Group items tagged

Click here to download the brochure and learn more information about sessions, speakers, the hotel, tentative schedules, and ideas about funding! We can’t wait to see you in February! Click here to register online. We've made your best value even better with REDUCED early rates! Rates haven't been this good since 2007! Register before January 14, 2011 and SAVE with early registration rates! Inclusive education is a process of school reform that creates equality in education and increases achievement for ALL students, including students with disabilities. PEAK Parent Center’s Conference on Inclusive Education holds the tools you need to reinvent schools to be places where all students can achieve success! With the most POWERFUL line up of speakers you’ll find at one conference, PEAK’s 2011 Conference on Inclusive Education is the place to be!

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is calling on special educators to take personal responsibility for the success of their students after graduation. “Today a significant gap exists between our aspirations and reality,” Duncan said of students with disabilities. “The graduation rate, postsecondary education rate and employment rate are all increasing but they are all still, frankly, far too low.”

College remains a hurdle for many with disabilities. Now a new study offers insight on what separates individuals with special needs who are ultimately successful in higher education from those who are not. In interviews with recent graduates with disabilities, researchers found that students who earned degrees shared the ability to self-advocate and persevere. They also had good insight into their abilities and limitations and often cited a strong relationship with at least one faculty or staff member on campus.

Founded in 1948 as Recording for the Blind, Learning Ally serves more than 300,000 K-12, college and graduate students, veterans and lifelong learners – all of whom cannot read standard print due to blindness, visual impairment, dyslexia, or other learning disabilities. Learning Ally’s collection of more than 70,000 digitally recorded textbooks and literature titles – downloadable and accessible on mainstream as well as specialized assistive technology devices – is the largest of its kind in the world. More than 6,000 volunteers across the U.S. help to record and process the educational materials, which students rely on to achieve academic and professional success. 

Raising the achievement of students with learning disabilities is hard, expensive, controversial and complex. School systems must pay private school tuition for students they can’t adequately serve. Educators and parents sometimes disagree on what methods to use. Education writers like me rarely deal with the subject because it is difficult to explain and lacks many success stories. That explains in part why learning disabilities are so poorly understood, as revealed by a remarkable survey just released by the nonprofit National Center for Learning Disabilities. The representative sampling of 2,000 Americans provides a rare look at the depths of our ignorance. Forty-three percent believe that learning disabilities correlate with IQ. Fifty-five percent think that corrective eyewear can treat certain learning disabilities. Twenty-two percent believe that learning disabilities can be caused by spending too much time watching computer or television screens. All of those impressions are wrong.

In a school with profound academic failures and a graduation rate of only 44 percent, Raymond is one of Manual's best students. It's a success story many might consider unlikely because of Raymond's disability. He has autism.

This webinar is free and pre-registration is not required! Join us for this free webinar entitled "RTI for English Language Learners (ELLs): Appropriate Screening, Progress Monitoring, and Instructional Planning." This presentation focuses on improving educational outcomes for ELLs through culturally and linguistically responsive implementation of an RTI framework in elementary reading. Specifically, presenters will discuss critical considerations to appropriately use screening and progress monitoring data to improve reading outcomes for ELLs. The presentation addresses the factors that influence ELLs' academic success and provides information about the selection and use of screening and progress monitoring data based on students' unique backgrounds and needs. A case study of a first grade ELL student illustrates the recommendations. What topics will be discussed? Principles and examples of screening, progress monitoring, and instructional planning for ELLs in reading for elementary grades. Serving ELLs in an RTI framework. Who will benefit from this Webinar? Teachers, administrators, school psychologists and other related service providers, and technical assistance providers seeking more information about ELLs and RTI. Those currently implementing RTI and wanting to learn how ELLs can be served in RTI.

Click here to download the full flyer with registration information (pdf) What: Quantum Learning is a synergistic approach to the learning process, integrating best educational practices into a unified whole. It has been proven to increase student achievement as well as improve students’ attitudes toward learning. Quantum Learning for Teachers programs empower educators to create joyous, engaging and successful learning – turning their classrooms into optimal learning environments. Quantum Learning for Teachers is a professional development program for educators that provides a proven research-based approach to curriculum design and delivery. Each level is a one-day, six-hour workshop, which sets the stage for the next level and emphasizes fundamental competencies.

Click here to register for this event What: Linda James Myers, Ph.D. will present "The Challenges of Cultural Congruence: What Every Advocate Should Know" on Thursday, June 16, from 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. Dr. Myers is a professor at The Ohio State University, past president of the Association of Black Psychologists, and chair of the Board of Trustees for the National Association for the Education of African American Children with Learning Disabilities (AACLD). This webinar will focus on the importance of cultural congruence, one of the most challenging and often least discussed issues central to the success of Black families as they seek to provide a quality education for their children. As a member of a cultural group whose ethnic and racial heritage is congruent with and supported by that dominant in this society, Euro-western white, one may assume that this prevailing cultural worldview and the subsequent educational and other social institutions created by it are universally suitable and acceptable. The assumption is often made that the prevailing cultural worldview is universally adopted and held by all Americans, particularly those who have been in this country for generations and for whom English is believed to be their first language. This webinar will explore how these assumptions have hurt non-immigrant African Americans and their progeny, particularly in terms of education, their potential for educational achievement, and the current disproportionality we see in special education. Emphasis will be placed on how advocating for a culturally congruent educational experience on behalf of Black students and their families has the potential to transform the negative educational outcomes that have plagued this population for decades. This is the first in an Equity and Ethnicity in Special Education four-part series of webinars hosted by COPAA, a non-profit organization that works to protect special education rights and secure excellence in education on behalf of the 7.1 million children with disabilities in America. When: Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 12:00 pm Mountain If you would like to register for this event or any of the four-part series, please click here. COPAA non-member registration is $65.00 for one session or $195.00 for all four sessions. The full four-part series includes: Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 2:00 pm Eastern The Challenges of Cultural Congruence: What Every Advocate for Black Students Should Know Presenter: Linda James Myers, Ph.D. Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - 2:00 pm Eastern Addressing Legal Issues of Disability and Race Discrimination Presenters: Matthew Engel, Esq., Ron Lospennato Esq. Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 2:00 pm Eastern Representing Parents Whose Dominant Language is Other Than English Presenter: Gabriela Ruiz, Esq., Southern Legal Counsel, Inc. Thursday, July 14, 2011 - 2:00 pm Eastern Disproportionality: What are we doing about it? Presenters: Sonja Kerr, Esq. Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia (PILCOP)

