Standards Institute™

At Standards Institute, educators cultivate the mindsets, skill sets, and tools to provide grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful — GLEAM™ — instruction.

Start your GLEAM journey at Standards Institute.

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Finally, Meet the Needs of Every Student

Today’s educators face a historic challenge. With engagement sliding, outcomes at risk, and students yearning for teaching that is affirming and meaningful, we need a fresh approach—one that feeds educators’ passion and fortifies instruction.

GLEAM instruction is the most impactful strategy for eliminating the predictability of student outcomes by race, language, and socioeconomic status to ensure all students thrive. At Standards Institute, courageous educators come together from across the country to forge a bold path toward truly transformative teaching and learning.

Our engaging, immersive pathways invite educators to experience, understand, and practice transformative instruction and leadership. Participants will reflect on current practice, commit to an action plan, and leave equipped and inspired to make every classroom GLEAM.

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What to Expect

At Standards Institute, educators will learn:

  • Content-specific, grade-level standards deeply
  • To maintain academic rigor by fostering productive struggle and scaffolding
  • Strategies for ensuring culturally, historically, and linguistically affirming and meaningful teaching and learning
  • How to plan, design, and deliver GLEAM instruction

Educators will leave Standards Institute with:

  • A shared understanding and language for fostering GLEAM instruction
  • The mindsets, planning, skills, tools, and actions to deliver GLEAM instruction
  • A personalized action plan with context-specific opportunities to ensure GLEAM instruction
  • A national community of equity champions committed to growth and change

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“Standards Institute makes me feel like there is hope. I know there are students we can be serving better; our whole school wants to improve outcomes for our students. But I didn’t know where to start or how to address all the needs. UnboundEd gave me the roadmap I needed to lead us forward.”

-Joni Hellstrom, Division Director, Venture Academy

Why Standards Institute is Different

Standards Institute is not a traditional conference or workshop but an immersive 30-hour in-person course-like experience, where educators from around the nation actively come together in content- and grade-specific cohorts to hone their craft and make their instructional practices grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful — GLEAM.

Over four days, educators learn to unpack and understand standards, scaffold instruction, and foster productive struggle. Educators leave equipped to uphold academic rigor, make teaching and learning engaging and affirming, and improve outcomes for all students.

Together, we can end the predictability of student outcomes by race, language, and socioeconomic status.

Start your GLEAM Journey at Standards Institute.

Register for Standards Institute 2025

Standards Institute™ Denver

June 23–26, 2025

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Standards Institute™ Atlanta

July 21–24, 2025

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We had wonderful learning opportunities at Standards Institute 2024. Check out the highlights.

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How We Organize the Learning

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UnboundEd Pathways

  • English Language Arts (ELA) Pathway

    Standards Institute™ ELA sessions focus on the supports and scaffolds that work to address students’ unfinished ELA instruction while maintaining the rigor of grade-level standards and curriculum. Educators will:

    • Explore the commitment, knowledge, and skills necessary to use ELA standards, texts, and tasks to provide all students access to grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful — GLEAM — instruction
    • Leave with a personal action plan for bringing GLEAM instruction to life in their ELA classrooms

    ELA Grade-Bands: K–5, 6–8, 9–12

  • Leadership Pathway

    The Leadership Pathway gives school and district leaders a foundation in the key concepts of ELA and math instruction in order to develop a deeper understanding of both subject areas. Participants will:

    • Consider key components of planning, instructional delivery, and coaching that lead to grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful — GLEAM — instruction.
    • Assess their roles as leaders in advancing educational equity and operationalizing GLEAM within a school system
    • Leave with a personal action plan to lead GLEAM instruction in their schools

    Leadership Grade-Bands: K–5, 6–8, 9–12

  • Math Pathway

    Standards Institute™ Math sessions offer participants interactive, hands-on experience planning and implementing grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful — GLEAM — mathematics instruction. Educators will:

    • Reflect on math identities and their impact on GLEAM math instruction
    • Deepen their understanding of math instructional shifts (focus, coherence, rigor) to support GLEAM math instruction
    • Learn a new approach to address students’ unfinished instruction that supports GLEAM math instruction within their school contexts
    • Leave with a personal action plan for bringing GLEAM instruction to life in their math classrooms

    Math Grade-Bands: K–5, 6–8, 9–12

  • Multilingual Learners Pathway

    Standards Institute Accelerating English Language for Multilingual Students sessions, teachers and coaches receive research-based, high-leverage, immediately applicable resources, processes, and strategies to accelerate academic English development and build knowledge across content areas in the primary classroom. Educators will:

    • Adapt standards-aligned lessons to support multilingual students in instruction for reading foundational skills, ELA, and math to ensure all students have access to grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful — GLEAM — instruction.
    • Leave with a repertoire of practical strategies and a personal action plan for bringing GLEAM instruction to life for multilingual students.

