Center for the Collaborative Classroom

The materials they publish are diverse, and promote a new wave of teaching. Their team of consultants offer guidance and support of how to deliver their materials. They key hey is not only the materials, but also the WAY it is taught.

Well, here’s a review from someone who doesn’t work at CCC.
I’ve been teaching for 18 years and have taught more reading programs than I can count. When I first saw the materials from CCC (then DSC) I thought I was seeing a mirage. This is how I was taught to teach reading, but the big basals don’t present reading this way. So for many years I’ve been taking what I was given and modifying it to make sure kids have the reading strategies they need to be successful. When I saw a program that did all that work and presented the lessons in a way I could easily share with other teachers I thought I must be dreaming.
It’s not a quick fix and it’s not easy for the teacher or for the students. But it’s a program that actually forces the kids to think like readers and really interact with the text. This is my third year teaching with these materials and I never plan on going back to a basal program.

Leave it to the Unilocaler in marketing to score this first. Yes, I worked here, too. I worked at DSC for 8 years. I intended to stay for two years, but stuck around for a few more. It has been a great place to work and has brought many wonderful people into my life.
Beyond the work-​a-​day world at DSC are the curricular programs and services that DSC has developed for schools and after school providers. This is the stuff that keeps so many of us here for so long.
DSC programs foster students’ academic development while simultaneously deepening their commitment to the values of kindness, helpfulness, personal responsibility, and respect for others – core values imperative to the health of a democratic society. These programs, while academically rich, also provide strategies and structures for building a sense of caring and community in classrooms. Classrooms become inclusive places where students have a hand in decision-​making and are engaged in meaningful learning experiences that connect to their lives in important ways, building upon students’ intrinsic motivation – their natural curiosity and their need for competence.
Of course, these ideas about education are not entirely unique to DSC, rather what makes DSC special is the way in which these broad ideas about the role of school and students’ social and academic development are integrated within programs and staff development to give teachers materials and strategies to realize the goals they have for students.