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Website Privacy Policy

Last Modified:  February 2026

Update: February 2, 2026: This Privacy Policy has been updated to address additional rights for individuals in the European Union/UK.

Below is the Website Privacy Policy for the amplify.com site (“Privacy Policy”). For purposes of clarity and as further outlined below, this Privacy Policy does not apply to student data. You can visit this page to read about the principles and policy governing student data collected and maintained on behalf of our school customers.

We advise you to read this Privacy Policy in its entirety, including the jurisdiction-specific provisions in the appendix. Our Notice at Collection for California Residents is available in the Notice for our California Customers.

Who We Are / What This Privacy Policy Covers

Amplify Education, Inc. (“Amplify”) recognizes the importance of protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. This Privacy Policy describes our practices in connection with information that we may collect through your use of this website (the “Site”).

This Privacy Policy does not apply to Amplify’s handling of:

  • student data or other information collected from users of Amplify’s products that support classroom instruction and learning, which are governed by our Customer Privacy Policy.
  • staff or applicant data that we process in accordance with our staff or applicant privacy notice, respectively.

If you have any question as to what legal agreement or privacy policy controls the collection and use of your information, please contact us using information below in the Contact Us section.

This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and is subject to our Website Terms of Use, which governs your use of the Site.

Our Role: We are the controller of all personal information (as defined below) that we receive through our Site and can be reached by email at privacy@amplify.com or by mail at Amplify Education, Inc., 55 Washington St.#800, Brooklyn, NY, 11201.

1. What personal information do we collect?

When you visit and / or interact with our Site, we may collect the following information about you that, alone or in combination, could be used to identify you or your device (“personal information”):

  • Contact Information, such as name, district / school name, professional affiliation, title / role, email address, shipping address, address and phone number.
  • Account Information, such as customer user login and password. 
  • Demographic Information, such as age and gender.
  • Information You Submit, such as information voluntarily provided on message boards, feedback sections, and other public areas of the Site.
  • Site Activity Information, which is collected when you access and interact with the Site, we and our Service Providers (as defined below) may collect certain information about those visits. For example, we or our Service Providers may receive and record information about your computer and browser, including your IP address, browser type, and other software or hardware information. If you access the Site from a mobile or other device, we may collect a unique device identifier assigned to that device, or other characteristics of the device hardware, operating system and configurations for that device. On certain pages of the Site, we may use third party tools to help us look at mouse movements, clicks, keystrokes, data or text entered, and the pages you visit.
  • Location Information, such as state, country and / or zip code, which we use to help us customize your experience, as well as to help us facilitate your privacy rights.
  • Audio, electronic, visual, or similar information: such as customer service interactions, call recordings, chat transcripts, files you attach, and email, text, or other correspondence.

If you make a purchase through our online store, you may provide payment and other information directly to our third party e-commerce platform to complete your purchase.

We ask that you not send us, and you not disclose, any government identifiers (such as social security numbers) or information related to racial or ethnic origin, health, or criminal background on or through the Site or otherwise.

2. Where/How do we collect personal information?

Amplify may collect personal information directly from you at various points, including the following:

  • Product Information and Newsletters. When you submit a request to obtain information about our products, services or other informational material or subscribe to one of our newsletters, you may be asked to submit information such as name, professional affiliation, email address, company name, address and phone and details on your query or interests in our products and services. This information is collected to help us process your request.
  • Customer Support. When you submit a form to contact our customer service, you may be asked to submit information such as name, e-mail, district, customer user login and password and details on your query. In addition, some features of our Site, such as our customer live chat functionality or other customer service systems may allow you to voluntarily provide personal information to us. This information is collected to help us process your request. Please only provide what is needed to facilitate the support request.
  • Product Orders. If you use e-commerce areas of our Site to order our products, we request information from you on our order form. To purchase products through the Site, you must provide contact information (such as name and shipping address) and financial information (such as credit card number). This information is used for billing purposes and to fill your orders. We will also use this information to contact you to confirm your order or to inform you of any issues or delays.
  • Registration. You may be asked to submit information to use certain parts of the Site (such as posting comments on certain areas of the Site), register for an event or webinar, or view restricted content that may be available on the Site. For instance, you may be asked to provide your name, email address and event or webinar-related preferences to help us process your registration or content request.
  • Public Areas and Discussion Forums. Any information you share in public areas, such as message boards or feedback sections, becomes public. Please be careful about what you disclose and do not post any personal information that you expect to keep private.
  • Contests and Sweepstakes. When we run a contest or sweepstakes relating to the Site or Amplify, it will be accompanied by a set of rules. The rules for each contest/sweepstakes will specify how the information gathered from you for your entry will be used and disclosed.

As you visit or use our Site, we may collect Site activity information through cookies and similar technologies.

  • Cookies, Pixels, and Other Tracking Technologies. Cookies and other tracking technologies (such as pixels, beacons, and Adobe Flash technology) are small data files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. They allow the website or mobile app to remember your actions and preferences over a period of time. We use the following types of cookies:
    • Strictly necessary cookies – These are cookies that are required for the operation of our Site. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our Site. These cookies are not generally stored beyond the browser session and are less likely to include personal information. This category of cookies cannot be disabled.
    • Functionality Cookies – We use these cookies so that we recognize you on our Site and remember your previously selected preferences. These cookies are stored on your device between browsing sessions but expire after a pre-defined period. These cookies enable our Site to “recognize” you when you use our Site, including your preferences such as your preferred language , time, and location. A mix of first party (placed by us) and third-party cookies (placed by third parties) are used.
    • Analytics Cookies – These cookies help us and our Service Providers compile statistics and analytics about users of the Site, including Site Activity Information. For example, we use Google Analytics to help us understand how users interact with the Platform. Google Analytics uses cookies to track your interactions with the Site, then collects that information and reports it to us. This information helps us improve the Site so that we can better serve you. To learn more about Google Analytics, visit https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en. If you wish, you can opt-out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, available on https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
    • Advertising Cookies – We use these cookies to collect information about your visit to our Site, the content you viewed, the links you followed and information about your browser, device, and your IP address. We sometimes share some limited aspects of this data with third parties for advertising purposes. We may also share Site Activity Information collected through cookies with our advertising partners. This means that when you visit another website, you may be shown advertising based on your browsing patterns on our Site.

For information on how to opt-out of these technologies, please see What Choices Do You Have? below.

  • Social Plugins. Certain areas of our Site permit you to utilize social media functionality, such as the Facebook “Like” or Google “+1” buttons (“Social Plugins”). To use a Social Plugin, you must authorize the third-party provider of that Social Plugin, e.g. Facebook or Google, to access, collect, and/or disclose your information related to your use of that Social Plugin, subject to that company’s privacy policies, which may differ from this Privacy Policy. In addition, such providers may be able to collect information about you, including your activity on the Site, and they may notify your connections on their social networking platform about your use of the Site. Such services may also employ unique identifiers that allow your activity to be monitored across multiple websites for purposes of delivering more targeted advertising to you.

Amplify also receives information from other sources.

  • Information from Other Sources. We may supplement any information we collect via this Site with information from publicly or commercially available sources.

3. How do we use personal information?

We may use any personal information and other information we collect from and about you for the following purposes and as described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy:

  • To provide and manage the Site. We use the personal information we collect from and about you to provide the Site and features to you, including to measure and improve its services and features, to personalize your experience by delivering relevant content, to deliver marketing messages, to allow you to comment on content, to provide you with customer support, and to respond to inquiries. We may also use and disclose aggregate or anonymous data about your use of and activity on the Site to assist us in this regard and for any other purpose.
  • To contact you. Amplify may periodically send promotional materials (e.g., newsletters) or notifications related to the Site and to Amplify’s business to the contact information you provided to us at registration.
  • To improve our products and services. We may use your personal information for our business purposes, such as data analysis, audits, developing new products and services, enhancing the Site, improving our services, identifying usage trends, and determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns.
  • For marketing and advertising. We may use your personal information to help us market our products to you or your school district.

4. To whom do we disclose personal information?

We may disclose any personal information and other information we collect from and about you for the following purposes and as described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy:

  • To share with our affiliated education companies. Amplify may share your personal information with Amplify’s affiliated education companies for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
  • To allow service providers to assist us. We may engage third party service providers, agents and partners (“Service Providers”) to perform functions on our behalf, such as analytics, credit card processing, shipping or stocking orders and providing customer service. We may disclose your personal information to such Service Providers to enable them to assist us in these efforts.
  • To allow our marketing and advertising partners to assist us. We may engage marketing and advertising partners to help us market and advertise our products and services, including via digital ads sent in connection with your visit to the Site. We may disclose Site Activity information, as well as contact information and other aggregate insights to such partners to enable them to assist us in these efforts.
  • To protect the rights of Amplify and our users. There may be instances when Amplify may disclose your personal information, in situations where Amplify has a good faith belief that such disclosure is necessary or appropriate in order to: (i) protect, enforce, or defend the legal rights, privacy, safety, operations, or property of Amplify, our parents, subsidiaries or affiliates or our or their employees, agents and contractors (including enforcement of our agreements, including our terms of use); (ii) protect the rights, safety, privacy, security or property of users of the Site or others; (iii) protect against fraud or for risk management purposes; (iv) comply with the law or legal process, including laws outside your country of residence; (v) respond to requests from public and government authorities, including those outside your country of residence; or (vi) allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.
  • To complete a merger or sale of assets. If Amplify sells all or part of its business or makes a sale or transfer of its assets or is otherwise involved in a merger, transfer or other disposition of all or part of its business, assets or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings), Amplify may transfer your personal information to the party or parties involved in the transaction.

5. What rights and choices do you have?

Opt-out of Marketing Communications. If you want to stop receiving promotional materials from Amplify, you can follow the unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email. There are certain service notification emails that you may not opt-out of, such as notifications of changes to the Site or policies. If you have additional questions, please contact us using information below in the Contact Us section.

Opt-of Cookies and Similar Tracking Technologies. There are a few ways to opt out or delete cookies.

  • On Your Browser. Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies, but your browser may permit you to change your settings to notify you of a cookie being set or updated, or to block cookies altogether. Please consult the “Help” section of your browser for more information. Please note that by blocking any or all cookies you may not have access to certain features, content or personalization that may be available through the Site. Please also note that you must opt out separately on each device (including each web browser on each device) that you use to access our Site if you wish to opt out, and if you clear your cookies or if you use a different browser or device, you will need to renew your opt-out preferences.
  • Interest-Based Advertising. Some advertisers and marketing companies participate in the self-regulatory programs of the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) and European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (“eDAA”) in connection with online interest-based advertising. DAA and eDAA provide consumers with the ability to opt out of receiving interest-based advertising from their program participants at the following links:

What Rights Do You Have?

6. Security

Amplify uses commercially reasonable administrative, technical, personnel and physical measures to safeguard personal information in its possession against loss, theft and unauthorized use, disclosure or modification.

7. Data retention / Deletion

We will retain your personal information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is required or allowed by law. Even after we have deleted your personal information from our systems, copies of some information from your account may remain viewable in some circumstances – where, for example, you have shared information with social media platforms and other unaffiliated services. We may also retain backup information related to your account on our servers for some time after cancellation for fraud detection or to comply with applicable law or our internal security policies. Because of the nature of caching technology, your account may not be instantly inaccessible to others, and there may be a delay in the removal of the content from elsewhere on the Internet and from search engines.

8. Data Storage and Transfers

We are a United States Company, and our servers are hosted, managed, and controlled by us in the United States. If you are outside of the United States, we use industry standards to protect your data when it leaves your country of residence and your data will always be protected in accordance with this Privacy Policy, Applicable Laws and our Agreement regardless of the storage location.

Additionally, where we transfer your personal information to service providers outside of the United Kingdom (UK), European Economic Area (EEA), or other region that offers similar protections, we use specific appropriate safeguards to contractually obligate such service providers to protect personal information in accordance with Amplify’s commitment to privacy and security and applicable data protection laws.

If you have questions or wish to obtain more information about the international transfer of your personal information or the implemented safeguards, please contact us using the contact information below.

9. External third-party services

The Site may be linked to sites operated by unaffiliated companies, and may carry advertisements or offer content, functionality, games, newsletters, contests or sweepstakes, or applications developed and maintained by unaffiliated companies. Amplify is not responsible for the privacy practices of unaffiliated companies, and once you leave the Site via a link or enable an unaffiliated service, you are subject to the applicable privacy policy of the unaffiliated service.

10. Updates to this policy

Amplify may modify this Privacy Policy. Please look at the Last Revised Date at the top of this Privacy Policy to see when this Privacy Policy was last revised. Any changes to this Privacy Policy will become effective when we post the revised Privacy Policy on the Site. If you do not wish to be bound by the terms of the revised Privacy Policy, you must discontinue your use of the Site.

11. Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

Email: privacy@amplify.com
Mail: Amplify Education, Inc.
55 Washington St.#800
Brooklyn, NY, 11201
Phone: (800) 823-1969
Attn: General Counsel

Appendix – Supplemental Disclosures

1. Notice for our California Customers

We retain your personal information for as long as you are an active user of our Site or continue to have an account with us, and in accordance with our legal obligations (which may require us to hold information to provide financial and other reporting and to defend against potential claims). If you are a California resident, please see below for information about your rights pursuant to California law.

Personal Information We Collect
How We Use Personal Information
Contact Information
  • To provide you with customer support and respond to inquiries.
  • To contact you with promotional emails (e.g. newsletters) or notifications related to the Site
  • To help us verify the identity of our user
  • As otherwise required or permitted by law, or as we may notify you at the time of collection
Account Information
  • To provide and manage the Site
  • To improve our products and services
  • As otherwise required or permitted by law, or as we may notify you at the time of collection
Payment Information
  • To complete your payment of purchases made through the Site
  • For internal operations (e.g. to improve and update our products)
  • For security and fraud prevention
  • As otherwise required or permitted by law, or as we may notify you at the time of collection
Information You Submit
  • To provide the Site and features to you, including to allow you to comment
  • To improve our products and services
  • As otherwise required or permitted by law, or as we may notify you at the time of collection.
Site Activity Information
  • We sell or share information about your Site activity with third parties for targeted advertisements on and off of Amplify. We also use this information to:
    • To provide and manage the Site
    • To improve our products and services
    • For internal operations (e.g. to improve and update our products)
    • For security, safety, and due diligence purposes
    • As otherwise required or permitted by law, or as we may notify you at the time of collection
Location Information
  • We use location information , such as state, country and / or zip code, which we use to help us customize your experience, as well as to help us facilitate your privacy rights.
Inferences
  • We may make inferences about your interests and personal preferences (such as the content you like to consume). We also use this information to:
    • To personalize your experience on the Site
    • For internal operations (e.g. to improve and update our products)
    • As otherwise required or permitted by law, or as we may notify you at the time of collection

Some of the information described above may be considered “sensitive” under the laws of certain jurisdictions (including payment information and account login credentials (“Sensitive Information”). Whether information is Sensitive Information will depend on the laws of your jurisdiction. We only use Sensitive Information, such as payment information and account credentials for necessary or reasonably expected purposes – specifically, to provide you with our Services (i.e., fulfill purchases and to allow account logins).

Shine the Light

California’s Shine the Light law (Civil Code § 1798.83) permits California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of certain categories of personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year. We do not share personal information, as defined by California’s Shine the Light law, with third parties for their own direct marketing purposes.

Notice of Financial Incentive 

 As part of our services, there may be opportunities for you to complete surveys and questionnaires. As an incentive for completing the survey or questionnaire, you can voluntarily provide your personal information, which in turn enters you into a raffle drawing or enables us to provide you with other benefits, discounts, offers, or deals that may constitute a financial incentive under California law (“Financial Incentive”). The categories of personal information required for us to provide the Financial Incentives include: contact information and any other information that you choose to provide when you complete the survey.

Participation is voluntary and you can opt out at any time before your survey is complete.

The value of the personal information we collect in connection with our Financial Incentives is equivalent to the value of the benefit offered.

2. Additional U.S. State Privacy Law Rights

Residents of certain U.S. states have the following rights, regarding your personal information (each of which are subject to various exceptions and limitations):

  • Access. You have the right to request, up to two times every 12 months, that we disclose to you the categories of personal information collected about you, the categories of sources from which the personal information is collected, the categories of personal information sold or shared, the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing the personal information, the categories of third parties with whom personal information was shared, and the specific pieces of personal information collected about you.
  • Correct. You have the right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information collected from you. 
  • Deletion. You can request that we delete your personal information that we maintain about you.
  • Opt-out (Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information). Under several U.S. state privacy laws, consumers have the right to opt-out of the “sale” of their personal information (defined very broadly to include situations where we provide personal information to partners who provide advertising services to us) and the “sharing” of personal information in connection with the display of targeted advertising across third party websites. While we do not sell your personal information, we do share it in connection with our advertising efforts. Please also note that we do not knowingly sell or share the Personal Information of minors under 16 years of age.

We also honor the Global Privacy Control, a browser-based opt-out signal. We do not respond to other browser-based signals that do not meet applicable state law requirements, which may include older Do Not Track signals.

  • No Discrimination. You have the right not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights.
  • Appeals. You have a right to appeal decisions concerning your ability to exercise your consumer rights. 
  • Submission of Requests. You may exercise the above rights by emailing us at privacy@amplify.com. Note that we may deny certain requests, or fulfill a request only in part, based on our legal rights and obligations. For example, we may retain personal information as permitted by law, such as for tax or other record keeping purposes, to maintain an active account, and to process transactions and facilitate customer requests.
  • Authorized Agent. You may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. When submitting the request, please ensure the authorized agent identifies himself/herself/itself as an authorized agent and can show written permission from you to represent you. We may contact you directly to confirm that you have authorized the agent to act on your behalf or confirm your identity.
  • Verification. Whether you submit a request directly on your own behalf, or through an authorized agent, we will take reasonable steps to verify your identity prior to responding to your requests. The verification steps will vary depending on the sensitivity of the personal information and whether you have an account with us.
3. Notice for European Economic Area and United Kingdom Customers

As detailed at the beginning of our Privacy Policy (under the section titled “Our Role”), Amplify acts as a controller with respect to personal information collected as you interact with our Site.

Lawful Basis for Processing

We rely on the following lawful bases for our processing activities:

  • Consent;
    • We obtain your consent to collect and process device and usage data via cookies on our Site to understand how individuals use our Site and to help us measure the effectiveness of our advertising and marketing campaigns.
  • Pursuant to a contract with the user of our Site;
    • We process all categories of personal information that we collect to provide and manage our Site, including payment processing, where this is required in order for us to perform our obligations under our contract with you.
  • To comply with our legal obligations;
    • We process all categories of personal information that we collect to ensure the safety and security of our Site where we are complying with security requirements under data protection and cyber and information security law.
    • We process all categories of personal information that we collect to comply with our legal obligations which includes, for example, to access, retain or share certain personal information where we receive a valid request from a government body, law enforcement body, judicial body regulator or similar, to deal with legal claims and prospective legal claims, and to ensure we are complying with applicable laws.
  • When we have a legitimate interest in doing so, which is not outweighed by the risks to the individual. We rely on our legitimate interest to process all categories of personal information:
    • to provide, manage, and improve the Site where such activities are not strictly required under our contract, including personalizing your experience on the Site.
    • to ensure the safety and security of our Site where this is important but not required under the data protection law or cyber and information security laws.
    • to respond to queries or otherwise communicate with you in relation to our Site and the operation of our business where this is not strictly required under a contract with you.
    • internal research and certain marketing purposes (e.g. to periodically send newsletters and other promotional materials), which will not be based on Student Data or directed to K–12 students.

Your Data Subject Rights

If you are located in the EEA/UK, you have the following rights, subject to certain exceptions:

  • Right of access: You have the right to ask us for confirmation on whether we are processing your personal information and access to that personal information.
  • Right to correction: You have the right to have your personal information corrected.
  • Right to erasure: You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information.
  • Right to withdraw consent: You have the right to withdraw consent that you have provided.
  • Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority: You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.
  • Right to restriction of processing: You have the right to request the limiting of our processing under limited circumstances.
  • Right to data portability: You have the right to receive the personal information that you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, and you have the right to transmit that information to another controller, including to have it transmitted directly, where technically feasible.
  • Right to object: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal information

To exercise any of these rights, contact us as set forth in the section entitled “Contact Us” above and specify which European privacy right you intend to exercise. We may require additional information from you to allow us to confirm your identity. Please note that we store information as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, and may continue to retain and use the information even after a data subject request for purposes of our legitimate interests, including to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, prevent fraud, and enforce our agreements.

Complaints

If you have any issues with our compliance, you have the right to lodge a complaint with an EEA or UK supervisory authority. We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns before you approach a data protection regulator, and would welcome you directing an inquiry first to us. To do so, please contact us by email at privacy@amplify.com or by mail at Amplify Education, Inc., 55 Washington St.#800, Brooklyn, NY, 11201.

1. Service Overview

As a provider of technology solutions to schools, Amplify’s commitment to data privacy and security is essential to our organization. This overview of Amplify’s Information Security Program describes physical, technical and administrative safeguards Amplify implements to protect student data in our care.

Company profile

Amplify Education, Inc. (Amplify) is a privately held company founded in 2000 as Wireless Generation. Amplify’s products include curriculum and instruction, assessment and intervention, professional development services and consulting services for K-12 education.

Service hosting

Amplify leverages Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its cloud hosting provider. Within AWS, Amplify utilizes Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs), which provide an isolated cloud environment within the AWS infrastructure. External network traffic to a VPC is managed via gateway and firewall rules, which are maintained in source code control to ensure that the configuration remains in compliance with Amplify security policy. In addition, the production VPCs and the development VPCs are isolated from each other and maintained in separate AWS accounts.

2. Policies & standards

Information security program

Amplify maintains a comprehensive information security program based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework and the NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 family of information security controls. These provide a robust framework of best practices from which an organization can build its security policies and protocols based on identified risks, compliance requirements, and business needs. They cover critical practice areas, including access control, configuration management, incident response, security training, and other information security domains.

Governance

Amplify’s Information Security Committee has primary responsibility for the development, maintenance, and implementation of the Amplify information security program. The Information Security Committee is responsible for all information risk management activities within the company and is composed of technology, business and legal leaders from the organization. The Committee meets weekly and includes a dedicated VP of Information Security and a program manager to oversee, direct and coordinate its activities.

Policy execution

Adherence to the internal Amplify information security policy is an obligation of every Amplify employee. Amplify conducts a series of internal monitoring procedures to verify compliance with internal information security policies, and all Amplify employees undergo annual criminal background checks. In addition, any third-party contractors who come into contact with systems that may contain student data are contractually bound to maintain security and privacy of the data.

3. Data access controls

Access control

Amplify’s access control principles dictate that all student data we store on behalf of customers is only accessible to district-authorized users and to a limited set of internal Amplify users who may only access the data for purposes authorized by the district. Districts maintain control over their internal users and may grant or revoke access.

In limited circumstances and strictly for the purposes of supporting school districts and maintaining the functionality of systems, certain Amplify users may access Amplify systems with student data. All such access to student data by Amplify technicians or customer support requires both authentication and authorization to view the information.

Encryption

Data encryption is an important element of our protection of sensitive data at rest and in transit, and is reviewed and updated as appropriate annually, based on the latest standards and guidelines published by OWASP and NIST.

  • In transit: Amplify encrypts all student data in transit over public connections, using Transport Layer Security (TLS), commonly known as SSL, using industry-standard protocols, ciphers, algorithms, and key sizes.
  • At rest: Amplify encrypts student data at rest using the industry-standard AES-256 encryption algorithm.

4. Application security by design

Building the right roles into applications

Permissions within Amplify applications are designed on the principle that school districts control access to all student data. To facilitate this, Amplify applications are designed so that roles and permissions flow from the district to the individual user. For example, applications that offer schools a way to collect and report on assessment results have a web interface that requires district administrators to authorize individuals to view student data.

Security controls within applications are used to ensure that the desired privacy protections are technically enforced within the system. For example, if a principal is supposed to see only the data related to his or her school, Amplify ensures that, throughout the design and development process, our products restrict principals from seeing records for any students outside his or her school.

To make sure Amplify applications properly enforce permissions and roles, our development teams conduct reviews early in the design process to ensure roles and permissions are an essential component of the design of new applications.

Building security controls into applications

Amplify applications are also developed to minimize security vulnerabilities and ensure industry-standard application security controls are in place.

As part of the development process, Amplify has a set of application security standards that all applications handling student data are required to follow, including:

  • Student data is secured using industry standard encryption when in transit between end-users and Amplify systems.
  • Applications are built with password brute-force attack prevention.
  • User sessions expire after a fixed period of time.

We also conduct manual and automated static code analysis as well as dynamic application security testing to preemptively identify vulnerabilities published by industry leaders such as OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project)

5. Proactive security

Risk assessments

Amplify periodically engages a security consulting firm to conduct risk assessments, aimed at identifying and prioritizing security vulnerabilities. The Information Security Committee coordinates remediation of the vulnerabilities. The security consulting firm also provides ongoing advice on current risks and advises on remediation of vulnerabilities and incident response.

Penetration testing

Amplify engages third-party firms to continually conduct application penetration testing.  The purpose of this testing is to test for application security vulnerabilities in the production environment.  We work with third party penetration testing program partners. Third-party testing involves a combination of automated and manual testing.

Vulnerability management

Amplify ensures that its systems are free of known vulnerabilities in several ways. Every production server runs vulnerability detection software that compares the installed software against a global database of known vulnerabilities. Secondly, we employ real time network monitoring that reports on any potentially malicious traffic. In addition, a third-party security firm continually reviews all of our system logs for potential security breaches. Lastly we continually test our applications against common malicious internet traffic. Violations in any of these areas will alert one of our operations teams, who are available around the clock.

In addition, Amplify participates in a private bug bounty program through HackerOne, working with the security community to find security vulnerabilities and support our efforts to keep our data and systems safe and secure.

Endpoint security

Access to production systems at Amplify is restricted to a limited set of internal Amplify users to support technical infrastructure, troubleshoot customer issues, or other purposes authorized by the district. In addition, Amplify requires multi-factor (MFA) authentication methods for access to all production systems. MFA involves a combination of something only the user knows and something only the user can access. For example, MFA for administrative access could involve entering a password as well as entering a one-time passcode sent via text message to the administrator’s mobile phone. The use of MFA reduces the possibility that an unauthorized individual could use a compromised password to access a system.

Infrastructure security

Network filtering technologies are used to ensure that production environments with student data are properly segmented from the rest of the network. Production environments only have limited external access to enable customers to use our web interfaces and other services. In addition, Amplify uses firewalls to ensure that development servers have no access to production environments.

Other measures that Amplify takes to secure its operational environment include system monitoring to detect anomalous activity that could indicate potential attacks and breaches.

Security training

At Amplify, we believe that protecting student data is the responsibility of all employees. We implemented a comprehensive information security awareness training program that all employees  undergo upon initial hire, with an annual refresher training. We also provide information security training and annual social engineering tests for specific departments based on role.

6. Reactive security

Monitoring

Intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS) are in place to analyze the network device logs, monitor the network and report anomalous activity for appropriate resolution.

Incident response

Amplify maintains a comprehensive Security Incident Response Policy Plan, which sets out roles, responsibilities and procedures for reporting, investigation, containment, remediation and notification of security incidents. Amplify works with reputable firms for incident response and digital forensics support, as well as annual table-top exercises in coordination with cybersecurity experts.

Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery

Amplify maintains a comprehensive Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery Plan (BCP/DR), to guide personnel in procedures to protect against business disruptions caused by an unexpected event. The plans and related operations processes are tested on a semiannual basis, with ensuing operations improvement and remediation work.

7. Compliance

Audits

In addition to penetration testing and other proactive security testing and monitoring outlined above, Amplify undergoes annual SOC 2 Type 2 examinations of controls relevant to security. The examination is formally known as a Type 2 Independent Service Auditor’s Report on Controls Relevant to Security. The most recent examination was conducted by Schellman & Company, LLC and covers the period from April 1, 2024–March 31, 2025. The report states that Amplify’s systems meet the criteria for the security principle and opine on management’s description of the organization’s system and the suitability of the design of controls to protect against unauthorized access, use, or modification.

The Type 2 report also opines on the operating effectiveness of controls over the review period. This means that our auditors confirmed that we have continued to follow established security controls over the period of time of the review.

Certifications

SOC 2: Amplify successfully completed the SOC 2 Type 2 examination of controls relevant to security (see above, under “Audits”).

Privacy

Amplify’s products are built to facilitate district compliance with applicable data privacy laws, including FERPA and state laws related to the collection, access and review and disclosure of student data. Amplify’s Customer Privacy Policy describes the types of information collected and maintained on behalf of our school district customers and limitations on use and sharing of that data.

8. Supporting documentation

In the course of customer security assessment, the following documentation can be provided by Amplify upon customers’ request:

  • Penetration Testing Report
  • Risk Assessment Report
  • SOC 2 Type 2 Report

9. Report a vulnerability

To report a security vulnerability, click here.

Customer Privacy Policy

Last Modified: January 23, 2026 | Update History

Most recent update: This Privacy Policy has been updated to address additional rights for individuals in the European Union/UK.

We advise you to read this Privacy Policy in its entirety, including the jurisdiction-specific provisions in the appendix. Click here to review Our U.S. Notice At Collection.

Customer Privacy Policy: K–12 Schools

Who We Are

Amplify Education, Inc. (“Amplify”) is leading the way in next-generation curriculum and assessment. Amplify’s programs provide teachers with powerful tools that help them understand and respond to the needs of each student and use data in a way that is safe, secure, and effective.

Our Products and Services

Amplify’s products support classroom instruction and learning and include Amplify CKLA, Amplify ELA, Amplify Caminos, Amplify Science, Amplify Desmos Math, Boost Reading, Boost Math, mCLASS, Mathigon, associated professional development and tutoring services, and services at classroom.amplify.com (for creating and assigning activities) and student.amplify.com (for use of the activities or curricula as directed by an instructor), and any other product or service that links to this Privacy Policy (together, the “Products”).

Our Approach to Student Data Privacy 

In the course of providing the Products to Schools and their Authorized School Users, Amplify collects, receives, generates, or has access to Student Data (defined below). We consider Student Data to be confidential and we collect and use Student Data solely for educational purposes in connection with providing our Products to, or on behalf of the School as described in this Privacy Policy and our Agreements (defined below). We work to maintain the security and confidentiality of Student Data that we collect or store, and we enable Schools to control the use, access, sharing, and retention of Student Data.

Our Products are geared towards K–12 students (“Students”), and the educators, agents and staff members who use the Products as authorized by their School (“Educators”). Information that directly relates to an identifiable Student (“Student Data”) is owned and controlled by the School, and Amplify receives Student Data as a “school official” under Section 99.31 of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (“FERPA”) for the purpose of providing the Products hereunder. In addition, we rely on the School acknowledging that it is acting as the parent’s agent and consenting on the parent’s behalf to process personal information of Students under the age of 13 (“Child Users”) in accordance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”).

Our collection and use of Student Data is governed by our Agreements with Schools, including this Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”), and applicable laws which may include FERPA, COPPA, the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (“PPRA”), as well as other applicable federal, state, and local privacy laws and regulations (“Applicable Laws”). As noted above, with respect to FERPA, Amplify receives Student Data as a “school official” under Section 99.31 of FERPA for the purpose of providing its Products, and such Student Data is owned and controlled by the School.

Schools may provide authorization in two ways:

  1. by the School agreeing to our Customer Terms and Conditions located at amplify.com/customer-terms or another written agreement between Amplify and the School, as applicable; or
  2. by an Educator agreeing to the Acceptable Use Policy located at amplify.com/acceptable-use-policy/ (“AUP”) on behalf of the School as outlined in the AUP.

In each case, we collect Student Data and provide these Products solely for the use and benefit of the School and for no other commercial purpose. We require all Schools to review this Privacy Policy, available at amplify.com/customer-privacy, and to make a copy of the Privacy Policy available to the parents or guardians of Child Users.

We also provide limited opportunities for individual users to sign up for an account for use of our Products at-home or otherwise outside of the authorization of a School (“Home Users”). See the Appendix–Supplemental Disclosures for additional information that applies to our Home Users.

What This Privacy Policy Covers 

This Customer Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) describes how Amplify collects, uses, and discloses personal information through the provision of Products.

For purposes of this Privacy Policy, “you” and “your” means Authorized Users (defined below).

This Privacy Policy does not apply to Amplify’s handling of:

  • information collected from users of Amplify’s company website, which is governed by our Website Privacy Policy.
  • job applicant data that we process in accordance with our applicant privacy notice.

There may be different contractual terms or privacy policies in place with some Schools. Such other terms or policies supersede this Privacy Policy for information collected or released under those terms. If you have any questions as to which legal agreement or privacy policy controls the collection and use of your personal information, please contact us using the information provided below. Unless expressly superseded, this Privacy Policy is incorporated into and is subject to the Agreement that governs your use of the Products.

Our Role

Amplify as a processor/service provider: Our School customers are the controllers of Student Data (as well as certain other Educator personal information to the extent required by law or Amplify’s agreement with the School) (together “School Data”).

Amplify acts as a processor/service provider for our School customers with respect to School Data, which means when we use School Data, we do so solely on the instruction of the School. School Data is subject to the School’s privacy policies; therefore, you will need to contact the School directly if you have any questions or would like to exercise your rights with respect to School Data.

Amplify as a controller: We are the controller of all other personal information we collect from non-Student Authorized Users (“Amplify Data”) and can be reached by email at privacy@amplify.com or by mail at Amplify Education, Inc., 55 Washington St.#800, Brooklyn, NY, 11201.

Policy

1. Definitions

Capitalized terms not defined in this section or elsewhere in this Privacy Policy will have the meaning set forth by Applicable Laws.

“Agreement” means the underlying contractual agreement between Amplify and the School.

“Authorized Users” means all users of our Products, including Authorized School Users, parents and legal guardians, and Home Users.

“Authorized School Users” means Students and Educators.

“Local Education Authority” means a local education agency or authority, school district, school network, independent school, or other regional education system.

“Non-Student Data” means information that is linked or linkable to Authorized Users who are not Students.

“School” means the Local Education Authority or State Agency.

“State Agency” means the educational agency primarily responsible for the supervision of public elementary and secondary schools in any of the 50 states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, or other territories and possessions of the United States, as well as a national or regional ministry or department of education in other countries, as applicable.

2. What personal information do we collect?

When you access or use our Products, you may choose to provide us with personal information, including Student Data. This information may be provided to us directly (e.g. when an account is created or through communications with us) or through your interactions with our Products.

Student Data. Below is a list of the categories of Student Data that may be collected by Amplify or its Products, either directly or through the Authorized School User’s use of the various features and configurations of the Products:

  • Identifier and Enrollment Data, such as name, email, school / state ID number, username and password, grade level, homeroom, courses, teacher names.
    • Why? Most of Amplify’s Products require some basic information about who is in a classroom and who teaches the class—Student or teacher Identifier and Enrollment data. This information is provided to Amplify by the School, either directly from the School’s student information system or via a third party with whom the School contracts to provide that information.
  • Demographic Data, such as date of birth, socioeconomic status, race, national origin, and preferred or primary language.
    • Why? To support school instructional and reporting requirements, Amplify’s Products allow Schools to view reports and analyze data using Demographic Data. Generally, Demographic Data is provided on a voluntary basis by the School. For example, a School may wish to analyze Student literacy assessment results based on English Language Learner status to better tailor classroom instruction, and in that case, the School may provide Demographic Data to enable that reporting.
  • School Records, such as grades, attendance, assessment results, and whether an Individualized Education Plan (IEP or local equivalent) is in place.
    • Why? Some of our Products support grading assignments and administering formative, diagnostic, and curriculum-based assessments. Teachers use that information to support Students’ progress in the program or help with instructional decisions. We do not collect specific details from an IEP, nor do we collect protected health information or other sensitive information.
  • Schoolwork and Student Generated Content, which includes any information contained in Student assignments and assessments, including information in response to instructional activities and participation in collaborative or interactive features of our Products, such as Student responses to academic questions and Student-written essays, as well as images, video, and audio recordings.
    • Why? As part of the digital learning experience, some of our Products may enable Students to write text and create and upload images, video, and audio recordings. For example, in Amplify ELA, students may write essays or submit short-form responses in our platform as part of a lesson on literature. As another example, in Boost Reading, student interactions with reading skills games are recorded to keep track of the student’s progress to level up in the program and to provide visibility to teachers on how students are mastering the skills.
  • Teacher Comments and Feedback, such as scores, written comments, or other feedback that Educators may provide about Student responses or student course performance.
    • Why? To enable teachers to track the performance and provide feedback to their students.
  • Non-Student Data. We may collect the following types of personal information from all other Authorized Users:
    • Contact Information, such as name and email address, as well as grade level taught, school name and school location, whether you are an Educator or Home User that creates an account or uses our Products or communicates with us.
    • Account Information, such as user login and password, for account creation and access purposes.
    • Survey Responses, which you provide in response to surveys or questionnaires.
  • Device and Usage Data. Depending on the Product, we may collect certain information about the device used to connect to our Product, such as device type and model, browser configurations, and persistent identifiers, such as IP addresses and unique device identifiers. We may collect device diagnostic information, such as battery level, usage logs, and error logs, as well as usage, viewing, and technical information (e.g., email open rates), such as the number of requests a device makes, to ensure proper system capacity for all Authorized Users. We may collect IP addresses and use that information to approximate device location to support operation of the Product. To the extent that we collect this information, this data is solely used to support operation of the Product and is not linked to Student Data. For purposes of clarity, Amplify does not use Student Data for marketing or advertising purposes (see section 6 of this Privacy Policy for more information about our commitments regarding Student Data).
    • Why? We use this information to remember returning users and facilitate ease of login, to customize the function and appearance of the Products, and to improve the learning experience. This information also helps us track product usage for various purposes, including website optimization, to ensure proper system capacity, troubleshoot and fix errors, provide technical assistance and customer support, provide and monitor the effectiveness of our Products, monitor and address security concerns, and compile analytics for product improvement and other internal purposes.
    • How? Cookies and Similar Technologies. We collect device and usage data through “cookies,” Web beacons, HTML5 local storage, and other similar technologies, which are used in some of our Products solely to support operation of the Products as described above. While we may use third party cookies and similar technologies for advertising and marketing purposes on our website (in accordance with our Website Privacy Policy), we do not permit such tracking technologies to be present on Student-facing portions of the Products. In particular, we only use the following types of cookies in our Products:
      • Strictly necessary cookies – These are cookies that are required for the operation of our websites and applications that host our Products. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our Products. These cookies are not generally stored beyond the browser session and are less likely to include personal information. This category of cookies cannot be disabled.
      • Functionality Cookies – We use these cookies so that we recognize you on the websites and apps that host our Products and remember your previously selected preferences. These cookies are stored on your device between browsing sessions but expire after a pre-defined period. These cookies enable us to “recognize” you when you use our Products, including your preferences such as your preferred language, time, and location. A mix of first party (placed by us) and third-party cookies (placed by third parties) are used.
      • Performance Cookies – These cookies help us and service providers acting on our behalf compile statistics and analytics about users of our Products that are accessed via websites and apps, including Device and Usage Information.
    • Learn how to opt out of cookies and similar technologies by reading the “What Rights and Choices Do You Have?” section of this Privacy Policy below.

3. How do we use personal information?

Student Data. Amplify uses Student Data for educational purposes, to provide the Products, and to ensure secure and effective operation of our Products, including:

  • to provide and improve our educational Products;
  • to support School and Authorized School Users’ activities;
  • to ensure secure and effective operation of our Products;
  • for purposes requested or authorized by the School or Authorized School User or as otherwise permitted by Applicable Laws;
  • for customer support purposes, to respond to the inquiries and fulfill the requests of the School and their Authorized School Users;
  • to enforce Product access and security controls; and
  • to conduct system audits and improve protections against the misuse of our Products, or to detect and prevent fraud and other harmful activities.
  • to enable the adaptive and personalized learning features of the Products.

Non-Student Data. Amplify may use Non-Student Data for the purposes for which Student Data is used as set forth above. In addition, Amplify may use Non-Student Data to provide customized content, advertising and marketing in limited circumstances (e.g. to periodically send newsletters and other promotional materials) directed to Educators and Home Users. For sake of clarity, we do not use Student Data for marketing purposes and we do not direct marketing to Students. Amplify may also use Non-Student Data for internal research and analytics, including generating insights on the use of our Products by Educators in certain Schools so that we can better serve those communities. We will also use Non-Student Data as otherwise required or permitted by law, or as we may notify you at the time of collection. Learn how to opt out of these communications by reading the “What Rights and Choices Do You Have?” section of this Privacy Policy below.

Amplify may use aggregate or de-identified data as described in the Aggregate/De-identified Data section below.

4. To whom do we disclose personal information?

Student Data. We disclose Student Data to third parties only as needed to provide the Products under the Agreement, as directed or permitted by the School or Authorized School User, and as required by law. Such disclosures may include but are not limited to the following:

  • to other Authorized School Users of the School entitled to access such data in connection with the Products;
  • to our service providers, subprocessors, or vendors who have a legitimate need to access such data in order to assist us in providing or supporting our Products, such as platform, infrastructure, and application software. We contractually bind such parties to protect Student Data in a manner consistent with those practices set forth in this Privacy Policy and in accordance with Applicable Laws. A list of Amplify subprocessors is available at https://www.amplify.com/subprocessors;
  • to comply with the law, respond to requests in legal or government enforcement proceedings (such as complying with a subpoena), protect our rights in a legal dispute, or seek assistance of law enforcement in the event of a threat to our rights, security, or property or that of our affiliates, customers, Authorized Users, or others;
  • in the event Amplify or all or part of its assets are acquired or transferred to another party, including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings, provided that successor entity will be required to comply with the privacy protections in this Privacy Policy with respect to information collected under this Privacy Policy, or we will provide the School with notice and an opportunity to opt out of the transfer of such data prior to the transfer; and
  • except as restricted by Applicable Laws or contracts with the School, we may also share Student Data with Amplify’s affiliated education companies, provided that such disclosure is solely for the purposes of providing Products and at all times is subject to this Policy.

Non-Student Data. Amplify discloses Non-Student Data for the purposes for which Student Data is used as set forth above. Amplify may also disclose Non-Student Data as otherwise required or permitted, or as disclosed at the time of collection. Please note that we do not share mobile information or opt-in consent with third parties / affiliates for their own marketing or promotional purposes.

5. Aggregate/De-identified data

Amplify may use de-identified or aggregate data for purposes allowed under FERPA and other Applicable Laws, to research, develop, and improve educational sites, services, and applications and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Amplify Products. Amplify will not attempt to re-identify de-identified data. We may use aggregate information (which is information that has been collected in summary form such that the data cannot be associated with any individual) for analytics and reports. For example, our promotional materials may note the total number of students served by our programs in the prior year, but that information cannot be used to identify any one student. We may also share de-identified or aggregate data with research partners to help us analyze the information for product improvement and development purposes.

Records and information are de-identified when all personal information has been removed or obscured, such that the remaining information does not reasonably identify a specific individual. We de-identify Student Data in compliance with Applicable Laws and in accordance with the guidelines of NIST SP 800-122. Amplify has implemented internal procedures and controls to protect against the re-identification of de-identified Student Data. Amplify does not disclose de-identified data to its research partners unless that party has agreed in writing not to attempt to re-identify such data.

6. Data prohibitions, Advertising, Advertising limitations

Amplify will not:

  • sell Student Data to third parties;
  • use or disclose Student Data to inform, influence, or enable targeted advertising to a Student based on Student Data or information or data inferred over time from the Student’s usage of the Products;
  • use Student Data to develop a profile of a Student for any purpose other than providing the Products to a School or Authorized School User, or as authorized by a parent or legal guardian;
  • use Student Data for any commercial purpose other than to provide the Products to the School or Authorized School User, or as permitted by Applicable Laws.

7. External third-party services

This Privacy Policy applies solely to Amplify’s Products and practices. Schools and other Authorized Users may choose to connect or use our Products in conjunction with third-party services and Products. Additionally, our sites and Products may contain links to third-party websites or services . This Privacy Policy does not address, and Amplify is not responsible for, the privacy, information, or other practices of such third parties. Schools should carefully consider which third-party applications to include among the Products and services they provide to Students and vet the privacy and data security standards of those providers.

Authorized Users may be able to log in to our Products using third-party sign-in services such as Clever, ClassLink or Google. These services authenticate your identity and provide you with the option to share certain personal information with us, including your name and email address, to pre-populate our account sign-up form. If you choose to enable a third party to share your third-party account credentials with Amplify, we may obtain personal information via that mechanism. You may configure your accounts on these third-party platform services to control what information they share.

8. Security

Amplify maintains a comprehensive information security program and uses industry standard administrative, technical, operational, and physical measures to safeguard Student Data in its possession against loss, theft and unauthorized use, disclosure, or modification. Amplify performs periodic risk assessments of its information security program and prioritizes the remediation of identified security vulnerabilities. Please see https://amplify.com/security for a detailed description of Amplify’s security program.

In the event Amplify discovers or is notified that Student Data within our possession or control was disclosed to, or acquired by, an unauthorized party, we will investigate the incident, take steps to mitigate the potential impact, and notify the School in accordance with Applicable Laws.

Non-Student Data

Outside of Student Data, Amplify uses commercially reasonable administrative, technical, personnel, and physical measures to safeguard personal information in its possession against loss, theft, and unauthorized use, disclosure or modification.

9. Data Storage and Transfers

We are a United States Company, and our servers are hosted, managed, and controlled by us in the United States. If you are outside of the United States, we use industry standards to protect your data when it leaves your country of residence and your data will always be protected in accordance with this Privacy Policy, Applicable Laws and our Agreement regardless of the storage location.

Additionally, where we transfer your personal information to service providers outside of the United Kingdom (UK), European Economic Area (EEA), or other region that offers similar protections, we use specific appropriate safeguards to contractually obligate such service providers to protect personal information in accordance with Amplify’s commitment to privacy and security and applicable data protection laws.

If you have questions or wish to obtain more information about the international transfer of your personal information or the implemented safeguards, please contact us using the contact information below.

10. Data Retention / Deletion

Student Data

Upon request, we provide the School the opportunity to review and delete the personal information collected from Students. We will retain Student Data for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy and our Agreement with the School. We do not knowingly retain Student Data beyond the time period required to support the School or Authorized School User’s educational purpose, unless authorized by the School or Authorized School User. Upon request, Amplify will return, delete, or destroy Student Data stored by Amplify in accordance with applicable law and customer requirements. We may not be able to delete all data in all circumstances, such as information retained in technical support records, customer service records, back-ups, and similar business records. All such information will be protected in accordance with this Privacy Policy and our Agreement until it has been permanently deleted. Unless otherwise notified by the School, we will delete or de-identify Student Data after termination of our Agreement with the School.

Non-Student Data

Outside of Student Data, we keep personal information as long as it is necessary or relevant for the practices described in this Privacy Policy or as otherwise required by our Agreement with the School, if applicable. We determine the appropriate retention period for personal information on the basis of the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal information being processed, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of the personal information, whether we can achieve the purposes of the processing through other means, and on the basis of applicable legal requirements (such as applicable statutes of limitations).

11. What rights and choices do you have?

What Choices Do You Have?

Marketing/Advertising

As noted above, we do not use Student Data for marketing purposes and we do not direct marketing to Students. Amplify does not use third party cookies and similar technologies for advertising and marketing purposes on Student-facing portions of the Products. The choices below apply to Non-Student Authorized Users.

Opt-out of Marketing Communications. If you want to stop receiving promotional materials from Amplify, you can follow the unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email or email us at privacy@amplify.com. Amplify does not send marketing communications to Students.

Opt-out of Cookies and Similar Tracking Technologies. With respect to cookies, you may be able to reject cookies through your browser or device controls. Note that you have to opt-out of cookies on each browser or device that you use. If you replace, change, or upgrade your browser or device, or delete your cookies, you may need to use these opt-out tools again. Please be aware that disabling cookies may negatively impact your experience as some features may not work properly. To learn more about browser cookies, including how to manage or delete them, check the “Help,” “Tools,” or similar section of your browser.

What Rights Do You Have?

Individuals in the U.S.

  • What Rights Do You Have With Respect to Student Data?
    • Review and Correction. FERPA requires schools to provide parents with access to their children’s education records, and parents may request that the school correct records that they believe to be inaccurate or misleading.
    • If you are a parent or guardian and would like to review, correct, or update your child’s data stored in our Products, contact your School. Amplify will work with your School to enable your access to and, if applicable, correction of your child’s education records.
    • If you have any questions about whom to contact or other questions about your child’s data, you may contact us using the information provided below.
    • Other Privacy Rights? Please see section 3 of our supplemental disclosures: “Additional U.S. State Privacy Law Rights” for more information about your U.S. privacy rights

Individuals in the EU/UK

Please see section 4 of our supplemental disclosures: “Notice for European Economic Area and United Kingdom Customers” for more information about your EU/UK privacy rights.

12. COPPA

We do not knowingly collect personal information from a Child User unless and until a School or Educator, with the permission of the School, has authorized us to collect such information to provide the Products. Amplify relies on the School acknowledging that it is acting as the parent’s agent and consenting on the parent’s behalf to process personal information of Child Users in accordance with all applicable provisions of COPPA. To the extent COPPA applies to the information we collect, we process such information for educational purposes only, and no other commercial purpose, at the direction of the School and on the basis of the School’s authorization. If you are a parent or guardian and have questions about your child’s use of the Products and any personal information collected, please direct these questions to your child’s school.

Please refer to the Appendix–Supplemental Disclosures if you are a Home User.

13. Updates to this Privacy Policy

We may change this Privacy Policy in the future. For example, we may update it to comply with new laws or regulations, to conform to industry best practices, or to reflect changes in our product offerings. When these changes do not reflect material changes in our practices with respect to use and/or disclosure of Authorized Users’ personal information, including Student Data, such changes to the Privacy Policy will become effective when we post the revised Privacy Policy on our website. In the event there are material changes in our practices that would result in Authorized Users’ personal information being used in a materially different manner than was disclosed when the information was collected, with respect to Student Data, we will notify the School, and with respect to other information, we will notify you via email and provide an opportunity to opt out before such changes take effect.

14. Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

Email: privacy@amplify.com
Mail: Amplify Education, Inc.
55 Washington St.#800
Brooklyn, NY, 11201
Phone: (800) 823-1969
Attn: General Counsel

To report a security vulnerability, visit https://amplify.com/report-a-vulnerability/.

Appendix – Supplemental Disclosures

1. Mathigon and Amplify Classroom accounts

While our Products are geared towards Schools we do provide a limited opportunity for Home Users to use the Products at home—outside of the school context. We do not allow persons under the age of 13 (or those under the age of consent in any applicable jurisdiction) to register for an account with us outside the school context.

If you are a Home User, you are prohibited from collecting or providing any personal information from students or minors. You are permitted to access the platform for instructional purposes, but you may not enroll or roster minors, create accounts for minors, or input any personal information of minors into the Product.

Please note that most parts of Mathigon can be used without creating an account or providing any personal information that directly identifies you.

What Rights Do You Have? If you are a Child User who is 13 or older with a legacy Mathigon account (or the parent or guardian of a Child User with a legacy Mathigon account), you may request that we provide for your review, delete from our records, or cease collecting any Child User personal information. To the extent that you are unable to exercise these rights through self-service features within your account with us, please contact us by sending an email to: help@amplify.com and we will provide assistance.

2. U.S. Notice at Collection

Personal Information We Collect How We Use Personal Information

Student Data, which includes:

  • Roster Information
  • Demographic Data, such as race and national origin
  • School Records
  • Account Information
  • Schoolwork and Student Generated Content
  • Teacher Comments and Feedback
  • Device and Usage Data
  • To provide and improve our educational Products;
  • To support Schools’ and Authorized School Users’ activities;
  • To ensure secure and effective operation of our Products;
  • For purposes requested or authorized by the School or Authorized School Users, or as otherwise permitted by Applicable Laws;
  • For adaptive or personalized learning features of the Products; provided that Student Data is not disclosed;
  • For customer support purposes, to respond to the inquiries and fulfill the requests of the School and their Authorized School Users;
  • To enforce product access and security controls; and
  • To conduct system audits and improve protections against the misuse of our Products, or to detect and prevent fraud and other harmful activities.

Authorized Users, which includes:

  • Contact Information
  • Account Information
  • Survey Responses
  • Device and Usage Data
  • For the purposes for which Student Data is used as set forth above;
  • For marketing purposes in limited circumstances (e.g. to periodically send newsletters and other promotional materials), which will not be based on Student Data or directed to K–12 students;
  • For internal research and analytics; and
  • As otherwise required or permitted, or as we may notify you at the time of collection.

Some of the information described above may be considered “sensitive” under the laws of certain jurisdictions (i.e., account credentials and race/national origin) (“Sensitive Information”). We use Sensitive Information for necessary or reasonably expected purposes – specifically, to provide you with our Services (i.e., account credentials are used to allow account logins and race/national origin are used for the School’s reporting purposes when voluntarily provided by the School).

We do not sell or share your personal information, as described in California law.

We retain your personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes disclosed in the chart above. Additional information about our retention of Student Data and personal information from other Authorized Users can be found in Section 10 of this Privacy Policy.

Please see the Additional U.S. State Privacy Law Rights section of this appendix for information about your privacy rights pursuant to applicable U.S. law.

Notice of Financial Incentive

From time to time, to support our services, we offer opportunities to complete surveys and questionnaires. As an incentive for completing the survey or questionnaire, you can voluntarily provide personal information as an entry into a raffle drawing or to obtain other benefits, discounts, offers, or deals that may constitute a financial incentive under California law (“Financial Incentive”). The categories of personal information required for us to provide the Financial Incentives include: contact information and any other information that you choose to provide when you complete the survey.

Participation is voluntary and you can opt out at any time before the survey is complete. We do not allow students to participate in our surveys.

The value of the personal information we collect in connection with our Financial Incentives is equivalent to the value of the benefit offered.

3. Additional U.S. State Privacy Law Rights

Note for Requests Relating to Student Data: Because Amplify provides the Products to Schools as a “School Official,” we collect, retain, use, and disclose Student Data only for or on behalf of the School for educational purposes, including the purpose of providing the Products specified in our Agreement with the School and for no other commercial purpose. Accordingly, we act as a “service provider” for the School with respect to School Data. We work with the School to support and assist them in addressing privacy requests relating to School Data. Please reach out to your School directly if you wish to exercise any privacy rights that may be available to you.

For all other requests: With respect to Amplify Data, individuals residing in certain U.S. states have the following rights, regarding your personal information (each of which is subject to various exceptions and limitations):

  • Access. You have the right to request, up to two times every 12 months, that we disclose to you the categories of personal information collected about you; the categories of sources from which the personal information is collected; the categories of personal information sold or shared; the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing the personal information; the categories of third parties with whom personal information was shared; and the specific pieces of personal information collected about you.
  • Correction. You have the right to request that we correct inaccurate personal information collected from you.
  • Deletion. You have the right to request that we delete the personal information that we maintain about you. Even after the deletion of your account, some personal information may remain on our servers, such as in technical support logs, server caches, data backups, or email conversations. These will be automatically deleted after a reasonable amount of time, unless we are legally required to retain information for longer, or unless there is a legitimate business reason (e.g. security and fraud prevention or financial record-keeping). We are not required to delete any information which has been aggregated or de-identified in accordance with Section 5.
  • No Discrimination. You have the right not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights.
  • Appeals. You have a right to appeal decisions concerning your ability to exercise your consumer rights.

See Submitting Requests section below for details on submitting a request to exercise these rights.

4. Notice for European Economic Area (EEA) and United Kingdom (UK) Customers

As detailed at the beginning of our Privacy Policy (under the section titled “Our Role”), Amplify operates primarily as a processor that collects personal information on behalf of the School, and we act as a controller in limited circumstances where we offer Products outside the school context.

If you represent a School in the EEA or the UK, please note that we process personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy, our Acceptable Use Policy, and our standard Data Protection Agreement, which sets out our responsibilities when it comes to our processing activities. Schools must send an email to privacy@amplify.com to enter into that DPA.

Lawful Basis for Processing

We rely on the following lawful bases for our processing activities:

  • Consent;
    • We obtain your consent to use cookies to collect and process device and usage data to understand how individuals use our Products.
  • Pursuant to a contract for use of our Products;
    • We process School Data to provide our Products (e.g., to create, authenticate and manage your account, to verify your identity, to manage our Products) pursuant to the Agreement between us and the School, as required in order for us to perform our obligations.
  • To comply with our legal obligations;
    • We process all categories of personal information that we collect to ensure the safety and security of our Products where we are complying with security requirements under data protection and cyber and information security law.
    • We process all categories of personal information that we collect to comply with our legal obligations which includes, for example, to access, retain or share certain personal information where we receive a valid request from a government body, law enforcement body, judicial body regulator or similar, to deal with legal claims and prospective legal claims, and to ensure we are complying with applicable laws.
  • When we have a legitimate interest in doing so, which is not outweighed by the risks to the individual.
    • We process all categories of personal information that we collect to support the provision, effective management, and improvement of our Products where such activities are not strictly required under our contract. This is in our legitimate interests to ensure that we are providing the best possible service.
    • We process all categories of personal information that we collect to ensure the safety and security of our services where this is important but not required under the data protection law or cyber and information security laws. This is in our legitimate interests to ensure the security of our services and systems, to prevent threats, abuse or fraudulent or unlawful activity, to promote safety and security and to ensure our Products are used in accordance with our terms and conditions.
    • We process the contact information of Non-Student Authorized Users to manage our relationship, including to respond to queries or otherwise communicate with you in relation to our Products and the operation of our business where this is not strictly required under a contract with you. This is in our legitimate interests to communicate with and resolve queries from users of our Products and to ensure that we are providing the best possible service.

We process the contact information and survey data of Non-Student Authorized Users for internal research and marketing purposes in limited circumstances (e.g. to periodically send newsletters and other promotional materials), which will not be based on Student Data or directed to Students. This is in our legitimate interests to understand our customers and prospective customers, understand how our products and services are perceived in the market, to promote our products, and to grow and develop our business.

Your Data Subject Rights

Note for Requests Relating to School Data: Amplify acts as processor to its School customers with respect to all School Data. We work with our School customers to support and assist them in addressing privacy requests relating to School Data. Please reach out to your School directly if you wish to exercise any privacy rights that may be available to you.

For all other Requests – With respect to Amplify Data, you have the following rights if you are in the EEA or UK, subject to certain exceptions:

  • Right of access: You have the right to ask us for confirmation on whether we are processing your personal information and access to that personal information.
  • Right to correction: You have the right to have your personal information corrected.
  • Right to erasure: You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information.
  • Right to withdraw consent: You have the right to withdraw consent that you have provided.
  • Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority: You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.
  • Right to restriction of processing: You have the right to request the limiting of our processing under limited circumstances.
  • Right to data portability: You have the right to receive the personal information that you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, and you have the right to transmit that information to another controller, including to have it transmitted directly, where technically feasible.
  • Right to object: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal information

See Submitting Requests section below for details on submitting a request to exercise these rights.

5. Submitting Requests

To exercise any of the rights described in sections 2 and 3 of this appendix, email us at privacy@amplify.com and specify which privacy right you intend to exercise. We may require additional information from you to allow us to confirm your identity. The verification steps will vary depending on the sensitivity of the personal information and whether you have an account with us. Please note that your rights may not apply in all cases. For example, we may need to retain your personal information to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, prevent fraud and enforce our agreements. We will inform you if we are not able to fully respond to your requests. You may designate an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf. When submitting the request, please ensure the authorized agent identifies himself/herself/itself as an authorized agent and can show written permission from you to represent you. We may contact you directly to confirm that you have authorized the agent to act on your behalf or confirm your identity.

Complaints

If you have any issues, you have the right to lodge a complaint with an EEA or UK supervisory authority. We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns before you approach a data protection regulator and would welcome you directing an inquiry first to us. To do so, please contact us by email at privacy@amplify.com or by mail at Amplify Education, Inc., 55 Washington St.#800, Brooklyn, NY, 11201.

6. Google APIs

Amplify uses Google’s Application Programming Interface (API) Services to enable Authorized Users to log in to Amplify, import classes and rosters from Google Classroom, create assignments in Google Classroom, and copy, edit, and publish Amplify content using Google Slides. Amplify will use and transfer information received from Google’s API in accordance with Google API Service User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Update History:

Update: 6/13/2025: This Policy has been updated to align with product updates and to provide additional context for authorized educational use of Amplify’s Products.

Update 6/27/2024: The Policy has been updated to include an explanation regarding Google APIs in the Appendix — Supplemental Disclosures section.

Update 6/30/2023: This Privacy Policy has been updated to address new state law data privacy requirements.

Amplify Tutor Fingerprinting

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Our K–12 international education programs inspire students around the world.

At Amplify, we believe that every teacher and student deserves access to high-quality materials. That’s why we collaborate with international schools to meet their core curriculum, assessment, and intervention needs.

By providing solutions grounded in research and evidence-based practices, Amplify is making an impact on international K–12 education.

We are making an impact around the globe.

6

continents

80+

countries

900+

schools worldwide

700,000+

students globally

Amplify international education programs

The following programs are available internationally.

In an international school setting, two children are focused on laptops, utilizing evidence-based practices to amplify education.

Core curriculum

STEM

Literacy

An adult and a child sit at a table, engaged with a tablet as part of an international K-12 curriculum. In the background, a whiteboard displays location words, reflecting evidence-based practices to enhance learning.

Assessment and Intervention

STEM

Literacy

International_Page_Site_Supplemental_101024

Supplemental

STEM

Literacy

Amplify professional learning

From live, in-person training and coaching to online courses and virtual professional development, we offer a range of support to fit schools’ needs and educators’ busy schedules. Professional development offerings include the following:

  • Launch sessions
  • Strengthen sessions
  • Coach sessions
  • Custom packages
Learn more
Two women sit at a table, working on laptops and discussing how to amplify education through evidence-based practices.

Custom development

We collaborate with governments and government agencies to localize and customize our high-quality instructional materials to ensure they align with specific education standards and frameworks.

Get in touch with our sales team to discuss how we can help your organization.

License our digital tools.

Explore Amplify’s digital tools and how they can make your programs more engaging and digital-forward.

Publishers can license the Amplify teaching and learning digital platform, which offers robust digital functionality—including digital manipulatives—that can transform print-based instructional programs into interactive, collaborative, and engaging digital experiences for teachers and students.

If you want to use our platform for commercial purposes, please contact our team.

A young boy wearing blue headphones uses a laptop in a classroom with colorful storage bins, exploring an international K-12 curriculum.

Amplify international education support

Amplify aims to provide the best customer support throughout each stage of your journey, whether you are exploring our programs for the first time or are a long-term partner.

Below, you’ll find a quick guide on the international purchase process and expected timelines.

Simple steps to get your order processed quickly:

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Flecha con contorno naranja apuntando hacia la derecha, que contiene el texto "Realice su pago".
Gráfico en forma de flecha con el texto “Envío de material físico”.
Diagrama en forma de flecha denominado "Configuración digital" con un fino contorno naranja.

To ensure that there are no delays, we advise you to place your order 3–4 months prior to your first day of school. This should allow enough time for shipping and digital set up.

Diagrama de un proceso de establecimiento de metas con pasos: fijar una meta, elaborar un plan, ponerse a trabajar, ceñirse a ella, alcanzar la meta. Incluye un símbolo de lista y una marca de verificación.

Purchasing

Our international sales team can answer your questions about our programs and services. Please fill out the form to speak with your account executive.

FILL OUT FORM

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Ordering and payment

We want your purchasing experience to be as seamless as possible. Visit our customer portal to learn more about your payment options.

Please be sure to include:

  • A signed PO. Don’t forget to add your PO number.
  • A copy of your Price Quote.
  • A copy of your Tax-Exemption Certificate.

GO TO CUSTOMER PORTAL

You can also email your documents to IncomingPO@amplify.com.

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Shipping physical materials

  • Submit your logistics and product quantities on the Order Management Page (OMP).
  • Track shipment(s) with the Shipment Status Page (SSP).
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Enrollment and licensing

Please note that our team needs to review your school’s rosters for accuracy and completeness:

  • This process can take up to 12 business days.
  • You will be notified when the licensing process is complete!

Frequently asked questions

Payment processing time can vary, depending on chosen payment method, as well as banking institution. Please allow at least 10 business days for it to be processed. For additional support contact internationalsalessuport@amplify.com.

For digital licenses, you will need to submit your digital logistics information, which includes your school’s rosters data. Our technical onboarding team then needs to verify it for accuracy and completeness. (They might contact you, should they need any clarification.) The digital setup process can take up to four weeks to be completed. For help along the way, please use our Amplify Onboarding Hub.

To avoid delays, please submit your logistics information and product quantities on the Order Management Page as early as possible. Note that international shipping time varies from one country to another due to many factors, including different customs procedures. We are therefore unable to estimate and guarantee delivery time in each case. Amplify offers two international shipping options: 1. Your materials can be shipped from the U.S. directly to you, which will incur an international shipping and handling fee of 25% on the physical products ordered. 2. Alternatively, Amplify can ship your materials to a U.S. freight forwarder, and you can manage the shipping.

Note that setup communications will be sent to the contact person listed on the quote. This email is sometimes routed to the spam folder, so please check there as well. If you do not receive a link within five business days, please reach out to the customer care and support team.

Get support

Our dedicated team members will assist you with purchasing, order fulfillment, enrollment and licensing, and more!

Our support hours are Monday through Friday,
11 a.m.–11 p.m. GMT.

An orange outline of an envelope on the left accompanies the words "Contact Us" in black text on the right, inviting inquiries about how we amplify education through our international K-12 curriculum.

New to our programs? Our international sales support team is here to help!

Email us: 

internationalsalessupport@amplify.com

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Already a customer but don’t have a login yet?

Open a support case.

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If you already have your login details:

Access our chat live with our support team.

VISIT AMPLIFY HELP CENTER

International events

Join us for an upcoming event, webinar, or podcast. You can browse all of our events by month, or use the filter to find events close to you.

GO TO EVENTS PAGE

Ready to learn more?

Fill out this form and we’ll be in touch with you shortly.

Introduction

Amplify Education, Inc. (“Amplify” or “we”) recognizes the importance of protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. This App Privacy Policy describes our practices in connection with information that we may collect through your use of the Cell Simulator iOS application (the “App”).

This App Privacy Policy describes Amplify’s practices for handling non-personal information (e.g., site activity) in connection with the App.

Children. The App does not collect personal information from any users, including children under 13 years of age.

By using the App, you agree to the terms and conditions of this App Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to this App Privacy Policy, please discontinue your use of the App.

Collection of information

Amplify may collect information from you at various points, including the following:

App activity information. When you access and interact with the App, we and our Third Party Agents (as defined below) may collect certain information about those visits. For example, we or our Third Party Agents may receive and record information about your computing device, including potentially your IP address, a unique application identifier assigned to that copy of the App (the “App ID”), or other characteristics of the device hardware, operating system and configurations for that device. The App ID and any other persistent identifiers we collect will be used solely for the purpose of recording information about your usage of the App, and will not be used to collect information through any other product or service.

Notice and choice

Updates to App Privacy Policy; Choice. Amplify may modify this App Privacy Policy. Please look at the Last Revised Date at the top of this App Privacy Policy to see when this App Privacy Policy was last revised. Any changes to this App Privacy Policy will become effective when we post the revised App Privacy Policy to this URL: http://amplify.com/curriculum/cell-module/privacy. If you do not wish to be bound by the terms of the revised App Privacy Policy, you must discontinue your use of the App.

Location of Data. The App is hosted in and managed and controlled by us from the United States and is not intended to subject us to the laws or jurisdiction of any jurisdiction other than that of the United States. If you are a user located outside the United States, you understand and consent to having any personal information processed in the United States. United States data protection and other relevant laws may not be the same as those in your jurisdiction.

Linked Services.The App may be linked to sites operated by unaffiliated companies. Amplify is not responsible for the privacy practices of unaffiliated companies, and once you leave the App via a link, you are subject to the applicable privacy policy of the unaffiliated service.

Use and disclosure

We may use and/or disclose any information we collect from you for the following purposes and as described elsewhere in this App Privacy Policy:

To provide and manage the App. We use the usage information we collect from you to provide the App and features to you, including to measure and improve its services and features, and to personalize your experience by delivering relevant content. We may also use and disclose aggregate or anonymous data about your use of and activity in the App to assist us in this regard and for any other purpose.

To improve our products and services. We may use your usage information for our internal business purposes, such as data analysis, developing new products and services, enhancing the App, and improving our services. To share with our affiliated education companies. Amplify may share your usage information with Amplify’s affiliated education companies for the purposes described in this App Privacy Policy.

To allow Third Party Agents to assist us. We may engage third party service providers, agents and partners (“Third Party Agents”) to perform functions on our behalf, such as analytics. We may disclose your usage information to such Third Party Agents to enable them to assist us in these efforts, for the purposes described in this App Privacy Policy.

To protect the rights of Amplify and our users. There may be instances when Amplify may disclose your usage information, in situations where Amplify has a good faith belief that such disclosure is necessary or appropriate in order to: (i) protect, enforce, or defend the legal rights, privacy, safety, operations, or property of Amplify, our parents, subsidiaries or affiliates or our or their employees, agents and contractors (including enforcement of our agreements, including our terms of use); (ii) protect the rights, safety, privacy, security or property of users of the Site or others; (iii) protect against fraud or for risk management purposes; (iv) comply with the law or legal process, including laws outside your country of residence; (v) respond to requests from public and government authorities, including those outside your country of residence; or (vi) allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.

To complete a merger or sale of assets. If Amplify sells all or part of its business or makes a sale or transfer of its assets or is otherwise involved in a merger, transfer or other disposition of all or part of its business, assets or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings), Amplify may transfer your information to the party or parties involved in the transaction.

Security

Amplify uses commercially reasonable administrative, technical, personnel and physical measures to safeguard information in its possession against loss, theft and unauthorized use, disclosure or modification.

Sensitive information

We ask that you not send or disclose to us any personal and/or sensitive information (e.g., name, address, social security numbers, information related to racial or ethnic origin, health, or criminal background) on or through the App or otherwise.

Contact us

If you have questions about this App Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

Email: privacy@amplify.com

Mail: Amplify, 55 Washington St., Ste 900, Brooklyn, NY, 11201 Attn: General Counsel

Website Terms of Use

Description of Site Services; Acceptance of Terms of Use

Welcome to www.amplify.com (together with any successor sites and the Site Services and Company Content (each as defined below), in whole and in part, the “Site”). The Site is operated by Amplify Education, Inc. (“Company” or “we”). The services that Company makes available on or through the Site include education-related articles, information and instructional services, purchasing functionality, support chat functionality and any other features, content, services, functionality and applications offered from time to time by Company on or through the Site (collectively, “Site Services”).

BY ACCESSING OR USING THE SITE, YOU REPRESENT AND WARRANT THAT YOU ARE OF LEGAL AGE TO ENTER INTO THIS TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT (“AGREEMENT”) AND YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT. BY PURCHASING GOODS AND SERVICES ON THE SITE, YOU ARE ACCEPTING THE PRACTICES DESCRIBED IN THIS AGREEMENT AS WELL AS ANY ADDITIONAL TERMS OF USE THAT MAY BE ASSOCIATED WITH THE PARTICULAR GOODS AND SERIVICES YOU ARE PURCHASING.

Please read this Agreement carefully. If you are an employee or other representative of a school or other organization who is accessing or using the Site on behalf of such organization, then you are agreeing to this Agreement on behalf of yourself and such organization. We may modify this Agreement at any time in our discretion, and we may provide such modifications to you by any reasonable means, including by posting the revised version of this Agreement on the Site. You can determine when this Agreement was last revised by referring to the “LAST UPDATED” legend at the top of this Agreement. Your access to or use of the Site following any changes to this Agreement will constitute your acceptance of those changes. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any changes to this Agreement shall not apply to any dispute between you and us arising prior to the date on which we posted the revised version of this Agreement incorporating such changes or otherwise notified you of such changes. If you do not agree to be bound by this Agreement, you must not access or use the Site. Your access to and use of certain parts of the Site may require you to accept additional terms and conditions, and may require you to download certain Software or Content (each as defined below).

Jurisdictional Issues

The Site is controlled and operated by Company from the United States, and is not intended to subject Company to the laws or jurisdiction of any state, country or territory other than that of the United States. Company does not represent or warrant that the Site is appropriate or available for use in any particular jurisdiction other than the United States. In choosing to access and use the Site, you do so on your own initiative and at your own risk, and you are responsible for complying with all local laws, rules and regulations. You are also subject to United States export controls and are responsible for any violations of such controls, including any United States embargoes and other federal rules and regulations restricting exports. We may limit the Site’s availability to any person, geographic area or jurisdiction we choose, at any time and in our discretion. Not all products or services described on the Site are available in all states or territories.

Company content

The Site contains information, text, files, images, video, sounds, musical works, computer code, works of authorship, applications, and other materials and content (collectively, “Content”) of Company or its licensors (“Company Content”). The Site (including the Company Content) is protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret and other laws, and as between you and Company, Company owns and retains all rights in the Site. Company hereby grants to you a limited, revocable, non-sublicensable license, during the term of the Agreement, to access, display and perform the Company Content (excluding any computer code) solely for your personal, non-commercial use and solely as necessary to access and use the Site. Except as expressly permitted by Company in this Agreement or on the Site, you may not copy, download, stream, capture, reproduce, duplicate, archive, upload, modify, translate, create derivative works based upon, publish, broadcast, transmit, retransmit, distribute, perform, display, sell or otherwise use or transfer any Content. You may not, either directly or through the use of any device, software, online resource or other means, remove, alter, bypass, avoid, interfere with or circumvent any copyright, trademark or other proprietary notice on the Content or any digital rights management mechanism, device, or other content protection or access control measure associated with the Content.

User content

You may not access or use the Site for any commercial purpose. You are responsible for all Content that you post, upload, transmit, e-mail or otherwise make available on, through or in connection with the Site (collectively, “User Content”). Please choose carefully the Content that you make available on, through or in connection with the Site. Company does not control any Content other than Company Content, and as such you may be exposed to offensive, indecent, inaccurate or otherwise objectionable Content by accessing or using the Site. Company is not responsible or liable for any Content or the conduct of any Site user. If you become aware of any misuse of the Site, please report such misuse immediately to Company at general@amplify.com. Company reserves the right (but has no obligation) to monitor the Site, including for inappropriate Content or conduct, and to remove any Content in Company’s discretion and without liability to you or any third party.

Your proprietary rights

You retain any ownership rights that you have in your User Content. You hereby grant to Company and its affiliates, licensees and authorized users, a perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid-up and royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers), transferable (in whole or in part), worldwide license to use, modify, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and compilations based upon, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce and distribute such User Content on, through or in connection with the Site and/or any other commercial or non-commercial endeavor of Company or any of its affiliates, including in connection with any distribution or syndication thereof to Third Party Services (as defined below), on and through all media formats now known or hereafter devised, for any and all purposes including promotional, marketing, trade and commercial purposes. The exercise of such rights shall not require any further permission or notice, payment or attribution to you or any third party. Company reserves the right to limit the storage capacity made available for User Content.

You represent and warrant that: (a) you own the User Content made available by you, or otherwise have the right to grant the license set forth in this Section, and (b) the posting of such User Content through or in connection with the Site does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights or any other rights of any person or entity. You agree to pay for all royalties, fees and any other monies owing to any person or entity by reason of the use of such User Content.

Use of the site

You agree not to:

  • Post, upload or otherwise transmit or link to Content that is: unlawful; threatening; harmful; abusive; pornographic or includes nudity; offensive; harassing; excessively violent; tortious; defamatory; false or misleading; obscene; vulgar; libelous; hateful; or discriminatory.
  • Violate the rights of others, including patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, privacy, publicity, contract or other proprietary rights.
  • Harass or harm another person.
  • Exploit or endanger a minor.
  • Impersonate any person or entity.
  • Introduce or engage in activity that involves the use of viruses, bots, worms, Trojan horses, Easter eggs, time bombs, spyware or any other computer code, files or programs that interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment, or otherwise permit the unauthorized access to or use of a computer or a computer network.
  • Interfere with, damage, disable, disrupt, impair, create an undue burden on, or gain unauthorized access to the Site or any Account, or Company’s servers or networks;
  • Restrict or inhibit any other person from using the Site (including by hacking or defacing the Site). Cover, remove, disable, block or obscure the Site (including advertisements on the Site).
  • Use technology or any automated system, such as scripts or bots, to collect user names, passwords, e-mail addresses or any other data from or through the Site, or to circumvent or modify any security technology or software that is part of the Site.
  • Send or cause to send (directly or indirectly) unsolicited bulk messages or other unsolicited bulk communications of any kind through the Site. If you do so, you acknowledge you will have caused substantial harm to Company, and that the amount of such harm would be extremely difficult to measure. As a reasonable estimation of such harm, you agree to pay to Company $50.00 for each actual or intended recipient of such communication.
  • Modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the Site.
  • Solicit, collect or request any information for commercial or unlawful purposes.
  • Post, upload or otherwise transmit an image or video of another person without that person’s consent.
  • Use the Site to advertise, promote or engage in any commercial activity (including engaging in sales, contests or sweepstakes) without Company’s prior written consent.
  • Frame or mirror the Site without Company’s express prior written consent.
  • Use the Site in a manner inconsistent with any applicable law, rule or regulation.
  • Use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application or other manual or automatic device to retrieve, index, “scrape,” “data mine,” or in any way gather content of the Site or reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the Site without Company’s express prior written consent. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Company grants to the operators of public search engines the permission to use spiders to copy material from the Site for the sole purpose of, and solely to the extent necessary for, creating publicly-available searchable indices of such material, but not caches or archives of such material. Company reserves the right to revoke these exceptions either generally or in specific cases.
  • Attempt, facilitate or encourage others to do any of the foregoing.

Company reserves the right to investigate and take appropriate legal action against anyone who, in Company’s discretion, violates this Agreement or attempts to do so, including terminating or suspending a user’s Account or access to or use of the Site, or reporting any User Content or conduct to law enforcement authorities.