    Multilingual Learners Grade-Bands: K–5

  • Science Pathway

    Standards Institute™ Science sessions offer participants a foundation in the principles and best practices in science instruction. The Science Pathway explores the Next Generation Science Standards and a vision for grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful — GLEAM — instruction for all students. Participants will:

    • Explore new ideas through hands-on lessons and investigations in different scientific domains
    • Develop a repertoire of practical strategies to ensure that instruction exemplifies GLEAM
    • Leave with a personal action plan for bringing GLEAM instruction to life in their science classrooms

    Science Grade-Bands: K–5, 6–8, 9–12

  • UnboundEd Planning Process™ (UPP®) Pathway

    UnboundEd Planning Process (UPP) sessions introduce participants to a set of powerful practices for bringing grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful — GLEAM — instruction to life in ELA and math classrooms. Educators will:

    • Explore the meaning and value of GLEAM instruction for all learners
    • Learn a step-by-step strategy for applying GLEAM principles to any lesson and gain hands-on practice
    • Leave with a personal action plan for bringing GLEAM instruction to life in their classrooms

    UnboundEd Planning Process (UPP) Grade-Bands: K–5, 6–12

    Note: K–5 participants will use both ELA and math lessons during the week; participants in grades 6–12 will use lessons in their preferred subject area — either ELA or math.

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CORE Learning Pathways

  • CORE Learning: Elementary Reading Academy

    This pathway offers educators a strong foundation in standards-aligned and evidence-informed reading practices rooted in the science of reading. Educators will:

    • Dive into the research on reading instruction and connect research to practice
    • Develop high-leverage instructional practices (educational practices that can improve outcomes for every learner, like designing lessons in service of a goal, promoting active student engagement, collecting and assessing data, and more)
    • Deliver standards-aligned and evidence-informed reading instruction

    Elementary Reading Academy Grade-Bands: K–6

  • CORE Learning: Leadership for Literacy

    Participants in the Leadership for Literacy pathway will develop a foundational understanding of the science of reading and learn how to transform their instructional practices to accelerate student literacy. Leaders will:

    • Learn practical knowledge about the science of reading and how to implement it across systems
    • Develop tools, skills and processes for assessing school-wide literacy programs
    • Identify leadership actions that help build professional capacity and introduce new opportunities for students to become successful readers and communicators

    Leadership for Literacy Grade-Bands: K–5

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Achievement Network Pathways

  • Achievement Network: Empowering Teachers Through Assessments

    The Achievement Network sessions support school leaders in building a draft research-based, balanced assessment plan. Participants discover strategies to decrease the time spent testing students while increasing instructional time and providing equitable outcomes for all students. School leaders will:

    • Learn a research-based framework for classifying assessments and how they can create a balanced assessment landscape within their school.
    • Explore the current state of assessments and teacher data used to craft a draft school-wide vision for the future of equitable assessments.
    • Leave with a plan to gather teacher input and carry out a balanced assessment strategy with a team of teachers and leaders in the school.

    School Leadership Grade-Band: K–12

  • Achievement Network: Assessment Planning for Districts

    The Achievement Network sessions support district and system leaders in building a draft research-based, balanced district-wide assessment plan. Participants discover how to empower educators and school leaders to increase instructional time and data usage while decreasing the time spent testing districtwide, leading to more equitable outcomes for students in schools. District leaders will:

    • Learn a research-based framework for classifying assessments and how it can create a balanced assessment landscape across the district.
    • Explore strategies to empower your educators throughout the creation of your district-wide assessment plan and how to build capacity around data gathering and analysis.
    • Leave with a plan to gather input from various stakeholders, invest in schools, and carry out a balanced assessment strategy across the district with a cross-functional team of leaders.

    District Leadership Grade-Band: K–12

Who is this for?

Whether you’re a teacher, coach, principal, or district leader, there is a pathway for you.

Together, we can end the predictability of student outcomes by race, language, and socioeconomic status.

I learned so much from the Standards Institute. Not only did I gain a deeper understanding of the standards myself, I also learned ways to support and coach teachers on ways to ensure effective instruction based on the standards.

Principal

2025 Standards Institutes

Standards Institute Denver

JUNE 23–26, 2025

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Standards Institute Atlanta

JULY 21–24, 2025

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