; and (B) fosters a collaborative culture to— (i) support educator development, effectiveness, and student learning; (ii) support access and use research to improve practice and student learning; (iii) promote professional learning for continuous improvement; (iv) facilitate improvements in instruction and student learning; promote the appropriate use of assessments and data for school and district improvement; (v) improve outreach and collaboration with families and community; (vi) advance the profession by shaping and implementing policy; and (vii) advocate for increased access to great teaching and learning for all students. (32) Teaching skills The term teaching skills means skills that enable a teacher to— (A) increase student learning, achievement, and the ability to apply knowledge; (B) effectively convey, and explain, and provide opportunities for students to apply academic subject matter; (C) effectively teach higher-order analytical, evaluation, problem-solving, critical thinking, social and emotional, collaboration, and communication skills; (D) employ strategies grounded in the disciplines of teaching and learning that— (i) are based on empirically-based practice and evidence-based research, where applicable, related to teaching and learning; (ii) are specific to academic subject matter; and (iii) focus on the identification of students’ specific learning needs, particularly students with disabilities, students who are English-learners, students who are gifted and talented, and students with low literacy levels, and the tailoring of academic instruction to such needs; (E) design and conduct an ongoing assessments of student learning, which may include the use of formative assessments, performance-based assessments, project-based assessments, or portfolio assessments, that measures higher-order thinking skills (including application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation) and use this information to inform and personalize instruction