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This interview provides research that supports an instructional gap based on gender. It mentions how and why girls are outperforming boys academically. The interviewees suggest ways to address the gender gap.

This article definitely examined many factors that could be a cause of an instructional gap, including gender. As I read through the interview, it discussed topics such as "Is it a problem that so few men are teachers? and Is single-sec education a viable strategy for addressing the problem"? My school has discussed creating an all-males 8th grade class, but without seeing proven data that this is in the best interest of the student/school, I don't think I could support this strategy. Great article on gender gaps and how it is effecting our educational system.

Rather interesting article. I work at an all boys school and it is very rewarding to see these young men excel in academics. We also study the male brain and customized our lessons to reach the male brain. Some customization used are brain breaks, water, multimedia and music and many others. Great article

Amazing site of free lessons created by experts geared toward the Common Core State Standards in Math, Social Studies, and English Language Arts

Amazing site of free lessons created by experts geared toward the Common Core State Standards in Math, Social Studies, and English Language Arts

This website outlines dyslexia, how those with dyslexia read differently than what is typical, and how to provide targeted instruction when teaching reading to those with dyslexia.

Students' middle grade attendance is a strong indicator of future high school performance. As such, middle teachers can use such attendance info to identify students who may tend to struggle in high school, and give those students needed support in advance of ninth grade. I have not been able to implement the strategies mentioned (its Summertime!) but I intend to try some this Fall with the 10 or 15 students that I know will be attendance issues in my 8th grade classes.

Like you mentioned, I already know a handful of students going into 8th grade (I teach 6th-8th grade computer technology as a creative arts course) that will be attendance, behavior, and/or low GPA's. I feel like while our schools try to support student learning, we too often push kids through from one grade to the next. I have students this past year who in the semester every other day that I instruct them (45 classes in all), they have missed more than half and yet they promote to the next grade. Each of the five areas highlighted raise good points and I actually find some of the statistics very alarming considering the small differences in percentages. For example, Figure 3 on page 8 depicts two identical students with exact achievement marks in 5th grade. By the time they reach 8th grade, one students attendance improves 2% and the other students attendance drops 4% to a 93% avg. attendance rate. While this doesn't sound like a terrible drop (at least to me), the possibility of these students being on track for 9th grade went from 93% for the student who improved attendance compared to 66% of this student being on track for 9th grade whose attendance dropped just a few percentage points. I think more needs to be done at the school level to improve performance and setup interventions that help our students succeed rather than worrying about the multiple standardized tests that students are required to complete throughout the year. Thank you for sharing! I'm definitely reading over this again as I prepare for the upcoming school year with my middle school students and may even share it with my staff.

Teachers have long associated the benefits of Pre-K when it comes to preparing the youngest learners with early literacy and emergent reading skills. While some policy makers and families are still resistant when it comes to enrolling their very young children in preschool, there is no longer any confusion when it comes to the potential benefits. This policy brief from the National Institute for Early Education Research out of Rutgers, clearly lists and delineates the benefits of such programs when it comes to early literacy. Clear and well-organized, this policy summary and analysis helps to define and provide examples of both family and educational components that can better provide early literacy skills to children before they ever reach kindergarten.

When it comes to helping children with their first tentative steps into literacy and emergent reading skills, educational theorists and teachers alike have long advocated for greater parental involvement. Realistically speaking, it is parents who represent the first and constant source for early reading, and the encouragement needed to help even the youngest students persist in their very first experiences in reading. This article from edutopia helps to illuminate the fact that parents really need to read to their children in order to better prepare them for success in school and with the continually evolving skills associated with emergent reading. Given the fact that such parental involvement is the number one predictor of success in early literacy, the article does a nice job listing and elaborating on ways in which parents can read both to and with their children.

This is an article from the NY Times about how a school in Wisconsin is utilizing data in every area of the school building. It was very eyeopening how a school embraced the data movement and did not shy away from it. Great read.

This article analyzes how closing the Education gap will lead to a dramatic increase in America's GDP. It was very intriguing to see actual data to support investing in education and the positive economic impact it has.

Many schools struggle when it comes to promoting adequate parental involvement in furnishing early literacy and the emergent reading skills of their youngest students. This is especially the case in many Title I schools, in which much of the student population represents portions of both the low-income and at-risk demographic. In order to help bridge this gap, the San Antonio Public School System has enacted their own Title I "Even Start" initiative, in which parents are better prepared to help instill and cultivate early literacy in their children, through their own education. Through this initiative, the school system is providing parents and students with joint: adult education, early childhood education, parent education, and literacy activities. By strengthening the literacy, parenting, and reading skills of parents, San Antonio is wagering that their student population will soon positively reflect this greater emphasis on emergent reading, early literacy, and family involvement.

