Response to Intervention - State Level

NASDSE released the final volume in a series of three Blueprints for Implementation of Response to Intervention (RtI). This guide provides a step-by-step approach for implementing RtI at the state level and taking implementation down to the local district and school building levels. The guide includes a self-assessment tool to help guide state efforts.

The other volumes in the series include:

• District Level Blueprint 

• School Building Level Blueprint 

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Common Core State Standards Collection

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association (NGA), the two organizations co-leading the national initiative on the Common Core Standards, presented at the full Partnership meeting in January 2011 on their work. Following up on their presentation, 27 organizations, 11 states and 22 technical assistance organizations held a dialogue about the needs of the field and produced the first Collection of materials ('Collection') on this topic. The Collection is now available on the Partnership website.

  News from a Partner Organization  

Education Commission of the States

Bullying and Open Enrollment

This report describes state policies that allow bullying victims, or bullies themselves, to transfer to another school or district.

National Education Association (NEA)

Family-School-Community Partnerships 2.0: Collaborative Strategies to Advance Student Learning

This report outlines some key strategies for effective partnerships.

A few of the report's strategies for school leaders are included below:

* Community input: Don't plan and implement in isolation. Reach out to the community for input as you set priorities and create an action plan.

* Community partners: Build community buy-in and work collaboratively with a wide range of community partners to tackle student needs.

* Culturally responsive: Help educators "bridge barriers of culture, class and language."

* Community connections: Consider hands on learning, including community service, to make programs relevant to students.

 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

These new final regulations clarify who may receive student information for education program research and evaluation, as well as under what circumstances. Schools will be able to disclose student information if it is classified as a directory information.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009-10

This report provides national estimates about distance education courses in public school districts. The estimates presented in this report are based on a district survey about distance education courses offered by the district or by any of the schools in the district during the 2009-10 school year.

 Office of Safe and Healthy Students (formerly OSDFS)  

Analysis of State Bullying Laws and Policies (2011)

This report reviews states' bullying laws and model bullying policies and school districts' bullying policies. Key findings include: As of April 2011, 46 states had bullying laws, 45 of which directed school districts to adopt bullying policies. Forty-one states had model bullying policies. Thirty-six states included provisions in their education codes prohibiting cyberbullying or bullying using electronic media. Thirteen states specified that schools have jurisdiction over off-campus behavior if it creates a hostile school environment.

• Press release  

• Abstract 

• Full Report  

Who Can Help? 

This blog provides directions to finding help in each state when using NICHCY's State Organizations Search.   

Project Forum

Special Education Value-Added Performance Evaluation Systems: A State-level Focus

This brief policy analysis describes a sampling of special education teacher and related services provider performance evaluation systems in the states. The document includes a brief description of methods currently being used to measure teacher effectiveness.

National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO)

 Professional Development to Improve Accommodations Decisions - A Review of the Literature

Teachers play an important role in making decisions about students' accommodations for instruction and assessment. This report identifies some considerations for developing online training on accommodations selection, implementation and evaluation.

National High School Center

Early Warning System Middle Grades (EWS MG) Tool

Early Warning System High School (EWS HS) Tool

These tools use readily available student-level data (attendance, course failures, grade point average, credit accumulation and behavior) to identify middle and high school students who show early warning signs that they are at risk for dropping out of high school. Additionally, these tools are designed to easily integrate with each other, allowing users to improve information sharing between the critical transition between eighth and ninth grade. Be sure to review system requirements before using the tools.

News from Other Centers and Organizations  

National Council on Disability (NCD)

 National Disability Policy: A Progress Report 
This report assesses the status of individuals with disabilities in America on a number of key indicators and how emerging trends and government policies are impacting the quality of their lives. The report offers a broad range of recommendations for reforms designed to enhance the independence and self-sufficiency of individuals with disabilities.

National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER)

•  Improving Public Financing for Early Learning Programs  

This report reviews sources of financing for publicly funded early childhood education programs and provides recommendations for policies that would improve preschool access and quality.

• Degrees in Context: Asking the Right Questions about Preparing Skilled and Effective Teachers of Young Children

This report discusses issues regarding teachers' educational preparation, professional development supports and the workplace environment on early educators' teaching practices.

National Institute of Justice (NIJ)

This NIJ study finds school-level interventions significantly reduce dating violence as much as 50 percent in 30 New York City public schools.    

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Parent's Guide to Autism Spectrum Disorder

NIMH recently updated its Parent's Guide to Autism Spectrum Disorder. This comprehensive document is designed to help parents understand the different types of autism spectrum disorders, the diagnosis process, treatment options and available resources.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation

No Place for Kids: The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration

Full Report

Issue Brief

Web page with state data

This report is a compilation of evidence that demonstrates that incarcerating children and teens doesn't work. The report concludes that youth prisons do not reduce future offending, they waste taxpayer funds and they frequently expose youth to dangerous and abusive conditions. The report highlights successful reform efforts from several states and provides recommendations for how states can reduce their juvenile incarceration rates and redesign their juvenile correction systems to better serve young people and the public.

The REACH Institute

The "Action Signs" Project: A Toolkit to Help Parents, Educators and Health Professionals Identify Children at Behavioral and Emotional Risk

The action signs (originally called "warning signs") are research-based, but worded in common-sense, nonstigmatizing ways and suggest when a child or youth may need evaluation or intervention by a mental health professional. The toolkit includes dissemination materials, information handouts and links to related resources.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

New Final Rule Amends Head Start Program Regulations

A new final rule amending Head Start Program regulations was published in the Federal Register on November 9, 2011. For the first time, HHS regulations require Head Start grantees that fail to meet a new set of rigorous benchmarks to re-compete for continued federal funding. The new rule went into effect on December 9, 2011.