Educators share a common goal of helping every student gain a deeper understanding of academic content—and the standards-based skills they need to get there. These essential skills are measured in many ways, so students need to be equipped to confidently demonstrate what they know across a range of evaluation formats.
Performance Coach helps students in grades 3–8 build knowledge, skills, and confidence as they raise their proficiency toward mastery in English language arts and mathematics. By aligning daily instruction with the skills and rigor students will encounter on assessments, Performance Coach helps teachers cultivate genuine learning and measurable results.
Here are five ways Performance Coach goes beyond traditional test preparation to support meaningful, standards-based learning.
1. Aligned to Standards
Meeting state standards shouldn’t involve guesswork. Performance Coach’s ready-to-use resources are aligned to standards to help educators streamline lesson planning and instruction. Educators can rest assured that their instruction and practice with Performance Coach meets the needs of state or national standards.
Each lesson is correlated to a specific standard across both math and ELA, so teachers can easily locate the skill or benchmark being addressed. All relevant passages reflect the word count guidelines and text-complexity requirements recommended by state standards. Plus, students receive practice with the question types and rigor they’ll encounter on standardized tests.
Performance Coach state editions feature curated content aligned with individual state standards, like Arizona, Florida, New York, Tennessee, and more. Find your state.
2. Builds Mastery Through Gradual Release Model
Performance Coach lessons follow the research-based gradual release of responsibility (GRR) model. This framework builds student mastery and independence by intentionally reducing teacher support as students gain skills and confidence in their learning.
The four phases of the GRR model include:
- I Do: Direct instruction
- We Do: Guided practice
- You Do Together: Small group or partner work
- You Do Alone: Independent practice
3. Authentic Tasks and Question Types
Students should not be surprised by the types of tasks they encounter on assessment day. Performance Coach replicates the format, rigor, and item types found on next-generation tests to build student confidence and familiarity with these tasks. Students become comfortable with technology-enhanced item types like multiple-select, sorting, matching, highlighting, sequencing, and short-answer response.
4. Built-In Differentiation and Scaffolding
We know instruction is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Every lesson plan in Performance Coach includes guidance on differentiation with suggestions for scaffolding and ELL support. The Teacher Guide also helps teachers anticipate student misconceptions by explaining how to respond to common errors.
Scaffolds might include:
- Teacher modeling
- Additional examples
- Guided exercises
- Re-introducing concepts
- Building background knowledge
- Boldface key vocabulary
Download a sample lesson [PDF: National Performance Coach, ELA, Grade 4] that includes both student and teacher books.
5. Build Confidence and Motivation
Unsurprisingly, as students build mastery in a subject, their motivation and confidence soars. The more we can provide students with small, incremental wins, the more they will believe they are capable of learning.
The scaffolded structure of Performance Coach enables students to experience incremental success. Students can see their growth and progress, which builds their confidence and motivation. This is especially important around testing season, since confidence is one way to reduce test anxiety.
Teach for Mastery, Not Just Measurement
When instruction focuses on building knowledge and understanding, test readiness is a natural result. Support your students with rigorous standards-based instruction and guided and independent practice to see both confidence and performance rise together.
You don’t have to choose between test prep and long-term mastery with Performance Coach. Performance Coach prepares on- and above-level students for success in ELA and math using standards-based instruction and practice to prepare for the rigor of high-stakes assessments.
Connect with an expert today to learn more!
