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CASE
Most of you are probably already in the planning for Turkey Day mode! The school district where I live is out the entire week! I remember one year we had a new superintendent and he decided taking Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving was just too much. I tried to tell him that most people used Wednesday to travel and those who weren't traveling used the day to cook! He just sneered at me! By Monday afternoon after Thanksgiving, he sent a system-wide email out saying he would never again have the district open on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving so please stop sending him hate email! Sometimes we need to listen to those who know the "community" a little more in order to avoid making needless mistakes!
I teach a curriculum class for a local college to teachers working on their Specialist degree. Last night we were talking about curriculum alignment. I asked them how many times had they heard or had actually been the teacher who complained about how the students didn't come to their grade prepared to learn because "clearly the teachers before me didn't teach them correctly!" Everyone agreed but then one teacher said her students were so very prepared she wanted to thank their last year teacher! I then asked her why hadn't she? Today she forwarded to me the email strand and I want to share it with you:
From: AM
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2018 11:49:23 AM
To: JS
Subject: Former Student
Hello,
My name is AM and I teach MI at XHS. I just wanted to let you know how well P is doing this year. I feel he was well prepared for high school.
Thank you so much,
MM
**************************************************
Good Afternoon Ms. M,
Thank you! Thank you! & Thank you! I truly appreciate you sending me this e-mail. I was just wondering if this was a good fit for me. Last year was my first year ever doing any SPED and for you to send me this is confirmation. Thank you again for sending me this e-mail. Tell him I said Hello and I still expect great things out of him.
JS
XMiddle School
WOW ... isn't that powerful? Who knows if this second year teacher would have hung it up if she hadn't gotten this email? CASE has identified Teacher Retention and Recruitment as one of our top issues. CEC has also identified it as a huge issue. But, do we realize that all of us have a role to play in encouraging our staff ... do we help our teachers understand how important it is to let their fellow teachers/staff know what a great job they are doing? I am especially grateful that this teacher reached out to another teacher to let her know her hard work had paid off! As leaders, we need to set an example by intentionally encouraging our staff for their work and to encourage them to recognize their colleagues who are doing an outstanding job, too!
Are you headed to CEC in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Jan. 30-Feb. 2? I hope you will be joining us at CEC in Indianapolis this January! We will have our general Membership /Board of Directors' meeting on Wednesday morning on Jan. 30. We will start with a full breakfast at 7:30 a.m. so if you are going plan on arriving on Tuesday so you can join us for a full day of sharing and exciting content! We will have our Spotlight session on Thursday, Jan. 31 with Julie Weatherly giving us a legal update and of course we will have an amazing time with CASE Night at the Hall of Champions that evening. Tickets for CASE night went on sale on Nov. 1 so don't wait too long to purchase yours! On Friday we will once again have our "So, You Want to be a Special Education Administrator" panel. Encourage any of your teachers who are thinking about jumping on the SPED ADMIN career ladder to attend this great session! And of course, we want you to plan to come by the awesome CASE Booth! Watch for more details on all these events at CEC but first, you need to register!
Head on over to the CASE website for more information and to register for the CASE Hybrid Conference, March 7-8! It is also time to register for the Hybrid Conference! We would love for you to come to New Mexico but if not, then what about hosting a Virtual Site? We will even provide you hints for how to do it!
We had another great turn out on our poll this week. The question was: "Have you ever used the resources from the IDEA Data Center?" First place with 41 percent was Never heard of them. Second place with 37 percent was Yes. Last place at 22 percent was No. One of the things we pride ourselves on during our member and board meetings is making sure our participants learn of new resources. I also try to do that in this article, too. So, if you have never heard of the IDEA DATA CENTER I hope you will take and minute and check them out. We all talk about the need for Data but we often do not know how to find it, collect it, or use it. This site will help you in many areas! CASE leadership are exploring ways to work with the DATA Center to provide you with even more resources. If you have ideas on what Data needs local directors need help with, how about joining the discussion on our Facebook page?
I hope you and your family/friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving week. Let's all think of the many things we have to be thankful about ... and if you get a chance, share some of those on our Facebook page, too!
Luann Purcell
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We need your input — And you could win an iPad!
The Council of Administrators of Special Education will be meeting with senior Department of Education officials later this year. This is an opportunity for CASE to influence the future of our nation's education research agenda and ensure we are investigating what you and your colleagues need to best serve your students.
But first, we need to hear from you! As one of our members, your voice is critical and we want to know what you need.
- How do you use education research?
- How do you feel about currently available research?
- What are your research needs?
On Nov. 27, representatives from various educator organizations will gather to discuss how we can better represent your needs on a national stage. By responding to this anonymous 15-minute survey, your responses will inform our participation in this national convening.
To further amplify your voice, the Jefferson Education Exchange is conducting a research study. By completing the survey, you agree for your anonymous responses to be used in this research.
