Located in the states of CT-CPAC, ME-MPF, MA-FCSN, MA-Urban Pride, NH-PIC, NJ-SPAN, NJ-ASCF, NY-AFC, NY-UWS, NY-TAC, NY-RCSN, NY-Sinergia, NY-PNWNY, RI-RIPIN, and VT-VFN. 

 

SAVE THE DATES!
 
To facilitate state sharing and joint problem solving, we will again be hosting a series of joint teleconferences with SEA Directors, Part C Coordinators and Parent Center Directors in the Northeast. These calls provide an opportunity for states (Parts B and C Lead Agencies and Parent Centers) to share their knowledge and experiences regarding IDEA implementation issues and to discuss possible opportunities for collaboration.
 
The dates for the first two 2009 Topical Regional Teleconferences are:
                                   
March 31 - 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM EST
IDEA 2004 Part B Supplemental Regulations   
 
May 19 - 2:00 - 3:30 PM EST
Public Reporting - with examples from Rhode Island Part B and New Jersey Part C
 
Additional dates will be identified for the fall of 2009.
 
Look for more specific information several weeks before each call. If you have resources or ideas to share to help shape the calls and to make them more useful to your state, please send them to Vicki Hornus, vhornus@wested.org 
  
We hope that you and your staff will be able to join us!

Tools and tips for prevention and intervention: A Stop Bullying Now! Campaign webcast. April 22, 2009, 3.00-4.30 p.m. At this webcast, experts in the field of bullying prevention will discuss cyberbullying - an emerging phenomenon among youth. Traditionally, bullying has involved actions such as hitting, punching, teasing, name-calling, or intimidation. In recent years the popularity of technology has given children and youth a new means to bullying each other. Cyberbullying is a serious problem. 18 percent of students in grades 6-8 said they had been cyber bullied at least once in the last couple of months; and 17 percent of 6-11 year-olds and 36 percent of 12-17-year-olds reported that someone said threatening or embarrassing things about them through e-mail, instant messages, web sites, chat rooms, or text messages. The presenters will be: Susan Limber, professor and bullying prevention researcher from Clemson University; Patti Agatston from Prevention/Intervention Center of Cobb County School District, co-author of "Cyber bullying: Bullying in the digital age"; Mike Tully, attorney and expert on legal and policy issues concerning cyberbullying; and Captain Stephanie Bryn from Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Register for the webcast. For more information, contact Nicolle Grayson at Nicolle.Grayson@widmeyer.com. To learn more about the Stop Bullying Now! Campaign and for various bullying prevention resources, visit Stop Bullying Now.

Source: National Scientific Council on the Developing Child - Retrieved January 9, 2008. A new working paper from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, entitled Mental Health Problems in Early Childhood Can Impair Learning and Behavior for Life, reviews recent evidence on the potentially serious consequences of significant mental health problems in young children and examines the importance of addressing emerging emotional and behavioral problems early.

Listening

- This video introduces the critical skill of listening and helps viewers recognize its importance and value. Viewers will better understand the skills involved in effective listening and its role in communication and problem solving.

 

See also, Understanding "Positions" and "Interests", which reviews the differences between positions and interests and provides specific examples. Click here to view other new resources from CADRE.

Adolescent Literacy Resources: An Annotated Bibliography -- Second Edition 2009. This annotated bibliography includes current research and documents of practical use in guiding improvements in grades 4-12 reading instruction in the content areas and in interventions for struggling readers. It is aligned with information provided in adolescent literacy guidance documents previously developed by the Center on Instruction and is organized into four categories: Policy and Leadership, Assessment for Instruction, Academic Literacy in the Content Areas, and Interventions for Struggling Readers.
 
Adolescent Literacy Institute Materials: PowerPoint presentations and handouts used during the Adolescent Literacy Institute are now available. The meeting was held in New Orleans October 15-17, 2008, for RCC staff and invited state representatives. The meeting included presentations from national experts Joe Torgesen, Barbara Foorman, Greg Roberts, Colleen Reutebuch, and Jade Wexler, as well as small and large group discussion, orientation to the Assessments to Guide Adolescent Literacy Instruction (released January 2009) and a training-of-trainers session for Effective Instruction for Adolescent Struggling Readers professional development module (released July 2008).

President Obama's proclamation calls on all Americans "to serve one another and the common purpose of remaking this Nation for our new century." See Schools and Their Communities: Common Purpose in Remaking the Nation. For those who have participated in school-community collaboratives, there is a concern that too often efforts to collaborate begin with great promise but soon become "just another monthly meeting." Our research finds that the problem stems from failure to build an effective operational infrastructure. We have explored this matter in various reports and publications. As a resource aid, we have now created a brief set of guidance notes entitled: Schools, Families, and Community Working Together: Building an Effective Collaborative.

The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) has created Parent Training Modules which provide information for families on promoting children's social and emotional skills, understanding their problem behaviors, and using positive approaches to help them learn appropriate behaviors.

Jessica B. Heppen and Susan Bowles Therriault

 

The high school dropout problem has been called a national crisis. Nearly one-third of all high school students leave the public school system before graduating (Swanson, 2004), and the problem is particularly severe among students of color and students with disabilities (Greene & Winters, 2005; U.S. Department of Education, 2006). Educators, researchers, and policymakers continue to work to identify effective dropout prevention approaches. One important element of such prevention efforts is the identification of students at highest risk for dropping out and then the targeting of resources to keep them in school. An early warning system that uses indicators based on readily accessible data can predict, during students' first year in high school, whether the students are on the right path toward eventual graduation.
 
Research is clear that ninth grade is a "make or break" year. More students fail ninth grade than any other grade in high school, and a disproportionate number of students who are held back in ninth grade subsequently drop out (Herlihy, 2007). Recent research in large urban school districts, including Chicago and Philadelphia, provides information about powerful indicators that can predict, by the end of the first year of high school, or even during the first semester, whether students will complete high school. This brief guide reviews this research and uses it as a basis for providing guidance to schools and districts about using data to address the dropout problem.
 
The information that follows and an accompanying tool developed by the National High School Center can help schools and districts to systematically collect early warning indicator data so they can identify students at highest risk of dropout. An early warning system can be implemented at the school as well as at district levels. The role of the state is critical for providing support that can help districts and schools collect the key information with relative ease, including the use of integrated longitudinal data systems.
 
This guide, intended for educators and policymakers at the school, district, and state levels, is designed to provide information about the following:
Factors that contribute to a student's dropping out

We must be the change we wish to see in the world.