Exemplars changed my teaching,” says one teacher at Brooklyn’s PS 12, the Dr. Jacqueline Peek-Davis School. And it changed the school’s learning outcomes, too: So substantial were its improvements in math scale scores that it made New York City’s top 10 list of positive percentage changes for 2017.

Why do the school’s educators attribute that to Exemplars? Aldine Finnikin-Charles, a special education teacher at Brooklyn’s PS 12, credits the problem-solving procedure students learn as they work through our tasks. “That’s the best thing for them,” she says. “Exemplars changed the way my students look at problems and how they unpack them.” Challenging students with complex multi-step tasks, Problem Solving for the 21^st Century: Built for the Common Core gives them a robust framework for developing solutions — so they’re well equipped to tackle such problems on standardized tests.

LaToya Garcia, assistant principal and former teacher at PS 12, cites the practice students get through regular classroom use. “Students in previous years had struggled with the test’s open response questions and the writing that was required with the math,” she says. That changed with Exemplars, since every task challenges students to communicate their thinking. “Exemplars really gives them the practice and support that they need,” says LaToya, “not only to be able to solve the problem, but also to solve it using multiple strategies, critically think about how they could expand the problem, and explain their thinking in a precise way.”

Nyree Dixon, the school’s principal during the 2017-2018 school year, says one of the keys to PS 12’s improvements has been Exemplars’ impact on student self-assessment. With Exemplars standards-based rubric to support them, she says, “Our children are not waiting for the teacher. They’re not waiting for ‘authority’ or a supervisor. They’re assessing their work themselves, and aligning it to the rubric.” As they do this, they develop critical skills of self-assessment and metacognition, which puts them, Nyree says simply, “ahead of the pack” — and enjoying a real improvement in learning outcomes, too.

We thank the Brooklyn PS 12 team for making us part of their school’s top 10 story, and for sharing their thoughts about how Exemplars helps their students succeed.