In this issue you will Find Topics On:
- Career Awareness
- Educator Collaboration
- Financial Aid for College
- Delinquent Youth
- Learning Competencies for College
- Participation Requests
- Peer Advocacy
- Transition
- Universal Design
Career Awareness
Career Readiness Assessments Across States: A Summary of Survey Findings Center on Education Policy (October 2013)
Report
https://www.cep-dc.org/displayDocument.cfm?DocumentID=427
The Center on Education Policy (CEP) has published “Career Readiness Assessments Across States: A Summary of Survey Findings Center on Education Policy,” on how states are defining career readiness and which assessments states and districts are using to measure this attribute. The report is based on a survey administered in the summer of 2013 to state directors of career and technical education or their designees about career readiness assessments. A total of 46 states completed the survey, counting the District of Columbia. Also available on this site are four related papers containing additional details on the main topics covered in the summary report, including the responses of specific states and profiles of major career and technical assessments.
Educator Collaboration
Community Works Institute’s Educators’ Network Web Site
https://cwinstitute.ning.com/
Community Works Institute (CWI) has launched an online Educators’ Network, a way for educators and administrators to connect with one another and share and collaborate in making place-based education, service learning, and sustainability a core part of their students’ learning experience. The site includes collegial support and dialogue, teaching and administrative resources, innovative curriculum ideas, and information on collaborations and partnerships.
Lessons of Reciprocity and Relationships (January 2014)
Essay
https://tinyurl.com/n8jtnpd
“Community Works Journal,” an on-line magazine for educators, has posted “Lessons of Reciprocity and Relationships” as a featured essay on service learning and making sure that both the volunteers and the population they are working with feel the real benefits of their relationship, and that the activity is purposeful and empowers all those involved.
Financial Aid for College
New Financial Aid Toolkit Part of Department’s Efforts to Improve College Access and Affordability (December)
Toolkit
https://tinyurl.com/m9djjld
The U.S. Department of Education’s “Ed.gov” has launched an online “one-stop shop” Financial Aid Toolkit aimed at guidance counselors and other advisers, such as staff or volunteers at community-based organizations, who assist students through the process of selecting and financing their higher education.
Delinquent Youth
OJJDP’s Functional Impairment in Delinquent Youth (December 2013)
Bulletin
https://www.ojjdp.gov/?width=80&height=80
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has released “Functional Impairment in Delinquent Youth,” part of OJJDP’s “Beyond Detention” series, which examines the results of the Northwestern Juvenile Project – a large-scale longitudinal study of youth detained at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago, IL. This bulletin presents findings on juvenile functional impairment in the school, work, home, and community settings; and in terms of behavior toward others, mood and psychiatric concerns, self-harm, substance use, and rational thought assessed three years after release from detention. The authors also assess youth functioning by gender, race/ethnicity, and age and discuss future implications.
Learning Competencies for College
Alliance for Excellent Education Archived Webinar: Assessing Deeper Learning: The Ohio Performance Assessment Pilot Project (January)
Archived Webinar
https://all4ed.org/webinar/jan-16-2014/
The Alliance for Excellent Education, after hosting “Assessing Deeper Learning: The Ohio Performance Assessment Pilot Project,” a January 16 webinar on using curriculum-embedded performance measures to learn and demonstrate deeper learning competencies students need for college and a career, archives the event. The webinar focused on the Ohio Performance Assessment Pilot Project (OPAPP), which includes a system of learning and assessment tasks aligned with the Common Core State Standards. OPAPP includes sustained, collaborative professional learning through all components of the program, including formative assessment to support student learning, technical training, and writing and scoring of assessment tasks. It explores the use of performance tasks to elicit and assess complex thinking and communication skills and what this means for designing curricula and varied structures for professional learning to provide teachers with the knowledge and skills to help all students attain high-level cognitive and intrapersonal skills.
Participation Requests
Online Survey for Special Education Teachers
https://byu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_3BElz4DEMALlPvf
A researcher in the Special Education Department at Brigham Young University seeks participants in a short survey of special education teachers/practitioners for a research study about their preferences for professional development and the professional development they have received.
Online Survey of Parents/Guardians of Children Ages 12 or Older
https://msucoe.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_9XED9l2U9uwXZ2d
A researcher in the Special Education Department at Michigan State University seeks participants in a short survey of parents/guardians of children ages 12 or older for a research study about the social behavior of adolescents and adults with and without intellectual or developmental disabilities. The purpose of the study is to better understand the social behavior of people with and without disabilities, as perceived and reported by their parents/guardians.
Rim International Conference on Disability and Diversity Call for Proposals
https://www.pacrim.hawaii.edu/about
The Center on Disability Studies at the University of Hawai‘i seeks proposals for presentations for the 30th Annual Pacific Rim International Conference on Disability and Diversity, “Learn from Yesterday, Live for Today, Envision Tomorrow” which will be held May 19-20, 2014, in Waikiki, Hawai’i. Deadline for proposals: January 31, 2014.
