Where did August go? It's hard to believe that September is almost here, but boy are we excited that it is!
Have you registered yet to attend our 6th Annual LAPCS Conference? If you haven't yet, now is the time to do so because for a limited time, we are offering
special "Back-to-School" rates! Register before September 6th and save on our amazing conference, featuring renowned urban educator Dr. Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade.
In addition, this year's conference will include strands for school leaders, board members, teachers, HR specialists, folks interested in starting a charter school, as well as free sessions for legislators, parents, and students!
Sincerely,
The LAPCS Team
@LAPCSTeam
More About the Conference
Check out the attached flyer and register at www.lacharterschools.org. Check out our new rates and don't hesitate, sign up today to secure your spot!
- Non-member individual rate: $250
- Member individual rate: $225
- Non-member group rate (5 ticket bundle): $225 each
- Member group rate (5 ticket bundle): $200 each
Membership Invoices
By now, all charter schools (sans new Type 1 charters) should have received an LAPCS 2013-14 membership dues invoice. If your school has not received an invoice, please contact Simone Green at
sgreen@lacharterschools.org.
We look forward to serving you and wish you the best throughout this school year.
Resources: ELL Toolkit, Guides to the Sunshine Laws, & Charter Discovery
Recently, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) released a toolkit for charters about serving English Language Learners (ELL). This is a great resource, and we highly encourage schools to learn more about the legal requirements regarding ELL students, as well as best practices surrounding the identification and testing of students eligible for ELL services. Download the toolkit here.
Boards: Get the start of the new school year off to a great start and be sure to have your board go over best practices for implementing the Sunshine Laws. Here are two quick reference guides to help make compliance with Open Meetings Law & the Budget Process a little easier for you.
Some friendly reminders:
- For schools in the New Orleans area, be mindful of the T-P's reduced publication days when complying with the 10-day notice rule for the budget process (and your school should probably decide whether the T-P or the Advocate, or both, will be your official journal moving forward).
- Don't forget to certify completion of the budget process by publishing certification in your school's official journal!
In early 2012 the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools launched Charter Discovery, a revolutionary online tool that allowed the public to access the latest available academic, demographic, and administrative data on every charter school in Louisiana in one place for the first time. Nearly two years later, it is still the most comprehensive source of statistical information on Louisiana's charter schools. LAPCS continues to actively maintain the site and we encourage members and other supporters of the Louisiana charter movement to take advantage of this valuable resource since Charter Discovery offers value to many segments of LAPCS' constituency:
- Board members can use Charter Discovery to peruse their schools' latest test scores and school performance scores as well as historical performance data so that they can be more informed about the progress that schools have made under their watch as well as get a clearer understanding of the challenges that their schools still face.
- School leaders can use Charter Discovery to track the performance of their peer schools and get a fuller picture of how they measure up.
- Policy makers can use Charter Discovery to get the real, rhetoric-free facts on charter school performance so that they can continue to make the best decisions for Louisiana's schoolchildren.
Written documentation on how to use the site's features as well as a YouTube how-to slideshow are both available. We urge you to go to the Analysis section of Charter Discovery and start exploring today!
Policy: BESE Summary
On August 13th, the Board of Elementary & Secondary Education (BESE) met in committees throughout the day to discuss and deliberate on various state education issues. As always, the meetings were eventful, with diverse stakeholders expressing their opinions. Of note, BESE approved a number of new charter applications for the state. Check out the summary of the meeting here.
As always, LAPCS is a membership organization, and we are here to serve you. Please don't hesitate to reach out to us with suggestions or questions. We look forward to seeing you on September 13th in Baton Rouge at our conference!
Upcoming Events
- The Chartwell Center's mission is to serve children with autism spectrum disorders by providing direct educational services, and by offering training and technical support to families, educators, and other professionals. They have three workshops coming up that may be of interest.
- Wednesday, September 11th: Solidarity, Reinforcement Schedules, & Token Systems: Learn the importance of solidarity in teaching and treatment programs, including how to develop successful reinforcement systems.
- Wednesday, October 16th: Understanding Functional Behavior Assessments and Behavior Intervention Plans: Maladaptive Behavior Management: This workshop will teach you how to read and understand both FBAs and BIPs, as well as how to implement BIPs and replacement behaviors.
- Wednesday, November 13th: Peer Mediated Instruction: In this workshop, instructors will cover peer incidental teaching, vicarious reinforcement, as well as peer conditioning.
