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CASE
It seems like just yesterday when school was starting and summer was ending! Now we are looking at just three weeks until Thanksgiving and then just four weeks more to Christmas! Time is really speeding along. I know you stay busy putting out fires and hopefully getting into the schools to see all the great things your teachers are doing. I was just in Oklahoma at the fall conference for the Oklahoma Directors of Special Services — yes, their acronym is ODSS — which they will tell you is perfect for special services directors! While there I told them as I tell every group of Special Education Administrators, everyone who supervises special education teachers needs to be a member of CEC if for no other reason because of the amazing resources available for their teachers. I know when I was assistant superintendent of a district of 27,000 students, I was always pointing my teachers to CEC resources and that was before the Tool of the Week, webinars, and new teacher mentoring programs were available! I think the CEC publication, Teaching Exceptional Children, is by far the most important publication our teachers could have in making a difference in our classrooms and to services for children. If you aren't a member, you need to be! And if you have some PD money left, you might want to consider the District membership as it includes among other great benefits, a premier membership for you and five (5) basic memberships for your teachers, a total of 5 free webinars, and 2 registrations for the CEC convention! Of course, you should be a member of CEC so you can join CASE but I do think it is a huge resource for you as you support your teachers — sometimes we forget about that reason to be a CEC member!
Speaking of being a member of CASE... Again, last week when I was talking to the ODSS members, I was reminded of all the reasons I first joined CASE in 1984 and have remained a member ever since. I could not have been as successful as I was had I not had all the support and wisdom from my fellow GCASE members and the resources from CASE at the national and international level. I remember my husband one time questioning how our superintendent felt about me being out of the district so much for GCASE and CASE meetings. I told him by being so involved, I typically knew 6 months to a year before some big change occurred so our district could stay out in front of the "eight ball!" I was always fortunate to be able to work for forward thinking leaders who knew preventive measures always saved money! Can you and your district afford to not be members? Your state and provincial unit offers you the support for what is happening in your district/state or province and CASE can assist you with the bigger picture issues! But of course, you cannot join CASE if you aren't a member of CEC!
Speaking of information... It has come to my attention that some of our readers, specifically those with a gmail account, may have part of the visibility of this update cut off. If you experience a problem with the viewing of the article, remember in the upper left hand side, there are 3 buttons — the middle button can be clicked on to have the update viewed on the web.
Let me know if you have any issues with the reading of the update and viewing it in the web version doesn't solve your dilemma!
Sometimes technology is REALLY slower than we like... Our online shopping cart is still down for revision but we do now have the order form on the homepage where you can download it as often as you would like. I am again providing the order form so if you are wanting to order any of our practical resources right now you can! If you have any problems or just need to ask a question, then contact me ASAP!
Now that it is November, it is time to really start gearing up for our 2017 CASE Hybrid. Last week we asked the question what were the biggest mental health issues in your district. You see the results below but the bottom line was you have some real concerns in your district! As I have said before, our professional development committee has asked numerous groups including our members and Board of Directors and the issue of Mental Health in our schools seems to be one of THE hot topics! What an amazing opportunity to have some of the nation's lead practitioners do a full day on mental health in our schools and community. We will start Thursday off with Dr Dipesh Navsaria, a pediatrician, occasional children's librarian, public health professional and child health advocate. A dynamic speaker who easily translates basic science and clinical medicine for a wide variety of audiences in order to shape programs and policy, Dr Navsaria lectures locally, regionally and nationally on early literacy, early brain and child development, child health advocacy and technology. He will be using all of these areas to outline the issues of mental health in our schools. He does an amazing job of blending the scientific with the practical and providing the how to steps in making our world a better place for children!
This will surely be a day you will want to pull in your general education teachers, administrators, school psychologists, special education staff, community and parents together so you can take the information and personalize it to your area/schools! And the Hybrid is just the format — one price and you can have as many as you would like in the room. What a great time to have everyone hear the same thing and then apply to your students and families! The second day will be the legal implications of some of the mental health issues as well as a general legal update. So, you need to start getting the logistics lined up for Feb. 23-24. All you need is a big enough room, internet, LCD projector, sound and screen! We don't even mind if you want to charge a registration fee to either cover the cost of snacks/lunch or make money for a school project! We even have HINTS for you to use as you set up your virtual site! OR... you could come to be with us at the point of origin, Clearwater Beach, Florida. Just think about what it will be like the week of Feb. 20 where you live and what it will be like on the warm, white sands of Clearwater Beach, Florida! If you ever attended the CASE Winter Policy Institutes, you might remember the lovely Sheraton Sand Key Resort! Though, the hybrid isn't run the same way, this is still a great location for any meeting in February no matter where you live! The room link is already live so go ahead, start planning that winter get away! This conference format is perfect for maximizing your professional learning dollars since the registration for sites is the same as just one registration! Save the dates now — Feb. 23-24!