At the end of the survey, you will have the opportunity to enter your name into a drawing for one of 3 iPads.
Should you have any questions, for more details and/or to contact a member of the research team, please see this attached information sheet.
Thank you!
Dr. Luann L. Purcell,
Executive Director
CASE
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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 (on the left) and practical implications (on the right) of major new legal developments. The monthly update for this issue.
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Special Olympics
This year, the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools team traveled around the United States with content production partner ClickOn Media to collect stories. Through the collaboration of ClickOn and the schools visited, the team was able to capture stories about the inspiring students, faculty and community members that make up Unified Champion Schools. This has resulted in the creation of many amazing videos that have been shared ahead of the back to school season as a social media campaign!
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Do you have a great question for our weekly poll? Please submit here and we will possibly include it in an upcoming weekly update!
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GAO
Of the 74 state vocational rehabilitation agencies that responded to GAO's survey, most reported expanding services to help students with disabilities transition from school to work as required under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, enacted in July 2014. Most state agencies reported serving more students and providing work-based learning experiences and other activities, referred to as pre-employment transition services.
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National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges has published the Trauma-Informed Classrooms Technical Assistance Bulletin.
The impact of students' life experiences on their behavior has garnered increasing attention as schools strive to develop more supportive academic environments that address the needs of at-risk youth and facilitate continued academic engagement. Few events outside the classroom have as profound an impact on multiple domains of student development as traumatic life experiences. Traumatic events can include domestic violence, abuse and neglect, school violence, loss of loved ones, and community violence, just to name a few. The range of student responses to trauma can vary from yelling to isolation. Students who have experienced trauma often have a distorted perception of the world and sense of not being safe. Creating an environment that fosters resilience and offers support to students who may experience a traumatic life event can potentially prevent unwanted disruptive behaviors in the classroom.
This technical assistance bulletin provides a basic understanding of the impact of trauma and adverse life experiences, how those experiences can impact behavior in the classroom, learning how to recognize trauma, and strategies for creating trauma-informed classrooms.
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CEC Policy Insider
The election is over — well, almost with the exception of the Senate with one close race in Florida and the Mississippi special election. The U.S. House will be controlled by Democrats and the U.S. Senate will still be controlled by Republicans with a larger margin but still short of the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster.
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CEC Policy Insider
CEC's Board of Directors met Nov. 3-4 at the headquarters office in Arlington, Virginia. In addition to approval of the 2019 budget as well as various programmatic updates, the board received a briefing from Lindsay Jones, Interim-executive director of the National Center for Learning Disabilities, about various Dyslexia laws that have been passed and implemented by states in recent years.
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CEC Policy Insider
The Administration is being sued after denying two Freedom of Information Act requests pertaining to the use of federal funds to purchase firearms or train teachers to use them under ESSA Title II Part-A. Three advocacy organizations, Democracy Forward, the American Federation of Teachers, and the Southern Poverty Law Center are suing the Administration as they failed to release pertinent records.
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CEC Policy Insider
Nate Bailey is the new chief of Staff for U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. He is succeeding Josh Venable who has worked as the Secretary's Chief of Staff since she was appointed, and as a former aide to Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. Prior to the advancement, Bailey served as U.S. Secretary DeVos' acting Assistant Secretary for Communications and Outreach.
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| | HOT TOPIC: SUBJECT LINE FEATURED STORY |
ADDitude Magazine
For many teens diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADHD or ADD), the transition to college is a bridge too far. About 9 percent of students with ADHD graduate from college, compared to 60 percent of students without the condition.
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Education DIVE
In October 2015, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump said if he was elected president, he would consider eliminating the U.S. Department of Education. While that hasn't happened since he took office in January 2017, his administration has gutted or changed much of the Obama-era policies and guidelines that previously defined the K-12 sphere, and more changes seem to be on the way. Here's a running list of pieces of Obama-era K-12 education policy dismantled under Trump, along with those at risk of being severed next.
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Education Week
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her team have created a guide to help parents make better sense of the maze of data that states are required to put in their new report cards under the Every Student Succeeds Act. You can check it out here. DeVos previously put out a "Parent's Guide" to the law itself. "Parents deserve to know what is happening in their child's school," DeVos said in a statement. "They should not have to parse through a 500-page legal document to understand how a law or policy affects their children's education.
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The Texas Tribune
The day after the federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Texas for spending tens of millions of dollars less than it was supposed to on kids with disabilities in 2012, advocates have dug up documents appearing to show Texas did the same thing in 2017 — raising the prospect it could get hit with even more penalties. For months, Texas has battled with the U.S. Department of Education over how to interpret a 1997 federal statute prohibiting states from reducing their funding for kids with disabilities from year to year.