You (and not Company) are responsible for obtaining and maintaining all telecommunications, broadband and computer hardware, equipment and services needed to access and use the Site, and for paying all charges related thereto.

User disputes

You are solely responsible for your interactions with other users of the Site, providers of Third Party Services (as defined below) or any other third parties with whom you interact on, through or in connection with the Site.

Purchases

Company may make available products and services for purchase through the Site, and may use third-party suppliers and service providers to enable e-commerce functionality on the Site. You may only purchase products and services that appear on the Site and that are delivered to an address located in the United States. You may only purchase products and services for personal, non-commercial use by you, your educational institution or students of your educational institution. We may limit quantities or refuse any order for any reason or no reason, including if we have reasonable cause to believe an order is for onward sale or resale other than through distribution channels approved by us. We make no promise that products or services available on the Site are appropriate or available for use in locations outside the United States, and purchasing products or services for delivery to or use in territories where their contents are unlawful is prohibited. If you choose to purchase products or services from locations outside the United States, you do so at your own risk. It is your responsibility to ascertain and obey all applicable local, state, federal and international laws (including minimum age requirements) in regard to the possession, use and sale of any product or service made available through the Site.

If you wish to purchase any product or service made available through the Site, you may be asked to supply certain information relevant to your transaction, including your credit card number, the expiration date of your credit card, your billing address and your shipping information. YOU REPRESENT AND WARRANT THAT YOU HAVE THE LEGAL RIGHT TO USE ANY CREDIT CARD(S) USED IN CONNECTION WITH ANY TRANSACTION. By submitting such information, you grant to Company the right to provide such information to third parties for purposes of facilitating the completion of transactions initiated by you or on your behalf. Verification of information may be required prior to the acknowledgement or completion of any transaction. While it is our practice to confirm orders by e-mail, the receipt of an e-mail order confirmation does not constitute our acceptance of an order or our confirmation of an offer to sell a product or service.

Details of the products and services available for purchase are set forth on the Site. All prices are displayed exclusive of all taxes and shipping/freight charges. Available payment methods, methods of shipping and shipping charges (including charges for expedited shipping, if available) are detailed on the Site. Company may also collect and remit sales tax on your purchase as required by United States law. If you are a tax-exempt entity, please enter the appropriate information where requested on your order form and we will not collect sales tax on your purchase.

Generally, credit and debit cards are not charged until we either ship the product(s) or confirm store availability (at which time you will be charged only for the products we have actually shipped along with any applicable taxes and shipping charges). However, we may pre-authorize your order amount with your credit or debit card issuer at the time you place the order, which may have an effect on your available credit line. When paying for a preorder with a debit card, you will be charged at the time you place your preorder. Please contact your credit or debit card issuer for more information. If you ordered a special delivery product, you will be charged once a delivery time is confirmed. For digitally delivered orders, your credit or debit card will be charged at the time that you initiate the download of the product.

All purchases made through the Site are made pursuant to a shipment contract. As a result, risk of loss and title for products purchased through the Site pass to you upon delivery of the products to the carrier. You are responsible for filing any claims with carriers for damaged and/or lost shipments. Please note that all shipping addresses must be compliant with the shipping restrictions contained on the Site.

Products, services and specifications

All products and services described or depicted on the Site, and all related features, content, specifications and prices, are subject to change at any time without notice. Certain weights, measures and similar descriptions are approximate and are provided for convenience purposes only. Packaging may vary from that shown. We make reasonable efforts to accurately display the attributes of our products, including the applicable colors; however, the actual color you see will depend on your computer system, and we cannot guarantee that your computer will accurately display such colors. The inclusion of any product or service on the Site at a particular time does not imply or warrant that such product or service will be available at any time. Occasionally, the manufacture or distribution of a certain product or service may be delayed for a number of reasons. In such event, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you of the delay and keep you informed of the revised delivery schedule. By placing an order, you represent that the products and services ordered will be used only in a lawful manner. All DVDs and similar products are sold for private, non-commercial home use (where no admission fee is charged), non-public performance, or classroom or instructional use only, and may not be duplicated.

Return and exchange policy

Unless otherwise specified in the terms associated with a particular product, you may return or exchange any product purchased through the Site within fourteen (14) days of receipt, by calling our customer service hotline, 1–800–823–1969, in the event that the purchased product is defective or you received the wrong product. Except for the foregoing, you may not return, cancel or exchange any product or service. Certain jurisdictions may provide additional statutory rights. Nothing herein is meant to limit your return or cancellation rights under local law. In the event that a return or exchange is due to an incorrect order or faulty product, we will be responsible for the shipping costs associated with such return. We will ship a replacement product upon receiving your defective or incorrect product and verifying the reason for the return or exchange.

Accuracy of information

We attempt to ensure that information on the Site is complete, accurate and current. Despite our efforts, the information on the Site may occasionally be inaccurate, incomplete or out of date. We make no representation as to the completeness, accuracy or currency of any information on the Site. For example, products or services included on the Site may be unavailable, may have different attributes than those listed, or may carry a different price than that stated on the Site. If an item’s correct price is higher than our stated price, we will, at our discretion, either contact you for instructions before shipping or cancel your order and notify you of such cancellation. Items in your “Shopping Bag” reflect the current price displayed on the item’s product detail page. Please note that this price may differ from the price displayed when the item was first placed in your Shopping Bag. In addition, we may make changes in information about price and availability without notice.

Chemicals, agricultural materials, and other hazardous materials

Certain products made available through the Site may include chemicals, agricultural materials or other material that may be subject to regulations or restrictions with respect to import or export, or to whom we may sell such material or where or how such material may be used. It is your responsibility to read and abide by all warning notices that accompany any products that you purchase. In addition, we reserve the right to request additional information from you, verify your identity, limit sales to certified educational or research institutions, or cancel or delay your order if required by law or if we believe it is necessary or advisable. Due to special shipping and handling requirements, freight companies routinely impose a surcharge on each package of hazardous material shipped. In such event, we will add such surcharge to your order.

Registration and account security

You may have the ability to create an account on or through the Site (an “Account”). If you submit registration information to create an Account, you represent and warrant that all information submitted to Company in connection with such registration is complete and accurate, and that you will update such information if it changes. If you create an Account, you are responsible for all use of your Account, and for maintaining the confidentiality of the information used to access your Account (including user name and password). You agree not to share your user name or password with anyone, or use anyone else’s Account at any time. You agree to notify Company immediately if you suspect any unauthorized use of, or access to, your Account (including your user name and password). You acknowledge that the reuse of your password in connection with accounts on other websites increases the risk that the security of your Account may be compromised.

The Site may make available, or third parties may provide, links to other websites, applications, resources, advertisements, Content or other products or services created, hosted or made available by third parties (“Third Party Services”), and such third party may use other third parties to provide portions of the Third Party Service to you, such as technology, development or payment services. When you access or use a Third Party Service, you are interacting with the applicable third party, not with Company, and you do so at your own risk. Company is not responsible for and makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the Third Party Services or the providers of such Third Party Services (including the accuracy or completeness of the information provided by such Third Party Service or the privacy practices of any third party). Inclusion of any Third Party Service or a link thereto on the Site does not imply approval or endorsement of such Third Party Service. Company is not responsible or liable for the content or practices of any Third Party Service or third party, even if such Third Party Service links to or is linked by the Site, and even if such Third Party Service is operated by an affiliate of Company or a company otherwise connected with us or the Site

Feedback

Unless we expressly agree otherwise in writing, if you provide us with any ideas, proposals, suggestions or materials (“Feedback”), whether related to the Site or otherwise, you hereby acknowledge and agree that (a) your provision of any Input is gratuitous, unsolicited and without restriction and does not place Company under any fiduciary or other obligation; and (b) any Feedback is not confidential and Company has no confidentiality obligations with respect to such Feedback.. You hereby grant to us a world-wide, royalty-free, fully paid-up, exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable and fully sublicensable (through multiple tiers) license, without additional consideration to you or any third party, to reproduce, distribute, perform and display (publicly or otherwise), adapt, modify and otherwise use and exploit such Feedback, in any format or media now known or hereafter developed, and you hereby represent and warrant that you have all necessary rights to grant the foregoing license. We may use Feedback for any purpose whatsoever without permission or notice, compensation or attribution to you or any third party. You are and remain responsible and liable for the content of any Feedback.

Privacy

Please review the Privacy Policy for the Site, available at http://www.amplify.com/privacy, to learn about our information collection, usage and disclosures practices with respect to information collected by us through the Site. Please note that certain products or services made available by us, other than the Site, may be subject to different privacy policies. In addition, the Site’s Privacy Policy does not address, and we are not responsible or liable for, the information collection, usage and disclosures practices of any third party or Third Party Service.

Disclaimers

THE SITE, USER CONTENT, THIRD PARTY SERVICES, AND ALL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES SOLD THROUGH THE SITE (COLLECTIVELY, THE “SITE PRODUCTS”) ARE MADE AVAILABLE “AS-IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” AND COMPANY DOES NOT GUARANTEE OR PROMISE ANY SPECIFIC RESULTS FROM USE OF THE SITE PRODUCTS. COMPANY AND ITS AFFILIATES EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN PARTICULAR, COMPANY AND ITS AFFILIATES MAKE NO WARRANTY THAT THE SITE OR USER CONTENT OR THIRD PARTY SERVICES, OR YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE THEREOF, WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, ERROR-FREE, ACCURATE OR RELIABLE. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL WE BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENCES OF ANY UNAUTHORIZED USE OF THE SITE PRODUCTS THAT VIOLATES ANY APPLICABLE LAW OR REGULATION. CERTAIN STATE LAWS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES. IF THESE LAWS APPLY TO YOU, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS, OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MIGHT HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.

Under no circumstances will Company or its affiliates be responsible for any loss or damage, including property damage, personal injury or death, resulting from use of the Site, Products, problems or technical malfunction in connection with use of the Site, Products, attendance at any Company event or the conduct of any Site users, whether online or offline. Your use of the Site, Products is solely your responsibility and at your own risk. The User Content and Third Party Services do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Company or its affiliates.

Limitations on liability

IN NO EVENT WILL COMPANY OR ITS AFFILIATES BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFIT DAMAGES, ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SITE PRODUCTS, EVEN IF COMPANY OR ONE OF ITS AFFILIATES HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY CONTAINED HEREIN, THE TOTAL LIABILITY OF COMPANY AND ITS AFFILIATES TO YOU FOR ANY CAUSE WHATSOEVER AND REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF THE ACTION, WILL AT ALL TIMES BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT PAID, IF ANY, BY YOU TO COMPANY FOR THE SITE PRODUCTS.

Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Company, its affiliates, subcontractors and other partners, and each of their respective officers, agents, partners and employees, from any losses, costs, expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees), liabilities, claims or demands, due to or arising out of your use of the Site, your breach or alleged breach of this Agreement, your violation or alleged violation of any rights of another, or any Content that you post or otherwise submit on, through or in connection with the Site.

Termination

This Agreement remains in full force and effect while you access or use the Site. If you create an Account, you may terminate your Account at any time, for any reason, by contacting us at general@amplify.com. Company may terminate or suspend your Account and/or your access to or use of the Site at any time, for any or no reason, with or without prior notice or explanation, and without liability. Upon any such suspension or termination, your right to access and use the Site will immediately cease, and Company may immediately deactivate or delete your Account and all files and other information associated with it, and/or bar any further access to such files and other information. Company shall not be liable to you or any third party for any suspension or termination of your Account or of access to or use of the Site or any such files or other information, and shall not be required to make such files and other information available to you after any such suspension or termination. Sections 2, 5, 13, 17, 18, 19, 22, and 26 shall survive any expiration or termination of this Agreement.

U.S. export controls

All software made available in connection with the Site (“Software”) may be subject to United States export controls. No Software may be downloaded from or through the Site or otherwise exported or re-exported in violation of U.S. export laws.

Governing law

The terms of this Agreement are governed by the laws of the State of New York, U.S.A., without regard to its conflicts of law provisions, and regardless of your location.

Arbitration

EXCEPT FOR DISPUTES THAT QUALIFY FOR SMALL CLAIMS COURT, ALL DISPUTES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS AGREEMENT, WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STATUTE, FRAUD, MISREPRESENTATION OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, WILL BE RESOLVED THROUGH FINAL AND BINDING ARBITRATION BEFORE A NEUTRAL ARBITRATOR INSTEAD OF IN A COURT BY A JUDGE OR JURY, AND YOU AGREE THAT COMPANY AND YOU ARE EACH WAIVING THE RIGHT TO TRIAL BY A JURY. YOU AGREE THAT ANY ARBITRATION UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL TAKE PLACE ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS; CLASS ARBITRATIONS AND CLASS ACTIONS ARE NOT PERMITTED AND YOU ARE AGREEING TO GIVE UP THE ABILITY TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION.

Arbitration procedure

Any arbitration under Section 23 above will be administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Commercial Arbitration Rules and Supplementary Procedures for Consumer-Related Disputes (“Supplementary Procedures”), as amended by this Agreement. The Supplementary Procedures are available online at http://www.adr.org/aaa/ShowPDF?doc=ADRSTG_015820. The arbitrator will conduct hearings, if any, by teleconference or videoconference, rather than by personal appearances, unless the arbitrator determines upon request by you or by us that an in-person hearing is appropriate. Any in-person appearances will be held at a location which is reasonably convenient to both parties with due consideration of their ability to travel and other pertinent circumstances. If the parties are unable to agree on a location, such determination should be made by the AAA or by the arbitrator. The arbitrator’s decision will follow the terms of this Agreement and will be final and binding. The arbitrator will have authority to award temporary, interim or permanent injunctive relief or relief providing for specific performance of this Agreement, but only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by the individual claim before the arbitrator. The award rendered by the arbitrator may be confirmed and enforced in any court having jurisdiction thereof. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, nothing in this Agreement will preclude you from bringing issues to the attention of federal, state, or local agencies, and, if the law allows, they can seek relief against us for you.

Employment opportunities

Company may, from time to time, post Company employment opportunities on the Site and/or invite users to submit resumes to Company. If you choose to submit your name, contact information, resume and/or other personal information to Company in response to such employment listings, you are authorizing Company to use this information for all lawful and legitimate hiring, employment and other business purposes. Company also reserves the right, at its discretion, to forward such information to Company’s affiliates for their legitimate business purposes. Nothing in this Agreement or contained on the Site will constitute a promise by Company to review any such information, or to contact, interview, hire or employ any individual who submits such information.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (“DMCA”) provides recourse for copyright owners who believe that material appearing on the Internet infringes their rights under U.S. copyright law. If you believe that any material residing on or linked to from the Site infringes your copyright, please send (or have your agent send) to Company’s Copyright Agent a notification of claimed infringement with all of the following information: (a) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works; (b) identification of the claimed infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material on the Site (such as the URL(s) of the claimed infringing material); (c) information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an e-mail address; (d) a statement by you that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, the copyright owner’s agent or the law; (e) a statement by you that the above information in your notification is accurate and a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that you are the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed or are authorized to act on such owner’s behalf; and (f) your physical or electronic signature. Company’s Copyright Agent for notification of claimed infringement can be reached as follows: Copyright Agent, Amplify Education, Inc., 55 Washington Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201; Facsimile: 212-796-2311; Attn: Legal. Company’s Copyright Agent for notification of claimed infringement can also be reached electronically at: legal@amplify.com. Company reserves the right to terminate infringers’ and suspected infringers’ Accounts or their access to or use of the Site.

Notice for California residents

Under California Civil Code Section 1789.3, California users are entitled to the following consumer rights notice: If you have a question or complaint regarding the Site, please contact us by writing to Amplify Education, Inc., 55 Washington Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 or by calling us at 212–213–8177 or sending a fax to 212–796–2311. California residents may reach the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs by mail at 1625 North Market Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (916) 445–1254 or (800) 952–5210.

Other terms

This Agreement does not, and shall not be construed to, create any partnership, joint venture, employer-employee, agency or franchisor-franchisee relationship between you and Company. You may not assign, transfer or sublicense any or all of your rights or obligations under this Agreement without our express prior written consent. We may assign, transfer or sublicense any or all of our rights or obligations under this Agreement without restriction. The failure of Company to exercise or enforce any right or provision of this Agreement will not operate as a waiver of such right or provision. The Section titles in this Agreement are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect. References to and mentions of the word “include,” “includes,” “including,” or “e.g.” will mean “including, without limitation.” References to “discretion” will mean “sole discretion.” This Agreement operates to the fullest extent permissible by law. If any provision of this Agreement is unlawful, void or unenforceable, that provision is deemed severable from this Agreement and does not affect the validity or enforceability of any remaining provisions. Without limitation, you agree that a printed version of this Agreement and of any notice given in electronic form shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based upon or relating to this Agreement to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form. Company will not be responsible for failures to fulfill any obligations due to causes beyond its control.

Please contact us at legal@amplify.com with any questions regarding this Agreement.

Inspiring the next generation of Florida scientists, engineers, and curious citizens

Amplify Science Florida is a brand-new blended science curriculum for grades 6-8 that meets 100 percent of the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards for Science.

The national edition of Amplify Science for middle school was recently rated all green by EdReports. Read the review on EdReports.

  • Un rover robótico está colocado en un terreno arenoso y lleno de rocas bajo un cielo brumoso, dejando huellas de neumáticos tras él.
  • Dos niños con gafas de seguridad participan en una actividad científica; uno sostiene una taza de líquido y hace gestos mientras el otro toma notas con un lápiz.
  • Dos niños están sentados en una mesa redonda en un salón de clases, mirando juntos la pantalla de una computadora portátil. Ambos parecen comprometidos y están sonriendo.
  • Una ilustración digital de una araña muestra el proceso de producción de veneno dentro de una célula de glándula venenosa. El diagrama del cuerpo de la araña está a la izquierda, con una vista celular detallada a la derecha, resaltando los componentes celulares.

Grounded in research and proven effective

UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science, the authors behind Amplify Science Florida, developed the Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize approach, and gold standard research shows that it works. Our own efficacy research is pretty exciting, too.

DEEP UNDERSTANDING

Do, Talk, Read, Write students outperform their peers.

Bar chart illustrating a 51.5% surge in science content knowledge using the Do-Talk-Read-Write approach, compared to a 36.6% increase with the business-as-usual method.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS EXCEL

ELLs who used Do, Talk, Read, Write outperformed their ELL peers.

The bar chart illustrates a significant increase in science vocabulary: 48.6% for the Do-Talk-Read-Write approach (orange) compared to just 22.5% for the Business-as-usual approach (gray).

PROGRESS THROUGH THE LEARNING PROFESSION

Progress through the learning progression for all middle school implementations, 2017-18 school year.

A chart that shows the progress through the learning progression

What educators say

“Just looking through the Amplify Science curriculum, I’m wishing I could go back in time and learn these concepts with these resources! I love that Amplify is more focused on diving deeper into fewer concepts over the year, rather than grazing the surface of more topics.”

Lizzie

Middle school teacher, KIPP charter network

What educators say

“In using this program, I have seen that my students are completely engaged and are able to visualize models of concepts using the simulations that they otherwise would not be able to visualize. The program is not about rote memory of facts—rather, it addresses the bigger picture and assesses a deeper understanding of science concepts.”

Julie

Science teacher, Georgia

What educators say

“The engineering units are engaging and really helped me better understand the new standards. I love being able to walk around and talk to students as they explore solutions, make claims, and reason with their peers.”

Karla

Science teacher, California

A powerful partnership

Amplify Science Florida was developed by the science education experts at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and the digital learning team at Amplify. As the Hall’s first curriculum designed to address the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards for Science, Amplify Science Florida reflects state-of-the-art practices in science teaching and learning.

Our approach

Each unit of Amplify Science Florida engages students in a relevant, real-world problem where they investigate scientific phenomena, engage in collaboration and discussion, and develop models or explanations in order to arrive at solutions.

Rooted in research

Amplify Science Florida is rooted in the Lawrence Hall of Science’s Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize model of learning. This research-based approach presents students with multiple modalities through which to explore the curriculum.

Four middle school science students gather around a desk, engaged in an interactive group project, investigating an object together in a colorful classroom setting.
Two middle school girls conduct a science experiment

A flexible, blended program

Amplify Science Florida includes hands-on activities, print materials, and powerful digital tools to support online and offline teaching and learning. Highly adaptable and user-friendly, the program gives schools and individual teachers flexibility based on their technology resources and preferences.

Students take on the roles of scientists and engineers.

In each unit, students take on the role of a scientist or engineer to investigate a real-world problem. These problems provide relevant contexts through which students investigate phenomena.

Two middle school girls use a Student Investigation Notebook to take on the role of scientists and engineers

Phenomena-based teaching and learning

Download the “What’s so phenomenal about phenomena?” e-book

Download a free e-book

What’s included

Flexible resources that work seamlessly together

Science articles

The middle school science articles serve as sources for evidence collection and were authored by science and literacy experts at the Lawrence Hall of Science.

Student Investigation Notebooks

Available for every unit, the Student Investigation Notebooks provide space for students to:

  • record data
  • reflect on ideas from texts and investigations
  • construct explanations and arguments

Available with full-color article compilations for middle school units

Digital student experience

Students access the digital simulations and modeling tools, as well as lesson activities and assessments, through the digital student experience. Students can interact with the digital student experience as they:

  • conduct hands-on investigations
  • engage in active reading and writing activities
  • participate in discussions
  • record observations
  • craft end-of-unit scientific arguments

Teacher’s Guides

Available digitally and in print, the Teacher’s Guides contain all of the information teachers need to facilitate classroom instruction, including:

  • detailed lesson plans
  • unit and chapter overview documentation
  • differentiation strategies
  • standards alignments
  • in-context professional development

Hands-on materials kits

Hands-on learning is at the heart of Amplify Science Florida. Each unit kit contains:

  • consumable and non-consumable hands-on materials
  • print classroom display materials
  • premium print materials for student use (sorting cards, maps, etc.)
All Materials

Explore more programs.

Our programs are designed to support and complement one another. Learn more about our related programs.

An astronaut floats in space, surrounded by twinkling stars and distant planets. A speech bubble displaying oo/ adds a playful touch, reminiscent of a core knowledge language arts curriculum adventure among the galaxies.

Amplify CKLA

The leading K–5 Science of Reading literacy program that integrates foundational…

A collage featuring a vintage brain illustration, a hand holding a red paper with black characters, abstract shapes, and various layered textures and colors serves as a vibrant backdrop for K–5 personalized reading curriculum materials.

Amplify ELA

Our Amplify ELA program prepares middle school students for high school and beyo…

A laptop displaying a graph on a webpage labeled "Robots" sits next to two textbooks titled "Amplify Desmos Math," one being the teacher edition and the other for grade 6, exemplifying student-centered instruction through math technology.

Amplify Desmos Math

Amplify Desmos Math: Bringing you free math resources and core curriculum lesson…

See all programs

Inspiring the next generation of Louisiana scientists, engineers, and curious citizens

Amplify Science Louisiana blends hands-on investigations, literacy-rich activities, and interactive digital tools to empower students to think, read, write, and argue like real scientists and engineers.

The national edition of Amplify Science for middle school was recently rated all green by EdReports. Read the review on EdReports.

  • Dos niños están sentados en una mesa redonda en un salón de clases, mirando juntos la pantalla de una computadora portátil. Ambos parecen comprometidos y están sonriendo.
  • Dos niños con gafas de seguridad participan en una actividad científica; uno sostiene una taza de líquido y hace gestos mientras el otro toma notas con un lápiz.
  • Insignia verde y blanca que indica "Nivel 1 aprobado para los grados K-5 por el Departamento de Educación de Luisiana".
  • Una ilustración digital de una araña muestra el proceso de producción de veneno dentro de una célula de glándula venenosa. El diagrama del cuerpo de la araña está a la izquierda, con una vista celular detallada a la derecha, resaltando los componentes celulares.

Grounded in research and proven effective

UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science, the authors behind Amplify Science Louisiana, developed the Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize approach, and gold standard research shows that it works. Our own efficacy research is pretty exciting, too.

DEEP UNDERSTANDING

Do, Talk, Read, Write students outperform their peers.

Bar chart illustrating a 51.5% surge in science content knowledge using the Do-Talk-Read-Write approach, compared to a 36.6% increase with the business-as-usual method.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS EXCEL

ELLs who used Do, Talk, Read, Write outperformed their ELL peers.

The bar chart illustrates a significant increase in science vocabulary: 48.6% for the Do-Talk-Read-Write approach (orange) compared to just 22.5% for the Business-as-usual approach (gray).

PROGRESS THROUGH THE LEARNING PROFESSION

Progress through the learning progression for all middle school implementations, 2017-18 school year.

What educators say

“Just looking through the Amplify Science curriculum, I’m wishing I could go back in time and learn these concepts with these resources! I love that Amplify is more focused on diving deeper into fewer concepts over the year, rather than grazing the surface of more topics.”

Lizzie

Middle school teacher, KIPP charter network

What educators say

“In using this program, I have seen that my students are completely engaged and are able to visualize models of concepts using the simulations that they otherwise would not be able to visualize. The program is not about rote memory of facts—rather, it addresses the bigger picture and assesses a deeper understanding of science concepts.”

Julie

Science teacher, Georgia

What educators say

“The engineering units are engaging and really helped me better understand the new standards. I love being able to walk around and talk to students as they explore solutions, make claims, and reason with their peers.”

Karla

Science teacher, California

A powerful partnership

Amplify Science Louisiana was developed by the science education experts at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and the digital learning team at Amplify. As the Hall’s first curriculum designed to address the new science standards, Amplify Science Louisiana reflects state-of-the-art practices in science teaching and learning.

Our approach

Each unit of Amplify Science Louisiana engages students in a relevant, real-world problem where they investigate scientific phenomena, engage in collaboration and discussion, and develop models or explanations in order to arrive at solutions.

Rooted in research

Amplify Science Louisiana is rooted in the Lawrence Hall of Science’s Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize model of learning. This research-based approach presents students with multiple modalities through which to explore the curriculum.

A flexible, blended program

Amplify Science Louisiana includes hands-on activities, print materials, and powerful digital tools to support online and offline teaching and learning. Highly adaptable and user-friendly, the program gives schools and individual teachers flexibility based on their technology resources and preferences.

Students take on the roles of scientists and engineers.

In each unit, students take on the role of a scientist or engineer to investigate a real-world problem. These problems provide relevant contexts through which students investigate phenomena.

Two students collaborate at a desk, discussing a science workbook. Other students are visible in the background, engaged in the vibrant atmosphere of the classroom.

Phenomena-based teaching and learning

Download the “What’s so phenomenal about phenomena?” e-book

Download a free e-book

What’s included

Flexible resources that work seamlessly together

ElementaryMiddle School

Student Books

Age-appropriate Student Books allow students to:

  • engage with content-rich texts
  • obtain evidence
  • develop research and close-reading skills
  • construct arguments and explanations

Student Investigation Notebooks

Available for every unit, the Student Investigation Notebooks provide space for students to:

  • record data
  • reflect on ideas from texts and investigations
  • construct explanations and arguments

Simulations and practice tools (grades 2+)

Developed exclusively for the Amplify Science program, these engaging digital tools:

  • serve as venues for exploration
  • enable data collection
  • allow students to explore scientific concepts
  • show what might be impossible to see with the naked eye

Teacher’s Guides

Available digitally and in print, the Teacher’s Guides contain all of the information teachers need to facilitate classroom instruction, including:

  • detailed lesson plans
  • unit and chapter overview documentation
  • differentiation strategies
  • standards alignments
  • in-context professional development

Science articles

The middle school science articles serve as sources for evidence collection and were authored by science and literacy experts at the Lawrence Hall of Science.

Student Investigation Notebooks

Available for every unit, the Student Investigation Notebooks provide space for students to:

  • record data
  • reflect on ideas from texts and investigations
  • construct explanations and arguments

Available with full-color article compilations for middle school units

Digital student experience

Students access the digital simulations and modeling tools, as well as lesson activities and assessments, through the digital student experience. Students can interact with the digital student experience as they:

  • conduct hands-on investigations
  • engage in active reading and writing activities
  • participate in discussions
  • record observations
  • craft end-of-unit scientific arguments

Teacher’s Guides

Available digitally and in print, the Teacher’s Guides contain all of the information teachers need to facilitate classroom instruction, including:

  • detailed lesson plans
  • unit and chapter overview documentation
  • differentiation strategies
  • standards alignments
  • in-context professional development

Hands-on materials kits

Hands-on learning is at the heart of Amplify Science Louisiana. Each unit kit contains:

  • consumable and non-consumable hands-on materials
  • print classroom display materials
  • premium print materials for student use (sorting cards, maps, etc.)
All Materials

Explore more programs.

Our programs are designed to support and complement one another. Learn more about our related programs.

Amplify CKLA

The leading K–5 Science of Reading literacy program that integrates foundational…

Amplify ELA

Our Amplify ELA program prepares middle school students for high school and beyo…

Amplify Desmos Math

Amplify Desmos Math: Bringing you free math resources and core curriculum lesson…

See all programs

The curriculum effect

Research shows that students learn primarily through their interactions with teachers and content. Materials influence students directly, and they influence the way teachers teach. They are an essential part of the equation, with a proven and direct impact on outcomes. According to the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy report Hiding in Plain Sight, “Research suggests that, in the aggregate and for specific instructional programs, changing from ‘business-as-usual’ to a high-quality curriculum, or from a low-quality to a high-quality curriculum, can boost student achievement.” The report calls this overall impact “the curriculum effect.” 

Individual studies cited in Hiding in Plain Sight also show that: 

  • High-quality curricula increased student achievement in reading, math, and science from the 50th to the 60th percentile and higher: “a potentially transformative impact if aggregated across an entire class, grade, or school.” (Data from David M. Steiner et al., “StandardsWork: A Narrative Research Review,” Center for Research and Reform in Education; Institute for Education Policy, Johns Hopkins University, January 2017.)
  • Access to rigorous materials increased achievement for Black and Latino students (Card & Giuliano, 2016).
  • English Language Learners acquire knowledge and vocabulary faster when using grade-level content (with supports) (Zwiers, 2008; Walqui & Heritage, 2012).
  • Math textbook choice has a significant effect on test scores (Bhatt & Koedel, 2012 & 2013; Agodini et al, 2010).

A cost-effective approach

And high-quality materials don’t have to come with sticker shock. Early evidence suggests that switching to a high-quality curriculum is not only more effective, but also more cost-effective, than other familiar school-led approaches to boosting student success.

For example, a 2015 study from the Center for American Progress found that the average cost-effectiveness ratio of switching curriculum “was almost 40 times that of class-size reduction in a well-known randomized experiment” (Boser, Chingos, and Straus, 2015). 

High quality is not defined in a vacuum—it’s all about curriculum that supports teachers in the classroom. When teachers have high-quality instructional materials, they don’t have to spend their valuable time searching for resources and creating their own materials. They know they are using materials that have been developed and reviewed by researchers, academic experts, and teachers like them. They have curriculum that works harder so they can do what they do best: teach. 

At Amplify, we believe Pennsylvania students and teachers deserve high quality instructional materials.

That’s why we partner with schools across the Keystone State to meet their core curriculum, assessment, and intervention goals. With solutions grounded in research and evidence-based practices, Amplify is leading the way with rigorous and relevant learning experiences.

Select a program below to learn more.

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Group of diverse middle school students working on laptops and discussing in classroom.

Amplify Desmos Math (K–12)

Amplify Desmos Math is a comprehensive K–12 math suite that has everything in one place: benchmark and progress monitoring, core instruction, integrated personal learning, embedded intervention, and more. This structured, problem-based approach builds on students’ curiosity while strategically developing math fluency and lasting grade-level understanding. The program delivers:

  • Engaging, discourse-rich math lessons that fuel classroom conversations and drive the learning process.
  • Comprehensive integrated resources, including print and digital, along with manipulatives and Centers Kits in K–5.
  • Real-time insights, data, and reporting that inform instruction and celebrate student thinking.

Flexible, social problem-solving experiences

Digital lessons should be able to bring student thinking to the surface and spark productive discussions. We bring this vision to life with interactive social, collaborative lessons powered by Desmos technology.

Start exploring
A teacher using a tablet interacts with a young student in a classroom, with educational posters in the background.

mCLASS early literacy assessment and intervention (K–8)

Effective universal screening and progress monitoring means that every student is an individual and targeted instruction should become a reality, not a dream. 

mCLASS® is the gold-standard K–8 assessment and intervention suite for early literacy that helps every child learn to read confidently.

  • Universal screening presented in one-minute measures shows where your students are, who is at risk, and where to target instruction.
  • Dyslexia screening identifies students who are at risk for reading difficulties without needing an additional assessment system
  • Elimination of manual assessment process gives you instant results and clear next steps for each student.
  • Progress monitoring allows you to quickly adjust to student needs, based on how they are responding to instruction.

The power of mCLASS

Based on decades of leading literacy research, mCLASS lets you know exactly which part of a skill a student is struggling with, then gives you effective next steps and lesson plans.

Watch how mCLASS can help teachers:

  • Save hours of time.
  • Catch at-risk students earlier.
  • Connect data to personalized learning.
Start exploring
Several students listening attentively

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (PreK–5)

High-quality, content-rich instruction should combine multisensory phonics instruction with knowledge-rich texts and interactive multimedia resources.

Built on the Science of Reading, Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) sequences deep content knowledge with research-based foundational skills.

  • Explicit, systematic foundational skills lessons are easy to teach and exciting to learn.
  • Deep knowledge-building across units and grades helps access complex text, so real comprehension can happen.
  • Rich, authentic texts with engaging topics and immersive learning support students wherever they are.

Students love CKLA. But don’t just take our word for it.

Amplify CKLA is impactful for teachers, administrators, families, and most of all—students! Hear what students think about Amplify CKLA.

Start exploring
A young girl focuses on a laptop with a stack of books, a colorful creature, and autumn leaves in a stylized graphic.

Boost Reading (K–5)

Authentic personalized learning should be developmentally appropriate, grounded in research, and truly adaptive.

Boost Reading is a personalized, digital supplemental reading tool for grades K–5 featuring:

  • Research-based approach to critical literacy skill development that is proven to accelerate reading growth in just 30 minutes per week.
  • Captivating storylines and games with powerful individualized reading instruction and practice to bridge learning gaps while learning independently.
  • Actionable data that offers deeper insights into student performance and needs.

Boost Reading keeps all students playing and motivated to learn.

Boost Reading includes age-appropriate storylines that excite students’ curiosity. Regardless of their reading ability, students are placed in a year-long storyline that is developmentally appropriate for them. As students grow, so do the immersive worlds around them.

Start exploring
A student reading "Summer of the Mariposas"

Amplify ELA (6–8)

Amplify ELA is the only program truly designed to support middle school students at this critical developmental moment. We ensure that skills are taught, standards are covered, and the test is prepped – all while bringing texts to life and differentiating instruction.

  • Rich, complex text and research-based instruction at the center of every lesson to build the vocabulary, knowledge, and skills needed in middle school, high school, and beyond.
  • Multiple points of entry and differentiated support allow every student, regardless of fluency or ability, to engage deeply in the same curriculum.
  • Immersive digital apps that offer engaging interactive experiences where students work with key skills in brand new ways.

We are the program for middle schoolers.

Let’s face it– middle school students are different from high school students. That’s why they deserve a program of their own.

Start exploring
A futuristic cityscape with a figure in a red hood looking at a large digital billboard displaying a "wanted for unlawful reading" alert.

Boost Close Reading (6–8)

Middle school students need to exercise their close reading skills in order to deeply comprehend across the curriculum. Based on a riveting storyline designed especially for middle schoolers, Boost Close Reading helps students find deeper meaning in a digital journey like no other.

  • Inspire engagement via high-interest storytelling, choose-your-own adventure experiences, and skill-building features.
  • Explore topics like claim, evidence, reasoning, word choice, and tone in both literary and informational texts.
  • Detailed teacher dashboards display student progress, performance, and usage information, offering easy-to-access insights on areas of strength and weakness.

Fight the machines and save the world.

Before the machines took over, humans could fend for themselves. Now humanity is trapped. And their only hope? You.

Start exploring
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Amplify Science Pennsylvania (K–8)

Amplify Science Pennsylvania is a proven K–8 curriculum that develops critical thinkers who are prepared to solve problems in their communities and beyond. It features:

  • Phenomena-based exploration and three-dimensional learning where students take on the roles of scientists and engineers to solve real-world problems.
  • Immersive hands-on activities that teach students how to gather evidence, ask questions, and develop and defend claims.
  • Literacy-rich science instruction that enables young scientists to become excellent readers, writers, and speakers.
  • Custom lessons specifically designed to meet Pennsylvania’s STEELS standards.
Bar chart comparing science content knowledge: Do-Talk-Read-Write approach at 51.5% and Business-as-usual approach at 36.6%.

Do, Talk, Read, Write students outperform their peers.

Bar graph comparing middle school science vocabulary, showing 48.6% for the Do-Talk-Read-Write approach with Amplify Science and 22.5% for the Business-as-usual approach.

English language learners who use Do, Talk, Read, Write outperform their ELL peers.

Bar chart compares middle school science learning progression outcomes before and after a unit, showing similar distributions with the highest value at category 3 in both cases, illustrating the impact of Amplify Science instruction.

Do, Talk, Read, Write increases learning outcomes.

Start exploring

Get Support

Get support

Do you use already use an Amplify program in Pennsylvania? Our support team is here to provide technical and instructional support by phone, live chat, or email.

Get help now

Contact us

A woman with long brown hair and glasses wearing a light blue sweater, smiling at the camera against a gray background.

Julie Couch

District Enrollment ＜1800 students

A woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes is smiling at the camera, wearing a black top, in a well-lit indoor setting.

Jen Mee

Western PA

A smiling person with shoulder-length gray hair, wearing a peach-colored scarf and a gray sweater, stands against a plain white background. This image captures the essence of Pennsylvania teachers who are dedicated to enriching Science programs for elementary students.

Monica Vincent

Southeast PA

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Keenan Zambelli

Northeast & Central PA

Amplify announces new board member Michael Camuñez

Brooklyn, NY (October 21, 2020) – Amplify, a publisher of next-generation curriculum and assessment programs, announced today that it appointed a new board member, Michael Camuñez to its board of directors.

Camuñez serves as president and chief executive officer of Monarch Global Strategies LLC, a bi-national consulting firm providing strategic advice and advocacy to companies doing business in emerging economies, with a particular emphasis on Mexico and Latin America. Previously, Camuñez served as one of the nation’s leading commercial diplomats as the assistant secretary of commerce at the International Trade Administration, where he managed a global portfolio to help lead the U.S. government’s efforts to open new markets for U.S. goods and services. Prior to that, he also served as special counsel to the president at the White House.

“We are honored and excited to have Michael Camuñez join the board of Amplify,” said Amplify CEO Larry Berger. “His unique experience in political, legal, economic, and international worlds means he brings critical insight to our company as we continue growing and serving educators and students across the country and, in time, the globe.”

“Amplify’s mission to revolutionize education and expand access to learning through technology is not only exciting, it’s essential to help bridge the equity gap and accelerate learning for millions of children in the U.S. and around the world,” stated Camuñez. “I’m thrilled to be joining such an important endeavor with such a talented team.”

Camuñez joins Amplify’s existing board members: Russlynn Ali, CEO and co-founder, XQ Institute; Brad Powell, managing director, investments at the Emerson Collective; Margaret Spellings, president and CEO of Texas 2036; and Larry Berger, CEO at Amplify.

About Amplify
A pioneer in K–12 education since 2000, Amplify is leading the way in next-generation curriculum and assessment. Our core and supplemental programs in ELA, math, and science engage all students in rigorous learning and inspire them to think deeply, creatively, and for themselves. Our formative assessment products turn data into practical instructional support to help all students build a strong foundation in early reading and math. All of our programs provide teachers with powerful tools that help them understand and respond to the needs of every student. Today, Amplify serves seven million students in all 50 states. For more information, visit amplify.com.

Contact: media@amplify.com

More News

Amplify Desmos Math receives an all-green rating from EdReports

Amplify’s research-backed, curiosity-driven math program receives all-green scores across all three EdReport gateways

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Slow but steady progress: new Amplify data show why middle-of-year literacy screening matters 

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See All News

Join our User Research Community!

Help shape Amplify products.

Educators and students are at the center of what we do. That’s why we test our products with real users, visit classrooms across the country, and gather ideas and feedback from educators like you! This is how we ensure that we’re developing new products that meet your needs, as well as continuously improving our existing products to better support your classrooms.

That’s where our User Research Community comes in. This is a group of valued educators we look to for their expertise! They regularly participate in research and feedback opportunities and share their insights with our Product teams.

We hope you’ll consider joining Amplify’s User Research Community. When we have a study that’s a good fit for you, our team will reach out with details and next steps.

Sign Up
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Why participate in user research?

Make an impact

Help influence and improve Amplify products by sharing your feedback and ideas

Get sneak peeks

Learn about new products and features that Amplify teams are working on

Connect with us

Share your thoughts and feedback directly with Amplify product development teams

Enjoy thank-you gifts

Receive incentives as a thank you for your time

What to expect

When you sign up to join the Amplify User Research Community, we’ll ask you some questions that will help us match you with research studies. When an opportunity sounds like a good fit, we’ll send you an email and share the details up front, such as study topic, research format, time commitment, and compensation. Then, you can decide if you’d like to participate.

A person in a shirt and tie, possibly a school administrator, reviews documents at a desk. Inset is an image of the "User Research Community Questionnaire," perhaps focusing on insights from K-12 teachers.
Three people from the research community collaborate with digital devices, including a tablet and a laptop, fervently discussing their findings.

Frequently asked questions

Sign Up

We’re looking for all types of educators to join our User Research Community: new Amplify users, power users, and everyone in between. We’re also looking for people who don’t use our products. If you work in a school setting or support schools, we want to hear from you. Here are some of the people we’d love to connect with:

  • Classroom teachers (PreK–12)
  • Biliteracy teachers
  • Special education teachers
  • Interventionists
  • Coaches
  • Curriculum directors
  • School administrators
  • District administrations
  • Parents and caregivers

We have a separate research program for K–12 students. Learn more about our Playtesting program below.

Amplify runs a variety of research studies, and we’ll include the details of the study in our email. When you participate in one of our studies, you might be invited to:

  • Talk to a researcher in a video call: Share your experiences with a specific product.
  • Share your screen: Show us how you use Amplify’s products, try out a prototype, or test new features.
  • Complete a survey: Answer questions about your current practices and/or preferences.
  • Host a school visit: Have a few Amplify employees visit your classroom to observe our programs in action.
  • Participate in a long-form study: These studies may involve a small commitment for several days or over a few weeks. You may be asked to review new materials or designs or to try something out in your classroom. Our researchers may ask you to respond to questions or take notes based on your experience using a product.

The information you provide will only be used to match you with suitable research studies and won’t be shared or sold to external parties. All data is stored on a secure server. See our Privacy Policy for more detail.

Amplify’s goal is to design welcoming product experiences. To do this well, it’s important for us to get feedback from everyone. We collect demographic information to help ensure that study participants represent the educators, students, and school environments we serve. All questions are optional and your information is kept confidential in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

You can opt out at any time by clicking unsubscribe in any of our research emails.

We typically offer e-gift cards as a way of saying thank you to those who participate in our research studies. We’ll include the exact details of the thank-you gift in the email invitation for the session. If your session is eligible for a thank-you gift card, you should receive it within five business days after completing your session. Please note that not all study participants will receive a thank-you gift.

Amplify Playtesting Program

A fun and empowering experience for kids

Students in our Playtesting Program provide feedback on new Amplify games and features as they’re being developed. Our researchers work one-on-one with students for 30 minutes at a time, inviting them to interact with new games and designs and gathering their feedback. We then integrate that feedback directly into our product development. It’s a chance for students to share their thoughts and ideas and have a real impact on the programs we’re building.

A girl wearing headphones smiles while using a laptop, surrounded by illustrations of a building and a house. A colorful creature dances nearby, reminiscent of the creative tools K-12 teachers use to inspire young minds.

Who can participate?
Any students in kindergarten through grade 12 this school year can be part of our playtesting program, with parental permission.

What are the perks?
Aside from a fun time and a sneak peek at what’s in development, all students receive a $20 Amazon gift card for participating in a playtesting session.

When, where, and how do kids participate?
When playtesting needs arise, our User Research team will reach out to parents/caregivers to schedule a Google Meet session at a time that’s convenient for you and your child.

How can I sign my child up?
To enroll your student, please fill out this consent form. Your child will then be added to our playtesting program database. When a playtesting opportunity arises that we think would be a good fit, we’ll reach out!

Prepare Professional Development (PD)

Learning experiences to prepare for literacy and math instructional shifts

The following literacy and math sessions can help any educator—regardless of the program used—enhance their instructional practices.

  • Science of Reading sessions offering research-backed strategies to deepen understanding and improve student outcomes.
  • Problem-based approach to math sessions that empower educators to facilitate meaningful learning experiences and develop critical thinking skills.
  • Multiliterate learner sessions enable educators to make a meaningful impact on students’ literacy development.
Contact Us
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Professional learning journey

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Prepare Begin Practice Advance
Learning sessions will help shift literacy and math instruction in areas such as the Science of Reading and/or problem-based approaches to math. Program-aligned packages will support those who are new to Amplify programs. Program-aligned packages will support those who have experience using Amplify programs. Offerings will support advanced implementation, build capacity for instructional leaders, certify in-house trainers to deliver Launch sessions, and more.
“Gain the literacy knowledge and skills you need to thrive and help your students thrive. Through these sessions, you’ll understand typical literacy development and how to describe and address literacy difficulties.”

—Susan Lambert, Chief Academic Officer, Elementary Humanities

Host, Science of Reading: The Podcast

Science of Reading learning experiences

Listening to students read is magic. But knowing how to get them reading? That’s science.

Making the shift to the Science of Reading is no small feat, but participating in professional development sessions can help you make this change seamlessly.

Amplify Science of Reading sessions offer flexible, professional learning experiences for teachers that incorporate engaging activities grounded in what science tells us about literacy development.

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Build your knowledge of the Science of Reading

Virtual | 90-minute session

This introductory session provides educators with a foundational overview of what the Science of Reading means and what it tells us about how to teach using evidence-based reading practices.

Participants will learn to:

  • Define the Science of Reading by examining evidence-based research.
  • Explain how two frameworks, the Simple View of Reading and the Reading Rope, work in tandem to guide effective literacy instruction.
  • Identify instructional principles aligned to the Science of Reading.
Three people stand in front of a whiteboard with colorful sticky notes, engaging in professional development for teachers as they discuss ideas and collaborate using a tablet and a laptop.

Deepen your knowledge of the Science of Reading

On-site or virtual | 3-hour session

This session will build a base of common knowledge about the Reading Rope and support educators in identifying effective instruction grounded in the Science of Reading.

Participants will learn to:

  • Identify the strands in the Reading Rope.
  • Describe how each strand plays an important role in developing skilled readers and writers.
  • Identify key look-fors in effective Science of Reading instruction.

Science of Reading: The Learning Lab online course

This series of three self-paced online courses, crafted by literacy expert Susan Lambert and built around International Dyslexia Association (IDA) Knowledge and Practice Standards, guides you through the essential Science of Reading skills and knowledge needed to teach students to read proficiently, as well as advanced strategies for aiding struggling readers. Each course builds on the last, equipping you with the tools and confidence to make a lasting impact on your students’ literacy journeys.

Benefit from flexible learning on an interactive platform spanning 20–25 hours of instruction. Each course is accessible for 12 months. Upon completion, you’ll be provided with a downloadable certificate, validating your new expertise in the Science of Reading.

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Foundations to the Science of Reading

This course offers a comprehensive overview of research in the field. Each of the eight modules contains three lessons covering the foundations of literacy acquisition.

Explore the scope and sequence of Foundations to the Science of Reading with a  Pacing Guide.

Access the free Preview Pass for this course.

A child points at large outlined letters on a board with a pointer stick, next to a stack of books—capturing an engaging moment in classroom instruction.

Advanced topics in the Science of Reading: Assessment and reading difficulties

The second course is aimed at providing an in-depth examination of assessments, a deeper understanding of reading difficulties, and familiarity with pertinent legal frameworks for educators, all of which influence instructional decision-making.

Explore the scope and sequence of Advanced topics in the Science of Reading with our Pacing Guide. 

Access the free Preview Pass for this course.

Three people in lab coats stand around a lab table with test tubes and a flask, engaging in classroom instruction as they discuss and gesture to each other.

Coming soon!
Applied structured literacy

The final course in the series is designed to review key concepts and knowledge from previous coursework, explore fundamental aspects of structured literacy within lessons, observe and analyze structured literacy instruction in action, and investigate how data informs instructional decisions.

[Available June 2025]

“Amplify’s Science of Reading online course builds background knowledge on how students read, then goes deeper to give you strategies that correlate with current research that can be implemented into your classroom right away. The course opened my thinking to new ways of teaching and I can’t wait to try it with students! If you want to walk away feeling successful with helping kids read, take this course! ”

Allie Appel

Coach, WI

New

Supporting multiliterate learner sessions

Unlock the magic of teaching multiliterate learners with evidence-based literacy practices. Making the shift to effectively support diverse readers in multiple languages is no small feat, but our professional development sessions are here to guide you effortlessly.

Empower your teaching with these engaging sessions, and make a meaningful impact on your multiliterate students’ literacy development.

Two children are seated at a small table in a classroom. Engaged in classroom instruction, the girl is writing in a notebook while the boy reads a book. Colorful storage bins are visible in the background, enhancing the learning environment

Build your knowledge of multiliterate learners

Virtual | 90-minute session

This session provides educators with a foundational overview of how to teach multiliterate learners using evidence-based literacy practices.

Contact us to request a quote.

A young boy in a striped shirt sits at a desk, focused on writing in a notebook with a pencil. Surrounding him are classroom supplies and papers, exemplifying the effective program implementation strategies from professional learning sessions.

Deepen your knowledge of multiliterate learners

On-site or virtual | 3-hour session

This session will build an understanding of how the brain learns to read in multiple languages, as well as how to leverage cross-linguistic transfer, and align instruction to best practices for multiliterate learners.

Contact us to request a quote.

Problem-based approach to math instruction sessions

Elevate educational experiences by placing students’ ideas at the core of math lessons through problem-based learning. These sessions offer flexible professional learning experiences, allowing you to gain firsthand experience with a problem-based approach as a learner. You then learn to integrate this approach seamlessly into your teaching practices, bringing renewed energy to your math classroom.

A woman sits indoors, smiling while using a tablet. Wearing a blue lanyard and casual clothing, she appears engaged in professional learning; the background shows blurred people and chairs.

Build your knowledge of a problem-based approach

Virtual | 90-minute session

This session provides you with a foundational overview of what an engaging problem-based approach in math entails for K–5 students.

During this session you’ll learn to:

  • Explain how a problem-based approach to math brings delight to both teaching and learning and builds lasting student understanding.
  • Identify actionable strategies for using a problem-based approach in a math classroom.

Contact us to request a quote.

Deepen your knowledge of a problem-based approach

On-site or virtual | 3-hour session

This session provides you with hands-on experience facilitating problem-solving in math, leaving you with an increased understanding of how to teach conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and applications of math.

During this session you’ll learn to:

  • Explain how a problem-based approach to math brings delight to both teaching and learning and builds lasting student understanding.
  • Identify actionable strategies for using a problem-based approach in a math classroom.
  • Connect your current teaching practice to a problem-based approach, and choose a next step to implement a more problem-based approach.

Contact us to request a quote.

Get in touch with a PD expert

We’re here to provide answers and guidance as you explore your PD options. Fill out the form to connect with us and discover how Amplify PD can enhance your educational journey.

Blog Archive

Explore our library of posts on teaching and learning topics in STEM and literacy.

Explore more posts.

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Madison County Schools: Early literacy success through the Science of Reading

A group of thirteen women pose together on outdoor steps, with one woman handing a teacher award to another. All are dressed in colorful, business-casual attire, celebrating achievements in the Science of Reading curriculum.

Madison County Schools is a diverse district serving nearly 13,000 students across 23 schools in central Mississippi. Over the past few years, the district has shifted its approach from balanced literacy to structured literacy. The transition wasn’t quick or simple—but it worked.

In 2016, the district’s elementary ELA proficiency was at 47.1%. By the spring of 2024, it had reached almost 70%, with all elementary schools receiving A ratings for the first time.

“Today, structured literacy is at the core of our instruction, and the results speak for themselves,” said Kacey Matthews, dyslexia coordinator for the district. “This historic achievement affirms that when we commit to evidence-based instruction, students thrive.”

That commitment, and the resulting achievement, has earned Madison County Schools our 2025 Science of Reading Star Awards District Captain award. These teacher awards honor educators, schools, and districts who’ve transformed their classrooms and empowered their students with the Science of Reading.

The constants: Building literacy and a love of reading

Madison County Schools spans four zones, from suburban to rural. Roughly one-third of its schools are Title I, and its teachers support more than 1,200 multilingual/English learners representing 36 languages. Nearly 40% of students in the district receive free or reduced-price lunch.

Madison County originally followed a balanced literacy model, but over time, educators began to see gaps—particularly among students experiencing reading difficulty and students with dyslexia.

“Our diverse student body underscores our belief that literacy is the key to unlocking potential,” Matthews said. Teachers came to understand that their shared desire to support a love of reading in their students and their dedication to paramount literacy goals had to be anchored in a curriculum aligned to the Science of Reading: explicit, systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, decoding, and language comprehension.

A clear glass award etched with "Amplify 2025 Science of Reading Star Awards, The District Captain, Madison County Schools" stands against a blue background, celebrating excellence in early literacy and dedication to the Science of Reading curriculum.

Shifting practices and mindsets

According to Matthews, transitioning from balanced to structured literacy required more than a change in instructional methods. “The biggest challenge,” she said, “was shifting instructional mindsets.”

In classrooms, educators needed to trade in the familiar tools of running records and predictable texts for a new framework built on foundational skills data. “Initially, some educators were hesitant, but ongoing professional learning, hands-on support, and student success stories built trust and proved the effectiveness of this approach,” Matthews said.

District leaders, principals, and teachers also worked together to create a shared vision for literacy grounded in evidence and collaboration. Madison County invested in professional learning through LETRS, Phonics First, and the AIM Institute, ensuring every educator had the tools to teach early literacy skills effectively.

Each school added trained literacy specialists who provided classroom coaching and MTSS interventions, and the district instituted dyslexia training for all 1,500 staff members every three years, ensuring consistent understanding of structured literacy principles across every grade.

Principals received targeted professional development to lead with clarity, and the district introduced new, research-based curricula—including Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA)—to align instruction from kindergarten through fifth grade. To unify these efforts, Madison County also rewrote its Literacy Expectations guide, a districtwide roadmap detailing the five essential components of literacy, classroom strategies, and links to foundational research.

All told, Madison County teachers and leaders have reimagined classroom practice, embracing a structured literacy framework grounded in the Science of Reading.

From anxiety to confidence

In addition to the district’s impressive leap in literacy proficiency of more than 20 percentage points, they also saw transformation on the Mississippi Third-Grade Reading Assessment, a high-stakes gate test of readiness for fourth grade. Equipped with strong foundational skills, Madison County’s third graders are now thriving—with a 99.7% promotion rate in 2024.

“Instead of facing [the test] with fear, our students now enter with confidence,” Matthews said. In other words, data only tells one part of the story. “Students who previously dreaded assessments now approach them with readiness,” she said. “Students who once struggled with decoding now read with confidence and fluency.”

Sustaining a culture of literacy and growth

Madison County’s progress rests on persistence as much as innovation. The district’s educators continue to meet regularly for data discussions, lesson study, and reflection—sustaining the same mindset shift that began this journey. Professional learning remains a constant for them, demonstrating their dedication to teaching excellence and their belief that educational approaches are never static.

According to Matthews, Amplify has been a trusted partner in that work. Teachers can target support with precision by using mCLASS® for progress monitoring and the mCLASS Dyslexia Screener for early identification. Several schools also use Amplify CKLA to build decoding and comprehension simultaneously, engaging students with content-rich texts that deepen knowledge and vocabulary.

“When we commit to the Science of Reading, we are not just building better readers,” Matthews said, “we’re building a brighter future.”

More to explore

What is a professional learning specialist (PLS)?

About this role

Amplify professional learning specialists deliver professional development for educators that drives change, leading to increased and effective use of our Amplify programs and positive impacts on students’ learning. New professional learning specialists:

  • Are selected and supported by Amplify.
  • Receive onboarding and become certified with an Amplify program, with opportunities to extend product certifications throughout the year.
  • Deliver virtual and on-site sessions for schools and districts throughout the country.

Dive deeper into the responsibilities, requirements, and compensation of the professional learning specialist role within the professional learning specialist overview flipbook!

Read the professional learning specialist overview flipbook

Why join?

The PLS advantage

Professional development for educators is one of the most powerful levers to shift learning, action, and beliefs. 

As a professional learning specialist, you’ll be able to impact educators—and, ultimately, students—nationwide and see how schools across the country are driving success. Over time, you’ll also deepen your facilitation and leadership skills and build relationships with fellow professional learning specialists who are current or former educators.

Uncover additional advantages of being in the professional learning specialist network (pages 7–14).

Is this right for me?

Becoming a PLS is ideal for:

Current educators*Former educatorsRetired educators
who want to gain a new perspective and develop leadership and adult facilitation skills.who are seeking part-time, contract work and a more flexible schedule.who want to stay connected to a network of education leaders and continue to make an impact.

Availability requirements:

  • 15-20 hours per week of paid remote onboarding in May or June, with one mandatory in person training at the end of week 4 of onboarding.
  • Available to deliver in person PD a minimum of 18 business days (average of 3 days per week) from July 13th – August 21st.

More information:

Further evaluate if this is the right role for you (pages 25–29).

This year, nearly 30% of our professional learning specialists were current educators and 70% were former or retired educators. While our professional learning specialists are in different places within their classroom or educational leadership careers, they all have several key qualities in common. These include:

  • A deep knowledge of high-quality instruction and adult learning principles.
  • The drive to be a strong colleague and team player.
  • Proven excellence in delivering in-person and online professional development.
  • Exceptional customer service skills.
  • High comfort with navigating ambiguity and responding confidently to in-the-moment challenges.

Access more detailed requirements of the role (pages 16–29).

Amplify Classroom and Polypad free and commercial use guidelines

If you’d like to use Amplify’s tools or content in your work, please review these guidelines to determine if your specific use is allowed and whether you need to submit a request for approval.

Overview

Amplify Classroom offers free prebuilt interactive and print-based lessons, interactive lesson-building tools, and Polypad virtual manipulatives. See amplify.com/classroom and polypad.amplify.com for more information.

Amplify Classroom features:

  • Activity Builder (labeled “Custom Activities” in the platform): This content-creating and publishing tool enables educators to create their own interactive lessons and edit existing lessons.
  • Polypad virtual manipulatives: These virtual manipulatives allow teachers and students to explore concepts, express their creativity, and visualize their thinking. Polypad virtual manipulatives can be embedded directly into lessons via Activity Builder or used as a stand-alone, dynamic workspace.
  • Computation Layer: This feature enables educators to further customize lessons created with Activity Builder. Computation Layer is the code that allows components within the lessons to “talk” to one another, enabling users to connect representations; customize content; and provide dynamic, interpretive feedback. Computation Layer is accessible through Activity Builder.

Amplify Classroom includes activities and lessons across many subjects, created by the thousands of educators on our platform. Content created by Amplify is tagged “By Amplify,” “By Amplify Classroom,” or “By Desmos Classroom.”

Amplify also publishes paid core curriculum programs, including Amplify Desmos Math, Amplify Science, Amplify CKLA, Amplify Caminos, and Amplify ELA. These products can be reviewed and purchased by schools or districts interested in comprehensive resources aligned to standards and designed to motivate students. Some of the lessons that are free to use on Amplify Classroom (labeled Try It! lessons) are also part of these paid products. Learn more about our products and request a sample.

Amplify Classroom tools and content (other than paid products) are free for personal, educational, and non-commercial use, subject to our Acceptable Use Policy and Usage Guidelines. These guidelines also permit certain commercial uses. You generally don’t need to submit a request to use our free tools and resources for the permitted purposes covered in these guidelines. As long as you are following our Acceptable Use Policy and Usage Guidelines, as well as making appropriate Attributions and Disclaimers, you are permitted to move forward with your project. To make sure your use is permitted, please read these guidelines thoroughly and in their entirety. If you would like to explore a license for a use not permitted here, please submit this form.

Amplify does not own but partners with Desmos Studio, the maker of a suite of free math tools, including a graphing calculator used by over 75 million people around the world. (See desmos.com for more information.) Please contact Desmos Studio for information on using their content or tools.

Usage guidelines

Please adhere to the following guidelines for using Amplify Classroom tools and content in each of the scenarios set out below. You are required to follow our General Guidelines and Attribution requirements below when making permitted uses. You are responsible for clearing any third party marks and content you use in your applications or publications.

Uses labeled “PERMITTED USES” do not require permission, and you do not need to tell us about them—but we do appreciate hearing from you! Feel free to fill out this form to tell us about how you are using our tools and materials, and the ways in which you are finding them useful.

Uses labeled “CONTACT US” do require permission. If you are interested in such use, please submit this form, and someone from our team will endeavor to follow up with you as soon as possible.

Teaching and education services

This section provides guidelines on using Amplify Classroom for teaching and education services.

PERMITTED USES A green checkmark symbol on a light background. Educators creating, modifying (where permitted), and using Amplify Classroom content for classroom teaching in a school
  A green checkmark symbol on a light background. Public school districts, charter schools, and networks creating, modifying (where permitted) and using Amplify Classroom content for classroom teaching
  A green checkmark symbol on a light background. Private tutors creating or using Amplify Classroom content in 1:1 or small-group tutoring sessions
CONTACT US A large red "X" symbol on a light gray background. For-profit school or network of schools implementing Amplify Classroom for the school or network
  A large red "X" symbol on a light gray background. Education publishers and EdTech organizations (whether for profit or non-profit) using or linking to Amplify Classroom content and tools
  A large red "X" symbol on a light gray background. Any organizations or individuals embedding the teaching and learning experience from the Amplify Classroom lessons in their websites or applications (except API/iFrames Polypad integrations permitted below)
  A large red "X" symbol on a light gray background. Educators or other individuals authoring lessons for commercial purposes (e.g., to sell on Teachers Pay Teachers and similar websites)
  A large red "X" symbol on a light gray background. School districts, states, education publishers or technology providers, educators or any other individual or organization (whether for profit or non-profit) using Amplify Classroom content or platform to create paid curricula, educational courses, assessments, or any materials or curricula for submission for a state adoption list; or for offering, marketing, or sale to any schools or educational agencies or organizations, in or outside of the U.S.
  A large red "X" symbol on a light gray background. Instructional/tutoring organizations (whether for profit or non-profit), seeking to use Amplify Classroom for its tutors or instructors

Print and presentations

This section provides guidelines on including content from Amplify Classroom, such as portions of free lessons or images generated using our tools, in printed materials or presentations.

PERMITTED USES A green checkmark symbol on a light background. Books, including textbooks, up to two thousand copies
  A green checkmark symbol on a light background. Periodicals (newspapers, magazines, journals, etc.)
  A green checkmark symbol on a light background. Business documents such as company reports, proposals, presentations, etc.
  A green checkmark symbol on a light background. Academic publications, research papers, Ph.D. theses, and portfolios
  A green checkmark symbol on a light background. Conferences, presentations and accompanying slides
CONTACT US A large red "X" symbol on a light gray background. Books, more than two thousand copies, or as cover art for a book
  A large red "X" symbol on a light gray background. As content within platforms, mobile and tablet applications, PDFs, ebooks, multimedia materials, or other digital resources or products
  A large red "X" symbol on a light gray background. Consumer and retail goods or packaging (e.g., shirts, beach towels, shower curtains, mugs, posters, stationery)

Web and apps

This section provides guidelines for embedding Amplify Classroom tools into your platform.

PERMITTED USESA green checkmark symbol on a light background.Individuals and schools embedding Polypad in their materials for instructional use are permitted to do so; for integration options, see below.
 A green checkmark symbol on a light background.Organizations (whether for profit or non-profit) offering paid services embedding Polypad with <10k requests per year
CONTACT USA large red "X" symbol on a light gray background.Organizations (whether for profit or non-profit) offering paid services embedding Polypad with >10k requests per year
 A large red "X" symbol on a light gray background.Individuals or organizations looking to embed Activity Builder/Computation Layer in their applications
 A large red "X" symbol on a light gray background.Individuals or organizations looking to embed Amplify Classroom tools in larger applications, more complex integrations, white-labeling, or hosting Amplify’s JS files on their own infrastructure
 A large red "X" symbol on a light gray background.Polypad links, screenshots, iFrames, or API uses behind a paywall

Polypad integration options

There are two integration options for using Polypad within your own applications, including:

  • Using iFrames hosted by Amplify.
  • As a white-labeled JavaScript API that can be self-hosted and embedded in other websites or apps.

Developers can customize the features and behavior through numerous options and event listeners, and interact with the canvas programmatically to build custom functionality.

Visit the Polypad API page to learn more about Polypad API license terms and to generate API Key.

General guidelines

Copyright fair use

Your use of our content may be acceptable under principles of fair use (or other similar concepts in other countries). Under the fair use doctrine of the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, it is permissible to use limited portions of a work for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, and scholarly reports.

Whether a particular use qualifies as fair use depends on a number of factors. For more information see resources from the U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 21, Reproductions of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians, and Fair Use Index. Amplify can’t tell you if your use of this content would be fair use, so you may wish to obtain your own legal advice.

Use of trademarks

Our trademarks are valuable assets of Amplify and its licensors, and we want to ensure our users and partners use them correctly. These trademarks include the Amplify word mark and logo, Polypad word mark, Core Knowledge Foundation word mark and logo, the Lawrence Hall of Science word mark and logo, and the Desmos and Amplify Classroom word marks and logos.

Logos

Our logos can only be used if you have an existing partnership, and you’ve reached out to your Amplify contact to secure formal approval from Amplify’s brand team.

Logos must never be used in a way that implies an endorsement or affiliation with Amplify where such a relationship does not exist.

Please contact media@amplify.com if you need to use an Amplify or Amplify Classroom logo.

Please contact Desmos Studio for Desmos Studio branding guidelines and licensing.

Use of product names and features

If making a use permitted under these guidelines or approved by Amplify, you may use the Amplify name or one of our product names or features in plain text to indicate that your product or service integrates with, or relates to, an Amplify product or service.

However, all references must be honest and accurate, and you can’t incorporate these names into your own name or imply an endorsement by Amplify or any of its licensors.

REQUIREDA green checkmark symbol on a light background.Use the complete name “Amplify Classroom” when referencing the platform.
 A green checkmark symbol on a light background.Use “Amplify Classroom lessons” when talking about specific lessons authored in the Amplify Classroom platform.
 A green checkmark symbol on a light background.Use “Teacher-created Amplify Classroom lessons” or “[Company name]-authored Amplify Classroom lessons” when talking about a lesson that has been authored by anyone other than Amplify personnel.
 A green checkmark symbol on a light background.Include required attribution and disclaimers.
PROHIBITEDA large red "X" symbol on a light gray background.Do not imply an endorsement or affiliation with Amplify where such a relationship does not exist.

Attribution and disclaimers

You are required to include a link to the homepage of Amplify Classroom (amplify.com/classroom) and a prominent disclaimer of affiliation when making permissible uses described above in at least one place in your materials, preferably the cover page or landing page.

Visit Amplify Classroom for free lessons, lesson-building tools, and Polypad virtual manipulatives at amplify.com/classroom. This content is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Amplify or any of its licensors. Amplify®, Amplify Classroom™, and related trademarks are the property of Amplify Education, Inc.

If your current attribution language refers to Desmos Classroom, please update the attribution to “Amplify Classroom” instead of “Desmos Classroom.”

Contact us

Amplify Classroom and Polypad usage inquiry form for uses labeled “Contact Us”

Thank you for your interest in using Amplify Classroom and/or Polypad. If your intended use falls into one of the categories labeled “Contact us,” please fill out this form, so we can determine the appropriate permissions or licenses:

Country(Required)
Agreement and Next Steps(Required)

Amplify Classroom and Polypad usage inquiry form for uses labeled “Permitted”

Thank you for your interest in using Amplify Classroom and/or Polypad. If your intended use falls under the “Permitted” categories outlined in our use guidelines, please let us know by filling out the form below. This helps us understand how our tools are being used.

Note: If your intended use falls under one of the “CONTACT US” categories outlined in our use guidelines, please fill out this form.

Amplify Classroom and Polypad Permitted Use Form

A powerful partnership

Amplify Science was developed by the science education experts at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and the digital learning team at Amplify.

The logo for The Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley, features blue text on a light background and is recognized by educators using Amplify Science for middle school science programs.

The University of California, Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science is a recognized leader in PreK–12 science education, producing groundbreaking curriculum products for more than 40 years, including the international award-winning Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading®. The Hall’s curriculum materials are used in one in four classrooms across the nation.

The word "Amplify" is written in large, orange letters with a period at the end on a light background.

Amplify has been pioneering digital education products for more than 15 years, empowering teachers across the country to offer more personalized instruction and accelerate the potential of their students to become more active, engaged learners. Amplify has supported more than 200,000 educators and three million students in all 50 states.

Instructional model

Amplify Science program is rooted in the proven, research-based pedagogy of Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize. Here’s how each element works:

DO
First-hand investigations are an important part of any science classroom, and Amplify Science has students getting hands-on in every unit, from building models of protein molecules to experimenting with electrical systems.

TALK
Student-to-student discourse and full class discussions are an integral part of the program. Students are provided with numerous opportunities to engage in meaningful oral scientific argumentation, all while fostering a collaborative classroom environment.

READ
Students read scientific articles, focusing their reading activities on searching for evidence related to their investigation, and importantly, on asking and recording questions as they read through fascinating texts on 21st-century topics.

WRITE
Following real-world practices, students write scientific arguments based on evidence they’ve collected, making clear their reasoning about how a given piece of evidence connects to one of several claims.

VISUALIZE
By manipulating digital simulations and using modeling tools to craft visualizations of their thinking— just as real scientists and engineers do—students take their learning far beyond the confines of what they can physically see in the classroom in an exciting and authentic way.

Year at a glance

Amplify Science is organized around units where students are introduced to compelling phenomena and real-world problems, develop and strengthen claims by collecting evidence and testing assumptions, and apply their learning in new contexts.

A chart displays science units by grade level, from Kindergarten to Grade 5, showing titles, type, number of lessons, and assessment days for each unit.
Amplify Science's Year at a Glance unit breakdown for grade six through grade eight

Inside an Amplify Science classroom

An infographic explains instructional methods for teachers and students, featuring icons for reading, hands-on activities, discussion, and modeling tools with brief descriptions.

Resources to support your review

Boost Reading

Boost Reading is a personalized reading program that students can’t wait to play. Whether they are just learning to read or mastering close reading, Boost Reading helps achieve off-the-charts reading growth in grades K–8.


Click here to play demo of Boost Reading K-5.

Target support for every student

Students come to school with a range of abilities and achieve mastery at different rates. Providing each learner with the specific support they need to progress can be challenging. Enter Boost Reading. 

Ready to learn more?

Fill out the form to begin your review or learn more about our Professional Development offerings.

Professional development

Existing business

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  • Beirut

Contact your Amplify representative today

Matt Drury
mdrury@amplify.com
00971 52 9788789

2025

September 18, 2025

Edutopia: “Using Virtual Manipulatives in Math Class”

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August 19, 2025

Education Week: “Here’s Why It’s Important for Teachers to Have a Say in Curriculum”

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August 18, 2025

Investors Hangout: “Amplify Classroom Revolutionizes K-12 Teaching Experience”

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August 5, 2025

WhaTech: “K-12 Online Education Market Set for Strong Expansion, Reaching $349.77 Billion by 2029”

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August 4, 2025

Education Week: “Districts Using ‘High-Quality’ Reading Curricula Still Supplement With Other Materials. Why?”

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July 9, 2025

K-12 Dive: “Youngest students see big reading gains post-COVID on DIBELS assessment”

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June 25, 2025

The 74: “How Districts in Georgia, Maryland and D.C. Are Raising Reading Proficiency”

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May 28, 2025

Open PR: “K-12 Online Education Market Forecast 2025-2034: Comprehensive Analysis And Growth Opportunities”

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May 27, 2025

District Administration: “Early literacy: How to implement programs that start strong”

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May 20, 2025

EdSource: “California schools prepare to introduce universal reading screening”

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April 23, 2025

The 74: “Eric Adams Expands Reading, Math Curriculum Mandates to All NYC Middle Schools”

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April 21, 2025

Daily News: “NYC expanding reading, math curriculum overhaul to more schools”

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March 19, 2025

Education Next: “School Reinvention in Practice”

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February 28, 2025

K-12 Dive, “Test yourself on this week’s K-12 news”

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February 26, 2025

K-12 Dive: “Only 56% of K-2 students are ready to read”

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January 24, 2025

Chalkbeat Philadelphia: “Two AI-powered charter schools could soon open in Pennsylvania”

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January 16, 2025

Tech & Learning: “What is Polypad and How Can Teachers Use It?”

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2024

December 18, 2024

EdSource: “State takes another step toward mandatory testing for reading difficulties in 2025”

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December 6, 2024

Chalkbeat Philadelphia: “Philadelphia is now spending over $100 million on its curriculum overhaul. Here’s a breakdown.”

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November 27, 2024

Lincoln Journal Star: “Lincoln Public Schools drops a classification rating on statewide assessment”

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November 6, 2024

EdNC: “New K-3 literacy data shows growth in skills for North Carolina students”

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October 1, 2024

The 74: “As NY District Implements Science of Reading, Parents Push for New Focus on Math”

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September 18, 2024

Tech & Learning: “Tech & Learning Announces Winners of Best for Back to School 2024”

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August 22, 2024

Chalkbeat Philadelphia: “Philadelphia school board renews charters, funds tutoring and a new science curriculum”

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August 2, 2024

EdNC: “‘Dedication of our teachers’ praised in an update on the state’s science of reading journey”

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July 31, 2024

The 74: “Classroom Case Study: To Maximize the Impact of Curriculum Mandates, Follow the Science of Reading”

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July 23, 2024

Chalkbeat: “Should teachers customize their lessons or just stick to the ‘script’?”

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July 7, 2024

The Economist: “Will artificial intelligence transform school?”

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June 24, 2024

Chalkbeat: “Math instruction overhaul: NYC unveils new curriculum mandate for middle and high schools”

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June 6, 2024

EdNC: “Perspective | Teachers are the heroes of the literacy story in North Carolina”

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May 24, 2024

The Dallas Morning News: “How Don Quixote changed a Dallas public school classroom”

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May 2, 2024

Akron.com: “Tutoring program at Summit Academy Akron Elementary School attracts national interest”

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April 25, 2024

Edutopia: “Using Tech Tools to Energize Young Students’ Math Learning”

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April 4, 2024

EdNC: “State Board hears update on district ESSER spending, literacy data, and Restart schools”

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March 22, 2024

Thomas B Fordham Institute: “Five takeaways from Ohio’s baseline survey of elementary reading curricula”

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March 15, 2024

The 74: “New Data: Despite K-2 Reading Gains, Students Face a ‘Much Harder Journey’ Ahead”

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March 5, 2024

The 74: “Case Study: How One Texas School District Is Repurposing Staff Development Time to Embrace the Science of Reading”

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February 21, 2024

Times Record News: “UPDATED: Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath likes what he sees at local school”

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February 19, 2024

Chalkbeat: “Chicago Public Schools recover from pandemic declines more than other districts, study shows”

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February 7, 2024

The 74: “Building Oral Language Skills and Equity Through High-Quality Reading Curriculum”

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2023

December 19, 2023

The 74: “Best Education Articles of 2023: Our 23 Most Important Stories About Students, Schools & Learning Recovery ”

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December 8, 2023

Education Week: “Aligned Science Curriculum, Better Scores? Research Finds a Connection”

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December 6, 2023

WRAL News: “Reading readiness rises in NC’s K-3 classrooms, new data shows”

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November 27, 2023

The Dallas Morning News: “Dallas’ new lessons aim to keep kids on track, but some worry about limiting teachers”

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November 2, 2023

Fort Worth Report: “Black students in Fort Worth ISD still struggle to read at grade level”

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October 31, 2023

Chicago Tribune: “Lake Forest-area schools take stock of state grades; ‘While we celebrate our successes, we acknowledge that the journey … is ongoing’”

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October 19, 2023

Chalkbeat: “NYC eyes middle and high school literacy overhaul. It’s asking families to weigh in.”

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October 16, 2023

The 74: “As Virginia Rolls Out Ambitious Statewide High-Dosage Tutoring Effort This Week, 3 Keys to Success”

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October 6, 2023

Language Magazine: “Embracing Bilingual Assessment”

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September 18, 2023

Tech & Learning: “Best for Back to School 2023”

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September 18, 2023

Chalkbeat: “Chicago Public Schools hired hundreds of tutors with federal COVID money. Can they keep them?”

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September 7, 2023

EdNC: “Perspective | Union County Public Schools empowers educators, elevates readers”

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August 14, 2023

Chicago Parent: “Common Core Math: How to Help Your Kids”

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August 6, 2023

The News & Observer: “NC sees big increase in reading skills among K-3 students. Is the state back on track?”

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August 4, 2023

The 74: “Slow Literacy Gains, Long COVID in Kids: 7 Insights into Pandemic Recovery and Aftermath in U.S. Schools”

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August 3, 2023

EdNC: “State Board of Education: New reading data, parental leave, and a call to support public schools”

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July 28, 2023

Houston Public Media: “New literacy curriculum is among the many changes coming to HISD”

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July 17, 2023

Houston Chronicle: “Mike Miles says HISD schools will teach the ‘science of reading.’ Here’s what that means.”

