Resources

• ACT website
• Colorado Department of Education
• Colorado Department of Higher Education

• Practical Guides:
  • ACT guide, from CDE
  • Information for students, from ACT
  • Practice sample questions, from ACT

• AP website
• AP course offerings
• CDE website
• Information for students and families

• Bulletin for AP Students and Parents (PDF)
• Bulletin for AP Students and Parents (Spanish) (PDF)
• Additional resources
  Course and exam descriptions, sample free-response questions and scoring guidelines, study skills, and test-taking tips

Advisory

• Book: How to Design an Advisory System for a Secondary School by Mark F. Goldberg. Available at ASCD.
• Changing Systems to Personalize Learning: The Power of Advisories

Performance Outcomes

Asia Society has developed a series of tools to clarify global competency goals, and help students and teachers document the contribution toward achieving those goals. For each subject area and for global leadership, they provide a rationale and series of tools to show what students need to know and be able to do.

The “I Can Statements” are aimed at students, describing in first-person voice what the student will be able to do in the benchmarked 5th, 8th, 10th, and 12th grade years.

A rubric lists specific evidence students demonstrate as they progress towards global competency. This is a tool for students and teachers alike. Download these tools for free.

Rubrics

• On Rubrics and Models, Part 2: A Dialogue | Grant Wiggins
• Designing Rubrics (Video)
• Assessment for learning as background knowledge to inform rubric design
• Tame the Beast: Tips for designing and using rubrics, Andrew Miller

Portfolio Defense

• Envision Learning Partners

Service Learning

• Engaged For Success: Service-Learning for Dropout Prevention (PDF)
• Service-Learning as Evidence-Based Practice (PDF)
• Colorado Service-Learning Council
• Free Service-Learning Webinar Series

Links To Programs Listed In The Guidebook

• Career Clusters
• Career Pathways
• Colorado CTE standards cross-walked to Colorado academic standards
• Colorado Workforce Development Council (CWDC)
• Concurrent Enrollment
• CTE (Career and Technical Education)
  • Technical Skills Attainment
  • CTE Advisory committees
• Plans of Study
• Stackable Credentials:
  • Credential Resource Guide
  • Scaling Stackable Credentials
• Sector Partnerships:
  • Sectors
  • Colorado Workforce Development Council
  • Sector Strategies
  • Career Pathways and Sector Partnerships in Colorado

State Level Examples

Several Schools, Districts And Organizations Have Developed Tools And resources to support the effective implementation of industry certifications.

• Florida
• Georgia
• Maine
• Maryland (click on Divisions and then Career and College Readiness)
• Mississippi
• Pennsylvania
• Texas
  • Industry Certification Guide
• Utah
• Virginia

District And School Initiatives

• Brevard Public Schools, Florida
• Douglas County School District, Colorado

Alternative Opportunities To Gain Knowledge

• Mean What You Say (PDF)
  Defining and integrating personalized, blended and competency education. International Association for k-12 Online Learning (iNACOL)
• A K-12 Federal Policy Framework for Competency Education (PDF)
  Building Capacity for Systems Change. Competency Works, Issue Brief

Additional Resources 

Credit Recovery And Competency-based Programs

• Clearing the Path (PDF)
  Creating innovation Space for Serving Over-Age, Under-Credited Students in Competency-Based Pathway

• Talent Search Programs: The Talent Search as an Identification Model
• Interest and strength-based inventories “Motivation and Learning”
• Cognitive Abilities Test
• Peer and self-referrals: NAGC White paper: National Association for Gifted Children : Identifying and Serving Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Gifted Students (PDF)

• Teachers or mentor/outside mentor referrals
• College in Colorado (CIC)
• Iowa Acceleration Scale
• ICAP development (exploration of career pathways) (PDF)
• Alignment with ALP goals and priorities
• Autonomous Learner Profile (ALM) “Profiles of the Gifted and Talented”

Web Resources

• Academic Acceleration:
• Breaking Ranks in the Middle
• College in Colorado
• Early Decision and Early Action
• Grade Skipping: Less School Can Mean More Learning
• High School Reform and Gifted Students
• John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth
• Lost in Space, the Information Gap
• “Major Area of Interest” (MAI)
• The Middle School to College Connection
• Northwestern Center for Talent Development
• Multipotentiality: Issues and Considerations for Career Planning
• Smooth Transitions
• Talent on the Sidelines
• A Voice From the Middle:
• What About Students Who Drop Out?

Teaching Strategies

• Talent Search Programs: The Talent Search as an Identification Model
• Interest and strength-based inventories “Motivation and Learning”
• Cognitive Abilities Test
• Non-verbal Abilities Tests - NNAT
• Peer and self-referrals - NAGC White paper
  National Association for Gifted Children: Identifying and Serving Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Gifted Students
• Teachers or mentor/outside mentor referrals
• College in Colorado (CIC)
• Iowa Acceleration Scale
• ICAP development (exploration of career pathways)
• Alignement with ALP goals and priorities
• Autonomous Learner Profile (ALM) “Profiles of the Gifted and Talented”

• Performance Based Diploma
• Move on when Ready
• Credit by examination:
  • Galveston Independent School District, SAGE Program
  • Credit Assessment, Hopkins Schools
• Career Pathways Programs
• Competency-Based Pathways:
  • CompetencyWorks
  • The Learning Edge (PDF)
  • Strengthening High School Teaching and Learning in New Hampshire’s Competency-Based System
• Capstone Projects
  Virginia’s College and Career Ready Initiative, Grade 12 English Capstone Course Content and Performance Expectations
• Major Area of Interest (PDF)
• Dual credit/concurrent enrollment:
  • ASCENT
  • Concurrent Enrollment

• Advanced Placement (AP)
• International Baccalaureate (IB)
• Starting and Maintaining a Quality Internship Program
• Internships and Mentorships
  • Anchorage School District
  • Professionals Providing Experiences for Life
• Governor’s Schools: Governor's Schools give gifted students academic and visual and performing arts opportunities beyond those normally available in the students' home schools. Each program stresses non-traditional teaching and learning techniques.
  • Virginia Governor's School Program
  • The Governor's School of North Carolina
• Design-Thinking Process: Problem-based Learning Projects
• Academic Competitions
• Virginia, Secondary GT Challenge Handbook:
• Acceleration and/or Radical Acceleration
• Differentiated Teaching Strategies
• Career Planning for Gifted and Talented Youth
• Stress and Anxiety, Helping Gifted Kids Cope

Resources

• National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO)
• Mountain Plains Regional Resource Center (MPRRC)
• Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE)
• LRP Publications
• Office of Civil Rights (OCR)

Tools

• CDE Indicator 13 Compliance Tips
• Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and training for IEP teams
• Work Keys Assessment on job readiness and academic skills
• Institute for Community Inclusion
• National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center

Fact Sheets

• Graduation Guidelines Menu of Options (PDF)

Toolkits

• PWR Playbook, and implementation guide for ICAP and other Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness (PWR) initiatives (October 2020) 
• PWR Tools, Resources and Promising Practices (October 2020)
• Graduation Guidelines Engagement Toolkit (September 2015) (PDF)
• ICAP Implementation Toolkit (December 2014) (PDF)

Presentations

• Douglas County Schools website and Graduation Guidelines Video
• Englewood Schools- Graduation Guidelines (Powerpoint - 2014))
• Mesa 51-Preparing Our Graduates for the 21st Century (Prezi)