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This knowledge path about child and adolescent health insurance and access to care has been compiled by the Maternal and Child Health Library at Georgetown University. It offers a selection of current, high-quality resources that analyze data, describe effective programs, and report on policy and research aimed at advancing health coverage and improving health care access for children and adolescents. Emphasis is placed on Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Separate sections present resources for professionals (health professionals, program administrators, policymakers, and researchers) and for families. A special topics section presents resources that address health reform, outreach and enrollment, and school-based and school-linked care. This knowledge path will be updated periodically.

After getting pushback from local education advocates who have been feeling left out of the school turnaround process, Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced today that districts will be required to involve parents and the community as a condition of receiving school improvement grants.

As the parent of a school-age child with learning disabilities (LD), you know that basic patterns of thought such as controlling impulses, flexibility, planning, and organizing must steadily develop and improve as a child advances in school. If they don’t, children fail in small ways and larger ones. Each assignment not completed — or completed but not turned in — each lost notebook and late, hurried project, takes a toll on a child’s self-esteem (and a parent’s patience). Performance anxiety becomes more and more exhausting. The stress of feeling overwhelmed leads some children to misbehave, others to withdraw. Some children decide it’s less scary not to try than it is to try and fail.These brain-based habits of thought are crucial to all learning. They are called executive skills.

Research overwhelmingly shows that parental involvement in a child's education improves academic performance. But there are a lot of reasons why parents keep their distance -- including cultural and class divisions. Guests discuss strategies to get parents more involved in their kids' schooling.

Free Live Webinar: Response to Intervention: Making It Work Thursday, April 15, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Mountain time Also available "on demand" anytime 24 hours after the event Free registration is now open. Response to intervention, a tiered instructional model designed to provide more tailored support to students, has quickly gained prominence as a vehicle for school improvement. But implementation of RTI poses challenges. The framework often entails changes in organizational and instructional roles, new tools and curricula, increased paperwork, and greater program-coordination demands. Join two experts for an in-depth discussion of how schools and teachers can address common RTI-related issues.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan feels that the old standard, No Child Left Behind "was, frankly, broken." He explains, "it was far too punitive -- everybody was going to be labeled a failure, eventually." He hopes, with Race For The Top, to raise the bar, to "reward excellence in growth, how much schools are improving each year," and how much graduation rates increase.

Click here to register for this webinar What: The first webinar in our new series from OSEP and the National Parent Technical Assistance Center will feature the Doing What Works website, a valuable resource for Parent Centers as well as individual families.  The website provides information about specific programs that have a strong evidence base so parents can participate as informed consumers in the educational decision making process for their child.   The Doing What Works website (http://dww.ed.gov) provides engaging materials on a wide range of topics, including Response to Intervention, Early Childhood Literacy, Reducing Behavior Problems in Elementary Schools, and Preventing High School Dropouts.  Created by the U.S. Department of Education, this resource offers families and educators at all levels concrete strategies, examples, and tools to help use and engage in research-based practices.  Aimed at individuals with varying levels of understanding about a topic, the Doing What Works resources can arm educators and families with valuable resources as they work to improve the education of their children.  This webinar will introduce the website, provide an overview of the different types of resources, and invite questions and offer support for implementation. When: Thursday, February 24, 2011 1:00pm - 2:00pm Mountain

President Obama has challenged us all to help “Win the Future” by out-educating, out-innovating, and out-building our competitors in the 21st century. President Obama believes the best ideas come from the American people. That’s why the White House started a series called “Champions of Change.” Each week, the White House selects 5-20 Americans, businesses, or organizations who are doing extraordinary things in their communities. This series highlights a different group each week ranging from educators to entrepreneurs to community activists. The Office of Public Engagement hosts a roundtable event here at the White House to honor those who are “Winning the Future” and empowering and inspiring other members of their respective communities.  Agency representatives and White House Policy Offices participate in the event and host a discussion on amplifying best practices learned in each area. Paired with each White House event, these “Champions” are featured on the White House website. The Champions of Change series is designed for people to look into their communities and nominate everyday heroes who are demonstrating commitment to improving their own communities, their country, or their fellow citizens. That is why the White House is looking for you to nominate someone as a “Champion of Change” who is doing extraordinary things to make a difference in your community. The White House will consider your nominations as they feature people who are bringing about change in their communities to share their ideas on how to win the future. Champions of Change, for example, are: Longstanding businesses that are expanding or investing in new ideas, companies that are adding jobs, hiring back those they laid off and investing in their workers and entrepreneurs who are “betting on winning the future” - starting new companies or commercializing new ideas. People rebuilding neighborhoods, putting brownfields, vacant housing and buildings back to work, making the streets safe for children to play in, creating opportunities for neighbors to come together and harnessing the power of the arts to forge awareness and new bonds. Innovative teachers and school leaders creating engaging and rigorous learning environments that get results, out of school programs providing hope, inspiration and opportunity, young adults setting off to be entrepreneurs or leaders in their communities, programs giving adult learners the skills they need to succeed in a 21st century economy. Communities restoring our waterways and preserving our parks, prairies and preserves for future generations, programs investing in our farmlands and rural America, inventors and innovators harnessing America's natural resources for our shared clean energy future. For more information on the Champions of Change Series and past Champions, please visit:www.whitehouse.gov/champions.  To nominate someone as a Champion of Change, please visit: www.whitehouse.gov/champions/nominate. 