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July 11, 2023

The 74: “‘Education’s Long COVID’: New Data Shows Recovery Stalled for Most Students”

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July 6, 2023

Houston Chronicle: “HISD superintendent gives voluntary schools one last chance to back out of New Education System”

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June 29, 2023

The Report Card: “Larry Berger on Curriculum”

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June 2, 2023

EdWeek Market Brief:”K-12 Dealmaking: Substitute Teaching Startup Secures $38M; Amplify Raises Undisclosed Series C”

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May 25, 2023

The 74: “Expanding Access to Tutors: Nonprofit Grants $6 Million to 32 Learning Organizations Across 20 States to Help More Students”

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April 21, 2023

The 74: “The ‘Transformation is Real’ as Science of Reading Takes Hold in N.C. Schools”

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April 18, 2023

The 74: “Louisiana District Ravaged by Hurricane & COVID is Bouncing Back with Science”

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April 5, 2023

WFAE: “NC midyear reading data shows gains, but third-grade goals remain elusive”

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April 5, 2023

EdNC: “K-3 students show growth in literacy skills, mid-year DPI data show”

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March 24, 2023

The 74: “COVID & School Recovery: Critics Warn Washington Bill Would Reduce Classroom Learning Time By 4 Hours a Week”

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March 24, 2023

Edutopia: “Using Collective Leadership to Make a Major Shift in Your District”

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March 15, 2023

K-12 Dive: “California at center of latest push for science-based reading approaches”

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March 7, 2023

District Administration: “ESSER pressure: How one district intends to spend wisely as deadline looms”

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March 3, 2023

The 74: “‘The Other Long COVID’ Affecting Kids: Missed Opportunities”

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March 2, 2023

3 WTKR: “More students on track to learn to read in 2022-2023 school year since start of pandemic, researchers say”

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March 2, 2023

ABC 7: “Reading skills rebounding for young students following pandemic disruptions”

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March 1, 2023

K-12 Dive: “By The Numbers: DIBELS testing shows improved reading progress over last two years”

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February 27, 2023

The 74: “Exclusive: Despite K-2 Reading Gains, Results Flat for 3rd Grade ‘COVID Kids’”

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February 27, 2023

Education Week: “Students’ Early Literacy Skills Are Rebounding. See What the Data Show”

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February 7, 2023

The 74: “Using High-Quality Curriculum Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Still Have Fun Learning”

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January 13, 2023

NPR: “Can a middle school class help scientists create a cooler place to play?”

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January 6, 2023

News & Record: “After a numbing low, NC students now heading in ‘right direction’ in reading, math”

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January 5, 2023

CBS17.com: “K-3 students in NC make significant strides on literacy exams, DPI says”

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2022

December 20, 2022

District Administration: “Literacy Under the Lights: 10 ways to bring the community back together”

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December 14, 2022

The 74: “14 Charts This Year That Helped Us Better Understand Covid’s Impact On Students Teachers and Schools”

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December 14, 2022

The 74: “Learning Loss Is Worse than NAEP Showed. Middle School Math Must Be the Priority”

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November 21, 2022

Voicebot.ai: “SoapBox Labs Brings Child-Centered Voice AI to Dyslexia Detection Assessment”

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October 24, 2022

Education Week: “Two Decades of Progress, Nearly Gone: National Math, Reading Scores Hit Historic Lows”

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October 20, 2022

The 74: “Exclusive Literacy Data: Small Gains Since Last Fall, But No Reading Rebound”

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August 30, 2022

The 74: “Test English Learners in the Languages They Speak at School and at Home”

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August 29, 2022

WTKR TV NC: “News 3 investigates childhood literacy rates, raising money to give books to local kids for new school year”

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August 28, 2022

EdNC: “Elementary students made growth last year in skills that lead to reading proficiency, new data show”

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August 18, 2022

SHRM Blog: “The Great Resignation Skipped Us. Here’s why.”

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August 16, 2022

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S2-02: Developing your own teaching style: Tips from a veteran teacher.

Poster for "Science Connections" podcast with an image of Marilyn Dieppa, featuring a logo of an atom and text promoting season 2, episode 2 about veteran teaching styles.

In this episode, Eric Cross sits down with veteran educator and former Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) Middle School Science Teacher of the Year, Marilyn Dieppa. During the show, Marilyn shares tips for new teachers, ways to inspire students, and how she utilizes her journalism background to develop literacy skills within her science classroom. She also shares her experiences developing a robotics academy, and the VEX IQ World’s Competition. Explore more from Science Connections by visiting our main page.

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Marilyn Dieppa (00:01):
I think my favorite thing is their success. Whether it’s robotics, whether it’s in the classroom, that they pass a test for the first time, those are my moments of success. And that’s what makes me happy.

Eric Cross (00:15):
Marilyn Dieppa is a veteran middle-school science educator at Miami-Dade County public schools. Dieppa launched her school’s STEM Academy in 2016 and developed professional development through the STEM Transformation Institute of Florida International University. Dieppa’s coached numerous new teachers and was the 2018 Miami-Dade County public schools’ middle-school Science Teacher of the Year. In this episode, we discussed her transition from a career in journalism to the science classroom and the value of personal and professional support systems for teacher longevity. And now, please enjoy my conversation with Marilyn Dieppa.

Marilyn Dieppa (00:52):
Nice to meet you, Eric.

Eric Cross (00:53):
Nice to meet you too. Thank you for being willing to come on the podcast.

Marilyn Dieppa (00:58):
Not a problem.

Eric Cross (00:59):
So you’re out in, you’re out in Florida. In Dade County. I’m out here in San Diego. So I’m like literally on the other side of the country. Have you—were you born and raised in Florida?

Marilyn Dieppa (01:09):
I’ve been here for 40 years, so I’ve been here most of my life. Yeah. I’m Puerto Rican, but I was, you know, my young childhood, I was in New Jersey. And then when I was 15, I came down.

Eric Cross (01:23):
I looked at like your—some of your accolades, which are really impressive. The things that you’ve done for students with robotics, and all the education, or, kind of like teacher enrichment, a lot of mentoring and coaching that you do now.

Marilyn Dieppa (01:35):
I am part of leadership team for the district. I do a lot of training. I work on curriculum. I help with pacing guides to make sure that everything is based on what the state wants, what the district wants. I have done a lot for the district in the last, probably 20 years.

Eric Cross (01:52):
What got you into teaching initially? What was your…like, why middle school science? We’re like a unique group.

Marilyn Dieppa (01:57):
This is the second career choice for me. So I’ve only been doing this for 24 years. I was a journalism major and then I got married and then I had my child and I wanted to do something. My thing was that I wanted to go to Iraq. I wanted to cover the news. I have a minor in Middle Eastern culture. so there was a lot of things that were in my mind when I was young, pre-married. and after, you know, you have children, priorities kind of change. So I totally changed, pretty much had to start from scratch, with my degree, because nothing kind of transferred over from journalism to teaching. So before I actually did that, I started subbing just to see if I liked it. And I fell in love with teaching right away. And that’s how I got into it. So my degree is really in elementary.

Eric Cross (02:45):
Now, when you were subbing, you were doing elementary school.

Marilyn Dieppa (02:47):
Yes. Pretty much elementary.

Eric Cross (02:48):
How did you go from there to like, middle-school science?

Marilyn Dieppa (02:50):
My thing was writing, not necessarily math and science. But I ended up with my cooperating teacher, my CT, she was a math and science teacher. So I was put with her, and who knew that I liked science and I liked math? So I ended up with that and I infused a lot of labs. So in elementary you tend to—I think teachers are a little bit afraid of the labs, so I infused a lot of literature with my labs. I infused all my—I did it like a whole-group type thing, everything I did with my labs, I incorporated the math. I incorporated the science. I incorporated, you know, the reading with it. And from there, I just—you know, they ended up putting me in a lot of leadership roles with science. And then my principal was opening up the school where I’m at now, my former principal. And she, you know, she took me with her. And so her dissertation was in looping, on how following your students, did that really make a difference in test scores? So I was part of her like test study, and I had students that I followed for two years in a row. And she would look at data and that was part of her dissertation. So that really made a difference. So I ended up moving with my students and my first group of middle-school students, I had them for four years.

Eric Cross (04:10):
Oh, wow.

Marilyn Dieppa (04:10):
And that was—those were my children. I, like, boohooed when they left. And I ended up, you know, literally following them from fourth grade all the way to more than four years. Because it was all the way until they left eighth grade.

Eric Cross (04:21):
What did you think of that model of looping with students?

Marilyn Dieppa (04:24):
I think it’s a great model, depending on the kids that you have. I love, you know, the school that I’m at. I’m very blessed, because it’s a great school. It’s really a wonderful school. I’ve had really good relationships with students. They always come back, and they always come back when they wanna tell me that they’re in something in science, right? They’re an engineer or they’re a nurse, or they’re, you know, doctors at this point. So I’ve seen a little bit of everything with my students. And it’s very rewarding.

Eric Cross (04:52):
That’s super-exciting, right? When they come back and they’re either telling you about their college major or what career they’re in. And I like to recruit them at that point and ask them to come talk to my students. Because Google photos gives you unlimited storage, if you have a teacher account, I actually have photos of students from like 10 years ago.

Marilyn Dieppa (05:09):
Oh, wow.

Eric Cross (05:10):
And I’ll put their middle school picture next to their—and then their current picture.

Marilyn Dieppa (05:14):
Oh, that’s awesome. I’ve never done that.

Eric Cross (05:17):
Yeah. You could see, like, they could see the younger version of them.

Marilyn Dieppa (05:19):
And it’s funny because even with the STEM Academy, which I have now, I have the same group of kids for three years. So I’ve had already few groups that have gone by, and those kids come back to me, they come back to our competitions, they help out, you know, they’re very integrated with the robotics. So I’m getting those students back as well. So I’ve maintained that relationship with them as well.

Eric Cross (05:46):
How do you develop your own classroom management style? How did you figure out where your—where you fit and what works for you? What was your process like for that?

Marilyn Dieppa (05:55):
You know what I think, just by teaching, teaching them to respect. And one thing that I’ve developed that—I don’t scream in my classroom; I just talk to the kids. I have very good one-on-one communication with them. I show them respect. I treat them as an equal.

Eric Cross (06:12):
And what grade are you teaching currently?

Marilyn Dieppa (06:14):
Eighth grade. So I do science. I teach high school science. I teach comprehensive, which is like our regular students. I have kids who are inclusion. I have kids that are ESL. So I teach all, you know, dynamics of students. And then I have the academy, which is something separate. But I infuse a lot of physics and of course that they need in order for them to be competitive.

Eric Cross (06:38):
So tell me about that. What is the STEM Academy?

Marilyn Dieppa (06:40):
It is an enrichment program. So it is an advanced enrichment program, because they do follow like the math enrichment. so they have to be really good at math in order for them to be accepted into the program. So, one day we got like a grant, and we got a little robot, the VEX. I don’t know if you’re familiar with VEX. I know it’s big in California. So I was told, “Here, this is for you. See what you can do with it.” So I started with an after-school club, the following year. It kind of hit off. We went to our first little competition. The kids did really well. And then the following year, they told me, “Hey, we need an academy, make it happen.” So it’s not like I had a curriculum. I kind of do my own thing. But we do a lot of different types of things. Our big portion is the VEX, but I also do sec me, we do Future City. We do a whole bunch of competitions within the district. You know, Math Bowl. So I get my kids prepared for anything that really has to do competitive-based. I do that with those students.

Eric Cross (07:38):
What age range or which grade range?

Marilyn Dieppa (07:40):
Sixth to eighth. We have kids who stay the three years and then we have kids that after, you know, sometimes it’s more the parents that want them to be part of the engineering. but sometimes we lose kids after the first year and you know, that’s fine because we wanna really have kids who really wanna be there and are, you know, committed to it. Because there’s a lot of commitments to that program.

Eric Cross (08:01):
Those types of programs, there’s so many like outside-of-the-classroom things that you need to take care of. If you’re going to competitions, and weekends, and all those types of things. Is there a team of teachers that are doing this or is it just you?

Marilyn Dieppa (08:10):
Team of one! .

Eric Cross (08:11):
A team of one! Right? Like, yeah. And how long have you been running this yourself?

Marilyn Dieppa (08:16):
This is probably like my sixth year.

Eric Cross (08:19):
OK.

Marilyn Dieppa (08:20):
So we’ve been very successful. That program is totally inquiry. It’s totally on them. I don’t know how to use a little, you know, remote control. I don’t know how to do anything. I’m there for troubleshoot and to make sure that they’re on task, but they have been very successful because I do put everything on them. And I go, “It’s not my robot. This is your robot.” So they build everything

Eric Cross (08:40):
And that seems to be the theme, especially with, a lot of times, with science teachers. And encouraging them to say, “You don’t have to be the expert in everything.” Teachers tend to be more like risk-taking and innovative when they’re willing to like, not have to be—I don’t have to know everything in order to do something.

Marilyn Dieppa (08:54):
Exactly. So we’ve been very successful. Very proud of my students because you know, we’ve, gone to Worlds twice. We’ve qualified three times in the six years. Actually, I had two teams that went last year.

Eric Cross (09:07):
What is, what is Worlds? That sounds like a big deal.

Marilyn Dieppa (09:10):
It’s a huge thing. And it’s teams from all over the world. You can actually look it up online. It’s—from this year, there were teams, although they said China was not gonna be in there, there were actually some teams from China. There were teams from New Zealand. There were teams from South Africa, the UK, a lot of teams from, from Europe. And then there are teams from here. We are the host country. We’ve been the host country for a while. But it’s amazing. The first time we went, the first team that we were paired up with was a Russian team. So, you know, there was Google Translate and the kids—and it’s, they didn’t need to know the same language because they communicated with the robots. So it was really amazing. They work collaboratively. So it’s not like a battle box. So they work two teams together and whatever, they both get together, they both earn the same points. So it teaches leadership, and there’s so much more to it than just a robot. They have to know how to communicate, because they do get interviewed. They do online challenges. It’s so many things. It’s just—I think it’s one of the best things that our district has really invested in, because these kids are so into it, and they love it so much. For the last year and this year I have the same kids that are in the robotics. I’m also gonna be teaching them physical science. So I have to teach them that separation between what we’re doing in our science classes versus what they’re doing in the class. So there has to be a separation. So they see one side of me in this class where it’s very laid back. It’s very chill. No, no, you, you guys do it. There’s no sitting down. It’s like organized chaos, I call it all the time. But then in the classroom, it has to be a little bit more organized.

Eric Cross (10:53):
Is that something that, as far as getting the parts—like people do, like, GoFundMes and donations and Donors Choose. Can you—

Marilyn Dieppa (11:00):
We get grant money, grant money from the town of Miami Lakes, the town that I work in. So the town actually sponsors us. Without them, we could not do that. It is a very expensive activity to do. If you go online and you look up the prices, you’ll be, “Oh my gosh, goodness, it’s very expensive.” You know? But the smiles on their faces when they come back and they have those little certificates, it means nothing, you know, it’s a little piece of paper. But that, to me, to them, it means the world.

Eric Cross (11:27):
Well, teachers, if you’re looking for ways to get that stuff funded, be fearless on behalf of asking for free things for your kids. Find a local business that somewhat connects to even robotics and say, “Hey, look, I’ve got 50 kids that really want to get after it. And we need X amount of dollars so we can buy those robotics kits. We’ll put your banner up somewhere. We’ll do all these other things. But come support our students. Come to the competition. Donate whatever you can for our students.” And many organizations will say, will say yes. Many just aren’t asked.

Marilyn Dieppa (11:57):
Right. And a lot of towns do have, like, education advisory boards. You wanna reach out to those people. ‘Cause those are the communities where they have money set aside in order to assist things like this.

Eric Cross (12:09):
Do you notice any carryover between the students that do get involved with these extracurriculars into the regular science classroom?

Marilyn Dieppa (12:16):
For sure. They’re more, they’re more disciplined. They tend to care more about the sciences because they see that link in the science. I mean, my kids are talking about gear ratios. They’re talking about, you know, mass accelerations. They had—they infuse all these things. And when they see it in the science class, they’re making that connection, which is really wonderful.

Eric Cross (12:41):
It seems like there’s a high level of engagement because this is an authentic thing. It’s almost, this should be science.

Marilyn Dieppa (12:46):
Yes. And not only that, the writing skills that have to be interpreted because part of the program is that they, they don’t necessarily have to have it, but in order for them to go far and make it to Worlds, they have to have an engineering notebook. So our strength sometimes is not the robot, but the engineering notebook.

Eric Cross (13:02):
his is where the journalism major shines.

Marilyn Dieppa (13:05):
Yes. And I go, “Guys, this is your Ikea manual. You have to explain what you’re doing, what pieces you’re using, what’s going right.” You know, and then they have to interpret and see what didn’t work. How can they fix it? So there’s so much problem-solving. It’s real life, it’s what they’re doing there. More so than sitting and learning rote, you know, vocabulary or whatever the case might be, ’cause they’re actually applying what they’re learning.

Eric Cross (13:31):
Yeah. And that’s, that’s so critical, the communication piece. Because seems like now in society, more than ever, even just being able to communicate something with bad science is convincing to people. Versus if you have great science, but you can’t communicate it, you’re not gonna be able to get it out into the public. It’s so great to see a program that exactly brings together this literacy aspect, in addition to kind of this content and skills aspect of doing the science.

Marilyn Dieppa (13:57):
And that’s what really, you know, since I started, that’s pretty much what I’ve done. My strength, believe it or not, when I was growing up, was not the science. I think I didn’t really have a really good science background. But I remember reflecting and saying, “I don’t want my students to feel like I felt when I was a child.” I wanna make sure that I give them everything, you know, give them the hands-on experience. I think I had one teacher when I was growing up and I still remember him. He was my second-grade teacher and he was just so amazing with the science. And it was just like the only really good experience I had. And I think that always stayed in the back of my mind. And when I started teaching and I go, “I wanna give these kids these experiences.” You know, sometimes I see kids in eighth grade and I go, how sad! They see water boiling and they’re just, like, in a lab room. And they’re just like, in awe, because there’s water boiling. And I go, “You guys haven’t seen water boil before?” And he goes, “No, no, no, not like this!” And I go, oh wow.

Eric Cross (14:58):
Even if it’s simple, everyday phenomena, everyday things that people deal with in a science classroom, or when you’re a teacher in that setting, it’s just—it just hits different, right? Like you, you know, you drop dye into water and watch it diffuse. And it’s like, whoa! Because they’re looking at it through that different lens. And that’s why one of the reasons why—I’m super-biased, but as science teachers, we get to do the coolest stuff.

Marilyn Dieppa (15:21):
Yeah, we do.

Eric Cross (15:22):
We just do. It’s so much fun. And basically anything that happens, that’s cool, like in, innovation and things like that, we can figure out ways to incorporate into our classroom. Now, as a coach and as a mentor, you’ve had multiple student teachers in your classroom. And we have, you know, huge need for new teachers. I teach teachers who are getting their CR, getting their credential. And the landscape of education is, is constantly shifting. You’ve watched it shift over the years. What are your biggest tips that you give to new teachers?

Marilyn Dieppa (15:49):
Well, I just had an intern last semester. I’ve had a few interns where, you know, not only are they doing this, but they’re also learning robotics too. So they’re really getting aspect in how to incorporate that. You don’t have to have everything separate. You can include everything together. But I think, I think it just comes from the foundation where they’re not exposed. Even me, when I went to college, I don’t remember doing so many labs as I should have. And I think it’s just a fear of them trying new things and failing. And I go, you know what? I, sometimes my first class is my guinea pig class, because I always change my labs. I don’t like to do the same thing over and over again. If I see something online, I go, “Oh wow. You know what, I’m gonna try it.” And I go, “Hey guys, this is the first time; we’re gonna do this together.” And it’s really—it’s just for them not to be fearful. And I think especially for science teachers or like even elementary, to give the kids the foundation that they need, they’re afraid. They’re afraid of failing and not trying something new, and say, “Hey, it’s OK. There’s other ways of doing this.” You know? So I always say, “My first class is always my guinea pig class, ’cause that’s the class I’m gonna try this on.” And then, you know, when you have to tweak, reflect, then we do that.

Eric Cross (17:06):
What are some of the things that you’ve seen or encouragements that you give to teachers who are teaching, kind of, in this kind of newer landscape, where as teachers, you become more than just a science teacher. I mean, you’re a mentor. You’re an encourager. Sometimes you’re a counselor for students. And then there, there are things that happen externally that impact teachers as well. It’s a tough job.

Marilyn Dieppa (17:24):
So I always say, you know, when you have a child, we have to be very aware of what’s happening with our children. Especially after these two years of the pandemic. That was kind of crazy. Last year was a really tough year, I think, for most educators that were back in the classroom. But I always tell ’em, you have to be really aware of what’s going on with these kids outside. When you see somebody who’s not doing anything and then you have the parents are there supporting. There’s something going—I mean, there has to be something going on. Kids are not just going to be so, so defiant. You’re gonna have very few that will be like that. But most of them it’s just gotta see and read those kids and see what’s going on, and don’t be afraid to—and I always say, I’m not there to really be your friend, but I’m there to help you. And you gotta tell ’em, you know, if you need to talk, come talk to me. Have an open-door policy with those kids.

Eric Cross (18:16):
What’s been your favorite part of the job? Something you really enjoy about the job? Especially having been teaching for as long as you have.

Marilyn Dieppa (18:23):
I think my favorite thing is their success. Whether they have struggled all the year and they’ve had that one piece of success or they don’t realize what they got out of middle school until they get to high school and they come back to you and they tell you it’s, you know, seeing my kids, whether it’s robotics, whether it’s in the classroom, that they pass a test for the first time, those are my moments of success. And that’s what makes me happy.

Eric Cross (18:52):
So you get those ahas, you get those wins, those turnarounds. And it’s like, “Ah, this keeps me going. This is so good!” But there’s something that I say to myself when I do get challenges in the classroom is teaching seventh grade, I say, “They’re 12. They’re 13. They’ve been on earth for 13 years. And for the first five or six, like, you know, they’re just kind of coming online at that point. And they’re going through all these changes.” And it grounds me in the fact that ’cause sometimes the things that you experience can be really, really challenging kind of interpersonally. And I remind myself, “Well, it’s like—you’re not 28 years old. Like, you’re, 12 and 13, and you need me to not be Mr. Cross, the science teacher. You need me to be, you know, Mr. Cross, the mentor, or Mr. Cross, the coach.” Like you were saying, open door. Keeping that open door, keeping that relationship. Because so much of what we’re doing is like life coaching in addition—and that connects to their success in the classroom. There’s a direct relationship.

Marilyn Dieppa (19:45):
Yes, yes, yes, absolutely.

Eric Cross (19:46):
Now what gets you back each fall? Because at the end, you know, every school year it’s like, “That was a tough one!” Especially with the last couple years. Right? So what’s been something, what gets you back in the classroom every fall, so that you’re ready for your students?

Marilyn Dieppa (20:02):
I think the support I get at home. I have a husband who is the most supportive person ever. He always tells me, “Your kids are grown up.” You know, my kids are adults now. “Enjoy these kids, what they’re doing. You don’t know how much they need you.” So he does tell me that. He goes, “And don’t complain! You love it!” And also my administration, they back me up. And that’s what I think what keeps you coming back. I love my administration. Whatever I ask for, they don’t tell me no. They tell me I’m crazy, but they don’t tell me no. You know, we have these huge competitions once a year at our school, administration has to be involved ’cause they have to be there, and they go, “We do this because we love you! But you know, you’re crazy!”

Eric Cross (20:48):
It’s interesting, ’cause both of these things, they involve human connection. And one is your support system at home, which is incredibly valuable. Shout out to your husband; I don’t know if he’s around. And then the culture, like, feeling supported. Teachers, you know—and it’s not just in education, but people, I’ve experienced—will work harder, longer, be more committed, when they have that intangible. When they feel like they’re connected to something bigger than them. Or on a team, not in a silo. And one person can really create or break whether that happens. And just like us in the classroom as a teacher, right? Like, “What makes you like this teacher’s class?” “Well, I feel connected. I feel safe. I feel it’s fun. It’s the culture!” I like to end with asking this question and you kind of alluded to an answer earlier, but who is one, or it could be multiple teachers, that you’ve had in your own life as a kid growing up or young person in kindergarten through 12th grade, could even be college, that has inspired you? Or made a difference in your life one way or another? Like, who pops out? I feel like we all have somebody.

Marilyn Dieppa (21:58):
One was my second grade teacher, as I mentioned before. Mr. Fernandez, never forget him. And my other teacher was my high school teacher, Mr. Velazquez. It was in New Jersey as well. And he was the one that really got me into the love of writing. He was my Spanish teacher, actually. He wasn’t even, you know—he was like an elective teacher. But he just made me believe like, “Wow, you’re like a really good writer!” To me, those two gentlemen really stood out. Very fond memories of being in school and really enjoying what I was doing.

Eric Cross (22:33):
There are so many teachers that we all have been impacted by. And many of us now who are teachers, we sit in that same seat. We fill those same shoes. And going back to what you had said earlier, one of the most rewarding things is when those kids come back to you. And I’m thinking about all the work that you’ve done, all the students you’ve poured into, all the competitions you’ve done. The ones that have come back to you are a small fragment of the ones that you’ve impacted.

Marilyn Dieppa (22:59):
Mm-hmm, yeah.

Eric Cross (23:00):
‘Cause we think about our own story, right? Like you’ve gone on and paid dividends for that one teacher in second grade. You know, Mr. Fernandez or Mr. Velasquez like, they went and they just gave you exposure to something or helped you fall in love with something. And you went on this trajectory. And if we could see the timeline of, like, this teacher created Marilyn, and Marilyn went and did this, and then what do all those students do? And that, I don’t know, there’s so many jobs that are gonna be hard work and that are gonna be challenging and stressful. But that is the thing that I think fills me when I listen to your story. I just think about like all the students throughout Florida that you have—you probably will never hear from, but have gone on to do amazing things or become great people who would go back and talk about you and say you were an inspiration for them. Marilyn, thank you for taking the time out to be on the podcast and for not only teaching students, but inspiring and coaching younger teachers and new teachers. It’s so critical. And for being willing to spend so much of your time beyond the classroom to create these opportunities for students to do this awesome, fun, engaging science, and go to Worlds. I wish you a great school year.

Marilyn Dieppa (24:11):
Thank you. You too.

Eric Cross (24:12):
We hope you make it to Worlds again and crush, in a competitive, collaborative type of environment. We’ll be checking out—I’m sure other teachers will check out Vex Robotics. Thanks for being on the podcast.

Marilyn Dieppa (24:23):
Thank you. You too, Eric.

Eric Cross (24:26):
Thanks so much for listening. Now we want to hear more about you. Do you have any educators who inspire you? You can nominate them as a future guest on Science Connections by emailing STEM@amplify.com. That’s S T E M at amplifycom.wpengine.com. Make sure to click subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. And join our Facebook group, Science Connections: The Community. Until next time.

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What Marilyn Dieppa says about science

“I think as science teachers, we’re afraid of failing and not trying something new, and I say, ‘Hey, it’s okay!’ You have to tweak, reflect.”

– Marilyn Dieppa

STEM Academy Coach/Teacher, 2018 Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) Middle School Science Teacher of the Year

Meet the guest

Marilyn Dieppa is a long-time educator and STEM Academy coach at Miami Dade County Public Schools. Currently in her 24th year, Marilyn teaches 8th grade science and coaches the STEM Academy at Bob Graham Education Center. She launched the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Academy during the 2016-2017 school year, and the teams compete in VEX IQ World’s Competition representing both the district and the state. She has been the middle school department chairperson since 2003, attends the district department meetings and Instructional Capacity-building Academy (ICAD), and trains her science department.

Dieppa holds a bachelor of science in Elementary Education and a master of science in reading education. She is also a Nationally Board-Certified Teacher in Science.

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About Science Connections

Welcome to Science Connections! Science is changing before our eyes, now more than ever. So…how do we help kids figure that out? We will bring on educators, scientists, and more to discuss the importance of high-quality science instruction. In this episode, hear from our host Eric Cross about his work engaging students as a K-8 science teacher. Listen here!

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Weaving Literacy Instruction Into the Science Classroom to Accelerate Learning

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This site will keep you informed on available professional development opportunities and provide access to resources and videos in support of a seamless implementation throughout the school year.

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Program-agnostic sessions will set up educators for success in areas such as the Science of Reading and/or problem-based approaches to math. Program-aligned packages will support those who are new to Amplify’s programs. Program-aligned packages will support those who have experience using Amplify’s programs. Offerings will support advanced implementation, build capacity for instructional leaders, certify in-house trainers to deliver Launch sessions, and more.

Significant, lasting change is more likely when you take a systemic approach. Partner with us to do just that by developing a professional development plan that will drive your program implementation, enrich your instructional practices, and increase student impact. Begin and Practice packages are available for assessment programs, while tiered sessions are available for intervention programs.

With a range of unique packages for each phase of implementation, professional learning sessions are strategically bundled for multiple touch points throughout the year. High-quality sessions set you up for success with Amplify programs—whether you’re years into using them or just starting.

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Launch sessions

Recommended timing: Beginning-of-year

Propel your teachers into the new school year with sessions that introduce them to their Amplify program and support them in a strong implementation.

  1. mCLASS DIBELS® 8th Edition and/or mCLASS Lectura administration and instruction essentials
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Boost implementation with sessions that target specific instructional practices.

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In partnership with CDE, we’re excited to offer a number of opportunities for Colorado educators in the ELAT (Early Literacy Assessment Tool) Project this school year.

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S1-01: The journey from student to SpaceX engineer: Juan Vivas

Illustration of Earth with text about a podcast episode featuring Juan Vivas, discussing the journey from student to SpaceX engineer. Includes a photo of a smiling person in a suit.

In this episode, we join Eric Cross as he talks to supply chain engineer Juan Vivas of SpaceX about his experiences growing up as a Latino in STEM. Juan shares his story of moving to the United States to study engineering and becoming successful in his career as a scientist. Juan openly discusses the experiences that made a difference in his life and the teachers that inspired him along the way. He also shares his experience as an engineer in different fields, as well as what it’s like to work in the supply chain during COVID.

Explore more from Science Connections by visiting our main page.

Download Transcript

Juan Vivas (00:00):

But to me, based on my experience so far, I think the best way to put it: An engineer is a technical problem-solver.

Eric Cross (00:28):

Welcome to Science Connections. I’m your host, Eric Cross. My guest today is Juan Vivas. Juan is a supply chain engineer for SpaceX. His career in STEM has pivoted from chemical engineering to working on foods like Cinnamon Toast Crunch to his current role at SpaceX, where he’s responsible for his work on Starlink, a technology that uses low-orbit satellites to provide internet access across the world. In this episode, Juan shares his story of how he became an engineer and how a thoughtful teacher used robotics to inspire him. I hope you enjoy this great conversation with Juan Vivas. Juan, thanks for being here.

Juan Vivas (01:14):

Yeah, yeah, of course! Super-excited to be here.

Eric Cross (01:19):

Hey, and starting off, I kind of like to ask your origin story. We were talking earlier about Marvel, and your journey of one working for…what I consider the closest thing that we have to SHIELD in the Marvel stories is SpaceX. Like with my own students, we talk about SpaceX like it’s a fictional thing, and we watch the rocket launches together and we watch the recovery and it’s so cool.

Juan Vivas (01:45):

Yeah.

Eric Cross (01:46):

And so when I knew that we were gonna be able to talk to you, I was excited. Like, I felt like I was a kid.

Juan Vivas (01:51):

<Laugh>

Eric Cross (01:51):

So I’d love to hear your origin story of you ultimately landing at SpaceX. And begin wherever kind of seems most natural to you.

Juan Vivas (01:59):

Yeah, yeah, of course. You know, I wasn’t one of those kids at from a young age I said “Oh, I’m gonna be an engineer.” Right? “I want to go and build all these things.” Where I grew up, and the social circle that I had, a lot of people were like doctors or lawyers. Just figured, you know, I’ll go to med school and go down the same path that 90% of like everyone else was gonna take. But in high school, I actually got into robotics. And, kind of like I mentioned, I wanted to do med school, that is what I figured I would end up doing. And then I got into robotics in high school. And I think that was what really kind of like changed my perspective of what I wanted to do, because basically these competitions were just—it was full-on driven by students. So we designed, programmed, and manufactured, like, the entire robot itself. And so through that I ended up doing a summer engineering program at the University of Maryland, the summer before going into my senior year in high school. And there we worked on a competition with underwater robots. And so we spent the entire summer, kind of similar scenario, designing a robot, manufacturing it, programming it. And then in the end it was like a competition in the buoyancy tank with different teams. And, you know, I think one thing that was really neat about that experience is that I got to hear Dr. John C. Mathers, who is a Nobel Prize physicist, speak to us in a room with, like, only 10 high school students. And just hearing his experience of where he started and the accomplishment that he’s been able to do, down in the STEM path, was really neat. And that summer was my final decision that I’m “OK, I know I want to be an engineer.” What’s interesting is I ended up choosing chemical engineering, instead of mechanical, which a lot of people, you know, based on all the experience that led me up to be an engineer, they asked me why I didn’t choose mechanical engineering. And I think one of the reasons why I chose chemical engineering is it’s very process-based. So one thing needs to happen, and there’s different inputs to that one step, and that step has an end-to-end reaction to it, right? So certain things need to happen in step one in order for step two to occur. And however the inputs happen in step one, it’s gonna affect the rest of the process. Honestly, very different than what I thought it was really gonna be. But what’s neat about chemical engineering is that it’s one of the most versatile engineering majors that you can have. Chemical engineering, because you work with a lot of process bases. Everything has a process, right? Everything needs to start with step one, and with, you know, step 10, whatever. And it’s all about optimization and improvement along those processes. So you can really take chemical engineering principles and apply ’em to different areas of a career, which is essentially the experience that I had in college. I had three internships with Dow Chemical where I did environmental health and safety, production, and supply-chain improvement. I then did research and development with Clorox. And then I did manufacturing engineering with General Mills. So really different job roles, different aspects, but same methodology applied.

Eric Cross (05:36):

I feel like there’s so much that you just said, <laugh> and I was trying to always, “I wanna ask him about that!” And in there, what I heard was there was a real pivotable, pivot moment in your life. Was the club…or was it a club, the robotics program? Or was that a class?

Juan Vivas (05:53):

You know, it was actually…it was VEX Robotics, specifically.

Eric Cross (05:56):

It was VEX! OK. Yeah, yeah. Really popular. And they still have it; I think we actually have some downstairs. So it was a club, and not necessarily a formal environment, where you were able to build. And it’s both collaborative and competitive, right? Like, there’s both aspects.

Juan Vivas (06:11):

Yep. Yep.

Eric Cross (06:11):

And, and then you had access to one of the only two facilities in the country that have these…were they buoyancy tanks?

Juan Vivas (06:20):

Buoyancy tanks, yep.

Eric Cross (06:21):

And there’s this book, Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, and then another similar book called Balance. It talks about how some of these innovators, like Steve Jobs and, and Bill Gates, they had access to things that other people didn’t. So, like, Bill Gates, I think at the University of Washington, had a computer that, you know, no one else did. And Jobs had one at, like, Hewlett-Packard. So it gave you this awesome headstart, where you’re able to test things in a real-life environment that kind of transfers into real-world skills. And then a few internships, so like, internships and mentors. So you had these people in the industry or people who were front-runners that were able to pour into you and give you these opportunities. And so it’s really neat to see how a program that starts as a club, kind of a competitive thing that introduced you to it and hooked you, then led to unfolding all of these opportunities that ultimately led you up to being here. And there’s one part—in looking at your LinkedIn profile, there’s a couple of really cool things that stand out. There’s a lot of cool things, but there’s two that really stood out. So one, working at SpaceX, and we’ll talk more about that, but I wanna go to General Mills and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Because Cinnamon Toast Crunch is amazing.

Juan Vivas (07:39):

Yeah.

Eric Cross (07:39):

And you were part of the supply chain for that. In my head, I’m thinking, OK, like, what is he like responsible for? Like, getting the cinnamon and sugar?

Juan Vivas (07:51):

<Laugh>

Eric Cross (07:51):

What was, what did your job entail, when you were running that?

Juan Vivas (07:55):

There, I didn’t even know what I was gonna be doing until my first day. It was just, whatever the business need is, that’s where you’re gonna be put. So this was actually a high-priority plan for General Mills. And the production line that made Cinnamon Toast Crunch was split up into processes. So you have, they call it the process-process side, which is like literally raw materials, like making the cereal from scratch, baking it, adding the sugar, and then sending it to be packaged. And then you have the packaging-process side. so I was then placed as a packaging process lead, for the packaging side of that production line. So I was accountable for two packaging lines that packed out Cinnamon Toast Crunch. And that is where—that was actually my first real, you know, call it “real job,” like graduated college, going straight into the industry. I was a process lead for the packaging side of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Eric Cross (08:54):

So you went from cereal to rockets, <laugh>, which which is an amazing trajectory to have.

Juan Vivas (09:03):

Yeah. Yeah.

Eric Cross (09:04):

And when you kind of mentioned, back in your story about medical school, and, you know, it’s kinda like, what you see people doing, and you’re “OK, this is what I think I wanna do.” And then we have a perception in our mind about what a certain job’s gonna be like. And then reality hits. I think a lot of—when I ask my students, “What do you wanna do?” They think, like, “lawyer!” and when they think “lawyer!” they’re like, “I’m good at arguing!” Right? And until they find—until they talk to some lawyers and they find out like what that career can look like.

Juan Vivas (09:28):

Yeah.

Eric Cross (09:28):

You’re not just in the courtroom showing off your arguing skills. But, like, an engineer, when I talk to my students about what does it mean to be an engineer, often it’s very linear. It’s “I build bridges,” or, you know, maybe cars, but you’re a supply chain engineer. And, and that’s something that I think, now more than ever, it’s probably an incredibly critical role, especially considering that all of these supply constraints. Can you—what is a supply chain engineer? And what does it look like in your day-to-day? How is engineering rolled into that?

Juan Vivas (10:03):

Yeah, yeah. I think that’s an excellent question. I, too, once thought that engineering was just “I’m gonna be actually making something physical,” and like being super engineer-y about it. But, to me, based on my experience so far, I think the best way to put it: An engineer is a technical problem solver. As a supply chain engineer, specifically right now in my role at SpaceX…you know, as you can guess, the supply chain in the entire world is crazy. There’s no raw materials anywhere, and nothing can ever get on time. And so what I work on is I help our suppliers develop processes to meet the design criteria that we set up for like a specific part. As my job as a supply chain engineer, it’s “Can I take this design and make it manufacturable?” Right? “Can I go to any supplier and can they actually make this to the tolerance that the design engineer set them to be?” Nine out of 10 cases, the answer is no, essentially, is the best high-level way to put it.

Eric Cross (11:10):

When you’re solving these problems, is it this iterative process of going back and forth? Or is it just this aha-moment when you finally figure things out? ‘Cause I imagine they’re coming up with a design; you’re going back and saying, “Can this be manufactured?” or “Can it be done?” They’re saying no 90% of the time. And then are you the one responsible for kind of iterating on this, or changing it and then going back to them and telling them, asking them, until you get a yes? Is that—

Juan Vivas (11:33):

Yep. Yep, yep. Exactly. So we go through a process called Design for Manufacturing, DFMing. And where I essentially take, you know, the design engineer’s proposal, and then I have conversations with the suppliers, and then, that’s where the iteration begins. Where we go back and forth, back and forth, until we kind of meet in the middle to have something that can be manufacturable. Most of the times, in my experience, suppliers will always tell you no, just because they always want something that is manufactured really easily. And so you just gotta learn through experience. Like, when are they actually telling you something that’s a fact, versus when they’re just trying to you know, get out of a tolerance, or that “all right, all right, they mentioned that would just like make their jobs a little bit more difficult.”

Eric Cross (12:17):

So I’m hearing like there’s soft skills that are woven into the technical skills that you also need to be able to have.

Juan Vivas (12:23):

Oh, yes, absolutely. Yeah. I think, you know, as an engineer—and this is something, again, that I feel like you can only learn through experience—you’re gonna see that it’s not just you working to solve this one problem. Especially for a supply chain engineer. You’re talking with marketing; you’re talking with an industrial design team; you’re talking with logistics; you’re talking with procurement, materials management—just a whole set of people that don’t necessarily have technical background. Right? So sometimes, depending on the audience that I’m targeting, I’m always very, very peculiar on what is my target audience, right? How can I—how deep in my technical knowledge do I need to go? Because if I just, you know, talk straight Engineer, they either don’t care or they’re gonna be really confused about what I’m saying. So there is a stronghold of soft skills that definitely go into engineering, which I think are really important to communicate, you know, to, let’s say, students that are really interested in engineering. So you can be extremely smart and intelligent and really good at problem-solving, but if you don’t have those soft skills that you apply in the real world—’cause in the real world, you’re never only gonna be working with engineers, no matter like where you’re at—so having those soft skills to be able to manage with different backgrounds and different sort of people and different ways of thinking, it’s, I feel, really critical, for, for an engineer in the real world.

Eric Cross (13:50):

No, I think that’s a great point. It reminds me of teaching! And so many other professions where your ultimate goal is to really pour into this person in front of you and help develop them and create a sense of inquiry and wonder and personal growth and inspiration. But you’re also working within constraints and people and relationships. You know, you have your other teachers, you have parents, you have administrators, you have a district, you have communities, stakeholders. You have all of these different dynamics that you have to kind of navigate in order to ultimately help this child thrive. Versus just, like, being in the classroom: “OK, I just got <laugh>, the hundred or 200 students, just you and me. That’s it.” But that’s not the real world. And there’s this report that came out, I think Google ran it, Project Oxygen and Project Aristotle, and they asked the question, “What are the most effective traits of a good team and a manager?” And the top seven skills were all soft skills. So it is like exactly what you’re saying, where, yeah, it’s great that you have this technical aptitude, but if you’re not able to work with other people, problem-solve together, work with people of different backgrounds and perspectives, then you’re gonna run into some roadblocks. And that kind of dovetails, like, looking at things like if you looked at education from the perspective of an engineer. So you’re all about optimizing, right? Optimizing, working with what you got. When you look at education, are there any things that you would optimize to help improve the experience of students? Like, looking back, that you would fine-tune, that you think could provide better outcomes in the classroom?

Juan Vivas (15:28):

You know, I feel…I don’t know. Obviously I’m not a teacher. And I’m sure teachers just have so much stuff going on. But I think just like, finding…giving a chance to those students that you see a lot of potential in and really taking the time to mold them. You know, I did have a teacher who was able to mold me and give me that kind of one-on-one personal experience, right? I think honestly to me it just comes down to mentorship, and motivating students on what, you know, they’re passionate for. Like, putting them in front of engineers, right? Like finding engineers to come volunteer and explain to them. I genuinely believe it just takes one spark to really get a student on a trajectory where they can make an impact in the future. So to me, it comes down to, really, exposure. How much are you really exposing your students to…you know what, something I’ve learned, when I joined SpaceX, is that Elon doesn’t believe—well, you know, there there’s a lot of things that Elon believes and not believes in; there’s a whole different type of conversation!—but he doesn’t think that you can just take a curriculum, let’s say, and just apply it massively to everyone and expect like everyone to be it. That’s just naturally not how it works, right? Students learn at different paces; they have different sort of interests. This is actually why he created his own school for his kids in LA, called Ad Astra. You know, if you take that mentality, what that school is doing is that they’re working at the students’ pace and at the student’s interests, right? And I actually have a coworker who has his kids in that school. And I mean, these are one of the most brilliant kids I’ve ever known. Like, they are taking differential equations in the eighth grade. And I didn’t know what differential equations was until I was in college already and they told me, “This is a class you have to take.” <Laugh>. But it’s finding that crossway where, where is the curiosity of the student? What are they really interested in? and exposing them to that.

Eric Cross (17:51):

Yeah. And what I’m hearing of that is, in teacher-speak, a lot of personalized learning. Like you were talking about…is it Ad Astra?

Juan Vivas (17:59):

Ad Astra? Yep.

Eric Cross (18:01):

Ad Astra. You know, every student learns in their own way and they develop knowledge in their own way. And being able to personalize learning according to the students’ abilities and needs, and then accelerate or slow down, really produces some amazing effects. I know this is something that we as teachers try to do with the classroom. Scaling it is the challenge. But it’s great because even with people who are in charge of policy or people who have decision-making ability, hearing people from the top down saying, “Hey, look, this is what worked for me. This is how I was able to become successful. I had a teacher that was able to be a mentor to me because they knew me, they had a relationship with me, they were able to tap into my passions and use those passions to drive me to do or put me in programs that I might not have known about because they, they knew who I was.” And it’s not one-size-fits-all for everyone. So having—maybe it’s curriculum or learning experiences that are kind of modular, where students are able to maybe try on different things and get that exposure, I’m a big, big believer, like you are, in mentorship. That was a huge, huge thing in my life. Having mentors. It’s the reason why I became a science teacher. In seventh grade, I had a mentor who had us doing college-level science, you know, at UC San Diego. And it completely changed the trajectory of my life, in a direction that I wouldn’t have had without him. So I think that’s great. And it’s something that we as teachers would appreciate hearing. Going back to what you said…earlier you said your wife is a supply chain engineer as well. And so that means that there’s two people who are process-minded in the household. And this is kind of a lighter question, but I gotta wonder, do you have the most optimized flow for grocery shopping? <Laugh> Because…

Juan Vivas (19:49):

Yeah, I think we don’t spend more than like 20 minutes at a grocery store. Mind you, we only shop at Trader Joe’s and we have a very specific list before going in. And if you ever shop at Trader Joe’s, you just know where everything is ’cause it’s always there and it’s small, right? But yeah, like we’re, we’re in and out in like 15, 20 minutes. It’s great.

Eric Cross (20:11):

I love it. I love it. I feel like I’m that way by design. I go in with a purpose and this is exactly what I want. I know where the cookie butter is, <laugh>, I know where my coffee is, and then, OK, I’m in and out. Apple Pay or whatever I’m using. And then we’re good to go. Do you think…so as someone listening to this or some people even just becoming aware of supply chain engineering, what advice would you give someone that’s interested in pursuing this career path? If you maybe reverse-engineered your process, knowing what you know now, you were gonna give advice, you were that mentor, what are just some kind of tips or ideas or thoughts or trajectories that you’d think that they should aim for? I’m assuming like robotics….

Juan Vivas (20:56):

Yeah. You know, I think I would say definitely finding some sort of program that exposes you to a lot of things that you won’t be exposed to, like on a day-to-day basis, or something that you just can’t be exposed to naturally at school. And mentorship, honestly. I was born in Colombia and my parents were both—they’re still both professionals, but they were both professionals in Colombia. And when we moved to this country, this was like December of 1999. My parents started from scratch, and so they didn’t really grow up in the States, right? So when it was my time to go to college and do all of this stuff, it was just like me on my own figuring this stuff out. And, you know, they definitely made some mistakes when it came to college applications and whatnot. But once I was in college, I knew that the best way for my success was gonna be through mentorship. And that’s when I joined the, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, which is a nationwide organization. And each college, well, most college campuses, have their own chapter. In joining that, I was exposed to resume workshops, mock interviews—basically how do you even talk to a recruiter? Which is so critical, right? And personally that that organization was really what molded my actual professional career.

Eric Cross (22:19):

There’s this theme that I’m hearing, kind of weaving through this. And in addition to—as we’re talking about STEM and technical skills, in addition to that, there’s this thread that I’m receiving of…being able to form relationships with other people, for our students, is an important skill to teach and should be taught explicitly. Which isn’t…it’s not really a curriculum, right? Like, you don’t get tested on your ability to….conflict resolution or how to write an email or how to develop a relationship. And then the other part in I think what you just said is the aspect of community. Through this organization, you learned kind of some of these hidden rules, maybe I would call it.

Juan Vivas (23:04):

Yep.

Eric Cross (23:04):

It’s not that you didn’t have the…you had the aptitude. You had the drive. But there were these kind of hidden rules, and from moving to the US, you needed a community to be able to show you, so that you can kind of go through the proper steps.

Juan Vivas (23:16):

Exactly.

Eric Cross (23:17):

And so that created a lot of value for you.

Juan Vivas (23:19):

Yep.

Eric Cross (23:20):

Well, the last question that I have is, is just kind of a wondering. You have this awesome story, and the story continues to unfold. I gotta say, <laugh> I’m gonna be following your LinkedIn profile, because I think you just have kind of the coolest trajectory of going from, you know, General Mills, working in chemical engineering, and then ultimately it’s SpaceX. And every time I see the rocket taking off and landing, I’m gonna be thinking, thinking about you. So cool!

Juan Vivas (23:47):

Yeah. Yeah.

Eric Cross (23:49):

And personally, I have a hope that one day, one of my students will be at a company, you know, like SpaceX or Tesla or wherever, and one day I get to interview them and talk to them and see what they say. But the last question I want to ask is, is there, is there a teacher who inspired you, or a memorable experience that you have that made an impact on you?

Juan Vivas (24:16):

Yeah, yeah, of course. It was kind of you know, middle school going into high school. The way my school worked, everything was divided from pre-kindergarten, whatever, first to sixth grade, and then seventh grade to 12th grade. So I had a high school science teacher, Ms. Brown, Ms. Velda Brown, who, came from a small little island town on the east coast of Canada. Somehow landed, in the high school that I went to, to teach science. Going back to the beginning of the story where I mentioned that I figured whatever, I’ll go to med school. I played soccer, basketball, and, you know, I said, “I’ll figure it out once I graduate.” It might have been like life science in the eighth grade or something like that. But then she went on to teach me chemistry and physics as well. And when I was in the 10th grade, she approached me and she asked me if I wanted to join the robotics club. And I remember saying robotics? I don’t know. You know, naturally, in school, it’s different sorts of crowds: people that play sports and people that are like in like STEM clubs or whatever. And I was, “Ah, I don’t know; I don’t know how I feel about robotics; not really my thing….” But somehow she convinced me to join robotics. It’s me, coming into this group of kids that already knew each other, and they were all working on robotics. And I’m, “Yeah, I mean, I guess I’m just here to try this thing out.” It was a thing where we met every single Saturday at like seven in the morning. And there were times where I literally had to choose, “Do I go to like a soccer game or do I go to you help my team with robotics?” And I completely loved it. Like, I fell in love with the aspect of building something from scratch, and just making it operative. And she ended up just being a huge mentor for me in high school, actually. With her, with the help of her, I ended up opening the robotics club at my school. And before I left, we opened it up to middle schoolers. And then, you know, later, years later down the road when I was in college, I found out that it was now a whole-school thing. So there was an elementary robotics club at the school, the middle school one, and then the high school one were still a thing like years after I left. And that was like just so amazing to hear. But yeah, it was Ms. Velda Brown, my high school science teacher, that really took her time to mold me and get me into robotics, and really mentor me. And honestly, I’m sure you as teachers, you guys probably hear about it a lot, but you can have a lot of power in shaping a kid by just telling—believing in them, right? She believed in me so much that I would go on to be a successful engineer. And I’m. “OK, yeah, yeah, you’re just saying it.” But she spoke life into her students up to this day. I still speak about it with my wife, and when I’m in conversations about this, that if it wasn’t for my high school science teacher, I would not—well, no, I would probably not be an engineer right now.

Eric Cross (27:38):

Wow. Shout out to Ms. Velda Brown <laugh>. Would you say she spoke…I think one thing that just resonated with me is when you said she “spoke life” into you.

Juan Vivas (27:46):

Yeah.

Eric Cross (27:46):

That was really powerful. And I think we as teachers have that power and we don’t realize it. Because, you know, we get so we’re so familiar and living day-to-day, but we do have the power of life, speaking life, into our young people. And, yeah, that was—

Juan Vivas (28:03):

Absolutely, yeah. You know, I think obviously people grew up with different backgrounds, different communities, life situations, right? So imagine having like a student that is similar in that environment and then they just hear someone at their school, like, “Hey, you’re really good at this. why don’t you consider doing this?” And that’s when I feel teachers have that power. Where like they don’t necessarily know the background, but they can make that opportunity, or make that decision in the moment, to really shape a student’s life.

Eric Cross (28:37):

And we need to hear that. And I think, I hope that other teachers listening to this will be reminded that many times we don’t get to reap the harvest. We don’t get to see the <laugh> Juan Vivases at SpaceX. They just kind of go, and they disappear, and we hope for the best, and we get a new group. But every once in a while they come back, and we get to see what our watering or seed-planting was able to produce. And so, just know that you sharing your story for educators, and for definitely Ms. Brown, makes a huge difference and is a huge encouragement. So.

Juan Vivas (29:11):

You know, I think we touched on earlier, you know, how do I end up going from cereal to rockets, right? And I think it ties along with what I mentioned earlier of just taking—as an engineer, you’re really a critical problem solver, right? And you think that methodology. And if you find a way, you can apply it to different sectors. When I was doing a lot of like the packaging process stuff at General Mills, being a lead on a high-volume manufacturing line, what I do for SpaceX specifically, right now, I’m actually on the Starlink project. So if you’re up to date with Starlink, it’s, it’s essentially high reliable, fast internet that we’re providing to areas where usually people don’t have access to internet, right? Or maybe they do, but it’s extremely expensive. Because to an internet provider company, the benefit is not there, if they extend an entire internet fiber line out to their place because it’s only directed to them, right? So that’s, that’s essentially what Starlink is trying to solve. And this is the first time that SpaceX is facing a consumer packaging scenario. Before it was just rockets. And now they’re selling a product to consumers. They had never done that before, especially in a high-volume manufacturing setting. And so I am the supplier development engineer for all the consumer-facing packaging for the Starlink product itself. And that’s essentially how all those thoughts connected, where I had this experience coming from General Mills and packaging high-volume manufacturing. And then when Starlink started, they’re all, “Right, well, who knows anything about packaging?” Right? “We know so much about rockets, we need someone with this technical background.” And that’s essentially how I bridge over to SpaceX.

Eric Cross (31:11):

And so while you’re working at SpaceX, you’re working on Starlink, which I know you mentioned that—you said that it’s providing internet globally, which in and of itself, we—especially those of us that live in major cities—we kind of take for granted. Internet is like a utility. But we don’t maybe realize that in many parts of the world, internet is not reliable or even accessible.

Juan Vivas (31:33):

Right. Right.

Eric Cross (31:34):

I see every once in a while, I think, the StarlinK satellites sometimes are visible?

Juan Vivas (31:38):

Yep.

Eric Cross (31:39):

Low orbit?

Juan Vivas (31:39):

Yeah. Yeah. You can go—they’ll kind of be like a little train of bright stars that move along together. Yep.

Eric Cross (31:46):

And that must—that must feel…I mean, we all have jobs and we’re all doing different things, but you’re working on a project and you’re engineering something that actually can provide a lot of opportunities or close a gap in some parts of the world where they don’t have access to internet. They’re gonna be able to have access and be connected all over. I dunno, the word would be “existential.” Existential value. Like, what you’re doing is actually providing a service for people. Humanity. Like, addressing a critical need in many, many places around the world.

Juan Vivas (32:26):

Yeah. We’ve had stories where we have sent Starlink kids to a small school in a village in rural Chile, right in South America. And for the first time ever, they’ve had internet. We have supported disaster relief in Europe. I think this past summer, Europe had really bad floods. We sent Starlink kits out there. You know, the vision of working at an Elon Musk company and SpaceX and Starlink—this is all stuff that is being done for the first time in history. We have never, ever done anything like this before until now. And to be able to provide those that don’t have the access to—to your point, it’s kind of wild, right? Like we, we just take it for granted. “Oh yeah, I just have internet. Let me log on.” There are people on Earth right now that have never been on the internet. Or don’t even know what the internet is. And that’s essentially the, the gap that Startlink is starting to close.

Eric Cross (33:26):

Yeah. We think about that while my students are doing TikTok dances. <Laugh> And there are people who, you know, never, never been connected. And, it kind of makes me more like, just inside, if I can ask: What’s it like working at SpaceX? I showed my students what it’s like working at some of the Silicon Valley companies. ‘Cause just to show them there’s slides and food and, you know, they kind developed this ecosystem inside so that it’s really kind of homey to kind of keep you there, you know. When you’re working and there’s bikes and things like that. And that’s a very Silicon Valley type of thing. But, you know, in listening to you talk about SpaceX and Elon, you know, you’re with a really visionary kind of company, and when I hear you talk about it, there’s I can hear this passion, this, “we’re doing something.” Is that culture, like, pervasive everywhere? Are you around folks that kind of are on that same wavelength? Because I definitely get it from you as you talk about what you do.

Juan Vivas (34:28):

Yeah, yeah. Definitely. I think, as an engineer, you know, going to SpaceX and working at SpaceX, it’s essentially—personally, I believe right now in the US it’s like the mecca of engineering, right? Like, it is where engineering in this most, you know, shape and manner, it’s being applied. I think what’s really interesting is that the way that Elon looks at it is just iterate, and iterate fast, right? Like, fail and fail fast. I think as an engineer, you always want to have things perfect, right? And so you spend a lot of time in making a decision or investigating something or whatever. And working at SpaceX is the complete opposite. It’s just you know, “Assume, state your assumptions—like, what are you assuming right now? What are the risk at it? And just make a decision and then see what the result is.” You know, so it’s an environment where you learn, really quick.

Eric Cross (35:28):

You said something that I think was powerful and I hope, I think <laugh>, this is definitely, I’m gonna get a clip of this <laugh> of you saying it. Because it speaks directly to, I think, what a lot of students struggle with in the classroom, is there’s this competition or feeling that you always need to be right. And you need to be right the first try, on the first time. And a lot of times it’s because students will compare themselves to each other, or there’s a tremendous amount of pressure to be successful. But you said, “Fail and fail fast, iterate, state your assumptions.” And it sounds like this critical part of being an engineer or in what you do, like there’s no room for ego or attaching your identity or your sense of value or worth or ability to whether you’re able to solve a problem in the first try.

Juan Vivas (36:13):

Yep.

Eric Cross (36:14):

Like, you have to be OK with the cycle, is kind of what I’m hearing from you. Is that, is that right?

Juan Vivas (36:19):

Yep. Exactly. It only took six months to develop the product from scratch and launch it to the public, which is insane. Nowhere in the world will any company ever iterate that fast and come up with a brand-new project. But it’s because of that mentality—like you’re saying, it’s not about like just trying to make it perfect and have all this information. And I think Elon has learned this personally, you know, through Tesla and the beginning of SpaceX. It’s, “I can wait to have all this information, and most likely I’m still gonna be wrong after I make the decision.” So it’s, “Might as well take the risk, do the decision, and then just see where you learn from it, right?” And then you keep applying that, applying that. So it’s like you iterate, iterate, iterate, iterate until you get what you want.

Eric Cross (37:00):

I think this is even, like, great advice. I’m taking this personally because I get paralysis by analysis <laugh>.

Juan Vivas (37:06):

Yep.

Eric Cross (37:07):

You know, I’ll research something to death but then not actually execute. Like, I need to make a decision and do it and then course-correct along the way. Somebody once told me it’s a lot easier to turn a moving car than it is a car that’s sitting still. And so as you’re kind of flowing, you’re just making these adjustments along the way until you end up on the path that you want to be. So I think that there’s so many gems in the things that you’re saying right now. What I’m thinking through the lens of my seventh graders that want to work in any STEM field—I mean, really, any field in general, but especially engineering, especially the STEM fields—knowing that, pick it, make a decision, move forward, and then course-correct along the way. That’s what science looks like in the real world.

Juan Vivas (37:49):

Yep. Exactly. Yep. And definitely most important—and I feel like this is sometimes where, not necessarily education in general, but it’s just, we want students to, “OK, you need to get it right the perfect time, right?” But it’s like, every student is gonna think differently. A student is gonna take a different assumption based on their background and experiences. And I mean, you know, we can go a lot deeper in that, but the way a student is shaped, they’re gonna take certain assumptions. So that’s where it gets interesting. OK, why are you assuming that? Where’s your thought process in this?

Eric Cross (38:25):

And we all come from different backgrounds and mindsets and filters and biases that cause us to look at something a certain way. And it’s not just like calling it out, just going, “Hey look, this is what it is.” Like autopsy without blame, this is what I’m working with. Let’s discuss it openly. Right? And if we started that process earlier, you know, younger, in classrooms, we can de-stigmatize the right answer being the best answer more, as opposed to focusing on process as opposed to outcome. And then you kinda get used to wanting to go through the process. I look at it like video games and I talk to my students. I say, “You know, you don’t pick up a video game that’s brand-new and then play it and then you die once and you’re ‘Ah, I’m never gonna play this game again.’ You know, it just doesn’t work that way. You’re going through this iterative process, and no matter what you play, you’re trying things differently. You’re data collecting. And then you’re making new decisions based on the data that you collected.” And for some of my kids, they’ll just raise their hands, say, “No, I just get mad and throw the controller across the room.” <Laugh> But I go, “Yeah, and then you’ll try it again.”

Juan Vivas (39:33):

The best way to know how not to do something is to fail. And so you already…I mean, what is that famous quote? I think that’s why Thomas Edison’s, “Oh, I, did not fail 99 times. Right? I only found 99 times…” I mean, that is that is true. And I feel like at work in a SpaceX, that is something that probably the core of it comes from there. It’s you know, any failure, quote unquote, that you may take it as a failure, it’s really not. You’re just “OK, we, we tried that. It didn’t work. Like what are we gonna do next?” So it’s just like taking that learning and like moving off with it quickly.

Eric Cross (40:09):

I heard a couple of teachers say, “Things fail: First Attempt In Learning: F A I L.” And then another teacher, one of my mentor teachers, she said, “There’s no such thing as failure, just data, in science.”

Juan Vivas (40:20):

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Exactly. Yep.

Eric Cross (40:23):

And so I’ve always taken that to heart. And I share that with my own students, just, “A ‘no,’ a lot of times, will tell you more information than a ‘yes.’” ‘Cause if something works in the first try, you may not exactly know why it worked. It just did.

Juan Vivas (40:34):

Yeah. Yep.

Eric Cross (40:37):

So yeah. Well, I went on your time, brother. Dude. <laugh>. The time flew. It was…

Juan Vivas (40:46):

Yeah.

Eric Cross (40:47):

There were so many things I was trying to write out as you were talking, that I just felt like, “This guy is sharing so many gems!” But yeah, I want to thank you for taking time outta your day and for sharing that information for your passion for what you do. And, I don’t know, I think that students and teachers that listen to this will get an insight from a perspective that really matters. ‘Cause ultimately we’re, we’re trying to really prepare our students for real life. Maybe I’ll email you privately if I order a Tesla, if you can move me higher up the Cybertruck line. <laugh>

Juan Vivas (41:22):

Yeah. No promises.

Eric Cross (41:24):

<laugh>

Juan Vivas (41:25):

Yeah. No, I appreciate you guys having me, having me here, and be able to speak on my experience. And hopefully it sparks a couple, one, even if it’s just one teacher that will spark another student, that is already success there. So.

Eric Cross (41:42):

Well I know, I know what you said resonates with me and it fills my cup. And I’m excited. So I’m already thinking of some ideas of things that I can do, just because of this conversation, and I know other people will as well. And, again, this is Juan Vivas, who’s a supply development engineer at SpaceX. He’s worked at some amazing places. And someone who believes deeply in not only the power of the technical skills, but the heart skills, and how community makes a huge impact in his life. It made a huge impact in him ultimately becoming a scientist, and now working on a project at SpaceX, Starlink, that is going to provide access to the world, to the web. And that’ll ultimately help us solve more problems and innovate and create some solutions that will benefit everybody. Thank you, sir. Appreciate you.

Juan Vivas (42:30):

Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much, Eric. Appreciate it.

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What Juan Vivas says about engineering

“Based on my experience so far, I think the best way to put it… an engineer is a technical problem solver.”

– Juan Vivas

Supplier development engineer, SpaceX

Meet the guest

Juan Vivas is a chemical engineer currently working as a Supplier Development Engineer at SpaceX. Juan got his start at the University of Florida, where he led the Society of Hispanic Engineers (SHPE) as vice president. He’s worked for companies like Clorox, Dow Chemical, and General Mills. Juan lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife and two dogs.

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About Science Connections: The podcast

Welcome to Science Connections: The Podcast! Science is changing before our eyes, now more than ever. So…how do we help kids figure that out? We will bring on educators, scientists, and more to discuss the importance of high-quality science instruction. In this episode, hear from our host Eric Cross about his work engaging students as a K-8 science teacher.

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S1-08: The importance of risk-taking in the science classroom, a conversation with Valeria Rodriguez

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In this episode, our host Eric Cross sits down with Miami-based educator Valeria Rodriguez. Valeria shares her journey of serving in the Peace Corps, working a corporate job, and eventually finding her passion as a middle-school science teacher. Listen in as Valeria explains how sketchnoting, a form of note-taking that utilizes illustrations, encourages student choice and creativity in her classroom. Eric and Valeria also discuss the importance of risk-taking within the science classroom, and how their own mistakes can be crucial in modeling resilience for students. Lastly, Valeria shares experiences she had with several teachers who inspired her throughout her career. Explore more from Science Connections by visiting our main page.

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Valeria Rodriguez (00:00):

There’s so many things that drawing to me makes an essential connection to. It tells me no matter what, I can continue placing lines on my paper and creating the image I want. Some people will say they messed up the drawing. You know what? They gave it character.

Eric Cross (00:19):

Welcome to Science Connections. I’m your host, Eric Cross. My guest today is Valeria Rodriguez. Valeria is a science educator, instructional technologist, and illustrator, who is currently part of a steam team where she teaches third through fifth graders in Miami, Florida. Valeria has presented and led workshops at education conferences like NSTA, ISTI, and SXSWEdu. In this episode, we discuss how she uses real-world projects to make lessons more meaningful, and why teaching students how to sketchnote increases their conceptual understanding in science. I hope you enjoy this pun-filled conversation with Valeria Rodriguez.

New Speaker (00:58):

Now you’re in Miami and you have a biology background. We’re like kindred spirits. Like we do the same thing. I teach biology here in San Diego at a middle school called Albert Einstein Academy. So I’m in a seventh grade classroom teaching life science.

Valeria Rodriguez (01:11):

That’s so cool. That’s how I started.

Eric Cross (01:13):

Is it?

Valeria Rodriguez (01:13):

Mm-Hmm <affirmative> I started teaching middle school science for seven years, doing life science in my biology background.

Eric Cross (01:20):

How’d you get started? Like where did you kind of begin?

Valeria Rodriguez (01:22):

Well, I went to UF for undergrad as a runner, and I thought I was gonna go to the Olympics, but you know, running in college is hard. And you quickly like realize a path as a full-time athlete is really hard. And one of the days that I was having one of those, like “come Jesus moments” of what am I gonna do with my life, I walked by a sign that said life is calling. And I’m like, okay, <laugh>

Eric Cross (01:52):

You literally had a sign.

Valeria Rodriguez (01:53):

There was a sign. So I was like, I’m reading the sign. I’m following the arrows. And it was for the Peace Corps. And so I went to this meeting and everything that I’ve ever done student government, athletics school education, my backgroundmy family’s from Columbia–everything in that meeting came together and they’re like, we need all these skills. And I’m like, I have those. Those are my skills. And they’re like every Peace Corps volunteer teaches. And so I went in as an agriculture volunteer to Panama because of my major and my background in biology. And while I was in the Peace Corps doing the work, I was teaching at the local school. And I realized that the most sustainable way to create any change is through education. When I came back, I was like, well, what do you do if your first job in the world is in the Peace Corps? Like my background was, you know, managing a machete in a field and teaching second through eighth grade in one classroom, on a chalkboard, you know, in English and in Spanish, while teaching the teacher and the students. So I found that going into teaching allowed me to put some of those skills, that wide array of skills that I had collected until that moment, into practice. And it allowed me to do the arts, do the running, do the science, do the connecting with the community in one place here in the states.

Eric Cross (03:34):

I don’t know if I’m just romanticizing, but you were in Panama and you were doing this amazing teaching. I don’t know. Do you compare it to teaching now in the classroom? Is there anything that ever like makes you wish that you were kind of in that environment again? Or are you kind of, do you like the more kind of technology side of things?

Valeria Rodriguez (03:48):

I tell my students all the time that I miss it, because when I was in Panama, I was in Licencia. They looked at me like this, all knowing being. If they couldn’t come to class because the kids literally had to work, they would bring me their assignment, like run it to me and then run back to their parents. Like, “I had to turn it in, but I have to go to work.” And I’m like, oh my gosh. And like here, sometimes I feel like, you know, I have to negotiate and convince my students to want to give me their work. And maybe it’s because we take a lot of things for granted. I mean, I didn’t have running water in my community. Here, you know, we have everything. I miss how we appreciated — like, my parents would send suitcases of materials for me to hand out to my students, like color and stuff, notebooks, things like that — and the kids would like, hold that notebook, like pristine and here sometimes my students aren’t as careful with materials. And I’m like, why are you breaking the crayon box? <Laugh>

Eric Cross (04:54):

I’m thinking about that. Just even just bringing pens and crayons and how that’s valued. And then a culture that’s built around esteeming teachers, and you’re this essential member of the community — and you feel that. It’s palpable.

Valeria Rodriguez (05:08):

Yeah. And here, sometimes I ask students like, what do you wanna be when you grow up? And you get all sorts of answers, but in my community, it’s gonna sound funny, but they were like, we wanna be a teacher. Like, that means that we would know a lot of stuff and they would put their hair up in a bun, ‘cause I always have it in a bun, and they would write stuff when they were playing and they would act me out <laugh> and I’m like, do I, do I do that? <Laugh> I genuinely got a very rich experience in the time that I was there. And what I learned the most was how to try to not do as much, it’s like a lesson that I’m still trying to learn because like I’m here with the U.S. Mentality of go, go, go.

Valeria Rodriguez (05:58):

And they’re like, but we already did, you know, two things like now we stop. And I’m like, but, but why? And they’re like, you can do that tomorrow. And I’m like, but no, like we’re gonna run out of time. For me. It was a lot of struggle of like slow down. And as a teacher, I feel like I’m always like on the treadmill at a thousand speed. And sometimes I have to tell myself like slow down, be in this moment, like a parent texted me today that her daughter was walking with her dad and said, daddy, let’s talk about the layers of the soil. And I was like, I need to stop right now and acknowledge that this happened. She’s in third grade and she’s asking her dad, you know, she could ask him about anything, and she’s asking him about soil. That’s essential for everything. And we don’t even think about soil here. Like my community had tons of erosion and every year there were less and less crops being able to be produced. We’re not talking about that here. And yet, my student asked her dad here in Miami, <laugh> about soil. And that conversation happened because of our class.

Eric Cross (07:03):

And you allowed yourself to be present and experience and feel that that communication came to you.

Valeria Rodriguez (07:09):

Yeah. We put so much stuff out there and we don’t know where it lands. If it lands on dirt or soil, <laugh>

Eric Cross (07:16):

There you go. I like it. Yeah. Bringing it back. But you’re, I think you’re what you’re saying. Resonates with a lot of educators that’ll be listening to this is that there’s so much that you do. And there’s even times when we do get the feedback, there might be a letter or a card or something, but like, to your point, like we look to the next thing instead of stopping, being present and allowing yourself to absorb it. I think I need to put that up on my, like on my wall, like this, just be present. Now you came back and then you went into the classroom here and you started off teaching science.

Valeria Rodriguez (07:46):

I didn’t go straight into the classroom. I knew that I wanted to continue teaching. But I wasn’t back here in Miami. When I moved back, I moved to Austin. And I ended up getting married and there, I started teaching Spanish as a second language like corporate classes. And I was kind of like tiptoeing around, like, do you dive into education? ‘Cause The idea of a teacher here is very different than the teacher idea that I had while in the peace Corps. So he, a lot of people were like, you can do so many things. Why would you teach? And I was like insulted <laugh>. I was like, wait, what do you mean? Like even to this day, I’ve started a blog post, maybe 20 times with that statement because people all the time are like, you’re so talented. Why do you teach? And it drives me crazy because it makes me feel like they’re looking down on my choice <laugh> but I came to terms with it that it’s just like a societal thing. Cause of that quote, like those who can’t do teach. And I was like, let me let this go.

Eric Cross (09:01):

I find though that educators who come in as a second career, come in with a, a, a variety of skill sets that I, I think you can only get when you’re outside of academia. I mean, you can, you can develop them, you know, going kind of K12 education college and then into the classroom. But those soft skills, the business skills, a lot of those things you really develop. And it’s funny ‘cause your, your story almost sounds like some of the people that I know that work in big tech firms, they have this eclectic story and then now they’re, you know, working for Google or Facebook or something, but that actually was a as set to them because they are able to see the world through multiple perspectives. And I’m hearing kind of a distinguish between art of teaching and the science of teaching. Like you had the, maybe the art connecting ideas, these things, and then the science, like the quote unquote like formal teaching. Okay. That had to get built on later. Like am I hearing that right?

Valeria Rodriguez (09:55):

Yeah. The that’s what rocks I’m teaching the rock cycle right now. So I’m, I’m under a lot of heat and pressure <laugh>

Eric Cross (10:02):

We got the funds, we got the funds rolling. All right. All right. So bringing in the, so the, the art side or the science side we have, and then we just have this amazing illustrator. Now you mentioned your website and we’re gonna post it somewhere, but just so we have it here to, and you say, what is your website where all your majors and sketch notes can be found,

Valeria Rodriguez (10:21):

Www dot Valia, sketches.com.

Eric Cross (10:23):

Okay. So folks that are listening, if you wanna check out the art, there’s some awesome stuff on there, as well as Twitter and Instagram. And we’ll make sure we have it handles in the, the bio of the podcast and the notes. Your art’s amazing. I looked, I checked it. I saw inauguration. I saw astronauts. I saw all kinds of different things. How do you use that in the classroom

Valeria Rodriguez (10:45):

To draw connections? The ones? So what I do is I airplay my iPad onto the board. And sometimes as I’m talking, I’ll draw things, draw things I’m saying, or assignments I’ll sketch out different ideas, or maybe like the schedule I’ll have an icon of some sort that represents things. I use it for everything and anything, because just the way that I tell my students that science is everywhere. I, we don’t realize how programmed we are to use images to for, for information they’re in the street. Bathroom signs, we see the zoom little link, like the image, the icon of zoom. And we know that it’s a call the apps. You know, our phone doesn’t have the words for everything that we’re opening. We just have a list of images that represent information. So we’re programs for this. And all I’m doing is showing my students how we’re programmed for it because we’re so used to seeing images, to represent things that we’re taking it for granted again.

Valeria Rodriguez (12:03):

And sometimes my students will like, I’ll write something and I ask them, make your own visual vocabulary. So I give them the word of the definition for every unit, the younger ones, I give them the definition they have to plug in the word and an image, the older ones, I give them the word they have to plug in the definition and an image. But I don’t tell them what to draw because they need to create an image that will help them to remember the definition. Not me. I tell them, I wrote the list. I know the words, you’re the one that needs to think of something that’s going to help you to remember this. You need to draw a connection to this information. Like I use it and I mess up all the time. And I, I scratch things out because I feel that my students or the student that I’ve had in general are risk averse.

Valeria Rodriguez (12:57):

They don’t want to make mistakes. And drawing is one of those things that it taught me that it’s okay to make mistakes. Like people won’t buy commit to buying houses or they won’t commit to things because they’re gonna make a, I’m like, you can sell the house. You can move again. I mean, I’ve lived in a lot of cities. I’ve been married, divorce, gone out with people. It’s worked out it hasn’t you know, there’s, there’s so many things that drawing to me makes an essential connection to <affirmative> that it tells me no matter what I can continue placing lines on my paper and creating the image I want. And if a line doesn’t necessarily go in the direction, I want it to, I can continue shaping it so that the overall image is in the direction I want. And I can look past those line here and there that some people will say they messed up the drawing. You know what? They gave it character. I, I cycle and I have scars everywhere. They give me character and I keep writing. The overall image in my head is I’m a cyclist, not I’m banged up. <Laugh>

Eric Cross (14:14):

I feel like there’s so much to mind in what you just said. This was like a mini-Ted talk. And I couldn’t write fast enough because there were so many gems of the things that you said, but let me say something worse. And this is I’m gonna be surface with this because, and it’s your fault because you got me thinking in puns and you said, take it for granted. And I said, take it for granted because you’re talking about the rock cycle. So that’s what I heard way back. Anyways, you have your students creating what, but it’s low tech, which is really cool because a lot of times we think of creating content and it’s kind of high tech, but they’re creating something. And this is for us, like as biology folks, like you’re using kind of like this neuroscience that exists about students, creating an art to help them learn.

Eric Cross (14:55):

And this is something that I, I feel gets missed a lot in. When we talk about the quote unquote, the formal teacher training is the element of how creating an art can actually lead to improved learning in the classroom. It’s something you have to go to like a conference to kind of go and see or something, but it’s not as, it’s not as pervasive everywhere. And that thing about risk averse. I feel like I, you spoke to my own life. What I see ‘cause with my own seventh graders, I see the same fear or anxiety when I ask them to draw. As I do, when I ask them to give me a hypothesis about a phenomenon that I’m gonna teach and I say, it’s okay to be wrong, but I see them drift to the Chromebook and want to Google it. You know what you just said about just try it and you can always change and giving character, I feel like is just a great message for everybody to hear

Valeria Rodriguez (15:48):

Today. Students made fossil, right? ‘Cause They’re learning about rocks and we made using plaster, but then I put the green screen up and not only did they make it and they excavated them, but then we put it on the green screen. And they’re like all of a sudden at a dig site,

Eric Cross (16:04):

What I’m seeing right now for those of you who are listening is, is students who are on, is this on IMO?

Valeria Rodriguez (16:10):

This is on we video

Eric Cross (16:12):

Video and they’re holding up fossils that they made. But in the background, because there was a green screen, there’s an overlay of like a, a rock dig site. So the students legitimately look like they’re paleontologists or something somewhere.

Valeria Rodriguez (16:24):

Exactly. And so it’s, it’s not just creating lines, right? The sketching transfers to so much be because even the want, not wanting to make a mistake with their fossil. One of the kids today, when he took off the, the Plato, ‘cause we put the Plato at the base. Then we put in either a shell or some sort of artifact that they were going to fossilize. And then we put in the plaster when he took off the Plato, a piece broke off and everybody’s like, I can’t believe you broke your fossil. And I’m like, not the first. Okay. Do you know how many of these guys and girls have been out there? And all of a sudden they find a dinosaur bone and they’re walking and they fall. And this fossil that took billions of years is all of a sudden broken. I’m like this selfie, the original selfies, these animals died in commitment to their selfies.