Last week's poll asked which mental health issue seems to be the highest priority for your district/school? The number one answer at 71 percent was behavior crisis. In a distant second place with 14 percent was self-harm. There was a tie at 7 percent anxiety and depression. I was surprised Bullying didn't even get a vote but maybe all the work our schools have been doing the last few years has paid off with big dividends! All three of these mental health issues have various causation's and impact on all of our students and their ability to achieve. I believe you will learn a great deal from both Dr. Navsaria and Dr. VanAcker on what we as the school community can do to assist our students at our 6th Annual CASE Hybrid Conference. Registration should be up soon — watch for it!
Luann Purcell
Executive Director
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Need a room for the CASE/NASDSE Joint Conference, Sept. 25-27? Check the CASE website for additional options!
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CASE
This regular update highlights new legal developments of major significance of special education leaders.
As a service to CASE members, this periodic legal alert provides, as a two-column table, highlights and practical implications of major new legal developments. Here are my top three items for this issue of the CASE Weekly Update.
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University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Restitution is a philosophical framework that provides a different way of looking at crime and criminal justice. It was first used in the criminal justice system to allow people to financially repair the harm they caused. In schools, traditional discipline systems are not very effective in teaching how to resolve conflicts, nor do they teach students how to repair the harm they have caused to relationships. Using this model within schools might be a useful alternative to traditional exclusionary discipline consequences because it can offer a better chance to bring about behavior change and "healing." Preliminary research shows promising outcomes with this approach, resulting in less frequent and severe disciplinary incidents.
Click on the following link for more information on Restitution: (http://k12engagement.unl.edu/restitution). Then click on the red button to download the pdf and read more. Find Strategy Briefs on over forty other topics at: http://k12engagement.unl.edu.
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IES
Three new Data Points released look at trends in reports of bullying, use of hate-related words, and other unfavorable conditions in the nation's schools. The reports from the National Center for Education Statistics, in the Institute of Education Sciences, use data collected in the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey.
Trends in Bullying at School Among Students Ages 12 to 18 shows that the percentage of students who reported being bullied at school declined from 2005 to 2013.
Trends in Hate-Related Words at School Among Students Ages 12 to 18 shows that, from 2001 to 2013, there was a decline in the percentages of students who reported being called a hate-related word or seeing hate-related graffiti at school. Among students who reported being called a hate-related word at school, the percentage of students called a gender-based hate word decreased from 2001 to 2013, while the percentages of those students called hate words based on race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation increased.
Reports of Bullying and Other Unfavorable Conditions at School shows that students who reported being bullied at school also reported other unfavorable school conditions at a higher rate than students who were not bullied. Such unfavorable conditions at school included availability of drugs and alcohol and the presence of hate-related graffiti, gangs, and guns.
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The Office for Civil Rights
The Office for Civil Rights is pleased to report several new resources related to the 2013-2014 Civil Rights Data Collection. We hope you find the resources useful in your work. The CRDC is a powerful tool that not only enhances OCR's enforcement work, but also informs student, parent, and educator decisions, and helps researchers, advocates and the public to identify and shine a light on systemic concerns.
First, you can access the 2013-2014 school year data on the revamped CRDC Reporting Website. The Reporting Website contains summaries of selected facts, detailed data tables, data analysis tools and special reports for the 16,758 school districts and 95,507 schools that completed the 2013-2014 CRDC. The special reports that are available are focused on discipline, English learners, and educational equity. The data analysis tools allow a user to generate comparison graphs and outcome rate calculations.
Second, using the CRDC, OCR compiled for the first time the names and contact information for the civil rights coordinators (Title IX coordinators, 504/Title II disability coordinators and Title VI coordinators) of virtually every school district in the country. That contact information can be accessed through the Reporting Website above (through the district characteristics page) or at a separate OCR Civil Rights Coordinators Website.
