General Information
New Special Education Feature
A new area dedicated to special education, The NCCTQ Connection, has gone live on the NCCTQ website. This new online space includes links to resources on the five key special education topic areas: assessment, behavior, inclusive practices, instructional strategies, and reading/literacy.
Visit: http://www.ncctq.org/connection/ to view the special education addition.
NEW PDP AT FGCU WEBSITE
The Personnel Development Partnership (PDP) at Florida Gulf Coast University has updated their website! Learn about upcoming PDP events, find information about tuition assistance programs, access past newsletters, and utilize resources on scholarships and other financial aid resources.
Check it out! http://pdp.fgcu.edu/
Resiliency Strategies Can Change the Culture of Dropout Factories
Every nine seconds, another student drops out of school in America. The most recent national statistics peg the national high school graduation rate at only 69.9 percent. These sobering statistics have astonishing implications for our economy and our ability to compete globally, not to mention the daily lives of those dropouts and their communities. According to a new report, authored by Kelly Hupfeld, a research associate at the Center for Education Policy Analysis at the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, research shows that decreasing the dropout rate can only happen on a student-by-student basis. Hupfeld says that the focus must be turned to individuals, because students drop out for a myriad of personal reasons. Consequently, the best dropout prevention strategies lock on to students as individuals and engage them in school and teach the m the skills they need to cope with difficult times. Resiliency-based programs, which help students develop the skills and relationships they need to succeed inside and outside the classroom, can be incredibly effective in preventing high school dropouts. Still, there is no foolproof method to identify students who will drop out of school, as dropping out seems to be a function of multiple factors across multiple domains.
To read more of this article visit: http://scholarcentric.com/key_facts_at_risk_students_dropouts_resiliency_skills.html
CLOSE EARLY CHILDHOOD ACHIEVEMENT GAPS BY READING, STORY-TELLING
Currently, Latino children represent 21.4 percent of the early childhood population and that figure is supposed to grow by 146 percent by 2050. However, relative to the size of this population, little research exists that is focused on Latino infant and child development. One such study recently released by the Harvard Family Research Project involved an examination of the characteristics and early predictors of infant development and parenting. The study’s researchers found that family engagement for all children is vital, regardless of social, cultural or ethnic group. The study also notes that there is no difference in cognitive or motor competencies between Latino children and their white peers at nine months of age. According to results from other studies, school readiness differences are found as early as at kindergarten age between Latino and white children. This finding might help point to th e period in development when the divide occurs between the two groups. While few differences in parenting behaviors exist across ethnic groups, Latino families are less likely to read books and share stories with their children than parents from other ethnic backgrounds.
For more information visit:
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/fine/resources/digest/infants.html
Partners in Policymaking Resource
Free online resource to consider integrating into your own training efforts. Five Partners in Policymaking online courses offer a source of valuable information. They include:
• Partners in Time - Connects the history of people with disabilities in today’s reality.
• Partners in Education - Strategies for attaining the educational services students deserve and a detailed look at the education system.
• Making Your Case - Advocacy strategies and community organizing to create systemic change.
• Partners in Employment - Identifying personal interests and strengths and translating them into employment opportunities.
• Partners in Living - Obtaining appropriate housing and independent living services, family support, assistive technology, and self-determination.
Each course can be accessed at no charge at: www.partnersinpolicymaking.com.
Virtual Exception Student Education Online Distance Leaning
Program: Spring 2008
The following course are being sponsored by the Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Activities to assist teachers seeking endorsement in Autism, Severe and Profound Disabilities, and/or Pre-K Disabilites.
• Identification and Assessment of Individuals with Low Incidence Disabilties
• Nature of Severe and Profound Disabilities: Theory and Educational Practice
• Assessment and Methods in Early Childhood Special Education
• Typical ad Atypical Development for Young Children
To enroll in this classes students must have email and internet capabilities. Students will need to register with the participating university near them. For more information on this classes please contact Dr. Lori Massey, Director of Florida’s State Personnel Development Grant at (772) 462-7190 or at lmassey@ircc.edu.
GenevaLogic Foundation Initiatives
The GenevaLogic Foundation supports initiatives that further the innovative use of technology to improve teaching and learning, and provides programs and grants to provide educators with resources and technology products to advance education.
Maximum Award: $10,000 value
Eligibility: accredited, not-for-profit K-12 schools and community colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.
Deadline: December 28, 2007.
For more information visit: http://www.genevalogicfoundation.org/
The Young Poets Contest
The Christian Science Monitor’s 12th annual Young Poets Contest is now accepting submissions. Winners will be published in the paper in early January.
Eligibility: students attending preschool through high school.
Deadline: December 14, 2007.
Csmonitor.com - Young Poet’s
How Well Do You and Your Community Support Education?
The Give Kids Good Schools quiz on “How Much Do You and Your Community Do To Support Public Education-” asks people five questions about how involved they are in supporting public education and five questions about how involved they think their communities are. Upon completion, respondents immediately see how they and their communities compare with those of others taking the quiz. The quiz is intended for a wide audience and should provide valuable insight into the level of care a public school system receives.
The website for the quiz: http://www.givekidsgoodschools.org/main/act.cfm
Making the Schoolhouse ROCK! Teaching Core Subjects Through Music
For years, researchers have studied whether music education raises IQ points, test scores, spatial sense and math and verbal skills, reports Michael Alison Chandler in the Washington Post. Definitive results are scarce, but experts agree that music sparks memory. Just think of what wonders the alphabet song has accomplished over the decades. And as music classes are squeezed out of many schools in order to permit more time on math and reading, teachers are looking for new ways to integrate music into classrooms. In the past three years, nearly 200 artists have contributed to a Michigan-based website, http://SongsforTeaching.com, which offers music for the core subjects, but also for foreign languages, special education and classroom management. One Loudon County, V a. teacher, Eric Chandler, writes his own songs, finding his inspiration in the Virginia Standards of Learning. Chandler embraced musical pedagogy after learning about the teaching method called Quantum Learning, which encourages music to keep students engaged and focused. According to Chandler, after winter break each year, a handful of students come in with new guitars wanting to learn class tunes. Other students are simply happy to sing, and learn, along.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/22/AR2007102202243_pf.html
