The Lumos Learning platform is a unique tool developed by educators. It makes standards-based assessment and lesson planning intuitive and almost effortless for teachers. In addition, parents are able to easily view their children’s progress towards proficiency.

The Coherence Map is a free tool from Lumos Learning. It gives educators a visual understanding of Grade Level Standards in both Math and English Language Arts (ELA). Teachers can easily see how each grade level connects to previous and next levels along the same standard.  This user-friendly visual representation greatly simplifies the lesson planning process for teachers who want to better align their content with the standards.

Even better, the Coherence Map provides resources (in the form of videos, infographics and practice questions) that can be used with each standard.

With clear mapping and access to resources, lesson planning has really never been easier.

Here’s a brief overview of how to use this hassle-free tool. We have broken it down into an easy, 3-step process.

Choose a standard

There are two easy ways to navigate to the standard you want to work on.

If you already know exactly which standard you want, simply type it into the search bar.

For example, if you teach 11th Grade ELA, and you know you need a lesson plan to meet RL.11-12.1, just type that in, and it will take you directly to a description and resources that link with that standard.

If you don’t remember the number of the standard, no worries! Just click on your grade level within the grid, and it will automatically pull up a list of all the standards in that grade level.

And if you’re not sure which standard you should work on next, you can still easily find what you need. Click on any standard and it will show you exactly how it connects to previous standards, so you can make a decision based on what you’ve already done.

More on that later.

Find resources

Once you identify the standard that you need to work on, scroll down to view the handy resources that support it.

For example, opening up a description of standard 3.G.2 (Third Grade Math), yields four age-appropriate apps (for games, worksheets, etc.) that specifically support the standard.

And of course, a detailed description of the Standard and the skills which demonstrate mastery can help you keep a clear picture of the goal in mind.

Once you’ve determined that your students are proficient in this standard, it’s time to move on to the next one.

Determine where you’re going next

This next step is a real time-saver, sparing you from the intricate task of mapping one standard to the next.

Standards directly linked as the next level are indicated with a blue line. A red dotted line is used to show those standards which have an indirect link.

For example, if you teach Middle School ELA, and your students have just demonstrated their proficiency in RI.6.8, you can clearly see that the next standard to work on would be RI.6.1 and/or RI7.8. There is also an indirect link to SL.6.3.

This removes a lot of guesswork on your part and facilitates a smooth progression of standards in a sequence that is logical.

In short, the Lumos Learning Coherence Map can revolutionize the process of teaching and learning. It clarifies learning goals so that teachers can save more of their time and energy for the things that truly matter: meaningful interactions with students.