AoW #1 -- High School GPA & Future Income Name: ______

Directions:
●  Complete the “Reading for Meaning” page.
●  Annotate the article purposefully (use the margins to develop thoughts you’d like to expand upon in the written reflection).
●  Write a well-developed They Say / I Say response to the author’s argument(s) -- not merely a summary of the article -- on your own sheet of paper (Guidelines on back sheet).
Guidelines:
a.  Clever title properly capitalized.
b.  Uses They Say / I Say template to fully develop both the author’s and the writer’s arguments.
c.  Appropriately leads into, blends, parenthetically cites, and discusses at least one quote or key fact / statistic from the article.
d.  Explain each quote and discuss your reaction to it (agree or disagree).
e.  Concluding sentences.
f.  250+ words, NEAT, LEGIBLE, NO DISTRACTING ERRORS.

How Will This Be Graded?

Reading / Writing
4-5 Strong effort. Mature thinking is obvious. The student makes several margin notes, showing thoughtful interaction with the text. The student circles and defines unknown or challenging words. Margin notes show that the reader is asking questions, identifying main ideas, and connecting to the focus question. Reading for Meaning statements are supported or refuted with relevant evidence. / 3 Adequate effort. The student interacts with the text, but may struggle to dig deep. The student may circle and define unknown or challenging words. Margin notes show that the reader is using some reading strategies to improve comprehension. Reading for Meaning statements are attempted. / 2 Some effort. Interaction with the text is basic. Margin notes are there but do not demonstrate that the reader is thinking deeply about the text. Reading for Meaning statements are not all completed.
0-1 Little to no effort displayed. Margin notes may not even be there. Reading for Meaning statements are not attempted.
/ 5 Outstanding effort. The student obviously proofed this paragraph, focusing on neatness and accuracy. Exceeds all requirements. / 4 Good effort. The product is neat and legible. Meets all requirements.
3 Adequate effort. The product is legible. Meets most requirements. / 2 Weak effort. The student only completed some of the task.
0-1 The student completed little to none of the task.
Total AoW Grade:
______/10

Reading for Meaning Statements

Directions: The purpose of this page is to hone your ability to gather textual evidence to support or refute a statement and to focus your reading on some key points in the article. For each statement below, circle whether the text agrees or disagrees with it, and, in the space provided, share quoted, textual evidence to support your agreement or disagreement.

Agree? / Statements / Your Evidence (cite page and paragraph; briefly explain)
yes
no
/ 1. It doesn’t pay off to work hard on your GPA while in high school.
yes
no
/ 2. Getting a college degree doesn’t usually mean you’ll make more in your lifetime than someone without a college degree.
yes
no
/ 3. There is a gap between how much men generally earn and how much women generally earn.

Here’s how much your high school grades predict your future salary

By Jonnelle Marte for WaPo, May 20, 2014

High school teachers often try -- sometimes to no avail-- to convince students that how well they do in school will matter later in life.

Now they have data to prove it. A report published Monday in the Eastern Economic Journal by researchers from the University of Miami found that a person's grade-point average in high school not only indicates the person's chances of getting into college and whether he or she will finish college or graduate school. It could also be an indicator of how much that person will earn later in life.

"A one-unit increase in your GPA has a very sizable impact on your education and earnings," says Michael T. French, director of the health economics research group at the University of Miami.

Indeed, for a one-point increase in a person's high school GPA, average annual earnings in adulthood increased by about 12 percent for men and about 14 percent for women, the report found. (Men and women were looked at separately since women have lower average earnings than men, making about $30,000 on average in adulthood compared with the average of $43,000 for men.)

The findings also show that people with better grades were more likely to keep studying after high school. For instance, a one-point increase in GPA doubles the chance for both genders that a person will complete college, increasing that probability from 21 percent to 42 percent. Better grades were also linked to a greater probability of going to graduate school and earning another advanced degree.

French and his team surveyed 4,694 men and 5,525 women between the ages of 24 and 34, or roughly 10 years out of high school, and calculated their high school GPAs based on their transcripts (none of the grades were self-reported). French says his team controlled for other factors that could affect a student's grades, such as family size, innate ability and the parents' education.

The correlation between high school grades and overall educational attainment was strongest for minorities. African American and Hispanic men were actually more likely to go to college and graduate school than whites with similar GPAs, says French, a sign that minority students with good grades may be more motivated to finish school and advance their education.

It's well documented that going to college can improve a person's future earnings, but a separate study released earlier this year shows that the earnings gap between college graduates and high school grads is getting wider over time. Men who were born between 1960 and 1964 and graduated from college earned a median of $802,000 in cumulative earnings by the time they were in their mid 40s, up from $687,000 for men born between 1940 and 1944, according to a report released by the Urban Institute last month. Meanwhile, median earnings for high school graduates fell from $435,000 to $243,000 over that same time period, points out Josh Mitchell, a research economist for the institute.

Written Response

Use Graff/Birkenstein’s They Say / I Say template to identify, pull apart, and respond to the article above. Your response should be at least 250 words.

1.  Clever title, properly capitalized.

2.  Uses They Say / I Say template to fully develop both the author’s and the writer’s arguments.

3.  Accurately identifies a central claim of the article.

4.  Appropriately leads into, blends, cites, and discusses at least one quote or key fact / statistic from the article.

5.  Explains each quote and discusses your reaction to it (agree or disagree).

6.  Concluding sentences.

7.  250+ words, NEAT, LEGIBLE, NO DISTRACTING ERRORS.

Self-Editing Checklist

I've read through my response, stopping and correcting anything that sounds wordy, awkward, or redundant.
I have led into and smoothly blended at least one quotation from the article.
I've properly cited the quotation using parenthetical citation.
I've capitalized and properly formatted the article title:
Ex.) "Miss America and Social Media’s Ignorant Bigotry" by Leonard Pitts
I have used logical, appropriate transitions in my response.
My paragraph ends with a logical concluding sentence which sums things up.
My response is at least 250+ words in length. I've written my word count at the bottom of the paragraph or as a comment on the Doc.
It may sound simple, but I've made sure to capitalize the first word in each sentence.
Each sentence has a complete thought. NO SENTENCE FRAGMENTS.
Sentences are separated by appropriate punctuation. NO RUN-ONS.

Title: ______

The general argument made by author X in her/his work, ______, is that ______. More specifically, X argues that ______. She/he writes, “______.” In this passage, X is suggesting that ______. In conclusion, X’s belief is that ______.

In my view, X is wrong/right, because ______. More specifically, I believe that ______. For example, ______. Although X might object that ______, I maintain that ______. Therefore, I conclude that ______.

Page 1