The Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) conducted an analysis of deeper learning skills on behalf of the Hewlett Foundation to create a crosswalk between the Deeper Learning Skills (DLS) and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The purpose of the crosswalk was to understand the ways in which strategies for deeper learning relate to the CCSS.
This comparison was not solely or simply an alignment study, although some elements of content alignment methodology were employed in the first round of review. Alignment studies are used to determine matches between sets of standards or between a set of standards and one or more assessments. Because the DLS are not a set of content standards, nor are they an assessment, it is not appropriate to use alignment methodology exclusively when exploring relationships between the DLS and content standard systems such as the CCSS.
