualized learning pathway, also known as a MyCity in EducationCity. MyCities allow you to pull together (and even sequence if you want) a series of instructional and practice components for specific individuals, groups, or your entire class. Empower your students to learn independently, and feel confident they’re working in just the right areas using MyCities.

The Standards Map is just one great resource available in EducationCity. Interested in learning more about the content and tools found in this program? Sample Language Arts, Math, and Science content for yourself!