Abstract
On the Web
Active Indoor Party Games for Kids
https://www.verywellfamily.com/active-indoor-party-games-for-birthdays-and-more-1257355
Could your family use more ideas for keeping everyone entertained since we are spending more time at home now? This website features ideas for indoor games and competitions to keep kids moving. There are ideas for calm party games to promote collaboration such as passing bubbles, building structures with paper cups, follow the (secret) leader and more. There are also classic party games such as freeze dance, treasure hunts, and balloon stomps that parents can make harder or easier.
Kids’ Science Projects & Experiments
https://www.sciencemadesimple.com/
Visit this site to find easy home and school science projects using common household items to answer questions such as why leaves change color in the fall, what static electricity is, and why the sky is blue. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology OpenCourseWare even used images and explanations in the “Why is the Sky Blue?” experiment in an online course on applied nuclear physics!) Learn the scientific method that you will use for the science fair and in science class later on in school. Sample science projects on topics such as botany, ecology, nutrition, and microbiology can be found here.
Enchanted Learning
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html
Enchanted Learning provides online materials for K-12 grades. Here you can find color-by-number sheets, sample budget worksheets, animal printouts, printable activity calendars, and more on a wide range of topics. The dinosaur page features geologic time chairs, dinosaur quizzes, and information on fossils. There is also a site that matches your critical reading and math SAT scores to find colleges where students have a similar SAT profile. Additional material is available for a small yearly subscription.
TRYEngineering
https://tryengineering.org/teachers/
K-12 science teachers, check out this web page! The aim of this web page is to foster the next generation of technology innovators. Lesson plans on transformers, solar power, DC motors, AC motors, drones, optics, virtual reality, and many other topics are ready for you to download. Lessons are sorted by age range. Worksheets are available for many of the lessons and a curriculum alignment sheet is also included.
Evidence Base for Advanced Programs
Focusing on studies that measure the effectiveness of specific kinds of advanced educational programs, Plucker and Callahan (2020) identified these three strategies with the strongest research base:
Acceleration. Acceleration may be grade-based where students spend less time in the K-12 system (e.g., early entrance to kindergarten, skip grades) or content-based where students receive accelerated curriculum (e.g., above level, advanced placement). This practice has positive effects on student achievement and is not detrimental to students’ social engagement and emotional well-being.
Ability grouping. Flexible ability grouping provides opportunities for students to be grouped and regrouped for instruction based on their strengths and needs, which is different from tracking, which is more permanent. The most positive effects occur when the curriculum is differentiated for the student.
Curricular interventions. Pre-differentiated, prescriptive curricula for advanced learners results in more advanced outcomes than grade-level curricula or enrichment opportunities. This curriculum has clearly stated learning outcomes, strategies for formative assessment, directions on how to use the assessment data to modify curriculum and instruction, lesson plans that reflect the modifications, and assessments for varied learning levels.
The authors also mention enrichment, advanced placement, and international baccalaureate as having strong evidence but needing additional research, particularly experimental designs were demographic and aptitude variables are controlled.
Building Racial Equity
Education Week (Samuels, 2020) asked six district leaders to share specific practices and processes they used in their school systems to promote equity. These leaders were from Omaha, NE, Akron, OH, Oklahoma City, OK Austin, TX, Jefferson County, KY, and Ithaca, NY. They identified these system-wide practices:
Define the Terms. A committee of educators and community members need to have a common definition of educational equity that applies to anyone in the school district (see https://district.ops.org/DEPARTMENTS/Equity-and-Diversity).
Draw on Community Expertise. Districts need to enlist the support of community leaders and adapt best equity practices to the education environment (see https://www.cleargov.com/ohio/school/akron-city).
Rethink Boundaries, Resources, and Staffing. School districts need to reconfigure boundaries, examine teacher quality, class sizes, and resources to increase access to programs and services (see https://www.okcps.org/domain/1312).
Build a Framework to Guide Decisions. Frameworks need to be created for school leaders to guide their work and consider whether diverse voices with actual power are represented in the process; if the solutions proposed actually work for marginalized populations; and if there are built-in accountability measures so that school leaders can see the impact of their decisions (see https://www.austinisd.org/equityoffice/framework).
Identify Key Questions to Ask. District leaders need to develop questions that must be answered before new practices and policies are implemented. These questions relate to meaningful involvement of racial/ethnic groups, equitable practices, unintended consequences, and improvement of inequities (see https://www.jefferson.kyschools.us/department/diversity-equity-poverty-division/school-based-decision-making/council-member-resources).
Build an Equity Dashboard. Create an equity report card that allows users, which include educators and community members, to examine data such as graduation rates, grade-level reading rates, performance on state assessments, and participation in special programs for monitoring of inequities (see https://sites.google.com/icsd.k12.ny.us/erc).
Safe Environments for Girls of Color
Girls of color are frequently suspended from school for subjective offenses based on race and gender. Even in preschool, Black girls make up 20% of girls enrolled but 53% of girls who receive out-of-school suspensions. To examine over-exclusionary policies, the Education Trust partnered with the National Women’s Law Center (2020) to identify large school districts that have replaced exclusionary discipline policies with restorative discipline practices and to develop a checklist to improve school climate for addressing the needs of girls of color. The checklist may be used to assess existing systems and make changes where students feel safe, have a supportive academic and physical environment; experience positive social and emotional growth; and have respectful, trusting, and caring relationships. The checklist includes these categories: data, discipline policies and practices, support for systemwide policy change, and culture and communication.