Valeria Rodriguez (17:19):

And here you are dropping the bone. So they were all laughing, but it was to go away from the fact that, oh my God, you broke it. You made a mistake. You drew the wrong line. You asked the wrong question. Like no big deal. Keep digging, shout out to the teachers that try doing the projects that they have. They don’t feel completely comfortable with or you know, that they take risks doing. Because even though in theory, it’s like suggested and schools want that or communities want that when it comes down to it, people also expect us to do things at work. But part of our job is also taking risks. Like we did a tethered weather balloon launch the other day because we couldn’t get approval to release the weather balloon in the atmosphere since we’re near an airport. And it was too short of a time.

Valeria Rodriguez (18:14):

And I remember a parent said, oh, you’re not releasing the balloon. And I was like, well, this is a lot of work too. <Laugh> we, you know, we’re, we’re doing the tethered launch. This is a hard project. So the other day when I heard that comment, like I went back to my class and I was like, you know what? I took a risk to do this project. I could have played it safe with a handout of a weather balloon <laugh> or you know, a YouTube video. It’s it’s the, the fact that we’re continuing to push. And so I wanna like really thank the teachers that keep trying to do the hard things that aren’t like tried and tested because it’s scary. Yeah.

Eric Cross (18:57):

Yeah. There aren’t a lot of opportunities for them to have adults that they see in positions of authority or that they respect or admire model failure. And I don’t mean failure in the, like the negative pejorative sense, but like things just not working out and then seeing how you respond to it, ‘cause you’re modeling, taking a risk. But like with real stakes, it’s authentic. I had students swab the campus and we put it in auger dishes and Petri sealed it up and then let it grow room temperature, but we kept it you know, cool enough at 75 degrees. So it wouldn’t be able to survive any, anything pathogenic. And then students, you know, I took pictures of them and then showed them the results. So the students never interacted with it and some things grew and some things didn’t, it was mostly, you know, fungi and some bacteria, but I showed them like, how come mine didn’t grow? And I was like, well, you know, it could have been how we swabbed. It could have been some things don’t grow the temperature, we kept it at, but some of the experiments didn’t yield the cool results. And that was okay. But I front loaded the expectation so that if everything did go great, sweet, but managing expectation, I found really helps to mitigate the pressure.

Valeria Rodriguez (20:01):

Yeah. Well another project that we’ve participated in is growing beyond earth where we’re planting seeds that contribute to like a huge set of data for cultivars that are being considered for growth on the international space station. And my students are like, well, you know, we just have six little pots, like what is this? And I’m like, yeah, we have two little seeds in each of these pots. And we are one data set in like hundreds of data sets that they’re collecting. But we are contributing two research on the international space station. You don’t have to be the next bill gates or the next, you know, Steve jobs. Like everyone thinks they’re gonna be the next big thing. Like you can also be a seed. That’s part of a really big project and that is okay. Like everyone can’t be the next big thing

Eric Cross (20:48):

And the other. And the other thing, I think what Gladwell talks about this in outliers and there’s another book called bounce, but a lot of the people that we see is successful or famous, we don’t realize that their background and their exposure to things was one of the things that led them there, both jobs and gates had access, you know, gates had access at, at the university of Washington to like one of the first computers and then jobs at, at Hewlett Packard. The story go goes on and on, but we don’t see the lineage of some of these people and where they come from. We just see the end result. You just see LeBron James winning a championship or something. We just want the, the end result the, the glory, but not the sweat that it takes to get there. They don’t, we don’t really see that as much, which leads me to like the next thing I wanted to ask you is how do you, and I kind of saw it just now, but how do you engage your kids in the classroom?

Valeria Rodriguez (21:36):

Well, I think I’m funny. Some of them don’t do

Eric Cross (21:38):

They like the puns

Valeria Rodriguez (21:39):

<Laugh> some of them do. And some of them don’t get them. They get them later. And I see when they get it, I like to engage them by bringing in real people, real examples of things, real research when possible. Right. I can’t put them in a real dig site. So the green screen helps me do that. But one of my students yesterday, other day before was like, you have such cool friends because I’ll say, oh, one of my friends does blah, blah, blah. Or, or, oh, when we go to Kennedy space center, we’re gonna, you know, talk to one of my friends. Who’s doing research on, you know, chilies in space and they’re like, wow, your friends are so cool. And I took that moment to tell them, be mindful of the people that you collect as friends in your life, like make good choices, surround yourself with awesome people, people so that you can share ideas. Like you connect with friends who you inspire you to do more. I try to engage them by giving them examples of things that people around me are doing that connect to what we’re doing. Do

Eric Cross (22:43):

You, do you explicitly or intentionally teach soft skills or is it just something that you just kind of organically do natural or are you mindful about making sure that you’re doing that

Valeria Rodriguez (22:52):

A hundred percent? You have to be explicit about it with amplify? Actually, we, we did a poster for incorporating social, emotional skills and other soft skills into the classroom because sometimes we just like other things like writing and, and reading, you know, we silo all these things in education and the school counselor, can’t be the one to deal with everything. You know, you have to deal with things as they surface. And sometimes my kids ha are frustrated because I ask them to think I don’t have yes or no answers. I have, you know, we are gonna launch a high altitude weather balloon. We don’t know how high it’s gonna go. We don’t know what’s gonna happen. We don’t, we don’t know if we’re gonna find it when the <laugh>, when the balloon bursts and it lands in the ocean, are we gonna find it? Is the GPS tracker gonna work?

Valeria Rodriguez (23:47):

Are we gonna lose all that money? I don’t know, but we have to do all the steps and find out. But with kids, they don’t have the skills yet. And I can’t wait for the counselor to come in and talk about handle the frustration that they’re feeling over. Not knowing the correct question to ask, because by the time they go meet with her, the moments pass, I have to stop and say, Hey, like check in with, with what you’re doing. It’s okay to be frustrated. You can’t take it out on a classmate. You can’t take it out on me.

Eric Cross (24:14):

So you were, you, you were intentional about teaching these skills to your students and you had the relationship. So it makes sense that you were the one to bring it across ‘cause you see them more than anybody does. You know, we’ve, we’ve, we’ve imagined. Teaching is for a long time. It’s been okay, you’re the science content expert. You’re the English expert, but so much as teaching evolves, there are these skills or like EQ emotional intelligence that you kind of have to have kind of coming in. Because like those moments, like no having the presence of mind to stop and why a young person through identifying how they feel, why, where it came from. Those aren’t always covered in those aren’t really covered in your methods classes when you’re in college, getting your, your degree or something. Now when you’re you’re sketch noting and for teachers who are, or one, could you just maybe give like a brief explanation of sketch, noting for somebody who may not be familiar with it, like how I was sketch any different than just drawing a picture randomly or something.

Valeria Rodriguez (25:10):

Okay. So you’re creating visual summaries. You’re using text and images combined in different ways to take notes. And before you know how we had like these shorthand things that the squiggly meant an indent and something else meant something else. And we had these lists of things when they would edit our papers, that represented things. It’s kind of like that for your brain. So you’re making a list of maybe icons or small sketches that represent things for you. So as you’re taking notes, you hear things. And when people talk now and they, they say, you know, I’m on the fence about this. Like I literally see a fence. And when they’re talking, I write the note, it’s almost like a T toe with pointy tops and I put a stick figure on top of it. And so later when I look at it, I think, oh, that’s right. My friend is on the fence about that decision

Eric Cross (26:08):

For a new teacher or even a, a, a experienced teacher. That’s interested in sketch noting, where, where would you recommend? They start like the structurize? Like, do you give creative freedom? Are they doing this paper and pencil vocabulary words? Are they up? Like, what are some just kind of maybe three basic things to kind of get started for someone who was just curious about it.

Valeria Rodriguez (26:29):

So it has to be simple because if it requires a lot of energy to go in, then you’re gonna be more hesitant to do it. For example, I wouldn’t start summarizing a video because it’s moving really fast or a live presentation is really hard. So with students, I would start with here’s a paragraph, make a visual summary of it, or here’s a vocabulary list, make an image to represent each word. Then you would move into, well, you know, here’s a unit summarize the three main topics in unit. Then you can move onto like a little YouTube video. That’s like 10 minutes a Ted talk, make a visual summary of the Ted talk because they can pause it.

Eric Cross (27:11):

Mm. Okay.

Valeria Rodriguez (27:13):

The hardest thing is live presentations, ‘cause in conversations you can say, oh, can you say that again? Sketch, noting. You start seeing how people organize or don’t their thoughts when they speak. Because when you start writing things down and all the information is about one thing and then like two blue ORPS about something else. You’re like, wow, that was really unbalanced. So then when you start teaching, you tell them what you’re gonna tell them, you tell them and then you tell them what you told them. So they can check that they put the notes in the right places and you tell them what you’re gonna tell. So they can prep the pathway that they’re gonna set up their notes and I have to be explicit. And I have to say like, I’m gonna talk about the rock cycle. So if I were you, I would put, you know, these four boxes. Oh, but there’s three types of rocks. See? I’m like, yeah, but magma. So let’s put it in the cycle, you know? And, and then I’m like, if I were you, I would put an arrow from here to here because this is how, you know, after erosion and then, you know, heat and pressure. But then it connects like this. So the arrows are gonna help me to remember the directions

Eric Cross (28:13):

As we wind down. There’s there’s one question I wanna ask you there, you are bringing together this science, the, the art, the social, emotional learning, the relationships with your students outside content, like there’s so many different things that you bring in the classroom that is clearly gonna make you a memorable educator for your kids. It just, it’s just, I’m just listening to your learning environment. And it’s so rich who is one teacher that really expired you. So

Valeria Rodriguez (28:38):

There’s a few people that stand out overall. I had very encouraging teachers. I had that one teacher that didn’t like my drawing <laugh> she also stands out <laugh>

Eric Cross (28:49):

We have those too.

Valeria Rodriguez (28:49):

Yeah. So I have colleagues that stand out to me that inspire me every day to like keep trying. And then I had a teacher in high school who I actually work with her daughter now at the school that I work at. And I didn’t even know her mom would make us write almost the whole class. And it was world history. And I remember hearing her say when she was talking about the Roman empire that it fell because it reached more than it can grab. So it kept extending too far out. And I heard that, like I think about, yes, I can keep reaching for things in education and reaching for things in my classroom. But I have to come back to like, what can I hold? I don’t wanna reach further than what I can hold. And yes, I have to believe in myself. And I tell my students to believe in themselves,

Eric Cross (29:38):

I’m in this, I’m in this sketch noting mindset. Because when you said what Ms. Brown shared with you, I thought of a hand reaching out, but then things kind of slipping through it. And I another hand with like a fist right next to it. So even in our conversation here last hour, I I’m thinking in pictures now. And so I’m like, if I can do it, they can do it. Like if you know, ‘cause I am just not the person who spends a lot of time committing to draw. Because a lot of times when I was that student who tried to draw and we get frustrated and look around and now I feel like this is, I wanna try this again. I wanna share this with my students and encourage them. This is gonna be a lot of fun. I look forward to continuing to see the sketch notes that you do. And maybe I’ll, I’ll show you one of mine. Like eventually I don’t know if you can see that there that’s my stick figures. Those of you who are listening right now, I drew, I was drawing stick figures and taking notes while Blair was dropping all of this, these like gems and wisdom in here. So

Valeria Rodriguez (30:31):

Maybe we can do a challenge that once people hear this podcast, they can tag us somehow in the sketch note that they create I’m in. So we see what they a take from it. Because that’s the other thing about sketch noting, you think you’re emphasizing something and all of a sudden people are walking away with something else that resonated to them. And you’re like, wow. And here I was thinking that this was what we were talking about. And this is what really jumped out at them.

Eric Cross (30:57):

Your kids are lucky that you’re in front of them, not just because of how you teach, but how you access all of these different parts of their creativity and their thinking and apply, integrate all of these soft skills and social, emotional skills and just life skills and your experience connecting them to the outside world. They, and like you said, and how we started, you know, where you started in Panama, the students realized what you represent and what you meant to them. And I feel like your students, when they get older, they may not realize it in the time, but as they get older and reflect back, they’ll be telling stories about you. So yeah. Thanks for making time and thanks for being here.

Valeria Rodriguez (31:34):

Well thank you too, ‘cause I know you’re in the classroom and making time to do other things outside the classroom. Isn’t always easy, but it’s what keeps us going in different ways.

Eric Cross (31:49):

Thanks so much for joining me in Valer today. We wanna hear more about you. If you have any great lessons or ways to keep student engagement high, please email us@stemamplifycom.wpengine.com. That’s TM five.com. Make sure to click, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and join our brand new Facebook group science connections, the community for some extra content.

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What Valeria Rodriguez says about science

“I use [sketchnoting] and I mess up all the time…because I feel that my students don’t want to make mistakes, and drawing is one of those things that taught me that it’s okay to make mistakes.”

– Valeria Rodriguez

Educator, Instructional technologist, and Graphic facilitator

Meet the guest

Valeria is an educator, instructional technologist, graphic facilitator, and dreamer. She currently works as a Science teacher as part of a STEAM Team in Miami, Florida teaching third through fifth graders as a free-lance graphic facilitator. She loves to connect with passionate educators she meets around the country. Valeria has presented and led workshops at educational conferences like SXSWEdu, ISTE, NSTA, NSTA STEM Forum, SHIFTinEDU, FAST, FCIS, and SEEC. When she is not teaching or sketching, Valeria can be found adventuring with her family around the world, training for triathlons, and creating opportunities to empower kids in all kinds of communities. 

You can check Valeria’s work on her website and follow her on Twitter & Instagram.

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About Science Connections

Welcome to Science Connections! Science is changing before our eyes, now more than ever. So…how do we help kids figure that out? We will bring on educators, scientists, and more to discuss the importance of high-quality science instruction. In this episode, hear from our host Eric Cross about his work engaging students as a K-8 science teacher. Listen here!

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Find Valeria!

Learn more about Valeria’s work and illustrations.

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S2-01: How teachers are really feeling this school year

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In this special solo episode, Eric Cross starts the season by sharing his personal journey as an educator, and how the difficulties of the last few years have shaped his mindset going into the upcoming school year. Eric also addresses teacher burnout and what inspires him to continue working as a classroom educator. Explore more from Science Connections by visiting our main page.

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Eric Cross (00:02):

Welcome to Science Connection, Season Two. As we begin the next season, I thought it would be a good time to share my story. As the host, I get to ask people questions about their journey, but I’ve actually never shared much about my own. So I’ve taken some of my most frequently asked questions to guests and asked them to myself. I hope you enjoy.

Eric Cross (00:23):

So the origin story question, I think really gets to the heart of why a person does what they do, because so much of who we are, especially as adults and teachers, is a result of experiences that we had in our lives when we were kids or in school with other teachers. And my life’s no different. I was born to a 19-year-old single mom. And when you’re a young boy growing up, especially with a young single mom, you often look to older men in different positions as kinda like a surrogate or like a mentor. And you may not even tell them that they are that to you. You kind of keep it close to the chest. And that’s what I did growing up. One of the ones that really stood out to me is, in seventh grade, I went to a middle school here in San Diego that was called Keiller Middle School. And we were a magnet program that specialized in science. And they had this program that brought professors from the local universities and they did this high-level enrichment. They would even take us to the college campus and we would work in these labs as seventh graders. It was amazing. And one of the people there, his name was Dr. Tress, and he was a professor. And Dr. Tress took a liking to me. I reminded him of his son. We were doing this great embryology experiment. We would take purple sea urchins. And we would inject them with potassium chloride, which would cause them to spawn. And we would fertilize these eggs, and then we would run different experiments using them. And these were things that I had never done before. I had always loved science. I’d always loved tinkering and building things. But this was my introduction, really, to high-level biology and to higher levels of education. I didn’t—I didn’t have many figures like that in my life growing up. I mean, I’m a first-generation, you know, high school, college graduate. Many of these are first generations for me. So, this was a new experience. And so Dr. Tress really unlocked a core memory and was one of my first mentors, as far as academics are concerned. And during my seventh-grade year, I entered the science fair and won first place, which was a huge deal. They took us out to Balboa Park. We got to miss school for a week. We got to go to all the museums for free. It was the best. And I think at that point in time, it really solidified something in me that would lay dormant until later on in my adult life. High school, I was really fortunate: the high school I went to was Morse High School, not too far from Keiller, and they had an aeronautics program. So I was able to enroll in that aeronautics program. And I learned how to fly before I learned how to drive. And I had this great instructor named Mr. Klon, who was this like 6′ 4″, 250-pound hippie guy. And he—we would get in the plane and we would have these like philosophical conversations. And through that, especially looking back now as a teacher, I realized that he was making connections with me and investing into who I was as a person. And it was something that I so needed at the time. Because at home I didn’t have that. You know, my safe place, a lot of time, was school. It was my only structure. It was where I knew I would get encouragement. It was where I knew things were reliable and consistent. For a lot of people, and a lot of kids, their home life isn’t like that. School was that for me. So Mr. Klon, I mean, he was this authentic, you know, consistent person in my life and made a huge difference at this time.

Eric Cross (03:23):

After I graduated high school, I left home just to get away from a difficult environment. And I was homeless for a little while and that was a huge moment in my life. And around that time, an aunt found out and she said, “You’re gonna come stay with us.” And this was like this three-year process of me living with them in this, like, functional family that ate dinner together. And they went to the zoo. They had family passes. And they took family photos at Christmastime. This was all weird stuff. Like, I didn’t know—I didn’t know who did these things. It was—I felt like a puppy that like lived in a home that was like…it was a home that was just always kind of like violent or like just really toxic. And then it gets put into a healthy home and doesn’t know how to act. That’s how it felt. And this was around like 19, 20 years old. During that time I started putting myself through school. So I went to community college and I was broke as a joke. And so I couldn’t afford the textbooks while I was going. So I would just go to the bookstore, the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Mira Mesa here in San Diego. And I would stay there all night using the textbooks or using the books there for doing my work. And then I would just put the books back on the shelves. Because let’s just face it. Textbooks are expensive, brother wasn’t trying to pay for all that. So I really had to earn that time. So I was working full-time. I was going to school. And, eventually I got a job in working in finance with a really great friend who mentored me during my younger twenties. And I didn’t wanna be broke and finance made sense.

Eric Cross (04:44):

And so I did that for a little while, until I got to a point in my career where I was watching an episode of The Office, the UK version, the Ricky Gervais version, and a character said, “I’d rather be at the bottom of a ladder I want to climb than halfway up one I don’t.” And I realized, working in finance, that I was halfway up a ladder I never wanted to climb. So I wanted to move into something that, if I was gonna spend eight hours a day or 10 hours a day doing something, I wanted it to be something that actually filled me up inside. And this is how I got into teaching. So I had always been working with young people, specifically 12- to 18-year-olds, like a non-profit or volunteering, mentoring, after-school programs. And I’ve always managed to rationalize my job in the finance world as meaningful because it let me do the real work that fulfilled me. So the real work was working with the kids. But my day job, my, like, Clark Kent-type job, was just, you know, doing the finance thing of like helping people that have a lot of money make more money. Which at the end of my life, I look back and I said, “That’s not what I want my legacy to be.”

Eric Cross (05:43):

And when the finance crash happened in 2008, that’s when I think I started looking back on it and said, “If I’m gonna spend all my time doing something and spending 40 or 60 or 80 hours of my day of my week doing things, I want it to matter. And that’s when I decided to pivot and leave that field and go and get my master’s in education and get my teaching credential, teaching science specifically. Now, one of the questions we get asked a lot and I’ve been asked is, is “How has teaching changed as a result of the pandemic?” And I feel like this could be several podcasts in and of itself, and it’s also regional, because everybody’s experienced it differently, And we’re still experiencing it! That’s the crazy thing! It’s like, it’s not over, we’re still in it. And some places have innovated and pivoted and some places just did what they needed to and they are trying to go back to business as usual. But if anything has happened, the pandemic revealed how much more, how much schools are more than places of just content learning. For many students it’s where they have their only community, their structure, their emotional wellness. They get regular meals, access to tech, and adults that care about them that are outside of their family. The schools are so much more than that. I mean, my school, they were a place, like a hub, that was giving out food every single day during the pandemic to families that would kind of drive by. So for a lot of schools, they became places like that. It also…the pandemic revealed the intensity of the educator workload. I mean, being able to manage your family, having the capacity, to be a content expert, you need to be a counselor, a trauma-care specialist, a coach, an encourager, a tech expert.

Eric Cross (07:23):

I mean, the term mental health is now more common and starting to become prioritized. Now we’re focusing so much more on the whole child. And we know from research that how a child feels about themselves and their safety and their security impacts their ability to learn. So the more comfortable and safe a student feels in the classroom with teachers and with friends, the better they’re gonna be able to learn. And ultimately the higher they’re gonna be able to achieve. You can’t, you can’t have one without the other. In addition, I think less teachers, see themselves teaching into retirement. I think that’s a big thing. I read these articles about teacher shortages and I think the reality is it’s actually teacher exodus. It’s teachers leaving. And that’s been really difficult. I’ve had many friends who’ve left for the private sector. And I get it, especially if you’re one that has—if you’re the first in your family to graduate from college, with a STEM degree, to them taking a teaching position can mean walking away from a salary in the private sector that pays two or three times more.

Eric Cross (08:23):

And in many places around the country, in order to be a teacher and maintain a median standard of living, you need either dual income, multiple jobs, or a multi-generational household. For a lot of people it just doesn’t make sense. And even right now, today, as I’m recording this, I’m reading articles and getting text messages…and I received a text message three days ago from a teacher that said, “My goal this year is to just not resign.” And that’s where a lot of teachers are feeling right now: isolated, challenged, and under-appreciated. And Plato said, “What’s honored in a country is cultivated there.” And I’ve been looking at how teachers are honored and one of the ways is just, like, practical. Like, look, I gotta pay my bills. You know, love the Starbucks gift card. Love the CPK, the gift card. The cards, all those other things…but brother got a car payment. And at the end of the day, if we care about our kids, we need to take care of the people that take care of them. And there’s very practical ways for that to happen. And everybody in different sectors around the country is dealing with that in different ways. I think the pandemic also revealed, now the public can see how our kids don’t receive the same quality of education. And once you’re aware of that, you can’t put the genie back in the bottle. So once you see on Zoom or once you see in a meeting, or once you see on the news, that students in different areas, whether it’s the rural South or a suburb in Seattle, are not getting equitable educations, well, ultimately that impacts all of us. Now. It’s not all doom and gloom. Good things have come from, as a result of, the pandemic. Many schools have made progress towards narrowing the technology gap, ’cause they had to! ‘Cause you can’t do Zoom and you can’t do Google Meet and all that stuff with a packet! You gotta get those Chromebooks. And Chromebooks and the internet and access to tech is not a new thing. It’s been out for a long time. The technology gap is not a new thing. It’s been written about extensively, but all of a sudden districts and schools started figuring out how to close that gap. And that’s awesome. We didn’t want a pandemic to be the catalyst for that to happen. But at the end of the day, we started closing it. A lot of schools did an amazing job and districts did an amazing job with deploying the hardware, sending out buses with wifi, putting lessons and videos on USB sticks and dropping them off to parents who live in sparsely populated areas. I mean, there were so many stories that I’ve heard about schools and teachers just doing amazing things, going above and beyond what they needed to on behalf of kids.

Eric Cross (10:51):

I think in addition to that, there’s also been students and families are now having more options to personalize their learning. So we have this in-person model, we have this Zoom or kind of online model, and this hybrid model, and it hasn’t all been perfect, you know, at all. But some families have come out and said, you know what actually doing this hybrid model is better for my son or better for my daughter or better for my student, because they’re able to get the socialization, but also able to focus better at home than they are in a classroom of 36. And that’s legitimate. You know, we talk about personalized learning, but it’s not exactly personalized when everybody has to wake up at the same time, same schedule, go to the same, the same classroom of, you know, up to 40 kids, and do the same lesson. I mean, we have to be honest about our limitations with personalizing learning for students. And when we can provide more options and we give teachers the infrastructure to be able to use different platforms, then we’re able to personalize learning a lot more.

Eric Cross (11:51):

There’s also been an emphasis on the whole-child wellness. I think the spotlight on mental well-being heavily impacts their academic success, but counseling teams, social workers, school psychologists—I think more than ever we’ve realized the value that they bring to the schools. And unfortunately many of them have caseloads of 200 students or more. And they’re seeing students most often that are in crisis. And especially after the pandemic, we’re realizing how valuable they are and how much we need to, one, honor them and give them the support that they need, and also recruit more. Because as we start recognizing how our brains are impacted by the things that we’re dealing with, we’re also gonna see how that’s gonna impact our students’ performance. And we need the specialists in those positions to be able to support our kids. I think, last, I think more innovation and lesson design and how we assess students. And so we’ve been talking about in education just kind of critiquing: how do we assess what a student knows? How do we make what a student actually does at school relevant to real life? I mean, so many times I have students who’ve graduated that are like, “I feel like the things I learned in school, like, they’re not always transferable to real life. It helped me on a test, but like, I don’t know how to do my taxes.” Or “I memorized these facts, but I don’t really apply it in my job.” Or “The facts that I learned I could have actually learned on the fly in my job. I wish I would’ve actually focused on the skills or had an earlier opportunity to get some experience because when I’m trying to apply for a job, <laugh> they ask for experience and I’m 22 years old.”

Eric Cross (13:28):

And so all these things kind of come up. And so I think there’s been some great conversations around “how do we rethink what education looks like?” And there’s different pockets around the country that have been doing that, I think, really well. And I think it’s important for us as teachers to stay connected to those people who are kind of pushing the boundaries and thinking outside the box, because when we get siloed, it’s really easy to get calcified and cynical. I get it. And it impacts me too. But when we’re around those people who have those fresh ideas, who are really pushing the limits, it inspires us. And that’s something I think during the pandemic that I’m grateful that I was intentional about, is staying connected with other teachers. There’s a big question; Why do you continue your work in the classroom and what keeps you motivated? And I was thinking really hard about this question, because depending on <laugh>, depending on my day, I feel like my answer’s gonna be a little bit different. So I’ve had to step back from this 30-foot, thousand-foot perspective and answer the question. And my answer is this: I think because I still feel like I can be effective to influence positive change in my classroom with my students and within the larger education system as a whole. I think if I lost either of those two, then I’d rethink my profession. Look, I’m an innovator. I like asking “why” questions and things like that. And I’m not always the most popular person when you do that. But education is like just a huge ship. It doesn’t pivot on a dime. And asking why questions and pushing for change on behalf of kids isn’t easy, fun, or glamorous, but it’s it’s necessary. And I feel like over the last few years, I’ve been able to see these kind of glimmers of a trajectory change, at least where I am locally. And that’s something that has given me a lot of hope. I’m very fortunate to be connected to educators and people in leadership that are really about making a difference beyond just kind of the cliched platitudes. They actually wanna make systemic change, in a way that’s positive. And that’s been really helpful for me. So as long as I feel like I’m useful in the classroom for students, and as long as I feel like I’m bringing, I think change, on behalf of teachers and students and administrators and our community in a way that moves the ball down the field, that’s what keeps me motivated. And what I like to ask teachers when I close in the podcast is. “What teacher or teachers have inspired you?”

Eric Cross (15:54):

And for me, I think it would start off with the teachers who cared about me when they didn’t have to, in elementary school all the way through college. And there are numerous teachers. My science-teacher community of practice. For the last two years, I’ve been fortunate to spend every month, once a month, meeting with just a core group of science teachers that really care about some of the things that we are impacted by in the classroom. And when the pandemic was going on, we still met regularly. And because we’re not all teaching in the same place, we kind of were able to bring different perspectives to the table. I think the current classroom teachers and former classroom teachers that I have in my community really inspire me. The ones who are dedicated to opening doors for students. The graduate students that I teach at the University of San Diego, they keep me fresh. I love leaving teaching my 12- and 13-year-olds, and then driving down the street to the university and teaching 20somethings who are all about to be in the classroom. They come with new ideas, they’re asking questions, and I get to actually share things that I just did three hours ago. I think that’s one thing that continues to inspire me. And it’s one of the reasons why I love teaching at the University of San Diego. Their energy and enthusiasm is super-refreshing. And then all the teachers that are willing to take risks and fail forward, to try things different, to ask hard questions, to push the envelope. Teaching’s hard. It’s easy to point out the problems in education as a whole. But after we do that, it’s important to figure out the practical ways we can make the changes that we wanna see.

Eric Cross (17:23):

Now, that’s to say that if you have the capacity for it and the resources and the support. Some of us, we don’t. Some of us, we are on an island, and that’s a really, really difficult place to be, especially when you have family and kids to take care of. And you have to make decisions on what’s best for you and for your own students. We do this work on behalf of kids. And it’s one of the most honorable services a person can provide to our community. But one area for growth that I think we have kind of as a society, is teachers spend their lives, daily, on behalf of the future of our country. For other people’s children. They fall asleep at night worrying about other people’s kids. They spend their own money to create opportunities and experiences that students might not otherwise have. And it’s important that we collectively, and I know I’m preaching the choir when I say this, but this is one of my messages, is that we honor them in turn. We create programs that allow them to be able to afford housing. We create opportunities for them to be able to generate wealth. We create ways for them to be able to find rest, to get connection. And then internally we create systems where they can just work on themselves, fill themselves, get trained, and be whole, so they can bring their best self to the kids in front of them. That’s one of my personal platforms. It’s something that I think is vital. We gotta take care of the people that take care of our kids. So there’s a saying that says, “It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” And it takes one person to blow out a candle, but one candle can light thousands of other candles, without diminishing its own light. And that’s what we have to be. So my encouragement, teachers, as you’re going into this new school year, and you’re thinking about what’s going on, you’re thinking about all the challenges—and they’re there, and they’re real, and trust me, it’s not like some Pollyanna, like, “Hey, just be positive!” mindset and everything’s gonna be great—no, no, no, no, no. It’s not that. But my encouragement…if I can tell you one thing that’s helped me more than anything else, it’s being connected to other people who are candle-lighters. Because there are a lot of places that are gonna blow out the candle. It could be the staff lounge. It could be Twitter, it could be Reddit. It could be Instagram. It could be TikTok. It could be, you know, anybody. Someone next door to you. There’s a lot of folks that are gonna be willing to point out and say, “Look, this is what’s wrong.” But find the helpers. Find the people that are candle-lighters. And stay connected with them. Find that community. I can tell you for me, that’s been the thing that’s been able to help me sojourn through all of this—I couldn’t do this by myself—is being able to share my story with other teachers and knowing that I’m doing this work alongside of other folks who are doing this work, and I can share my story with them and listen to their stories, is something that’s been able to fill my cup. And so I hope I can do the same for you and for other people listening to other people I come in contact with.

Eric Cross (20:08):

Teachers, I wish you a great school year. Hang in there. Be those candle-lighters and bring your best self on behalf of the students. Thanks so much for listening. Now, we wanna hear more about you. If you have any stories you wanna share about the classroom, please email stem@amplify.com. That’s STEM at amplifycom.wpengine.com. And make sure to click subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. And join our Facebook group, Science Connections: The Community. Until next time.

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What Eric Cross says about science

“We do this work on behalf of kids, and it’s one of the most honorable services a person can provide to our community.”

– Eric Cross

K–8 Science teacher, Host of Science Connections: The Podcast

Meet the guest

Eric Cross is a 7th grade science/technology teacher, grade level lead, and digital learning innovator for Albert Einstein Academies, International Baccalaureate schools. He is also an adjunct professor of learning and technology at the University of San Diego and a Google certified innovator. Eric earned a bachelor’s degree from Azusa Pacific University and a Master of Education from the University of San Diego. He had 17 years of experience working with at-risk youth and underserved populations before becoming a middle school teacher. By building relationships with students, colleagues, and the community, he has become an empowered leader in and out of the classroom. Through meaningful learning experiences centered around student agency, STEM has become accessible to students through highly engaging lesson design, thoughtful integration of digital tools, and culturally relevant pedagogy.

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About Science Connections

Welcome to Science Connections! Science is changing before our eyes, now more than ever. So…how do we help kids figure that out? We will bring on educators, scientists, and more to discuss the importance of high-quality science instruction. In this episode, hear from our host Eric Cross about his work engaging students as a K-8 science teacher. Listen here!

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1. Scope

These Customer Terms and Conditions are a legal agreement between Amplify Education, Inc. (“Amplify”) and the local education agency or authority, school district, school network, independent school, or other regional education system (“Customer”) for the license and use of one or more of Amplify products or services (the “Products”), as specified in the receipt, price quote, proposal, renewal letter, or other ordering document containing the details of this purchase (the “Quote”). These Customer Terms and Conditions, all addenda, attachments, and the Quote, as applicable (together, the “Agreement”), constitute the entire agreement between the parties relating to the subject matter hereof. The provisions of this Agreement will supersede any conflicting terms and conditions in any Customer purchase order, other correspondence or verbal communication, and will supersede and cancel all prior agreements, written or oral, between the parties relating to the subject matter hereof.

2. Agreement Acceptance

This Agreement becomes effective at the earliest of the following: (i) issuing a purchase order, shipment request, or payment against the Quote; (ii) accessing, downloading, or using the Products; or (iii) otherwise accepting this Agreement. This term of the Agreement will be as specified in the Quote and may be renewed or extended by mutual agreement of the parties. Customer represents and warrants that: (1) Customer is of legal age to accept this Agreement; (2) Customer is authorized to accept this Agreement and to access and use the Products; and (3) Customer’s use of the Products will comply at all times with Amplify’s Acceptable Use Policy available at amplify.com/acceptable-use (“AUP”). The Customer may not access, download, or use the Products if the Customer does not agree to this Agreement.

3. License

Subject to the terms and conditions of the Agreement, Amplify grants to Customer a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license to access and use, and permit Authorized School Users, as defined below, to access and use the Products in accordance with the AUP, for the duration specified in the Quote (the “Term”), and for the number of Authorized School Users specified in the Quote for whom Customer has paid the applicable fees to Amplify. “Authorized School User” means the K–12 students registered or authorized for instruction with Customer and the educators, agents and staff members who use the Products as authorized by Customer who Customer permits to access and use the Products subject to the terms and conditions of the Agreement, solely while such individual is so employed or so registered. Each Authorized School User’s access and use of the Products will be subject to the AUP in addition to the terms and conditions of the Agreement. Violations of this Agreement or the AUP may result in suspension or termination of the applicable account.

4. Restrictions

Customer may access and use the Products solely for non-commercial instructional and administrative purposes. Guidelines for such purposes may be set forth at
https://amplify.com/amplify-program-usage-guidelines/ and additional guidelines may be detailed in materials associated with the Product the Customer is accessing. Further, Customer may not, except as expressly authorized by Amplify: (a) copy, modify, translate, distribute, disclose, or create derivative works based on the contents of, sell, or otherwise exploit, the Products, or any part thereof; (b) decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer the Products, or otherwise use the Products to develop functionally similar products or services; (c) modify, alter, or delete any of the copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices in or on the Products; (d) rent, lease, or lend the Products or use the Products for the benefit of any third party; (e) avoid, circumvent, or disable any security or digital rights management device, procedure, protocol, or mechanism in the Products; (f) use any content from the Products, including but not limited to text, images, videos, assessments, lesson plans, or code, as input or training material for any machine learning or artificial intelligence system, including large language models, neural networks, or other algorithmic models, for any purposes, commercial or non-commercial; or (g) permit any Authorized School User or third party to do any of the foregoing. Customer also agrees that any works created in violation of this section are derivative works, and, as such, Customer agrees to assign, and hereby assigns, all right, title, and interest in such works to Amplify. The Products and derivatives thereof may be subject to export control laws, restrictions, regulations, and orders of the U.S. and other jurisdictions (together, “Export Laws”). Customer agrees to comply with all applicable Export Laws, and will not, and will not permit Authorized School Users to, export, or transfer for the purpose of re-export, any Product to any prohibited or embargoed country in violation of any U.S. export law or regulation. Further, Customer represents that it is not a party subject to sanctions by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control or included on any restricted party list maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security. The software and associated documentation portions of the Products are “commercial items” (as defined at 48 CFR 2.101), comprising “commercial computer software” and “commercial computer software documentation,” as those terms are used in 48 CFR 12.212. Accordingly, if Customer is the U.S. Government or its contractor, Customer will receive only those rights set forth in this Agreement in accordance with 48 CFR 227.7201-227.7204 (for Department of Defense and their contractors) or 48 CFR 12.212 (for other U.S. Government licensees and their contractors).

5. Reservation of Rights

SUBSCRIPTION PRODUCTS ARE LICENSED, NOT SOLD. Subject to the limited rights expressly granted hereunder, all rights, title, and interest in and to all Products, including all related IP Rights, are and will remain the sole and exclusive property of Amplify or its third-party licensors. “IP Rights” means, collectively, rights under patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret laws, and any other intellectual property or proprietary rights recognized in any country or jurisdiction worldwide. Customer must promptly notify Amplify of any violation of Amplify’s IP Rights in the Products, and will reasonably assist Amplify as necessary to remedy any such violation. Amplify Products are protected by patents (see amplify.com/virtual-patent-marking). Amplify reserves the right to update or modify the Products at any time and to discontinue the Products upon reasonable notice.

6. Payments

In consideration of the Products, Customer will pay to Amplify (or other party designated on the Quote) the fees specified in the Quote in full within 30 days of the date of invoice, except as otherwise agreed by the parties or for those amounts that are subject to a good faith dispute of which Customer has notified Amplify in writing. Customer will be responsible for all state or local sales, use or gross receipts taxes, and federal excise taxes unless Customer provides a then-current tax exemption certificate in advance of the delivery, license, or performance of any Product, as applicable.

7. Shipments

Unless otherwise specified on the Quote, physical Products will be shipped FOB origin in the US (Incoterms 2010 EXW outside of the US) and are deemed accepted by Customer upon receipt. Upon acceptance of such Products, orders are non-refundable, non-returnable, and non-exchangeable, except in the case of defective or missing materials reported to Amplify by Customer within 60 days of receipt. In such case, Customer may not return Products without Amplify’s written authorization.

8. Account Information

For subscription Products, the authentication of Authorized School Users is based in part upon information supplied by Customer or Authorized School Users, as applicable. Customer will and will cause its Authorized School Users to (a) provide accurate information to Amplify or a third-party service as applicable, and promptly report any changes to such information, (b) not share login credentials or otherwise allow others to use their account, (c) maintain the confidentiality and security of their account information, and (d) use the Products solely via such authorized accounts. Customer agrees to notify Amplify immediately of any unauthorized use of its or its Authorized School Users’ accounts or related authentication information. Amplify will not be responsible for any losses arising out of the unauthorized use of accounts created by or for Customer and its Authorized School Users. 

9. Confidentiality

Customer acknowledges that, in connection with this Agreement, Amplify has provided or will provide to Customer and its Authorized School Users certain sensitive or proprietary information, including software, source code, assessment instruments, research, designs, methods, processes, customer lists, training materials, product documentation, know-how, or trade secrets, in whatever form (“Confidential Information”). Customer agrees (a) not to use Confidential Information for any purpose other than use of the Products in accordance with this Agreement and (b) to take all steps reasonably necessary to maintain and protect the Confidential Information of Amplify in strict confidence. Confidential Information shall not include information that, as evidenced by Customer’s contemporaneous written records: (i) is or becomes publicly available through no fault of Customer; (ii) is rightfully known to Customer prior to the time of its disclosure; (iii) has been independently developed by Customer without any use of the Confidential Information; or (iv) is subsequently learned from a third party not under any confidentiality obligation. 

10. Student Data

The parties acknowledge and agree that in the course of providing the Products to the Customer, Amplify may collect, receive, or generate information that directly relates to an identifiable student of Customer (“Student Data”). Student Data may include personal information from a student’s “educational records,” as defined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (“FERPA”). Student Data is owned and controlled by the Customer and Amplify receives Student Data as a “school official” under Section 99.31 of FERPA for the purpose of providing the Products hereunder. Individually and collectively, Amplify and Customer agree to uphold our obligations, as applicable, under FERPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (“PPRA”), and applicable state laws relating to student data privacy. Amplify’s Customer Privacy Policy at amplify.com/customer-privacy (“Privacy Policy”) will govern collection, use, and disclosure of Student Data collected or stored on behalf of Customer under this Agreement. In addition, Amplify has entered into the data privacy agreements listed at amplify.com/privacy-security aligned with state and national templates to facilitate compliance with applicable state laws and help expedite Customer’s student data privacy documentation process. Customer is responsible for providing notice and obtaining appropriate consents under applicable laws to authorize Authorized School Users’ use of the Products, including making a copy of the Privacy Policy available to the parents or guardians of users who are under the age of 13.  

11. Customer Materials and Requirements

Customer represents, warrants, and covenants that it has all the necessary rights, including consents and IP Rights, in connection with any data, information, content, and other materials provided to or collected by Amplify on behalf of Customer or its Authorized School Users using the Products or otherwise in connection with this Agreement (“Customer Materials”), and that Amplify has the right to use such Customer Materials as contemplated hereunder or for any other purposes required by Customer. Customer is solely responsible for the accuracy, integrity, completeness, quality, legality, and safety of such Customer Materials. Customer is responsible for meeting hardware, software, telecommunications, and other requirements listed at amplify.com/customer-requirements. 

12. Warranty Disclaimer

PRODUCTS ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND BY AMPLIFY. AMPLIFY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY AS TO TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE. CUSTOMER ASSUMES RESPONSIBILITY FOR SELECTING THE PRODUCTS TO ACHIEVE CUSTOMER’S INTENDED RESULTS AND FOR THE ACCESS AND USE OF THE PRODUCTS, INCLUDING THE RESULTS OBTAINED FROM THE PRODUCTS. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, AMPLIFY MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT THE PRODUCTS WILL BE ERROR-FREE OR FREE FROM INTERRUPTIONS OR OTHER FAILURES OR WILL MEET CUSTOMER’S REQUIREMENTS. AMPLIFY IS NEITHER RESPONSIBLE NOR LIABLE FOR ANY THIRD-PARTY CONTENT OR SOFTWARE INCLUDED IN PRODUCTS, INCLUDING THE ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, COMPLETENESS, QUALITY, LEGALITY, USEFULNESS, OR SAFETY OF, OR IP RIGHTS RELATING TO, SUCH THIRD-PARTY CONTENT AND SOFTWARE. ANY ACCESS TO OR USE OF SUCH THIRD-PARTY CONTENT AND SOFTWARE MAY BE SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND INFORMATION COLLECTION, USAGE, AND DISCLOSURE PRACTICES OF THIRD PARTIES.

13. Limitation of Liability

 TO THE EXTENT SUCH LIMITATION IS NOT PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL AMPLIFY BE LIABLE TO CUSTOMER OR TO ANY AUTHORIZED SCHOOL USER FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, RELIANCE, OR COVER DAMAGES, DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA OR LOST BUSINESS, OR ANY OTHER INDIRECT DAMAGES, EVEN IF AMPLIFY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. TO THE EXTENT SUCH LIMITATION IS NOT PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAW, AMPLIFY’S ENTIRE LIABILITY TO CUSTOMER OR ANY AUTHORIZED USER ARISING OUT OF PERFORMANCE OR NONPERFORMANCE BY AMPLIFY OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THIS AGREEMENT, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE CLAIM FOR SUCH DAMAGES IS BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE, MAY NOT EXCEED THE AGGREGATE OF CUSTOMER’S OR ANY AUTHORIZED USER’S DIRECT DAMAGES UP TO THE FEES PAID BY CUSTOMER TO AMPLIFY FOR THE AFFECTED PORTION OF THE PRODUCTS IN THE PRIOR 12-MONTH PERIOD. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL AMPLIFY BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENCES OF ANY UNAUTHORIZED USE OF THE PRODUCTS BY AN AUTHORIZED SCHOOL USER THAT VIOLATES THIS AGREEMENT OR ANY APPLICABLE LAW OR REGULATION.

14. Termination

Without prejudice to any rights either party may have under this Agreement, in law, equity, or otherwise, a party will have the right to terminate this Agreement if the other party (or in the case of Amplify, an Authorized School User) materially breaches any term, provision, warranty, or representation under this Agreement and fails to correct the breach within 30 days of its receipt of written notice thereof. Upon termination, Customer will: (a) cease using the Products, (b) return, purge, or destroy (as directed by Amplify) all copies of any Products and, if so requested, certify to Amplify in writing that such surrender or destruction has occurred, (c) pay any fees due and owing hereunder, and (d) not be entitled to a refund of any fees previously paid, unless otherwise specified in the Quote. Customer will be responsible for the cost of any continued use of the Products following termination. Upon termination, Amplify will return or destroy any Student Data provided to Amplify hereunder. Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing will require Amplify to return or destroy any data that does not include Student Data, including de-identified information or data that is derived from access to Student Data but which does not contain Student Data. Sections 3–14 will survive the termination of this Agreement.

15. Miscellaneous

This Agreement may not be modified except in writing signed by both parties. All defined terms in this Agreement will apply to their singular and plural forms, as applicable. The word “including” means “including without limitation.” For United States-based Customers, this Agreement will be governed by  and construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the U.S., state, commonwealth, or territory in which Customer resides based on the address set forth in the Quote, without regard to that state’s, commonwealth’s, or territory’s choice of law rules. For Customers based outside of the United States, this Agreement will be governed by the laws of the U.S., state of New York, without giving effect to the choice of law rules thereof. This Agreement will be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties and their respective successors and assigns. The parties expressly understand and agree that their relationship is that of independent contractors. Nothing in this Agreement will constitute one party as an employee, agent, joint venture partner, or servant of another. Each party is solely responsible for all of its employees and agents and its labor costs and expenses arising in connection herewith. Neither this Agreement nor any of the rights, interests or obligations hereunder may be assigned or delegated by Customer or any Authorized School User without the prior written consent of Amplify. If one or more of the provisions contained in this Agreement will for any reason be held to be unenforceable at law, such provisions will be construed by the appropriate judicial body to limit or reduce such provision or provisions so as to be enforceable to the maximum extent compatible with applicable law. Amplify will have no liability to Customer or to third parties for any failure or delay in performing any obligation under this Agreement due to circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including acts of God or nature, fire, earthquake, flood, epidemic, pandemic, strikes, labor stoppages or slowdowns, civil disturbances or terrorism, national or regional emergencies, supply shortages or delays, action by any governmental authority, or interruptions in power, communications, satellites, the Internet, or any other network. Each party represents and warrants that it has all necessary right, power, and authority to enter into this Agreement and to comply with the obligations hereunder.

Last Modified: February 2, 2026

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Acceptable Use Policy

Amplify Education, Inc. (“Amplify”) products support classroom instruction and learning and include Amplify CKLA, Amplify ELA, Amplify Science, Amplify Desmos Math, Desmos Math, Boost Reading, Boost Math, mCLASS, Mathigon, services at classroom.amplify.com (for creating and assigning activities) and student.amplify.com (for use of the activities or curricula as directed by an instructor), and any other product or service that links to this Acceptable Use Policy (together, the “Products”). This Acceptable Use Policy (the “AUP”) provides the general terms and conditions applicable to your use of the Products. By accessing, downloading, or using the Products, you agree to be bound by the terms of this AUP. 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing in this AUP supersedes or limits your rights under the terms of any other agreement you or your institution have entered into with Amplify regarding the use of Products. In the event of any conflict between the AUP and the terms and conditions of an applicable agreement that you or your institution have entered into with Amplify, the terms and conditions of such agreement shall control.

Our Products are geared towards K–12 students, educators, and staff who use the Products as authorized by their School District or State Agency (each as defined in the Privacy Policy (defined below), and together, “School”) (“Authorized School Users”). Student Data (defined below) is owned and controlled by the School, and Amplify receives Student Data as a “school official” under Section 99.31 of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (“FERPA”) for the purpose of providing the Products hereunder. In addition, we rely on the School acknowledging that it is acting as the parent’s agent and consenting on the parent’s behalf to process personal information of students under the age of 13 (“Child Users”) in accordance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). 

Schools may provide authorization in two ways: 

(1) by the School agreeing to our Customer Terms and Conditions located at amplify.com/customer-terms or another agreement between Amplify and the School, as applicable; or 

(2) by an educator, staff member, or agent of a School (“Educator”) agreeing to this AUP. If you are an Educator and wish to use the Products in your classroom, you represent and warrant that the use of the Products in your classroom has been authorized by your School, and that you are authorized to accept this AUP on behalf of the School.

In each case, we provide these Products solely for the benefit of the School and for no other commercial purpose. We require all Schools to review our Privacy Policy, available at amplify.com/customer-privacy (“Privacy Policy”), and to make a copy of the Privacy Policy available to the parents or guardians of Child Users.

We also provide limited opportunities for individual users to sign up for a restricted account for at-home use of our Products (together, with Authorized School Users, “Authorized Users”). Please see Additional terms for Mathigon and Amplify Classroom accounts (Section 18) for additional information.

1. License

Subject to compliance with this AUP, you are granted a non-transferable, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable license to access and use the Products. You understand that your use of the Products does not confer to you any intellectual property rights held by Amplify or its licensors. Unless otherwise indicated, any future release, update, or other addition to functionality or content of the Products will be subject to this AUP. 

2. Restrictions

You may access and use the Products solely for non-commercial instructional and administrative purposes. Guidelines for such purposes may be set forth at http://amplify.com/amplify-program-usage-guidelines and additional guidelines may be detailed in materials associated with the Product You are accessing. Further, You may not, except as expressly authorized by Amplify: (a) copy, modify, translate, distribute, disclose, or create derivative works based on the contents of, sell, or otherwise exploit, the Products, or any part thereof; (b) decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer the Products, or otherwise use the Products to develop functionally similar products or services; (c) modify, alter, or delete any of the copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices in or on the Products; (d) rent, lease, or lend the Products or use the Products for the benefit of any third party; (e) avoid, circumvent, or disable any security or digital rights management device, procedure, protocol, or mechanism in the Products; (f) use any content from the Products, including but not limited to text, images, videos, assessments, lesson plans, or code, as input or training material for any machine learning or artificial intelligence system, including large language models, neural networks, or other algorithmic models, for any purposes, commercial or non-commercial; or (g) permit any Authorized User or third party to do any of the foregoing. You also agree that any works created in violation of this section are derivative works, and, as such, You agree to assign, and hereby assign, all right, title, and interest in such works to Amplify. The Products and derivatives thereof may be subject to export control laws, restrictions, regulations, and orders of the U.S. and other jurisdictions (together, “Export Laws”). You agree to comply with all applicable Export Laws, and will not, and will not permit Authorized Users to, export, or transfer for the purpose of re-export, any Product to any prohibited or embargoed country in violation of any U.S. export law or regulation. Further, You represent that You are not located in a country that is subject to a U.S. Government embargo, subject to sanctions by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, or included on any restricted party list maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security. The software and associated documentation portions of the Products are “commercial items” (as defined at 48 CFR 2.101), comprising “commercial computer software” and “commercial computer software documentation,” as those terms are used in 48 CFR 12.212. Accordingly, if You are associated with the U.S. Government or its contractor, You will receive only those rights set forth in this Agreement in accordance with 48 CFR 227.7201-227.7204 (for Department of Defense and their contractors) or 48 CFR 12.212 (for other U.S. Government licensees and their contractors).

3. Use of the products

In connection with your access to and use of the Products, you agree not to: (a) post, upload, or otherwise transmit or link to content that is: unlawful; threatening; harmful; abusive; pornographic or includes nudity; offensive; harassing; excessively violent; tortious; defamatory; false or misleading; obscene; vulgar; libelous; hateful; or discriminatory; (b) violate the rights of others, including patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, privacy, publicity, contract, or other proprietary rights; (c) harass or harm another person; (d) exploit or endanger a minor; (e) impersonate any person or entity; (f) introduce or engage in activity that involves the use of viruses, bots, worms, Trojan horses, time bombs, spyware, or any other computer code, files, or programs that interrupt, destroy, or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment, or otherwise permit the unauthorized access to or use of a computer or a computer network; (g) interfere with, damage, disable, disrupt, impair, create an undue burden on, or gain unauthorized access to the Products or any account (as defined below), or Amplify’s servers or networks; (h) restrict or inhibit any other person from using the Products (including by hacking or defacing the Products); (i) remove, disable, block, or obscure any portion of the Products; (j) use technology or any automated system, such as scripts or bots, to collect user names, passwords, email addresses, or any other data from or through the Products, or to circumvent or modify any security technology or software that is part of the Products; (k) send or cause to send (directly or indirectly) unsolicited bulk messages or other unsolicited bulk communications of any kind through the Products; (l) solicit, collect, or request any information for commercial or unlawful purposes; (m) post, upload, or otherwise transmit an image, audio recording, or video of another person without that person’s consent; (n) use the Products to advertise, promote, or engage in any commercial activity (including engaging in advertising, sales, contests, sweepstakes, or other promotions) without Amplify’s prior written consent; (o) frame or mirror the Products without Amplify’s express prior written consent; (p) use the Products in a manner inconsistent with any applicable law, rule, or regulation; (q) use any robot, spider, search/retrieval application, or other manual or automatic device to retrieve, index, “scrape,” “data mine,” or in any way gather content of the Products or reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the Products; (r) attempt, facilitate, or encourage others to do any of the foregoing. In addition to the foregoing restrictions, your use of the Products may also be subject to an additional acceptable use policy provided to you by your School, as applicable. You are responsible for meeting the hardware, software, telecommunications, and other requirements listed at amplify.com/customer-requirements.

4. Intellectual property

The Products and any Product logo, and certain other of the names, logos, and materials displayed in the Products, may constitute trademarks, trade names, or service marks (“Marks”) of Amplify or other entities. You are not authorized to use any such Marks. Ownership of all such Marks and the goodwill associated therewith remains with Amplify or those other entities. The content provided to you in the Products, including the software, graphs, text, and graphics, is protected under copyright laws, is subject to other intellectual property and proprietary rights and laws, and is owned by Amplify or its licensors. Your access to the Products does not transfer to you or any third party any rights, title, or interest in or to such intellectual property rights. You may not use the content of the Products, in whole or in part, to train or fine-tune any machine learning or artificial intelligence model or system, including for research, product development, commercial services, or any other purpose, commercial or non-commercial. Such use constitutes unauthorized derivative work and a violation of Amplify’s intellectual property rights. Your rights to make use of the Products are limited to those provided under this AUP, any additional terms as may be agreed upon between your School and Amplify, and any available exceptions under applicable intellectual property laws. Amplify Products are protected by patents (see amplify.com/virtual-patent-marking).

5. Account information

Your authentication to enable your access and use of these Products is based in part upon information supplied by you. You are required to (a) provide accurate information to Amplify and promptly report any changes to such information, (b) not share or allow others to use your account, (c) maintain the confidentiality and security of your account information, and (d) use the Products solely via such authorized accounts. You may not share your credentials (i.e., username and password) to access the Products with anyone except the person for whom that account was created. You agree to notify Amplify immediately of any unauthorized use of your account or related authentication information. Amplify will not be responsible for any losses arising out of the unauthorized use of your account.

6. Student data

The parties acknowledge and agree that in the course of providing the Products, Amplify may collect, receive, or generate information that directly relates to an identifiable current or former student of a School (“Student Data”). Student Data may include personal information from a student’s “educational records,” as defined by FERPA. Student Data is owned and controlled by the School and Amplify receives Student Data as a “school official” under Section 99.31 of FERPA for the purpose of providing the Products hereunder. Individually and collectively, Amplify and School agree to uphold our obligations, as applicable, under FERPA, COPPA, the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (“PPRA”), and applicable state laws relating to Student Data privacy. Amplify’s Privacy Policy governs the collection, use, and disclosure of Student Data collected or stored on behalf of the School under this AUP. The School is responsible for providing notice or obtaining appropriate consents under applicable laws to authorize Authorized School Users’ use of the Products, including making a copy of the Privacy Policy available to the parents or guardians of Child Users. Please see Additional Terms for Mathigon and Amplify Classroom accounts (Section 18) for additional information.

7. Confidentiality

You acknowledge that in connection with these terms, Amplify may provide you with certain sensitive or proprietary information (“Confidential Information”), including software, source code, assessment instruments, research, designs, methods, processes, customer lists, training materials, product documentation, know-how, or trade secrets, in whatever form. You agree (a) not to use Confidential Information for any purpose other than use of the Products in accordance with the AUP, and (b) to take all steps reasonably necessary to maintain and protect the Confidential Information of Amplify in strict confidence. Confidential Information shall not include information that, as evidenced by your contemporaneous written records: (i) is or becomes publicly available through no fault of your own; (ii) is rightfully known to you prior to the time of its disclosure; (iii) has been independently developed by you without any use of the Confidential Information; or (iv) is subsequently learned from a third party not under any confidentiality obligation.  

8. User materials

You represent, warrant, and covenant that you have all the necessary rights, including consents and intellectual property rights, in connection with any data, information, content, and other materials provided to or collected by Amplify from you or on your behalf in connection with your use of the Products, including materials and content that you post, upload, transmit, email, or otherwise make available on, through, or in connection with the Products (“User Materials”), and that except as otherwise agreed by your School and Amplify, you retain any ownership rights that you have in your User Materials. You hereby grant to Amplify and its affiliates, licensees, and authorized users, a perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid-up, royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers), transferable (in whole or in part), worldwide license to use, modify, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and compilations based upon, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such User Materials in connection with the Products, subject to Amplify’s Privacy Policy. You and your School are responsible for the accuracy, integrity, completeness, quality, legality, and safety of such User Materials. You further represent and warrant that the posting of such User Materials through or in connection with the Products does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights, or any other rights of any person or entity. Amplify and your School reserve the right (but have no obligation) to monitor the Products, including for inappropriate content or conduct, and to remove any content in their discretion without liability to you or any third party. Further, Amplify reserves the right to investigate and take appropriate legal action against anyone who, in Amplify’s discretion, violates this AUP or attempts to do so, including terminating or suspending a user’s account or access to or use of the Products, or reporting any content or conduct to law enforcement authorities. You are solely responsible for creating and maintaining your own backup copies of your User Materials. Amplify is not responsible for any loss, theft, or damage of any kind to any User Materials. 

9. Feedback

If you provide us with any ideas, proposals, or suggestions related to the Products (“Feedback”), you hereby acknowledge and agree that your provision of any Feedback is gratuitous, unsolicited, and without restriction, and does not place Amplify under any fiduciary or other obligation. You hereby grant to Amplify a worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid-up, exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, and fully sublicensable (through multiple tiers) license to reproduce, distribute, perform and/or display (publicly or otherwise), adapt, modify, and otherwise use such Feedback, in any format or media now known or hereafter developed, and you hereby represent and warrant that you have all necessary rights to grant the foregoing license.

10. Third party links and services

The Products may make available, or third parties may provide, links to websites, software, applications, resources, advertisements, content, or other products or services created, hosted, or made available by third parties (“Third Party Services”). When you access or use a Third-Party Service, you are interacting with the applicable third party, not with Amplify, and you do so at your own risk. Inclusion of any Third-Party Service or a link thereto within the Products does not imply approval or endorsement of such Third-Party Service. Amplify does not control any content that is not Amplify content, and as such, you may be exposed to offensive, indecent, inaccurate, or otherwise objectionable content in the course of accessing or using such Third-Party Services linked from the Products. You are solely responsible for your interactions with other users of the Products, providers of Third-Party Services, and any other third parties with whom you interact on, through, or in connection with the Products. AMPLIFY IS NEITHER RESPONSIBLE NOR LIABLE FOR ANY THIRD-PARTY SERVICES, INCLUDING THE ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, COMPLETENESS, QUALITY, LEGALITY, USEFULNESS, OR SAFETY OF, OR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS RELATING TO, SUCH THIRD-PARTY SERVICES. ANY ACCESS TO OR USE OF SUCH THIRD-PARTY SERVICES MAY BE SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND INFORMATION COLLECTION, USAGE, AND DISCLOSURE PRACTICES OF THIRD PARTIES. THIS AUP DOES NOT CREATE ANY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YOU AND ANY PROVIDER OF THIRD-PARTY SERVICES, AND NOTHING IN THIS AUP WILL BE DEEMED TO BE A REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY BY AMPLIFY WITH RESPECT TO ANY THIRD-PARTY SERVICE.

11. Digital Millennium Copyright Act

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (“DMCA”) provides recourse for copyright owners who believe that material appearing on the Internet infringes their rights under U.S. copyright law. If you believe that any material residing on or linked to from the Products infringes your copyright, please send (or have your agent send) to Amplify’s Copyright Agent, by email, fax, or regular mail, a written notification of claimed infringement with all of the following information: (a) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works; (b) identification of the claimed infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material on the Products (such as the URL(s) of the claimed infringing material); (c) information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an e-mail address; (d) a statement by you that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, the copyright owner’s agent or the law; (e) a statement by you that the above information in your notification is accurate, and a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that you are the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed, or that you are authorized to act on such owner’s behalf; and (f) your physical or electronic signature. Amplify’s Copyright Agent for notification of claimed infringement can be reached as follows: Amplify Education, Inc., 55 Washington Street #800, Brooklyn NY 11201; Attn: Copyright Agent. Amplify’s Copyright Agent for notification of claimed infringement can also be reached electronically at legal@amplify.com. Amplify reserves the right to terminate infringers’ and suspected infringers’ accounts or their access to or use of the Products.

12. Changes to the products

Amplify may, without prior notice, change any Product or stop providing any features of any Product. We may permanently or temporarily terminate or suspend your access to any Product features without notice for any reason, including if in our sole determination you violate any provision of this AUP. Upon termination, you continue to be bound by this AUP.

13. Warranty disclaimer

PRODUCTS ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND BY AMPLIFY. AMPLIFY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY AS TO TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE. YOU ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR SELECTING THE PRODUCTS TO ACHIEVE YOUR INTENDED RESULTS AND FOR THE ACCESS AND USE OF THE PRODUCTS, INCLUDING THE RESULTS OBTAINED FROM THE PRODUCTS. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, AMPLIFY MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT THE PRODUCTS WILL BE ERROR-FREE OR FREE FROM INTERRUPTIONS OR OTHER FAILURES OR WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS. AMPLIFY IS NEITHER RESPONSIBLE NOR LIABLE FOR ANY THIRD-PARTY CONTENT OR SOFTWARE INCLUDED IN PRODUCTS, INCLUDING THE ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, COMPLETENESS, QUALITY, LEGALITY, USEFULNESS, OR SAFETY OF, OR IP RIGHTS RELATING TO, SUCH THIRD-PARTY CONTENT AND SOFTWARE. ANY ACCESS TO OR USE OF SUCH THIRD-PARTY CONTENT AND SOFTWARE MAY BE SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND INFORMATION COLLECTION, USAGE, AND DISCLOSURE PRACTICES OF THIRD PARTIES.

14. Limitation of liability

IN NO EVENT WILL AMPLIFY BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, RELIANCE, OR COVER DAMAGES, DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA, LOST BUSINESS, OR ANY OTHER INDIRECT DAMAGES, EVEN IF AMPLIFY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, AMPLIFY’S ENTIRE LIABILITY TO YOU ARISING OUT OF PERFORMANCE OR NONPERFORMANCE BY AMPLIFY OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THIS AUP, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE CLAIM FOR SUCH DAMAGES IS BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE, WILL NOT EXCEED $100 IN AGGREGATE. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL AMPLIFY BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENCES OF ANY UNAUTHORIZED USE OF THE PRODUCTS THAT VIOLATES THIS AUP OR ANY APPLICABLE LAW OR REGULATION.

15. Termination

Amplify may terminate or suspend your access to the Products at any time for any reason, including if Amplify believes that you have violated the AUP or have engaged in conduct that violates applicable law or is otherwise harmful to the interests of Amplify, any other Amplify user, or any third party. Upon termination, you will: cease using the Products and return, purge, or destroy all copies of any Products and, if so requested, certify to Amplify in writing that such surrender or destruction has occurred. Sections 3–13, 16, and 17 will survive the termination of this Agreement.

16. Governing Law

This Agreement will be governed by and construed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the U.S., state of New York, without giving effect to the choice of law rules thereof.

17. Additional terms for iOS apps

By downloading any Products through Apple, Inc.’s App Store (“iOS Products”), you agree that the following additional terms apply to your use of our iOS Products:

  1. This AUP is not a legal agreement with Apple, Inc. (“Apple”). As between Amplify and Apple, Amplify (not Apple) is responsible for the iOS Products and the contents thereof.
  2. The license to use the iOS Products under Section 3 above is limited to use (i) on iOS devices that you or your School owns or controls, separate from and in addition to any specific technical requirements for any iOS Product, and (ii) as permitted by the Usage Rules set forth in Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions.
  3. You must comply with applicable third-party terms of agreement when using the Products.
  4. Without limiting Section 13 above and solely as between Amplify and Apple, you acknowledge that: (i) Apple has no obligation whatsoever to furnish any maintenance and support services with respect to the iOS Products; (ii) Amplify (not Apple) is responsible for addressing any claims of yours or of any third party relating to the iOS Products or your possession and/or use of the iOS products, including but not limited to (1) product liability claims, (2) any claim that the iOS Products fail to conform to any applicable legal or regulatory requirement, and (3) claims arising under consumer protection, privacy, or similar legislation; (iii) in the event of any failure of the iOS Products to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price for the iOS Products to you; to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Apple will have no other warranty obligation whatsoever with respect to the iOS Products, and any other claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, or expenses attributable to any failure to conform to any warranty will be Amplify’s sole responsibility; and (iv) in the event of any third-party claim that the iOS Products or your possession and use of the iOS Products infringes that third party’s intellectual property rights, Amplify (not Apple) will be responsible for any investigation, defense, settlement, and discharge of any such intellectual property infringement claim.
  5. You represent and warrant that: (i) you are not located in a country that is subject to a U.S. Government embargo, or that has been designated by the U.S. Government as a “terrorist supporting” country; and (ii) you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
  6. Apple and Apple’s subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms, and upon your acceptance of these Terms, Apple will have the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce these Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary thereof.
  7.  Any questions, complaints, or claims with respect to the Products should be directed to: 

Email: privacy@amplify.comMail: Amplify Education, Inc., 55 Washington St. #800, Brooklyn, NY, 11201

18. Additional terms for Mathigon and Amplify Classroom accounts.

a. Mathigon updates: Amplify no longer offers accounts for Child Users, but we will continue to allow Child Users to access their active legacy Mathigon accounts where verifiable parental consent was obtained. We will continue to protect personal information in accordance with the Privacy Policy and applicable law.

b. Mathigon and Amplify Classroom:

i. School Use:

  1. Educators: If you are an Educator, you can create a Mathigon or an Amplify Classroom account using any existing email or through an existing third-party account (e.g. Google, Microsoft). Go to https://mathigon.org/signup#teacher  to sign up for Mathigon. Go to classroom.amplify.com to sign up for Amplify Classroom.
  2. Students can also sign up using a unique class code provided by an Educator. Educators are responsible for gaining appropriate authorization or permission from their School to use the Products with students, including Child Users, before providing their unique class code or linking the Products to a third-party service like Google Classroom. For such use in the school context, we do not request additional consent from parents in accordance with the “school official” exception under FERPA and relevant COPPA guidance. For more information, visit our Privacy Policy, which describes how we collect, use, and disclose personal information and data through the provision of our Products in schools. 

ii. Outside of School Use: If you are an individual user using the Products at home or otherwise outside of the school context, you are prohibited from collecting or providing any personal information from students or minors. You are permitted to access the platform for instructional purposes, but you may not enroll or roster minors, create accounts for minors, or input any personal information of minors into the Product.

19. Updates to this policy

We may change this Acceptable Use Policy in the future. For example, we may update it to address changes in our product offerings, or to address changes in the law or best practices. If we make changes that materially impact your legal rights or use of our products, we will provide prominent notification to you (e.g. via the Site or by email).  Otherwise, we will post any updates to the policy with an updated “Last Revised Date” and all changes will become effective immediately. Please check the Last Revised Date to confirm if the policy has been revised.

Last Modified: February 2, 2026

Season 1, Episode 2

Teaching for life, starring Eric Jones

Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres becomes a student of Eric Jones, an educator who came out of retirement at 80 years of age to help with a national teacher shortage—thus becoming the oldest paid teacher in Britain. Eric shares his insights with Ana about building a collaborative classroom and what it means to teach children, not content. He also reflects on how the trajectory of his life changed when one man recognized and encouraged his desire to be a teacher. Eric delves into how attending school in the ’50s shaped his teaching style, his experience of retiring before the smartphone era only to return when every student has one, and how his anti-bullying efforts contributed to the passing of a national law. He also discusses why his love for teaching has lasted a lifetime. Taking all those lessons back to the classroom, Eric Cross and Ana then discuss how they would apply the tenets of respect and collaboration in their own classrooms.

A man with short brown curly hair and glasses, wearing a pink collared shirt, is smiling in front of a patterned background with books, stars, and apple icons—perfect for a teaching podcast host.

Meet Our Guest(s):

A middle-aged man with short brown hair, glasses, and a pink collared shirt sits in front of a wooden background, looking at the camera as he hosts his teaching podcast.

Eric Jones

Eric Jones, born in 1941 during World War II, was determined to become a teacher. A chance encounter with a teaching college lecturer inspired him to follow his passion, leading him to qualify as a teacher in 1969 and earning a Bachelor of Education (Hons) in 1977. Eric dedicated over 30 years to teaching, holding positions such as head of school, head of department, and deputy head at a large inner-city school in London. He briefly retired in 1993 but continued to volunteer with teenagers in drama activities and tutoring for acting exams. In 2020, Eric wrote his first novel, Finding a Sovereign.

During an impending teaching shortage in 2022, Eric volunteered when the government asked for retired teachers to help keep schools running. Since then, he’s been teaching 1–2 days per week in local high schools. Over the years, Eric has contributed significantly to anti-bullying initiatives, co-authoring guides and speaking at conferences and media outlets. He’s won numerous awards and nominations, including a nomination by the Wychavon District Council for an arts recognition award, as well as a nomination for Best Musical in the West Midlands for a theater production he directed.

Meet our host, Ana Torres.

Ana has been an educator for 30 years, working in both the K–8 and higher education sectors. She served as an administrator and instructor at various public and private colleges and universities and as a bilingual and dual language teacher, dual language math and reading interventionist, dual language instructional coach, assistant principal, and principal in K–8 schools. Ana is currently the Senior Biliteracy and Multilingual Product Specialist on Amplify’s Product Specialist team, and delivers literacy and biliteracy presentations across the nation. Ana’s passion and advocacy for biliteracy and multiculturalism has led her to educate leaders, teachers, and parents about the positive impact of bilingualism and biliteracy in our world.

A woman with long dark hair and hoop earrings smiles at the camera while wearing a black blazer, standing outdoors—ready to discuss classroom challenges or share insights on her teacher podcast.
A man with short, closely-cropped hair and a trimmed beard smiles at the camera against a light gray background, ready to inspire diverse learners in the math classroom.

Meet our Classroom Insider, Eric Cross.

Eric Cross is a middle school science teacher who hopes to someday be a lifelong educator, like the guests on Beyond My Years! In each episode, Eric connects with host Ana Torres to discuss her guests’ best insights gleaned from their long and rewarding careers in the classroom. Then, Eric talks about bringing some of their wisdom into his current classroom and busy life.

Transcripts and additional resources:

Connect with Eric Jones
Subscribe to Beyond My Years
Follow us on Instagram
Connect with Eric Cross
Connect with Ana Torres
Transcript

Quotes

“He said to me, ‘You want to be a teacher, don’t you?’…I said, ‘Well, yeah, I’d love to, but I didn’t get enough qualifications when I left school. So I don’t think I’d ever really be qualified.’ And he said the magic words, ‘What are you waiting for?’”

—Eric Jones

“What I would say to young teachers is this: ‘Don’t teach science. Don’t teach maths. Don’t teach French. Don’t teach geography. Teach children.’”

—Eric Jones

“You’ve got to love teaching; you’ve got to love the kids; and you’ve really got to want to do it. Almost, dare I say, in your blood.”

—Eric Jones

“At the end of my 10 or 12 years of touring around and nattering on about bullying and trying to sort of quantify it in some way so that we could teach specifics…there is now a law in Britain that says every school must have an anti-bullying policy.”

—Eric Jones

“I like teaching kids things they didn’t know before and now they’re excited about. I love the idea that they will then move on into realms of industry and economics success that I would never dream of.”

—Eric Jones

“I’m in the education business. I’m not in the vengeance business. And if a boy doesn’t know how to use a knife and fork, I’ll teach him. If an infant doesn’t know how to tie shoelaces, I’ll teach him. If a child doesn’t know how to behave in society, I’ll teach him. Pleasantly, and productively, and creatively, and positively, I will teach him if that’s what he needs to learn.”

—Eric Jones

Amplify Science Named SIIA Education Technology 2019 CODiE Award Finalist for Best Emerging Instructional Technology Solution

Brooklyn, NY (May 7, 2019) Amplify, a publisher of next-generation curriculum and assessment programs, today announced that Amplify Science has been named a 2019 SIIA CODiE Award finalist in the Best Emerging Instructional Technology Solution category. Award finalists represent applications, products and services from developers of educational software, digital content, online learning services and related technologies across the PreK–20 sector.

Amplify Science is a breakthrough K–8 curriculum designed from the ground up for the Next Generation Science Standards by the curriculum experts at the University of California, Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science. In each Amplify Science unit, students inhabit the role of a scientist or engineer to investigate a real-world problem, using relevant, 21st-century contexts to investigate scientific phenomena. Educators who adopt Amplify Science receive a comprehensive curriculum that includes literacy-rich activities, hands-on investigations, digital simulations, embedded assessments, and robust teacher supports.

“We are honored that SIIA recognized the strength of Amplify Science and named us as a finalist in the CODiE awards,” said Steven Zavari, senior vice president and general manager, science curriculum, at Amplify. “We are excited to share this news about our innovative program with educators across the country.”

The SIIA CODiE Awards are the premier awards for the software and information industries and have recognized product excellence for more than 30 years. The awards have 76 categories that are organized by industry focus of education technology and business technology. Amplify Science was honored as one of 139 finalists across the 32 education technology categories.

“The 2019 CODIE Award finalists represent the finest in innovation and creativity in educational technology,” said President Jeff Joseph at SIIA. “These breakthrough products are opening doors for learners of all ages by developing and utilizing new technologies to respond to diverse student and educator needs.”

The SIIA CODiE Awards are the industry’s only peer-reviewed awards program. Educators and administrators serve as judges and conduct the first-round review of all education nominees. Their scores determine the SIIA CODiE Award finalists, and SIIA members then vote on the finalist products. The scores from both rounds are tabulated to select the winners.

Winners will be announced during a CODiE Award Celebration at the Ed Tech Industry Conference & CODiE Awards in San Francisco on June 11.

Details about each finalist are listed at https://www.siia.net/codie/2019-Finalists

About Amplify

A pioneer in K–12 education since 2000, Amplify is leading the way in next-generation curriculum and assessment. Our captivating core and supplemental programs in ELA, math, and science engage all students in rigorous learning and inspire them to think deeply, creatively, and for themselves. Our formative assessment products turn data into practical instructional support to help all students build a strong foundation in early reading and math. All of our programs provide teachers with powerful tools that help them understand and respond to the needs of every student. Today, Amplify serves five million students in all 50 states. For more information, visit amplify.com.

About the SIIA CODiE™ Awards

The SIIA CODiE Awards is the only peer-reviewed program to showcase business and education technology’s finest products and services. Since 1986, thousands of products, services and solutions have been recognized for achieving excellence. For more information, visit siia.net/CODiE.

About Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA)

SIIA is an umbrella association representing 800+ technology, data and media companies globally. Industry leaders work through SIIA’s divisions to address issues and challenges that impact their industry segments with the goal of driving innovation and growth for the industry and each member company.  This is accomplished through in-person and online business development opportunities, peer networking, corporate education, intellectual property protection and government relations. For more information, visit siia.net.

###

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Amplify Desmos Math receives an all-green rating from EdReports

Amplify’s research-backed, curiosity-driven math program receives all-green scores across all three EdReport gateways

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Slow but steady progress: new Amplify data show why middle-of-year literacy screening matters 

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Amplify Reading named 2020 CODiE Award Finalist for Best Game-Based Curriculum Solution

Brooklyn, NY (April 20, 2020) — Amplify, a publisher of next-generation curriculum and assessment programs, today announced that Amplify Reading has been named a 2020 SIIA CODiE Award finalist in the Best Game-Based Curriculum Solution category. Award finalists represent applications, products, and services from developers of educational software, digital content, online learning services, and related technologies across the Pre-K–12 and higher education sectors.

Amplify Reading is a state-of-the-art supplemental digital literacy program that combines captivating storytelling, the latest literacy research, and sophisticated adaptivity to provide students with the exact instruction they need when they need it. Research has shown that the program enables students to make better-than-expected progress, reduces students’ risk for reading difficulty, and helps close achievement gaps for English learners.

Amplify Reading offers 50+ research-based games, each mapped to specific skills and standards that augment educators’ core instruction. The program also features an in-product companion called a Curioso who grows as younger students acquire skills. For older students, Amplify Reading immerses pre-teens in an interactive graphic novel where they join a rebel group to take on the machines and fight for the right to read again.

“It’s an honor to be named a finalist in the 2020 SIIA CODiE Awards,” said Melissa Ulan, senior vice president and general manager, supplementals, at Amplify. “We are thrilled to receive this recognition of Amplify Reading as an innovative and highly engaging program that helps students become strong and confident readers.”

For more than 30 years, the SIIA CODiE Awards are the premier awards for the software and information industries, recognizing product innovation and excellence. The awards are organized by industry categories in education technology and business technology. Amplify Reading was honored as one of 157 finalists across the 37 education technology categories.

The SIIA CODiE Awards are the industry’s only peer-reviewed awards program. Educators and administrators serve as judges and conduct the first-round review of all education nominees. Their scores determine the SIIA CODiE Award finalists, and SIIA members then vote on the finalist products. The scores from both rounds are tabulated to select the winners.

CODiE Award winners in education technology will be announced online May 19, 2020.

Details about the finalists can be found here.

