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What:Improving graduation rates have factored into political, economic, and education discussions because earning a high school diploma has been described as having individual and community economic benefit. However, even with educational reforms, dropout rates in some communities remain high. Schools often find addressing the challenges associated with improving graduation rates to be difficult, but for students with disabilities, the challenges can be even more complex. Georgia's GraduateFIRST initiative is designed to help students with disabilities and other students who are struggling stay in school and graduate.When:Tuesday, February 28, 201210:00 am -11:30 am MSTContact:All registration is free. To register you can call 1-800-775-7654 or register online here! For more information you can Email Sarah Melpignano at smelpignano@edc.org

Thirty-one states, including Alaska, Colorado, South Dakota, Washington and Oregon, have laws requiring teens to stay in school till age 17 or 18. Montana is among the minority of states that allow students to legally drop out at 16.

The Governor’s State Workforce Investment Board Youth Council is supporting a statewide GED Initiative. You have been identified as a person who clearly understands the economic needs of our state, and the importance of a competitive workforce. Prior to launching the Initiative, two regional promotional sessions have been scheduled to discuss the economic impact of high school dropouts and the importance of statewide support for the GED Initiative. At each meeting, we will discuss how every community can play an active role in reaching out to local youth to bring them back into the education pipeline and open the doors to further education and career opportunities. The first session is: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 Hampton Inn – 5110 Southgate Billings, MT 8:30 am – 4:00 pm AGENDA | FACT SHEET The second session is: Thursday, December 16, 2010 War Bonnet Inn – 2100 Cornell Ave Butte, MT8:30 am – 4:00 pm AGENDA | FACT SHEET Bringing representatives from various agencies together to prepare for the Initiative launch will ensure that we have a successful campaign and Montana has the credentialed workforce necessary to move our state forward. A recent study showed Montana’s dropout rate among students 16 to 19 years old was 9% - the sixth highest rate in the nation. If you plan on attending, please RSVP to Carol Flynn at cflynn@mt.gov. Additionally, please feel free to forward this invite to anyone you feel would be interested and can assist with the Initiative.

The past decade has seen impressive growth in and commitment to helping more students graduate, fueled in part by a growing body of research on barriers. What has been missing from the current research, however, is a vibrant portrait of young people’s experiences gathered and reported in a way that deepens the national conversation about why some young people are still failing to graduate despite historic advances in graduation rates.

In the classroom, it starts simply -- sometimes with a struggle to sound out simple words; sometimes with trouble telling time, memorizing the times tables or learning left from right. It often ends simply, too: with a troubling statistic. One in five of the American students identified as having a learning disability will walk away from their education. That's compared to a dropout rate of 8 percent in the general population.

In accordance with the requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA),  the state must report annually to the public on the performance of each local educational agency located in the state on the targets in the State's Performance Plan. Because baseline data and/or performance targets have not been established for all of the performance indicators, the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), has informed states that they are only required to report district performance for students with disabilities on indicators 1-5 and 8-12 this year. These performance indicators address the following: Graduation, Dropout, Assessment, Suspension/Expulsion, Least Restrictive Environment (ages 6-21), Parent Involvement, Disproportionality As A Result Of Inappropriate Identification, Child Find Timelines, and Early Childhood Transition (transition from Part C to Part B). The district's performance data is 2008-2009 data that was submitted by the district to the OPI as a part of its child count, exiting, student discipline collections and/or collected during a compliance monitoring record review. Performance data for performance indicator #8, Parent Involvement, is based on parent survey data. The Parent Involvement Survey was distributed to districts that were compliance monitored in school year 2008-2009. Districts were asked to provide a copy of the survey to all parents of IDEA-eligible students receiving special education and related services through an Individualized Education Program (IEP). The District Public Reports can be found on the OPI Web site at:  http://data.opi.mt.gov/SPEDReporting/ .

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