The Gazette Extra – Jonah Beleckis 
New research from the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy draws attention to the higher-achieving end of that classroom distribution. It’s coauthored by Scott Peters, a UW-Whitewater associate professor of educational foundations who specializes in “advanced learners.” The paper is titled “How can so many students be invisible? Large percentages of American students perform above grade level.” Peters’ research warns against a system of teaching rigidly to grade level, where the primary focus is getting students to meet benchmarks rather than focusing on the substantial student population that learns above the target. The current system drives the implicit idea that because a school knows a child’s age and grade level, it will know what to teach that child, Peters said.(more)