In addition, we have issued an updated First Look document summarizing some of the national trends on key equity indicators as well as an updated Chronic Absenteeism data story. These updates incorporate corrected data OCR received from the state of Florida, submitted on behalf of its school districts, on several data items. Those updated data are also incorporated into the CRDC Reporting Website and the public-use data file, which can be downloaded here. If you have questions about the 2013-14 CRDC, please visit OCR's webpage.
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IES
The Institute of Education Sciences has awarded the first four grants in a new research program designed to help states and school districts evaluate the effectiveness of programs, practices, or policies being used in their schools. The low-cost, short-duration evaluations of education interventions and special education interventions are funded by IES' National Center for Education Research and National Center for Special Education Research.
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OSEP
The Education Department released non-regulatory guidance on supporting early learning through the Every Student Succeeds Act to help ensure young children from birth through third-grade get the strong start they need to achieve success in school and in life.
This guidance assists State educational agencies, school districts, schools, outlying areas, the Bureau of Indian Education and community-based organizations in supporting young children's success in school by highlighting how they can:
- expand access to high-quality early learning opportunities;
- encourage alignment and collaboration of early learning programs from birth through third grade; and
- support early learning educators
Early learning is woven throughout the ESSA, as a means of addressing educational equity, supporting students' school success, and bringing greater alignment along the entire education continuum. The ESSA, for the first time, also authorizes Preschool Development Grants, building upon the existing Preschool Development Grant program which has supported 18 states, to ensure more children across the country have access to high-quality preschool.
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MHS has been a leading publisher of scientifically validated assessments for over 30 years. We are proud of the high quality our assessments stand for.
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OSERS
Benetech, the leading nonprofit empowering communities in need by creating scalable technology solutions, announced that over 10 million accessible ebooks have been downloaded through its Bookshare initiative.
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Homelessness in the United States is a complex and persistent problem. For families with young children experiencing homelessness, the challenges are highlighted based on their unique needs and characteristics. Challenges begin early and without intervention can continue throughout the lives of children experiencing homelessness. Hunger, homelessness, violence and parental attention all affect childhood well-being.
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CEC Policy Insider
The most famous goldendoodle in America was outside the Supreme Court, Oct. 31, accompanied by some of his service dog friends. A Michigan school district's refusal to allow Wonder, a trained service dog, to go to school with E.F., a student who was born with cerebral palsy and who required mobility support, was the catalyst for the first oral argument of the day, in Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools.
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CEC Policy Insider
The U.S. Department of Education released non-regulatory guidance focused on how the nation's new education law supports young children including those with disabilities. President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act into law in December to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and replace key requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
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CEC Policy Insider
In honor of National Principals Month in October, the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders released two new resources. The first resource is a New Professional Learning Module, Coaching and Developing Turnaround Leader Actions. School turnaround requires strong leaders with the necessary competencies and skills to take high-leverage actions that support school success.
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CEC Policy Insider
Approaching the Nov. 8 election, as citizens it is our civic responsibility to vote. As special educators, it is our job to promote civic responsibility with the needs of children and youth with exceptionalities in mind. And as advocates on behalf of students with disabilities and/or gifts and talents, it's important to be aware of the education positions of each candidate so that you vote knowing how your decision will affect your life and those of students with exceptionalities. Our goal is to ensure that you have the information you need to make the best decision for yourself, children and youth and your programs.
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ADDitude Magazine
ADHD and intelligence are uncorrelated. Yet so many of our kids score off the charts on IQ tests and are clearly smarter than their grades and conduct reports might suggest. Teaching and parenting these twice-exceptional (and easily bored) students takes persistence and creativity, but the hard work is more than worthwhile when their gifts are unlocked.
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McClatchy Washington Bureau
Wonder the goldendoodle reached the peak of the U.S. judicial system with a Supreme Court case potentially crucial to disability rights. Few lawyers, let alone canines, ever snag a bone this big. Now semi-retired as a service dog, Wonder's work for a young Michigan girl with cerebral palsy set in motion the legal proceedings that culminated in an hour's worth of mostly technical oral argument. Facing some poignant facts, justices stuck closely to the dry but significant basics.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer
A Moorestown preschool is facing allegations that it unlawfully expelled a 3-year-old girl with Down syndrome because she was not potty trained, according to a lawsuit filed by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office. The lawsuit filed in Superior Court in Mount Holly alleges that Chesterbrook Academy, part of the national preschool chain Nobel Learning Communities Inc., was discriminatory in 2015 when administrators expelled the child but not others at the school who were not fully potty trained.
