News from the IDEA Partnership   

News from Our Partner Organizations

 Legislative Commissions and Task Forces: Developing Strategies to Meet Completion & Workforce Challenges

This new ECS StateNote shows how commissions and task forces are charged to address improving college completion and workforce readiness. The policy analysis shows the diversity of approaches to emerging problems and how commissions are charged to address them.

National Education Association (NEA)

and the Educational Testing Service (ETS)

Toward Increasing Teacher Diversity:Targeting Support and Intervention for Teacher Licensure Candidates

This article discusses how early test preparation can help reduce the score gaps between white and nonwhite teacher candidates on the Praxis exams.

RTI Action Network

Video: RTI with English Language Learners

This is the first of three new videos from the RTI Action Network. It provides recommendations on how to implement RTI with respect to English Language Learners (ELLs), with a special emphasis on enhancing the quality of core instruction.

Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS)

Safe and Supportive Schools website

States, school districts and communities can find out how to get help from the Safe and Supportive Schools TA Center; register for events that feature experts from the field; locate high-quality products, tools and research by role and topic; learn about what other states are doing to measure and improve school climate; and read the latest news on school climate issues at the website for the Department's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) 

Projections of Education Statistics to 2019: Thirty-eighth Edition, March 2011

The report predicts increases in public school enrollment for Hispanics, Asians and American Indian/Alaska Native populations, and decreases for whites and blacks. Geographic increases are expected in the South and West, and decreases will occur in the Northeast and Midwest according to the report.

The National Center for Education Statistics has developed a series of technical briefs to assist states with their development of Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems.

• Basic Concepts and Definitions for Privacy and Confidentiality in Student Education Records
• Data Stewardship: Managing Personally Identifiable Information in Electronic Student Education Records
• Statistical Methods for Protecting Personally Identifiable Information in Aggregate Reporting

 Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) 

The Department of Education has established a new Privacy Technical Assistance Center  within the National Center for Education Statistics. The center will serve as a one-stop resource for the P-20 community on privacy, confidentiality and data security in education.  It will also develop a toolkit, a library of resources and checklists for data governance plans, as well as provide technical assistance site visits to states and coordinate regional meetings to share training materials. 

NICHCY has unveiled a new website along with some new features. To help parents and other stakeholders find the most appropriate resources for supporting children with disabilities, NICHCY has created a searchable data base of state-level organizations.   State Organizations, which is a 'Quick Links' menu item that lets website visitors select from state agencies, disability organizations, organizations for parents, or other disability organizations.  The user can select a state and click the 'Search State Organizations' button to receive a list of all of the relevant organizations in that state.

Other features on the website include:

• Summer Camps 2011                
• Parent Rights under IDEA 2004 

 

& Dissemination Network

Center on Instruction   

Response to Instruction and Intervention and Mathematics: The Potential for Mathematics Education

The Center's math director presented at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Annual Meeting and Exposition in April 2011. He described the evidence base for RTI in mathematics and suggested strategies for successful implementation and the pivotal role mathematics teachers can and should play in RTI.

National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems

& Equity Alliance

Report: Building Collaboration Between Schools and Parents of English Language Learners: Transcending Barriers, Creating Opportunities

This brief discusses how to build collaboration between schools and parents of ELLs. NOTE: The National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems recently moved to Equity Alliance at Arizona State University (ASU).

National Center on Response to Intervention (NCRTI)

RTI for English Language Learners: Appropriately Using Screening and Progress Monitoring Tools to Improve Instructional Outcomes

This brief provides a framework for using response to intervention with students who are English Language Learners (ELL).

• Additional resources on RTI and ELL  

National High School Center (NHSC)

Early Warning System 2.0 Website

Across the United States, almost 7,000 high school students drop out of school each day. Early warning systems can help educators predict which students may be at risk for dropping out by using indicators, such as attendance and course performance, to identify when students have fallen behind. The NHSC has released an updated version of the tool and technical manual to better support users. 

National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorder (NPDC on ASD)

The Center has identified 24 evidence-based practices for working effectively with children and youth with autism spectrum disorder and is in the process of developing free online modules for each of these practices.  Evidence-based practice (EBP) briefs for these 24 practices have also been developed. These include an overview of the practice, directions for implementation, an implementation checklist, the evidence base for the practice and supplemental materials.

• Autism Internet Modules (AIM)
• Evidence-based Practice Briefs 

The Personnel Improvement Center and Project Forum

Webinar: State Level Practices to Recruit, Prepare and Retain Special Educators and Related Service Providers

The Personnel Improvement Center and Project Forum conducted a webinar on states' strategies for recruiting and retaining special educators and related services personnelin February. The presenters discussed 10 strategies they have found to be effective in recruiting and retaining personnel. 

Project Forum

Performance-based Compensation: Focus on Special Education Teachers

This brief policy analysis describes teacher evaluation and some specific evaluation challenges for special education teachers.

News from Other Centers and Organizations

Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC)  

The 2011 Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee Strategic Plan for Autism Spectrum Disorder Research - January 18, 2011

The federal Interagency Autism Coordinating committee (IACC) has released its 2011 strategic plan for Autism Spectrum Disorder Research.

National Academies Press

Learning Science Through Computer Games and Simulations

This book reviews the available research on learning science through interaction with digital simulations and games.

• Executive Summary 

National Consortium on Leadership and Disability for Youth (NCLD/Y)

Internships: The On-Ramp to Employment

This guide offers advice for students with disabilities to  explore career opportunities, write cover letters, prepare for interviews, be a productive intern and maintain contact at the end of an internship. The guide also includes resources such as forms, letter templates, sample resumes, a list of potential interview questions and an interview assessment worksheet.

Skype

Skype in the Classroom

The free Skype in the Classroom site was launched to connect teachers worldwide, allowing them to collaborate and share resources and lessons.

Harvard Education Press

Harvard Education Letter, Volume 27, Number 2. March/April 2011

Nine Hot Web Tools for Students

This article recommends nine new online educational resources that let students drive their learning. They include:

• CoolMath.com -- explore educational math games and tools
• Scratch  -- create and share interactive stories, games, music and art