Click here to download the brochure, with registration, for this event (PDF) What: The successful implementation of Response to Intervention system involves both the collection and skillful analysis and use of data. However schools often struggle with the second half of this requirement: continuously using assessment to make data-based decisions. This workshop will focus on: A short view of the 8 Montana RtI Essential Components with an emphasis on ongoing as-sessment at the school wide and student level. Going beyond data collection to using the information to make strong, viable data-based decisions. Using benchmark data from multiple sources to develop effective instructional plans for schools, classrooms and small groups. Collecting and using various types of progress monitoring data to track the effectiveness of individual student intervention plans. Individual break-out sessions focusing specifically on DIBELS, AIMSweb and MAP systems. When: September 13, 2011 Where: Hampton Inn Great Falls, MT Free training for: Elementary teachers, Special education teachers, Administrators, and Paraprofessionals. To register online: Register online at www.havre.k12.mt.us Click on the CSPD icon (upper right hand corner) Click on CSPD Calendar

We want to help you make the most of the latest technologies and innovative ways to use them as we settle into the 2009-10 school year, so we've put together a brand-new free resource for you: the PDF Ten Top Tips for Teaching with New Media. Full of succinct and practical ways to prepare our students for 21st-century success, this guide will help you deliver the relevant and meaningful education all students deserve.

Many teachers (including parents) witness children who lack social competence, which includes critical, life-enriching friendship skills. As a result, these students often not only have difficulty establishing and maintaining friendships, but are poorly accepted by their peers, and may later engage in more serious and violent acts when their discourteous and disrespectful behaviors persist over time. Furthermore, social competence opens doors for academic success.

With educators and policymakers acutely aware of the role that home and community factors can play in students' safety and perception of safety at school—and its attendant impact on behavior and even academic performance—many are turning to parents and community members for help and support.

There's something funny about learning that a successful CEO or politician received bad grades in school. We're amused to hear that Steve Jobs earned C's on his way to a 2.6 GPA in high school-- before creating the most profitable company on Earth. But what if stories like these say more about the quality of our schools than we think? Indeed, statistics show that schools in the United States may not be fostering the skills needed to succeed in life after high school. A shocking number of high school graduates require remediation when they get to college. In New York City - which, unlike most other districts, is tracking the data and attempting to do something about it - more than half of high school graduates aren't prepared for coursework in in community college. Naturally, cities and states (and the authors of the Common Core Standards) have begun adjusting their approach, shifting focus to higher level skills like problem-solving, critical thinking, and even creativity. It's time we took a similar approach to the education of students with learning differences and learning disabilities.

Every parent wants their child to have opportunities for lifelong success – and that starts with getting kids off to a strong start. All of our nation’s students deserve a chance to compete on a level playing field, but too many children – especially those from disadvantaged communities – start kindergarten already behind. We know expanding high-quality early learning opportunities is simply one of the best investments we can make as a country, and President Obama has proposed to dramatically increase access to high-quality preschool and expand early learning and support services for infants, toddlers and families. Today, the White House released state-by-state fact sheets, outlining what states could expect to receive in federal funding to expand these early learning initiatives in their states.

Six-year-old Charlie Jones gets super excited when Skyler Bexten, 18, comes over to take care of him and his 3-year-old brother, Max. “It’s kind of hard to excite Charlie with someone coming over,” his mother, Elizabeth Cummings, said.  Both diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, Skyler and Charlie share an unspoken deep understanding and a bond that continues to grow. For Cummings, Skyler provides a role model for her son and the community of what people with autism can achieve and contribute. “His success has been tremendous,” she said of Skyler. “He is a fully mainstreamed student who will graduate with honors from Glacier High School this spring.”

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."

In a recent speech, Secretary Duncan noted that parents understand better than anyone how important it is that schools prepare students for success in life—not just with academic knowledge, but with the skills needed to succeed in jobs and to be an active participant in society.

The Digital Textbook Playbook is a guide to help K-12 educators and administrators begin building rich digital learning experiences for students in districts across the country. The playbook offers information about determining broadband infrastructure for schools and classrooms, leveraging home and community broadband to extend the digital learning environment, and understanding necessary device considerations. It also provides lessons learned from school districts that have engaged in successful transitions to digital learning.

Schools across Montana that are trying to improve student success just got an extra boost in their efforts.Schools on the Fort Peck, Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations will receive $1.8 million over the next four years to support the well-being of children, not just academically, but socially and emotionally, by providing for continued “wraparound” services in their districts, the Montana Office of Public Instruction announced Thursday.