TOP PICKS | 20 TOOLS

Best Common Core Apps and Websites for Teachers

Teaching the Common Core State Standards can be challenging: From lesson planning to instruction to assessment, there's a lot to learn and manage. Thankfully, these apps and websites make things easier. From calendaring to creating CCSS exit tickets and formative assessments to designing CCSS-aligned units, there's something for everyone on this list. There's also a collection of instructional tools for ELA and math that provide students with engaging, CCSS-aligned lessons, games, and interactives that'll help students achieve mastery of core skills.

Top Picks

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Planning and Assessment Resources

BetterLesson

Exemplary lessons, strategies, and coaching from master teachers

Bottom line: Take advantage of the offerings of this professional community to improve the quality of your classroom instruction.

Grades: Pre-K–12 Price: Free, Paid The site and its resources are free. Contact the developer for pricing for consultations with one of the more than 60 instructional coaches who provide individual, school, or district support.

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Common Curriculum

Sleek lesson planner replaces bulky binders, promotes collaboration

Bottom line: Ditch pen-and-paper planning; embrace the flexibility of collaborative lesson planning and calendar design.

Grades: Pre-K–12 Price: Free, Free to try, Paid Free for the Basic plan. $4.89-$6.99 per month for Pro plan. $7.50 per teacher per month (for 20 teachers - price per teacher goes down with more teachers) for Schools plan. $1,500 when purchasing for 3 or more schools for Site License. Free 30-day trial also available.

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Goalbook Toolkit

Set tailored targets with pricey but worth-it kit of tools, strategies

Bottom line: You pay for quality with Goalbook Toolkit, including access to clear, well-crafted learning goals and strategies that allow for far easier differentiation.

Grades: Pre-K–12 Price: Free to try, Paid 30-day free trial. There are three paid plans: $995 per year including district/administrator support, $395 per teacher per year with district/administrator support, or $795 per teacher per year with online PD and 1:1 coaching for teachers. The latter two plans require a minimum purchase of 10+ licenses.

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Common Core Quest - Math and ELA Quizzes

Comprehensive CCSS-aligned resource for instruction and assessment

Bottom line: Test prep made easy empowers teachers and students to focus on areas needing improvement.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free

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Edulastic

Powerful formative assessment tool tracks achievement of standards

Bottom line: Efficient platform supports teachers who are expected to assess and track student progress on meeting standards.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free, Paid An optional $100 per year upgrade adds advanced reporting and extras like text-to-speech, shareable rubrics, presentation mode, and more. The enterprise version -- which adds school- and district-wide reports, SIS and LMS integration, and custom PD -- is available but pricing isn't public.

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Goalbook Pathways

Helpful differentiating tool for CCSS has room to grow

Bottom line: Currently a rich reference for teachers looking to demystify differentiation and CCSS, Goalbook Pathways will be truly worth the investment when it's also a place for creation.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free to try, Paid Quotes available for schools and districts.

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Edcite

Solid tool for creating CCSS-aligned assignments and assessments

Bottom line: If you're an online assessment geek, look no further for your go-to interactive questions tool.

Grades: 3–8 Price: Free

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JumpRope

Upgrade your grading with tool for mastery-based tracking

Bottom line: For those trained in standards-based grading, a solid way to collect, track, and report mastery-based achievement.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free Free for individuals. Contact for price quote on school and district licenses.

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Instructional Resources for ELA and Math

IXL

Immediate feedback and breadth a major plus, despite emphasis on drills

Bottom line: Students can improve targeted skills with tons of practice modules and visually appealing tasks.

Grades: Pre-K–12 Price: Free to try, Paid Skill practice is free but limited to a small number of problems a day. After a 30-day free trial, classroom licenses start at $249 per class for 25 students and one subject. Individual, school, and district licenses are also available.

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Literably

Simple and useful reading fluency assessment tool frees up teacher time

Bottom line: Some districts may find this to be a cost-effective, time-saving option for reading records.

Grades: K–7 Price: Contact for pricing Contact for exact pricing. Pricing varies based on number of students and how frequently the school or district would like to find students' reading levels. Most plans are $6 to $9 per student with a minimum purchase of $1,000.

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Freckle

Target skills and differentiate with dynamic practice and assessments

Bottom line: Rich with content-aligned assessments, printable worksheets, and progress analytics; mindful teachers will find it a valuable resource to promote skills mastery through practice.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free, Paid The Teacher Edition is free with limited features and content. The School Edition has unlimited assignments and benchmarking and data capabilities. The District Edition includes district-level reporting and Clever integration. Call for pricing.

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LearnZillion

Quality Common Core-aligned lessons with great modeling for teachers

Bottom line: An innovative way to enhance lessons and tailor learning for individual needs.

Grades: K–8 Price: Free

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ReadWorks

Differentiate reading instruction with high-quality texts and lessons

Bottom line: The quality and scope of texts, lesson plans, assessments, and supports on this platform can help facilitate targeted reading instruction in any classroom.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free

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ReadWorks Digital

Research-based site makes it easy to assign, differentiate readings

Bottom line: An effective digital reinvention of the trusted ReadWorks platform that makes it simple to distribute and track high-quality reading assignments.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free

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Newsela

Great stories, just-right leveled reading; now mostly by subscription

Bottom line: Up-to-date, high-interest articles will meet students right at their level, and help teachers bolster students' nonfiction reading skills.

Grades: 2–12 Price: Free, Paid Newsela News is free, but Essentials and Core Subjects subscriptions are paid; contact the developer for pricing information for schools and districts.

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ALEKS

Strong adaptive learning makes traditional math curriculum more useful

Bottom line: For kids who crave a traditional mastery-style math learning experience and have good self-regulation skills, this is a great option.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free to try, Paid $5 to $105 per product, per student depending on product type

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CommonLit

Feature-rich literacy resource offers superb support for readers

Bottom line: Access a hefty collection of reliable, ready-to-print, leveled passages that allow you to tailor lessons, assign online reading, and track progress.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free

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