Julia A. Simms

Julia A. Simms is an education author and director of content and resources at Marzano Resources, where she leads teams in developing research-based materials and supports educators in implementing them in K–12 settings. A former classroom teacher, gifted education specialist, teacher leader, and coach, she has extensive experience in literacy instruction, differentiation, instructional technology, and school- and district-level professional development. Her areas of expertise include effective instruction, learning progressions and proficiency scales, assessment and grading, argumentation and reasoning skills, and literacy development. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College and master’s degrees in educational administration and K–12 literacy from Colorado State University and the University of Northern Colorado.

Simms has coauthored multiple works on classroom practice and assessment, including Coaching Classroom Instruction, Guide on the Side: Sequencing Instruction for Self-Regulated Learners, Where Learning Happens: Leveraging Working Memory and Attention in the Classroom, Questioning Sequences in the Classroom, and Assessment Literacy for Educators: Rethinking the What, Why, and How of Assessment and Grading. Her other publications include Vocabulary for the Common Core, Teaching Argumentation: Activities and Games for the Classroom, *Teaching Reason