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"The school field trip has a long history in American public education. For decades, students have piled into yellow buses to visit a variety of cultural institutions, including art, natural history, and science museums, as well as theaters, zoos, and historical sites. Schools gladly endured the expense and disruption of providing field trips because they saw these experiences as central to their educational mission: schools exist not only to provide economically useful skills in numeracy and literacy, but also to produce civilized young men and women who would appreciate the arts and culture. More-advantaged families may take their children to these cultural institutions outside of school hours, but less-advantaged students are less likely to have these experiences if schools do not provide them. With field trips, public schools viewed themselves as the great equalizer in terms of access to our cultural heritage."

Educational software has been around for over 30 years now. In that time we have progressed from graphics that were just made by letters and numbers to programs now with rich graphics and that can really measure student progress in a multitude of areas. My current district has made a big push the last several years to move all software possible to online software. We are now down to just a few titles that are CD/DVD based. These are mostly in the areas of music, art, and special education due to the size of the programs. Below I answer some of the questions that I get from educational administrators:

"Welcome to the Think Tank related to demonstrating proficiency within the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics (Math) through transition-focused activities. We would like your input! Below are two tables of examples of activities that are focused on transition-related skills (e.g., self-advocacy, self-management, knowledge of career options, job-specific skills) connected to specific ELA and Math standards from the Common Core State Standards."

"StoryCorpsU (SCU) is a year-long, cross-disciplinary (language arts, media, history), youth development program designed for 9th and 10th graders to help students develop: Self and social awareness-social and emotional learning competencies; Academic skills-speaking, listening, and analytical and critical thinking; and Strengthened school relationships."

"Transition skills and academic skills can be taught simultaneously. With this tool, we aligned Common Core College and Career Readiness Standards, Common Core Language Arts Standards, and research-identified skills students need to obtain employment or participate in further education after high school. The activities and annual transition goals are arranged on a continuum to accommodate students with the least support needs to students with more support needs."

David Allen, Getting Things Done overview.