I Care By Campaign Seeks Participants
https://tinyurl.com/kja27bv
Over two million young people in the United States have an emotional or behavioral disability. Stakeholders in the educational process (families, educators, administrators, and policymakers) struggle to find effective methods to help these students succeed. The new I Care By Campaign, inspired by the film “Who Cares About Kelsey?,” provides specific, regularly updated actions that anyone can take to make a difference in the lives of youth who are struggling with emotional or behavioral challenges.
Peer Advocacy
Peer Advocacy Guide (2012)
Guide
https://www.pacer.org/bullying/resources/students-with-disabilities/peer-advocacy.asp
The “Peer Advocacy Guide” developed by PACER Center offers a variety of intervention strategies that can be tailored for specific bullying situations. It explores how to address bullying of students with disabilities by engaging, educating, and empowering their peers with advocacy skills. Peer advocacy is an effective approach that enables students to speak out on behalf of others, and protect those targeted by bullying.
Transition
Closing the Expectations Gap (November 2013)
Report
https://www.achieve.org/ClosingtheExpectationsGap2013
The eighth annual “Closing the Expectations Gap” report by Achieve shows how all states are aligning those standards with policies and practice to better ensure that all students are academically prepared for life after high school. The report details states’ policy progress on the CCR agenda, and efforts to implement those policies. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have adopted standards aligned to the expectations of college and careers.
Discussion Guide for the Campaign for Disability Employment’s Public Service Announcement “Because” (2013)
Guide
https://promotions.usa.gov/odep.html
The Campaign for Disability Employment (CDE) has issued a free discussion guide to accompany its “Because” public service announcement (PSA). The “Because” PSA’s message is that youth with disabilities, like all youth, should grow up expecting to work and succeed, and parents, educators and other adults of influence in their lives should reinforce this expectation at every turn. The discussion guide (which comes with a DVD containing the PSA) can be used to facilitate a conversation about this topic among adults or youth in many settings. It is available in both English and Spanish. The CDE is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP).
Federal Partners in Transition National Online Dialogue: Participation Metrics (September 2013)
Report
https://tinyurl.com/mgpoakv
The Federal Partners in Transition National Online Dialogue, held May 13-27, 2013 and hosted by the U.S. Departments of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services and the Social Security Administration, invited people to share their ideas and comments about federal legislative and regulatory barriers and other opportunities to improve transition outcomes for youth with disabilities. A report, “Federal Partners in Transition National Online Dialogue: Participation Metrics” has been released summarizing the dialogue’s results. The input received will be used by the Federal Partners in Transition to better align policies, programs and practices to promote successful transition outcomes. Available in pdf (600 KB, 22 pp).
Healthy Transitions: A Pathway to Employment for Youth with Chronic Health Conditions and Other Disabilities (2013)
Policy Brief
https://www.dol.gov/odep/pdf/2013ODEPHealthyReport.pdf
In 2012, the Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) commissioned a study on health care transition and the study’s key findings are now available in a policy brief, “Healthy Transitions: A Pathway to Employment for Youth with Chronic Health Conditions and Other Disabilities.” The purpose of the study was to better understand the relationship between disability (including chronic health conditions); health and wellness; and transition and employment outcomes for youth with disabilities; as well as the role health care providers play in establishing employment expectations. Available in pdf (582 KB, 13 pp).
NCWD/Youth InfoBrief on Use of Social Security Work Incentives to Promote Work-Based Learning in Youth Employment and Training Programs (September 2013)
InfoBrief
https://www.ncwd-youth.info/social-security-and-work-based-learning
The National Collaborative on Work and Disability/Youth’s (NCWD/Youth) report, “Use of Social Security Work Incentives to Promote Work-Based Learning in Youth Employment and Training Programs,” examines AmeriCorps as a model that includes an income exemption that allows youth with disabilities who are Social Security beneficiaries to participate in work-based learning experiences and receive a living allowance or stipend without it impacting their benefits. It provides an overview of the importance of work-based learning experiences, including service learning, particularly for youth with disabilities, and the current state of policy and practice regarding the use of the AmeriCorps income exclusion and includes recommendations for increasing the scope and use of the existing AmeriCorps exemption and for expanding similar incentives to other youth employment and training programs serving transition-age youth with disabilities, such as those funded under the Workforce Investment Act.
Universal Design
National Center on Universal Design for Learning: New Resources Released (October 2013)
Resources
https://www.udlcenter.org/implementation/udl_ccss
The National Center on Universal Design for Learning has added new resources on the intersection of UDL and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) to its website. These tools and links show how the CCSS identify what educators need to address in their instruction and how UDL guides design of their instruction. Key resources include a crosswalk on UDL and the Literacy by Design Collaborative (LDC) framework and video examples showing lessons illustrating classroom instruction addressing both the UDL guidelines and CCSS.
Think College Learn Module on Universal Design for Learning and Conference Archive (November 2013)
Module & Archive
https://www.thinkcollege.net/
Think College has released a new LEARN module, on “Universal Design for Learning” (UDL). The module includes videos, information about UDL strategies, and downloadable tools to help implement UDL in classrooms. Think College has also archived materials from its conference on “Inclusive Higher Education: Moving from Good Ideas to Great Outcomes,” held November 16-17, 2013. Copies of presentations, session handouts and transcripts from the morning and afternoon plenary sessions are archived on their website.
