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U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan confronted difficult questions asked by special educators who are members of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), in a document released today.  Ask Arne: A Conversation with CEC Members and the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (found here) addresses the inclusion of students with disabilities and the professionals who work on their behalf in controversial education reform initiatives supported by the Obama Administration, including pay-for-performance and measuring student growth over time for accountability purposes.

You can begin registration here! What:Participate in this webinar to hear Reece Peterson, Joe Ryan, and Michael Rozalski discuss the latest information on the legislative, policy, and practice issues concerning restraint and seclusion. Federal legislation is pending that, if passed, will regulate the use of physical restraint and seclusion in school settings. The webinar will also provide an overview of the content that will be covered in more detail in the strand on restraint and seclusion at the CEC Convention & Expo in Denver in April.Federal legislation is pending that, if passed, would regulate the use of physical restraint and seclusion procedures for students in school settings. This webinar will discuss the legislative, policy, and practice issues that have arisen because of the deaths and injuries of students due to these procedures. The webinar will provide an overview of the content that will be covered in more detail during the strand on restraint and seclusion at the CEC Convention & Expo in April 2012. Participants will be able to: Identify current laws, policies, and guidelines governing the use of physical restraint and seclusion procedures in school settings. Understand the lack of knowledge in many schools of the underlying ethical and moral problems and the role the media may play in covering abusive incidents. Identify recommendations for “best practice” in using these procedures, including training needs and the use of prevention and de-escalation strategies. When:March 8, 20122:00 pm - 3:00 pm MTContact:CECPhone: 888-232-7733   TTY: 866-915-5000

Click here to register now! What:The Council for Exception Children (CEC) invites you to join them for a premier professional development event dedicated to special and gifted education. Attending the convention, you will: Participate in the many rich opportunities to learn and engage in dialogue about the fields most important topics including: teacher effectiveness, universal design for learning, collaboration, response to intervention, evidence-based instructional strategies, common core state standards, restraint and seclusion, alternative school, autism, mental health, classroom management, and more. Network with inernationally-renowned experts in special education and discuss the latest research and most promising instructional strategies. Investigate new career opportunities with onsite recruiters and more! When:April 11-14, 2012 (Wed.- Sat.) Where:Colordado Convention Center, Denver, COFor more information visit here!

Visit www.cec.sped.org/convention for more information. Join us to connect, exchange, and grow at the CEC 2011 Convention & Expo — the largest professional development event dedicated to special and gifted education. You won’t want to miss this chance to further your professional growth.

The U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) is seeking comments on a set of proposed research priorities from the National Institute of on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). The priorities relate to Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRP) on Community Living and Participation, Health and Function, and Employment of Individuals with Disabilities, on Health and Function of Individuals with Disabilities, and on Employment of Individuals with Disabilities. The priorities will likely become part of a grant competition in FY 2013, and possibly later years.

This week, U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, testified before the Appropriations Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. His words and outlook for the future of special education funding were bleak.

A growing number of educators are working to turn learning on its head by replacing traditional classroom lectures with video tutorials, an approach popularly called the "flipped classroom." Interest in that teaching method was in full view this summer at the International Society for Technology in Education annual conference in San Diego, where almost every session on the topic was filled to capacity.

What:Is Asperger's syndrome really less common in girls and women, or are females just better than males at masking autistic symptoms? Rudy Simone, a San Francisco singer, writer and stand-up comic, didn't learn that she was on the autism spectrum until her mid-40s. Simone has Asperger's syndrome - a high-functioning form of autism that leads to social problems but no intellectual disabilities - which, like all forms of autism, appear much more commonly in boys than in girls. Ten times more men are believed to reside on the spectrum than women. But some experts think the real prevalence of Asperger's in girls may be much higher than believed, because girls tend to be far better than boys at concealing its symptoms, masking social problems and hiding the repetitive behaviors often associated with autism. So, many women go undiagnosed until middle age, along the way given other labels and therapies that do not address their real issues. To help make up for the lack of resources available to girls with Asperger's and their families, Simone wrote Aspergirls: Empowering Females with Asperger's Syndrome. Healthland spoke with her recently. Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/27/mind-reading-a-qa-with-the-author-of-aspergirls/#ixzz1hl7AHuDt Ms. Simone will be speaking in Montana this spring. More details will be provided in mid-March. All of her appearances will free and open to the public. Where and When:Billings (CEC Conference) - April 25, 2012Helena - April 26, 2012 Missoula - April 27, 2012Kalispell - April 28, 2012Contact: Doug Doty, Coordinator Website: www.opi.mt.gov/autism/maep Phone: (406) 444-0907

Last week at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Conference, Senior Advisor on Early Learning Jacqueline Jones announced the Department of Education’s plan to create the first ever Office for Early Learning. The object of this new office will be to correct the isolation in which federal early learning programs and funds have functioned and provide the strong coordinated collaboration necessary to dramatically improve early learning services.

For the first time in IDEA’s nearly 40-year history, the U.S. Department of Education has included the performance of students with disabilities on state and NAEP assessments as part of determining how states are implementing IDEA.  And the results are humbling. 35 states and the District of Columbia were found to “need assistance” or “need intervention” after outcome data was combined with compliance measures that demonstrate adherence to the law. To be clear, the overwhelming majority of states “meet requirements” when just looking at compliance with IDEA, in fact only 9 were deemed as “needs assistance”. 

On Dec. 1, the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR ), within the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services,  announced the details of a $4 million grant program supporting field initiated research and development projects to support the full inclusion and integration of individuals with disabilities in society, employment, independent living, family support, and economic and social self-sufficiency.

Mark your calendars to attend the Montana Conference for Exceptional Children Conference on April 13-15th in Billings, Montana. Scholarships are available for this event (see below). The Theme this year is: Special Education in the 21st Century: Tools for the Future If you are interested in presenting at this conference, visit http://www.mtcec.org/conference Click here to download the Scholarship Application (PDF) A limited number of scholarships are available on a first come, first serve basis for residents of Region IV consisting of the following counties:  Park, Gallatin, Meagher, Broadwater, Lewis and Clark, Jefferson, Madison, Powell, Granite, Silverbow and Beaverhead Scholarships are available to use for registration costs up to $400.00 per school/organization. Scholarships will be awarded to teams attending one of the listed conferences. Teams should include a combination of personnel such as General Educators, Special Educators, Paraeducators, Administrators, Related Service Personnel, Parent, and/or Agency Personnel.  Each team must attach a narrative identifying the school/organization goals and a description of how attending the specified conference will help the team make systemic changes to the school/organization. CEC (Council for Exceptional Students) Conference in Billings, April 13-15, 2011 MBI (Montana Behavior Initiative) Summer Institute in Bozeman, June 20-24, 2011 MEI (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) Conference in Helena, June 14-16, 2011 MASP (Montana Association of School Psychologists) Summer Institute in Billings, June 12-14, 2011 Scholarships will be awarded on a first come, first serve basis.  If interested send this form with required narrative to: Denielle M. Miller, Coordinator Region IV CSPD 3929 Baxter Lane Bozeman, MT  59718.  Or email as an attachment to dmiller@bridgeband.com

The U.S. Secretary of Education testified about the President’s FY 2011 budget request and ESEA reauthorization to the House Education and Labor Committee. Duncan was grilled by both Republicans and Democrats about the lack of funding increases for IDEA.