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District Administration Magazine
A leading gifted-and-talented expert once believed the number of students who performed above grade level was between 5 and 15 percent. But a new study shows the number is much higher, says the expert, James Plucker, a National Association for Gifted Children board member. The analysis, conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, revealed that between 25 and 45 percent of students in three states performed above grade level in English and math.
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The Dallas Morning News
Texas was a pioneer in treating students with dyslexia, becoming the first state to pass some type of dyslexia education law in 1985. Afterward, 27 states followed suit. But in the three decades since, local Texas school districts have fallen behind because the state has never supplied any money for dyslexia education. Instead, it's up to school districts, some of which are cash-strapped, to pull together funding to identify and teach dyslexic students. And even wealthier school districts still feel shorthanded.
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EdTech Magazine
Many teachers — special education and general education alike — are finding themselves adrift in a world of technology with little clarity on what to implement and how to implement it. But what if there was a team of researchers dedicated to evaluating and recommending apps specific to special education needs and designing new apps to fill the needs that aren’t being met? That's exactly what the SpedApps project out of the Research Center for Educational Technology at Kent State University aims to do for special education teachers and students.
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School Library Journal
When it comes to integrating kids with special needs, classroom teachers have a full plate. Instructing this population, particularly students with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, can be a challenge because the work takes place alongside regular lessons and activities during an already busy day. Librarians, of course, can relate: many face similar issues, but often with less time allotted to accomplish their goals. Seeing kids just once or twice a week for a single period makes it hard to break through and engage their students with special needs.
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The Good Men Project
It is estimated that around one in ten people have dyslexia — a common learning difficulty which can cause problems with reading, writing and spelling. But dyslexia can cause more than just spelling difficulties, because it effects a person’s self-esteem and self-worth. Many dyslexics feel that they are "stupid" or "dumb", but this is simply not the case. And in fact, most dyslexic students are no different to their non-dyslexic peers in their understanding of their academic subject. Research shows that many dyslexic students can benefit from using apps to help aid their learning. This is because apps can help dyslexic learners with specific cognitive difficulties making it easier to process particular kinds of information.
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ADDitude Magazine
When ADHD or learning disabilities are involved, organization challenges can go from tough to torturous — and the perpetually messy rooms, lost homework assignments, and missed soccer games can stress out everyone. Calm the chaos and build your child's self-esteem by teaching organizational skills that last — starting with these basic rules.
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The Daily Dot
While we're all familiar with social justice movements like #YesAllWomen and #BlackLivesMatter, one community has slowly been coming together to promote a lesser-known issue that needs attention: Deaf education. In the U.S., less than half of the Deaf population graduates from high school, and those who do graduate have the average reading level of a fourth grader. Many d/Deaf students (those who identify as culturally and medically deaf) also note that they have experienced audism and ableism, or discrimination in the education system. Communication and cultural barriers in teaching and integrating d/Deaf students require unique and complex solutions, and there is still a lot of debate on how to approach such issues.
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Michigan State University via Science Daily
Many children are still learning to control their behavior as they enter kindergarten and may need educational support to develop that critical skill, indicates one of the most conclusive studies to date of early childhood self-regulation.
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Education Week
There's no hard-and-fast evidence that Race to the Top, the Obama administration's $4 billion, signature K-12 initiative had a long-term impact on student achievement or state policy, according to a report released Wednesday by the Institute for Education Sciences, the U.S. Department of Education's research arm. "Differences in student achievement between [Race to the Top] states and other states may be due to other factors and not to the program said Lisa Dragoset, a senior researcher at Mathematica, which performed the evaluation for IES.
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PBS Newshour
Gender gaps in math achievement and teacher expectations that boys are stronger at math than girls start to form by kindergarten, according to a study by the American Educational Research Association. The study also found that teachers consistently underrated girls' math skills, even when boys and girls behaved and performed in similar ways academically. While the gender gap starts early among high-achieving math students, it spreads quickly to all students throughout elementary school. And both high- and low-achieving schools are impacted, according to the report.
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CBS News
During the morning rush, Robert W. Coleman Elementary School is as bustling as any other school. But after the buses arrive and the kids pour in, the usual classroom chatter comes to a complete stop. The students here learn to seek their inner peace. Every day begins with what the school calls a "mindful moment" – a 15-minute blend of yoga and meditation. It's not what you’d expect from a school in West Baltimore, but it's the dream of two brothers from right here in the neighborhood, reports CBS News correspondent Tony Dokoupil.