About Amplify

A pioneer in K–12 education since 2000, Amplify is leading the way in next-generation curriculum and assessment. Our captivating core and supplemental programs in ELA, math, and science engage all students in rigorous learning and inspire them to think deeply, creatively, and for themselves. Our formative assessment products turn data into practical instructional support to help all students build a strong foundation in early reading and math. All of our programs provide teachers with powerful tools that help them understand and respond to the needs of every student. Today, Amplify serves five million students in all 50 states. For more information, visit amplify.com.

About the SIIA CODiE™ Awards

The SIIA CODiE Awards is the only peer-reviewed program to showcase business and education technology’s finest products and services. Since 1986, thousands of products, services and solutions have been recognized for achieving excellence. For more information, visit https://www.siia.net/codie.  

About Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA)

SIIA is an umbrella association representing 800+ technology, data and media companies globally. Industry leaders work through SIIA’s divisions to address issues and challenges that impact their industry segments with the goal of driving innovation and growth for the industry and each member company.  This is accomplished through in-person and online business development opportunities, peer networking, corporate education, intellectual property protection and government relations. For more information, visit siia.net.

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Amplify’s research-backed, curiosity-driven math program receives all-green scores across all three EdReport gateways

READ MORE

Slow but steady progress: new Amplify data show why middle-of-year literacy screening matters 

READ MORE

See All News

Season 1, Episode 1

Teaching with heart, starring Joyce Abbott

Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres soaks up wisdom from Joyce Abbott, an educator so passionate about her students that she inspired one of them to go on and write the hit show “Abbott Elementary.” Joyce tells Ana all about her experiences working in a Title I school and what it means to know the community of Philadelphia. They also discuss how Joyce’s time serving in the military informed her work as an educator, how she transformed a challenging classroom during her first year teaching, how it has felt to witness the success of “Abbott Elementary,” and the passion she sees as her driving force. Taking all those lessons back to the classroom, Eric and Ana then discuss teaching tips and strategies for connecting with students.

Joyce Abbott, with a bob hairstyle and pearl necklace, smiles in front of an orange wall, framed by a graphic background with books, apples, and stars.

Meet Our Guest(s):

A woman with straight black hair and a pearl necklace is smiling in front of an orange wall with gold picture frames, ready to share educational insights on her teaching podcast.

Joyce Abbott

Joyce Abbott is a dynamic retired educator from the School District of Philadelphia. Her journey began with a ten-year service in the U.S. Army, earning her the rank of Staff Sergeant. Following her honorable discharge and numerous awards, her pathway to education was paved through the nationally acclaimed Troops to Teachers program. Joyce commanded respect and admiration for her instructional practices and classroom management, leading to multiple awards and features in the Philadelphia Daily News.

In her role as Climate Manager at Andrew Hamilton School, Joyce made commendable strides in improving the school’s climate and culture. She was also the inspiration behind the Emmy-winning show “Abbott Elementary,” created by her former student Quinta Brunson. She recently received recognition for her work from the city of Philadelphia, which proclaimed Sept. 26 Joyce Abbott Day. Joyce holds a Bachelor of Science in business and economics from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and a Master of Education from Cheyney University.

Meet our host, Ana Torres.

Ana has been an educator for 30 years, working in both the K–8 and higher education sectors. She served as an administrator and instructor at various public and private colleges and universities and as a bilingual and dual language teacher, dual language math and reading interventionist, dual language instructional coach, assistant principal, and principal in K–8 schools. Ana is currently the Senior Biliteracy and Multilingual Product Specialist on Amplify’s Product Specialist team, and delivers literacy and biliteracy presentations across the nation. Ana’s passion and advocacy for biliteracy and multiculturalism has led her to educate leaders, teachers, and parents about the positive impact of bilingualism and biliteracy in our world.

A woman with long dark hair and hoop earrings smiles at the camera while wearing a black blazer, standing outdoors—ready to discuss classroom challenges or share insights on her teacher podcast.
A man with short, closely-cropped hair and a trimmed beard smiles at the camera against a light gray background, ready to inspire diverse learners in the math classroom.

Meet our Classroom Insider, Eric Cross.

Eric Cross is a middle school science teacher who hopes to someday be a lifelong educator, like the guests on Beyond My Years! In each episode, Eric connects with host Ana Torres to discuss her guests’ best insights gleaned from their long and rewarding careers in the classroom. Then, Eric talks about bringing some of their wisdom into his current classroom and busy life.

Transcripts and additional resources:

Facebook: @therealmsabbott
Instagram: @therealmsabbott
X: @therealmsabbott
Transcript

Quotes

“Sometimes your bad days are going to outweigh your good days, but when you … remain focused and see what your goal is, and you look at those students and say, ‘This is my main focus,’ that can be the greatest motivator.”

—Joyce Abbott

“A lot of times they are dependent upon you to teach them in every aspect of their life. When you understand the community, you can serve.”

—Joyce Abbott

“Me and my military buddies definitely had respect for each other. And we operated as a team, regardless of our differences, because sometimes you may not agree with every teacher on your team, which many times I did not. But you have to keep your focus toward our mission, [which] is to move a certain child or do this for the student body.”

—Joyce Abbott

“They know when you care. And they will have a whole different level of respect for you when they know you care. And you set the bar high for them. That shows that you care, because you know that they can do it and you believe in them.” —Joyce Abbott

—Joyce Abbott

“I think it’s so important in the schools that they embrace the younger teachers, because you only get better through learning and through support.”

—Joyce Abbott

“When you’re passionate about a profession and committed to the goal of the whole school, you’re going to do what you can to help these new teachers because they have to learn. So many leave because they’re encountering so many problems and they don’t feel that they’re supported effectively.”

—Joyce Abbott

Season 10, Episode 3

Finding fluency at the heart of comprehension, with Doug Lemov

In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Doug Lemov, former teacher and school principal, to discuss how teachers can identify when disfluency is actually the root cause for students’ struggles with comprehension—and what they can do about it. Using his new book, The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading, to guide the discussion, Susan and Doug address building attention stamina, the argument for reading whole books, and the value of expressive read-alouds. Finally, Doug ends the episode asserting that humans are meant to live in community, and that a deeper level of comprehension is unlocked through empathic connection to text and the experience of reading with others.

Join Science of Reading: The Community to connect with fellow educators.

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Transcripts and additional resources:

Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new, companion professional learning page
Listen to the Beyond My Years podcast to get solutions to common teaching challenges, directly from seasoned educators
Connect with Doug Lemov on X
Read The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading
Watch Gabby Woolf’s Dr. Jekyll Lesson and the Power of Reading Fluency
Listen to “Phonology as a settled science”
Listen to Gabby Woolf’s “The plea to preserve deep reading, with Maryanne Wolf, Ed.D.”
Listen to “Writing the way to better reading, with Judith Hochman, Ed.D.”
Listen to “The joy of reading aloud, with Molly Ness”
Download the Comprehension 101 bundle
Submit your questions on comprehension!
Join our community Facebook group
Connect with Susan Lambert
Read the transcript

Meet Our Guest(s):

A middle-aged man with glasses and a white shirt is smiling outdoors, framed by a circular border with a blue book icon in the corner—perfect for an emergent readers or science of reading podcast profile.

Doug Lemov

Doug Lemov is a former teacher and school principal whose books describe the techniques of high-performing teachers. His best-known book, Teach Like a Champion, has been translated into more than a dozen languages. The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading, published in July 2025 and co-written with Colleen Driggs and Erica Woolway, looks at how cognitive science can be better applied to the teaching of reading. Doug holds a bachelor’s in English from Hamilton College, a master’s in English Literature from Indiana University, and a Master’s of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.

Meet our host, Susan Lambert

Susan Lambert is Chief Academic Officer of Literacy at Amplify and host of Science of Reading: The Podcast. Throughout her career, she has focused on creating high-quality learning environments using evidence-based practices. Lambert is a mom of four, a grandma of four, a world traveler, and a collector of stories.

As the host of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Lambert explores the increasing body of scientific research around how reading is best taught. A former classroom teacher, administrator, and curriculum developer, she’s dedicated to turning theory into best practices that educators can put right to use in the classroom, and to showcasing national models of reading instruction excellence.

Person with short blonde hair, glasses, and earrings, wearing an orange jacket, smiling in front of a plain gray background—committed to literacy education and fostering background knowledge for all learners.

Quotes

“When you know the science, you should have the autonomy to make real decisions and to solve problems in your classroom. That's how education works.”

—Doug Lemov

“If you're not a fluent reader, you can't be a deep reader.”

—Doug Lemov

“The research is clear that when you start to read expressively externally, then your internal reading voice while reading silently is much more expressive and therefore infused with more meaning.”

—Doug Lemov

“Fluent reading, when it includes prosody, is meaning made audible.”

—Doug Lemov

“I just think it's easy for us to overlook how profoundly groupish we are, how we yearn for group formation, how stories, when they're told well, when they're shared, they bind us together in an experience.”

—Doug Lemov

“When we're sharing this experience that we're able to connect with the text itself, we're able to infuse some meaning through how we're reading that text. That lends us to a depth of comprehension that's really where we want any reader to get to.”

—Susan Lambert

“Comprehension just isn't coming out of a book knowing what the author said; it’s deeply connected to the content that you just experienced.”

—Susan Lambert

Season 6, Episode 8

Love at the center of literacy, with Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson

Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson, Deputy Chief of Curriculum and Instruction in the School District of Philadelphia, has played an integral role leading and sustaining a transition to the Science of Reading in the Philadelphia public school district. But making such a change across a large district is difficult. In this episode, Dr. Francis-Thompson (who goes by Dr. Ny) talks with Susan about Philadelphia’s experience. She also talks about her own experience learning about the Science of Reading, and offers tips to other district-level leaders and wisdom about providing all students with the liberation that comes through reading and leading—all with love at the center.

Join Science of Reading: The Community to connect with fellow educators.

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Transcripts and additional resources:

Transcript
Dr. Ny’s LinkedIn profile
2021 The Philadelphia Citizen story: “A Better Way to Teach Reading”
2021 Chalkbeat Philadelphia story: “Just 32% of Philadelphia third graders read on grade level. Freedom Schools Literacy Academy could be a model to change that.”
A 2017 Accountability Review Council report on Philadelphia: “Promoting the Science of Reading Instruction in Philadelphia Public Elementary Schools: Early Implementation Lessons”
Video of Dr. Ny speaking: “Equity in Curriculum”
Dr. Ny’s 2017 dissertation: “Beyond the Pink Sand: Case Studies of Experiences of Multi-Tier System of Supports Implementation in the Bermuda Public School System”

Meet Our Guest(s):

Una mujer de cabello negro, con gafas con estampado de vaca, sonríe, rodeada de íconos estilizados de un lápiz y un corazón en un marco circular, que simboliza la alfabetización.

Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson

Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson is an education leader who advocates for students with diverse academic, social, emotional, and behavioral needs. She is Deputy Chief of Curriculum and Instruction in Philadelphia, where she leads the Curriculum Equity Initiative. She previously led the development of an instructional guide for supporting students with disabilities. Her dissertation on Multi-Tiered System of Supports implementation has a focus on evidence-based reading interventions. She approaches the Science of Reading conversation from an equity lens, focused on all students having access to culturally and linguistically inclusive instruction.

Meet our host, Susan Lambert

Susan Lambert is the Chief Academic Officer of Elementary Humanities at Amplify, and the host of Science of Reading: The Podcast. Her career has been focused on creating high-quality learning environments using evidence-based practices. Susan is a mom of four, a grandma of four, a world traveler, and a collector of stories.

As the host of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan explores the increasing body of scientific research around how reading is best taught. As a former classroom teacher, administrator, and curriculum developer, Susan is dedicated to turning theory into best practices that educators can put right to use in the classroom, and to showcasing national models of reading instruction excellence.

Susan-Lambert_Headshot

Quotes

“I have never met a student that did not want to learn how to read or a family that did not understand the importance of their children knowing how to read.”

—Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson

“We have to listen to our young people in order to be able to move with that sense of urgency.”

—Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson

"Liberation is connected to our students being literate… In order for our students to truly be free, we [need to] understand the power that reading has in their future.”

—Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson

“We have to remember who we are serving and why we are serving them.”

—Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson

“A lot of times when you’re in a large system and you’re leading a large system, it can become very robotic, like a machine. You do this, you get this, you do this, you get this. But there’s a human aspect that if you have not considered that human aspect, you could very well end up in the same place that you’re trying to move away from.”

—Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson

“And while it’s a five-year strategic plan, we do have a sense of urgency and I’m sure within that there are gonna be benchmarks and hundred-day plans and smaller plans to make sure that we are actually doubling down again on the things that truly matter, that are gonna lead, outcomes for our students here in the school district.”

—Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson

“If we’re only in the business of educating some students, then what are we really doing? It’s important to look at the students that are not benefitting and really identifying the things that work for that population of students rather than continuing with practices that aren’t meeting the needs of the students we’re serving.”

—Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson

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Amplify appoints Paul Sheppard as Chief Financial Officer

BROOKLYN, NY (January 14, 2021) — Amplify, a publisher of next-generation curriculum and assessment programs, announced today the appointment of Paul Sheppard as chief financial officer. Sheppard previously served as chief financial officer of Entangled (now Guild Education) and has held senior positions at several other education companies, including McGraw-Hill and Pearson.

As CFO at Entangled, a venture capital and advisory firm focused on education innovation, Sheppard helped the company implement best practices at scale across several departments, including finance, accounting, and operations. In 2020, Entangled was sold to Guild Education. 

“Paul Sheppard is both an innovator and trusted leader who consistently delivers results. He is also deeply committed to our mission, which is important to us,” said Amplify CEO Larry Berger. “As an accomplished executive with demonstrated success in the education and corporate training sectors, Paul will further drive our financial planning and business growth, enabling Amplify to serve more educators and students across the country.”

During his time at McGraw-Hill, Sheppard served as chief operating officer for Learning Science Platforms and vice president of strategy. He helped transition the core business to a digital subscription model and led major research on the future of education. In his earlier career, Sheppard served as vice president of corporate development and strategy for Pearson.

About Amplify
A pioneer in K–12 education since 2000, Amplify is leading the way in next-generation curriculum and assessment. Our core and supplemental programs in ELA, math, and science engage all students in rigorous learning and inspire them to think deeply, creatively, and for themselves. Our formative assessment products turn data into practical instructional support to help all students build a strong foundation in early reading and math. All of our programs provide teachers with powerful tools that help them understand and respond to the needs of every student. Today, Amplify serves seven million students in all 50 states. For more information, visit amplify.com.

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Amplify Desmos Math receives an all-green rating from EdReports

Amplify’s research-backed, curiosity-driven math program receives all-green scores across all three EdReport gateways

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Slow but steady progress: new Amplify data show why middle-of-year literacy screening matters 

READ MORE

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Amplify Science was named a 2018 SIIA CODiE Award finalist in the Best Science Instructional Solution and Best Emerging Instructional Technology Solution categories

New York, NY – (May 3, 2018) Amplify, a company that creates next-generation curriculum and assessment programs, announced that Amplify Science was named a 2018 SIIA CODiE Award finalist in the Best Science Instructional Solution and Best Emerging Instructional Technology Solution categories. Finalists represent applications, products, and services from developers of educational software, digital content, online learning services, and related technologies across the PreK-20 sector.

Amplify Science is a breakthrough K–8 curriculum designed from the ground up for the Next Generation Science Standards by the curriculum experts at University of California, Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science. In each Amplify Science unit, students inhabit the role of a scientist or engineer to investigate a real-world problem, providing them with relevant, 21st-century contexts through which to investigate scientific phenomena.

The SIIA CODiE Awards are the premier awards for the software and information industries and have been recognizing product excellence for over 30 years. The awards offer 91 categories that are organized by industry focus of education technology and business technology. Amplify Science was honored as one of 152 finalists across the 39 education technology categories.

“We are honored that Amplify Science has been recognized as a CODiE Award finalist for the strength of our K-8 science program and for our use of technology in science education. The CODiE judges are experts in education and technology, so this recognition is very meaningful and deeply appreciated,” said Steven Zavari, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Science at Amplify.

“I am impressed by the level of innovation and creativity demonstrated by the 2018 CODiE award finalists. These products are opening doors for learners of all ages by developing and utilizing new technologies to respond to student and educator needs.” said Ken Wasch, President of SIIA.

The SIIA CODiE Awards are the industry’s only peer-reviewed awards program. Educators and administrators serve as judges and conduct the first-round review of all education nominees. Their scores determine the SIIA CODiE Award finalists, and SIIA members then vote on the finalist products. The scores from both rounds are tabulated to select the winners. Winners will be announced during a CODiE Award Celebration at the SIIA Annual Conference & CODiE Awards in San Francisco on June 13.

Details about each finalist are listed at http://www.siia.net/codie/Finalists

About Amplify A pioneer in K-12 education since 2000, Amplify is leading the way in next-generation curriculum and assessment. Our captivating core and supplemental programs in ELA, math, and science engage all students in rigorous learning and inspire them to think deeply, creatively, and for themselves. Our formative assessment products turn data into practical instructional support to help all students build a strong foundation in early reading and math. All of our programs provide teachers with powerful tools that help them understand and respond to the needs of all their students. Today, Amplify serves more than three million students in all 50 states. For more information, visit amplify.com.

About the SIIA CODiE™ Awards The SIIA CODiE Awards is the only peer-reviewed program to showcase business and education technology’s finest products and services. Since 1986, thousands of products, services and solutions have been recognized for achieving excellence. For more information, visit siia.net/CODiE.

Contact: media@amplify.com

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Amplify Desmos Math receives an all-green rating from EdReports

Amplify’s research-backed, curiosity-driven math program receives all-green scores across all three EdReport gateways

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Slow but steady progress: new Amplify data show why middle-of-year literacy screening matters 

READ MORE

See All News

Season 6, Episode 9

Unlocking a systematic approach to math fluency instruction

Join us for Episode 9, in which Bethany sits down with former classroom teacher Myuriel von Aspen to talk about the importance of a systematic approach to math fluency instruction. Listen as von Aspen discusses how effective fluency instruction takes students beyond fact memorization into deeper learning through mathematical discourse.

A person with long dark hair smiles at the camera, framed in a circular border. The background features a pattern of colorful triangles and squares.

Meet Our Guest(s):

A woman with long dark hair smiles at the camera, outdoors, framed by a white circular border with graphic accents—perfect for inspiring confidence in math fluency instruction.

Myuriel von Aspen

Myuriel is the multiple subject coordinator for the MAT + Credential program at the University of California, Irvine. She has both teaching and coaching experience in elementary schools in Orange County, California, including seven years as a first and fourth grade teacher in a Spanish-English dual immersion school. She has worked in projects with Student Achievement Partners, UnboundED, and Illustrative Mathematics. Myuriel holds a bachelor of science in computer science from the Florida International University, and a master of business administration and master of arts in teaching from the University of California, Irvine. The core belief that drives her work is that all children are capable of learning challenging math. Our role as educators is to remove barriers, provide access and opportunities for children to make sense, engage in meaningful discussions, and develop their identities as competent doers and learners.

Meet our hosts: Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer

Bethany Lockhart Johnson is an elementary school educator and author. Prior to serving as a multiple-subject teacher, she taught theater and dance, and now loves incorporating movement and creative play into her classroom. Bethany is committed to helping students find joy in discovering their identities as mathematicians. In addition to her role as a full-time classroom teacher, Bethany is a Student Achievement Partners California Core Advocate and is active in national and local mathematics organizations. Bethany is a member of the Illustrative Mathematics Elementary Curriculum Steering Committee and serves as a consultant, creating materials to support families during distance learning.

Dan Meyer taught high school math to students who didn’t like high school math. He has advocated for better math instruction on CNN, Good Morning America, Everyday With Rachel Ray, and TED.com. He earned his doctorate from Stanford University in math education and is currently the Dean of Research at Desmos, where he explores the future of math, technology, and learning. Dan has worked with teachers internationally and in all 50 United States and was named one of Tech & Learning’s 30 Leaders of the Future.

Two people smiling at the camera, each in a separate circular frame, with geometric shapes decorating the background—perfect for a math teacher lounge or highlighting fresh math teacher resources.

Transcripts and additional resources:

Check out Myuriel’s welcoming message at NCSM, 2022.
Listen to an excerpt of Myuriel’s message at NCTM, 2021.
Learn a little about Myuriel’s journey.
Transcript

Quotes

“Math is not about answer-getting. It’s not about ‘I get it right or I don’t,’ but, ‘Do I deeply understand and can I justify and explain all those math practices?’ That we know is what really shows that a student knows math deeply.”

—Myuriel von Aspen

Stay connected!

Welcome to Amplify Science for grades K–5!

On this site, you’ll find resources to guide you in your review.

When you’re ready to explore full units in the digital Teacher’s Guide, click the “Review” button at the bottom of this page.

Two young girls sit together and look at a laptop, surrounded by illustrations of animals and plants, including an elephant, turtle, sloth, and mushrooms.

About the program

In every unit of Amplify Science, students take on the roles of scientists and engineers to figure out real-world phenomena. Students actively investigate compelling questions by finding and evaluating evidence, then developing convincing arguments. These engaging roles and phenomena bring science to life in your classroom.

The program is built from the ground up for new science standards and three-dimensional learning. The Next Generation Science Standards have raised the bar in science education. We set out to create a science program that educators can leverage to bring three-dimensional learning to life for their students.

A boy reads a book with an illustrated background featuring a dinosaur skull, the Earth, trees, clouds, and water.

Hear from educators like you

Hear from teachers, administrators, and students across the country who are using Amplify Science in their classrooms right now.

Resources to support your review

Download the resources below before you review the program to better understand the program structure, components, real-world phenomena, digital resources, and more.

Three Amplify Science curriculum book covers for grades 6-8 featuring program structure, hands-on investigations, and digital simulations with relevant images and graphics.

Walkthrough video

Before you explore the program, watch this video overview and get familiar with the digital Teacher’s Guide and where to find resources for you and your students online.

Start your review

To complete your review digitally, click the orange button below to explore the digital Teacher’s Guide. You’ll have access to one full unit from every grade.

When you explore the digital Teacher’s Guide, a quick guided tour will familiarize you with navigation of the program and its features.

Review the digital Teacher’s Guide now

While you can access all of the print resources from the digital Teacher’s Guide, we’ve collected a few exemplars here from each unit:

A woman sits at a desk in a classroom, looking at a laptop while referencing an open binder and papers.
Student Books
  1. Student Book: A Busy Day in Pushville
  2. Student Book: A Busy Day in Pushville (Spanish)
Student Investigation Notebook
  1. Pushes and Pulls Student Investigation Notebook sample
  2. Pushes and Pulls Student Investigation Notebook sample (Spanish)
Teacher’s Guide
  1. Pushes and Pulls Teacher’s Guide sample
Two children stand in a jungle with plants, rocks, and frogs on the covers of two science books titled "Modelos de ranas" and "Frog Models.
Student Books
  1. Student Book: Frog Models
  2. Student Book: Frog Models (Spanish)
Two books titled "Animal and Plant Defenses: Spikes, Shells, and Camouflage" in English and Spanish, both featuring a turtle and shark illustration on the cover.
Student Investigation Notebook
  1. Animal and Plant Defenses Student Investigation Notebook sample
  2. Animal and Plant Defenses Student Investigation Notebook sample
A book cover titled "Animal and Plant Defenses: Spikes, Shells, and Camouflage" with an illustration of a turtle, labeled as the Teacher's Guide.
Teacher’s Guide
  1. Animal and Plant Defenses Teacher’s Guide sample
Student Books
  1. Student Book: Landform Postcards
  2. Student Book: Landform Postcards (Spanish)
Student Investigation Notebook
  1. Changing Landforms Student Investigation Notebook sample
  2. Changing Landforms Student Investigation Notebook sample (Spanish)
Teacher’s Guide
  1. Changing Landforms Teacher’s Guide sample
Student Books
  1. Student Book: Hoverboard
  2. Student Book: Hoverboard (Spanish)
Student Investigation Notebook
  1. Balancing Forces Student Investigation Notebook sample
  2. Balancing Forces Student Investigation Notebook sample (Spanish)
Teacher’s Guide
  1. Balancing Forces Teacher’s Guide sample
Student Books
  1. Student Book: Blackout!
  2. Student Book: Blackout! (Spanish)
Student Investigation Notebook
  1. Energy Conversions Student Investigation Notebook sample
  2. Energy Conversions Student Investigation Notebook sample (Spanish)
Teacher’s Guide
  1. Energy Conversions Teacher’s Guide sample
  1. Student Book: Drinking Cleopatra’s Tears
  2. Student Book: Drinking Cleopatra’s Tears (Spanish)
  1. The Earth System Student Investigation Notebook sample
  2. The Earth System Student Investigation Notebook sample (Spanish)
  1. The Earth System Teacher’s Guide sample

Request more information

If you’d like to review the full program, request physical samples, or speak to a product expert for more information, fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch.

Welcome, Amplify Reading families

Welcome to the Amplify Reading Caregiver hub. We are here to support you and your child with all things Amplify!

Para acceder a este sitio en español haga clic aquí.

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Welcome to Amplify Reading!

Welcome to Amplify Reading! We know how important—and challenging—it is for parents and caregivers to support kids’ remote learning. That’s why we are here to support you. On this site, you’ll find valuable information and resources to help you guide your child as they use Amplify Reading.

What is Amplify Reading?

Amplify Reading provides your child with the opportunity to learn and practice literacy skills within an engaging story world that adapts to each student as they move through the program. Your child can learn with Amplify Reading during school hours and independently at home.

Learn about Amplify Reading in middle school here.

What is my role in Amplify Reading?

Ensuring your child can log in independently

We recommend that caregivers assist their children by helping them log in at home. Below, you’ll find a step-by-step video on how to log in to the program with the login information or QR code provided by your child’s teacher.

Note that your child may log in via Clever or another platform. Reach out to your child’s teacher if you’re unsure or did not receive login information.

Watch the video below for an overview of how to get your elementary schooler started with Amplify Reading:

How to get your child started with Amplify Reading

Tips

  • Practice logging in with your child consistently until they can log in independently.
  • Keep your child’s login information in a single place so they know where to go if they forget it!

Giving your child the time and space to play independently

Amplify Reading is personalized to your child’s needs, so you do not need to assist students with their learning. Once your child can log in, they’re ready to start using the program. Students will need headphones or to be in a quiet place when they play.

Some students will begin with a placement Quest. Their answers help the Amplify Reading program match them to the best content and games for their reading skill levels. To ensure the most accurate placement, it is important that your child complete each activity independently. If your child needs help understanding the instructions, you can refer to this instruction guide. And it is always helpful to encourage your child to have fun and do their best!

We recommend reviewing this Protecting Kids Online article by the Federal Trade Commission addressing digital safety.

Joining in on the fun!

Each child in grades K–3 has a customizable companion called a Curioso. Print these Curioso Coloring Pages so your child can design their own!

Students in grades K–5 encounter eReader texts along their adaptive learning path. These texts give students the opportunity to transfer the skills they practice in the games to actual texts. Consider watching the following read aloud videos with your child for some extra exposure to the texts and skill transfer activities, as well as opportunities for discussion.

Hedgehog and Fox – Fox keeps taunting Hedgehog that he can beat him in a race. But Hedgehog may have a trick up his sleeve that Fox doesn’t know about…

Lifting Up the Sky – A Snohomish legend that explains how the constellations came to be in the sky. 

The Best Present – Anjali and Anuj try to find Mom the best birthday present while they’re at a baseball game. What will they choose? 

The Big Ride – Rosa and her dad are about to go on a roller coaster, but Rosa is a little frightened. Will she enjoy it after all? 

The Busy Wolf – The Big Bad Wolf wasn’t trying to be bad, he was just too busy! Join us in Bookerton to hear this spin on classic fairy tales and engage with embedded skill practice and discussion prompts!

The Day They Became Americans – Three students who were born in different countries come together on a special day when they become American citizens.

Knowing where to go for help

Whether you have questions about your technology or want to know more about the program, Amplify’s Support Team is here to help!

Contact Support via telephone at (833) 97-Care-8 (833-972-2738) or caregiver@amplify.com.

Our support hours are Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET.

Frequently asked questions for caregivers

We recommend that your child use Amplify Reading two to three times per week for a weekly total of 30-45 minutes. However, your child’s teacher might have different daily or weekly recommendations.

If your child is having trouble with the content, Amplify Reading will adapt to provide your child with additional support and instructions within the game. For this reason, it is not recommended that caregivers help their child. While this can be hard, the program is carefully designed to provide the level of support your child needs to move forward.

If your child is having any technical challenges, please contact Amplify customer support at (833) 972-2738 or caregiver@amplify.com from Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 9 p.m. EDT and Saturday – Sunday from 10 a.m. – 6 pm. EDT.

We’re excited that you want to learn more! This recorded webinar for caregivers provides a deeper dive on the program and how you can support your child.

Utah ELA Review for Grades PK–5

Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify’s core ELA program for PK–5. Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) is a state-approved core ELA curriculum designated as a primary core program that fully meets the Science of Reading requirements outlined in SB 127.

Amplify CKLA, developed in partnership with the Core Knowledge Foundation, was designed to help teachers implement Science of Reading principles and evidence-based instructional practices. Scroll down to learn how CKLA is uniquely designed to help all your students make learning leaps in literacy.

Illustration of a diverse group of people engaged in creative activities, including a woman holding architectural plans and a young girl reading a book.

Step 1: Program Introduction

Welcome to Amplify CKLA! Before you dive into our materials, watch the video below to learn about the big picture behind Amplify CKLA’s pedagogy.

In this video, Susan Lambert (Chief Academic Officer and host of Science of Reading: The Podocast) shares why Amplify CKLA was created, how it is built on the Science of Reading, and the impact it’s making across the country.

Step 2: Program Overview

Amplify CKLA is different for a reason. Watch the overview video below to learn about these differences and why educators love them.

In this video, you’ll get an in-depth look at the program’s overall structure and organization, the design behind our proven lessons, and the materials included to support teaching and learning.

The Amplify CKLA Program Guide also provides an in-depth view of how Amplify CKLA works, how it’s structured, and why it’s uniquely capable of helping you bring reading instruction based on the Science of Reading to your classroom.

Evidence-based design

Amplify CKLA is rooted in Science of Reading research. Mirroring Scarborough’s Rope, Amplify CKLA delivers a combination of explicit foundational skills with meaningful knowledge-building.

  • In Grades PK–2, dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction are taught simultaneously through two distinct instructional strands.
  • In Grades 3–5, dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction are woven together and delivered through one integrated strand.
Scarborough's Rope

Grades K–2 Skills and Knowledge Strands
Every day students in Grades K–2 complete one full lesson that explicitly and systematically builds foundational reading skills in the Skills Strand, as well as one full lesson that builds robust background knowledge to access complex text in the Knowledge Strand. Through learning in each of these strands, students develop the early literacy skills necessary to help them become confident readers and build the context to understand what they’re reading.

Grades 3–5 Integrated Strand
In Grades 3–5, Knowledge and Skills are integrated in one set of instructional materials. Lessons begin to combine skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis. Students can then use their skills to go on their own independent reading adventures.

Key features

For each Amplify CKLA key feature below, click the drop down arrow to learn more.

Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades PK–2 with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.

Review this Science of Reading toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.

Amplify CKLA aligns with the instructional principles recommended by Orton Gillingham and LETRS.

  • Structured–Concepts are taught through consistent routines
  • Sequential–Concepts are taught in a logical, well-planned sequence
  • Systematic–Phonemes are taught from simplest to most complex
  • Explicit–Decoding and encoding concepts are taught directly and explicitly
  • Multi-sensory–Instruction is delivered through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways
  • Cumulative–Concepts are applied in decodable, connected texts with constant review and reinforcement

Watch this video to learn more!

Additionally, great reading instruction starts with helping kids develop great decoding skills. Our instruction is supported by:

The Science of Reading reveals knowledge as an essential pillar of reading comprehension and lifelong literacy. Hear from author Natalie Wexler and CKLA customers on edWebinar about the importance of knowledge-building in reading instruction.

Hear from Natalie Wexlered
Webinar Links

Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
  • Interactive Read-Alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
  • Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.
  • Social and emotional learning paired with lessons in civic responsibility.

Amplify CKLA not only received an all-green rating from the rigorous evaluators at EdReports, but it was also recently recognized by the Knowledge Matters Campaign as a high-quality literacy program that excels in building knowledge. Our shared message: background knowledge is essential to literacy and learning.

Read our EdReports review
Read our Knowledge Matters review

Student-led reading practice should be purposeful and connected to the core. That’s why Amplify createdBoost Reading. As an optional add-on to Amplify CKLA, students have the opportunity to practice skills directly tied to the skills they’ve been working on during core reading time. Boost Reading also adapts to each student to address their personal gaps and bolsters foundational skills at a pace that supports their individual development.

Boost Reading’s collection of 40+ adaptive games target foundational reading skills and develops them in alignment with Science of Reading principles. Unlike other adaptive games, we ensure students:

  • Practice the right skills at the right time. Our embedded placement tool ensures students receive the content and skill practice most appropriate for their current reading level. From there, students move through our curriculum along their own learning pathway where they encounter personalized content tailored to their evolving skill and grade levels.
  • Progress along a pathway that adapts on multiple dimensions, not just one. For example, a student can work on early first-grade decoding in one game while building more advanced vocabulary knowledge in another.
  • Practice skills in tandem. For example, a student is never forced to master one skill area before proceeding to the next. Instead, we offer students that opportunity to work on multiple skills concurrently.
  • Feel supported with scaffolding, instruction, and practice that adapts based on student performance.
  • Stay engaged by giving them immediate and clear feedback. These results are never punitive. Instead our always-positive feedback is delivered in the context of the game world and is designed to motivate students to keep trying.

Click the buttons below to learn more:

Step 3: Program Resources

Easy-to-use print materials

Amplify CKLA’s easy-to-use materials bring foundational skills and knowledge to life in the classroom.

Download the Amplify CKLA Components guide to see components by grade and watch the print materials walkthrough below.

Engaging CKLA digital experience

The top-rated content of Amplify CKLA is now live with the digital experience that enhances instruction and saves time.

Two digital dashboards are displayed: one for teachers showing recommendations and a program list, and one for students showing to-do items and a lesson named Mount Olympus, Part II.

With the digital experience, everything is in one place, making it easier and more engaging than ever to plan lessons, present digital content, and review student work. Click the arrows below to learn more.

With the digital experience, teachers have access to ready-to-use and customizable lesson presentation slides, complete with all the prompts from the print Teacher Guide embedded in the teacher view. As teachers deliver each lesson, students can engage with the content in one cohesive experience—through these CKLA resources: Activity Books, slides, digital components, videos, Student Readers, and more.

The innovative live review tool found in the digital experience enables you to keep an eye on all of your students as they work on drawing, recording audio, uploading and capturing images, and typing or writing in pre-placed textboxes in their Activity Pages. This dynamic tool provides countless classroom management benefits, enabling you to spot and correct common mistakes as they’re happening, praise your students for thoughtful work, and identify students who are not engaged in the task at hand. Simply put, it will give you those valuable “eyes in the back of your head” you’ve warned your students about!

The digital experience integrates with various LMSs, allowing you and your students to access Amplify CKLA with the software you’re already comfortable using.

In the Amplify CKLA student digital experience, your students have one intuitive access point to fully engage with classroom instruction. Through the Student Home, students can easily access digital lessons with slides, Activity Pages, ebooks, videos, and other interactives from one simple dashboard. Students can draw, record audio, upload and capture images, and type or write in pre-placed text boxes in their Activity Pages.

CKLA review resources

Step 4: State Review Resources

Step 5: Program Access

Explore as a teacher

Before logging in, watch this brief video on navigating the CKLA Teacher Platform.

Ready to explore as a teacher? Follow these instructions:

  • Click the Amplify CKLA Teacher Platform button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the teacher username: t1.utcklapk5@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter the teacher password: Amplify1-utcklapk5
  • Choose CKLA from the “Your Programs” menu on Educator Home.
  • Select a grade level from the drop-down menu at the top of the page.
Amplify CKLA Teacher Platform

Ready to explore as a Student? Follow these instructions:

  • Click the Amplify CKLA Teacher Platform button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the student username: s1.utahcklapk5@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter the student password: Amplify1-utahcklapk5
Amplify CKLA Student Platform

Core literacy programs: Strengthen sessions

Professional development sets teachers and leaders up for success, whether they are new to or experienced with a program. Each Strengthen session promotes a deeper understanding of the program through targeted instructional practices.

Explore literacy Strengthen sessions by program below.

Professional Learning Partner Guide Certified Provider

Amplify professional development has been vetted by Rivet Education’s team through a rigorous three-step process and is listed in the Professional Learning Partner Guide.

Contact us
A woman in glasses arranges classroom materials while holding books; next to her is an illustration of an open book with stars and colorful shapes.

About Strengthen sessions

Support your Amplify implementation with sessions that target specific instructional practices for teachers and leaders who are in year one and beyond. When you’re ready to schedule your Strengthen session, contact us. An Amplify expert will work with you to identify the session(s) that will best support your students’ success.

Each package includes one Strengthen session. Additional sessions can be added as enhancements.

Amplify CKLA and Amplify Caminos

Built on the Science of Reading, Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) 2nd Edition (PreK–5) and 3rd Edition (K–5) combine deep content instruction with research-based foundational skills, empowering all students with rich background knowledge.

Amplify Caminos 1st Edition serves as the Spanish language arts partner to Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition (K–5), while Amplify Caminos 3rd Edition is partnered with Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition. These aligned programs support our biliteracy principles and teaching models.

Explore Amplify CKLA and Amplify Caminos Strengthen sessions by package below.

Begin packages

  On-site package
(15 hr.)		 Hybrid on-site package (15 hr.) Hybrid 10 package
(10 hr.)		 Hybrid virtual package
(15 hr.)		 Virtual  package
(7 hr.)
One Strengthen session per package On-site,   3 hr. sessions On-site,   3 hr. sessions Virtual,     1 hr. session Virtual,    3 hr. sessions Virtual,     1 hr. session
Enhancing planning for teachers
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Enhancing practice for teachers
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Enhancing observations for leaders
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Language Studio Companion training for K–2 or 3–5 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Supporting all learners for teachers
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Pacing for teachers
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Student engagement for teachers
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Amplify CKLA 2nd–3rd Edition transition training for teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.

Begin: Enhancing planning for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Deepen your understanding of your next unit by engaging in a step-by-step unit- and lesson-planning protocol. Leave prepared to implement your next unit with a completed unit plan and internalized lessons for your particular biliteracy model.

Session options: Amplify CKLA (2nd Edition or 3rd Edition), Amplify Caminos (1st or 3rd Edition), Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition/Caminos 1st Edition biliteracy, or Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition/Caminos 3rd Edition biliteracy

Audience: PreK (Amplify CKLA), K–2, or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify CKLA session is facilitated in English. The Amplify Caminos session is facilitated in Spanish. Amplify CKLA/Caminos biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Begin: Enhancing practice for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Practice implementing key lesson routines to strengthen your instruction. Leave with guidelines for routines you can implement in your biliteracy classroom tomorrow.

Session options: Amplify CKLA (2nd Edition or 3rd Edition), Amplify Caminos (1st or 3rd Edition), Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition/Caminos 1st Edition biliteracy, or Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition/Caminos 3rd Edition biliteracy

Audience: K–2 or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify CKLA session is facilitated in English. The Amplify Caminos session is facilitated in Spanish. Amplify CKLA/Caminos biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Begin: Enhancing observations for leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Sharpen your program knowledge to support educators with effective program implementation. Observe a lesson in action and practice providing high-leverage feedback. Walk away prepared to provide educators with actionable feedback during your next classroom observation.

Session options: Amplify CKLA (2nd Edition), Amplify Caminos (1st or 3rd Edition), Amplify CKLA (2nd Edition), Amplify Caminos (1st or 3rd Edition), Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition/Caminos 1st Edition biliteracy, or Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition/Caminos 3rd Edition biliteracy

Prerequisite: Participants must complete the program overview for leaders before attending this session.

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Language: This session is facilitated in English.

Begin: Language Studio companion training for teachers

On-site and virtual, 3 hours

Participants will be able to summarize the key features of Language Studio. During this session, they will connect key segments of Language Studio to ELD instructional best practices, identify the segments of Language Studio, and plan and practice a Language Studio lesson.

Session options: Amplify CKLA 2nd or 3rd Edition (Grade K–2 or 3–5)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Supporting all learners for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Dig into embedded supports offered in the Amplify curriculum and prepare to support all learners in your next lesson.

Session options: Amplify CKLA (2nd or 3rd Edition), Amplify Caminos (1st or 3rd Edition), Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition/Caminos 1st Edition biliteracy, or Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition/Caminos 3rd Edition biliteracy

Audience: K–2 and/or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify CKLA session is facilitated in English. The Amplify Caminos session is facilitated in Spanish. Amplify CKLA/Caminos biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Pacing for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn five specific strategies to support pacing in your next lesson.

Session options: Amplify CKLA (2nd or 3rd Edition), Amplify Caminos (1st or 3rd Edition), Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition/Caminos 1st Edition biliteracy, or Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition/Caminos 3rd Edition biliteracy

Audience: K–2 and/or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify CKLA session is facilitated in English. The Amplify Caminos session is facilitated in Spanish. Amplify CKLA/Caminos biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Student engagement for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore engagement strategies that cultivate a student-centered classroom. Leave with a plan to incorporate these strategies in an upcoming lesson.

Session options: Amplify CKLA (2nd or 3rd Edition), Amplify Caminos (1st or 3rd Edition), Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition/Caminos 1st Edition biliteracy, or Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition/Caminos 3rd Edition biliteracy

Audience: K–2 and/or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify CKLA session is facilitated in English. The Amplify Caminos session is facilitated in Spanish. Amplify CKLA/Caminos biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Amplify CKLA 2nd–3rd Edition transition training for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Participants will get an overview of the similarities and differences between Amplify CKLA 2nd and 3rd Edition, including becoming familiar with changes in materials; the digital platform; and key lesson, assessment, and reporting components.

Session options: Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition (Grades 3–5)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice packages

Strengthen sessions

  On-site package
(15 hr.)		 Hybrid 15 package
(15 hr.)		 Hybrid 13 package
(13 hr.)		 Virtual package
(9 hr.)
One Strengthen session per package On-site,   
3 hr. session		 Virtual,     
3 hr. session		 Virtual, 1 hr. session Virtual, 3 hr. session
Enhancing planning for teachers
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Enhancing practice for teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Enhancing observations for leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Maximizing impact: Data-informed remediation with the ARG/DERG for teachers
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Writing for teachers
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NEW: mCLASS DIBELS 8 + CKLA 3rd Edition data-driven instruction for K–5 teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Supporting all learners for teachers
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Pacing for teachers
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Student engagement for teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
NEW: Amplify Caminos 1st–3rd Ed. transition training for teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
NEW: Amplify CKLA 2nd Ed./Caminos 1st Ed. to Amplify CKLA 3rd Ed./Caminos 3rd Ed. transition training for teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  

Practice: Enhancing planning for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Deepen your understanding of your next unit by engaging in a step-by-step unit- and lesson-planning protocol. Leave prepared to implement your next unit with a completed unit plan and internalized lessons for your particular biliteracy model.

Session options: Amplify CKLA (2nd Edition or 3rd Edition), Amplify Caminos (1st or 3rd Edition), Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition/Caminos 1st Edition biliteracy, or Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition/Caminos 3rd Edition biliteracy

Audience: PreK (Amplify CKLA), K–2 or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify CKLA session is facilitated in English. The Amplify Caminos session is facilitated in Spanish. The Amplify CKLA/Caminos biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Practice: Enhancing practice for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Practice implementing key lesson routines to strengthen your instruction. Leave with guidelines for routines you can implement in your biliteracy classroom tomorrow.

Session options: Amplify CKLA (2nd Edition or 3rd Edition), Amplify Caminos (1st or 3rd Edition), Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition/Caminos 1st Edition biliteracy, or Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition/Caminos 3rd Edition biliteracy

Audience: K–2 or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify CKLA session is facilitated in English. The Amplify Caminos session is facilitated in Spanish. The Amplify CKLA/Caminos biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Practice: Enhancing observations for leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Sharpen your program knowledge to support educators with effective program implementation. Observe a lesson in action and practice providing high-leverage feedback. Walk away prepared to provide educators with actionable feedback during your next classroom observation.

Session options: Amplify CKLA (2nd Edition), Amplify Caminos (1st or 3rd Edition), Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition/Caminos 1st Edition biliteracy, or Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition/Caminos 3rd Edition biliteracy

Prerequisite: Participants must complete the program overview for leaders before attending this session.

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Language: This session is facilitated in English.

Practice: Maximizing impact: Data-informed remediation with the ARG/DERG for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Walk away with a deeper understanding of the Assessment and Remediation Guide (K–3) and Decoding and Encoding Remediation Supplement (4–5), as well as a clear instructional plan for your intervention groups. Please note that for Grades K–2, this would only apply if you are using both strands or the Skills Strand only.

Session options: Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition (Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition is available July 2026.)

Audience: K–2 or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: This session is facilitated in English.

Practice: Writing for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Deepen your understanding of how to support students as they build writing skills. Leave this session prepared to teach an upcoming writing lesson based on your student work analysis. Bring samples of your students’ writing responses from your Amplify programs to this session.

Session options: Amplify CKLA (2nd or 3rd Edition), Amplify Caminos 1st Edition, or Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition/Caminos 1st Edition biliteracy

Audience: PreK, K–2, or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify CKLA session is facilitated in English. The Amplify Caminos session is facilitated in Spanish. The Amplify CKLA/Caminos biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Available October 2026

Practice: mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition + Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition data-driven instruction for K–5 teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Dive deep into mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition reports and instructional recommendations to drive instructional decisions in Amplify CKLA and stronger student outcomes in your classroom. You will leave ready to leverage mCLASS progress monitoring and grouping tools to support a robust Multi-Tiered System of Supports program, with Amplify CKLA as your core instruction.

Session options: Only for educators using both Amplify CKLA (2nd or 3rd Edition) with mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition

Audience: PreK–2 or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: This session is facilitated in English.

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Supporting all learners for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Dig into the many embedded supports offered in the curriculum and prepare for specific ways to bolster all learners in your next lesson.

Session options: Amplify CKLA (2nd Edition or 3rd Edition), Amplify Caminos 1st Edition, or Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition/Caminos 1st Edition biliteracy

Audience: K–2 and/or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify CKLA session is facilitated in English. The Amplify Caminos session is facilitated in Spanish. The Amplify CKLA/Caminos biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Pacing for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn five specific strategies to support pacing in your next lesson.

Session options: Amplify CKLA (2nd Edition or 3rd Edition), Amplify Caminos 1st Edition, or Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition/Caminos 1st Edition biliteracy

Audience: K–2 and/or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify CKLA session is facilitated in English. The Amplify Caminos session is facilitated in Spanish. The Amplify CKLA/Caminos biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Student engagement

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore engagement strategies that cultivate a student-centered classroom. Leave with a plan to incorporate these strategies in an upcoming lesson.

Session options: Amplify CKLA (2nd Edition or 3rd Edition), Amplify Caminos 1st Edition, or Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition/Caminos 1st Edition biliteracy

Audience: K–2 and/or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify CKLA session is facilitated in English. The Amplify Caminos session is facilitated in Spanish. The Amplify CKLA/Caminos biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Available July 2026

Suggested enhancement: Launch substitution: Amplify Caminos 1st–3rd Edition transition training for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Participants will get an overview of the similarities and differences between Amplify Caminos 1st and 3rd Editions, including becoming familiar with changes in materials; the digital platform; and key lesson, assessment, and reporting components.

Session options: Amplify Caminos 1st Edition (Grades K–2 or 3–5)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Available July 2026

Suggested enhancement: Launch substitution: Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition/Caminos 1st Edition to Amplify CKLA 3rd Edition/Caminos 3rd Edition transition training for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Participants will get an overview of the similarities and differences between Amplify Caminos 1st and 3rd Editions, including becoming familiar with changes in materials; the digital platform; and key lesson, assessment, and reporting components.

Session options: Amplify CKLA 2nd Edition/Amplify Caminos 1st Edition (Grades K–2 or 3–5)

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Amplify ELA

Amplify ELA 2nd Edition is a blended English language arts curriculum designed specifically to support students in grades 6–8 and prepare them for high school and beyond. With Amplify ELA, students learn to tackle any complex text and make observations, grapple with interesting ideas, and find relevance for themselves. The table below lists Amplify ELA 2nd Edition Strengthen sessions for Begin and beyond by package.

Click the session title or scroll down to learn more about each session.

Begin packages

Strengthen sessions

  On-site package
(15 hr.)		 Hybrid 15,
on-site package
(15 hr.)		 Hybrid 10 package
(10 hr.)		 Hybrid 15, virtual package
(15 hr.)		 Virtual package
(7 hr.)
One Strengthen session per package On-site,
3 hr. session		 On-site,
3 hr. session		 Virtual,
1 hr. session		 Virtual,
3 hr. session		 Virtual,
1 hr. session
Enhancing planning for teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Enhancing practice for teachers
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Enhancing observations for leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Teaching with print and digital for teachers
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Lesson planning for teachers
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Pacing for teachers
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Begin: Enhancing planning for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Deepen your program knowledge by unpacking learning outcomes, key assessment moments, and student engagement opportunities from an Amplify ELA 2nd Edition unit. Use backward planning to create a detailed plan for a unit of your choice and leave ready to begin the unit with your students.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Enhancing practice for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Experience a close-reading lesson to increase your understanding of how close reading is taught in Amplify ELA 2nd Edition. Uncover which teacher moves will support students in tackling complex texts. Leave with a strong understanding of how to facilitate a close reading lesson that encourages student collaboration, drives analysis, and deepens understanding.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Enhancing observations for leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Elevate your program knowledge to support colleagues with effective Amplify ELA 2nd Edition implementation. Leave prepared to identify key instructional elements in an Amplify ELA lesson, analyze data, and conduct effective classroom observations.

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Teaching with print and digital

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to administer Amplify ELA 2nd Edition lessons in your classroom using both digital and print curricula.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Lesson planning

Virtual, 1 hour

Deepen your understanding of the lessons in your next Amplify ELA 2nd Edition unit by engaging in a step-by-step lesson-planning protocol.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Pacing

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to identify and use essential activities, timing guidance, and knowledge of your students’ strengths and needs to determine pacing for individual activities and lessons within Amplify ELA 2nd Edition.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice packages

Strengthen sessions

  On-site package
(15 hr.)		 Hybrid 15,
on-site package
(15 hr.)		 Hybrid 13 package
(13 hr.)		 Virtual package
(9 hr.)
One Strengthen session per package On-site,
3 hr. sessions		 Virtual,
3 hr. sessions		 Virtual,
1 hr. session		 Virtual,
3 hr. sessions
Enhancing planning for teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Enhancing practice for teachers
 A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Enhancing observations for leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Writing: Improving through feedback for teachers
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Supporting all learners for teachers
 A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Data-informed instruction for teachers
 A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Teaching with print and digital for teachers
     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Lesson planning for teachers
     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Pacing for teachers
     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Increasing student engagement for teachers
     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Grading and assessment for teachers
     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  

Practice: Enhancing planning for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Deepen your program knowledge by unpacking learning outcomes, key assessment moments, and student engagement opportunities from an Amplify ELA 2nd Edition unit. Use backward planning to create a detailed plan for a unit of your choice and leave ready to begin the unit with your students.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Enhancing practice for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Experience a close reading lesson to increase your understanding of how close reading is taught in Amplify ELA 2nd Edition. Uncover which teacher moves will support students in tackling complex texts. Leave with a strong understanding of how to facilitate a close reading lesson that encourages collaboration, drives analysis, and deepens understanding.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Enhancing observations for leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Elevate your program knowledge to support colleagues with effective Amplify ELA 2nd Edition implementation. Leave prepared to identify key instructional elements in an Amplify ELA lesson, analyze data, and conduct effective classroom observations.

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Writing: Improving through feedback for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Deepen your understanding of how to support students as they build writing skills in Amplify ELA 2nd Edition. Leave this session prepared to provide targeted feedback that supports student growth in writing. Bring samples of your students’ writing responses from Amplify ELA to this session.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Supporting all learners

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how to effectively use embedded differentiated supports in Amplify ELA 2nd Edition and the Classwork app to support all students—including multilingual/English learners, students with learning disabilities, struggling readers and writers, and advanced students. Walk away with a plan for supporting specific students within your classroom.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Data-informed instruction for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Analyze your own student data and learn to turn Amplify ELA 2nd Edition data into differentiated and targeted instruction. Walk away ready to use the data provided in the Reporting and Classwork apps to align embedded support to your specific student needs. This session requires educators to analyze student data, so please bring 4–6 weeks of student data from Amplify ELA’s Reporting app to this session.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Teaching with print and digital

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to administer Amplify ELA 2nd Edition lessons in your classroom using both digital and print curricula.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Lesson planning

Virtual, 1 hour

Deepen your understanding of the lessons in your next Amplify ELA 2nd Edition unit by engaging in a step-by-step lesson-planning protocol.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Pacing

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to identify and use essential activities, timing guidance, and knowledge of your students’ strengths and needs to determine pacing for individual activities and lessons within Amplify ELA 2nd Edition.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Increasing student engagement

Virtual, 1 hour

Identify features within Amplify ELA 2nd Edition that increase student engagement, and determine ways to incorporate additional engagement strategies into lessons.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Grading and assessment

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to use key formative and summative assessments within Amplify ELA 2nd Edition to develop a plan for grading based on the specific requirements of your school or district.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Get in touch with a PD expert.

Overview Video

The Lawrence Hall of Science

Developed by the science education experts at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and the digital learning team at Amplify, our program features:

  • A phenomena-based approach where students construct a complex understanding of each unit’s anchor phenomenon.
  • A blend of cohesive storylines, hands-on investigations, rich discussions, literacy-rich activities, and digital tools.
  • Carefully crafted units, chapters, lessons, and activities designed to deliver true 3-dimensional learning.
  • An instructional design that supports all learners in accessing all standards.
The logo for The Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley, features blue text on a light background and is recognized by educators using Amplify Science for middle school science programs.

Instructional model

The Amplify Science program is rooted in the proven, research-based pedagogy of Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize. Here’s how each element works:

DO

First-hand investigations are an important part of any science classroom, and Amplify Science has students getting hands-on in every unit—from building models of protein molecules to experimenting with electrical systems.

TALK

Student-to-student discourse and full-class discussions are an integral part of the program. Students are provided with numerous opportunities to engage in meaningful oral scientific argumentation, all while fostering a collaborative classroom environment.

READ

Students read scientific articles, focusing their reading activities on searching for evidence related to their investigation and, importantly, on asking and recording questions as they read through fascinating texts on 21st-century topics.

WRITE

Following real-world practices, students write scientific arguments based on evidence they’ve collected, making clear their reasoning about how a given piece of evidence connects to one of several claims.

VISUALIZE

By manipulating digital simulations and using modeling tools to craft visualizations of their thinking— just as real scientists and engineers do—students take their learning far beyond the confines of what they can physically see in the classroom in an exciting and authentic way.

Program structure

Our cyclical lesson design ensures students receive multiple exposures to concepts through a variety of modalities. As they progress through the lessons within a unit, students build and deepen their understanding, increasing their ability to develop and refine complex explanations of the unit’s phenomenon.

It’s this proven program structure and lesson design that enables Amplify Science to address 100% of the NGSS, and support students in mastering the standards.

Graphic showing a research process with four steps: spark intrigue with a real-world problem, explore evidence, explain and elaborate, and evaluate claims, connected in a cycle with arrows.

Unit types

While every unit delivers three-dimensional learning experiences and engages students in gathering evidence from a rich collection of sources, each unit also serves a unique instructional purpose.

In grades 6–8:

  • One unit is a launch unit.
  • Three units are core units.
  • Two units are engineering internships.

Launch units are the first units taught in each year of Amplify Science. The goal of the Launch unit is to introduce students to norms, routines, and practices that will be built on throughout the year, including argumentation, active reading, and using the program’s technology. For example, rather than taking the time to explain the process of active reading in every unit in a given year, it is explained thoroughly in the Launch unit, thereby preparing students to read actively in all subsequent units.

Core units establish the context of the unit by introducing students to a real-world problem. As students move through lessons in a Core unit, they figure out the unit’s anchoring phenomenon, gain an understanding of the unit’s disciplinary core ideas and science and engineering practices, and make linkages across topics through the crosscutting concepts. Each Core unit culminates with a Science Seminar and final writing activity.

Engineering Internship units invite students to design solutions for real-world problems as interns for a fictional company called Futura. Students figure out how to help those in need, from tsunami victims in Sri Lanka to premature babies, through the application of engineering practices. In the process, they apply and deepen their learning from Core units.

Unit sequence

Our lessons follow a structure that is grounded in regular routines while still being flexible enough to allow for a variety of learning experiences.

In fact, our multi-modal instruction offers more opportunities for students to construct meaning, and practice and apply concepts than any other program. What’s more, our modular design means our units can be flexibly arranged to support your instructional goals.

Three columns listing education curriculum topics for grades 6, 7, and 8, focusing on science themes such as microbiomes, mars geology, and harnessing human energy.

Program components

Available digitally and in print, our unit-specific reference guides are chock full of helpful resources, including scientific background knowledge, planning information and resources, color-coded 3-D Statements, detailed lesson plans, tips for delivering instruction, and differentiation strategies.

Amplify Science TG

Hands-on learning is an essential part of Amplify Science, and is integrated into every unit. Students actively participate in science, playing the roles of scientists and engineers as they gather evidence, think critically, solve problems, and develop and defend claims about the world around them. Every unit includes hands-on investigations that are critical to achieving the unit’s learning goals.

A young person wearing gloves looks through a microscope at a table with laboratory supplies, including bottles, slides, and a tray, against a plain blue background.

More hands-on with Flextensions:
Hands-on Flextensions are additional, optional investigations that are included at logical points in the learning progression and give students an opportunity to dig deeper if time permits. These activities offer teachers flexibility to choose to dedicate more time to hands-on learning. Materials referenced in Hands-on Flextension activities will either be included in the unit kit or are easily sourced. Supporting resources such as student worksheets will be included as downloadable PDF files.

Our kits include enough materials to support 200 student uses. In other words, teachers can easily support all five periods and small groups of 4-5 students each. Plus, our unit-specific kits mean teachers just grab the tub they need and then put it all back with ease.

Amplify Science California supports 3-D learning with more materials than any other program.

Our digital Simulations and Practice Tools are powerful resources for exploration, data collection, and student collaboration. They allow students the ability to explore scientific concepts that might otherwise be invisible or impossible to see with the naked eye.

Available for every unit, our Student Investigation Notebooks contain instructions for activities and space for students to record data and observations, reflect on ideas from texts and investigations, and construct explanations and arguments.

In grades 6–8, one copy of the Student Investigation Notebook is included in each unit’s materials kit for use as a blackline master. Each notebook is also available as a downloadable PDF on the Unit Guide page of the digital Teacher’s Guide.

Two booklets titled "El clima cambiante de la Tierra: la desaparición del hielo" and "Earth’s Changing Climate: Vanishing Ice" with landscape illustrations on the covers.

These customizable PowerPoints are available for every lesson of the program and make delivering instruction a snap with visual prompts, colorful activity instructions, investigation set-up videos and animations, and suggested teacher talk in the notes section of each slide.

A laptop displays a PowerPoint presentation in presenter view, with slides about observing objects in plastic containers and related sensory instructions.

Explore your print samples

With your Amplify Science print samples, you’ll find unit-specific Teacher’s References Guides and Student Investigation Notebooks for each grade level.

A note about the Teacher’s Reference Guides:

It’s important that your committee sees the full breadth and depth of our instruction. For that reason, we provided a copy of each of our unit-specific Teacher Reference Guides.

Rest assured that teachers do not use these robust reference guides for day-to-day teaching. For that, we have a hands-free TG!

A laptop screen shows an energy simulation, with surrounding text and diagrams explaining the Earth's system and energy flow.
  • Teacher Reference Guide: Unlike a typical TG that requires a series of supplemental books to support it, our encyclopedic reference guide is chock-full of everything a teacher needs to fully implement our program and the NGSS.
  • Ready-to-Teach Lesson Slides: For daily instruction, teachers need their hands free. That’s why we created ready-to-teach lesson slides for every single lesson. What’s more, they are editable and include suggested teacher talk and point-of-use differentiation and other instructional tips. Click to learn more.

A note about the Materials Kits:

Hands-on learning is at the heart of Amplify Science, and is integrated into every unit. In order to make hands-on learning more manageable for busy teachers, Amplify Science materials are organized into unit-specific kits.

Stacked storage bins with labels, arranged neatly; caption notes they are a sample and may not reflect actual quantities or sizes.

Our unit-specific kits:

  • Include more materials — We give teachers enough materials to support 200 student uses.
  • Are more manageable — Unlike other programs that require large groups of students to share limited sets of materials, our kits include enough to support small groups of 4–5 students.
  • Include supportive videos — Each hands-on activity provides clear instructions for the teacher, with more complex activities supported by video demonstrations and illustrations.

What comes in each grade level kit? Click the links below to see the grade-specific lists of all materials included in each kit.

Access your digital samples

Explore as a teacher

Follow these instructions to explore the Amplify Science digital platform as a teacher.

  • Click the Access Amplify Science Platform button below and bookmark it.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the username: t1.jeffersoncounty@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter the password: Amplify1-jeffersoncounty
  • Click the Science icon.
  • Click on the Program Menu in the top center of the screen and select any grade.
  • Select any unit.
Access Amplify Science Platform

To help familiarize yourself with navigating the digital platform,watch the below navigational video.

Explore as a student

Follow these instructions to explore the Amplify Science digital platform as a student.

  • Click the Access Amplify Science Platform button below and bookmark it.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the username: s1.jeffersoncounty@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter the password: Amplify1-jeffersoncounty
  • Click the Science icon.
  • Click on the Grade Menu in the top center of the screen and select any grade.
  • Select any unit.
Access Amplify Science Platform

Resources to support your review

Oregon Enhanced ELA State Review for K–5

To view this protected page, enter the password below:



Core literacy programs: Strengthen sessions

Professional development sets teachers and leaders up for success, whether they are new to or experienced with a program. Each Strengthen session promotes a deeper understanding of the program through targeted instructional practices.

Explore literacy Strengthen sessions by program below.

Amplify professional development has been vetted by Rivet Education’s team through a rigorous three-step process and is listed in the Professional Learning Partner Guide.

Contact us
A woman sits reading a book to two young children on a couch in a colorful library setting.

About Strengthen sessions

Support Amplify implementation with sessions that target specific instructional practices for teachers and leaders who are in year one and beyond. When you’re ready to schedule your Strengthen session, contact us. An Amplify expert will support you in selecting the session that best fits your needs in order to push student results forward.

Each package includes one Strengthen session. Additional sessions can be added as enhancements.

Amplify ELAR and Amplify SLAR K–5

Built on the Science of Reading, Amplify Texas English Language Arts and Reading (ELAR) sequences deep content knowledge with research-based foundational skills. Amplify ELAR is a PreK–5 literacy curriculum that inspires curiosity and drives results, empowering all students with rich background knowledge.

Amplify SLAR is the perfect Spanish language arts partner to Amplify ELAR for grades K–5. Following biliteracy principles and supporting multiple teaching models, the aligned programs combine rich content knowledge with systematic foundational skills instruction grounded in the Science of Reading.

The table below lists Amplify ELAR and Amplify SLAR Strengthen sessions by package for Begin and beyond. Click the session title or scroll down to learn more about each session.

Begin packages

Strengthen sessions

  On-site package
(15 hr.)		 Hybrid on-site package (15 hr.) Hybrid 10 package
(10 hr.)		 Hybrid virtual package
(15 hr.)		 Virtual  package
(7 hr.)
One session per package On-site,   3 hr. sessions On-site,   3 hr. sessions Virtual,     1 hr. session Virtual,    3 hr. sessions Virtual,     1 hr. session
Enhancing planning for teachers
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Enhancing practice for teachers
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Enhancing observations for leaders
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Supporting all learners for teachers
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Pacing for teachers
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Student engagement for teachers
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Begin: Enhancing planning for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Deepen your understanding of your next unit by engaging in a step-by-step unit- and lesson-planning protocol. Leave prepared to implement your next unit with a completed unit plan and internalized lessons for your particular biliteracy model.

Session options: Amplify ELAR, Amplify SLAR, or Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy

Audience: K–2 or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify ELAR session is facilitated in English. The Amplify SLAR session is facilitated in Spanish. The Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Begin: Enhancing practice for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Practice implementing key lesson routines to strengthen your instruction. Leave with guidelines for routines you can implement in your biliteracy classroom tomorrow.

Session options: Amplify ELAR, Amplify SLAR, or Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy

Audience: K–2 or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify ELAR session is facilitated in English. The Amplify SLAR session is facilitated in Spanish. The Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Begin: Enhancing observations for leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Sharpen your program knowledge to support educators with effective program implementation. Observe a lesson in action and practice providing high-leverage feedback. Walk away prepared to provide educators with actionable feedback during your next classroom observation.

Session options: Amplify ELAR, Amplify SLAR, or Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy

Prerequisite: Participants must complete the Program overview for leaders before attending this session.

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Language: This session is facilitated in English.

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Supporting all learners for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Dig into embedded supports offered in the Amplify curriculum and prepare to support all learners in your next lesson.

Session options: Amplify ELAR, Amplify SLAR, or Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy

Audience: K–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify ELAR session is facilitated in English. The Amplify SLAR session is facilitated in Spanish. The Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Pacing for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn five specific strategies to support pacing in your next lesson.

Session options: Amplify ELAR, Amplify SLAR, or Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy

Audience: K–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify ELAR session is facilitated in English. The Amplify SLAR session is facilitated in Spanish. The Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Student engagement for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore engagement strategies that cultivate a student-centered classroom. Leave with a plan to incorporate these strategies in an upcoming lesson.

Session options: Amplify ELAR, Amplify SLAR, or Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy

Audience: K–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify ELAR session is facilitated in English. The Amplify SLAR session is facilitated in Spanish. The Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Practice packages

Strengthen sessions

  On-site package
(15 hr.)		 Hybrid 15 package
(15 hr.)		 Hybrid 13 package
(13 hr.)		 Virtual package
(9 hr.)
One session per package On-site,      3 hr. session Virtual,      3 hr. session Virtual, 1 hr. session Virtual, 3 hr. session
Enhancing planning for teachers
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Enhancing practice for teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Enhancing observations for leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Writing for teachers
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Supporting all learners for teachers
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Pacing for teachers
     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Student engagement for teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Amplify ELAR 2nd Edition Grade 3 Skills supplement for teachers     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  

Practice: Enhancing planning for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Deepen your understanding of your next unit by engaging in a step-by-step unit- and lesson-planning protocol. Leave prepared to implement your next unit with a completed unit plan and internalized lessons for your particular biliteracy model.

Session options: Amplify ELAR, Amplify SLAR, or Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy

Audience: K–2 or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify ELAR session is facilitated in English. The Amplify SLAR session is facilitated in Spanish. The Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Practice: Enhancing practice for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Practice implementing key lesson routines to strengthen your instruction. Leave with guidelines for routines you can implement in your biliteracy classroom tomorrow.

Session options: Amplify ELAR, Amplify SLAR, or Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy

Audience: K–2 or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify ELAR session is facilitated in English. The Amplify SLAR session is facilitated in Spanish. The Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Practice: Enhancing observations for leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Sharpen your program knowledge to support educators with effective program implementation. Observe a lesson in action and practice providing high-leverage feedback. Walk away prepared to provide educators with actionable feedback during your next classroom observation.

Session options: Amplify ELAR K–5

Prerequisite: Participants must complete the Program overview for leaders before attending this session.

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Language: This session is facilitated in English.

Practice: Writing for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Deepen your understanding of how to support students as they build writing skills. Leave this session prepared to teach an upcoming writing lesson based on your student work analysis. Bring samples of your students’ writing responses from your Amplify programs to this session.

Session options: Amplify ELAR, Amplify SLAR, or Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy

Audience: K–2 or 3–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify ELAR session is facilitated in English. The Amplify SLAR session is facilitated in Spanish. The Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Supporting all learners for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Dig into the many embedded supports offered in the curriculum and prepare for specific ways to bolster all learners in your next lesson.

Session options: Amplify ELAR, Amplify SLAR, or Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy

Audience: K–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify ELAR K–5 session is facilitated in English. The Amplify SLAR K–5 session is facilitated in Spanish. The Amplify ELAR K–5/SLAR K–5 biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Pacing for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn five specific strategies to support pacing in your next lesson.

Session options: Amplify ELAR, Amplify SLAR, or Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy

Audience: K–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify ELAR session is facilitated in English. The Amplify SLAR session is facilitated in Spanish. The Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Student engagement for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Explore engagement strategies that cultivate a student-centered classroom. Leave with a plan to incorporate these strategies in an upcoming lesson.

Session options: Amplify ELAR, Amplify SLAR, or Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy

Audience: K–5 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Language: The Amplify ELAR session is facilitated in English. The Amplify SLAR session is facilitated in Spanish. The Amplify ELAR/SLAR biliteracy session is facilitated in English and Spanish.

New

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Amplify ELAR 2nd Edition Grade 3 Skills supplement for teachers

Virtual, 1 hour

Participants will get an overview of how to implement Amplify ELAR 2nd Edition Grade 3 Skills in their classrooms! Learn the foundational elements of Amplify ELAR 2nd Edition Grade 3 Skills, including becoming familiar with materials and key lesson components.

Session options: Amplify ELAR 2nd Edition

Audience: Grade 3 teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Amplify ELAR 6–8

Amplify ELAR 6–8 is a blended English language arts curriculum designed specifically to support students in grades 6–8 and prepare them for high school and beyond. With Amplify ELAR 6–8, students learn to tackle any complex text and make observations, grapple with interesting ideas, and find relevance for themselves. The table below lists Amplify ELAR 6–8 Strengthen sessions for Begin and beyond by package.

Click the session title or scroll down to learn more about each session.

Begin packages

  On-site package
(15 hr.)		 Hybrid 15,
on-site package
(15 hr.)		 Hybrid 10 package
(10 hr.)		 Hybrid 15, virtual package
(15 hr.)		 Virtual package
(7 hr.)
One session per package On-site,
3 hr. session		 On-site,
3 hr. session		 Virtual,
1 hr. session		 Virtual,
3 hr. session		 Virtual,
1 hr. session
Enhancing planning for teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Enhancing practice for teachers
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Enhancing observations for leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Teaching with print and digital
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Lesson-planning
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Pacing
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Begin: Enhancing planning for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Deepen your program knowledge by unpacking learning outcomes, key assessment moments, and student engagement opportunities from an Amplify ELAR 6–8 unit. Use backward planning to create a detailed plan for a unit of your choice and leave ready to begin the unit with your students.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Enhancing practice for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Experience a close reading lesson to increase your understanding of how close reading is taught in Amplify ELAR 6–8. Uncover which teacher moves will support students in tackling complex texts. Leave with a strong understanding of how to facilitate a close reading lesson that encourages student collaboration, drives analysis, and deepens understanding.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Enhancing observations for leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Elevate your program knowledge to support colleagues with effective Amplify ELAR 6–8 implementation. Leave prepared to identify key instructional elements in an Amplify ELAR 6–8 lesson, analyze data, and conduct effective classroom observations.

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Teaching with print and digital

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to administer Amplify ELAR 6–8 lessons in your classroom using both digital and print curricula.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Lesson-planning

Virtual, 1 hour

Deepen your understanding of the lessons in your next Amplify ELAR 6–8 unit by engaging in a step-by-step lesson-planning protocol.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Begin: Strengthen Focus: Pacing

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to identify and use essential activities, timing guidance, and knowledge of your students’ strengths and needs to determine pacing for individual activities and lessons within Amplify ELAR 6–8.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice packages

  On-site package
(15 hr.)		 Hybrid 15,
on-site package
(15 hr.)		 Hybrid 13 package
(13 hr.)		 Virtual package
(9 hr.)
One session per package On-site,
3 hr. sessions		 Virtual,
3 hr. sessions		 Virtual,
1 hr. session		 Virtual,
3 hr. sessions
Enhancing planning for teachers A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Enhancing practice for teachers
 A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Enhancing observations for leaders A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background. A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.   A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.
Writing: Improving through feedback
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Supporting all learners
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Data-informed instruction
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Teaching with print and digital
     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Lesson-planning
     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Pacing
     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Increasing student engagement
     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  
Grading and assessment
     A large, light peach-colored checkmark on a transparent background.  

Practice: Enhancing planning for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Deepen your program knowledge by unpacking learning outcomes, key assessment moments, and student engagement opportunities from an Amplify ELAR 6–8 unit. Use backward planning to create a detailed plan for a unit of your choice and leave ready to begin the unit with your students.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Enhancing practice for teachers

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Experience a close reading lesson to increase your understanding of how close reading is taught in Amplify ELAR 6–8. Uncover which teacher moves will support students in tackling complex texts. Leave with a strong understanding of how to facilitate a close reading lesson that encourages collaboration, drives analysis, and deepens understanding.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Enhancing observations for leaders

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Elevate your program knowledge to support colleagues with effective Amplify ELAR 6–8 implementation. Leave prepared to identify key instructional elements in an Amplify ELAR 6–8 lesson, analyze data, and conduct effective classroom observations.

Audience: Leaders (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Writing: Improving through feedback

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Deepen your understanding of how to support students as they build writing skills in Amplify ELAR 6–8. Leave this session prepared to provide targeted feedback that supports student growth in writing. Bring samples of your students’ writing responses from Amplify ELAR 6–8 to this session.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Supporting all learners

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Learn how to effectively use embedded differentiated supports in Amplify ELAR 6–8 and the Classwork app to support all students—including English language learners, students with learning disabilities, struggling readers and writers, and advanced students. Walk away with a plan for supporting specific students within your classroom.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Data-informed instruction

On-site or virtual, 3 hours

Analyze your own student data and learn to turn Amplify ELAR 6–8 data into differentiated and targeted instruction. Walk away ready to use the data provided in the Reporting and Classwork apps to align embedded support to your specific student needs. This session requires educators to analyze student data, so please bring 4–6 weeks of student data from Amplify ELAR 6–8’s Reporting app to this session.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Teaching with print and digital

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to administer Amplify ELAR 6–8 lessons in your classroom using both digital and print curricula.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Lesson-planning

Virtual, 1 hour

Deepen your understanding of the lessons in your next Amplify ELAR 6–8 unit by engaging in a step-by-step lesson-planning protocol.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Pacing

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to identify and use essential activities, timing guidance, and knowledge of your students’ strengths and needs to determine pacing for individual activities and lessons within Amplify ELAR 6–8.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Increasing student engagement

Virtual, 1 hour

Identify features within Amplify ELAR 6–8 that increase student engagement, and determine ways to incorporate additional engagement strategies into lessons.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Practice: Strengthen Focus: Grading and assessment

Virtual, 1 hour

Learn how to use key formative and summative assessments within Amplify ELAR 6–8 to develop a plan for grading based on the specific requirements of your school or district.

Audience: Teachers, instructional staff (maximum 30 participants)

Get in touch with a PD expert

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Beyond My Years

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S3-03: Instructional strategies for integrating science and literacy

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We’re continuing our investigations around science and literacy with Doug Fisher, Ph.D., professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University. We talk about the importance of integrating science and literacy, as well as practical guidance for teachers who want to unite the two disciplines in their own classrooms.

Listen as we discuss how science and literacy can be powerful allies and specific strategy areas to focus on when integrating the two disciplines. And don’t forget to grab your Science Connections study guide to track your learning and find additional resources!

We hope you enjoy this episode and explore more from Science Connections by visiting our main page!

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Douglas Fisher (00:00):

It’s not that you have to become a reading specialist to integrate literacy into science. It’s how our brains work.

Eric Cross (00:10):

Welcome to Science Connections. I’m your host, Eric Cross. This season, we’re making the case for our favorite underdog, which of course is science. Each episode we’re showing how science can be better utilized in the classroom, and making the case for why it’s so important to do so. In our last episode, we examined the evidence showing that science and English instruction can support each other. And now on this episode, we want to give you some more strategies for really making that a reality in your own home or classroom or community. So to help me, I’m joined on this episode by Dr. Douglas Fisher, Professor and Chair of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University. Dr. Fisher is actually someone who has conducted literacy training at my own school, so I’m excited to be able to share some of his wisdom with all of you. Oh, and just a heads up, Dr. Fisher dropped some gems about the ways teachers can integrate literacy and science in their classrooms. So you may want to have a notepad. Ready. And now here’s my conversation with Dr. Douglas Fisher.

Eric Cross (01:12):

Well, Doug, thank you for your time and for being willing to come and talk about literacy and science. I know you’re busy, all over the place, and so I was super-excited that we were able to lock you in and talk about this. And, on this episode, we’re gonna talk about the ways that science and literacy can support each other. And one of the reasons why I’m really excited for you is because you said some really key things for me as a science teacher, when you talked about literacy and supporting students. That just resonated so deeply in me. And I was like, “I need more Doug!” Because we’re on that same frequency. And I know it’s a subject that you’ve spent a lot of time writing about. So can you tell us a little bit about how this became an area of interest or a passion for you? Just literacy, and all of the work that you’ve put into it?

Douglas Fisher (01:54):

Yeah. So I’ve wanted to be a teacher for a really long time. And I went to San Diego State as an undergraduate, and I was taking English class and we were assigned topics. You know, like, you’ll do an assignment, you’ll write a paper for this English class. And I got the topic “illiteracy,” and I was a freshman at San Diego State reading all of these things about adults who don’t read very well or not at all. And I ended up writing my very first college essay on illiteracy — at the time, you know, called illiteracy, at the time. And so I got super interested in this. And so as I moved through college and into my teaching career, literacy became a really important thing for me to think about, because it’s the gatekeeper. You know, you can be taken advantage of, if you’re not very literate. People can use vocabulary against you, if you’re not very literate. We know that people who have higher levels of literacy have better health outcomes. They have better lifespans, longer lifespans. I mean, there’s just — literacy impacts so much more than “Are you reading your fourth-grade textbook?” It really has lifelong implications.

