Members of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium have voted to approve initial achievement levels for the mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA) assessments that will be administered in 17 states and one territory this school year. The vote marks an important milestone in the development of the assessment system. READ THE PRESS RELEASE
LEARN MORE ABOUT ACHIEVEMENT LEVELS
Smarter Balanced Hires Deputy Executive Director
The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) has appointed Luci Willits as its deputy executive director. Willits joins the state-led consortium December 8. As deputy executive director, Willits will focus on strategy and state services, overseeing communications, policy, and partnerships with higher education. LEARN MORE
Field Test Report Now Available
A report on the Smarter Balanced Field Test is now available. This report presents results from state surveys given to students and adults in 13 Smarter Balanced member states. The Field Test or “test of the test” was administered in the spring of 2014 to more than 4.2 million students across the Consortium, and provided teachers and schools an opportunity to gauge their readiness in advance of the operational assessments in spring 2015. LEARN MORE
New Resources Available on the Support for Under-Represented Students Page
To prepare states across the Consortium for successful implementation of the Smarter Balanced Assessment System, a variety of updates have been made to the Support for Under-Represented Students page. Updated versions of the Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations Guidelines, Accessibility and Accommodations Factsheet, and Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations FAQs are now available.
Steps to transition your medium-sized business, educational institution, or government agency to Google Apps. Includes topics such as email configuration, account provisioning, data migration, mobile device management, and more.
The 2015 U.S. News Best High Schools rankings, released today, feature information on more than 19,000 eligible schools. High school performance has been under the spotlight recently, as the Obama administration announced awards earlier this month totaling more than $100 million to help schools prepare students for in-demand careers in fields including health care, technology and engineering.
The data show that receiving a gold medal is truly a rarity among the public high schools that U.S. News evaluated for this ranking. Only 2.8 percent of eligible schools received a gold medal. That number represents the top 500 schools and is calculated using a combination of state assessments and college readiness scores. Silver medals were awarded to just 8.6 percent of eligible schools.
The School for the Talented and Gifted in Dallas excelled, earning a gold medal along with top honors in the overall national rankings as well as the Best Magnet Schools rankings.
We are now accepting applications for the 2015 Generation Google Scholarship for First Years and Computer Science Summer Institute. Read more about both programs below and apply today!
What’s the difference?:
Computer Science Summer Institute (CSSI) is a three-week introduction to computer science for graduating high school seniors with a passion for technology—especially students from historically underrepresented groups in the field.
The Generation Google Scholarship for high school seniors helps aspiring computer scientists excel in technology and become leaders in the field. Selected students will receive 10,000 USD (for those studying in the US) or 5,000 CAD (for those studying in Canada) for the 2015-2016 school year. as part of the scholarship, current high school seniors who are entering their first year of university in 2015-2016 will be required to attend CSSI in the summer of 2015.
The lack of diversity in Silicon Valley’s mostly white, mostly male workforce has attracted a lot of scrutiny and criticism in recent months. But even if criticism is warranted, the problem originates elsewhere – in early education. That realization has driven several tech companies to action.
Among them is Google, whose $50 million Made with Code initiative seeks to challenge cultural stereotypes and teach girls coding at an early age. California-based startup Play-i, uses toy robots teach kids to code, and Black Girls Code, a non-profit organization, is working to bring minorities into the technology space.
Chatting with TECHtonics, Black Girls Code founder Kimberly Bryant says she launched the non-profit organization in 2010 after she noticed a distinct absence of minorities in technology.
Seattle Public Schools would like to invite all seniors to attend one of the many College Goal Washington Financial Aid Nights happening in January.
Financial aid experts and trained volunteers will be on hand at each event to walk students through the FAFSA process. The FAFSA is the first step in accessing college financial aid. It is required for most scholarships, grants and loans. College Bound Scholarship seniors must complete their FAFSA by February 1st in order to meet the priority funding date.
