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Personal Finance is life skill that students will use from childhood into adulthood.

Students, by the time they are in high school, should hopefully be able to motivate themselves and be ready to take higher math classes like algebra, geometry and statistics. Unfortunately, in our American society many people have a fear of math and numbers, suffer from a lack of motivation and rarely have a strong foundation to stand on for the math skills required by high school courses.

Additional information about milestones and K-12 math curriculum is available on The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Web site. NCTM's Principles and Standards for School Mathematics outlines grade-by-grade recommendations for classroom mathematics instruction for both content matter and process.

I thought that this was an interesting article because it touched on the social aspect of learning and achievement gaps and not so much on the academic.

This is not an article but a diagram that shows how learning gaps in lower grades continue and get more pronounced as a student moves on. I felt that this was important to me because I teach 1st grade. As teachers we need to lessen the learning gaps early.

Great article about how different states and communities reduced the achievement gap. It mentions Maryland, and states that MD provides extra instruction for students who are not on track to pass the High School Assessment. But I think it would be a lot more useful to provide extra instruction at lower grades to reduce the achievement gap early on.

This is a document provided by the NEA on how schools can improve students reading achievement in school. I like this resource because it breaks down steps school can use from teachers, students and parents to improve reading. It starts by discussing literacy skills taught in kindergarten and goes into talking about text meaning for older students. Great resource!

This article talks about seeing all students as part of your classroom. I personally like how it lists things to think about when instructing students. Although some will think these are no brainers, its always good to reflect on yourself as an educator. Especially when it comes to students with IEPs and 504s. I also liked how it reminds educators to reflect on the whole student and think about forces outside the school that greatly affect the students performance in the classroom.

Many great ideas for activities to differentiate addition and subtraction for elementary students.

This article discusses how effective professional development has an impact on improving student learning. The author examines what "effective" professional development looks like and why it's important.

Smith points out that although children learn to count, they may not understand the concept of number. He posits that the world of mathematics must be entered, explored, and used principally through reason and that only a few mathematical concepts are learned via the senses or spoken language

Physical education is shifting gears in a major way to help students become more comfortable and successful in PE. Introducing technology is a new way to engage students in PE other than just rolling the ball out on to the floor. Recognizing that obesity is a huge problem in the US, teachers are turning to technology to help motivate students and present PE in a new fun light.

Here are some resources and practices to help teachers understand blended learning, an approach that combines face-to-face instruction with technology-mediated learning.

This article summarizes how one school used a blended differentiated curriculum to reduce the achievemnt gap between poor and wealthy students. What I found interesting about this approach is that the authors said, "That engagement in learning is enhanced when students' interests and choices are considered." This is a different approach to how some schools use differentiation and the change didn't happened over night. The school made a lot of adjustments, including re-writing the curriculum and setting specific learning objectives. However, they were successful because they saw an improvement in student achievement.

This website offers fun, interactive, online games for students to play over the summer to assist in closing their learning gap. This would be a great resource for teachers to give to their students at the end of the school year, or even over long breaks, for them to practice skills they are lacking.

The main takeaway from this resource for me was where the onus falls for the learning gap. Unlike the instruction gap, the learning gap seems more focused on the student needing to bring up their learning to ensure that they maintain over the summer, or reach new levels. The common denominator is that these all seem to take place outside of the classroom. However, I could see a teacher recommend these resources to different groups or having centers set up to ensure that students are working in areas that they need to improve to close their learning gaps during class time.

Resources and exposure to programs like this are imperative for underprivileged students who's family's do not have an understanding of how to maintain and increase their child's educational progress during the summer.