Eric Cross (03:01):

That part that you said about being taken advantage of … I just got a flyer in the mail yesterday. It was one of these mailers that looked like it was an authentic debt-reduction type of thing, but it was really just like a marketing email. If you read the fine print at the very bottom, it had all of this jargon about “This is a paid, you know, for-profit company.” But when you look at it, it had official stamps all over it. And I could imagine if someone’s receiving that, that probably fools a lot of people. Is that kinda like what you’re talking about, like being taken advantage of?

Douglas Fisher (03:28):

Yes. I had a student turn 18, got a letter from a “credit card company” that was offering her daily compounding interest. And if you don’t know what that means — at 23 percent! — if you dunno what that means, you are gonna be a victim. Literacy really influences a lot of our life. It’s also how our brain works. We have a language-based system in our brain. We read, write, speak, listen, and view. And the things we learn, we learn through speaking, reading, writing, listening, and viewing. From what we know, we are the only species that has an external storage mechanism. Like, we have the ability to store complex information outside of our body, in the form of notes. We can type them. We can write them. And we can then go back and retrieve that information, that complex orthographic information later. And it means the same thing. We can say we have a storage system and we’ve been doing this for a really long time. Way back to, you know, hieroglyphics and messages on cave walls. And throughout the ages of humans learning, how to store information that they can re-access again later. That’s become a super-complicated system. It’s how computers operate. And we send messages to each other and we text each other and we write things down, and we’re really good at putting ideas, information out there. Now, if it’s just speaking and listening, then we can forget it. We can say, “No, you said this,” or “I said that.” But when it’s written, and it’s print literacy, you know, it’s the orthographics there, you can go back to the same message and over and over again. Now, you might change the interpretation of it, but the message is still there.

Eric Cross (05:16):

Right. And that is such a key element, at least of modern education, is this written element of it. It’s what many schools live and die by. They’re quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed by it. It’s public. They can see it. And so there’s this heavy emphasis. And why do you think science and literacy can be powerful allies together?

Douglas Fisher (05:38):

Awesome. Well, it’s hard to learn science if you’re not literate.

Eric Cross (05:42):

This is true.

Douglas Fisher (05:42):

But that’s a one-way direction. And yes, science teachers and scientists do a lot of reading, writing, speaking, and listening and viewing. They use the five literacy processes all the time. When we interview scientists, they spend a lot of their time reading the work of other scientists and writing their findings, writing grant proposals, presenting at conferences, you know. So a huge part of the work of a scientist is not just at a bench conducting experiments. But even if you’re conducting experiments, you’re using your literacy processes to think about what you’re seeing in your experiment. So that’s a one-way direction. And I do think literacy has an influence on science. But since science goes the other way, it influences literacy. As you learn more and you understand more about the world, your background knowledge grows, your vocabulary grows, you become more literate in those different areas. And how you think. So if I’m learning about life science; I’m learning how the world works in a more, biologic physical world. And that knowledge helps me think about when I’m reading a novel, and there’s an appeal to some science knowledge or a concept that gets played with, you know, perhaps time-space continuums … well, if I don’t have the science knowledge of how I think the world works, it’s hard for me to understand what this author is doing. So it does go both ways. They feed each other. And the more literate we become, the more complex science information we can understand. ‘Cause our background knowledge and our vocabulary influence how much we understand about what we read. And as we access more complex science information, it starts to change the way we think about other things in our world.

Eric Cross (07:23):

There was a couple of things that you said in that, but one of the first things that kind of perked my ears is when you said grant proposals. Because I have friends that are scientists — and this is one of the things that when I was in school, they don’t talk about — but how much of their research is reliant upon getting funding —

Douglas Fisher (07:37):

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>,

Eric Cross (07:38):

— which you don’t think about if you’re becoming a chemist or a physicist or a biologist or working in the field, is that that funding, coming from the NSF or anywhere else. And sometimes students ask in class like, “Why am I writing so much? Like, I want to go into science!” Or “I wanna do this!” And this is a real-life example of how the writing could actually apply, in addition to all of the things of collecting data and conclusions and results. But that grant proposal thing just really perked my ears, yeah.

Douglas Fisher (08:01):

And if you can’t write a grant proposal, your ideas and experiments are not gonna get funded. And if you can’t write a strong proposal, that compellingly convinces your readers to fund you, you’re not gonna get funded. But then once you get the grant, you have to write publications. You have to share your work with other people. Make PowerPoint presentations and write journal articles or books or whatever. So it’s a cycle that literacy influences the things we do, including the things we do in science.

Eric Cross (08:31):

Now to get in maybe some data, if you were trying to convince someone that like this happy marriage can exist, what would be like your number one piece of evidence to support this, this back and forth of supporting each other?

Douglas Fisher (08:44):

Awesome. So the quote I’ll often say — and this is from studies from more than two decades ago now — but in general, in high school science, students are introduced to 3000 unfamiliar words, 3000. Each year! Because there are words that are used in a scientific way that are used commonly in other places. And there are discipline-specific words. So 3000 words a year in high school science. The Spanish 1 textbook only has 1500 words in it. So science teachers have double the academic-language vocabulary demand that a typical introductory world-language class has. So just the vocabulary alone should say to us, literacy is gonna be important if you’re gonna learn science. And if you don’t understand these technical words, and you don’t understand the way science uses this particular word in this particular way… . When you say the word “process,” it means something very specific In science. “Division” — cellular division is not the way we think about it in mathematics; there’s a similar concept, but cellular division is different than dividing numbers. And those are words that get used in multiple areas. Then you have all these technical terms that you have to be able to use, to understand the concepts. To share the concepts. To talk to other people. Whether you’re in, you know, fifth grade and talking science, or you’re a university professor, there’s a shared language, appropriate for our grade level, that we have shared meanings of.

Eric Cross (10:22):

And we’re essentially … what I’m hearing you say is … most of the people that are listening to this are science teachers. We’re we’re also language teachers. In a sense.

Douglas Fisher (10:29):

So my frustration is when people say, “Every teacher’s a teacher of reading.” And I don’t like that. I’ve written against that phrase. I don’t think all teachers are teachers of reading, any more than all teachers are teachers of chemistry. Or all teachers are teachers of algebra. But what I will say is the human brain learns through language. And all of us — every teacher that I’ve ever met understands that language is important in my class. If my students don’t have strong listening skills and speaking skills; reading, writing, and viewing skills; I’m gonna have a hard time getting them to learn things. If I can help them grow their speaking, listening, reading, writing, and viewing in my content area, I’m gonna do a service for my learning of my subject and also their more broad literacy development.

Eric Cross (11:16):

  1. So, at a high level, what does it look like to integrate science and literacy? We’ve done education for the last, what, hundred years?

Douglas Fisher (11:24):

Mm-hmm. <affirmative>

Eric Cross (11:25):

—kind of pretty similarly, right? Kind of siloed way. What does this look like at the 30,000-foot level? You’re a professor, department chair. Run schools. Speak everywhere. Like, when you think about this from that high level, what does it look like?

Douglas Fisher (11:39):

A high level? Every time I meet with students in a science class, you know, biology or fifth grade or whatever? They should be reading, they should be writing, they should be speaking and listening. Every class. So what print do you want them to access? And it can be a primary source document, it can be an article, it can be from a textbook. Are they reading something? Are they writing to you? Because writing is thinking. If they are writing, they are thinking. As soon as their brain goes somewhere else, they stop writing. The pen won’t move or the fingers don’t type. And then speaking and listening, of course, is the dynamic of our classes. So every day we should see some amount of reading, writing, speaking, and listening, viewing in our classes. That’s at a high level. There are some generic things that seem to work across the literacy. So, learning how to take notes. Focusing on vocabulary. Using graphic organizers. These are generic things that as educators we can use in our classes. Then there’s more specialized things. So, scientists and science teachers think differently than historians and literary critics and art critics. So scientists, if you look at the disciplinary literacy work, there’s a whole body of research where they interview and study high-end experts in their field: chemistry, physics, biology, et cetera. And there are some characteristics that were more disciplined, specific. Scientists like cause and effect relationships. They look for them when they’re reading. They like sourcing information. “Where this come from?” “What’s the history of this idea?” Scientists have a long view in terms of time. Historians have a shorter view of time. English teachers have even shorter view of time. Scientists tend to think in long periods of time. And so all of that influences how a scientist reads and how we should apprentice young people after they get past the generic “I know how to take notes. I know how to study my vocabulary. I know how to do summary writing for my teacher in my notebooks and things,” there’s some generic tools. Once we get past those, we need to be looking at specifically how do people in science use literacy.

Eric Cross (13:52):

I’ve never had my thought process of reading deconstructed just now, but we just described how scientists read. I was like, “Yeah, that’s pretty much how I read, right there.” I also like how you said how we should apprentice young people. And I feel like you as the literacy guy, you chose that word very specifically, as far as apprenticing young people. That is a view, I think, that’s really important to hold. ‘Cause that’s what we’re doing essentially … is, if we’re doing what we should be doing, we are apprenticing these young people.

Douglas Fisher (14:18):

Yes.

Eric Cross (14:18):

And helping them develop. Now, let’s imagine there’s a listener out there and they’re interested in getting better at integrating science and literacy instruction. They want to start somewhere. Before we dive in, do you have any initial words of encouragement for the person who’s like, “Everything is like a priority right now,” in their classroom or in their world?

Douglas Fisher (14:37):

Yeah. So I’ll talk about elementary for just a moment. When we’re reading informational texts in our literacy block, we should be reading information that is aligned to what kids need to learn in science and history in, in that grade level. Why are we reading things that are gonna be in conflict with what they’re gonna learn in science later that day in fourth grade, for example? So when we look at our standards, our expectations, what is it that third graders need to know in history, science, mathematics, language arts? And when we’re reading text and we’re learning to apply our reading strategies during our literacy block, why aren’t we reading topics that build our background knowledge for our science time? So we’re seeing some synergy there. We should be looking at life cycles in grades that are appropriate for life cycles and knowing there’s more to life cycles than the frog and the plant or the seed. There are all kinds of life cycles. And we call ’em life cycles for a reason. That’s a general concept. Now in science, we’re looking at this particular lifecycle right now. And so that’s a high level. If we could get more connection to the content standards during our literacy blocks, it would be very good. When we talk about the time at which we call “science” in the day, in more of the K–8 continuum, the science needs to include some primary source documents. Some real things that students are reading. Read about a scientist; read about a scientist’s discovery; read about what they discovered. So that we’re building our background knowledge. So when we go to do things, activities, labs, simulations, we have background knowledge and we understand what we’re experiencing. It can’t be like—I watched this awesome lesson on lenses and the teacher had all these different lenses in the room and the students came in and they were brand new. They don’t know anything. They were picking ’em up. They’re exploring them. They’re trying to figure out, and they’re trying to come up with theories about what this is and how it works. And then the teacher gave them a reading, a short reading, on refraction of light. And they read this thing. And the clarity that they had about what these lenses must do, well! All of a sudden they’re putting them up to the lights! They’re asking if they can go get the lights out of the storage unit! ‘Cause there’s — and they’re shining different lights through the lenses to see what happens to the light. Because that little bit of reading turned some focus on for the students. And it allowed them to take what I’m thinking about, what I’m trying to figure out, how this thing works in another direction. That’s the power of using literacy in our classes.

Eric Cross (17:20):

And what I’m hearing essentially is transfer across disciplines, across content areas, ultimately. And in an elementary school classroom, would it be fair to say, probably the teacher has more autonomy to be able to do that, since they’re teaching all the subjects? But secondary, logistically, planning and those types of things … from what you’ve seen, is it fair to say this kind of needs to be like a top-down, full vertical alignment, to teach like this?

Douglas Fisher (17:45):

I think that would be awesome to do that. But if I’m a sixth grade English Language Arts teacher and I’m working with my sixth grade science teacher, the conversation should be, “What units are you teaching?” Because I’m choosing informational text. My job is to teach them how to find central ideas. My job is to teach them how to find the details in the text. My job is to have them make a claim and support that claim with evidence. The stuff I use is generic. Yes, we do read some literature and some narratives, but we also read about 50% of the text in English around informational text. So if I can help you and accomplish my standards as well, fantastic. So let’s have this conversation and say, “Oh, this is what you’re teaching in science in the next three weeks? I’m gonna choose some texts and we’re gonna analyze ’em for central idea. We’re gonna analyze ’em for details. We’re gonna, for mood or tone or whatever that we’re teaching. And by the way, I’m building background knowledge. So when they come to you, they know some stuff about what you’re going to be teaching next.” So I don’t think it’s impossible to say teams of teachers could come together and say, “What do we believe that our students need to know and learn and be able to do? And then how do we choose things that are gonna help them accomplish exactly that?”

Eric Cross (19:01):

And that’s empowering. Because that’s one thing that we can control maybe is this East-West, peer-to-peer, different content areas. A system may not be able to change as quickly, but I can definitely go talk to my English team or math team and check in and kind of see, “Hey, where do we have overlap in that?” And I know the times that I’ve accidentally had overlap with the teams, it’s super-exciting. And the students have been more bought in! Because it’s like, we’ve done something on the human microbiome and we’ve talked about genetics and all these different things, and then when they read The Giver, or they read some book about genetics, they have all this knowledge. And they’re excited. And they talk about colorblindness or they come to my class and they’re like, “Hey, we read about this!” It’s almost like they saw a magic trick, the fact that these things linked up. And the engagement has been so much higher when it’s the same content in different classes, but through different lenses. At least, that’s what I’ve seen in my years of teaching.

Douglas Fisher (19:54):

I saw a lesson on space junk that was so cool. Middle-school students learning space junk. And the history teacher had a part of it, science teacher had a part of it, English Language Arts teacher had a part of it. And these students, I mean, you watch them look up all the time, ’cause there’s space junk up there. Where’d it come from? Why is it there? What are the politics of this? How do we clean it up? I mean, it was just so interesting to watch them when the teachers came together. And the teachers met their standards in this couple-week-long space-junk exploration. Investigation was met. Politics was met. All these different things. Economy. You know, how much does it cost to clean up this problem? So there’s really cool opportunities when teachers come together and realize we can work together and improve the literacy and learning of our students.

Eric Cross (20:50):

Absolutely. So before this recording, we picked your brain a bit. And I know that there were three specific strategy areas that you wanted to touch on. And one of those — which is kind of coming back to the 3000-words language teachers — was vocabulary. So what are the opportunities that you see, as far as the way of educators to approach vocabulary? Because, you know, there’s a lot. We got a lot of it. The 3000 words.

Douglas Fisher (21:14):

Yeah. There’s a lot of it. So the worry is, we make a vocabulary list and have students look up the words in definitional kinds of things. That’s not really gonna help. Students need to be using the words. They need to be using the words in their conversations, in their writing, in how they think about your content in science. So vocabulary is a huge predictor of whether or not you understand things. Vocabulary is also a pretty good predictor if you can read on grade level. So when we think about vocabulary, there’s something called word solving. You show students a piece of text and you’re reading it, you’re sharing your thinking, and you say, “Oh, here’s a context clue!” Or “I know this prefix or suffix or root!” And in science, a lot of the words are prefixed, suffixed, or root words. We tend to add things together with a lot of prefixes and suffixes and have roots and bases in science. So we can help students think about, “Oh, what does geo- mean? We already know what geo- means here. It means the same thing in this word. Let’s apply that knowledge.” So word solving is part of it, showing students how we think about words that we might not know. The second is more direct instruction of vocabulary. As students encounter the words, we work on what it means, how we say it. We practice it a few times. The process is called orthographic mapping. It’s kind of a scientific idea here. But you have the sound and the recognition of by-the-word, by sight, and what it means. And your brain starts to automatically recognize that word in the future. So I don’t have to slow down, disrupt my fluency, and try to figure out what the word is saying. ‘Cause I’ve seen it enough. I’ve heard it pronounced enough, I’ve pronounced it enough, and I know what it means. So teachers should be saying, “What words in sixth grade science, what words in third grade science, do my students really need to know?” And I’m gonna have them encounter those words over and over. I’m gonna have them use the words. I’m gonna have them see the words. I’m gonna have them say the words. I’m gonna say the word and we’re gonna be over and over with these terms, so that students incorporate them into their normal view of, “These are the things I know about the world.” By the way, when they go to read that next thing, and they understand “geology,” you know, for sixth graders, for example, they know how to say it. They don’t stumble on it. And it activates a whole bunch of memories in their brains. “This is what geology is.” There are branches of geology, there’s physical geology, there’s all this thinking that activates as they read.

Eric Cross (23:35):

There was a practice that I participated in and am trying to incorporate — I don’t know what the name of it is. But essentially what happened was we were dissecting a flower. And the instructor had us name parts of the flower. But we got to come up with our own names for it.

Douglas Fisher (23:49):

Ah.

Eric Cross (23:50):

So, for instance, the stamen we call “the fuzzy Cheeto.” And we all used our own words and then everything was legitimized. And so we went through and learned the whole activity using our own vocab words. But then, in the end, after we presented and talked about it, then the words, the actual academic language was attached to our word. And we were able to say, “OK, the fuzzy Cheeto is the stamen,” and this, this, this, and this. But it was such an interesting practice, because it kind of legitimized all of our definitions. But we weren’t stumbling on these long Latin terms and things like that. Is there a name for that? Or. … ?

Douglas Fisher (24:29):

Yes. I don’t know the name for that. I think it’s really smart. So here’s what I would say about that, is: we don’t learn words, we learn concepts. Words are labels for our concepts. So what that teacher did for you was allow you to develop concept, a concept knowledge. “There’s a part of this plant, it goes like this, we’re gonna call it fuzzy Cheeto. Now I have this concept. And look, it occurred in all these plants. And those people called it that and that other group called it that. We called it a fuzzy Cheeto. Here’s the part of it.” And then the concept is in your brains. And the teacher said, “It’s really called stamen.” And it’s an instant transfer, because you already had the concept. What we often see is students are trying to learn a really hard academic word and the concept for the word at the same time. And so it slows down the whole process. And there’s higher levels of forgetting. Because human beings, we don’t learn words; we learn concepts. If you don’t have the concept, if I gave you a word out of the blue that you’ve never seen, never heard, and a week from now I asked you to remember it, you probably would not, because it didn’t register. It wasn’t part of your schema. You didn’t have a way to organize the information. You don’t have a concept. So that teacher? It’s a great idea. Got you to develop concept knowledge. And then said, “Here’s a real label for it: What some other people called it when they had the chance to come up with their own names.”

Eric Cross (25:50):

Shout out to my teacher, who was—

Douglas Fisher (25:51):

Right.

Eric Cross (25:52):

It was learned then. It was a great practice. And the fact that you’re right, like, I just mean from my own personal experience, I agree that learning concepts versus complicated words. And it’s interesting that you said higher levels of forgetfulness, you know. And you often hear that complaint about it: “Students forget! Students forget!” But this complex topic and this complex word that’s new to me, and I have to remember both of those things.

Douglas Fisher (26:12):

That’s right.

Eric Cross (26:13):

And the other neat thing that it did, is it actually honored the background and like the founts of knowledge of all the different groups in the classroom. You just said something about “this group called it this and this group called it this,” and so by letting different groups share all of those names, now we’re starting to build these kind of interesting connections. That’s at least what I remember experiencing. And so this, even this practice of this approach is very layered, beyond just kind of generating new knowledge of things. So I appreciate that aspect of it. Now another area that you mentioned was complex text.

Douglas Fisher (26:41):

Yeah.

Eric Cross (26:42):

And how we can get students into complex text. So what can we do there?

Douglas Fisher (26:46):

I think science is an ideal place to get students reading things that are hard for them. And I do believe that some parts of school should be a struggle. Not all day, every day. But there should be doses of struggle, which are good for our brains. And these complex pieces of texts that don’t give up their meanings easily allow students to go back and reread the text and maybe mark the text and talk to peers about the text and answer questions with their groups. And the whole point of complex text is to say, “We persevere through it. We may not understand it fully on our first read. But we go back and we might underline, we might highlight. We might write some margin notes. Our teacher might say, ‘What did this author mean here?’ And we go back and look at that part and we take it apart. What do we think about that? And we talk to each other. It’s showing that when we read things, we work to understand. We work through our thinking, often in the presence of other people. And our understanding grows as we go into the text over and over and over again.” So I said geology earlier. There’s about a two-page article on “what is geology” that sixth graders often read. And some kids find it super boring. It’s a once-read, “OK, geology, I don’t really understand it. There’s a bunch of words in here that I don’t understand.” But if you go back to it a few times and you start taking apart, “What are the branches of geology? Oh, I’m gonna go reread that.” How are these two branches related to each other?” “What are the subtypes of each branch of geology?” “How do geologists do their work?” You start asking questions where students are going back into the text. You spend a little bit of time. Now, the introduction to geology, the students know so much more. So whatever you do next— video experiments, whatever—they have a frame of reference, because of that deep, complex read. It’s probably better than simply telling them, “Here’s the information.”

Eric Cross (28:45):

Right. And I even feel like as an educator, when I reflect on my own learning in the classroom, and then looking at it through the perspective of an educator <laugh>, you find this difference between how you were taught and then what the data says good teaching is.

Douglas Fisher (28:59):

Mm-hmm. <affirmative> mm-hmm. <affirmative>.

Eric Cross (29:00):

It’s so easy to slide back into how you were taught!

Douglas Fisher (29:02):

Yeah.

Eric Cross (29:02):

Even though, you know, you mentally assent to, “This is the best way. This is the data shows.” And you find yourself kind of sliding back at times.

Douglas Fisher (29:10):

Yep. And there’s good evidence to support what you just said, that most people teach the way they experienced school. And it is very hard to change that. And people have studied this. And it’s very hard to change that. Because it worked for us. And we have an n of 1, and it worked for us. Now, remember, there were a whole bunch of other kids in the class that it may not have worked for. And we chose to be in school the rest of our lives, and some of your peers did not choose to be in school the rest of their lives. In fact, some of them hated school and found no redeeming qualities of their experience. So just because it worked for us in a case of one, n of 1, doesn’t mean it worked for all of the kids, or even the majority of them.

Eric Cross (29:57):

Very well said. It’s that, what is that, the survivor bias? Survivorship bias? Where you were the one that made it. But you don’t think about all the other folks. ‘Cause we’re thinking about ourselves.

Douglas Fisher (30:05):

That’s right.

Eric Cross (30:06):

Great case for empathy too, is thinking about the people left and right. Because my friends are like, “I hated science.” And I say, “Who hurt you? Like, what did they do? It’s so amazing, so much fun!”

Douglas Fisher (30:16):

“What happened to you? Science is the coolest. Right? It’s so amazing!”

Eric Cross (30:21):

But I also had a unique experience in seventh grade with my teacher who did some of these things, and made it accessible for so many of us, in opening opportunities that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. But you’re absolutely right. That was my story. That wasn’t the story of everybody that was around me. And I think that’s really important. Now, I know this is also a big one for you, but I wanna talk about writing. What are the opportunities that you see in terms of writing specifically?

Douglas Fisher (30:51):

So would love it if science teachers had short and longer writing tasks in the science time. Of course, you can integrate some of the science writing, the longer ones, in the English language arts time, especially if you’re the elementary teacher and you can have control of the whole day. But I said this earlier; I’ll say it again. Writing is thinking. While you are writing, there’s nothing else you can do but think about what you are writing. Your brain cannot do something else. So if a science teacher wants to know, do their students really understand the concepts? Have them write. Now some of the shorter ones, I like something called “given word” or “generative sentences”: “I’m gonna give you a word: CELL. C-e-l-l. We’re in science. I want you to write the word ‘cell,’ c-e-l-l, in the third position of a sentence. So it’s gonna go word, word, cell, and then more words.” You could also say, “I want the sentence longer than seven words,” or whatever. But the key is, I’m telling you where I want the word. You will know instantly if your students have a sense of what the word “cell” means in the context of science. If they write “my cell phone,” they don’t get it. If they write about spreadsheet cells or jail cells or whatever, they didn’t get it. But if they talk to you about plant cells and animal cells and the components of those cells, and then once they have that sentence down, you can say to them, “Now write three or four more sentences that connect to that sentence.” It’s super simple. So whatever concepts you’re teaching, put ’em in a specific position. Now you don’t have to only put it in the third position. You can say the first position, the fifth position, the fourth position. But it forces them to think about what they know about the word and then how to construct a sentence for you. That’s a very simple way to get some writing from your students that helps you think about what they understand. Other kinds of writing, you can have quick writes, you can have exit-slip writes. There’s something in the research space called the muddiest part, where halfway through the lesson you have them write so far what has been the least understood or the most confusing part of this lesson. And they do a quick write, right there, at the muddiest part. And as a teacher, you flip through these and you start to say, “Oh, these are the points that are confusing to my students.” So if 80% of them all have the same thing, I gotta reteach that. If these five got, “This is the muddiest part,” If these five thought, “This is the muddiest part,” these seven, “I thought this was the muddiest part,” what do I need to do? Because it’s gonna be hard to move forward if this is their area of confusion. There are also all kinds of writing prompts that have a little bit longer. My favorite one is RAFT. What’s your Role? Who’s your Audience? What’s the Format? And what’s the Topic we’re writing about? Super flexible writing prompt. When you teach something, we don’t want students to only think they write to their teacher. So your role is an atom. You are writing to the other atoms. What do you wanna write about? What’s the topic? What’s the format of it? Is it a love letter? Is it a text message? Is it … so we, we mix it up with students in saying, how do they show some knowledge through a prompt that we give them? And then of course, longer pieces as they get older. More opinion pieces through fifth grade. More claims and arguments starting in sixth grade. So that they’re starting to see, “I have to use the evidence from things I’ve learned, read, listened to, watched, and construct something: an opinion, an argument where I back it up with reasons or evidence.” And those longer pieces, you know, less frequently. The shorter pieces, pretty regularly. So the teacher sees the thinking of the students.

Eric Cross (34:29):

When you were speaking about these really creative writing prompts, there were specific students coming into mind, that were coming into mind … they’re, they’re great science students, but they also have this really strong artsy side drawing, creative writing, and things like that. And when you said something about atoms talking to each other, it elicited, in my brain, certain students that would really love this aspect of creativity in the sciences. And it’s not how we’re typically trained as science teachers, to kind of incorporate this, like you said. A book of props. But I’m imagining, like, as a science teacher, if I took this, this would be a great way to reach more students to be able to show what they know, in a way that might resonate with their own intrinsic “Oh, I get to write creatively!” So I was kind of writing furiously as you were sharing all that information there.

Douglas Fisher (35:12):

So here, I’ll give you another example for elementary people. Again, with RAFT. There’s a book called Water Dance. It’s a pretty popular book for elementary teachers. It’s really about the life cycle of water. For example, you are a single drop of water. You are writing to the land. The format is a letter. And you’re explaining your journey. Now, if they can do this, they’re essentially explaining to you the cycle of water. But you got it in a way that people are now, “Oh, I’m a drop of water. So it’s me. My perspective. Where do I go from? Where do I start?” Because you can start anywhere in the cycle, right? My drop could have started in the clouds. My drop could have started in the ground. My drop could have started in the lake. But it has to show you the journey. So there are many ways of showing you the right answers.

Eric Cross (36:02):

And that’s using the RAFT protocol.

Douglas Fisher (36:04):

That’s RAFT: Role, Audience, Format, Topic. It’s been around 20 or 30 years.

Eric Cross (36:09):

You just gave the name to something a teacher shared in our podcast community, Science Connections: The Community, on Facebook. Teacher shared a Google slide deck and on it were just three slides. And the role that the student had to have is they had to show, then tell, the story of a journey of a piece of salmon being eaten, a piece of starch from pasta being eaten, and then an air molecule in a child’s bedroom. And they had to give the path of travel and the experience from the mouth and then breaking down into protein and all those kinds of things. And this teacher shared it and I wish I knew the teacher’s name because I wanna give ’em credit, but they shared it. And so I used it with my students and then had ’em read aloud their stories and dramatize it. And they were so into it!

Douglas Fisher (36:49):

So cool.

Eric Cross (36:50):

But through it, I was able to see that they understood different parts of the body. They understood cell respiration. The whole thing. And it was fun! To watch them get so into this creative writing. And now I know the name of it. That’s been 30 years they were using RAFT. So you just talked a bit about complex texts and writing. And before we go, I wanted to circle back to something that you said, because I think it’s important, and if you could elaborate on it a little bit, about the value of struggle. Can you talk more about that?

Douglas Fisher (37:21):

Sure. I do believe in a lot of the U.S. we’re in an anti-struggle era of education. And it predates Covid. I think it made it worse during Covid. We front load too much. We pre-teach too much. We reduce struggle. We quote, “over-differentiate” for students. And there’s value in struggle. The phrase, “productive struggle” — if you haven’t heard it, Google productive struggle — it’s an interesting concept, that we actually learn more when we engage in this productive struggle. Now, productive struggle originally came from the math world, and it was this idea that it’s worth struggling through things to learn from it, that you’re likely to get it wrong, and then there was productive success. And there are times when we want students to experience success and we make sure we put things in place for productive success. But there are times where we want them to struggle through a concept. ‘Cause it feels pretty amazing when you get on the other side, when you know you struggled and you get to the other side. If you think about the things, listeners, think about the things in your life where you struggled through it and you are most proud of what you accomplished. I want students to have that. I don’t wanna eliminate scaffolding, eliminate differentiation. But I do want some regular doses of struggle. So if you look at the scaffolding, we have a couple choices. We have front-end scaffolds, distributed scaffolds, and back-end scaffolds. Right now we mostly use front-end scaffolds: We pre-teach, we tell students words in advance, that kind of stuff. But what if we refrained from only using front-end scaffolds, and we use more distributed scaffolds, when they encounter. So there’s a difference between “just in case” and “just in time” support for students. So we tend to plan on the “in advance, here are all the things we’re gonna do to remove the struggle before students encounter the struggle.” What if instead we said, “Let them encounter some struggle. Here’s the supports we’re gonna provide. We’re gonna watch; we’re gonna remove those scaffolds, and allow them to have an experience of success, where they realize, ‘I did it. I got it.’” Every science teacher I’ve ever worked with, when they do an experiment or a lab or simulation, they are looking for productive struggle. They don’t tell the answers in advance. They don’t tell if the answers are right. That’s your data. What does your data tell you? I mean, this is what you do. But then the other part of your day when you move into, like, reading, you don’t do that. You fall into the trap of removing struggle. And so allow them to grapple with ideas. Allow them to wonder what words mean. Allow them to say, “I’m not getting this, teacher! It’s really frustrating!” And you say, “Yeah, this is really hard. This is why we’re doing it at school. ‘Cause it’s really hard. If it was easy, I’d have you do it at home. But we’re doing it here, ’cause it’s really hard and it’s OK not to get it at first.” And create a place where errors are seen as opportunities to learn, and struggling through ideas and clarifying your own thinking and arguing with other people to reach an agreement or reach a place where we agree to disagree is part of the power of learning.

Eric Cross (40:38):

There’s a teacher, who I took this from. My master teacher when I was student teaching. And she said that there’s no such thing as failure in science, just data. And I took that same mantra. And I resonate with what you said about how science teachers, all of us, hold onto that productive struggle, because it’s part of being a scientist. It’s part of the experiments. That genuine “aha” moment. Or it didn’t work out? That’s great! That’s totally fine! Let’s write about it and let’s take photos and let’s publish it and let’s be scientists. That’s totally true. As we wrap up, Dr. Fisher, is there any final message that you have to listeners about bringing science and literacy together? I know you speak everywhere, but for everyone that’s listening, if you can put out your encouragement or message or suggestion … you’ve given so many great tips and practical applications. But, any final thoughts on the subject?

Douglas Fisher (41:32):

I think many science teachers are intimidated because they think they have to be reading teachers. And there’s a knowledge base to reading. And some teachers are reading teachers and science teachers, and I don’t wanna dismiss that. But it’s not that you have to become a reading specialist to integrate literacy into science. It’s how our brains work. And so as you think about the way in which you are learning and the ways in which you want your students to learn, what role does language play? What role does speaking, listening, reading, writing, viewing, play in your class? And then provide opportunities for students to do those five things each time you meet with them.

Eric Cross (42:12):

Dr. Fisher, thank you so much for being here and for your encouragement, and sharing your wisdom and experience. And then personally serving my city, here in San Diego, and my students, when they make it to your high school and ultimately the alma mater of San Diego State University.

Douglas Fisher (42:30):

That’s right.

Eric Cross (42:31):

Yeah. We really, really appreciate you in serving all kids and lifting the bar and making things more equitable for all students. And encouraging teachers. So thank you.

Douglas Fisher (42:39):

Thank you very much.

Eric Cross (42:42):

Thanks so much for listening to my conversation with Dr. Douglas Fisher, Professor and Chair of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University. Check out the show notes for links to some of Doug’s work, including the book he co-authored titled Reading and Writing in Science: Tools to Develop Disciplinary Literacy. Please remember to subscribe to Science Connections so that you can catch every episode in this exciting third season. And while you’re there, we’d really appreciate it if you can leave us a review. It’ll help more listeners to find the show. Also, if you haven’t already, please be sure to join our Facebook group, Science Connections: The Community. Next time on the show, we’re going to continue exploring the happy marriage between science and literacy instruction.

Speaker  (43:26):

I had this moment of realization I felt a few months ago: I’m like, if I don’t teach them how to use the AI as a tool, as a collaborator, then they’re gonna graduate into a world where they lose out to people who do know how to do that.

Eric Cross (43:39):

That’s next time on Science Connections. Thanks so much for listening.

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What Dr. Douglas Fisher says about science

“There are really cool opportunities when teachers come together and realize we can work together to improve the literacy and learning of all our students.”

– Dr. Doug Fisher

Professor and Chair of Educational Leadership, San Diego State University

Meet the guest

Douglas Fisher, Ph.D., is professor and chair of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University and a leader at Health Sciences High & Middle College having been an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. He is the recipient of an International Reading Association William S. Grey citation of merit, an Exemplary Leader award from the Conference on English Leadership of NCTE, as well as a Christa McAuliffe award for excellence in teacher education. He has published numerous articles on reading and literacy, differentiated instruction, and curriculum design as well as books, such as The Restorative Practices Playbook, PLC+: Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design, Building Equity, and Better Learning Through Structured Teaching.

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About Science Connections

Welcome to Science Connections! Science is changing before our eyes, now more than ever. So…how do we help kids figure that out? We will bring on educators, scientists, and more to discuss the importance of high-quality science instruction. In this episode, hear from our host Eric Cross about his work engaging students as a K-8 science teacher. 

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S1-09: Supporting K–8 science students in the digital world: Ricky Mason

Podcast cover for "Science Connections," Season 1, Episode 9, featuring "Ricky Mason" discussing K–8 science education. Includes a globe illustration and decorative science-themed elements.

In this episode, Eric sits down with Ricky Mason, chief executive officer of BrainSTEM. Ricky shares his passion for inspiring students into science careers, and his path from an engineering career with organizations like the Department of Defense, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Central Intelligence Agency to starting BrainSTEM, an education program that develops creative digital tools to enable all teachers and students to dive deeper into STEM content. Ricky and Eric talk about representation in science classrooms and the importance of embedding fun within K–8 science content! Explore more from Science Connections by visiting our main page.

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Ricky Mason (00:00):

I feel like comfort is where dreams go to die. And I’m still dreaming every night. So I’ll wake up, chasing them.

Eric Cross (00:08):

Welcome to Science Connections. I’m your host, Eric Cross. My guest today is Ricky Mason. Ricky is an engineer whose career included lead roles at the Department of Defense, NASA, and the CIA. Ricky transitioned to education as an adjunct faculty at the University of Kentucky. And while there, he founded BrainSTEM, an edtech company that developed a 3D virtual reality metaverse for STEM education. Today, BrainSTEM serves public school districts, private schools, and nonprofits. And in this episode, we discuss what led Ricky to creating BrainSTEM Metaversity, and how he’s using the metaverse to transform STEM learning for students. And now please enjoy my conversation with Ricky Mason. How did you, so like maybe going back doing your origin story, maybe you can talk about it, but brother, you don’t sleep. Talk about keep making moves, your hashtag, I mean, I was looking at your LinkedIn profiles, looking at your details. You get after it. I was getting tired just reading it. I was like John Hopkins, electrical engineering, real estate, starting companies. You must have that gene where it’s like four hours of sleep and then you’re like, ready to go.

Ricky Mason (01:19):

Yeah, man. My mom told me if I didn’t stay busy, then I’m in trouble. So when I was about 14, she told me that. I said, well, Mama, I guess I’m gonna stay busy then. And yeah, man, that’s just been my life. I feel like if I don’t keep making moves, then I’m in trouble. So, feel like comfort is where dreams go to die and I’m still dreaming every night. So I’ll wake up chasing them.

Eric Cross (01:44):

I feel like a kindred spirit with you. So, were you always interested in STEM like, was there something like a moment or a year where you remember you were like, this is my jam. This is what I’m gonna get into.

Ricky Mason (01:57):

Yeah, man. When it really clicked for me was in the fifth grade. I was at a school assembly and an IBM engineer came in and he brought a robot and he programmed it with punch cards right on the stage. And I got the opportunity to come up andyou know, put one of the punch cards in the robot to program it. And I asked him, I’m like, what is your job? He said, I’m a robotics engineer. And I went home right after that assembly and I said, Mom, that’s what I wanna do, become a robotics engineer. And my mom would take me to the libraries. Well, I felt like I was getting outta bible study on Wednesdays by going to the library. So I went there and I started researching robots.

Ricky Mason (02:39):

And at the time the robots that were popular were all being sent to space. And it was the spiritless. It was being sent to Mars. And I said, Mom, well, I guess I gotta become an astronaut if I’m gonna be a robotics engineer. And that’s kind of what set me out on that dream. And my mom started trying to find outlets for me to get involved in STEM, but it was really tough to find those outlets, you know, especially in that fifth to eighth grade range here in Kentucky. So that was kind of where it started for me man, when I knew that yeah, engineering is what I wanna do.

Eric Cross (03:14):

What does an electrical engineer do? I imagine there’s different types of specialties, but like, was there something that you specialize in that you focused on or was it, is it just kind of like a generalist field?

Ricky Mason (03:23):

Yeah, so I would say, yeah, man, it’s a huge field. So you could be doing anything from, you know, power, like power coming into your house. So those large power systems all the way down to nanotechnology and microchips. I like to tell people I’m a real full stack engineer, so my wheelhouse is kind of from the PCD, the little green computer chips, all the way to the cloud. Over my career, I’ve had some pretty cool jobs. One of those things was I was a test engineer for the army. So I got to test weapons up at Aberdeen Proving Ground for the Army. So I got to drive those weapons and test them before they went to theater there. After that,I worked at United Launch Alliance down at Cape Canaveral where I launched five rockets.

Ricky Mason (04:07):

So I was a part of the electrical ground systems team there where we were responsible for all of the electrical systems on the rocket while it was on the pad. Somonitoring the temperature of the rocket, the fuel, the entire system for safety while it was on that pad. And then finally I worked at the CIA as a computer engineer building data centers and as a data center architect for some of our remote systems and virtualizing our systems. So kind of had a broad spectrum of things there. And then finally coming back to the University of Kentucky as a research engineer and faculty. I developed drone technology for monitoring crops. So flying drones over crops with LIDAR, just like self-driving cars with high-definition cameras to pull in data about those crops, to help farmers determine about pesticides fertilizers, and the overall health of their crops from a remote location.

Eric Cross (05:10):

It’s so neat to hear you talk about it and to see how this is all built up to what you do now with BrainSTEM. How would you explain what BrainSTEM is? I know that’s your, that’s kind of your baby right now and what you’ve been working on a few years.

Ricky Mason (05:23):

Yeah, man, we started BrainSTEM in 2019 officially, but I would say BrainSTEM has been almost 10 years in coming. While I was in undergrad, I played football at the University of Kentucky. But I got hurt going into my sophomore year and that kind of shattered my dreams of football. And that’s when I really got back into engineering. One of my professors asked me to come to a robotics competition and I saw these third graders and sixth graders programming robots. And I’m like, oh my God, they’re programming robots! And I had no idea how to code or what to do with these things. And where was this a when I was a kid? And so I immediately bought one of those robots and taught myself how to program it <laugh> and then we started a robotics team in Lexington,there at a church.

Ricky Mason (06:10):

And we got a sponsorship from Lexmark to start that team. And that was kind of my first leap into STEM and teaching STEM and creating programs for students in STEM. I did that in undergrad and like I said, fast forward 10 years later, I’m teaching at the University of Kentucky and we’re struggling to recruit STEM students. Why aren’t students going into STEM? I hear too many adults tell me, oh man, I wish I would’ve done engineering, or I started out in engineering, but I left engineering or I wish I could go back to school for engineering or learn to code. And I’m like, I asked them like, why didn’t you do this? What happened? And often it’s like, it was the math. It was, oh, I didn’t get into it until I was in college. And I’m like, well, that’s the key.

Ricky Mason (06:52):

I knew I wanted to do this in the fifth grade. And I started with a plan in the fifth grade to achieve these goals and dreams. And I started doing that research and realizing that the same problem existed that I had. There was no outlet for kids to get involved in STEM, and so many kids have an affinity for STEM an early age. So we started BrainSTEM to provide access to STEM education and exposure STEM careers, STEM professionals, and just to STEM fields as a whole, because too often kids may know about the term, engineer, or the term, scientists, but they don’t really know what those people do or have a strong connection with the field or have any hands-on projects that they kind of done around those things or met anyone like me.

Ricky Mason (07:42):

I didn’t meet an engineer until I was in college. So that has really been impactful for some of the students that we’ve been able to touch. I had a family reach out to me. They moved to Lexington from California and they were like, man, I really want my ninth-grade son to get involved in engineering. So we started a weekend program with that one student and it went amazing. Like we competed in science fairs, we applied for different college programs and things like that. So it became an entire like mentorship program. And I’m proud to say that a year ago, he actually graduated with his bachelor’s in electrical engineering from your side of town, UCSB. It was just awesome to actually see this come full circle. And that’s kind of one of the first things that we did before we actually formalized as BrainSTEM University.

Eric Cross (08:34):

What will be like your elevator pitch for a teacher? If you were gonna say, this is what BrainSTEM does. I have the luxury of going through it on the site, but since we’re on a podcast, how would you kind of pitch it to people letting them know, like what, what does it do? Who does it serve?

Ricky Mason (08:47):

Yeah. So BrainSTEM provides STEM curriculum and STEM magnets for schools and nonprofits looking to increase access to STEM for K through 12 students. We also have launched our BrainSTEM Metaversity, a metaverse product for teachers to take their 2D Google classroom and convert it into a 3D metaverse classroom where students can collaborate during a 3D class. So all of your students show up as their avatars that they can select from our inventory of 150 avatars, and enjoy class in a 3D gameified Minecraft like World.

Eric Cross (09:26):

So I made my avatar by the way. It’s kind of tight, I have to say, it’s kind of tight. Hey, I’m gonna share. So those of you in the podcasts I’ll share it so you can see it. You’re not gonna be able to see it right now, but since I have the man himself I gotta share it with him just so I can get a reaction. So can you see that?

Ricky Mason (09:43):

Yeah. <laugh> That’s so good.

Eric Cross (09:44):

I feel like I wanna look like him though. I want him in real life. Like I want be able to switch to looking like my avatar

Ricky Mason (09:52):

<Laugh>

Eric Cross (09:54):

That was the first thing that I jumped on, when I went on your site, was making the avatar and I had so much fun doing it. I actually took longer than I probably wanna admit cause I was like customizing everything

Ricky Mason (10:03):

Yeah, man. It’s so fun. And that’s exactly what, you know, when you can show up as the person you want, it changes your whole being. I’ve seen kids that are quiet in class. They show up as their avatar and they’re talkative, they’re asking questions, they’re moving around the room, interacting with other kids. I feel like it’s almost like a superpower just to put your avatar on.

Eric Cross (10:25):

So what is something that a teacher could have their students go and learn or do if they, if they signed up,

Ricky Mason (10:31):

Let’s kick it off. So how we started with the metaverses, was teaching coding. So our first class was Minecraft and Python coding in the metaverse. So students showed up in the metaverse with our virtual instructor, that instructor led a lecture in the metaverse and then those students could collaborate on their Python games. So, they created and built the game in Python. We shared those games in the metaverse and we have our leaderboards that are in the metaverse, as they’re completing these challenges, including these games, then sharing them back in the metaverse with other students and getting that feedback on their game. So we’ve seen huge excitement from students when I can come back in and see my friend’s work. Like too often, students don’t get to see their work and that’s motivation to do better when I’m like, Jim’s gonna see my work. It’s amazing to see that motivation when students are sharing their work with other kids and not just their parent or just them and the teacher or seeing their grades. It’s been really cool to see.

Eric Cross (11:33):

You have that genuine audience too. Like that real-time feedback. And then like an authentic audience for students that makes everything seem, it takes it up a notch.

Ricky Mason (11:42):

Yeah, man. And then as we have built on this platform, so like you said with that avatar, so think if you created a really cool looking avatar and other students wanted to be that avatar, we have a way of sharing that avatar back into the world and in the inventory so that other students could then be your avatar. Or, if you create a world, we could then share that world back into the inventory, so the teacher could have class in a world that you created.

Eric Cross (12:07):

They’re creating content, not just consuming it. They’re actually creating content that could be shared across like grade levels or students.

Ricky Mason (12:14):

Well, we’re gonna say right now it’s just within your classroom. Eventually yes, we want students to be able to share that across school districts. At least we think that data will be probably limited to those kinds of realms as far as schools go. But you’ll be able to share this across sixth grade. We’ll be able to see what everyone in the sixth grade is doing in their STEM class or their game development class or their history class, per se, even if they’re giving back a presentation or what we have here in JCPS is backpack skills of success, where students are presenting on things that they’re learning that relate back to core competencies that the district is focused on. And I think that sharing those in the metaverse and doing those in the 3D world will be an awesome experience for students.

Eric Cross (12:56):

Are you seeing anything else as far as those skills that we see that are needed in coding? Is there something that the VR adds that was distinct from maybe just a kid with a Chromebook in his class that it’s just him in isolation doing the coding? Was there any like aha moments or surprises when they’re in the VR world doing this?

Ricky Mason (13:13):

I think the biggest thing is we could actually show them real examples of code working in other ways. Sofor example, if we’re working through loops, we can show them something looping. We can relate these functions to real-world things happening in the VR world so that they can see and better relate the actual concept with visuals, if that makes sense. So, you’re in loop Allen the whole time you’re learning about loops. You’re immersed in that kind of world. What we’ve seen is students really start to, you know, they it pick up and it clicks a lot faster because some of these concepts are so abstract for students to understand, when we can relate them to things in that world that they see that are in front of them, that they can grasp before we go to okay, type in “while” “”parentheses” <laugh> they can thenrelate that and pick up on those clues a lot better after they’ve seen those things in the world.

Eric Cross (14:09):

So they can actually visualize it in the metaverse. Whereas outside of it, it’s more just, just text-based coding and they’re not isolated. Like the first thing I’m thinking about is how like, with my own students, when they’re learning Sratch or Python, it’s not easy to share back and forth because they all are on individual accounts and they’d have to go on a different computer, or we’d have to find some way to publish it. And then all the kids would have to access it. But it sounds like in the metaversity classrooms, it’s easy for students in that same class to see each other’s work. Am I getting that right?

Ricky Mason (14:37):

Yeah. So most of our classrooms are limited to 24 students and in some of our breakout classrooms, we limit them to about eight students. Everybody can share their screen, so students can share their screen in the metaverse. They can share their video in the metaverse. They can share documents in the metaverse. They can share their, like I said, their code or anything that they want to share with other students. They can kind of do that. So it’s been a really cool product, I think, for students to almost find independence to work within a group, in an online setting. As they’ve been working through these problems online and remote it’s been really cool to see how they use the metaverse and break out. Even in a class, they can go off into a section because it’s all spacial. If you walk away, I can’t hear your conversation. So they can go into a little section within a metaverse class and have their own breakout. And a teacher can walk over to them. Okay. You guys are working over here. Let me walk to my next group. Just like in class. So it’s been really cool to see those students use the metaverse like that.

Eric Cross (15:41):

Just listening to you talk about this. One of the exciting things about emerging technologies or taking what the private sector does, and someone with a mind like yourself, and go, how do I use this for education? Like, that’s something that like excites me and you’ve run with it. But I just thought about, you’re doing an hour of code, you’ve created this metaverse, and you can bring in somebody, a professional into the metaverse, but they’re in, you know, the Bay area, but they could be a software engineer for Tesla or Google or anybody. Could they move around the metaverse and take a look at different students’ work and interact in that way.

Ricky Mason (16:17):

Yeah, man, we get in there. We make metaverse selfies. I drop Lambos in the metaverse, we take picture with Lambos. We have scavenger hunts in the metaverse. It’s a really awesome experience. And that’s one of the big things I think that is so powerful, is like you said, we could have that engineer, that celebrity, we could have Travis Scott, you know, in the world meeting thousands of kids motivating them because they met their STEM goals. They met their, you know, their testing school goals or whatever. These are things that kids really care about. If I get the Travis Scott avatar or the Elon Musk avatar, because I completed the Elon Musk rocket challenge, like that’s huge for me to show up in class as that avatar, like it’s just like Fortnite and it’s bringing all of those mechanics into the classroom.

Eric Cross (17:07):

When I hear you talk about the metaverse and I hear you talk about the potential of where you want to go with it, I think about my own students, and I think about, how they would really have a genuine interest and desire to want to do this and probably be doing it when they don’t have to, like at home at night wanting to go back into it and interact. And, you’re also building this virtual community. I mean, are you seeing that like, cause I’m hearing that?

Ricky Mason (17:28):

Yeah, man, building that community is huge. And I often tell people all the time, I want the STEM community to be just like the basketball community, the football community. I want students to have that camaraderie built around them for learning STEM and participating in STEM activities and competitions. Because when you see students out there at a robotics, they have the same zeal, the same, you know, everything that you find at a football competition. So we just have to get behind them and back those events with the same enthusiasm that we back sports. And that’s the environment that I want to create for STEM students and for that STEM community, because I longed for that community when I was in school. And like I said, I had it in football, but I wanted both. I wanted the best of both worlds. I wanted my robotics guys and my football guys to show up together here at the competition and have a good time.

Eric Cross (18:23):

You’re absolutely right. Like robotics STEM, these things, community helps fuel like people’s interest and working together. And it brings people from the outside who are seeking that community. Like, hey, my friends are doing this, I wanna kind of check it out. That’s how we recruit a wider swath of our population into it. So it’s not this kind of very narrow channel of folks who are going into STEM.

Ricky Mason (18:45):

If you can’t find that community. I mean for me, I felt like I was the only one playing football who was interested in robotics. So I never told anybody because I didn’t feel like that related to anybody within my vicinity. So I kept that to myself and that’s the biggest thing. I think if we get these kids just talking more about their interests, because a lot of them are interested in robotics and space and these STEM topics, but they don’t have anyone that’s really nudging them or asking them or piquing their interest in those spaces and saying, hey man, it’s okay to, you know, learn about robots. It’s okay to geek out on space. <Laugh> So that’s been my goal and that’s kind of why I felt like this was the time in my career for me to kind of do this, be a face for STEM education and inspire kids to chase their goals and dreams. Over my career, I’ve had some really cool jobs, but I felt like I could keep doing cool jobs, but I’m like at the right age to still connect with those students and inspire them to chase their dreams. And that’s why I feel like right now, man, it’s just an opportune time to get these students involved in STEM.

Eric Cross (20:01):

We don’t get that. Oftentimes, when we’re solely doing the cool job or simply in the private sector, we don’t get those experiences as much as we do when we’re able to actually serve our community or students or take our passion, our skill set, and use it to serve another person. I hear that like, as you describe what you’re doing now is like, there’s something beyond just, you know, the using your skills and doing cool stuff, but there’s something I hear. That’s helping people and actually doing something you believe in that resonates deeply in you. And I can hear it as you talk about it.

Ricky Mason (20:30):

It’s been just amazing to actually chart out that journey. Like I said, and like tell kids, like, no man, I’m from right up the block from you, cause I mean, I’m building this back at home in my hometown. And that’s the reason why I kind of came back to kind of do that in my hometown, because I really want to, you know, relate to those students and inspire, you know, students here. Nobody thinks about technology coming out of Kentucky and that’s been a gift and a curse, I guess, with launching BrainSTEM in Kentucky. When I first started, I said, we’re a STEM education company, people are asking me what is STEM? So, that was where we started out with this in 2019, all the way to, you know, hey, in 2020, we’re gonna launch a metaverse. A metaverse! What is that? It’s been amazing to try to change the minds of not only Kentuckians about STEM and the importance of STEM, but the world that a metaverse company is coming outta Kentucky. <Laugh>

Eric Cross (21:31):

The work that you’re doing and, it exists beyond you and you probably know this, but as a Black science educator out here in San Diego … We don’t see people who look like all of us in this work often, and I saw that you had created something, a network group, network and chill. And that was one of the things, we had touched on community, but I thought that that was so huge because we need each other.

Ricky Mason (21:55):

I feel like that was the biggest thing for us in engineering. Like I showed up to my first internship and I’m like, I mean, my boss was cool. Everything else was cool, but I just didn’t feel like, hey, this is a community for me. And I almost changed my major because of that. But I’m glad that I didn’t, it’s huge to have more of us represented in, in these spaces.

Eric Cross (22:16):

And you know, in engineering, especially when we look at the disproportionate, you know, men versus women. Like it’s not, you know, it’s not just culture, but it’s, you know, gender, all of these different things. And if we’re gonna change it, I think a program like yours that gets exposure to all kids and then giving them choice. What advice would you give to students? Or what advice I should say, do you give to students now? When you see like your younger self in the different kind of K12 grades who are thinking about their futures or they’re thinking about STEM, what do you say to them?

Ricky Mason (22:46):

So my biggest advice, man is start now. Whatever that big thing is, that big dream is that you have, what is that now? You’re thinking about planes. You’re thinking about robots. You’re thinking about RC cars, whatever that is. Let’s start now. Let’s get your hands on an RC car. Let’s take it apart. Let’s start coding. Let’s start thinking about those problems now. But the biggest thing is, is getting kids used to solving tough problems. Typically, most students that have an affinity for, you know, STEM — and you just know that that kid’s gonna go into, STEM — they’re problem solvers. They’re typically looking and seeking those tough problems and seeking opportunities to learn. That’s where I feel like it’s parents’ jobs to provide that environment to foster, that zeal. A five-year-old kid, we started our STEM program with them at the beginning of this month.

Ricky Mason (23:39):

The first day I came in after I told him I was a rocket scientist. And now he’s like, well, I wanna be a pilot. I said, if you pay attention to this class, we’re gonna get you started on your way to being a pilot. And he knows all the parts of a rocket and he knows a rocket needs an oxidizer. And he knows the fuselage, the wings, the wing flaps. He knows all the different parts of the plane and how the forces, the drag, the lift, the weight, he knows how those are working cause we talked about those in class and he has so much more confidence and it came all to fruition when a kid said, wow, I thought it was gonna be really hard to be a robotics engineer. And I’m like, no, that’s not gonna be that hard. That is exactly what we set out to do when we started BrainSTEM, was to break down those barriers and those walls and build that confidence and say, look man, you can do this. It’s easy.

Eric Cross (24:26):

Society doesn’t help much either because one of our terms, right, if something’s really hard, or if something’s not hard, we say it’s not rocket science. That implies that rocket science is really hard and inaccessible. If kids would hear that it kind of instills in their brain, okay. It’s really hard, it’s probably too hard for me. To that point to parents, it sounds like a lot of just exposure, like giving students the opportunity to be able to be exposed to these things and letting them create wonder from it.

Ricky Mason (24:51):

Yeah, man. I often tell parents we’re gonna set kids up to go pro no matter what,

Eric Cross (24:56):

And those skill sets transfer, whether they decide to go into coding or they decide to manage a bank, you’re still gonna be dealing with people. You’re still gonna be problem-solving. You’re still gonna have to come up with creative solutions to things. It sounds like through a program like this, they learn those skills early.

Ricky Mason (25:12):

Yes. And I think that one thing that parents don’t think about … We talk about all the STEM and we want smart kids, but we need those soft skills also within STEM. So those competitions, getting them involved in those communities with STEM students is really huge in presenting their ideas because oftentimes, you know, our STEM guys, we’re in a lab working and that’s where we love and that’s where we wanna be because we haven’t, you know, been prepared to talk and present our ideas. So I think that’s a huge part of what we have to teach our STEM students. And we do that by providing that community and those opportunities for them to, you know, do that.

Eric Cross (25:47):

Thinking about where you are now, looking back on your K-12 education, were there any teachers that stood out to you or that inspired you as I even just say that, can you think of a particular teacher or one or two?

Ricky Mason (26:00):

When I think about my teachers, my teachers really taught me to solve those tough problems and those subjects that you don’t kinda like <laugh>, cause I was always a great student, but my teachers helped me to focus on those subjects that I didn’t so much, you know, enjoy. So I enjoyed math and science, but English social studies, like why do I have to be here? I had two teachers during my high school career that really supported me in that regard, and helping me to be the best student all aroundfrom like I said, STEM to English and social studies, and making me realize that I have to be a well-rounded student if I’m gonna be truly successful. As far as engineering, man, I would say one guy, my teacher, Nick Bazar up at John Hopkins. During my master’s there, I had a really cool project. I got to do data forensics on a real live murder case. <Laugh> That was really inspiring because I’m like, wow, this is real life where my coding skills are being used in a jury trial <laugh>. And so that was a really cool experience to partner with my professor to kind of do that. I mean, that was just mind blowing that I got to help with that and that, I mean, he was using his programming skills to help solve a murder case.

Eric Cross (27:22):

What’s the best way for people to connect with you and follow your journey? And if a teacher’s interested and they’re listening to this and they’re hearing, okay, this metaverse coding thing sounds awesome, I want to get involved, I wanna know more, where can people go? What steps should they take to be able to get connected to you and what you’re doing?

Ricky Mason (27:40):

Yeah. So you can check us out at brainSTEMu.com, that’s brainSTEM, the letter “u” dot com and on all social medias, we’re BrainSTEMu or BrainSTEM University. Teachers, right now, we are doing our free course for teachers. So sign up at brainstemu.com. You can sign up for your class to get into a free metaverse experience, just so you can kind of check it out and get your class into the metaverse and see how your students like the metaverse, how you like teaching in the metaverse and convert one of your 2D lessons from Google classroom into a metaverse classroom. For me, I’m Ricky Mason, 5 0 2 on all social media platforms. So you can just type that in Ricky Mason502 and get with me there.

Eric Cross (28:28):

Nice. Well Ricky, I wanna thank you for sharing your story and creating BrainSTEM. And then for, I know you’re a man of tremendous talents and skills and accomplishments, and you’re focusing all that on not only being back in your community, but also creating something for younger versions of you and opening up opportunities that they might not otherwise have, as you said, folks are like, what is STEM? And that is exactly where we need those seeds planted. So thank you for doing that.

Ricky Mason (28:55):

Oh man, this is awesome. I appreciate you, man for hosting this podcast and providing this platform and sharing the message of, you know, educators and people in the space.

Eric Cross (29:07):

Thanks so much for joining me and Ricky today. Make sure to support Science Connections by subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts. And you could hear more from Ricky in our Facebook group, Science Connections the community, where you can check out all the exclusive content. Until next time.

Stay connected!

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What Ricky Mason says about science

“We just have to get behind [students] and back them with the same enthusiasm that we back sports…because I longed for that community when I was in school.”

– Ricky Mason

CEO, BrainSTEM

Meet the guest

Ricky Mason is the dynamic CEO and founder of BrainSTEM, an ed-tech company that developed a metaverse for education. His corporate career included lead engineer roles at the DoD, NASA, and CIA. Ricky transitioned to education as adjunct faculty at the University of Kentucky. While there, he started BrainSTEM to bring innovative technology and an inspirational curriculum to STEM education. Today, BrainSTEM serves public school districts, private schools, and nonprofits.

Follow Ricky on all social media @rickymason502

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About Science Connections

Welcome to Science Connections! Science is changing before our eyes, now more than ever. So…how do we help kids figure that out? We will bring on educators, scientists, and more to discuss the importance of high-quality science instruction. In this episode, hear from our host Eric Cross about his work engaging students as a K-8 science teacher. Listen here!

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Celebrating our 2026 Activity Builder Spotlight Contest winners

Teachers in our community have built over a million activities in Amplify Classroom, and our annual Activity Builder Spotlight Contest helps educators across the globe discover these resources. Each year, teachers submit custom activities in one of two categories: Beginner (for users just starting their activity-building journey) or Pro (for those who’ve mastered Computation Layer or embedded advanced graphs to create student interactions). Our community votes on their favorites, and winners receive a prize plus permanent placement in our Featured Collection.

Meet this year’s winners! Try these incredible teacher-created activities in your classroom, or copy and edit them to fit your grade level(s) or unique classroom needs:

Fractions NF5-13 by Krystal Centinello

Beginner category

Students build conceptual understanding by interpreting a fraction as the division of the numerator by the denominator.

Balance This by Wes Overton

Beginner category

Using an interactive balance scale, students experiment with properties of equality and learn to solve equations with variables on both sides.

Exploring Expressions and Like Terms With Coins! by Michael Felias

Beginner category

By sorting coins and calculating their total value, students discover what expressions are and how to combine like terms.

The Accumulator Function by Pablo Garcia

Beginner category

This activity prepares students for the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus and applications of integration by introducing accumulator functions.

Bike Jumps! by Michael Bostick

Beginner category

This modeling activity introduces lines, parabolas, and rates of change through the context of bike jumps.

SWEEP! – Coding Introduction by Nathaniel Heading

Pro submission

This introduction to coding for beginners builds foundational skills in sequential thinking, functions, and loops.

Combining Like Terms (With Algebra Tiles) by Kayla Skidmore

Pro submission

Through visual algebra tiles, students learn to model expressions and practice combining like terms.

Coordinate Plane Darts by Richard Hung

Pro category

Students sharpen their coordinate graphing skills through an engaging game of darts! The teacher dashboard will show a checkmark if students score at least one point in three rounds.

Metroid Trig by Matthew Stack

Pro category

Students apply trigonometric ratios and the Pythagorean Theorem to calculate side lengths of right triangles.

Bath Time! by Bryn Humberstone

Pro category

This activity takes students through real-world application of linear graphs exploring the relationship between bath volume and time.

Thinking about joining other Amplify Classroom users and building your own activity? Our on-demand Lesson Building Toolkit has bite-size tutorials to get you started.

The power of productive struggle in K–5 math

A cartoon pizza cut into slices with a serving spatula in the center, flanked by colorful shapes and a cartoon animal on the right—an engaging way to spark curiosity about procedural fluency and fluency in math.

Struggling is not necessarily fun. It can be uncomfortable and frustrating. It can even feel like a great reason to give up.

But struggling and learning often go hand in hand. The key is for that struggle to be productive—for it to feel like something you worked through until you were successful, providing the confidence you need to tackle the next hard task.

That’s especially true—and essential—in math learning.

The key is productive struggle: the kind of effort that stretches students’ thinking without shutting them down. When designed intentionally, math activities for elementary students can challenge learners while still supporting confidence, curiosity, and persistence.

Here’s more about how productive struggle helps math students succeed.

What is productive struggle?

Productive struggle refers to students grappling with challenging problems that are not immediately solvable, but still within reach. It’s the space where students test ideas, make mistakes, revise strategies, and slowly build understanding.

Research shows that productive struggle helps learners move beyond surface-level memorization and toward deeper, more durable learning.

Rather than being told exactly what to do, students are encouraged to reason, explain, and persevere.

This doesn’t mean leaving students to flounder. Productive struggle requires clear goals, thoughtful scaffolds, and meaningful tasks so students know what they’re working toward and believe they can get there.

The role of growth mindset in math learning

Productive struggle is closely tied to another key idea: growth mindset.

A growth mindset is the belief that ability comes not from innate, baked-in talent, but through effort, strategies, and learning from mistakes. In the math classroom, this mindset helps students see challenges not as threats, but as opportunities.

When teachers communicate high expectations and normalize mistakes as part of learning, students are more willing to take risks. They begin to stop saying, “I can’t do this math problem,” and start saying, “I’m not there yet.”

This shift matters, especially in elementary grades. Students who develop a growth mindset early may be better equipped to avoid math anxiety and to handle increasingly complex math concepts, because they’ve learned that struggle is not a sign of failure, but part of the process.

Why struggle feels risky—and why it’s worth it

Supporting productive struggle can feel risky for teachers. Classrooms are busy. Time is limited. And no one wants students to feel frustrated or discouraged.

But avoiding struggle altogether creates its own problems. When math activities are too procedural or overly scaffolded, students may complete tasks without truly understanding them. Over time, students may come to believe that math is about following steps rather than making sense of ideas.

By contrast, well-designed struggle builds investment. Students engage more deeply when they’re asked to think, explain, and choose strategies. They develop problem-solving skills, perseverance, confidence, and a stronger sense of ownership over their learning.

What productive struggle looks like in practice

In classrooms that support productive struggle, students are actively involved, even when tasks are challenging. You might hear students explaining their reasoning, comparing strategies, or revising their thinking after a mistake.

Effective math activities for elementary students include:

  • Multiple entry points so all learners can begin.
  • Opportunities for students to explain why their strategy works.
  • Support for more than one correct approach.
  • Clear expectations paired with flexible pathways.

Even in kindergarten math activities, productive struggle for the youngest learners might look like counting, sorting, or representing numbers in different ways, paired with questions that prompt reasoning rather than quick answers.

Students need tasks that are mathematically meaningful, paired with structures that help them persist: opportunities to talk, visual representations, strategic questioning, and time to reflect.

In this way, struggle builds math muscle. Productive struggle helps students feel on top of their math game—and ready to learn more.

S4 – 02. Bethany and Dan share their math biographies

Promotional graphic for "math teacher lounge," season 4 episode 2, featuring photos and names of math teaching guests Bethany Lockhart and Dan Meyer.

In this episode, co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer get personal and share their “math bios”—their early experiences with math and how those experiences turned them into the educators they are today.

Explore more from Math Teacher Lounge by visiting our main page. 

Download Transcript

Dan Meyer (00:00):

We’re recording. What’s up, everybody. This is Dan Meyer with Math Teacher Lounge.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:08):

And I’m Bethany Lockhart Johnson. We are so excited to be back. Season Four, Episode Two. Hi, Dan.

Dan Meyer (00:16):

Hey, Bethany, how are you doing today?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:18):

I’m so excited to be talking with you! You know, as we record this, our reunion at NCTM is getting closer and closer.

Dan Meyer (00:28):

The NCTM live show is gonna be bonkers. I don’t think people are ready for it. You think you know what we’re about on MTL from listening to us, but the live show is gonna be outta control. You cannot imagine how many clowns and elephants Bethany wants to have at the live show. We’re still—we’re trying to talk her down from like three to one, but we’ll see.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:44):

All I want is the t-shirt cannon. Because I used to go to these baseball games and they would have a t-shirt cannon. And I thought, I wanna operate a t-shirt cannon! So like, if I could be standing on stage aiming t-shirts at people who are jumping up and down requesting a t-shirt? I don’t know. Doesn’t that sound fun?

Dan Meyer (01:01):

Sounds awesome. High point of my college education was catching a t-shirt. No, it was—it was a burrito. It was a burrito cannon. But I think it was just a t-shirt cannon, but it was a burrito cannon. And I caught a burrito at a game and it was probably the most memorable moment of all of college education for me.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:16):

Was the burrito still warm?

Dan Meyer (01:18):

Oh yeah. I think it got—like, I think it might’ve been warm at one point and then it got warmed back up through the muzzle velocity of the cannon. So it was a pretty great system they had going on there. <Laugh> Yeah. <Laugh> Anyway, I’m off topic, but, we’re thrilled to—I’m thrilled to chat with you and we’re thrilled to be listened to by you folks out there in MTL land. In the lounge itself. We got a fun show today.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:40):

So if you listen to Episode One—which if you haven’t, hope you go back and listen to it—if you listen to Season Four, Episode One, you’re gonna hear—we asked Huon, KT, who is this delight of a joyful teacher. We asked her to talk to us about what’s her math bio. And we want to ask all of our guests—like, I wanna go back and ask every single guest we’ve ever had to tell us their math bio.

Dan Meyer (02:06):

Yep.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:06):

Because, while seemingly simple in nature, our students enter our math classroom already having had this relationship with math and these notions about their role in math or what they think about math. And it impacts our school year with them if we’re a teacher. And it impacts our relationship with math as we move through our education and beyond. Right? And I I’m so excited about this question, ’cause I think it also ties into this theme for Season Four, which is joyful math, and diving into “When has math felt joyful? When has it not? Does it feel like—how do we think about how our math bio, our relationship with math, has evolved into a joyful or less joyful place?”

Dan Meyer (02:54):

I get it. And what’s really key here, I think, is that teaching more than other professions is a generational profession. You know what I’m saying? Like, no one is like, “Well, you know, I sold insurance to you and now you’re selling insurance to, you know, my grandkids; that’s amazing!” But people are always posting photos when, like, you teach someone who then becomes a teacher later. Teaching is a generational sort of thing. So the kinds of joyful experiences that we offer or don’t offer students now affect the experiences that students who haven’t even been born yet will have, you know, some 20, 30 years later. That, to me, is a trip. And well-worth exploring, you know, how we got here, mathematically speaking.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (03:39):

I remember a friend had sent me this image of an assignment that her son got that was asking for their Mathography. They wanted to know about their history of mathematics. And this was their first assignment. And this teacher, I would like to imagine, read them all and used it to inform conversations about students’ relationship with math. And, you know, some of the questions they asked were thinking about whether you consider yourself, quote, unquote, “good at math.” Like “what kind of experiences have you had? What do you like or dislike about math? What is, you know—what do you expect to learn in math this year?” Just asking students to actually pause and examine and reflect on their relationship and then also looking forward to, like, what kind of a classroom community do we wanna create? And I loved that assignment. And yeah, so today’s episode Dan, guess what?

Dan Meyer (04:32):

What’s going on? What’s happening?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (04:33):

I figured we should ask each other about our math bio.

Dan Meyer (04:39):

I think the people out there would love to know this about us. ‘Cause you know, we’re both awesome. But also what’s really cool here is that like, I don’t know this about you. Like not, not a lot. You know, the folks at Amplify, they kind of assembled me and Bethany together in the same way that record labels assembled pop boy bands, girl bands, that kind of thing, back in the day. You know, grabbing some stars from screen or film and just like throwing ’em together and saying, “All right, now you’re here to perform together.” And so it’s just a really good moment for us to, like, settle back and just know who we’ve been working with for the last three seasons and change here. I love it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:15):

Well, I don’t know. I don’t actually agree with that, Dan. Because don’t you remember? We knew each other beforehand. And while I would like to think of us as…oh, I’ll say One Direction—well, no, One Direction is now defunct. Who’s another band that got formed by one of those shows and is still together and still—

Dan Meyer (05:33):

BTS! K-Pop, you know! Let’s go!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:35):

K-pop. BTS.

Dan Meyer (05:38):

Let’s go, Bethany <laugh>.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:39):

So can we incorporate some K-pop into the NCTM Math Teacher Lounge live episode? Don’t answer now. Don’t answer now. OK. So not only are we gonna share our math bios, but we want to encourage you listeners to share your math bio with somebody in your life. It could be a child in your life, maybe talking to your kiddo about what was it like. What was math like for you? It could be a student that you have. It could be a partner, a friend, a parent. I mean, the sky’s the limit. Share your math bio. And most of all, share with us. We wanna hear about your math bio and you can share it with us at Twitter, at MTLShow, or in our Facebook group, Math Teacher Lounge.

Dan Meyer (06:26):

Stop on by, please. All right. I’m gonna just share like, just a couple of quick, signposts. Not the full bio. Gotta leave them wondering about something here. But here’s a few quick highlights and lowlights of my math bio and how, maybe, it made me the teacher that I was and the educator I am. Is that cool?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (06:44):

Wait, I didn’t even, I didn’t ask you yet.

Dan Meyer (06:46):

Ask me what?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (06:47):

Hey, Dan!

Dan Meyer (06:49):

Is there like a magical word? Like, what’s your math bio? <Laugh> Oh, go for it. No, no, that’s right. They won’t know what I’m talking about. Why is he talking about his math bio? Bethany—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (06:57):

That whole lead-in that we just gave? They might not know.

Dan Meyer (07:00):

Yeah. We just talked about math bios for the last 20 minutes. But yeah, they might not know what we’re—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (07:04):

<laugh> So Dan, why don’t you go first? ‘Cause I know you were gonna ask me to go first, but why don’t you go first? Dan? What’s your math bio?

Dan Meyer (07:12):

Oh, wow. Well, thank you for the formal invitation to share my math bio, Bethany Lockhart Johnson. So, I’ll just share—I just wanna share a couple items here, not the full history. Gotta leave ’em—leave a little mystery in there, you know what I’m saying? But here’s a few highlights and lowlights, and I think what it means for me as an educator. So, I was homeschooled for eight years. That was big—did a lot of math learning on my own. Couple of lowlights from that, a lot of highlights, in terms of just like being able to, like, learn at my own rate and just jump on ahead and pursue different wacky things. But I tried to switch into public school in fourth grade and I lasted, um, four hours. I didn’t even go to class. I enrolled and then it was like, boom, I was out of there. Because we went to the school; we met the teacher, saw the room, very nice person and place. But I got the homework assignment and the homework assignment was gibberish. I had no idea what to do and such was this feeling of just, like, despair and hopelessness, I was like, I cannot be a part of this. I remember the assignment. It was about identifying scalene, isosceles, and equilateral triangles. I’ll tell you this: I am quite good at that now. But at the time, like, I didn’t know what those words meant. And you know, at that moment we had Encyclopedia Britannica, could not Google this or even Ask Jeeves or AltaVista this so well back then. It just—it was an entry moment of failure and realizing that so much of math is like a, kind of a social kind of construct. And if you’re not part of that social circle, what can you do? So that was a bummer. Another bummer was eighth-grade math, learned it all by way of videotape. You know, put in the tape and watch—not gonna say the person’s name and not this person’s fault—but it was just like watching someone work on a whiteboard. Kind of a precursor to Khan Academy, kind of a drag. Went to high school—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (09:02):

Wait, wait, wait, wait. We were—I’m not ready to jump to high school. Wait. Can you pause for just a second?

Dan Meyer (09:06):

Yeah. Rock on.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (09:07):

I just need you to go back to the triangle thing. So in that moment, what did that mean for you that you had had all these experiences with math and then you encounter math in a completely different sphere, a public school, and it did not have a connection or meaning to you because prior to that, it sounds like it was pretty positive. Right? Explore these things you’re curious about; there’s not, like, a level you need to stick with…

Dan Meyer (09:33):

Yep, yep. Yeah. I think that’s right. Maybe it was a little bit of a classic, like, “Oh, I didn’t have a growth mindset; my mindset was like, ‘Oh, I’m good at math because I am, you know, born that way,’” and all of a sudden, that identity was, you know, thrown into question. And, you know, my foundation was all of a sudden quite shaky. And yeah, that’s—you know, I think I taught a lesson recently where I was like, “Hey, this whole thing with a less-than or equal-to sign and a greater-than or equal-to sign, like what those signs are: it’s just, it’s language. And if it’s confusing to you, it’s not because you’re bad at math; it’s ’cause language is oftentimes confusing ’cause people have to agree on it.” So I dunno, that sort of thing is kind of filtered in, filtered back in periodically, some sympathy for like how a lot of math is like just socially agreed upon ways of working with, you know, numbers, shapes, patterns, that kind of thing.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:20):

OK.

Dan Meyer (10:21):

Anyway.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:21):

  1. And in this home school—I have a lot of questions about that, but I’ll stick to one—were you in a community of people that you talked about these math ideas with? Were you homeschooled solo? You have a sibling, so I think you were together, right?

Dan Meyer (10:39):

Yeah. Yeah. I’ve got a twin sister. So we were, you know, like, right on with each other the whole way through there. And yeah, so we had—but it wasn’t, it wasn’t like a—it was a lot of individual work, with my flavor of homeschooling.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:54):

  1. Got it. And the tapes—wait, before you go to high school, the tapes, the VHS tapes, which I’m just loving this image—

Dan Meyer (11:02):

Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (11:02):

Was that a positive experience? Was that because that was an area of math that whoever was homeschooling you wasn’t that comfortable with? Why was it that route for the tapes, and what was that? Was that joyful for you?

Dan Meyer (11:15):

Yeah, definitely not joyful. Yeah, it was like, if you had questions, you couldn’t really ask them of the VHS tape. It didn’t work out so well in that way. And it was a lot of operational-type math. It was, you know—there was no give and take; it was all kind of take. From the video teacher. And yeah, I was doing that because my homeschool teacher, my mom, who is very smart in lots of areas, did not have the math knowledge or confidence, especially to help with math at eighth grade. And that was a big reason why, flash-forward to the next year, went to high school.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (11:48):

Nice segue. OK.