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THE Journal
As neuroscience works its way into the education vernacular, one company wants to help teachers go broader by performing assessments to monitor the cognitive skills of their students. CogniFit already sells cognitive tests to measure dyslexia, ADHD, depression and other "subtle cognitive deficiencies." Now it has launched a technology platform specifically for teachers. CogniFit for Education intends to address those brain activities tied to learning.
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UPI
Many children with autism spectrum disorder may have been mistakenly diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, researchers suggest in a study. Scientists at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia say a screening tool used to diagnose ADHD may be less accurate when a child has autism. The research team included one of the psychologists responsible for developing the mechanism, known as the ADHD Rating Scale Fourth Edition.
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Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)
Type: Grant Announcement
Program: Education Research and Special Education Research Grant Programs.
Date: Tuesday, March 8
CFDA: 84.305A, 84.305B, 84.305D, 84.305H, 84.305L, 84.305N, 84.324A, 84.324B, and 84.324L
Summary: The central purpose of the Institute of Education Sciences' (Institute) research grant programs is to provide interested individuals and the general public with reliable and valid information about education practices that support learning and improve academic achievement and access to education opportunities for all students. These interested individuals include parents, educators, students, researchers, and policymakers. In carrying out its grant programs, the Institute provides support for programs of research in areas of demonstrated national need.
Competitions in This Notice:
The Institute will conduct nine research competitions in FY 2017 through two of its centers:
The Institute's National Center for Education Research will hold six competitions, one in each of the following areas:
- Education research;
- Education research training;
- Statistical and research methodology in education;
- Partnerships and collaborations focused on problems of practice or policy;
- Low-cost, short-duration evaluations; and
- Research networks.
The Institute's National Center for Special Education Research will hold three competitions, one in each of the following areas:
- Special education research;
- Special education research training; and
- Low-cost, short-duration evaluations.
Deadlines: The dates when applications are available and the deadlines for transmittal of applications invited under this notice are indicated in the chart at the end of the FR notice.
Click here for more information.
Rehabilitation Services Administration
Type: Final Rule
Summary: Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA);
Joint Rule for Unified and Combined State Plans, Performance Accountability, and the One-Stop System Joint Provisions
Dates: Final rules announced: Aug. 19.
This final rule is effective: Oct. 18.
Law: Public Law 113-128
Summary: The Departments of Education (ED) and Labor (DOL) (or, collectively, Departments) issue this Joint Final Rule to implement jointly administered activities authorized by title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) signed into law on July 22, 2014. This Joint WIOA Final Rule provides guidance for State and local workforce development systems that increase the skill and credential attainment, employment, retention, and earnings of participants, especially those with significant barriers to employment, thereby improving the quality of the workforce, reducing dependency on public benefits, increasing economic opportunity, and enhancing the productivity and competitiveness of the nation.
FR link: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-15977
Type: Final Rule
Summary: Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA);
Miscellaneous Program Changes
Dates: Final rules announced: Aug. 19.
This final rule is effective: Sept. 19, except the removal of part 388, amendatory instruction 13, is effective on Oct. 1.
Law: Public Law 113-128
Summary: The Secretary amends the regulations governing a number of programs administered by the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) to implement changes to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Act) made by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, signed on July 22, 2014. The Secretary also implements changes to the Act made by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, signed on Aug. 7, 1998, that have not previously been implemented in regulations, and otherwise updates, clarifies, and improves RSA's current regulations.
FR link: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-16046
Type: Amended Regulations
Summary: Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA):
State Vocational Rehabilitation Services program;
State Supported Employment Services program;
limitations on use of subminimum wage.
Dates: These regulations are effective: September 19, 2016, except for amendatory instructions 2, 3 and 4 amending 34 CFR 361.10, 361.23, and 361.40, which are effective Oct. 18.
CFDA: State Vocational Rehabilitation Services program: 84.126A
State Supported Employment Services program: 84.187
Summary: To implement the changes to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Act) made by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the Secretary amends the regulations governing the State Vocational Rehabilitation Services program (VR program) (34 CFR part 361) and State Supported Employment Services program (Supported Employment program) (34 CFR part 363). In addition, the Secretary updates and clarifies prior regulations to improve the operation of the program. Finally, the Secretary promulgates regulations in new 34 CFR part 397 that implement the limitations on the payment of subminimum wages to individuals with disabilities in section 511 of the Act that fall under the purview of the Secretary.
FR link: https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-16046
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