Abstract
On the Web
Glass Door
https://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm
Click here for a list of the 25 highest paying jobs in America in 2017! Find out the median base salary, number of job openings in the country, which cities that are hiring in that job industry, and even see actual job postings in your city. This site also allows you to look up companies and see what employees have to say about working there. There is a section that includes interview questions by industry/occupation, general interview questions, and questions that a prospective employee should ask at the job interview.
Pogo
Do you love playing chess? Have you ever wished you had a board and game pieces to play checkers with a friend? As long as you both have access to this website, now you can play virtual games, even if your friend is miles away! This website allows you to play free online games of all kinds—board games, puzzle games, word-search games, and card games. You can even play classic Hasbro board games such as Yahtzee, Scrabble, and Monopoly. From Solitaire to Sodoku, one or multi-player games, Pogo has it all!
Want to Be an Accountant?
https://www.startheregoplaces.com/
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants provides a wealth of information for both students and high school teachers. Students who are interested in a career in accounting can find tips for preparing for college and looking at a pathway through college (finding the right school, getting an internship, etc.) to earn their Certified Public Accountant (CPA). See average salaries earned in different types of accounting jobs. Watch interviews with public accountants, auditors, and financial planners. High school accounting teachers can access practice exercises, lesson plans, online activities, group activities, and even request printed materials at this website.
Online Math Flashcards
https://www.varsitytutors.com/aplusmath/flashcards
Even though we have calculators, knowing basic arithmetic operations will serve you well no matter what degree or job you end up at. This website features online flashcards in basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Headed somewhere without Internet or a computer? No problem at all, there are printable flashcards as well. If you need practice with geometry, inequality signs, or counting money, this website has flashcards, worksheets, and games to help you.
Notable
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According to the College Board,
According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools,
Developing New State Policies That Address Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
In a recent book, Lord and Swanson (2016) described the essentials in developing state policies in gifted education related to these areas: identification, program and curriculum, personnel preparation, and program evaluation. Within each area and for each essential, they provided specific policy examples from different states. For example, state policy examples related to the program and curriculum area included grouping and placement arrangements (i.e., resource room, part-time services, differentiated learning experiences within the school day); contact time (i.e., time gifted students will be together); curricular options (i.e., acceleration and enrichment), higher order thinking, link to standards; student growth assessed through curriculum outcomes (i.e., matching student assessment approaches to curriculum objectives); program modifications for at-risk and highly gifted students (i.e., flexibility in the curriculum and support systems for special populations of gifted students); social-emotional supports, guidance, and counseling; and local advisory committee (Brown, 2016). With the inclusion of gifted and talented in the ESSA, they concluded that education leaders and advocates must understand the new provisions related to gifted and talented students, examine current gifted education policies, and educate district leaders and other stakeholders.
Research Related to the Effects of Ability Grouping and Acceleration
Two meta-analyses synthesized approximately 100 years of research regarding ability grouping and acceleration (Steenbergen-Hu, Makel, & Olszewski-Kubilius, 2016). Ability grouping was defined as (a) placing students into small groups or different classrooms based on initial achievement skill levels, readiness, or abilities; (b) purposefully creating a more homogeneous learning environment where instruction is matched to student needs and students can interact with comparable academic peers; and (c) ensuring placements are not permanent administrative school arrangements that lead to restrictions on students’ graduation, destination, or career paths. The researchers reported that high, medium, and low ability students benefited from within-class ability grouping such as cluster grouping (0.19 ≤ g ≤ 0.30), cross-grade subject ability grouping (i.e., assigning students to different grade levels based on achievement in a particular subject, g = 0.26), and special groupings for the gifted such as pull-out or honors programs (g = 0.37), but did not vary for between-class ability grouping (i.e., assigning students into high, medium, and low classes at the same grade level, 0.04 ≤ g ≤ 0.06). Acceleration practices differ from typical educational experiences on these dimensions: pacing (i.e., rate at which material is taught), salience (i.e., extent to which intervention is observed by others), peers (i.e., degree of separation from same-age peers), access (i.e., availability of options), and timing (i.e., age at which acceleration begins). Accelerated students outperformed their nonaccelerated, same-age peers (g = 0.70) but not nonaccelerated older peers (g = 0.09). Given these results, the authors hope that this accumulated research evidence will catalyze the development of better policy and influence greater implementation of both ability grouping and acceleration in schools.
Actions to Advance Equity
How do state leaders build systems for equity? A guide from The Aspen Institute Education and Society Program and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO; 2017) focuses on ways that education leaders can remove barriers and create the same opportunities for all learners. They describe these 10 actions that state chiefs and state agencies can take to improve educational equity:
Prioritize Equity: Set and Communicate an Equity Vision and Measurable Targets. Analyze data to determine the greatest gaps and root causes.
Start From Within: Focus on the State Education Agency (SEA). Examine how current SEA structures contribute to existing inequities and/or create barriers.
Measure What Matters: Create Accountability for Equity. Include measures of proficiency and growth in the accountability system.
Go Local: Engage Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and Provide Tailored and Differentiated Support. Provide guidance, support, funding, public pressure, and incentives to help LEAs close achievement and opportunity gaps.
Follow the Money: Allocate Resources to Achieve Fiscal Equity. Advocate for fiscal equity and use political influence and authority to allocate resources for closing opportunity gaps.
Start Early: Invest in the Youngest Learners. Expand and target access to high-quality early childhood education programs for children growing up in low-income families.
Engage More Deeply: Monitor Equitable Implementation of Standards and Assessments. Monitor district course offerings, remove financial barriers to college- and career-readiness, ensure that all students have access to high-quality instructional materials, and remove bias in curriculum and assessment.
Value People: Focus on Teachers and Leaders. Ensure equitable access to effective teaching and teachers who are prepared to teach increasingly diverse student populations.
Improve Conditions for Learning: Focus on School Culture, Climate, and Social-Emotional Development. Provide a safe and supportive school environment that is conducive to developing skills, habits, and dispositions that support success in school and beyond.
Empower Student Options: Ensure Families Have Access to High-Quality Educational Options That Align to Community Needs. Ensure access to educational options such as advanced coursework, distance and virtual learning, high-performing schools, specialized schools, and charter schools.
In terms of advanced learners, the authors suggested that stated education agencies should measure academic achievement at multiple performance levels—such as basic, proficient, and advanced—so that all students matter, and not just the “bubble kids” near the proficiency line. This is particularly important for high-achieving, low-income students who are likely to be overlooked by a singular focus on proficiency. (The Aspen Institute Education and Society Program & CCSSO, 2017, p. 10)
They also encouraged districts to accelerate and provide access to Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate, early college high school courses, college-prep courses, and dual enrollment in postsecondary courses.
Tests Used for Accountability Reporting
Education Week recently completed their annual survey of states’ tests that are used for accountability reporting (Gewertz, 2017). The major results from their survey are below:
Twenty states and the District of Columbia administer Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) or Smarter Balanced tests.
Twenty-seven states are using tests they designed or purchased.
Three states administer tests that are a blend of their own, home-designed questions and items from PARCC or Smarter Balanced.
Seven states use PARCC and Smarter Balanced only in Grade 9 or lower.
Twenty-five states require students to take the SAT or ACT.
Twelve states use the ACT or SAT for federal accountability reporting.
Twelve states require students to pass a test to receive a high school diploma.
With the ESSA encouraging states to use college-admissions tests to measure achievement, the survey showed an increase in the number of states that require students to take the ACT or SAT college-admissions exam in high school and a reduced number of states using instruments designed to measure the Common Core (i.e., PARCC and Smarter Balanced).