Dan Meyer (11:50):

<laugh> You caught up to high school…I encountered just like four years of just crazy-good, just bonkers-good math teachers who just really changed a lot for me. Especially, Mr. Bishop and Mr. Cavender, very cool folks who did a lot. And especially, I think Mr. Bishop and Cavender both modeled for me what curiosity from a knowledgeable adult looks like. Like someone who, you know, now I can say to myself, “Oh, they were kind of like putting on an act of being very curious about answers they were hearing for the 2000th time from a student,” let’s say, but what a powerful experience that was for me to feel like, “Oh, wow, my thoughts are interesting to someone besides myself.” I got like, maybe it’s two real highlights that I’ll just point to, from my math bio that made me the math teacher and person that I am. Let’s see here. Maybe three, if you you’ll indulge me. One is just like the idea that you could do math wherever you have your brain, a pencil and a paper. And so I remember like in high school, I was in church with my family and kind of a little bit bored of whatever’s going on. And I just had the Bolton and I like drew a pentagon, a regular one, then a hexagon, a regular one, and kept on drawing, like adding sides to the shape. And it was like, it was becoming a circle. And, you know, I was able to take the area of each of those shapes and say, you know, “What happens as you send the number of sides to infinity?” And watch as the formula for area of a circle, Pi R squared, popped out. And it was kind of a literal religious experience, in that moment, just like, “Wow, like my brain’s so cool and math is so cool and paper and pencil’s so cool.” And so there’s that. Just that kind of experience was pretty awesome. And then I would just say like, I’ve had some really fantastic experiences with math in the world itself. Stuff like—let’s see, this is gonna invite more questions from Bethany, probably, maybe I should avoid—I got, I have a Guinness—I have a Guinness world record that’s almost 20 years old. This Guinness world record is—it’s old enough to drive basically at this point. And almost old enough to drink. But like it was—it was a record for chaining the longest paper clip chain together in 24 hours. And the only way I was able to break that record was through mathematics. Where, like, I would be finishing a box of clips. And I would say to my buddy who was there, “I just finished a box of clips.” And that person would type in the number of clips that I had just done. And then a mathematical formula that I had created would tell me how many—how long the chain was at that point. It was being rolled around a spool. And like, it’s just like, wow. So math just made this possible. You know, math revealed that the record I was trying to beat was beatable, because I did the math on it. It was, like, thousands of feet long in 24 hours. And other folks might be like, “Oh, like, that’s that’s huge!” But me, I was like, “All right, let’s divide this out. You know, divide by 24 hours in a day, divide by 60 minutes an hour, 60 seconds in a minute. Oh, that’s like one clip every four seconds. That’s really slow.” You know, think about that <counts aloud>, “Clip, two, three, four. Clip two, three…” It was just slow. So math helped me, you know, wreck that record. Which to my knowledge still still stands. Don’t get any ideas, Math Teacher Lounge Folks! Is this news to you, Bethany? You haven’t blinked in the last, like, five minutes. I’m curious if this is new.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (15:20):

It is news to me. And I have so many questions. Because OK, if four seconds was slow, so then what was your like—so then I’m assuming a hundred clips per box? Like, what was the rate, you know, per box? How long did it take you to complete a box? What did this friend like? Did this friend stick with you for the whole 24 hours? Did you really do it for 24 hours? Or once you beat the record, did you rest? How did you account for biological function? Like, needs? Like a restroom?

Dan Meyer (15:51):

<Interrupting> Like what?

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (15:51):

Eating.

Dan Meyer (15:51):

Like what, Bethany? OK.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (15:52):

Um, Sleep.

Dan Meyer (15:55):

So yeah, maybe we dive into some of the specifics in a different time.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (15:59):

Just tell me one of ’em. Tell me one.

Dan Meyer (15:59):

I’ll just say. So as to discourage other Math Teacher Lounge listeners from taking this on—back off of the record, folks!—this was back in college, so I was a little more limber back then. But I did one—I think it was 1.8 seconds per clip. For an entire 24 hours. Just like, so just like think about it, would you? If you’re gonna step to me on this one, just think about that, OK? And then, and then, you know, make an informed decision.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (16:28):

Wait. Wait, wait, I just wanna tell you one thing. I’m picturing somebody with a straw, and like, giving you water as you keep clipping. I’m picturing, like, music, I…

Dan Meyer (16:37):

That’s not far. That’s not far. That’s not far from—yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (16:40):

So many questions! OK. Go on. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Go on. This is your bio.

Dan Meyer (16:44):

We gotta, I gotta wrap this up. I wanna hear your bio. But, like, I would just say like this move to this sense that math is actually a thing that’s useful for more than just a grade; it’s useful for more than just, you know, the societal, you know, adulation that comes from being a math nerd. That kind of thing. And so that, I think that affected a lot of math teaching for me. And, if I gotta, like, summarize math teaching itself in a journey, it went from like, “Hey kids, aren’t I awesome?” to, “Hey kids, isn’t math awesome?” to “Hey kids, aren’t you awesome?” And like that journey was facilitated by lots and lots of people, you know, a lot of personal growth, but at this point, at one point I was like, “Hey, math can help you get records and whatnot. It’s really useful.” And now I’m like, “Wow, your brain’s just doing just really interesting things. I can help you understand how interesting those things are, and maybe make them more interesting, or interesting in a different way, with some help here.” Let’s put a pin in that. That’s the math bio.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (17:50):

  1. So I have no doubt that if you ask someone in your life, listeners, for their math bio, that you will discover things about them that you never knew. Literally the questions that I have…I have so many question. And Dan is very good at, you know, bringing me back. Bring me back, like, come on, come on. But I just wanna say, overall, your journey seems pretty joyful. It seems pretty joyful. It seems pretty full of confidence. I don’t wanna say “ego” in a negative way, but I wanna say you were buoyed by these experiences that allowed you to feel like math was a place for you to thrive.

Dan Meyer (18:36):

Right.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (18:36):

Where you could try out things. You could try it out and just, “I could do that!” Right? Like…your relationship just felt very, like…you felt like you had autonomy, agency, perhaps much like you, you operate in this world. Dan, is that, is that right <laugh>?

Dan Meyer (18:54):

Yeah, I think it’s fair to say. And without telling too much of her story, my twin sister with whom I share most things, including genetics, you know—she had a very different experience in math early on. She’s brilliant. She’s a doctor. And not, you know, the book kind of doctor that I am, but like a real, you know, medical doctor. She’s brilliant. But we were—we encountered different messages about who math was made for, early on in, you know, in our entire math learning. And she—we both digested the messages that we were sent, and took, you know, different, different paths because of them, for sure.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (19:31):

Funny how that works. I thank you, Dan. I do. For in all sincerity, I appreciate you sharing that. And I think that it’s exciting to hear how it influenced your teaching. It feels like you want to cultivate those experiences for your students. And I’ve been in the room when you’ve presented; I was in a room where you taught a class live. It felt like you were making space for the students to have these aha moments. And it feels like in your work at Desmos, and now Amplify, you’re trying to create these products that allow folks to recreate these amazing math moments. Right? And that it’s for everyone and that it’s accessible and it can be very positive. I feel like I have this new perspective on kind of the energy you bring to your teaching. So thank you for sharing that.

Dan Meyer (20:24):

Yeah. Been a pleasure. Thanks for your questions here, Bethany. And it’s been—it’s been fun to reflect on it. And I do—I do feel very lucky in lots of ways. Privileged. Lucky. I know, like—I think the world has been set up for my success in lots of ways, as who I am. But I do just…yeah, I feel—I want more people to experience what it’s like when you walk into a math classroom and it’s like, “Hey, this place is for you. You have interesting thoughts about this. Let’s get ’em out.” So that’s awesome. I would love to hear about you and how you…I mean, we have taught different kinds of kids. You know, I taught kids who I think were somewhat set in, they’re a little bit more solid at secondary in who they are as a math learner. Like “I know who math is and who I am with math.” And I’m really excited to hear what your math bio allowed you to do with students who were perhaps open to the idea that they are very mathematical or at least not yet closed off to those possibilities. So, yeah. What are some of the high, the, you know, the high and low water marks of the making of Bethany Lockhart Johnson, math teacher? <Laugh>

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (21:24):

Thanks for asking, Dan. <Laugh> I’ve shared aspects of my math bio because I think it really informs the way that I talk to people about math and think about math. And I like to share it because I want folks to consider their own journey with math, as we like engage with problem-solving and sense-making and thinking about the students in our classroom. My dad is a math and computer science major. So he had a computer very early on. I wish he had invested in Apple early on when he had like one of the first Apple computers ever. And, sorry, dad, but it’s true. I do wish you had done that.

Dan Meyer (22:10):

I’m sure he does too.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (22:11):

Oh, he does. So math and computers and conversations about counting, you know, it felt like it was kind of just normal. Like it was around me. And I went to Montessori, which is a private school that—oh, they have some public Montessori—but it’s very self-directed. And so we would have these kind of charts, these goals for the day that you explored. And so we would explore math in very, I don’t know, very organic ways, with these natural materials. And I feel like I excelled at math, but it wasn’t something that I was conscious of. It was just like, “Oh, well, yeah. Math, it’s, you know, something we do.” And then when I went to—when I left Montessori in fourth grade, I remember that year being a lot of like repetition. I was like, well, we did this. We covered this. And except for the mission project that we hadn’t done, that was all new. And that’s it. For another time I’ll share about that. But <laugh> then, they actually, I was moved with a group of students to the fifth grade math class, ’cause we had already done the work that we were doing. And so, it wasn’t that it felt like it came easily, but it did make sense. What we were doing made sense. And then it all kind of changed. There was a lot of change in my family. There was, like, missed school time. And we moved and I went to a new middle school and I was in this environment with students who—it was like an accelerated program. And so I was in this environment with students who were pretty competitive with each other. And I remember going—and I was not from of a competitive environment; like Montessori is not competitive. It’s not about that.

Dan Meyer (24:02):

Right. Right.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (24:02):

It’s—it was very strange to me that I would be competing against anyone, even competing against myself. And I, you know, knew how to set goals. But it was a different level of energy. And I felt like, because I wasn’t competitive in that nature, I felt like that kind—I felt on the outside of a lot of the energy. Besides the regular, like, middle-school feeling outside of things. And I remember the first friend that I made. Hi, Susan! She had said to me, this was like maybe our second week of school, she’s like, “Oh, at lunchtime, come with me to math club.” And I was like, “OK.” And I remember walking into that room and I had no idea what was going on. And so that was one of the first times where I was just like, “Whoa, I have absolutely no concept of what they’re talking about or what.” These are my peers. I felt very—it was very—it was strange. It was strange. I was like, “This doesn’t feel like a space for me at all.” When I think ordinarily I was kind of excited about the idea of going to math club at lunch, you know? And over middle school, I kind of just got progressively more and more behind. It started with missing some work and then missing more and then checking out. And, you know, the problem was that I really made it about myself. That, like, it wasn’t something that I was then good at or could do. When really it was that well, pre-algebra, I was having a really hard time in like the rest of my life. And so I wasn’t real present in that class. And so when I got to algebra, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. And then if I missed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, well, Thursday is gonna be hard, you know? And, it just got progressively harder and harder. So I had this great idea that between eighth grade and ninth grade, I was going to take this accelerated geometry class. ‘Cause that was the ninth grade class, it was geometry. And I would take it. It was like geometry in three weeks or something. So then when I entered high school, I would’ve gotten this like jumpstart. But I wish I had said, “Oh, I’ll take this, and then in ninth grade I’ll take geometry.” So like I’ve already kind of gotten a preview of the material. But instead I went to the 10th grade math, which was like intermediate algebra, trigonometry. I had absolutely no clue what was going on. And I had a very, very difficult time and I wasn’t ready for that class. But it was exacerbated by the fact that this teacher felt very free to let the freshmen in that class know that they shouldn’t be in that class. That this class was for 10th graders.

Dan Meyer (26:49):

Oh wow. Oh, wow.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (26:51):

And we had a rather contentious relationship. And I will never forget that we were in the hallway, and he says to me, “You don’t belong here.” And I’ve talked to—I’ve talked to a girlfriend of mine about her experiences with this teacher and she has the fondest memories.

Dan Meyer (27:13):

Wow.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (27:14):

She—in fact, almost everyone I’ve spoken with, you know, if we are talking about past teachers or, “Oh, what was that class like?” I mean, they just have these wonderful memories! And for me, my sense of like belonging was already so on a tight rope anyway, that to have this adult, this teacher, tell me, “You do not belong here,” just crushed me. And in hindsight, I think he was saying like, “This class is too hard for you.” I mean, maybe. <Laugh> But all I heard was “You don’t belong here.” And I extrapolated it to connect to math and to anything having to do with math in general. And it just got worse and worse through high school in the world of math. My next math class was even—I had to repeat that class, and still didn’t understand what was going on, and felt more out of place, and, you know, it’s one of those things that I just kind of had started to accept that, I guess, math isn’t for me. I guess I’m just not a math person. Or whatever these stories are that I started to create and build and find evidence for around me that was informing that this wasn’t for me. And I had always done well in school. I was in, you know, accelerated classes. I felt like I was capable of problem solving. And yet in math, I just felt like I had all of this evidence saying that I didn’t belong there. And so when I went to college, I took whatever two math classes were—you know, I was in performing arts and then I did ethnic studies as well. And I remember you had to take two math classes that were GEs. There were these classes that if you don’t wanna deal with math, you go take those classes. And I was like, “Oh yeah, I’ll take that. I’ll take that.” The gulf widened, you know? <Laugh> And I didn’t feel like anxiety when I had to do things like balance my checkbook or navigate math in everyday spaces. It was just, it would never occur to me that I would like seek out opportunities to engage with math or think about it or talk about it.

Dan Meyer (29:35):

That is—yeah, that’s just so wild, how, I don’t know, like it’s often, from the student’s perspective, it is them in a vacuum with math, and the two of them interact and decide if, you know, if they’re right for each other. But from the grown-up perspective, it’s just, you know, it’s a little bit clearer that your story with math was not just you in math, but you with, you know, various external things happening. With family, various teachers playing their different roles—sometimes, you know, really tragic and horrible roles—and then like the compounding mathematical debt that it feels like you were kind of building up, as challenges in one year didn’t get resolved and moved into the next year and so on. And all that makes me wonder—it makes me, like really, really scared, first of all, because I would bet that your teacher might not even remember that moment, that for you is part of just a pivotal moment in your math story, and how many kids have I played—have I been a part of their story in that way and wouldn’t even recall? You know what I’m saying? So that’s a scary part. And then also I’m just wondering, like, how can we, how can we help kids who are in those moments recognize that, “Oh, this kid is like absent a bunch,” and give them more resources to be successful rather than say, “Well, you just gotta try harder now.” Those are things I’m wondering, hearing your story. Thank you for sharing that. I’d love to know more about how you then became a teacher and what all that did for you as you helped students.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (31:06):

Well, but to answer what you were saying, it wasn’t that I wasn’t—I was always absent physically, but at least like mentally at that point, because it had become so difficult. It didn’t make sense to me. So I was just really checked out in math class, you know? So in hindsight, you know, as a teacher, for sure I can look back, and especially hearing these stories and these experiences my friend had with this teacher and just like chalks up as one of like her most favorite teachers ever! And you know, he clearly did a great job for so many students. But for me, and I think for some people, they would’ve taken those challenges and, you know, it would have fortified them in a different way or something. But for me, I took it upon myself to mean certain things about myself and about my ability and what I was capable of. And so I think, I think in some ways, you know, yeah, it’s all, it’s all interconnected. You know, when your students walk in the door, they’re not this—the things that are impacting them in their life are coming into the room with them. And I don’t think we can take that for granted and think, “Well, if they just focus hard enough…”

Dan Meyer (32:21):

Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (32:23):

So let’s go back to my love of Oprah. You know, Oprah talks about living your best life. And something I really appreciate about Oprah is that she encourages you to examine, like, sticking points, right? Like she doesn’t just say, “Well, this…just pretend nothing ever happened, and everything’s fine!” You know, she really talks about making time for reflection. And I kind of got mad that anytime I thought about math, or math schooling came up. Or, you know, whatever, any time that came up that I just felt UGH about it. And I felt like a failure. And I’m like, “You know what, what if I took a math class? And I’m an adult at this point. I’ve graduated. I have—I’ve left college. I have my degrees. But I said, “What if I took a math class?” So I went down to, the city college and I found out that you have to take this exam, like a placement exam. And I went and took the placement exam. And I remember it’s one of the responsive tests where if you get it right, the next question’s a little harder. And so I’m taking it, panicking, because it’s getting more like…I just, you know. And I remember it placed me in like, whatever, Algebra Something, this class that was far more advanced than I thought I should be in. And I was like, there’s been a mistake! You know, and I went to the counselor and said, you know, “I got these results, but I couldn’t answer a lot of the questions on the test.” She’s like, “No, no, no, that’s how it works.” So I go take this class and the class was hard. And I decided that I was just gonna keep showing up. And every day before class, I kid you not, they had a little math…it was like a math center where you could go in and they had a bunch of tables and you’d sit at the table and you could sit and do your work or whatever. If you had a question, you walked up and put your name on a clipboard and then somebody would come and help you. So I did that, every single—like before every single class I would go in. I’d sit there. I’d do the work. I’d go. And I’d get help. Like somebody would walk over and you know, some kid for whom they’re like this…you know, they’re math—it might be you, Dan! It could be you! It could have been you! You know, would walk over and be like—

Dan Meyer (34:38):

Yeah, I was in Help like that. Naw, it’s awesome. Love, love those people. Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:42):

And you know, I did it. And I did so well in the class. I did exceedingly well in the class. And I said—

Dan Meyer (34:50):

Take that! Take that, everything! Every other math experience!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:53):

I said, what?

Dan Meyer (34:55):

Yeah!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:55):

Wait a second.

Dan Meyer (34:56):

Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:57):

And it was that I was present. I was not afraid to look at what didn’t make sense. And if something didn’t make sense, it didn’t mean there was something wrong with me. Whaaaaat?

Dan Meyer (35:10):

Yeah. Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (35:10):

So I was just in such a different space. And then I took another math class and that class was even harder. And I did the same thing where I went to the little lab and, you know, and it just buoyed me. And it made me realize that, like, this story, that my experience with it was very powerful and that was a real lived experience, but that it didn’t have to define my relationship with math. But then! I decided I wanted to go back to school to become a classroom teacher. And I totally—this was a couple years after that math class experience. So now, you know, I’m healing my relationship with math through basic positive experiences, da, da, da, you know, doing other work. But fast-forward, for a whole number of reasons, decided to become a classroom teacher. And I freaked out. All of my—like, I’m studying for the GRE and the CSET and all the things you have to the hoops you have to jump through to apply to the masters program and the credential program. And I freaked out. I was so close to quitting, Dan. Because I was convinced that the reason I couldn’t be a classroom teacher is because I wasn’t capable in math. Like I was—it was all that resurfaced. And even though I now had evidence to say something different, to the contrary, it was still so visceral. And I was so scared. But I passed that Math CSET.

Dan Meyer (36:47):

Get it.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:47):

I did well enough on the GRE—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:50):

Yes!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:50):

You know, I finished my credential. I worked really, really hard. I had to work so hard in my student placement, when I was student teaching for a fifth-grade class, ’cause I felt like, “Oh my God!” I mean, now I could do the mathematics, but I couldn’t TEACH it to someone, you know? But I had amazing professors at UCI, and my math professors really like just—and my mentor teacher! shout out to Jennifer! shout out to Phil!—these amazing mentor teachers who just loved teaching and who loved—like you said, you have these teachers in your life who you got to see the way that they listened to students. They taught me about that love of listening to students. And then I fell in love with, you know, CGI, cognitively guided instruction, and started learning all about all of these educators who just wanna learn from students’ thinking. And it was just so powerful. And I realize as a kindergarten teacher that I have this really special role in helping to create space for a positive school experience. Like we get to talk about—I talk about my students as mathematicians; they’re writers; they’re thinkers; they’re problem-solvers. And I also want to make space for parents. Some of them, this is their first kid in kindergarten, and they brought all of their experiences, a lot of it negative, that they had had with mathematics. So I felt like it was such an exciting opportunity to help show parents how they could have conversations about math with their students. That also, I hope helped heal their own anxiety with mathematics.

Dan Meyer (38:41):

Right, right.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (38:42):

Like, I’ve not even scratched the surface of math learning. But I just have such a changed perspective and relationship with math. And I just fell in love with the sense-making. And I fell in love with the journey of it. I still experience math anxiety about a wide variety of things, but I do love it. And I feel like there’s a space for me in relationship with math. And that really excites me.

Dan Meyer (39:09):

Yeah. Wow. Listen to that folks. We, we don’t deserve her! Bethany Lockhart Johnson! She got some math game and could have gone off there and, you know, become an accountant or something. And she chose to hang with kids and their parents. That’s so wild that you’re like rehabbing parents and their self-conception about mathematics at the same time. I think that is so cool.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:32):

Well, thanks Dan Meyer. I gotta tell you, I don’t know when or if I’ve ever shared that much of my math story. So there is a certain amount of vulnerability there. But thanks for listening. And I’m glad that, you know—I think there’s space for us to talk about these things that we care deeply about, but that can be really complicated.

Dan Meyer (39:56):

Yes. Yes. And I love how you you’ve really sharpened the point on what I feel like I know in my brain, but not my body all the time: That individual teachers are huge. Like, individual teachers, and individual moments of teaching, are just not something to play with. You know, like that kid that’s in fifth grade having a tough time, like there could be a month or a day-long period where all of a sudden, like, you’re just like, “Oh yeah, I’m back in the mix; like, me and math are still buddies.” And there’s also like moments that you had, where like one casual word from a teacher can just really put a huge wedge between you and a discipline that needs and wants you and your intellect in it.That’s a really powerful testimonial. Not just for math, but for teaching, your teaching bio.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:43):

I agree with you. And I also, I also…you know, I think we can’t put this—we are human. Teachers are human. And so I’m sure there’s things I’ve said to students. Twenty-second story: a student stapled his finger in my class. <Laugh> And I remember holding his hand and saying, “Why did you do that?” And I wasn’t yelling at him, but it was like, I am sure the panic in my face…like, that’s what he’s gonna remember about kindergarten. Right? <Laugh>.

Dan Meyer (41:19):

Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (41:20):

That. He will remember that. He won’t remember the really cool city project we did. He’s gonna remember his teacher holding his hand, in his face: “Why did you do that?”

Dan Meyer (41:30):

Yeah. Yeah.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (41:30):

You know, so we’re human. And yes, it was awful that that teacher said that to me. There were a thousand other ways that he could have said whatever it was he was thinking. And that did deeply wound me. But despite his influence—because teachers do have a lot of power and I think they need to examine that power, ongoing—it still doesn’t have to define us. So I don’t wanna put this pressure, like—

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (41:55):

Sure.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (41:56):

“So never ever say anything negative!” You know, we’re human.

Dan Meyer (42:00):

I feel like that kid is currently on some office-supply podcast talking about “your office-supply bio” and saying, “Let me tell you how I first got really freaked out by staples. Here’s the deal: I only use paper clips. And here’s why.”

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (42:15):

“Here’s why.” But then—callback!—he’s going to stumble upon THIS podcast and think, “And because I’m so adept with paper clips, I can beat that record!”

Dan Meyer (42:30):

Though—aaay! whoa! Settle down!

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (42:31):

BOOM.

Dan Meyer (42:31):

Don’t get any ideas, kid. No way. Uh-uh. I don’t like that at all. That’s not what—that’s not what I want to have happen here. No, thank you.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (42:41):

Well, I’m spent, Dan. I need a nap.

Dan Meyer (42:45):

Yeah. I need a box of Kleenex. I need a nap. I need a—yeah, for sure, a baba. Uh-huh. Definitely. Hey, so look, I’m not expecting you folks out there in the lounge to kind of give us the same depth or breadth. You know, we are here, of course, for your entertainment. Feast on our stories and dramas. But I would love to know at some point, like, what are a few, a few moments that really came to define you mathematically? Came to influence you as a teacher? I think we would do really well for each other to understand that about all of our processes. So yeah, I would just toss in a plug in for Twitter, @MTLShow, or Facebook, Math Teacher Lounge; it would be fantastic to hear from you.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson (43:24):

Thanks so much for listening.

Dan Meyer (43:25):

Thanks, folks. Bye now.

Stay connected!

Join our community and get new episodes every other Tuesday!

We’ll also share new and exciting free resources for your classroom every month.

What Dan Meyer says about math teaching

“Teaching, more than other professions, is a generational profession. The kinds of joyful experiences we offer, or don’t offer, now affect the experiences students that haven’t even been born yet will have years later.”

– Dan Meyer

Meet the guests

Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer taught high school math to students who didn’t like high school math. He has advocated for better math instruction on CNN, Good Morning America, Everyday With Rachel Ray, and TED.com. He earned his doctorate from Stanford University in math education and is currently the Dean of Research at Desmos, where he explores the future of math, technology, and learning. Dan has worked with teachers internationally and in all 50 United States and was named one of Tech & Learning’s 30 Leaders of the Future.

Bethany Lockhart Johnson

Bethany Lockhart Johnson is an elementary school educator and author. Prior to serving as a multiple-subject teacher, she taught theater and dance and now loves incorporating movement and creative play into her classroom. Bethany is committed to helping students find joy in discovering their identities as mathematicians. In addition to her role as a full-time classroom teacher, Bethany is a Student Achievement Partners California Core Advocate and is active in national and local mathematics organizations. Bethany is a member of the Illustrative Mathematics Elementary Curriculum Steering Committee and serves as a consultant, creating materials to support families during distance learning.

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About Math Teacher Lounge: The podcast

Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.

Join the Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group to continue the conversation, view exclusive content, interact with fellow educators, participate in giveaways, and more!

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What’s included

Boost Reading (formerly Amplify Reading) for K–5 uses captivating storylines to engage students in powerful personalized reading instruction and practice. Whether students are learning to read fluently or sharpening close reading skills, Boost Reading accelerates their growth while freeing educators up to work with small groups or individual students. Explore more of the program here.

Boost Reading is a recipient of Digital Promise’s Research-Based Design and Learner Variability certifications.

Program at a glance

Boost Reading is a research-based, standards-aligned program that supports students along an adaptive path of increasingly complicated texts and literary concepts. Students find games embedded in an engaging narrative world that grows as they do, whether they are learning foundational skills or mastering close reading with our solution for reading comprehension.

Skill games at a glance

Boost Reading gives students explicit instruction in foundational skills and comprehension processes. It features more than 50 mini-games that build skills in phonics, phonological awareness, vocabulary, comprehension processes, and reading comprehension.

Ilustración de un altavoz de color oscuro con coloridos diseños circulares en su frontal. El altavoz está centrado dentro de un marco circular con degradados de verde y verde azulado. El fondo es blanco.
Zoom Boom

In Zoom Boom, students practice rhyming by listening to a word and identifying the picture of the word that rhymes with it.

Imagen pixelada de un colorido personaje de dos tonos con una cara azul y verde, con una corona amarilla, mostrado sobre un fondo degradado circular.
Gem & Nye

In Gem & Nye, students blend sounds into words, starting with compound words and syllables and then moving to beginning (onset) and ending (rime) sounds and finally individual phonemes, to identify the picture of the word the Soundbots say when blended together.

Una insignia circular con tres robots pixel art en rosa, verde y azul sobre un fondo degradado de azul a azul oscuro. La insignia tiene un borde azul claro.
Wordbots

In Wordbots, students practice segmenting words into their onsets and rimes to determine which Startbots and Endbots form a stimulus word.

Ilustración de un par de tijeras con mangos amarillos sobre un fondo circular verde, rodeadas por un borde turquesa.
Cut It Out

In Cut It Out, students isolate individual phonemes by listening to a beginning, middle, or ending sound and choosing a picture of the word containing the sound in that position.

Un círculo azul con un borde turquesa que contiene una ilustración de una rebanada de pan con un pimiento rojo.
Picky Goblins

In Picky Goblins, students practice sound-spelling correspondences for individual letters by listening to a sound from a goblin and feeding it the piece of toast with the corresponding.

Ilustración de una tostadora con una cara verde parecida a un duende en el frente y la lengua fuera, sobre un fondo naranja con un borde verde azulado.
Grumpy Goblins

In Grumpy Goblins, students learn sound-spelling correspondences for consonant digraphs and vowel teams by listening to a sound from a goblin and feeding it the piece of toast with the corresponding letter or combination.

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Hangry Goblins

In Hangry Goblins, students practice letter-sound combinations by feeding individual letter sounds, consonant digraphs, blends, and vowel teams to goblins that become more and more “hangry” until they are given the letters that match their demands.

Una insignia circular con colores azul y verde. En el centro, el texto "gato" está dividido en "c" y "at" en las piezas del rompecabezas.
Rhyme Time

In Rhyme Time, students practice with different rime families (words that end with the same sounds and rhyme) and decode words in these families by swapping the first letter sounds of words while the ending sounds remain constant.

Una insignia circular con colores azul y verde. En el centro, el texto "gato" está dividido en "c" y "at" en las piezas del rompecabezas.
Tongue Twist

In Tongue Twist, students practice with different rime families (words that end with the same sounds and rhyme) and build words by changing the ending sound (rime) while the beginning (onset) sounds, consonant blends, and consonant digraphs remain constant.

Ilustración de un gorro de chef blanco sobre un fondo circular naranja con un borde verde azulado.
Food Truck

In Food Truck, students practice “chopping” blends, ending sounds (rimes), and whole words into beginning sounds (onsets), ending sounds, and individual letters to create orders for their hungry goblin customers. The difficulty of words and segmenting tasks increases with each level as customers order more sophisticated “dishes.”

Ícono de un paisaje urbano estilizado con un borde circular verde, un amanecer al fondo y barras horizontales rojas en el centro.
Rhyme Time

In Word City, students identify and manipulate beginning, middle, and ending letter sounds to assemble word chains that form buildings.

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Because This, That

In Because This, That, students learn how common text structures give clues to meaning by rearranging sentences to identify cause and effect or problem and solution.

Un círculo azul con un ícono de eslabón de cadena interconectado blanco en el centro y un borde verde azulado claro.
Connect It!

In Connect It!, students practice using different types of conjunctions (temporal and causal, for example) to combine two clauses into a coherent sentence.

Ilustración de un caracol rosado con ojos blancos dentro de un círculo azul y verde. El fondo es de un azul más oscuro con ondas de un azul más claro.
Message in a Bottle

In Message in a Bottle, students build their awareness of syntax and the impact word order has on meaning by unscrambling scraps of lost messages to reconstruct sentences.

Un ícono circular azul y morado con un borde turquesa, que presenta un signo de interrogación blanco en el centro flanqueado por dos rectángulos blancos a los lados.
Mind the Gap

In Mind the Gap, comprehension levels are assessed through a modified cloze exercise in which students make selections to fill in the blanks of a text where approximately every seventh word has been omitted.

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Show Off

In Show Off, students learn how common text structures give clues to meaning, using cues from illustrations to rearrange sentences in the correct sequential or chronological order.

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Sloppy Scrolls

In Sloppy Scrolls, students practice the art of comprehension monitoring, or ensuring that they continually build and check a mental model of what they read. In the game, students are introduced to a world of enchanted scrolls that have lost their magic: they contain inconsistencies, and no longer make sense. The students must attempt to identify the inconsistencies by tapping the sentences that don’t match the rest of the passage. To increase the challenge of the game, some of the passages are presented without errors.

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Storyboard

In Storyboard, students practice making inferences by completing a storyboard that integrates relevant background knowledge missing from a given sentence.

Un logotipo redondo con un borde verde azulado, con un fondo morado y cuatro cuadrados blancos en una cuadrícula de 2x2. Cada cuadrado contiene un círculo o un cuadrado de color violeta o naranja.
Super Match

In Super Match, students work on developing cognitive flexibility, or the ability to track multiple elements simultaneously, by completing interactive puzzles that associate pictures and words across multiple dimensions (e.g., color and category, or starting sounds and category).

Una insignia circular con un fondo degradado de color rojo violeta, un borde verde azulado y un ícono de máscara de disfraces amarillo en el centro.
Unmask That

In Unmask That, students build their understanding of anaphora, a tool authors use to avoid repetition, by linking pronouns to their antecedents in text.

Se muestran dos íconos amarillos de caras sonrientes dentro de un círculo verde azulado. Una cara tiene un bocadillo encima con tres líneas horizontales, que indican texto. El fondo es un degradado de verde azulado y verde.
Best Buddy

In Best Buddy, students examine character traits to determine which school club provides the best fit for their fictional friends.

Dos libros con signos de interrogación en las portadas, uno amarillo y otro azul, sobre un fondo circular rojo con un borde verde azulado.
Book Club

In Book Club, students compare and contrast two books on the same topic or theme to determine which book best meets the needs of a character in the game.

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Debate-a-Ball

In Debate-a-Ball, students practice identifying the best evidence to support a claim. Students pick an animal avatar to compete with an automated opponent in debates on familiar topics. To win, students must put forward the best evidence to support each claim more frequently than their opponents. They are taught to identify evidence that is factual and strongly related to the claim.

Ilustración de dos tarjetas cuadradas redondeadas superpuestas, una con un trozo de tarta sobre fondo morado y otra con fondo rojo, rodeada por un anillo de color turquesa.
Picture This

In Picture This, students complete the illustrations for a story by identifying words that describe its setting, characters, problems, and solutions.

Una ilustración de una caja de cartón abierta dentro de un borde circular. El fondo dentro del círculo es morado y el borde es verde azulado.
Storybox

In Storybox, students choose settings, situations, and solutions to send characters on different adventures, using details and context to help them resolve problems and complete the story.

Ilustración de un hámster sonriente con una chaqueta blanca futurista con botones verdes y una pequeña antena en la cabeza, rodeada por un borde verde azulado.
Tube Tales

In Tube Tales, students learn the attributes of different genres and practice identifying them in brief texts.

Un ícono redondo con un borde verde azulado y un centro azul oscuro, que muestra un símbolo de bombilla amarilla en el medio, con pequeños rayos amarillos alrededor de la bombilla.
What’s the Big Idea

In What’s the Big Idea, students examine pictures, picture sequences, and short passages to practice differentiating the main idea from story details.

Una carita sonriente circular de color amarillo con una amplia sonrisa y ojos cerrados está centrada en un anillo azul y turquesa. El fondo es blanco.
Punchline!

In Punchline!, students learn how words can have multiple meanings by channeling their inner comedian to crack homonym-based jokes.

Un ícono circular verde con un borde azul claro que presenta una bellota marrón y amarilla en el centro.
Shades of Meaning

In Shades of Meaning, students differentiate the nuances in similar words — first by ordering them from weakest to strongest, largest to smallest, or least to greatest; then by putting them into sentences that further clarify their meaning.

Ilustración de un tucán con pico amarillo y marrón posado sobre grandes hojas verdes dentro de un marco circular.
Word Raiders

In Word Raiders, older students encounter Tier 2, high-utility words, ultimately building a visual semantic map of each word.

Digital components

The program includes resources that give students chances to apply skills they’ve learned and teachers the ability to track student progress across multiple data points.

Component

FORMAT

Teacher dashboard

The teacher dashboard required zero set-up time and uses detailed data to provide insights into student progress. Teachers can drill down into student profiles to see specific content students are working on and where they are struggling.

Digital

Component

FORMAT

eReader

Once students have engaged with a skill in the program they will get to practice on a text. Students use authentic literary and informational texts in a scaffolded environment as they complete more and more challenging tasks.udents are working on and where they are struggling.

Digital

A laptop screen displays a reading comprehension exercise asking users to identify the character referred to by "He" in a short passage.

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Powerful, personalized reading instruction that engages students and saves teachers time

Boost Reading is our personalized reading program for grades K–5. Its captivating storylines engage students in powerful reading instruction and practice. Whether students are learning to read fluently or sharpening their comprehension skills, Boost Reading accelerates their growth while freeing educators up to work with small groups or individual students.

We’ve aligned Boost Reading to the Arkansas English Language Arts standards: Boost Reading Skill Games and Texts: Alignment to Arkansas English Language Arts Standards

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Science of Reading-based support for every student

Students come to school with a range of abilities and achieve mastery at different rates. Providing each learner with the specific support they need to progress can be challenging. Enter Boost Reading’s personalized reading literacy program.

“Your team has taken a weight off my shoulders and I am so grateful and can’t thank you enough! My biggest concern during this time was how can I keep pushing my readers at their level—and giving them what they need—and Boost Reading solved that.”

Jeanine

2nd-grade teacher, Chicago, IL

“This program is extremely engaging and interactive for each student. They begged to get on Boost Reading and they cried when it was time to log off! This program is a great addition to our curriculum.”

Brittany

2nd grade teacher, Utah

“My students love the program, and they don’t even realize they are learning some tough concepts. Their reading scores are improving even since the beginning of the year.”

Amber

Junior High ELA teacher, California

Our approach

Leveraging compelling storytelling and the latest research, Boost Reading helps students achieve true mastery of the concepts they need to become strong, life long readers. See the research behind the program.

More than a digital worksheet

Built on the Science of Reading, Boost Reading offers a fresh, modern program that builds on student strengths while adapting to their needs.

Boost Reading - reading curriculum how it works image
A cartoon character stands by a river with a text bubble showing four word options: sand, stand, stamp, champ. The character has selected "stamp." A red creature sits on a box labeled "stamp.

A program students love

Boost Reading offers an out-of-this world learning experience for students. The program’s age-appropriate narratives create a learning experience that leaps off the screen.

The right experience for every student

The program meets all students where they are with powerful individualized instruction and practice, enabling student growth at all reading levels.

Teacher assisting young students with an online reading program using laptops and headphones in a classroom.
An infographic showing that 31% of students were on track in reading before the mCLASS with Boost Reading program, which increased to 48% after, highlighting an improvement in reading skills.

Proven results

Boost Reading works. Efficacy studies show significant growth for students using Boost Reading. In as little as 30 minutes a week, Boost Reading accelerates growth for all students and helps multilingual learners close the gap with their peers. Learn more here.

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Free white paper

Comprehension processes: The missing link in reading comprehension

Download now

Program highlights

Illustration showing a phonics lesson progression in a K–5 literacy resource: starting with vc, cvc words and blends, moving to early decoding with listed letters. Each step connected by arrows in

Full adaptivity

Students of Boost Reading use digital texts that adapt to their needs via an adaptive algorithm that unlocks each book at the exact right point in a reader’s development.

Personalized instruction

Boost Reading adapts to each reader’s unique needs across 13 skill areas, sending students on their own personalized reading journey. The programs offer both remediation and enrichment through a comprehensive range of instruction—from foundational skills to comprehension to close reading.

Two young girls, smiling and looking at a tablet together in a colorful classroom, engaged in an online reading program.
Una pantalla de computadora portátil que muestra una cuadrícula de íconos de juegos educativos, incluidos títulos como "Word Slide", "Field Observer", "Grumpy Goblins" y "Curioso Crossing".

Engagement engineering

Using the science behind engagement and motivation, Boost Reading is built to deliver compelling narrative experiences that speak to students’ stories of growth and development. This personal connection allows students to directly map their progress in the storyline to their reading effort and growth, helping them understand the value of effort and practice.

Based on the Science of Reading

Boost Reading is built on the latest research in the Science of Reading. It provides the explicit, systematic foundational skills essential for every student—and it goes beyond. It’s the only program that focuses on the things our brain does while we’re reading that allow us to make sense of text—also known as comprehension processes. Learn more about comprehension processes on Science of Reading: The Podcast.

Diagram illustrating the Science of Reading, depicting components of skilled reading in a flowchart. This connects language, vocabulary, sentences, reasoning, and mental model with increasingly automated word, sound, and letter processing
A screenshot of an educational software interface showing a "students" page with tables of student names, progress metrics, and skill assessments for an online reading program on a laptop screen.

Instruction based on student data

Boost Reading features an automatic placement tool that requires no prior assessment. The program is able to pinpoint the most effective starting point for each student and provide them an engaging reading program personalized for their exact individual needs. The program also integrates directly with Amplify’s mCLASS® with DIBELS® 8th Edition assessment as well as other third party assessments.

Reports at every level

Boost Reading provides actionable insights into students’ reading development across 13 literacy skill domains. The program creates reports for classroom teachers, literacy specialists, principals and district leaders, and even parents and caregivers at home.

Screenshot of an online reading program dashboard, showing student reading metrics and instructional recommendations.

Explore more Science of Reading-based programs.

Our programs are designed to support and complement one another. Learn more about our related programs.

See all programs

Welcome to Amplify CKLA!

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) is a cutting-edge and effective core ELA program for students in grades K–5. It was developed in partnership with the Core Knowledge Foundation, features proven evidence-based instructional practices, and was specifically designed to help teachers implement Science of Reading principles.

Note: We’re continually adding information to this site, including specific details regarding our alignment with your non-negotiables. Keep checking back with us between now and April 20, 2023.

Getting Started

On this site, you’ll find a variety of resources designed to support your review and evaluation of the program. Before you dive in, watch the Orientation Overview and Program Overview videos below to learn about CKLA’s alignment to CCSD’s ELA adoption requirements, as well as where to find key program resources.

[Video] Orientation Overview

[Video] Program Overview

In the video below, learn about CKLA’s structure and materials, as well the research behind the curriculum.

Evidence-Based

[Video] Pedagogical Overview with Simple View of Reading

In the video below, Amplify’s Chief Academic Officer Susan Lambert shares the big picture of CKLA, and explains why it was created and the impact it’s making across the country. Below are a few portions of the video that you may find particularly helpful as you conduct your review.

  • 0-1:00 Why CKLA?
  • 1:00-4:40 How CKLA was built on the Simple View of Reading
  • 4:40-8:00 How to review the CKLA Components
  • 8:00-end Teacher Testimonial

[Features] Supporting the Simple View of Reading

Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades K–2 with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.

Review this Science of Reading toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.

See our Science of Reading solutions in action! Click here to see a real example of how one Ohio district is implementing and educating their K–8 community on the Science of Reading as a response to Ohio’s Plan to Raise Literacy Achievement Initiative.

Great reading instruction starts with helping kids develop great decoding skills. By building a solid foundation of phonological awareness and phonics, reading the words on the page becomes automatic so that comprehension and critical thinking can happen. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Step-by-step lessons with multisensory approaches, clear lesson objectives, and embedded formative assessments.
  • Decodable books and student readers with ebook and audiobook versions that feature engaging plots and relatable characters.
  • An engaging sound library with fun songs and videos that develop phonological awareness.
  • An interactive Vocab App featuring engaging activities with immediate feedback and automated, customized instruction based on student performance.

Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
  • Interactive Read-Alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
  • Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.
  • Social and emotional learning paired with lessons in civic responsibility.

Easy-to-Use Materials

Amplify CKLA offers a number of digital and multimedia resources to support instruction and enhance the teacher and student experience.

  • Amplify CKLA Digital Experience Site: All teacher and student materials are posted on this site for planning and information purposes, including Teacher Guides, Readers, Activity Books, Ancillary Materials, videos, additional resources, and links to other useful sites, such as the Professional Learning site.
  • The Professional Learning Site: This site includes training materials, best practices, and other resources to develop program expertise. Access professional development anywhere, anytime.
  • Intervention Toolkit: The Intervention Toolkit provides easy-to use resources to assist teachers in filling gaps in students’ foundational skills. Teachers will find hundreds of activities to support phonics, fluency, comprehension, handwriting, and other key skills.
  • The Science of Reading: The Podcast: Hosted by Susan Lambert, The Podcast delivers the latest insights from researchers and practitioners in early reading. Each episode takes a conversational approach and explores a timely topic related to the Science of Reading.

In addition to the videos below, our CKLA Components Guide can be a helpful tool as you explore the materials provided within your sample tubs.

[Video] Physical Materials Walkthrough

As you explore your physical samples, the material walkthrough video below can be a helpful resource. In particular, we suggest watching the following portions of the video.

  • 0-4:38 CKLA components for K–2
  • 4:38-7:00 CKLA components for 3–5
  • 7-7:30 CKLA Program Guide
  • 10:12-13:20 CKLA’s Teacher Resource Site

Note: The below video covers both our K-5 program (Amplify CKLA) as well as our 6-8 program (Amplify ELA).

[Video] Digital Materials Walkthrough

In the video below, learn about CKLA’s digital tools for teachers and students across both classroom and asynchronous environments.

As you prepare to explore our digital platform, be sure to watch and refer to the video below.

Diverse Texts

In Amplify CKLA, texts serve a variety of purposes, from building background knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension to building decoding and fluency skills.

In grades K–2, instruction is segmented between two strands: Knowledge and Skills.

  • Reading within the Knowledge Strand is centered around authentic read-alouds and trade books that are intentionally sequenced to build content knowledge and vocabulary in specific domain topics around literature, history, science, and the arts. Because research shows that students’ listening comprehension outpaces their reading comprehension until their early teens, Amplify CKLA strategically uses read-aloud text in this strand, allowing students to focus their cognitive energy on gaining meaning from the words and better understanding from the images.
  • Reading within the Skills Strand centers around carefully crafted Student Readers that teach students how to read. Structured as chapter books, these readers are 100% decodable and were developed to align with Amplify CKLA’s scope and sequence for phonics, directly connecting instruction to student practice in connected texts. Students use the Readers to practice decoding, fluency, and comprehension during shared reading lessons, targeted close reading sessions, in small groups, and independently.

In grades 3–5, integrated units bring the Skills and Knowledge strands together as students become increasingly automatic and strategic in their word recognition and language comprehension skills. Student reading and comprehension activities involve a variety of reading materials:

  • Authentic Read-Alouds and trade books ensure students encounter a variety of perspectives as they use these complex text to increase their knowledge while practicing vocabulary and listening comprehension skills.
  • Student Readers connect to each theme and are designed to increase in complexity over time, providing a continual challenge as students’ reading and listening comprehension skills develop and strengthen throughout the year.
  • Novel Guides provide teachers a flexible option for extending authentic reading and text-based activities in the classroom using award-winning and acclaimed novels.
  • ReadWorks articles give students access to additional high-quality texts aligned to both Amplify CKLA knowledge topics and the topics outlined in the Common Core State Standards.

Decodable Readers at Grades K–2

Our Decodable Readers are designed to progress in skills, mirroring the scope and sequence of instruction, which allows students to immediately apply what they are learning to 100% decodable text. More specifically, our decodables:

  • Are uniquely designed to provide intensive practice with the CKLA code while students read compelling and engaging stories and informational texts for the first time.
  • Gradually introduce students to “tricky” spelling concepts, such as different sounds that use the same letter code.
  • Increase in text complexity (i.e., content, length, and vocabulary) as students progress through the grades.
  • Include fiction and nonfiction text.
  • Are available as ebooks and audiobooks.

Below, you can see how students grow from year-to-year across grades K–2.

Student Readers at Grades 3–5

By grades 3–5, students have mastered the basics of decoding and are hungry to use what they’ve learned to reach out to the world. Although Read-Alouds remain an important part of lessons, students are also encouraged to practice independent reading starting in grade 3 with the support of carefully crafted Student Readers. These readers are chock-full of various text types, cultural stories, and a blend of fiction and nonfiction texts that are tied to and support the overarching theme of the unit.

Read-alouds

Authentic literature exposes students to a variety of text types and perspectives to deepen their knowledge of fascinating topics in social studies, science, literature, and the arts. Authentic texts support text-to-self, text-to-world, and text-to-text connections for readers.

Trade books

Our optional Trade Book Collection (and suggested list of additional trade books) align with our grade-level topics, and extend the knowledge students are learning through an authentic text.

Novel Guides

Novel Guides bring students beyond the CKLA curriculum. We provide fifteen full days of instruction on contemporary trade books, as well as writing prompts that help students navigate the authentic literature they love.

ReadWorks

Amplify CKLA and ReadWorks® have partnered to deliver high-quality texts curated to support the Amplify CKLA Knowledge Sequence and to extend student learning. Texts include high-interest nonfiction articles in topics in social studies, science, literature, and the arts. These texts are accompanied by vocabulary supports and standards-aligned formative assessment opportunities. Teachers can monitor their students’ progress using the ReadWorks reporting features.

Reading resources

The following resources may be helpful as you explore our approach to reading and the role that diverse texts play in the program.

Writing

CKLA is rich with opportunities for students to develop, practice, and hone their writing skills. While the shape of writing instruction looks slightly different at each grade level, a commonality across all grades K–5 is that writing isn’t taught in isolation. Rather, it’s embedded within the context of each unit, and is connected to what students read.

At Grades K–2, writing takes place in both the Skills and Knowledge strands.

  • Explicit instruction in writing skills (such as sentence structure) and handwriting takes place in the Skills Strand, and is tied to the decodable readers used within each unit.
  • Extended writing and writing process activities take place in the Knowledge Strand.

At Grades 3–5, writing is embedded through the integrated units.

  • Across each unit, students work on smaller, more discrete writing skills alongside their Student Reader. These skills eventually culminate at the end of each unit in the form of a writing project.
  • In 4th and 5th grades, we expand writing even further with the addition of Poetry units.

Writing and text-dependent questions

The overwhelming majority of questions, tasks, and assignments in CKLA materials are text-dependent. Every CKLA unit and domain is based around key texts that are either read aloud, with a peer, or independently. These readings are followed by class discussions where students are expected to refer to these texts when answering literal, inferential, and evaluative questions, both orally during class discussions and through written responses.

  • Literal questions assess students’ recall of key details from the text. These are text-dependent questions that require students to paraphrase and/or refer back to the portion of the text where the specific answer is provided.
  • Inferential questions ask students to infer information from the text and to think critically. These text-dependent questions require students to summarize and/or reference the portions of the text that lead to and support the inference they are making.
  • Evaluative questions ask students to build on what they have learned from the text using analytical and application skills, often to form an opinion or make a judgment. These questions require students to paraphrase and/or cite the textual evidence that substantiates their argument or opinion.

In addition, students are often asked to generate additional questions based on the texts. Students further demonstrate understanding in writing by applying what they have learned and providing evidence from the text to back up their answers and opinions. For example, Grade 3 students learning about sea exploration write a paragraph from the perspective of a sailor on John Cabot’s ship, stating their opinion of whether the hardships they experienced are worth the adventure or glory and citing examples from the text to support their response. Grade 5 students studying the Adventures of Don Quixote write a four-paragraph persuasive essay arguing whether they believe Don Quixote’s good intentions justify his often calamitous actions, using reasons and evidence from the text to support their claims.

Writing with authentic literature

Novel Guides are designed around authentic texts students love. They not only help students foster a love for reading, they also present authentic opportunities for students to express themselves through writing. Novel Guides provide daily text-based writing and discussion through five activity types:

  • Ask contains questions for discussion, reflection, or brief written responses. These questions cover information all students should understand as they read the text.
  • Explore prompts offer brief research opportunities centered around items mentioned in the text.
  • Imagine activities promote creativity and further reflection.
  • Observe items ask students to take notes or make other kinds of observations about what they have read.
  • Understand questions push students to explore connections to the text.

Writing and enrichment

Writing tasks throughout the program provide almost limitless opportunities for extension. Feedback from the teacher, peers, and self-reflection provide students opportunities to strengthen their writing. For example, advanced students can be encouraged to:

  • Use more complex and unusual descriptive vocabulary.
  • Incorporate figurative language into their writing.
  • Write multi-clause sentences with more complex joining words.
  • Create longer or richer opinion, explanatory, and narrative pieces.
  • Evaluate the use of informational textual characteristics and use in their own writing (e.g., headers, bullets).

Writing resources

The following resources may be helpful as you explore our approach to writing and how writing develops across the program.

Access the program

Explore as a teacher

Before logging in, watch this brief video on navigating the CKLA Teacher Resource Site.

Ready to explore as a teacher? Follow these instructions:

  • Click the CKLA Teacher Resource Site button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the username: t1.ccsd-k5-ckla@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter the password: Amplify1-ccsd-k5-ckla
  • Click the CKLA Teacher Resource icon
  • Select a grade level
CKLA Teacher Resource Site

Explore as a student

Before logging in, watch this brief video on navigating the CKLA Student Hub.

Ready to explore as a student? Follow these instructions:

  • Click the CKLA Teacher Resource Site button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the username: s1.ccsd-k5-ckla@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter the password: Amplify1-ccsd-k5-ckla
  • Click the CKLA Teacher Resource icon
  • Select a grade level
CKLA Student Hub

Check out these additional resources

Nevada submission resources:

CKLA review resources:

Connecticut K-5 ELA: Explore Amplify CKLA (English) and Caminos (Spanish)

Thank you for visiting Amplify’s Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) and Caminos website designed exclusively for you. We are very excited for you to further explore Amplify CKLA and Amplify Caminos and discover more about our proven, phonics-based literacy programs in English and Spanish.  Begin your journey with the Introduction below and explore Amplify CKLA and Caminos.

Introduction

We are excited for you to see how Amplify CKLA and Amplify Caminos provide parallel, high-quality resources in both English and Spanish for all students and multilingual learners across NYC! Both programs are flexible, offering stand-alone foundational skills instruction as well as comprehensive core English Language Arts.

Amplify CKLA Skills and Caminos Lectoescritura are entirely built on the latest reading science and provide comprehensive instruction in all foundational reading skills. These programs feature:

  • Phonological awareness, phonics, and word recognition
  • Strong, systematic sound-first instruction to support students in learning to decode
  • Language skills, including conventions, spelling, and grammar
  • Reading comprehension
  • Writing instruction

CKLA and Caminos for grades K–2 provides a two-strand approach – the first strand is the Foundational Skills Strand (as described above) and the second is the Knowledge Strand, in which students build rich background knowledge through multidisciplinary Read-Alouds in both English and Spanish. Additionally, in Grades 3-5, CKLA and Caminos take an Integrated Approach, meaning everything is focused on rich worldly context. 

We highly encourage you to check out the Grades K-2 Knowledge Strand section of the website and the 3-5 Integrated Approach section to explore these components further, gain access to the engaging, worldly, and diverse texts students and teachers are using in their classrooms daily, and discover so much more!

Access the program

Every day in the CKLA/Caminos classroom, students will practice their existing reading skills while stretching themselves toward new goals. In K–2, each day includes dedicated skills time to help you give students a solid foundation. In the upper grades, skills instruction becomes integrated with Knowledge lessons, and students engage with increasingly complex content-rich texts and writing activities.

Start with the sound

All instruction starts with phonological awareness, which research has shown to benefit the greatest number of students.

Students begin by learning to recognize sounds, as well as to articulate them.

Build to the phoneme

All instruction starts with phonological awareness, which research has shown to benefit the greatest number of students. Students begin by learning to recognize sounds, as well as to articulate them.

Crack the code

Once students can recognize sounds, they learn to form the corresponding letter codes. CKLA starts by teaching the sound-spellings that appear most frequently in English, which lets your students read and write as many words as possible, as soon as possible.

Grow in complexity

The lessons continue to challenge students as they progress, introducing complications like multisyllabic words, “tricky words,” and homophones. In each case, students encounter complications as they become ready for them.

While students are learning how to read, Knowledge Domains give them authentic and engaging reasons to read. Students will use their skills to explore domains that relate to storytelling, science, and the history of our world as seen through the eyes of many different groups. With these domains, you’ll bring the world to your students, showing them how reading can become an exciting, rewarding, and useful part of their lives.

Build connections and context

Each CKLA/Caminos Knowledge Domain gives students a base of vocabulary and concepts, building on what they’ve learned in previous domains. This helps students make connections within and across grades, building a base of background knowledge that will help them navigate new and more complex texts.

Listen and understand

Students learn to listen and understand before they learn to read. By delivering knowledge through classroom Read-Alouds, we teach students the key comprehension skills they’ll use throughout their reading lives.

Emphasis on interactivity

We emphasize interactions with students, challenging them and encouraging them to think about the material rather than simply receive it. Each lesson includes many options for formative assessment and immediate adjustment to your class’s needs.

Assess what’s important

End-of-domain digital assessments for Knowledge Domains are fully voice acted, ensuring that each student’s comprehension skills are being authentically tested. This not only helps build student test-taking confidence, but also gives you a more accurate picture of your class.

Step 1: Watch this video walkthrough of the CKLA/Caminos Teacher Resource Site.

Step 2: Explore the Teacher Resource Site.

  • Click the CKLA/Caminos Teacher Resource button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter your teacher username: t.nyc-ckla-caminosK2@tryamplify.net
  • Enter your password: AmplifyNumber1
  • Toggle to access either English and Spanish
Access CKLA/Caminos Teacher Resource Site

Step 3: Watch this video walkthrough of the CKLA/Caminos Student Hub.

Step 4: Explore the CKLA/Caminos Student Hub for Grades K-2.

  • Click the CKLA/Caminos Student Hub button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter your student username: s.nyc-ckla-caminosK2@tryamplify.net
  • Enter your password: AmplifyNumber1
  • Select a grade level.
Access CKLA/Caminos Student Hub

By grades 3–5, students have mastered the basics of decoding and are hungry to use what they’ve learned to reach out to the world. Although Read-Alouds remain an important part of lessons, students are also encouraged to practice independent reading starting in grade 3—striking a balance between strong teacher support and developing their autonomy and confidence as readers.

Writing and Language

As students progress from K–2, writing activities start to emphasize analysis, creativity, and independent thinking about the material students are learning.

Core Quests: Transforming the classroom

Each of the levels in grades 3–5 contains a Core Quest. In these special
units, all the normal rules of the classroom change, and students engage
with language in surprising new ways. Here in this grade 5 example, they
learn to love the dense Shakespearian language of A Midsummer Night’s
Dream through imagery, close reading, and performance.

Step 1: Watch this video walkthrough of the CKLA/Caminos Teacher Resource Site.

Step 2: Explore the CKLA/Caminos Teacher Resource Site for Grades 3-5.

  • Click the CKLA/Caminos Teacher Resource button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter your teacher username: t.nyc-ckla-caminos35@tryamplify.net
  • Enter your password: AmplifyNumber1
  • Toggle to access either English and Spanish
Access CKLA/Caminos Teacher Resource Site

Step 3: Watch this video walkthrough of the CKLA/Caminos Student Hub.

Step 4: Explore the CKLA/Caminos Student Hub for Grades 3-5.

  • Click the CKLA/Caminos Student Hub button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter your student username: s.nyc-ckla-caminos35@tryamplify.net
  • Enter your password: AmplifyNumber1
  • Select a grade level.
Access CKLA/Caminos Student Hub

Key program features

The student body of our country has been changing, and it’s changing fast. Over 10% K-12 students are english language learners who speak other languages. This skews heavily to primary grades with 15-16% in grades K-3.  In 2021-2022, New York City Public Schools enrolled over 147,000 English language learners across K-12 or about 14% of students.  Over 52% of those students are in elementary schools across the district with 23% in grades K-3. 

Amplify Caminos uses spiral learning to reinforce every student’s ability to develop skills like reading, writing, speaking, and listening in Spanish that can be transferred to English. As students engage with their lessons, they explore the similarities and differences in grammar, vocabulary, writing, and language use between Spanish and English. This bridge helps students learning two languages to strengthen their knowledge in both. 

Through cross-curricular content, students explore units that relate to storytelling, science, and the history of our world in a holistic and thoughtful way. With these units, you’ll bring the world to your students, showing them how reading can become an exciting, rewarding, and useful part of their lives.

Amplify Caminos al Conocimiento Esencial, a Spanish language arts program for Grades K–5 that will inspire and engage your students to become confident readers, writers, and thinkers.

It is designed to support any biliteracy model, including English as a Second Language (ESL), transitional bilingual programs, dual language strands, and Spanish immersion programs.

When used in tandem with Amplify CKLA, Amplify Caminos provides an one-to-one English and Spanish solution.

Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades K–2 with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.

Review this Science of Reading Toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.

Great reading instruction starts with helping kids develop great decoding skills. By building a solid foundation of phonological awareness and phonics, reading the words on the page becomes automatic so that comprehension and critical thinking can happen.

Our instruction is supported by:

  • Step-by-step lessons with multisensory approaches, clear lesson objectives, and embedded formative assessments.
  • Decodable books and student readers with ebook and audiobook versions that feature engaging plots and relatable characters.
  • An engaging sound library with fun songs and videos that develop phonological awareness.
  • An interactive Vocab App featuring engaging activities with immediate feedback and automated, customized instruction based on student performance.

Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves.

Our instruction is supported by:

  • Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
  • Interactive read-alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
  • Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.
  • Social and emotional learning paired with lessons in civic responsibility.

From the printed page to the screen, we bring foundational skills and knowledge of the world to your young learners, and make the transition from classroom to home learning seamless.

Download the Amplify CKLA Components Guide to see components by grade.

Additional materials to support your review

Virginia Instructional Materials Review

To view this protected page, enter the password below:



Oklahoma ELA Review for grades K–5

Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify’s core ELA program for K–5.

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) is a cutting-edge and effective core ELA program for students in grades K–5. It was developed in partnership with the Core Knowledge Foundation, was specifically designed to help teachers implement Science of Reading principles, and features proven evidence-based instructional practices.

Getting started

On this site, you’ll find a variety of resources designed to support your review and evaluation of the program. Before you start scrolling, watch the video below to learn about CKLA.

Curriculum background

Pedagogical overview

In the video below, Amplify’s Chief Academic Officer Susan Lambert shares the big picture of Amplify CKLA, explaining why it was created and the impact it’s making across the country.

Program overview

In the video below, learn about CKLA’s structure and materials, as well the research behind the curriculum.

Program features

Built on the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades K–2, with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.

Review this Science of Reading toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.

When students build a solid foundation of phonological awareness and phonics, reading words on the page becomes automatic so that comprehension and critical thinking can happen.

  • Step-by-step lessons with multisensory approaches, clear lesson objectives, and embedded formative assessments.
  • Decodable books and Student Readers with ebook and audiobook versions that feature engaging plots and relatable characters.
  • An engaging sound library with fun songs and videos that develop phonological awareness.
  • An interactive App featuring engaging activities with immediate feedback and automated, customized instruction based on student performance.

Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Knowledge Builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
  • Interactive Read-Alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
  • Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.

Getting students caught up on reading skills requires more than just an extra mini-lesson here or there. It requires targeted and intensive instruction delivered in short bursts. Our intervention component:

  • Assesses and analyzes students’ areas of mastery and growth.
  • Automatically groups students with like needs.
  • Provides educators with ready-to-teach, research-based instructional progressions that last 10 days.
  • Progress monitors students, updates their skill profiles, and reforms groups for the next 10-day period.

Student-led reading practice should be purposeful and connected to the core. In addition to practicing skills directly tied to the skills they’ve been working on during ELA time, Amplify CKLA students have opportunities to interact with adaptive content that addresses their personal gaps and bolsters foundational skills at a pace that supports their individual development.

Our collection of 40+ adaptive games targets foundational reading skills and develops them in alignment with Science of Reading principles. Unlike other adaptive games, ours ensure students:

  • Practice the right skills at the right time. Our embedded placement tool ensures students receive the content and skill practice most appropriate for their current reading level. From there, students move through our curriculum along their own learning pathway, where they encounter personalized content tailored to their evolving skill and grade levels.
  • Progress along a pathway that adapts on multiple dimensions, not just one. For example, a student can work on early first-grade decoding in one game while building more advanced vocabulary knowledge in another.
  • Practice skills in tandem. For example, a student is never forced to master one skill area before proceeding to the next. Instead, we offer students the opportunity to work on multiple skills concurrently.
  • Feel supported with scaffolding, instruction, and practice that adapts based on student performance.
  • Stay engaged by giving them immediate and clear feedback. These results are never punitive. Instead, our always-positive feedback is delivered in the context of the game world and is designed to motivate students to keep trying.

From the printed page to the screen, we bring foundational skills and knowledge of the world to your young learners, and make the transition from classroom to home learning seamless.

Download the Amplify CKLA Components guide to see components by grade.

Download the Remote and hybrid learning guide to learn how we support in-person, remote, and hybrid instruction.

Digital experience overview

In the video below, learn about CKLA’s digital tools for teachers and students across both classroom and asynchronous environments.

Curriculum review

Digital navigation walkthrough

Physical materials walkthrough

Access the program

Explore as a teacher

Before logging in, watch this brief video on navigating the CKLA Teacher Resource Site.

Ready to explore as a teacher? Follow these instructions:

  • Click the CKLA Teacher Resource Site button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the teacher username and password found on the login flyer PDF provided to you.
  • Click the CKLA Teacher Resource icon.
  • Select a grade level.
CKLA Teacher Resource Site

Explore as a student

Before logging in, watch this brief video on navigating the CKLA Student Hub.

Ready to explore as a student? Follow these instructions:

  • Click the CKLA Student Hub button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the student username and password found on the login flyer PDF provided to you.
  • Click the CKLA Student Hub icon.
  • Select a grade level.
CKLA Student Hub

Check out these additional resources

Oklahoma submission resources:

CKLA review resources:

Nevada ELA Review for grades K–5

Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify’s core ELA program for K–5.

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) is a cutting-edge and effective core ELA program for students in grades K–5. It was developed in partnership with the Core Knowledge Foundation, was specifically designed to help teachers implement Science of Reading principles, and features proven evidence-based instructional practices.

Getting started

On this site, you’ll find a variety of resources designed to support your review and evaluation of the program. Before you start scrolling, watch the video below to learn about CKLA’s alignment to Nevada’s literacy initiatives as well as where to find key program resources.

Curriculum background

Pedagogical overview

In the video below, Amplify’s Chief Academic Officer Susan Lambert shares the big picture of CKLA, and explains why it was created and the impact it’s making across the country.

Program overview

In the video below, learn about CKLA’s structure and materials, as well the research behind the curriculum.

Program features

Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades K–2 with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.

Review this Science of Reading toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.

Great reading instruction starts with helping kids develop great decoding skills. By building a solid foundation of phonological awareness and phonics, reading the words on the page becomes automatic so that comprehension and critical thinking can happen. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Step-by-step lessons with multisensory approaches, clear lesson objectives, and embedded formative assessments.
  • Decodable books and student readers with ebook and audiobook versions that feature engaging plots and relatable characters.
  • An engaging sound library with fun songs and videos that develop phonological awareness.
  • An interactive Vocab App featuring engaging activities with immediate feedback and automated, customized instruction based on student performance.

Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
  • Interactive Read-Alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
  • Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.
  • Social and emotional learning paired with lessons in civic responsibility.

Amplify CKLA provides built-in differentiation strategies in every lesson for all students,
including supports for ELLs.

  • Access supports for ELLs—Integrated ELD supports in each lesson segment
    for ELLs are specific to students’ mastery of the lesson’s objectives.
  • Support and Challenge for all learners—Lessons include Support and Challenge suggestions that provide assistance or opportunities for more advanced work toward the goal of the lesson. These supports are suitable for all learners, including ELLs.
  • 30 minutes of Additional Support in every Skills lesson–In the Skills Strand, every lesson concludes with an Additional Support section of recommendations for 30 minutes of extended instruction and activities, directly aligned to the skills taught in the lesson to assist students who need more support in mastering the lesson’s objectives.
  • Intervention Toolkit–The Intervention Toolkit provides easy-to-use resources to assist teachers in filling gaps in students’ foundational skills. Teachers will find of hundreds of activities to support phonics, fluency, comprehension, handwriting, and other key skills.

The slides-based Amplify CKLA digital experience enhances instruction while saving you time. Everything you need is all in one place, making it easier than ever to plan lessons, present digital content, and review student work.

  • Simplify planning and instruction–Teachers have access to ready-to-use and customizable lesson presentation slides, complete with all the prompts from the print Teacher Guide embedded in the teacher view. As teachers deliver each lesson, students can engage with the content in one cohesive
    experience—through Activity Books, slides, digital components, videos, Student Readers, and more.
  • Interactive student activities–Through the Student Home, students can easily access digital lessons with slides, Activity Pages, ebooks, videos, and other interactive resources from one simple dashboard.
  • Your teacher command center–You’re provided with the tools you need to ensure a productive digital experience that’s personalized to meet your students’ needs. This includes a teacher home from which to launch and track lessons, LMS integrations such as Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams, and other customizations based on classroom needs.
  • Get real-time insights into your students’ work–The innovative live review tool enables you to keep an eye on students drawing, recording audio, uploading and capturing images, and typing or writing in pre-placed text boxes in their Activity Pages.

Curriculum review

Digital experience overview

In the video below, learn about CKLA’s digital tools for teachers and students across both classroom and asynchronous environments.

Digital navigation walkthrough

Physical materials walkthrough

Curriculum implementation

See our Science of Reading solutions in action! Click here to see a real example of how one Ohio district is implementing and educating their K–8 community on the Science of Reading as a response to Ohio’s Plan to Raise Literacy Achievement Initiative.

Access the program

Explore as a teacher

Before logging in, watch this brief video on navigating the CKLA Teacher Resource Site.

Ready to explore as a teacher? Follow these instructions:

  • Click the CKLA Teacher Resource Site button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the username: t1.nvk5@tryamplify.net
  • Enter the password: AmplifyNumber1
  • Click the CKLA Teacher Resource icon
  • Select a grade level
CKLA Teacher Resource Site

Explore as a student

Before logging in, watch this brief video on navigating the CKLA Student Hub.

Ready to explore as a student? Follow these instructions:

  • Click the CKLA Teacher Resource Site button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the username: s1.nvk5@tryamplify.net
  • Enter the password: AmplifyNumber1
  • Click the CKLA Teacher Resource icon
  • Select a grade level
CKLA Student Hub

Check out these additional resources

Nevada submission resources:

CKLA review resources:

Welcome Texas Home Learning Users!

Note: This site is no longer being actively updated. To access the latest 2021-22 Elementary Literacy Program instructional materials, please visit my.amplify.com. 

If you have any questions, please reach out to texashomelearning@tea.texas.gov

Grade K

Skills Unit 1

Skills Unit 2

Skills Unit 3

Skills Unit 4

Knowledge 1: Nursery Rhymes and Fables

Knowledge 2: The Five Senses

Knowledge 3: Stories: Fairy Tales and Folktales

Knowledge 4: Plants: How Do They Grow?

Conocimiento 1: Rimas y fábulas infantiles

Conocimiento 2: Los cinco sentidos

Conocimiento 3: Cuentos: cuentos de hadas y cuentos populares

Conocimiento 4: Plantas: ¿cómo crecen?

Grade 1

Skills Unit 1

Skills Unit 2

Skills Unit 3

Skills Unit 4

Knowledge 1: Fables and Stories

Knowledge 2: The Human Body

Knowledge 3: Different Lands, Similar Stories

Knowledge 4: Different Lands, Similar Stories

Conocimiento 1: Fábulas y cuentos

Conocimiento 2: El cuerpo humano

Conocimiento 3: Tierras diferentes, cuentos similares

Conocimiento 4: Antiguas civilizaciones de América

Grade 2

Skills Unit 1

Skills Unit 2

Skills Unit 3

Skills Unit 4

Knowledge 1: Fairy Tales and Tall Tales

Knowledge 2: The Ancient Greek Civilization

Knowledge 3: Stories from Mount Olympus

Knowledge 4: The War of 1812

Conocimiento 1: Cuentos de hadas y cuentos exagerados

Conocimiento 2: La civilización griega antigua

Conocimiento 3: Historias del monte Olimpo

Conocimiento 4: La guerra de 1812

Grade 3

Unit 1: Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows

Unit 2: Scales, Feathers, and Fur: Animal Classification

Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses

Unit 4: The Ancient Roman Civilization

Unidad 1: Cuentos clásicos: El viento en los sauces

Unidad 2: Escamas, plumas y pelaje: la clasificación de los animales

Unidad 3: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos

Unidad 4: El cuerpo humano: sistemas y sentidos

Grade 4

Unit 1: Personal Narratives: My Story, My Voice

Unit 2: Eureka! The Art of Invention

Unit 3: Contemporary Fiction: Mi Calle, Tu Calle

Unit 4: American Revolution: Building a Nation

Unidad 1: Narrativas personales: mi historia, mi voz

Unidad 2: ¡Eureka! El arte de la invención

Unidad 3: Ficción contemporánea: mi calle, tu calle

Unidad 4: La Revolución estadounidense: construir una nación

Grade 5

Unit 1: Personal Narratives: Let Me Tell You a Story

Unit 2: The Renaissance: Art and Culture

Unit 3: Early American Civilizations: Myths, Pyramids, and Kings

Unit 4: Don Quixote: A Hopeful Knight’s Tale

Unidad 1: Narrativas personales: déjame contarte una historia

Unidad 2: El Renacimiento: arte y cultura

Unidad 3: Las primeras civilizaciones americanas: mitos, pirámides y reyes

Unidad 4: Don Quijote: la historia de un caballero optimista

Coming Soon!

New Mexico K-5 ELA review: Amplify CKLA (English) and Caminos (Spanish)

Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify CKLA for New Mexico. Below you’ll find access to our print and digital materials as well as other resources to support your review and allow you to experience our program in both English and Spanish. Amplify CKLA is the only program designed and built on the science of reading addressing the structured literacy initiative in New Mexico.

Program overview presentation

Amplify CKLA is a cutting-edge and effective core ELA program for students in grades K–5. It was developed in partnership with the Core Knowledge Foundation and is specifically designed to help you implement structured literacy and Science of Reading best practices.

Online platform videos

Watch this video walkthrough of the CKLA Teacher Resource Site.

Watch this video walkthrough of the CKLA Student Hub.

Key program features

Amplify Caminos al Conocimiento Esencial, a Spanish language arts program for Grades K–5 that will inspire and engage your students to become confident readers, writers, and thinkers.

It is designed to support any biliteracy model, including English as a Second Language (ESL), transitional bilingual programs, dual language strands, and Spanish immersion programs.

When used in tandem with Amplify CKLA, Amplify Caminos provides a one-to-one English and Spanish solution.

Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades K–2 with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.

Review this Science of Reading Toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.

Great reading instruction starts with helping kids develop great decoding skills. By building a solid foundation of phonological awareness and phonics, reading the words on the page becomes automatic so that comprehension and critical thinking can happen.

Our instruction is supported by:

  • Step-by-step lessons with multisensory approaches, clear lesson objectives, and embedded formative assessments.
  • Decodable books and student readers with ebook and audiobook versions that feature engaging plots and relatable characters.
  • An engaging sound library with fun songs and videos that develop phonological awareness.
  • An interactive Vocab App featuring engaging activities with immediate feedback and automated, customized instruction based on student performance.

Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves.

Our instruction is supported by:

  • Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
  • Interactive read-alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
  • Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.
  • Social and emotional learning paired with lessons in civic responsibility.

From the printed page to the screen, we bring foundational skills and knowledge of the world to your young learners, and make the transition from classroom to home learning seamless.

Download the Amplify CKLA Components Guide to see components by grade.

Additional materials to support your review

Oregon ELA Review for Elementary (K–5)

To view this protected page, enter the password below:



Virginia Instructional Materials Review-Cycle II

To view this protected page, enter the password below:



Amplify K–6 ELA programs for Fairfax County

Welcome, Fairfax County Reviewers! 

Thank you for exploring our evidence-based K–6 programs built on the Science of Reading and aligned to Virginia standards and Fairfax County’s learning model. 

Amplify CKLA for Grades K–5 and Amplify ELA for Grade 6 intentionally build knowledge alongside skills and are aligned within and across grades. Meaningful learning experiences for students pair with powerful instructional support for teachers to drive results. 

The following resources will support your review. These include clips of Amplify programs in action; details about key features of the curriculum; and research on the real-world successes of schools, districts, and states who’ve partnered with Amplify.

Amplify CKLA for Grades K–5

Introduction to Amplify CKLA

We’re excited for you to see how Amplify CKLA provides high-quality resources to support literacy instruction for all students! This program is flexible, offering stand-alone foundational skills instruction as well as the program core English Language Arts.

Amplify CKLA Skills is built on the latest reading science and provides comprehensive instruction in all foundational reading skills, featuring:

  • Phonological awareness, phonics, and word recognition.
  • Strong, systematic sound-first instruction to support students in learning to decode.
  • Language skills, including conventions, spelling, and grammar.
  • Reading comprehension.
  • Writing instruction.

CKLA for Grades K–2 provides a two-strand approach. The first is the Foundational Skills Strand (as described above) and the second is the Knowledge Strand, in which students build rich background knowledge through multidisciplinary read-alouds. CKLA takes an Integrated approach in Grades 3–5, in which lesson sequencing is especially focused on rich, worldly content. 

We encourage you to check out the K–2 Knowledge Strand and 3–5 Integrated approach sections of this site to explore the components further and gain access to the engaging and diverse texts students and teachers are using in their classrooms every day!

K–2 Skills Strand

In the CKLA classroom, students practice reading while stretching themselves toward higher goals. In K–2, daily dedicated skills time gives students a solid foundation, while the upper grades integrate this instruction with knowledge lessons in which students engage with increasingly complex, content-rich texts and writing activities.

Start with the sound

All instruction starts with phonological awareness, which research has shown to benefit the greatest number of students. Students begin by learning to recognize sounds, as well as to articulate them.

Build to the phoneme

Over time, students build up their awareness of phonemes. We give teachers a variety of tools, including multisensory gestures, to help kids develop this awareness.

Crack the code

Once students can recognize sounds, they learn to form the corresponding letter codes. CKLA starts by teaching the sound-spellings that appear most frequently in English, which lets your students read and write as many words as possible, as soon as possible.

Grow in complexity

The lessons continue to challenge students as they progress, introducing complications like multisyllabic words, “tricky words,” and homophones. In each case, students encounter more complicated words as they become ready for them.

K–2 Knowledge Strand

While students are learning how to read, Knowledge Domains give them authentic and engaging reasons to read. Students will use their skills to explore domains that relate to storytelling, science, and the history of our world as seen through the eyes of many different groups. With these domains, you’ll bring the world to your students, showing them how reading can become an exciting, rewarding, and useful part of their lives.

Build connections and context

Each CKLA Knowledge Domain gives students a base of vocabulary and concepts, building on what they’ve learned in previous domains. This helps students make connections within and across grades, building a base of background knowledge that will help them navigate new and more complex texts.

Listen and understand

Students learn to listen and understand before they learn to read. By delivering knowledge through classroom read-alouds, Amplify CKLA teaches students the key comprehension skills they’ll use throughout their reading lives.

Emphasis on interactivity

Amplify CKLA prioritizes interactions between students, which challenge and encourage them to think about the material rather than simply receive it. Each lesson includes several opportunities and options for formative assessment and immediate adjustment to the needs of both the class and the individual students.

Assess what’s important

The end-of-domain digital assessments that follow Knowledge Domains are fully voice-acted, ensuring that each student’s comprehension skills are authentically tested. This not only builds students’ test-taking confidence, but gives you a more accurate picture of your class.

3–5 Integrated approach

By Grades 3–5, students have mastered the basics of decoding and are eager to use what they’ve learned to reach out to the world. Although read-alouds remain an important part of lessons, students are also encouraged to practice independent reading starting in Grade 3, developing their autonomy and confidence as readers alongside strong teacher support.

Writing and language

As students progress from K–2, writing activities start to emphasize analysis, creativity, and independent thinking about lesson materials.

Core Quests: Transforming the classroom

Each of the units in Grades 3–5 contain a Core Quest—a special unit in which all the rules of the classroom change as students engage with language in surprising new ways. In Grade 5, for example, students learn to love the dense Shakespearian language of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” through imagery, close reading, and performance.

Key CKLA features

Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in Grades K–2, with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in Grades 3–5.

Review this Science of Reading Toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.

Great reading instruction starts with great decoding skills. When students build a solid foundation of phonological awareness and phonics, reading the words on the page becomes automatic so that comprehension and critical thinking can happen.

