January 2010
Promising Pathways 2010
| April 10, 2010 | ||
| 8:00 am | to | 5:00 pm |
Mark your calendar for this years’ Promising Pathways Conference at Florida Gulf Coast University. Speaker information and conference agenda are available at www.fgcu.edu/events/promisingpathways. This conference on autism will be presented for physicians, parents and educators with national experts in the research and study of autism and autism spectrum disorders. The conference will offer pertinent information for professionals in the medical and educational fields as well as parents and caregivers, and all those affected by and/or interested in the study of autism.
Saturday April 10, 2010
8:00 am – 4:00 pm
Student Union Ballroom
Florida Gulf Coast University
10501 FGCU Blvd. South
Fort Myers, FL 33965
Registration is required for this event and space is limited. Register early at https://registerce.fgcu.edu/dev_students.asp?action=browse&main=Autism+Conference&misc=532. For more information or question, please contact Stephanie at pdp@fgcu.edu.
Dr. Temple Grandin HBO Premier
HBO movie premier coming in February on the life of Dr. Temple Grandin. “Autism gave her a vision. She gave it a voice.” Claire Danes is the actress who portrays Temple Grandin. The following URL, http://tinyurl.com/yc2gsbx, will take you to the movie trailers for the HBO movie as well as information for the Future Horizons conferences in 2010. Temple Grandin will be a speaker at a number of the Future Horizons conferences this year.
Important Changes in Administration of FTCE and FELE Examinations
Paper based administration will no longer being offered and college based testing sites are being phased out. Testing will be computer based and conducted at Pearson VUE professional testing sites around the state. This will allow a wider range of times and days available for scheduling and quicker turnaround of scores. Please visit the website at http://www.fl.nesinc.com/ for more current updates.
Building New Theories about the Preschool Brain
For much of the past century, educators and scientists believed that children could not learn math before the age of five because their brains simply were not ready, according to The New York Times. Recent research has overturned this assumption, along with other conventional wisdom about the acquisition of geometry, reading, language, and self-control skills in class. The findings from a branch of research called cognitive neuroscience are helping to clarify when young brains are best able to grasp fundamental concepts. Teaching of basic academic skills, once based in tradition and guesswork, is now giving way to approaches based on cognitive science. In several cities including Boston, Washington, D.C., and Nashville, schools are experimenting with curricula to cultivate math skills in preschoolers. In others, teachers are using techniques developed by brain scientists to help children overcome dyslexia. And schools in a dozen states have begun to use a program intended to accelerate the development of young students’ frontal lobes, improving self-control in class. “Teaching is an ancient craft, and yet we really have had no idea how it affected the developing brain,” said Kurt Fischer, director of the Mind, Brain, and Education program at Harvard. “Well, that is beginning to change, and for the first time we are seeing the fields of brain science and education work together.” Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/health/research/21brain.html?_r=1&em.
PIRC February Family Fun Calendar
The Florida Parental Information and Resource Center (PIRC) has created monthly Family Fun Calendars to promote parent involvement. These calendars are available in English at http://www.floridapartnership.usf.edu/documents/Newsletter%20and%20Calendar/Feb10%20CalendarEC.pdf and in Spanish at http://www.floridapartnership.usf.edu/documents/Newsletter%20and%20Calendar/Feb%2010%20calendarSpanish.pdf.
FLDOE VPK Teacher Toolkit
Be sure to visit, explore and share the folders available in the FLDOE VPK teacher toolkit at http://www.flvpkonline.org/teachertoolkit/index2.htm. This toolkit is designed to meet the needs of directors, literacy coaches, teachers, assistants, and parents to support early learning in the VPK classroom. All the information included in these folders aligns with the VPK Education Standards.
Winter 2010 Florida RtI Update Newsletter
The Florida RtI Update is the newsletter published by Florida’s Problem-solving/Response to Intervention Project based at the University of South Florida. The Winter 2010 publication is now available for download at http://floridarti.usf.edu/resources/newsletters/2010/winter2010.pdf. To access the project’s website, go to http://floridarti.usf.edu. If you have difficulty downloading the newsletter, please contact Judi Hyde, Communications Coordinator, Problem Solving/Response to Intervention Project at jhyde@tempest.coedu.usf.edu.
Growth Models and Students with Disabilities Report of State Interviews
This in-depth policy analysis begins with a background that briefly describes accountability requirements from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the assessments states use to meet this requirement. A comparison between the status model for determining performance levels and the growth models is given. Further, a description of three types of growth models that states in a federal pilot program use is given. A summary of the evaluation of this pilot program is provided as well. Fifteen states with approved growth models as part of their accountability system were interviewed. Findings are organized around the following topics:
- Special education staff involvement in the development of growth models;
- How students with disabilities are included in the growth models;
- Training provided on growth models;
- Reporting of growth model results; and
- Benefits and challenges of a growth model.
The document closes with a discussion of the complexity of adding a growth model to a state’s accountability and assessment system; obstacles to including students who participate in alternate assessments based on alternate academic standards in a growth model; and progress in instruction and assessment for this population of students that could ease these obstacles. View this report at http://projectforum.org/docs/GrowthModelsandStudentswithDisabilities-ReportofStateInterviews.pdf.
FAAST Affordable Housing in Florida
In response to the housing crisis directly affecting individuals with disabilities and their families, the Florida Alliance for Assistive Services and Technology, Inc. (FAAST) completely updated their Affordable Housing Website with the most current inventory of affordable housing throughout Florida, in collaboration with the University of Florida’s Shimberg Center for Housing Studies. For more information go to http://www.faast.org/housing.cfm.
US DOE RtI and Early Intervening Services
The US Department of Education has posted information about Response to Intervention and Early Intervening Services. Since publication of the final regulations, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) in the U.S. Department of Education has received requests for clarification of some of these regulations. This is one in a series of question and answer documents prepared by OSERS to address some of the most important issues raised by requests for clarification on a variety of high-interest topics. Read more at
http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/%2Croot%2Cdynamic%2CQaCorner%2C8%2C.