Four of the lowest-performing schools in Montana recently got some good news. All four saw improvement in the annual state tests that measure how well 10th-graders are doing in math, reading and science, said Denise Juneau, state superintendent of public instruction.

Click here to register for this event What: With the growing prevalence of autism spectrum disorders, public school districts are faced with an exploding demand for autism services.  This webinar will propose promising applications of scalable technology to enhance training and supervision of staff, and collaboration among clinicians to provide evidence-based educational services for students with autism.  Results from an independent study of Rethink Autism's web-based platform to improve paraprofessional and student performance in a public school program will also be presented.   When: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 12:00p - 1:00p Mountain   

While teacher satisfaction has declined to its lowest point in more than two decades, parent engagement is climbing to new heights across America, a new survey reports.

"The teachers with higher job satisfaction are likelier to report greater involvement of parents and their schools in coming together to improve the learning and success of students."

A federal judge has ruled that District of Columbia public schools must make sweeping changes to how young children with disabilities are located and served. In a ruling last week, Judge Royce Lamberth said the district must ensure that 8.5 percent of children between the ages of 3 and 5 are enrolled in special education and related services, as required by federal law.

What: Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) are disability income benefits administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA) that also provide Medicaid and/or Medicare health insurance to individuals who are eligible. The application process for SSI/SSDI is complicated and difficult to navigate. Nationally, about 37 percent of individuals who apply for these benefits are approved on initial application and appeals take an average of two years to complete. For people who are homeless or who are returning to the community from institutions (jails, prisons or hospitals), access to these programs can be extremely challenging. Approval on initial application for people who are homeless and who have no one to assist them is about 10-15 percent. For those who have a mental illness, substance use issues, or co-occurring disorders that impair cognition, the application process is even more difficult – yet accessing these benefits is often a critical first step in recovery. SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access and Recovery (SOAR) is an approach that helps states increase access to mainstream benefits for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness through: Strategic Planning Meeting(s) to establish collaboration among key state and/or local stakeholders and to develop an action plan for implementing the SOAR approach (e.g. SSA and Disability Determination Services (DDS); State Mental Health Agency and Department of Corrections leadership; and community homeless, health and behavioral health providers). Training of case managers using SAMHSA's Stepping Stones to Recovery curriculum that includes a step-by-step explanation of an improved SSI/SSDI application process. A Train-the-Trainer program allows for expansion and sustainability. Technical Assistance to states and communities including support for action plan implementation, training observations with feedback, and assistance with tracking outcomes in order to document success and help access additional resources.  (SOAR Technical Assistance Center. http://www.prainc.com/SOAR). When/Where: Great Falls SOAR Refresher Course September 23, 2011 & October 28, 2011  9AM – 2PM Largent Building - 915 First Avenue South Great Falls, MT (406) 761-2104 Billings SOAR Training Registration: September 28 & 29 | 8:00 – 5:00 Garfield School – Room 103 3212 1st Avenue South Billings, MT 59102 Great Falls SOAR Training Registration October 13-14, 2011 Largent Building - 915 First Avenue South Great Falls, MT (406) 761-2104 Helena SOAR Training Registration November 1-2, 2011 Disability Determination Services 2550 Prospect Avenue Helena, MT 59601

For most of his life, music critic Tim Page felt like an outsider. Restless and isolated, he was overstimulated and uneasy around others. Finally, when he was 45, Page was diagnosed with Asperger's, a syndrome that falls within the autism spectrum. As Page explains in the prologue of his new memoir, Parallel Play: Life As An Outsider, the diagnosis came as a relief: "Here, finally, was an objective explanation for some of my strengths and weaknesses," he writes.People with Asperger's often struggle to interact with groups and understand social norms. Page describes himself growing up as a "very lost little kid" who acted out in school by making faces at teachers and being aggressive with the other students. His ability to connect to others didn't improve with age.

The goal of iAdvocate is to share and develop specific strategies with parents for working collaboratively with a school team to improve their children’s education. iAdvocate uses problem-based learning strategies, simulations, and provides contextual access resources to build parental advocacy skills and knowledge.