Our instruction is supported by:

  • Step-by-step lessons with multisensory approaches, clear lesson objectives, and embedded formative assessments.
  • Unmatched, 100% decodable books and student readers that feature engaging plots and relatable characters.
  • An engaging sound library with fun songs and videos that develop phonological awareness.

Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves.

Our instruction is supported by:

  • Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
  • Interactive read-alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
  • Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.

From the printed page to the screen, we bring foundational skills and knowledge of the world to your young learners, and make the transition from classroom to home learning seamless.

Download the Amplify CKLA Components Guide to see components by grade.

Amplify Caminos is an equitable Spanish language arts program for Grades K–5 that will engage your students and inspire them to become confident readers, writers, and thinkers.

Designed to support any biliteracy model (including ESL, transitional bilingual, dual language, and Spanish immersion), Amplify Caminos can be used in tandem with Amplify CKLA to provide a fully equitable, one-to-one English and Spanish solution.

Amplify ELA for Grade 6

Amplify ELA is a blended English language arts curriculum designed specifically to prepare middle school students for high school and beyond. This interactive core curriculum brings complex texts to life with lively classroom discussions and meaningful digital experiences in which students grapple with interesting ideas and find relevance for themselves.

Amplify ELA’s built-in 100-Day Pathway outlines required content for each grade level, while providing teachers time and space to teach the supplemental lessons and activities they love.

The program has received an all-green rating on EdReports—read the review.

Amplify ELA delivers:

  • A unique research-based approach designed to get all students reading grade-level text together.
  • An instructional design that inspires students to read more deeply, write more vividly, and think more critically.
  • A rich combination of dynamic texts, lively discussions, and interactive Quests that engages and inspires middle school students.

EdReports and Knowledge Matters Campaign

Amplify CKLA for Grades K–5 is among the few elementary core curricula to be both rated all green on EdReports (earning green scores across all gateways) and recognized by the Knowledge Matters Campaign for its excellence in intentionally building knowledge. Amplify ELA for grade 6 also earned all-green scores on EdReports.

Access FCPS reviewer platform

To experience Amplify’s K–6 ELA programs for FCPS, complete the following steps.

Access your teacher demo account:

  1. Access the reviewer site.
  2. Select Log in with Amplify.
  3. Enter your teacher username: t1.fcps-demo@demo.tryamplify.net  
  4. Enter your password: Amplify1-fcps-demo

Access your student demo account:

  1. Access the reviewer site.
  2. Select Log in with Amplify.
  3. Enter your student username: s1.fcps-demo@demo.tryamplify.net 
  4. Enter your password: Amplify1-fcps-demo

VA correlations

CKLA Kindergarten correlation
CKLA Grade 1 correlation
CKLA Grade 2 correlation
CKLA Grade 3 correlation
CKLA Grade 4 correlation
CKLA Grade 5 correlation

Additional reviewer resources

Amplify CKLA Program Guide (Grades K–5)
Amplify ELA Program Guide (Grade 6)
Amplify biliteracy and Science of Reading principles
Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility
Text complexity
Trade books
Amplify CKLA meets Virginia Literacy Act (VLA) requirements

Get in touch

To learn more, contact Michael Kasloff at mkasloff@amplify.com.

Amplify K–3 CKLA resources for Georgia Department of Education

To view this protected page, enter the password below:



CKLA Review for Scottsdale

Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify’s core ELA program for K–5.

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) is a cutting-edge and effective core ELA program for students in grades K–5. It was developed in partnership with the Core Knowledge Foundation, was specifically designed to help teachers implement Science of Reading principles, and features proven evidence-based instructional practices.

Step 1: Program Introduction

Welcome to Amplify CKLA! Before you dive into our materials, watch the video below to learn about the big picture behind Amplify CKLA’s pedagogy.

In this video, Susan Lambert (Chief Academic Officer and host of Science of Reading: The Podocast) shares why Amplify CKLA was created, how it is built on the Science of Reading, and the impact it’s making across the country.

Step 2: Program Overview

Amplify CKLA is different for a reason. Watch the overview video below to learn about these differences and why educators love them.

In this video, you’ll get an in-depth look at the program’s overall structure and organization, the design behind our proven lessons, and the materials included to support teaching and learning.

The Amplify CKLA Program Guide also provides an in-depth view of how Amplify CKLA works, how it’s structured, and why it’s uniquely capable of helping you bring reading instruction based on the Science of Reading to your classroom.

Evidence-based design

Amplify CKLA is rooted in Science of Reading research. Mirroring Scarborough’s Rope, Amplify CKLA delivers a combination of explicit foundational skills with meaningful knowledge-building.

  • In Grades PK–2, dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction are taught simultaneously through two distinct instructional strands.
  • In Grades 3–5, dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction are woven together and delivered through one integrated strand.

Grades K–2 Skills and Knowledge Strands
Every day students in Grades K–2 complete one full lesson that explicitly and systematically builds foundational reading skills in the Skills Strand, as well as one full lesson that builds robust background knowledge to access complex text in the Knowledge Strand. Through learning in each of these strands, students develop the early literacy skills necessary to help them become confident readers and build the context to understand what they’re reading.

Grades 3–5 Integrated Strand
In Grades 3–5, Knowledge and Skills are integrated in one set of instructional materials. Lessons begin to combine skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis. Students can then use their skills to go on their own independent reading adventures.

Key features

Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades K–2 with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.

Review this Science of Reading toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.

Great reading instruction starts with helping kids develop great decoding skills. By building a solid foundation of phonological awareness and phonics, reading the words on the page becomes automatic so that comprehension and critical thinking can happen. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Step-by-step lessons with multi-sensory approaches, clear lesson objectives, and embedded formative assessments.
  • Decodable books and student readers with ebook and audiobook versions that feature engaging plots and relatable characters.
  • An engaging sound library with fun songs and videos that develop phonological awareness.
  • An interactive Vocab App featuring engaging activities with immediate feedback and automated, customized instruction based on student performance.

Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
  • Interactive Read-Alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
  • Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.
  • Social and emotional learning paired with lessons in civic responsibility.

Getting students caught up on reading skills requires more than just an extra mini-lesson here or there. It requires targeted and intensive instruction delivered in short bursts. Our intervention component:

  • Assesses and analyzes students’ areas of mastery and growth.
  • Automatically groups students with like needs.
  • Provides educators with ready-to-teach, research-based instructional progressions that last 10-days.
  • Progress monitors students, updates their skill profiles, and reforms groups for the next 10-day period.

Student-led reading practice should be purposeful and connected to the core. In addition to practicing skills directly tied to the skills they’ve been working on during ELA time, Amplify CKLA students have opportunities to interact with adaptive content that addresses their personal gaps and bolsters foundational skills at a pace that supports their individual development.

Our collection of 40+ adaptive games target foundational reading skills and develops them in alignment with Science of Reading principles. Unlike other adaptive games, we ensure students:

  • Practice the right skills at the right time. Our embedded placement tool ensures students receive the content and skill practice most appropriate for their current reading level. From there, students move through our curriculum along their own learning pathway where they encounter personalized content tailored to their evolving skill and grade levels.
  • Progress along a pathway that adapts on multiple dimensions, not just one. For example, a student can work on early first-grade decoding in one game while building more advanced vocabulary knowledge in another.
  • Practice skills in tandem. For example, a student is never forced to master one skill area before proceeding to the next. Instead, we offer students that opportunity to work on multiple skills concurrently.
  • Feel supported with scaffolding, instruction, and practice that adapts based on student performance.
  • Stay engaged by giving them immediate and clear feedback. These results are never punitive. Instead our always-positive feedback is delivered in the context of the game world and is designed to motivate students to keep trying.

From the printed page to the screen, we bring foundational skills and knowledge to life in the classroom.

Download the Amplify CKLA Components guide to see components by grade.

Download the Remote and hybrid learning guide to learn how we support in-person, remote, and hybrid instruction.

Engaging digital experience

The top-rated content of Amplify CKLA is now live with the digital experience that enhances instruction and saves time.

With the digital experience, everything is in one place, making it easier and more engaging than ever to plan lessons, present digital content, and review student work. Click the arrows below to learn more.

With the digital experience, teachers have access to ready-to-use and customizable lesson presentation slides, complete with all the prompts from the print Teacher Guide embedded in the teacher view. As teachers deliver each lesson, students can engage with the content in one cohesive experience—through these CKLA resources: Activity Books, slides, digital components, videos, Student Readers, and more.

The innovative live review tool found in the digital experience enables you to keep an eye on all of your students as they work on drawing, recording audio, uploading and capturing images, and typing or writing in pre-placed textboxes in their Activity Pages. This dynamic tool provides countless classroom management benefits, enabling you to spot and correct common mistakes as they’re happening, praise your students for thoughtful work, and identify students who are not engaged in the task at hand. Simply put, it will give you those valuable “eyes in the back of your head” you’ve warned your students about!

The digital experience integrates with various LMSs, allowing you and your students to access Amplify CKLA with the software you’re already comfortable using.

In the Amplify CKLA student digital experience, your students have one intuitive access point to fully engage with classroom instruction. Through the Student Home, students can easily access digital lessons with slides, Activity Pages, ebooks, videos, and other interactives from one simple dashboard. Students can draw, record audio, upload and capture images, and type or write in pre-placed text boxes in their Activity Pages.

Step 3: Program Resources

Digital navigation walkthrough

Physical materials walkthrough

Step 4: Arizona Review Resources

Arizona resources:

CKLA review resources:

Step 5: Demo Program Access

Explore as a teacher

Before logging in, watch this brief video on navigating the CKLA Teacher Platform.

Ready to explore as a teacher? Follow these instructions:

  • Click the Amplify CKLA Teacher Platform button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the teacher username: t1.scottsdaleunified@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter the password: Amplify1-scottsdaleunified
  • Click the CKLA icon.
  • Select a grade level from the drop-down menu at the top of the page.
Amplify CKLA Teacher Platform

Explore as a student

Before logging in, watch this brief video on navigating the CKLA Student Hub.

Ready to explore as a student? Follow these instructions:

  • Click the CKLA Student Hub button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the student username: s1.scottsdaleunified@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter the password: Amplify1-scottsdaleunified
  • Click the Hub icon
  • Select a grade level.
CKLA Student Hub

South Carolina review for grades K–5

To view this protected page, enter the password below:



Virginia Instructional Materials Review, Cycle II

To view this protected page, enter the password below:



Welcome

Elementary Literacy Program – Family Welcome Letter

Lectoescritura en Español – Carta de bienvenida para las familias

Grade K

Grade 1

Grade 2

Grade 3

Grade 4

Grade 5

Welcome

Elementary Literacy Program – Family Welcome Letter

Lectoescritura en Español – Carta de bienvenida para las familias

Grade K

Grade 1

Grade 2

Grade 3

Grade 4

Grade 5

South Carolina review for grades K–5

Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify’s CKLA resources for K–5.

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) is a cutting-edge and effective core literacy resource for students in grades K–5. It was developed in partnership with the Core Knowledge Foundation, was specifically designed to help teachers implement Science of Reading principles, and features proven evidence-based instructional practices.

Illustration of a diverse group of people engaged in creative activities, including a woman holding architectural plans and a young girl reading a book.

Getting started

On this site, you’ll find a variety of resources designed to support your review and evaluation of the program. Before you start scrolling, watch the video below to learn about CKLA’s alignment to South Carolina literacy initiatives and what included in your physical samples.

South Carolina review documents

SC CKLA Program Guide

CKLA Research Guide

CKLA Assessment Brochure

SC College and Career Readiness Correlations K-5:
Please use the provided Amplify credentials to access the CKLA content cited below.

Each Skills unit or Knowledge domain is linked to its corresponding Teacher Guide. The bolded lessons are linked to lesson segments or direct examples of the SC College- and Career-Readiness standards expressed in the Amplify CKLA South Carolina Edition Teacher Guides.

SC Instructional Strategies & Routines K-5

SC CKLA Navigation Guide

Scope and Sequence

K Skills Scope and Sequence
K Knowledge Scope and Sequence

1st Skills Scope and Sequence
1st Knowledge Scope and Sequence

2nd Skills Scope and Sequence
2nd Knowledge Scope and Sequence

3rd Scope and Sequence

4th Scope and Sequence

5th Scope and Sequence

What is Amplify CKLA K-5?

In the video below, Amplify’s Chief Academic Officer Susan Lambert shares the big picture of CKLA, and explains why it was created and the impact it’s making across the country.

How does CKLA work?

Through a unique, evidence-based two-strand approach, Amplify CKLA helps students master foundational skills and build a robust knowledge base–both of which are necessary for accessing and comprehending complex texts.

Grades K–2: Dedicated knowledge building and explicit skills instruction
Every day, students in Grades K–2 complete one full lesson that builds foundational reading skills in the Amplify CKLA Skills Strand, as well as one full lesson that builds background knowledge in the Amplify CKLA Knowledge Strand. Through learning in each of these strands, students develop the early literacy skills necessary to help them become confident readers and build the context to understand what they’re reading.

Grades 3–5: Integrated instruction
In Grades 3–5, Knowledge and Skills are integrated in one set of instructional materials. Lessons begin to combine skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis. Students can then use their skills to go on their own independent reading adventures.

Why review CKLA K-5?

Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades K–2 with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.

Review this Science of Reading toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.

Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
  • Interactive Read-Alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
  • Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.
  • Social and emotional learning paired with lessons in civic responsibility.

Amplify CKLA provides built-in differentiation strategies in every lesson for all students,
including supports for Multi Language Learners.

  • Access supports for Multi Language Learners—Integrated ELD supports in each lesson segment
    for Multi Language Learners are specific to students’ mastery of the lesson’s objectives.
  • Support and Challenge for all learners—Lessons include Support and Challenge suggestions that provide assistance or opportunities for more advanced work toward the goal of the lesson. These supports are suitable for all learners, including ELLs.
  • 30 minutes of Additional Support in every Skills lesson–In the Skills Strand, every lesson concludes with an Additional Support section of recommendations for 30 minutes of extended instruction and activities, directly aligned to the skills taught in the lesson to assist students who need more support in mastering the lesson’s objectives.
  • Intervention Toolkit–The Intervention Toolkit provides easy-to-use resources to assist teachers in filling gaps in students’ foundational skills. Teachers will find of hundreds of activities to support phonics, fluency, comprehension, handwriting, and other key skills.

The slides-based Amplify CKLA digital experience enhances instruction while saving you time. Everything you need is all in one place, making it easier than ever to plan lessons, present digital content, and review student work.

  • Simplify planning and instruction–Teachers have access to ready-to-use and customizable lesson presentation slides, complete with all the prompts from the print Teacher Guide embedded in the teacher view. As teachers deliver each lesson, students can engage with the content in one cohesive
    experience—through Activity Books, slides, digital components, videos, Student Readers, and more.
  • Interactive student activities–Through the Student Home, students can easily access digital lessons with slides, Activity Pages, ebooks, videos, and other interactive resources from one simple dashboard.
  • Your teacher command center–You’re provided with the tools you need to ensure a productive digital experience that’s personalized to meet your students’ needs. This includes a teacher home from which to launch and track lessons, LMS integrations such as Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams, and other customizations based on classroom needs.
  • Get real-time insights into your students’ work–The innovative live review tool enables you to keep an eye on students drawing, recording audio, uploading and capturing images, and typing or writing in pre-placed text boxes in their Activity Pages.

Digital navigation walkthrough

Access the resources

Ready to explore as a teacher? Follow these instructions:

Ready to explore as a student? Follow these instructions:

Amplify literacy success K-8

See our Science of Reading solutions in action! Click here to see a real example of how one Ohio district is implementing and educating their K–8 community on the Science of Reading as a response to Ohio’s Plan to Raise Literacy Achievement Initiative.

Welcome, Georgia educators!

To view this protected page, enter the password below:



Welcome, Granite SD, to Amplify CKLA!

Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify’s core ELA program for K–5. Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) is a state-approved core ELA curriculum designated as a primary core program that fully meets the Science of Reading requirements outlined in SB 127.

Amplify CKLA, developed in partnership with the Core Knowledge Foundation, was designed to help teachers implement Science of Reading principles and evidence-based instructional practices. Scroll down to learn how CKLA is uniquely designed to help all your students make learning leaps in literacy.

Step 1: Program Introduction

Welcome to Amplify CKLA! Before you dive into our materials, watch the video below to learn about the big picture behind Amplify CKLA’s pedagogy.

In this video, Susan Lambert (Chief Academic Officer and host of Science of Reading: The Podcast) shares why Amplify CKLA was created, how it is built on the Science of Reading, and the impact it’s making across the country.

Step 2: Program Overview

Amplify CKLA is different for a reason. Watch the overview video below to learn about these differences and why educators love them.

In this video, you’ll get an in-depth look at the program’s overall structure and organization, the design behind our proven lessons, and the materials included to support teaching and learning.

The Amplify CKLA Program Guide also provides an in-depth view of how Amplify CKLA works, how it’s structured, and why it’s uniquely capable of helping you bring reading instruction based on the Science of Reading to your classroom.

Evidence-based design

Amplify CKLA is rooted in Science of Reading research. Mirroring Scarborough’s Rope, Amplify CKLA delivers a combination of explicit foundational skills with meaningful knowledge-building.

  • In Grades K–2, dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction are taught simultaneously through two distinct instructional strands.
  • In Grades 3–5, dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction are woven together and delivered through one integrated strand.

Grades K–2 Skills and Knowledge Strands
Every day students in Grades K–2 complete one full lesson that explicitly and systematically builds foundational reading skills in the Skills Strand, as well as one full lesson that builds robust background knowledge to access complex text in the Knowledge Strand. Through learning in each of these strands, students develop the early literacy skills necessary to help them become confident readers and build the context to understand what they’re reading.

Grades 3–5 Integrated Strand
In Grades 3–5, Knowledge and Skills are integrated in one set of instructional materials. Lessons begin to combine skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis. Students can then use their skills to go on their own independent reading adventures.

Key features

For each Amplify CKLA key feature below, click the drop down arrow to learn more.

Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades K–2 with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.

Review this Science of Reading toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.

Amplify CKLA aligns with the instructional principles recommended by Orton Gillingham and LETRS.

  • Structured–Concepts are taught through consistent routines
  • Sequential–Concepts are taught in a logical, well-planned sequence
  • Systematic–Phonemes are taught from simplest to most complex
  • Explicit–Decoding and encoding concepts are taught directly and explicitly
  • Multi-sensory–Instruction is delivered through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways
  • Cumulative–Concepts are applied in decodable, connected texts with constant review and reinforcement

Watch this video to learn more!

Additionally, great reading instruction starts with helping kids develop great decoding skills. Our instruction is supported by:

The Science of Reading reveals knowledge as an essential pillar of reading comprehension and lifelong literacy. Hear from author Natalie Wexler and CKLA customers on edWebinar about the importance of knowledge-building in reading instruction.

Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
  • Interactive Read-Alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
  • Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.
  • Social and emotional learning paired with lessons in civic responsibility.

Amplify CKLA not only received an all-green rating from the rigorous evaluators at EdReports, but it was also recently recognized by the Knowledge Matters Campaign as a high-quality literacy program that excels in building knowledge. Our shared message: background knowledge is essential to literacy and learning.

Read our EdReports review
Read our Knowledge Matters review

Student-led reading practice should be purposeful and connected to the core. That’s why Amplify createdBoost Reading. As an optional add-on to Amplify CKLA, students have the opportunity to practice skills directly tied to the skills they’ve been working on during core reading time. Boost Reading also adapts to each student to address their personal gaps and bolsters foundational skills at a pace that supports their individual development.

Boost Reading’s collection of 40+ adaptive games target foundational reading skills and develops them in alignment with Science of Reading principles. Unlike other adaptive games, we ensure students:

  • Practice the right skills at the right time. Our embedded placement tool ensures students receive the content and skill practice most appropriate for their current reading level. From there, students move through our curriculum along their own learning pathway where they encounter personalized content tailored to their evolving skill and grade levels.
  • Progress along a pathway that adapts on multiple dimensions, not just one. For example, a student can work on early first-grade decoding in one game while building more advanced vocabulary knowledge in another.
  • Practice skills in tandem. For example, a student is never forced to master one skill area before proceeding to the next. Instead, we offer students that opportunity to work on multiple skills concurrently.
  • Feel supported with scaffolding, instruction, and practice that adapts based on student performance.
  • Stay engaged by giving them immediate and clear feedback. These results are never punitive. Instead our always-positive feedback is delivered in the context of the game world and is designed to motivate students to keep trying.

Click the buttons below to learn more:

What is Boost Reading?
How does Boost Reading work with CKLA?

Step 3: Program Resources

Easy-to-use print materials

Amplify CKLA’s easy-to-use materials bring foundational skills and knowledge to life in the classroom.

Download the Amplify CKLA Components guide to see components by grade and watch the print materials walkthrough below.

Engaging CKLA digital experience

The top-rated content of Amplify CKLA is now live with the digital experience that enhances instruction and saves time.

With the digital experience, everything is in one place, making it easier and more engaging than ever to plan lessons, present digital content, and review student work. Click the arrows below to learn more.

With the digital experience, teachers have access to ready-to-use and customizable lesson presentation slides, complete with all the prompts from the print Teacher Guide embedded in the teacher view. As teachers deliver each lesson, students can engage with the content in one cohesive experience—through these CKLA resources: Activity Books, slides, digital components, videos, Student Readers, and more.

The innovative live review tool found in the digital experience enables you to keep an eye on all of your students as they work on drawing, recording audio, uploading and capturing images, and typing or writing in pre-placed textboxes in their Activity Pages. This dynamic tool provides countless classroom management benefits, enabling you to spot and correct common mistakes as they’re happening, praise your students for thoughtful work, and identify students who are not engaged in the task at hand. Simply put, it will give you those valuable “eyes in the back of your head” you’ve warned your students about!

The digital experience integrates with various LMSs, allowing you and your students to access Amplify CKLA with the software you’re already comfortable using.

In the Amplify CKLA student digital experience, your students have one intuitive access point to fully engage with classroom instruction. Through the Student Home, students can easily access digital lessons with slides, Activity Pages, ebooks, videos, and other interactives from one simple dashboard. Students can draw, record audio, upload and capture images, and type or write in pre-placed text boxes in their Activity Pages.

CKLA review resources

Step 4: State Review Resources

Step 5: Program Access

Explore as a teacher

Before logging in, watch this brief video on navigating the CKLA Teacher Platform.

Ready to explore as a teacher? Follow these instructions:

  • Click the Amplify CKLA Teacher Platform button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the teacher username: t1.graniteckla@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter the teacher password: Amplify1-graniteckla
  • Choose CKLA from the “Your Programs” menu on Educator Home.
  • Select a grade level from the drop-down menu at the top of the page.
Amplify CKLA Teacher Platform

CKLA Review for Arizona

Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify’s core ELA program for K–5.

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) is a cutting-edge and effective core ELA program for students in grades K–5. It was developed in partnership with the Core Knowledge Foundation, was specifically designed to help teachers implement Science of Reading principles, and features proven evidence-based instructional practices.

Step 1: Program Introduction

Welcome to Amplify CKLA! Before you dive into our materials, watch the video below to learn about the big picture behind Amplify CKLA’s pedagogy.

In this video, Susan Lambert (Chief Academic Officer and host of Science of Reading: The Podcast) shares why Amplify CKLA was created, how it is built on the Science of Reading, and the impact it’s making across the country.

Step 2: Program Overview

Amplify CKLA is different for a reason. Watch the overview video below to learn about these differences and why educators love them.

In this video, you’ll get an in-depth look at the program’s overall structure and organization, the design behind our proven lessons, and the materials included to support teaching and learning.

The Amplify CKLA Program Guide also provides an in-depth view of how Amplify CKLA works, how it’s structured, and why it’s uniquely capable of helping you bring reading instruction based on the Science of Reading to your classroom.

Evidence-based design

Amplify CKLA is rooted in Science of Reading research. Mirroring Scarborough’s Rope, Amplify CKLA delivers a combination of explicit foundational skills with meaningful knowledge-building.

  • In Grades K–2, dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction are taught simultaneously through two distinct instructional strands.
  • In Grades 3–5, dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction are woven together and delivered through one integrated strand.

Grades K–2 Skills and Knowledge Strands
Every day students in Grades K–2 complete one full lesson that explicitly and systematically builds foundational reading skills in the Skills Strand, as well as one full lesson that builds robust background knowledge to access complex text in the Knowledge Strand. Through learning in each of these strands, students develop the early literacy skills necessary to help them become confident readers and build the context to understand what they’re reading.

Grades 3–5 Integrated Strand
In Grades 3–5, Knowledge and Skills are integrated in one set of instructional materials. Lessons begin to combine skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis. Students can then use their skills to go on their own independent reading adventures.

Key features

Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades K–2 with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.

Review this Science of Reading toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.

Great reading instruction starts with helping kids develop great decoding skills. By building a solid foundation of phonological awareness and phonics, reading the words on the page becomes automatic so that comprehension and critical thinking can happen. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Step-by-step lessons with multi-sensory approaches, clear lesson objectives, and embedded formative assessments.
  • Decodable books and student readers with ebook and audiobook versions that feature engaging plots and relatable characters.
  • An engaging sound library with fun songs and videos that develop phonological awareness.
  • An interactive Vocab App featuring engaging activities with immediate feedback and automated, customized instruction based on student performance.

Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
  • Interactive Read-Alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
  • Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.
  • Lessons in civic responsibility.

Getting students caught up on reading skills requires more than just an extra mini-lesson here or there. It requires targeted and intensive instruction delivered in short bursts. Our intervention component:

  • Assesses and analyzes students’ areas of mastery and growth.
  • Automatically groups students with like needs.
  • Provides educators with ready-to-teach, research-based instructional progressions that last 10-days.
  • Progress monitors students, updates their skill profiles, and reforms groups for the next 10-day period.

Student-led reading practice should be purposeful and connected to the core. In addition to practicing skills directly tied to the skills they’ve been working on during ELA time, Amplify CKLA students have opportunities to interact with adaptive content that addresses their personal gaps and bolsters foundational skills at a pace that supports their individual development.

Our collection of 40+ adaptive games target foundational reading skills and develops them in alignment with Science of Reading principles. Unlike other adaptive games, we ensure students:

  • Practice the right skills at the right time. Our embedded placement tool ensures students receive the content and skill practice most appropriate for their current reading level. From there, students move through our curriculum along their own learning pathway where they encounter personalized content tailored to their evolving skill and grade levels.
  • Progress along a pathway that adapts on multiple dimensions, not just one. For example, a student can work on early first-grade decoding in one game while building more advanced vocabulary knowledge in another.
  • Practice skills in tandem. For example, a student is never forced to master one skill area before proceeding to the next. Instead, we offer students that opportunity to work on multiple skills concurrently.
  • Feel supported with scaffolding, instruction, and practice that adapts based on student performance.
  • Stay engaged by giving them immediate and clear feedback. These results are never punitive. Instead our always-positive feedback is delivered in the context of the game world and is designed to motivate students to keep trying.

From the printed page to the screen, we bring foundational skills and knowledge to life in the classroom.

Download the Amplify CKLA Components guide to see components by grade.

Download the Remote and hybrid learning guide to learn how we support in-person, remote, and hybrid instruction.

Engaging digital experience

The top-rated content of Amplify CKLA is now live with the digital experience that enhances instruction and saves time.

With the digital experience, everything is in one place, making it easier and more engaging than ever to plan lessons, present digital content, and review student work.

With the digital experience, teachers have access to ready-to-use and customizable lesson presentation slides, complete with all the prompts from the print Teacher Guide embedded in the teacher view. As teachers deliver each lesson, students can engage with the content in one cohesive experience—through these CKLA resources: Activity Books, slides, digital components, videos, Student Readers, and more.

The innovative live review tool found in the digital experience enables you to keep an eye on all of your students as they work on drawing, recording audio, uploading and capturing images, and typing or writing in pre-placed textboxes in their Activity Pages. This dynamic tool provides countless classroom management benefits, enabling you to spot and correct common mistakes as they’re happening, praise your students for thoughtful work, and identify students who are not engaged in the task at hand. Simply put, it will give you those valuable “eyes in the back of your head” you’ve warned your students about!

The digital experience integrates with various LMSs, allowing you and your students to access Amplify CKLA with the software you’re already comfortable using.

In the Amplify CKLA student digital experience, your students have one intuitive access point to fully engage with classroom instruction. Through the Student Home, students can easily access digital lessons with slides, Activity Pages, ebooks, videos, and other interactives from one simple dashboard. Students can draw, record audio, upload and capture images, and type or write in pre-placed text boxes in their Activity Pages.

Step 3: Program Resources

Digital navigation walkthrough

Physical materials walkthrough

Step 4: Arizona Review Resources

Arizona resources:

CKLA review resources:

Washington County ELA Review for Grades PK–5

Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify’s core ELA program for PK–5. Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) is a state-approved core ELA curriculum designated as a primary core program that fully meets the Science of Reading requirements outlined in SB 127.

Amplify CKLA, developed in partnership with the Core Knowledge Foundation, was designed to help teachers implement Science of Reading principles and evidence-based instructional practices. Scroll down to learn how CKLA is uniquely designed to help all your students make learning leaps in literacy.

Illustration of a woman holding a diagram, with a child reading a book in the background. Various scientific symbols are depicted, including anatomical diagrams and a pencil.

Step 1: Program Introduction

Welcome to Amplify CKLA! Before you dive into our materials, watch the video below to learn about the big picture behind Amplify CKLA’s pedagogy.

In this video, Susan Lambert (Chief Academic Officer and host of Science of Reading: The Podocast) shares why Amplify CKLA was created, how it is built on the Science of Reading, and the impact it’s making across the country.

Step 2: Program Overview

Amplify CKLA is different for a reason. Watch the overview video below to learn about these differences and why educators love them.

In this video, you’ll get an in-depth look at the program’s overall structure and organization, the design behind our proven lessons, and the materials included to support teaching and learning.

The Amplify CKLA Program Guide also provides an in-depth view of how Amplify CKLA works, how it’s structured, and why it’s uniquely capable of helping you bring reading instruction based on the Science of Reading to your classroom.

Evidence-based design

Amplify CKLA is rooted in Science of Reading research. Mirroring Scarborough’s Rope, Amplify CKLA delivers a combination of explicit foundational skills with meaningful knowledge-building.

  • In Grades PK–2, dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction are taught simultaneously through two distinct instructional strands.
  • In Grades 3–5, dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction are woven together and delivered through one integrated strand.
Diagram illustrating the Simple View of Reading model. It shows that skilled reading results from increasingly strategic language comprehension and increasingly automatic word recognition.

Grades K–2 Skills and Knowledge Strands
Every day students in Grades K–2 complete one full lesson that explicitly and systematically builds foundational reading skills in the Skills Strand, as well as one full lesson that builds robust background knowledge to access complex text in the Knowledge Strand. Through learning in each of these strands, students develop the early literacy skills necessary to help them become confident readers and build the context to understand what they’re reading.

Grades 3–5 Integrated Strand
In Grades 3–5, Knowledge and Skills are integrated in one set of instructional materials. Lessons begin to combine skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis. Students can then use their skills to go on their own independent reading adventures.

Key features

For each Amplify CKLA key feature below, click the drop down arrow to learn more.

Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades PK–2 with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.

Review this Science of Reading toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.

Amplify CKLA aligns with the instructional principles recommended by Orton Gillingham and LETRS.

  • Structured–Concepts are taught through consistent routines
  • Sequential–Concepts are taught in a logical, well-planned sequence
  • Systematic–Phonemes are taught from simplest to most complex
  • Explicit–Decoding and encoding concepts are taught directly and explicitly
  • Multi-sensory–Instruction is delivered through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways
  • Cumulative–Concepts are applied in decodable, connected texts with constant review and reinforcement

Watch this video to learn more!

Additionally, great reading instruction starts with helping kids develop great decoding skills. Our instruction is supported by:

The Science of Reading reveals knowledge as an essential pillar of reading comprehension and lifelong literacy. Hear from author Natalie Wexler and CKLA customers on edWebinar about the importance of knowledge-building in reading instruction.

Hear from Natalie Wexler
edWebinar Links

Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
  • Interactive Read-Alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
  • Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.
  • Social and emotional learning paired with lessons in civic responsibility.

Amplify CKLA not only received an all-green rating from the rigorous evaluators at EdReports, but it was also recently recognized by the Knowledge Matters Campaign as a high-quality literacy program that excels in building knowledge. Our shared message: background knowledge is essential to literacy and learning.

Read our EdReports review
Read our Knowledge Matters review

Student-led reading practice should be purposeful and connected to the core. That’s why Amplify created Boost Reading. As an optional add-on to Amplify CKLA, students have the opportunity to practice skills directly tied to the skills they’ve been working on during core reading time. Boost Reading also adapts to each student to address their personal gaps and bolsters foundational skills at a pace that supports their individual development.

Boost Reading’s collection of 40+ adaptive games target foundational reading skills and develops them in alignment with Science of Reading principles. Unlike other adaptive games, we ensure students:

  • Practice the right skills at the right time. Our embedded placement tool ensures students receive the content and skill practice most appropriate for their current reading level. From there, students move through our curriculum along their own learning pathway where they encounter personalized content tailored to their evolving skill and grade levels.
  • Progress along a pathway that adapts on multiple dimensions, not just one. For example, a student can work on early first-grade decoding in one game while building more advanced vocabulary knowledge in another.
  • Practice skills in tandem. For example, a student is never forced to master one skill area before proceeding to the next. Instead, we offer students that opportunity to work on multiple skills concurrently.
  • Feel supported with scaffolding, instruction, and practice that adapts based on student performance.
  • Stay engaged by giving them immediate and clear feedback. These results are never punitive. Instead our always-positive feedback is delivered in the context of the game world and is designed to motivate students to keep trying.

Click the buttons below to learn more:

What is Boost Reading?
How does Boost Reading work with CKLA?

Step 3: Program Resources

Easy-to-use print materials

Amplify CKLA’s easy-to-use materials bring foundational skills and knowledge to life in the classroom.

Download the Amplify CKLA Components guide to see components by grade and watch the print materials walkthrough below.

Engaging CKLA digital experience

The top-rated content of Amplify CKLA is now live with the digital experience that enhances instruction and saves time.

Two dashboard screens display educational content: one for teachers with recommendations, and one for students showing assignments and dates, including a lesson called "Mount Olympus, Part II.

With the digital experience, everything is in one place, making it easier and more engaging than ever to plan lessons, present digital content, and review student work. Click the arrows below to learn more.

With the digital experience, teachers have access to ready-to-use and customizable lesson presentation slides, complete with all the prompts from the print Teacher Guide embedded in the teacher view. As teachers deliver each lesson, students can engage with the content in one cohesive experience—through these CKLA resources: Activity Books, slides, digital components, videos, Student Readers, and more.

The innovative live review tool found in the digital experience enables you to keep an eye on all of your students as they work on drawing, recording audio, uploading and capturing images, and typing or writing in pre-placed textboxes in their Activity Pages. This dynamic tool provides countless classroom management benefits, enabling you to spot and correct common mistakes as they’re happening, praise your students for thoughtful work, and identify students who are not engaged in the task at hand. Simply put, it will give you those valuable “eyes in the back of your head” you’ve warned your students about!

The digital experience integrates with various LMSs, allowing you and your students to access Amplify CKLA with the software you’re already comfortable using.

In the Amplify CKLA student digital experience, your students have one intuitive access point to fully engage with classroom instruction. Through the Student Home, students can easily access digital lessons with slides, Activity Pages, ebooks, videos, and other interactives from one simple dashboard. Students can draw, record audio, upload and capture images, and type or write in pre-placed text boxes in their Activity Pages.

CKLA review resources

Step 4: State Review Resources

Step 5: Program Access

Explore as a teacher

Before logging in, watch this brief video on navigating the CKLA Teacher Platform.

Ready to explore as a teacher? Follow these instructions:

  • Click the Amplify CKLA Teacher Platform button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the teacher username: t1.cklaidaho@tryamplify.net
  • Enter the teacher password: AmplifyNumber1
  • Choose CKLA from the “Your Programs” menu on Educator Home.
  • Select a grade level from the drop-down menu at the top of the page.
Amplify CKLA Teacher Platform

Idaho ELA Review for Grades PK–5

Thank you for taking the time to review Amplify’s core ELA program for PK–5, Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA). Amplify CKLA, developed in partnership with the Core Knowledge Foundation, was designed to help teachers implement Science of Reading principles and evidence-based instructional practices. Scroll down to learn how CKLA is uniquely designed to help all Idaho students make learning leaps in literacy.

Illustration of a woman holding a schematic drawing and a boy reading a book. The background features anatomical diagrams, bees, and a dinosaur. There's a pencil in the foreground.

Step 1: Program Introduction

Welcome to Amplify CKLA! Before you dive into our materials, watch the video below to learn about the big picture behind Amplify CKLA’s pedagogy.

In this video, Susan Lambert (Chief Academic Officer and host of Science of Reading: The Podocast) shares why Amplify CKLA was created, how it is built on the Science of Reading, and the impact it’s making across the country.

Step 2: Program Overview

Amplify CKLA is different for a reason. Watch the overview video below to learn about these differences and why educators love them.

In this video, you’ll get an in-depth look at the program’s overall structure and organization, the design behind our proven lessons, and the materials included to support teaching and learning.

The Amplify CKLA Program Guide also provides an in-depth view of how Amplify CKLA works, how it’s structured, and why it’s uniquely capable of helping you bring reading instruction based on the Science of Reading to your classroom.

Evidence-based design

Amplify CKLA is rooted in Science of Reading research. Mirroring Scarborough’s Rope, Amplify CKLA delivers a combination of explicit foundational skills with meaningful knowledge-building.

  • In Grades PK–2, dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction are taught simultaneously through two distinct instructional strands.
  • In Grades 3–5, dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction are woven together and delivered through one integrated strand.
Colorful, curved lines intersect and converge on a black background, forming an abstract pattern with blue, yellow, orange and red hues.

Grades K–2 Skills and Knowledge Strands
Every day students in Grades K–2 complete one full lesson that explicitly and systematically builds foundational reading skills in the Skills Strand, as well as one full lesson that builds robust background knowledge to access complex text in the Knowledge Strand. Through learning in each of these strands, students develop the early literacy skills necessary to help them become confident readers and build the context to understand what they’re reading.

Grades 3–5 Integrated Strand
In Grades 3–5, Knowledge and Skills are integrated in one set of instructional materials. Lessons begin to combine skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis. Students can then use their skills to go on their own independent reading adventures.

Key features

For each Amplify CKLA key feature below, click the drop down arrow to learn more.

Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades PK–2 with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.

Review this Science of Reading toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.

Amplify CKLA aligns with the instructional principles recommended by Orton Gillingham and LETRS.

  • Structured–Concepts are taught through consistent routines
  • Sequential–Concepts are taught in a logical, well-planned sequence
  • Systematic–Phonemes are taught from simplest to most complex
  • Explicit–Decoding and encoding concepts are taught directly and explicitly
  • Multi-sensory–Instruction is delivered through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways
  • Cumulative–Concepts are applied in decodable, connected texts with constant review and reinforcement

Watch this video to learn more!

Additionally, great reading instruction starts with helping kids develop great decoding skills. Our instruction is supported by:

The Science of Reading reveals knowledge as an essential pillar of reading comprehension and lifelong literacy. Hear from author Natalie Wexler and CKLA customers on edWebinar about the importance of knowledge-building in reading instruction.

Hear from Natalie Wexler
edWebinar Links

Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves. Our instruction is supported by:

  • Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
  • Interactive Read-Alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
  • Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.
  • Social and emotional learning paired with lessons in civic responsibility.

Amplify CKLA not only received an all-green rating from the rigorous evaluators at EdReports, but it was also recently recognized by the Knowledge Matters Campaign as a high-quality literacy program that excels in building knowledge. Our shared message: background knowledge is essential to literacy and learning.

Read our EdReports review
Read our Knowledge Matters review

Student-led reading practice should be purposeful and connected to the core. That’s why Amplify created Boost Reading. As an optional add-on to Amplify CKLA, students have the opportunity to practice skills directly tied to the skills they’ve been working on during core reading time. Boost Reading also adapts to each student to address their personal gaps and bolsters foundational skills at a pace that supports their individual development.

Boost Reading’s collection of 40+ adaptive games target foundational reading skills and develops them in alignment with Science of Reading principles. Unlike other adaptive games, we ensure students:

  • Practice the right skills at the right time. Our embedded placement tool ensures students receive the content and skill practice most appropriate for their current reading level. From there, students move through our curriculum along their own learning pathway where they encounter personalized content tailored to their evolving skill and grade levels.
  • Progress along a pathway that adapts on multiple dimensions, not just one. For example, a student can work on early first-grade decoding in one game while building more advanced vocabulary knowledge in another.
  • Practice skills in tandem. For example, a student is never forced to master one skill area before proceeding to the next. Instead, we offer students that opportunity to work on multiple skills concurrently.
  • Feel supported with scaffolding, instruction, and practice that adapts based on student performance.
  • Stay engaged by giving them immediate and clear feedback. These results are never punitive. Instead our always-positive feedback is delivered in the context of the game world and is designed to motivate students to keep trying.

Click the buttons below to learn more:

What is Boost Reading?
How does Boost Reading work with CKLA?

Step 3: Program Resources

Easy-to-use print materials

Amplify CKLA’s easy-to-use materials bring foundational skills and knowledge to life in the classroom.

Download the Amplify CKLA Components guide to see components by grade and watch the print materials walkthrough below.

Engaging CKLA digital experience

The top-rated content of Amplify CKLA is now live with the digital experience that enhances instruction and saves time.

Two dashboard screens display educational content: one for teachers with recommendations, and one for students showing assignments and dates, including a lesson called "Mount Olympus, Part II.

With the digital experience, everything is in one place, making it easier and more engaging than ever to plan lessons, present digital content, and review student work. Click the arrows below to learn more.

With the digital experience, teachers have access to ready-to-use and customizable lesson presentation slides, complete with all the prompts from the print Teacher Guide embedded in the teacher view. As teachers deliver each lesson, students can engage with the content in one cohesive experience—through these CKLA resources: Activity Books, slides, digital components, videos, Student Readers, and more.

The innovative live review tool found in the digital experience enables you to keep an eye on all of your students as they work on drawing, recording audio, uploading and capturing images, and typing or writing in pre-placed textboxes in their Activity Pages. This dynamic tool provides countless classroom management benefits, enabling you to spot and correct common mistakes as they’re happening, praise your students for thoughtful work, and identify students who are not engaged in the task at hand. Simply put, it will give you those valuable “eyes in the back of your head” you’ve warned your students about!

The digital experience integrates with various LMSs, allowing you and your students to access Amplify CKLA with the software you’re already comfortable using.

In the Amplify CKLA student digital experience, your students have one intuitive access point to fully engage with classroom instruction. Through the Student Home, students can easily access digital lessons with slides, Activity Pages, ebooks, videos, and other interactives from one simple dashboard. Students can draw, record audio, upload and capture images, and type or write in pre-placed text boxes in their Activity Pages.

CKLA review resources

Step 4: State Review Resources

Step 5: Program Access

Explore as a teacher

Before logging in, watch this brief video on navigating the CKLA Teacher Platform.

Ready to explore as a teacher? Follow these instructions:

  • Click the Amplify CKLA Teacher Platform button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the teacher username: t1.cklaidaho@tryamplify.net
  • Enter the teacher password: AmplifyNumber1
  • Choose CKLA from the “Your Programs” menu on Educator Home.
  • Select a grade level from the drop-down menu at the top of the page.
Amplify CKLA Teacher Platform

Explore as a student

Ready to explore as a student? Follow these instructions:

  • Click the Amplify CKLA Student Platform button below.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the student username: s1.cklaidaho@tryamplify.net
  • Enter the student password: AmplifyNumber1
Amplify CKLA Student Platform

Amplify Science Success Story

The Lawrence Hall of Science

Developed by the science education experts at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and the digital learning team at Amplify, our program features:

  • A phenomena-based approach where students construct a complex understanding of each unit’s anchor phenomenon.
  • A blend of cohesive storylines, hands-on investigations, rich discussions, literacy-rich activities, and digital tools.
  • Carefully crafted units, chapters, lessons, and activities designed to deliver true three-dimensional learning.
  • An instructional design that supports all learners in accessing all standards.
Aerial view of the lawrence hall of science at the university of california, berkeley, showcasing the building and surrounding trees with a foggy city backdrop.

Proven to work

A pdf cover from wested titled "learning and literacy development together: initial results from a curriculum study," featuring an adult helping children with schoolwork in a classroom.

WestEd Randomized
Control Trial for Grade 1

Read More

Pdf cover titled "curriculum materials designed for the next generation science standards: initial results from gold standard research trials", published by wested.

WestEd Randomized
Control Trial for Grade 7

Read More

A teacher and students engage in a science activity around a table. The text promotes the Amplify Science K–8 curriculum, highlighting its focus on hands-on learning and real-world problem-solving.

Amplify Science NE
Grades K–5

Read More

Instructional model

The Amplify Science program is rooted in the proven, research-based pedagogy of Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize. Here’s how each element works:

DO

Firsthand investigations are an important part of any science classroom, and Amplify Science has students getting hands-on in every unit—from building models of protein molecules to experimenting with electrical systems.

TALK

Student-to-student discourse and full-class discussions are an integral part of the program. Students are provided with numerous opportunities to engage in meaningful oral scientific argumentation, all while fostering a collaborative classroom environment.

READ

Students read scientific articles, focusing their reading activities on searching for evidence related to their investigation and, importantly, on asking and recording questions as they read through fascinating texts on 21st-century topics.

WRITE

Following real-world practices, students write scientific arguments based on evidence they’ve collected, making clear their reasoning about how a given piece of evidence connects to one of several claims.

VISUALIZE

By manipulating digital simulations and using modeling tools to craft visualizations of their thinking— just as real scientists and engineers do—students take their learning far beyond the confines of what they can physically see in the classroom in an exciting and authentic way.

Program structure

Our cyclical lesson design ensures students receive multiple exposures to concepts through a variety of modalities. As they progress through the lessons within a unit, students build and deepen their understanding, increasing their ability to develop and refine complex explanations of the unit’s phenomenon.

It’s this proven program structure and lesson design that enables Amplify Science to address 100% of the NGSS and support students in mastering the Oregon Science Standards.

Flowchart depicting a critical thinking process with four circular nodes connected by arrows, each node representing a step: posing a real-world problem, exploring evidence, elaborating concepts, and evaluating claims.

Unit types

While every unit delivers three-dimensional learning experiences and engages students in gathering evidence from a rich collection of sources, each unit also emphasizes a particular science and engineering practice.

In grades K–2:

  • One unit emphasizes the practice of investigation.
  • One unit emphasizes the practice of modeling.
  • One unit emphasizes the practice of engineering design.

In grades 3–5, students experience the three unit types above, plus:

  • One additional unit that emphasizes the practice of argumentation.

Investigation units focus on the process of strategically developing investigations and gathering data to answer questions. Students are first asked to consider questions about what happens in the natural world and why, and are then involved in designing and conducting investigations that produce data to help answer those questions.

Modeling units provide extra support to students engaging in the practice of modeling. Students use physical models, investigate with computer models, and create their own diagrams to help them visualize what might be happening on the nanoscale.

Engineering design units provide opportunities for students to solve complex problems by applying science principles to the design of functional solutions, and iteratively testing those solutions to determine how well they meet preset criteria.

Argumentation units provide students with regular opportunities to explore and discuss available evidence, time and support to consider how evidence may be leveraged in support of claims, and independence that increases as they mount written arguments in support of their claims.

Unit sequence

Our lessons follow a structure that is grounded in regular routines while still being flexible enough to allow for a variety of learning experiences.

In fact, our multi-modal instruction offers more opportunities for students to construct meaning, and practice and apply concepts, than any other program. What’s more, our modular design means our units can be flexibly arranged to support your instructional goals.

Chart outlining science curriculum by grade, from kindergarten through grade 5, listing topics such as

Program components

Available digitally and in print, our unit-specific reference guides are chock-full of helpful resources, including scientific background knowledge, planning information and resources, color-coded 3D Statements, detailed lesson plans, tips for delivering instruction, and differentiation strategies.

Amplify Science TG

Hands-on learning is an essential part of Amplify Science and is integrated into every unit. Students actively participate in science, playing the roles of scientists and engineers as they gather evidence, think critically, solve problems, and develop and defend claims about the world around them. Every unit includes hands-on investigations that are critical to achieving the unit’s learning goals.

Two children sit at a table blowing into plastic straws held together, likely making musical sounds, with containers and rubber bands on the table.

More hands-on with Flextensions:
Hands-on Flextensions are additional, optional investigations that are included at logical points in the learning progression and give students an opportunity to dig deeper if time permits. These activities offer teachers flexibility to choose to dedicate more time to hands-on learning. Materials referenced in Hands-on Flextension activities will either be included in the unit kit or are easily sourced. Supporting resources such as student worksheets will be included as downloadable PDF files.

Our kits include enough non-consumable materials to support a class of 36 students and enough consumable items to support 72 students. In other words, each kit can last two years! Plus, our unit-specific kits mean teachers just grab the tub they need for the unit and then put it all back with ease.

Amplify Science California supports 3-D learning with more materials than any other program.

Each unit of Amplify Science K–5 includes six unique Student Books written by the Lawrence Hall of Science specifically for the program. These content-rich nonfiction and informational texts provide opportunities for students to search for evidence relevant to their firsthand investigations, see science practices and dispositions modeled, extend their science knowledge, provide real world connections as they master reading-to-learn and close reading skills, and construct evidence-based arguments.

Important note:
Students in grades K–5 are never asked to read alone. Rather, books are read to, with, and by students with ample scaffolding and support provided by the teacher. Big Books are read aloud or together with the class to introduce ideas. Student Books allow for small-group reading and reading in pairs.

Illustrations of two children's book covers displayed on a tablet, titled "on dia ocupado en villa empuja" and "a busy day in pushville," showing a busy street scene.

Available for every unit, our Student Investigation Notebooks contain instructions for activities and space for students to record data and observations, reflect on ideas from texts and investigations, and construct explanations and arguments.

In grades K–5, one copy of the Student Investigation Notebook is included in each unit’s materials kit for use as a blackline master. Each notebook is also available as a downloadable PDF on the Unit Guide page of the digital Teacher’s Guide.

Amplify Science Student Investigation Notebooks

Amplify Science offers digital experience licenses that make elementary instruction more flexible for students and teachers, as well as providing additional means to engage in remote, hybrid, or in-person learning!

Student-facing digital lessons
With the digital experience, students can engage with digital lesson content in one cohesive experience. It’s the same content from Amplify science in a new, integrated format where students can interact with slides, Sims, modeling tools, videos, books, and more.

Ecosystem Restoration digital simulation

Digital student notebook pages
Students can draw, write, record audio, and insert images into their Investigation Notebook pages. Their work is automatically saved and delivered to you in real time. When students edit their work, those edits are immediately reflected on your teacher work review page. You can access student responses by clicking “View Work,” where you can see students’ Investigation Notebook pages from the lesson, updating live.

Assign in Amplify
The digital experience allows flexibility with optional features like scheduling assignments in advance and setting due dates. You can use Scheduling to determine the date and time that the assignment appears in Student Home. You also have the flexibility to schedule when assignments appear and use dates to remove assignments from Student Home.

Assign in LMS
You can also assign lessons via our integrations with Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams, or by copying a lesson link and sharing it with students through the platform of your choice. The assignment link you send will provide students with direct access to the full lesson—slides, videos, digital tools, and worksheet activities—no student platform navigation required!

Teacher platform and presentation
Teacher-facing lesson content—including sample teacher talk, student responses, pedagogical support, and possible student responses—shows on a teacher’s private Teacher Guide tab. Students only see the lesson slides that are being presented.

Graphic depicting a teacher's device synced with a class presentation for K—5 students. The teacher's laptop displays an Amplify Science lesson on environments, which is mirrored on a larger screen for the class

Explore your print samples

With your Amplify Science print samples, you’ll find unit-specific Teacher’s References Guides, Student Investigation Notebooks, and sets of Student Books for each grade level.

A note about the Teacher’s Reference Guides:

It’s important that you see the full breadth and depth of our instruction. For that reason, we provide a copy of each of our unit-specific Teacher Reference Guides.

Rest assured that teachers do not use these robust reference guides for day-to-day teaching. For that, we have a hands-free TG!

A laptop screen displays a simulation of energy arrows entering and exiting Earth's system, flanked by diagrams explaining water flow and an energy token model.
  • Teacher Reference Guide: Unlike a typical TG that requires a series of supplemental books to support it, our encyclopedic reference guide is chock-full of everything a teacher needs to fully implement our program and the NGSS.
  • Ready-to-Teach Lesson Slides: For daily instruction, teachers need their hands free. That’s why we created ready-to-teach lesson slides for every single lesson. What’s more, they are editable and include suggested teacher talk and point-of-use differentiation and other instructional tips. Click to learn more.

A note about the Materials Kits:

Hands-on learning is at the heart of Amplify Science, and is integrated into every unit. In order to make hands-on learning more manageable for busy teachers, Amplify Science materials are organized into unit-specific kits.

Stacked storage bins with labels, arranged neatly; caption notes they are a sample and may not reflect actual quantities or sizes.

What’s different about Amplify’s unit-specific material kits?  They…

  • Include more materials — We give teachers enough non-consumable materials to support a class of 36 students and enough consumables to support 72 student uses. In other words, each kit will last two years.
  • Are more manageable — Unlike other programs that require large groups of students to share limited sets of materials, our kits include enough to support small groups of 4–5 students.
  • Include supportive videos — Each hands-on activity provides clear instructions for the teacher, with more complex activities supported by video demonstrations and illustrations.

Grade-specific lists of all materials included in each kit:

Access your digital samples

Explore as a teacher

When you’re ready to explore the teaching experience on your own, follow these instructions to access the Amplify Science digital teacher platform.

  • Click the Access Amplify Science Platform button below and bookmark the page.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the username: t1.jeffersoncounty@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter the password: Amplify1-jeffersoncounty
  • Click on Science on the left hand side.
  • Click on the Program Menu in the top center of the screen and select any grade.
  • Select any unit.
Access Amplify Science Platform

To help familiarize yourself with navigating the digital platform, watch the below navigational video.

Explore as a student

When you’re ready to explore the student learning experience on your own, follow these instructions to access the Amplify Science digital student platform.

  • Click the Access Amplify Science Platform button below and bookmark the page.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the username: s1.jeffersoncounty@demo.tryamplify.net
  • Enter the password: Amplify1-jeffersoncounty
  • Click the backpack icon on the top right.
  • Click Science K-5
  • Select any unit.
Access Amplify Science Platform

Resources to support your review

Welcome to Amplify Science 6–8!

Amplify Science is an engaging core curriculum designed for three-dimensional, phenomena-based learning.

With Amplify Science, Oregon students don’t just passively learn about science concepts. Instead, they take on the role of scientists and engineers to actively investigate and figure out real-world phenomena. They do this through a blend of cohesive and compelling storylines, hands-on investigations, collaborative discussions, literacy-rich activities, and interactive digital tools.

Two students, one black and one asian, smiling and studying together at a laptop in a classroom with other students in background.

Publisher presentation

The Lawrence Hall of Science

Developed by the science education experts at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and the digital learning team at Amplify, our program features:

  • A phenomena-based approach where students construct a complex understanding of each unit’s anchor phenomenon.
  • A blend of cohesive storylines, hands-on investigations, rich discussions, literacy-rich activities, and digital tools.
  • Carefully crafted units, chapters, lessons, and activities designed to deliver true 3-dimensional learning.
  • An instructional design that supports all learners in accessing all standards.
Aerial view of the lawrence hall of science at the university of california, berkeley, showcasing the building and surrounding trees with a foggy city backdrop.

Proven to work

A pdf cover from wested titled "learning and literacy development together: initial results from a curriculum study," featuring an adult helping children with schoolwork in a classroom.

WestEd Randomized
Control Trial for Grade 1

Read More

Pdf cover titled "curriculum materials designed for the next generation science standards: initial results from gold standard research trials", published by wested.

WestEd Randomized
Control Trial for Grade 7

Read More

A teacher and students engage in a science activity around a table. The text promotes the Amplify Science K–8 curriculum, highlighting its focus on hands-on learning and real-world problem-solving.

Amplify Science NE
Grades K–5

Read More

Instructional model

The Amplify Science program is rooted in the proven, research-based pedagogy of Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize. Here’s how each element works:

Do

First-hand investigations are an important part of any science classroom, and Amplify Science has students getting hands-on in every unit—from building models of protein molecules to experimenting with electrical systems.

Talk

Student-to-student discourse and full-class discussions are an integral part of the program. Students are provided with numerous opportunities to engage in meaningful oral scientific argumentation, all while fostering a collaborative classroom environment.

Read

Students read scientific articles, focusing their reading activities on searching for evidence related to their investigation and, importantly, on asking and recording questions as they read through fascinating texts on 21st-century topics.

Write

Following real-world practices, students write scientific arguments based on evidence they’ve collected, making clear their reasoning about how a given piece of evidence connects to one of several claims.

Visualize

By manipulating digital simulations and using modeling tools to craft visualizations of their thinking— just as real scientists and engineers
do—students take their learning far beyond the confines of what they can physically see in the classroom in an exciting and authentic way.

Program structure

Our cyclical lesson design ensures students receive multiple exposures to concepts through a variety of modalities. As they progress through the lessons within a unit, students build and deepen their understanding, increasing their ability to develop and refine complex explanations of the unit’s phenomenon.

It’s this proven program structure and lesson design that enables Amplify Science to address 100% of the NGSS, and support students in mastering the Oregon Science Standards.

Flowchart depicting a critical thinking process with four circular nodes connected by arrows, each node representing a step: posing a real-world problem, exploring evidence, elaborating concepts, and evaluating claims.

Unit types

While every unit delivers three-dimensional learning experiences and engages students in gathering evidence from a rich collection of sources, each unit also serves a unique instructional purpose.

In grades 6–8:

  • One unit is a launch unit.
  • Three units are core units.
  • Two units are engineering internships.

Launch units are the first units taught in each year of Amplify Science. The goal of the Launch unit is to introduce students to norms, routines, and practices that will be built on throughout the year, including argumentation, active reading, and using the program’s technology. For example, rather than taking the time to explain the process of active reading in every unit in a given year, it is explained thoroughly in the Launch unit, thereby preparing students to read actively in all subsequent units.

Core units establish the context of the unit by introducing students to a real-world problem. As students move through lessons in a Core unit, they figure out the unit’s anchoring phenomenon, gain an understanding of the unit’s disciplinary core ideas and science and engineering practices, and make linkages across topics through the crosscutting concepts. Each Core unit culminates with a Science Seminar and final writing activity.

Engineering Internship units invite students to design solutions for real-world problems as interns for a fictional company called Futura. Students figure out how to help those in need, from tsunami victims in Sri Lanka to premature babies, through the application of engineering practices. In the process, they apply and deepen their learning from Core units.

Unit sequence

Our lessons follow a structure that is grounded in regular routines while still being flexible enough to allow for a variety of learning experiences.

In fact, our multi-modal instruction offers more opportunities for students to construct meaning, and practice and apply concepts than any other program. What’s more, our modular design means our units can be flexibly arranged to support your instructional goals.

Three columns listing education curriculum topics for grades 6, 7, and 8, focusing on science themes such as microbiomes, mars geology, and harnessing human energy.

Program components

Available digitally and in print, our unit-specific reference guides are chock full of helpful resources, including scientific background knowledge, planning information and resources, color-coded 3D Statements, detailed lesson plans, tips for delivering instruction, and differentiation strategies.

Amplify Science TG

Hands-on learning is an essential part of Amplify Science, and is integrated into every unit. Students actively participate in science, playing the roles of scientists and engineers as they gather evidence, think critically, solve problems, and develop and defend claims about the world around them. Every unit includes hands-on investigations that are critical to achieving the unit’s learning goals.

A young person wearing gloves looks through a microscope at a table with laboratory supplies, including bottles, slides, and a tray, against a plain blue background.

More hands-on with Flextensions:
Hands-on Flextensions are additional, optional investigations that are included at logical points in the learning progression and give students an opportunity to dig deeper if time permits. These activities offer teachers flexibility to choose to dedicate more time to hands-on learning. Materials referenced in Hands-on Flextension activities will either be included in the unit kit or are easily sourced. Supporting resources such as student worksheets will be included as downloadable PDF files.

Assorted office and household items displayed on a white background, including rubber bands, binder clips, cardboard, and sports balls.

Our digital Simulations and Practice Tools are powerful resources for exploration, data collection, and student collaboration. They allow students the ability to explore scientific concepts that might otherwise be invisible or impossible to see with the naked eye.

Available for every unit, our Student Investigation Notebooks contain instructions for activities and space for students to record data and observations, reflect on ideas from texts and investigations, and construct explanations and arguments.

In grades 6–8, one copy of the Student Investigation Notebook is included in each unit’s materials kit for use as a blackline master. Each notebook is also available as a downloadable PDF on the Unit Guide page of the digital Teacher’s Guide.

Two booklets titled "El clima cambiante de la Tierra: la desaparición del hielo" and "Earth’s Changing Climate: Vanishing Ice" with landscape illustrations on the covers.

These customizable PowerPoints are available for every lesson of the program and make delivering instruction a snap with visual prompts, colorful activity instructions, investigation set-up videos and animations, and suggested teacher talk in the notes section of each slide.

Amplify Science Classroom Slides

Full coverage of the Oregon Science Standards

Amplify Science was designed from the ground up to meet the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). As such, it aligns to the Oregon Science Standards, which were also borne out of the NGSS.

The guidance below is meant to provide support for integrating additional activities that support full coverage of Oregon’s standards. Organized by grade level, each section below will outline:

  • Additional activities that support 100% alignment to the Oregon Science Standards.
  • The standard being addressed with the activities.
  • The recommended placement of the activities within a specific Amplify Science unit.
  • PDFs of any accompanying materials that are necessary to implement the activities.

Activity Title: Meet a Scientist Who Changed How We Think About Brain Cells

About this activity: In this activity, students read a short article about a scientist who studied the nervous system.

Recommended placement: Metabolism unit, Lesson 3.2

Materials:

Instructions: Download the PDF “Meet a Scientist Who Changed How We Think About Brain Cells” above and remind students of the Active Reading guidelines. Before students read the article, invite them to share prior experiences. Then have students complete the copymaster above.

Activity Title: Meet a Scientist Who Studies Underwater Currents

About this activity: In this activity, students read a short article about a scientist who studies ocean currents.

Recommended placement: Oceans, Atmosphere, and Climate unit, Lesson 2.1

Materials:

Instructions: Download the PDF “Meet a Scientist Who Studies Underwater Currents” above and remind students of the Active Reading guidelines. Before students read the article, invite them to share prior experiences. Then have students complete the copymaster above.

Activity Title: Meet a Scientist Who Studies How the Environment Affects Our Traits

About this activity: In this activity, students read two short articles, one about current research on genes and proteins, and one about a scientist who is studying how the environment can affect our traits.

Recommended placement: Traits and Reproduction unit, Lesson 2.4

Materials:

Instructions: Download the PDF “Meet a Scientist Who Studies How the Environment Affects Our Traits” above and remind students of the Active Reading guidelines. Before students read the article, invite them to share prior experiences. Then have students complete the copymaster above.

Activity Title: Who Becomes a Space Scientist?

About this activity: In this activity, Students read a short article about a scientist who studies space.

Recommended placement: Geology on Mars unit, Lesson 3.1

Materials:

Instructions: Download the PDF “Who Becomes a Space Scientist?” above and remind students of the Active Reading guidelines. Before students read the article, invite them to share prior experiences. Then have students complete the copymaster above.

Activity Title: Meet a Scientist Who Studies How Plants Find Water Underground

About this activity: In this activity, students read a short article about a scientist who studies how plants’ roots get water.

Recommended placement: Matter and Energy in Ecosystems unit, Lesson 1.6

Materials:

Instructions: Download the PDF “Meet a Scientist Who Studies How Plants Find Water Underground” above and remind students of the Active Reading guidelines. Before students read the article, invite them to share prior experiences. Then have students complete the copymaster above.

Activity Title: Bringing Back the Buffalo

About this activity: In this activity, students change one competing population to try to decrease the other in the Sim, and read a short article about a scientist who studies buffalo.

Recommended placement: Populations and Resources unit, Lesson 3.2

Materials:

Instructions: Download the PDF “Bringing Back the Buffalo” above and remind students of the Active Reading guidelines. Before students read the article, invite them to share prior experiences. Then have students complete the copymaster above.

Activity Title: Rereading “A Continental Puzzle”

About this activity: In this activity, students reread “A Continental Puzzle” and think about how patterns were helpful to Wegener’s work.

Recommended placement: Plate Motion unit, Lesson 3.2

Materials:

Instructions: Direct students back to “A Continental Puzzle” above and remind students of the Active Reading guidelines. Before students re-read the article, invite them to share prior experiences. Then have students complete the copymaster above.

Activity Title: Meet a Scientist Who Studies Variation in Monkey Populations

About this activity: In this activity, students read a short article about a scientist who studies variation of traits in monkey populations.

Recommended placement: Natural Selection unit, Lesson 1.6

Materials:

Instructions: Download the PDF “Meet a Scientist Who Studies Variation in Monkey Populations” above and remind students of the Active Reading guidelines. Before students read the article, invite them to share prior experiences. Then have students complete the copymaster above.

Activity Title: Extinctions and Human Impacts

About this activity: The purpose of this lesson is for students to see how increases in human population and consumption of natural resources can negatively impact Earth’s systems.

Recommended placement: Natural Selection unit, Lesson 4.5

Materials:

Instructions: Download the PDF “Extinctions and Human Impacts” above and remind students of the Active Reading guidelines. Before students read the article, invite them to share prior experiences. Then have students complete the copymaster above.

Activity Title: Steno and the Shark

About this activity: In this activity, students read a short article about Nicolas Steno, a scientist from the 1600s whose studies of fossilized sharks’ teeth embedded in rock layers laid the foundation for the modern understanding of stratigraphy.

Recommended placement: Evolutionary History unit, Lesson 2.4

Materials:

Instructions: Download the PDF “Steno and the Shark” above and remind students of the Active Reading guidelines. Before students read the article, invite them to share prior experiences. Then have students complete the copymaster above.

Activity Title: Scale in the Solar System

About this activity: In this activity, students read and annotate the articles “Scale in the Solar System” and “The Solar System Is Huge.”

Recommended placement: Earth, Moon, and Sun unit, Lesson 1.2

Materials:

Instructions: Download the PDF “Scale in the Solar System” above and remind students of the Active Reading guidelines. Before students read the article, invite them to share prior experiences. Then have students complete the copymaster above.

Explore your print samples

With your Amplify Science print samples, you’ll find unit-specific Teacher’s References Guides and Student Investigation Notebooks for each grade level.

A note about the Teacher’s Reference Guides:

It’s important that your committee sees the full breadth and depth of our instruction. For that reason, we provided a copy of each of our unit-specific Teacher Reference Guides.

Rest assured that teachers do not use these robust reference guides for day-to-day teaching. For that, we have a hands-free TG!

Three laptop screens displaying educational content on earth's energy system, including diagrams and text annotations.
  • Teacher Reference Guide: Unlike a typical TG that requires a series of supplemental books to support it, our encyclopedic reference guide is chock-full of everything a teacher needs to fully implement our program and the NGSS.
  • Ready-to-Teach Lesson Slides: For daily instruction, teachers need their hands free. That’s why we created ready-to-teach lesson slides for every single lesson. What’s more, they are editable and include suggested teacher talk and point-of-use differentiation and other instructional tips. Click to learn more.

A note about the Materials Kits:

Hands-on learning is at the heart of Amplify Science, and is integrated into every unit. In order to make hands-on learning more manageable for busy teachers, Amplify Science materials are organized into unit-specific kits.

Our unit-specific kits:

  • Include more materials — We give teachers enough materials to support 200 student uses.
  • Are more manageable — Unlike other programs that require large groups of students to share limited sets of materials, our kits include enough to support small groups of 4–5 students.
  • Include supportive videos — Each hands-on activity provides clear instructions for the teacher, with more complex activities supported by video demonstrations and illustrations.

At your request, we did not include our materials kits with our submissions samples. However, we did provide grade-specific lists of all materials included in each kit, which you can also find with the links below.

Access your digital samples

Explore as a teacher

Follow these instructions to explore the Amplify Science digital platform as a teacher.

  • Click the Access Amplify Science Platform button below and bookmark it.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the username: t.or68sci@tryamplify.net
  • Enter the password: Science5OR
  • Click the Science icon.
  • Click on the Grade Menu in the top center of the screen and select any grade.
  • Select any unit.
Access Amplify Science Platform

To help familiarize yourself with navigating the digital platform, watch the below navigational video.

Explore as a student

Follow these instructions to explore the Amplify Science digital platform as a student.

  • Click the Access Amplify Science Platform button below and bookmark it.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the username: s.or68sci@tryamplify.net
  • Enter the password: Science5OR
  • Click the Science icon.
  • Click on the Grade Menu in the top center of the screen and select any grade.
  • Select any unit.
Access Amplify Science Platform

Resources to support your review

New Mexico Educators: Welcome to Amplify Science 6–8!

Amplify Science is an engaging core curriculum designed for three-dimensional, phenomena-based learning that is rated ‘all green’ on EdReports.  

With Amplify Science, New Mexico students don’t just passively learn about science concepts. Instead, they take on the role of scientists and engineers to actively investigate and figure out real-world phenomena. They do this through a blend of cohesive and compelling storylines, hands-on investigations, collaborative discussions, literacy-rich activities, and interactive digital tools.

Students conduct science experiments using lab equipment, flashlights, and prisms. The EdReports logo and "Review Year 2020" are also shown.

Amplify Science Success Story

The Lawrence Hall of Science

Developed by the science education experts at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and the digital learning team at Amplify, our program features:

  • A phenomena-based approach where students construct a complex understanding of each unit’s anchor phenomenon.
  • A blend of cohesive storylines, hands-on investigations, rich discussions, literacy-rich activities, and digital tools.
  • Carefully crafted units, chapters, lessons, and activities designed to deliver true 3-dimensional learning.
  • An instructional design that supports all learners in accessing all standards.
Aerial view of the lawrence hall of science at the university of california, berkeley, showcasing the building and surrounding trees with a foggy city backdrop.

Instructional model

The Amplify Science program is rooted in the proven, research-based pedagogy of Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize. Here’s how each element works:

Do

First-hand investigations are an important part of any science classroom, and Amplify Science has students getting hands-on in every unit—from building models of protein molecules to experimenting with electrical systems.

Talk

Student-to-student discourse and full-class discussions are an integral part of the program. Students are provided with numerous opportunities to engage in meaningful oral scientific argumentation, all while fostering a collaborative classroom environment.

Read

Students read scientific articles, focusing their reading activities on searching for evidence related to their investigation and, importantly, on asking and recording questions as they read through fascinating texts on 21st-century topics.

Write

Following real-world practices, students write scientific arguments based on evidence they’ve collected, making clear their reasoning about how a given piece of evidence connects to one of several claims.

Visualize

By manipulating digital simulations and using modeling tools to craft visualizations of their thinking— just as real scientists and engineers do—students take their learning far beyond the confines of what they can physically see in the classroom in an exciting and authentic way.

Program structure

Our cyclical lesson design ensures students receive multiple exposures to concepts through a variety of modalities. As they progress through the lessons within a unit, students build and deepen their understanding, increasing their ability to develop and refine complex explanations of the unit’s phenomenon.

It’s this proven program structure and lesson design that enables Amplify Science to address 100% of the NGSS and support students in mastering the New Mexico STEM Ready! Science Standards.

Flowchart depicting a critical thinking process with four circular nodes connected by arrows, each node representing a step: posing a real-world problem, exploring evidence, elaborating concepts, and evaluating claims.

Unit types

While every unit delivers three-dimensional learning experiences and engages students in gathering evidence from a rich collection of sources, each unit also serves a unique instructional purpose.

In grades 6–8:

  • One unit is a launch unit.
  • Three units are core units.
  • Two units are engineering internships.

Launch units are the first units taught in each year of Amplify Science. The goal of the Launch unit is to introduce students to norms, routines, and practices that will be built on throughout the year, including argumentation, active reading, and using the program’s technology. For example, rather than taking the time to explain the process of active reading in every unit in a given year, it is explained thoroughly in the Launch unit, thereby preparing students to read actively in all subsequent units.

Core units establish the context of the unit by introducing students to a real-world problem. As students move through lessons in a Core unit, they figure out the unit’s anchoring phenomenon, gain an understanding of the unit’s disciplinary core ideas and science and engineering practices, and make linkages across topics through the crosscutting concepts. Each Core unit culminates with a Science Seminar and final writing activity.

Engineering Internship units invite students to design solutions for real-world problems as interns for a fictional company called Futura. Students figure out how to help those in need, from tsunami victims in Sri Lanka to premature babies, through the application of engineering practices. In the process, they apply and deepen their learning from Core units.

Unit sequence

Our lessons follow a structure that is grounded in regular routines while still being flexible enough to allow for a variety of learning experiences.

In fact, our multi-modal instruction offers more opportunities for students to construct meaning, and practice and apply concepts than any other program. What’s more, our modular design means our units can be flexibly arranged to support your instructional goals.

Program components

Available digitally and in print, our unit-specific reference guides are chock full of helpful resources, including scientific background knowledge, planning information and resources, color-coded 3-D Statements, detailed lesson plans, tips for delivering instruction, and differentiation strategies.

Amplify Science TG

Hands-on learning is an essential part of Amplify Science, and is integrated into every unit. Students actively participate in science, playing the roles of scientists and engineers as they gather evidence, think critically, solve problems, and develop and defend claims about the world around them. Every unit includes hands-on investigations that are critical to achieving the unit’s learning goals.

Amplify Science Flextension

More hands-on with Flextensions:
Hands-on Flextensions are additional, optional investigations that are included at logical points in the learning progression and give students an opportunity to dig deeper if time permits. These activities offer teachers flexibility to choose to dedicate more time to hands-on learning. Materials referenced in Hands-on Flextension activities will either be included in the unit kit or are easily sourced. Supporting resources such as student worksheets will be included as downloadable PDF files.

Our kits include enough materials to support 200 student uses. In other words, teachers can easily support all five periods and small groups of 4-5 students each. Plus, our unit-specific kits mean teachers just grab the tub they need and then put it all back with ease.

Middle School Materials Kit List 

Assorted office and household items displayed on a white background, including rubber bands, binder clips, cardboard, and sports balls.

Our digital Simulations and Practice Tools are powerful resources for exploration, data collection, and student collaboration. They allow students the ability to explore scientific concepts that might otherwise be invisible or impossible to see with the naked eye.

Available for every unit, our Student Investigation Notebooks contain instructions for activities and space for students to record data and observations, reflect on ideas from texts and investigations, and construct explanations and arguments.

In grades 6–8, one copy of the Student Investigation Notebook is included in each unit’s materials kit for use as a blackline master. Each notebook is also available as a downloadable PDF on the Unit Guide page of the digital Teacher’s Guide.

Amplify Science Student Investigation Notebooks

These customizable PowerPoints are available for every lesson of the program and make delivering instruction a snap with visual prompts, colorful activity instructions, investigation set-up videos and animations, and suggested teacher talk in the notes section of each slide.

Amplify Science Classroom Slides

Full coverage of NGSS and New Mexico STEM Ready! Science Standards

Amplify Science was designed from the ground up to meet the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). As such, it aligns to the New Mexico Science Standards, which were also borne out of the NGSS.

K-8 NGSS Correlation by Dimension

K-8 NM STEM Ready! Standards Correlation

Explore your print samples

With your Amplify Science print samples, you’ll find unit-specific Teacher’s References Guides and Student Investigation Notebooks for each grade level.

A note about the Teacher’s Reference Guides:

It’s important that your committee sees the full breadth and depth of our instruction. For that reason, we provided a copy of each of our unit-specific Teacher Reference Guides.

Rest assured that teachers do not use these robust reference guides for day-to-day teaching. For that, we have a hands-free Teacher Guide!

A laptop screen displays a simulation of energy arrows entering and exiting Earth's system, flanked by diagrams explaining water flow and an energy token model.
  • Teacher Reference Guide: Unlike a typical Teacher Guide that requires a series of supplemental books to support it, our encyclopedic reference guide is chock-full of everything a teacher needs to fully implement our program and the NGSS.
  • Ready-to-Teach Lesson Slides: For daily instruction, teachers need their hands free. That’s why we created ready-to-teach lesson slides for every single lesson. What’s more, they are editable and include suggested teacher talk and point-of-use differentiation and other instructional tips. Click to learn more.

A note about the Materials Kits:

Hands-on learning is at the heart of Amplify Science, and is integrated into every unit. In order to make hands-on learning more manageable for busy teachers, Amplify Science materials are organized into unit-specific kits.

Stacked storage bins with labels, arranged neatly; caption notes they are a sample and may not reflect actual quantities or sizes.

Our unit-specific kits:

  • Include more materials — We give teachers enough materials to support 200 student uses.
  • Are more manageable — Unlike other programs that require large groups of students to share limited sets of materials, our kits include enough to support small groups of 4–5 students.
  • Include supportive videos — Each hands-on activity provides clear instructions for the teacher, with more complex activities supported by video demonstrations and illustrations.

Materials Kit List

Access your digital samples

Explore as a teacher

Follow these instructions to explore the Amplify Science digital platform as a teacher.

  • Click the Access Amplify Science Platform button below and bookmark it.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the username: t20.sci6-8@tryamplify.net
  • Enter the password: AmplifyNumber1
  • Click on Science in Your Programs
  • Click on the Program drop-down menu and select your desired domain
  • Select any unit.
Access Amplify Science Platform

To help familiarize yourself with navigating the digital platform, watch the below navigational video.

Explore as a student

Follow these instructions to explore the Amplify Science digital platform as a student.

  • Click the Access Amplify Science Platform button below and bookmark it.
  • Select Log in with Amplify.
  • Enter the username: s20.sci6-8@tryamplify.net
  • Enter the password: AmplifyNumber1
  • Click Science in Your Programs
  • Click on the Program drop-down menu and select your desired domain
  • Select any unit title.
Access Amplify Science Platform

Additional resources to support your review