College Goal Washington Event dates and locations are:
Thursday, January 8th (6:00-8:30pm) @ Roosevelt HS
Monday, January 12th (5-7:30pm) at Franklin HS
Tuesday, January 13th (2:30-6:30pm) @ Cleveland HS
Thursday, January 15th (6:30-8:30pm) @ Chief Sealth HS
Thursday, January 15th (6-8pm) @ Nathan Hale HS
Tuesday, January 20th (6:30-8:30pm) @ West Seattle HS
Wednesday, January 21st (6-8pm) @ Garfield HS
Thursday, January 22nd (3-7pm) @ Rainier Beach HS
These events are open to all seniors in the district.
For additional details and a list of what to bring, visit http://www.roadmaptocollege.org
Dec. 5, 2014 | Career and College Readiness | Phone: (206) 252-007
This toolkit provides leaders with a multi-step decision-making process, practical tools, and numerous examples for setting a trajectory of positive change, moving assertively toward achievement of student learning and improvement goals. The toolkit recognizes that improvements in student learning are related to improvements in educator practice and that strengthened practice is supported by research- and standards-based professional learning.
Navigate through the toolkit using the orange buttons below. You may choose to move linearly from one step to the next, or skip directly to a particular step. You may also access each tool directly from the sidebar.
Determine District Readiness
Go to Step 1
Assess Current Professional Learning
Go to Step 2
Refine Professional Learning
Go to Step 3
Implement Professional Learning
Go to Step 4
Measure Refined Professional Learning
Go to Step 5
Various officials in the Department of Education, as well as Superintendents, discuss the need for transitioning districts, schools, teachers, and classrooms to be prepared for 21st century learning. This includes equity in access to these 21st century learning necessities.
Model View Culture talks to Dr. Jarvis Sulcer, Executive Director of the LPFI.
What is the Level Playing Field Institute? What are your goals and mission?
The Level Playing Field Institute (LPFI) is a non-profit with headquarters in Oakland, California. Our mission is to eliminate the barriers faced by underrepresented people of color in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and foster their untapped talent for the advancement of our nation.
We focus on improving access and opportunity for underrepresented students of color in STEM. Specifically, we operate STEM-focused education programs, execute innovative computer science initiatives, and conduct research on STEM equity and opportunity.
Our main goal for 2014 is to find new ways to fill in the opportunity gaps through our middle- and high school STEM intervention programs. We are creating sustainable partnerships with a variety of partners including schools, non-profit organizations, for-profit companies and university faculty to expand our networks of support for underrepresented students of color pursuing STEM degrees and careers.
As one of more than 16,000 superintendents leading school districts across the nation, you are on the forefront of the transformation of public education. Technology now allows for personalized digital learning for every student in the nation so long as leaders have the technological infrastructure and human capacity in place to ensure success.
The Future Ready District Pledge is designed to set out a roadmap to achieve that success and to commit districts to move as quickly as possible towards our shared vision of preparing students for success in college, careers and citizenship. The U.S. Department of Education seeks to encourage and support superintendents who commit to taking a leadership role in this transition with recognition and resources to help facilitate this transition to digital learning.
In June of 2013, the President launched the ConnectED Initiative to provide 99% of students in the nation with access to high-speed Internet connectivity at the classroom level. Coupled with two billion dollars from the federal E-Rate program, increased flexibility in the use of federal funds, and billions of dollars in additional commitments from the private sector, progress towards improving the nation’s physical infrastructure has already been dramatically accelerated.
However, in order for these resources to leverage their maximum impact on student learning, schools and districts must develop the human capacity, digital materials, and device access to use the new bandwidth wisely and effectively. The Future Ready District Pledge establishes a framework for achieving those goals and will be followed by providing district leaders with additional implementation guidance, online resources, and other support they need to transition to effective digital learning and achieve tangible outcomes for the students they serve.
The U.S. Department of Education is calling on superintendents like you who lead district, charter, and private schools to join us in taking the Future Ready District Pledge and working to develop, implement, and share your technology plan with other districts so they can learn from your successes and challenges along the way.
Thank you for all you are already doing to improve the education for our nation’s students. Do not hesitate to reach out to us for support. We stand ready to help you become a Future Ready district.
Richard Culatta
Director, Office of Educational Technology
Office of the Secretary
Seth Andrew
Senior Advisor & Superintendent in Residence
Office of the Secretary
Young Intelligent and Black 