This article details the difference in achievement that has been attained by the KIPP charter schools in Baltimore, especially in middle schools. Although I was interested in how KIPP succeeded where so many others have failed, I realized that there are many differences between these schools and the school I teach in. (Parent & teacher buy-in, selectivity of the students they serve, etc). As such, I don't think the successes described here would be replicated at my school, with my 8th graders.

A wonderful exploration and introduction into the pedagogy of a fifth grade teacher, Esquith, overcoming many financial burdens in his school district discovered that, during an instance in chemistry when he inadvertently and obliviously set his hair aflame, that children's learning is the only thing that truly matters in education. A fascinating read and an even greater book by a passionate educator.

This is a great article about the late famed educator, Marva Collins, who advocated for less technology and more focus on non-tech problem solving. While not an opponent of using technology, she largely based her outstanding success with children on the following precept: "Though children are exposed to technology (a biology software program is used with four- and five-year-olds, for instance), it is secondary to other lessons. 'I think what most of us fail to understand is there are steps in life,' Collins explains. 'We try to teach children that you cannot skip from step 1 to step 10.'"

This article focuses on a special education teacher and the methods she uses to teach her students reading comprehension. It is a resource for instructional strategies that may help close the instructional gap.

This research paper examines a strategy of using concordance lines to assist L2 students in identifying patterns in the written language to help inform a student's overall writing. The research included one control and one experimental group. Each group was taught by the same instructor, given the same amount of time and writing prompts. Students in both groups were given a set of (5) new vocabulary terms. They were each given a writing prompt prior to learning the words, just after learning the words, and a delayed post-test. The only difference between the (2) groups of students was that the control group was permitted to use a dictionary to assist them in understanding the words, and the experimental group was required to engage in a series of condordance learning activities. These activities presented the experimental group with multiple, short statements from real text, which each modeled use of one of the (5) vocab terms. Students engaged in an analysis of how those terms were used. They studied grammatical aspects of the statement directly related to the key term. Research results indicated that there was significant improvement in the experimental grouping of students in their ability to correctly use each of the (5) new vocabulary terms. Data from the pre, immediate post, and delayed post-writing assessments showed a vast improvement by the students in the experimental group. Those students were able to construct much more well-developed, descriptive statements using the key terms. There was a marked difference in their language control and the level of their writing.

This is a detailed information sheet describing all accommodations that are available in the classroom as well as on the HSA exam (or any state assessments) for ESOL students. This is extremely helpful to decide what kind of accommodations will be useful to provide the students as they practice for the English HSA Exam.

This article is very informative about what is expected of ELL students, and how little accommodations are given to the students when taking tests. The students are required to take benchmarks and state tests without being able to speak english at a specific level.

This article discusses the importance or non-importance of homework. Ideas addressed are homework policy, homework as formative assessment, and emphasis on homework versus achievement. Ultimately, it is suggested that feedback is what is most important.

I selected a source from ERIC that focused somewhat upon the novelty and implementation on PARCC assessments in place of other testing batteries in school systems. This article may help us to a degree in honing our focus of our EQ as to why students grades declined significantly in the third quarter. Discussing issues with the ELA and the Common Core in Massachusetts, the very novelty of the testing led one overwrought educator to even remark, "...I'm not really thinking about PARCC yet. I have too much else to do" (Barrett, 2014, p. 25). Herein, Barrett mentions that field testing was just implemented into 18 states, just last year, and income and resource availability may play a significant role in Massachusetts' national performance leadership on former testing assessments and the Common Core (p. 24). Interesting to note is that the two parts of the PARCC testing, the PBA and the end of year examinations are only one month apart, spanning from March-April, and May-June (p. 25). Barrett, L. (2014). Common core 'A really big reset'. Education Digest, 79(8), 22.

This citation caught my eye because I am a Massachusetts educator and it is still undetermined whether or not the PARCC tests will be implemented in my district again this year. In general I felt that, last year, the assessment took too much time away from instruction. Now the teachers and parents I know seem more uncertain than ever that all our preparation efforts are worth it. I think if we weren't in such an all-fired hurry to raise our scores PARCC could actually develop into a meaningful exercise. Everybody relax!

The achievement gap can be lowered if children are engaged in high quality play and learning before beginning kindergarten.

Caryn, I really enjoyed this article. It thoughtfully portrayed the fact that the achievement gap often starts long before students ever have their first day of kindergarten. For students who are not read to as young children, or engaged in meaningful play and projects, the first few school years are dramatically more difficult. Victoria