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Education DIVE
After months of suspense, the results of the midterm elections — arguably some of the most important the nation has seen in years — are in. The stakes are high, with voters weighing in on issues like healthcare, immigration and President Donald Trump's controversial tenure. Among the top issues this election cycle is education, and this year, educators took matters into their own hands by running for public office.
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Edutopia
In a school or district, as in any organization, the leader is responsible for setting the tone, and one way leaders can nourish organizational harmony is to consider three spaces: the physical, the interpersonal and the historical. Only by balancing these three spaces will leaders cultivate the influence that permeates an entire organizational culture, and only by attending to these critical human needs will leaders experience the deep happiness that keeps them engaged and attentive for the long haul.
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Edutopia
For an elementary school teacher who works with economically disadvantaged students, it can be discouraging to hear phrases like "significant achievement gap" or "30-million-word gap" in discussions of the reading and vocabulary development of our students. But research does bear those phrases out: There are clear trends of underachievement in academics for students of low socioeconomic status.
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The Conversation (commentary)
Jennifer Ruef, a contributor for The Conversation, writes: "I teach people how to teach math, and I've been working in this field for 30 years. Across those decades, I've met many people who suffer from varying degrees of math trauma — a form of debilitating mental shutdown when it comes to doing mathematics. When people share their stories with me, there are common themes. These include someone telling them they were 'not good at math,' panicking over timed math tests, or getting stuck on some math topic and struggling to move past it. The topics can be as broad as fractions or an entire class, such as Algebra or Geometry."
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Forbes
There is a gap in education between the knowledge of prevention and the act of prevention. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics early universal screening for the risk of learning disabilities leads to better intervention, improved student performance throughout her or his education career, and less money invested in IEPs. Yet, we do not embrace universal testing in our K-12 education system. Today’s interview with Dr. Vincent Alfonso, dean the School of Education at Gonzaga University, dives into the world of early childhood development testing, why we do and do not test more, what can be done in your school to help support your special education program and opportunities to improve your processes.
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The Hechinger Report
Middle school teacher Greg Cruey can explain the most harrowing details of his students' lives with matter-of-fact precision. That smart sixth-grader who had her hand raised last period? She's homeless and has, in the past, been suicidal. That middle school student who seemed on edge during class? As a young child, his parents used him to make pornography; they needed the money for their drug addictions. That sassy eighth-grader with the long hair? Her mom just got out of jail and seems to be allowing her to smoke pot in the house.
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eSchool News (commentary)
Kimberly Jay, a contributor for eSchool News, writes: "When Florida State Assessment scores revealed that our third-graders were under-performing in reading, my colleagues and I analyzed the data to determine the root cause of performance. The data showed a need for an explicit, phonics-based approach to literacy for our young students. Unless they develop foundational reading skills early, students will experience literacy deficits across all subjects, and phonics instruction embedded in comprehensive reading instruction is the most effective way to teach them how to read."
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Education Week
All those hall monitors exhorting students to stand up straight may be on to something: A new study finds that a typical student hunching under the weight of a backpack could experience more than 11 times that weight in stress on their backs. A new study in the journal Surgery Technology International tested the stresses on a model spine from backpacks laden with with weights from one to 100 pounds and worn using both straps.
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District Administration Magazine
Today, virtual reality devices transport classrooms to the moon and back. On Earth, students complete quizzes while lying on floor mats and build robots at customizable workbenches. Schools moving away from traditional classrooms now fill their learning spaces with tables that can connect to each other and stools that can tilt, among other flexible furniture. Desks, for instance, now have height-adjustable surfaces and TV monitor lifts.
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Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)
Name: Applications for New Awards; Personnel Development to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities-Preparation of Special Education, Early Intervention, and Related Services Leadership Personnel
Type: Applications for New Awards
Summary: The Department of Education is issuing a notice inviting applications for new awards for fiscal year (FY) 2018 for Personnel Development to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities—Preparation of Special Education, Early Intervention, and Related Services Leadership Personnel, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number 84.325D.
Date:
Applications Available: June 13, 2018
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: July 30, 2018
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: September 26, 2018
FR Link: https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2018-12717
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Name: Applications for New Awards; Personnel Development To Improve Services and Results for Children With Disabilities-Interdisciplinary Preparation in Special Education, Early Intervention, and Related Services for Personnel Serving Children With Disabilities Who Have High-Intensity Needs
Type: Applications for New Awards
Summary: The Department of Education (Department) is issuing a notice inviting applications for new awards for fiscal year (FY) 2018 for Personnel Development to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities—Interdisciplinary Preparation in Special Education, Early Intervention, and Related Services for Personnel Serving Children with Disabilities who have High-Intensity Needs, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number 84.325K.
Date:
Applications Available: June 13, 2018
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: July 30, 2018
Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: September 26, 2018
FR Link: https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2018-12718
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