April 2014 – Special Educator e-Journal

Table of Contents

• Update from the U.S. Department of Education

• Calls to Participate and New Projects

• Special Education Resources

• Latest Employment Opportunities Posted on NASET

• Upcoming Conferences and Events

• Funding Forecast and Award Opportunities

• Acknowledgements

• Download a PDF or XPS Version of This Issue

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Update from the U.S. Department of Education

Obama Administration 2015 Budget Prioritizes Key Education Investments to Provide Opportunities for All Americans

The Obama administration continued to prioritize education in the 2015 budget released today by proposing key investments in education that would create opportunity for every child.

President Obama’s FY 2015 budget request for $69 billion in discretionary appropriations for the Education Department represents an increase of 2 percent over the previous year’s funding. The lion’s share of the 2015 request for preschool-12 programs — nearly 90 percent of discretionary spending — goes to formula funds that address the needs of disadvantaged poor and minority students, students with disabilities, and English learners.

“President Obama’s budget request reflects his strong belief that education is a vital investment in the nation’s economic competitiveness, in its people, and in its communities,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “Despite the encouraging progress we’ve seen, wide opportunity and achievement gaps continue to hurt many families, which puts our nation’s economy and future at risk.”

As part of his budget request, President Obama proposed a new initiative called Race to the Top-Equity and Opportunity (RTT-Opportunity), which would create incentives for states and school districts to drive comprehensive change in how states and districts identify and close opportunity and achievement gaps. Grantees would enhance data systems to sharpen the focus on the greatest disparities and invest in strong teachers and leaders in high-need schools. Grants would also support other strategies that mitigate the effects of concentrated poverty, such as expanded learning time, access to rigorous coursework, and comprehensive student supports. An underlying goal is to measure the success of these strategies and use the results to support continuous program improvement.

President Obama also proposed the new ConnectEDucators program that would provide funding to help teachers and principals better leverage new resources made available through technology to improve college- and career-ready instruction and to personalize learning. The President believes that all educators should have the resources and support they need, especially as they teach to more rigorous standards. Technology can help teachers and principals do this, but technology alone cannot improve student learning. Teachers and school leaders must know how to make the best use of technology – such as identifying high-quality digital content – and how to use data in order to help students learn. The program would provide more resources, including individualized support and opportunities for educators to collaborate around instruction so that students have personalized, rich learning opportunities that are aligned to rigorous standards.

“We must continue to invest in the reforms taking hold in classrooms across the country, led by the hard work of our educators,” Duncan said. “America’s public schools are the path to the middle class for children from hard-working families in every community, but too many students lack access to the quality education and supports that make the journey to college and the middle class possible.”

Continued Priorities for fiscal year 2015 budget:

• Making quality preschool available for all 4-year-old – Opportunity for all also means ensuring all children have rich early learning experiences so they are better prepared to thrive in school. We know from decades of research that high-quality early learning can significantly improve long-term educational and life outcomes, especially for children from low-income families. Yet fewer than a third of the nation’s 4-year-olds are enrolled in high-quality preschool. In one of the boldest efforts to expand educational opportunity in the last 50 years, President Obama has committed to a historic new investment in preschool education that supports universal access to high-quality preschool for all 4-year olds from low- and moderate-income families and creates an incentive for states to serve additional middle-class children. The President’s budget request includes $1.3 billion in 2015 and $75 billion over 10 years in mandatory funding, along with $500 million for competitively awarded Preschool Development Grants and other funds.

• Improving affordability, quality, and success in postsecondary education – Improving college access and completion is an economic necessity and a moral imperative. Few good career options exist for those whose education ends with high school, since most jobs that pay a middle-class salary require a college degree. College has long represented the surest route to the middle class—but too many Americans are being priced out of college. Nearly half of students who begin college in this country never finish and, for low-income students, their chance of graduating from college is less than one in ten. America once ranked first in college completion – we now rank twelfth. Reclaiming the top spot in college completion is essential for maximizing both individual opportunity and our economic prosperity, which is why the President has made increasing college affordability and improving college completion a major focus of his 2015 budget.

• Making schools safer and creating positive learning environments – Schools are, generally, the safest places in America, but the nation’s conscience has been shocked by acts of horrific violence in schools. While these acts have changed communities forever, less dramatic moments of violence each day decrease students’ sense of security, which is essential to their healthy growth and learning. In response, the President’s plan to increase school safety and to decrease gun violence includes investments not only to prepare schools for emergencies, but also to create positive school climates and help children recover from the effects of living in communities plagued by persistent violence. In addition, new guidance from the Department aims to help schools address disproportionate rates of suspension and expulsion for minority and special-needs students.

U.S. Department of Education Announces Resolution of South Carolina Virtual Charter Schools Civil Rights Investigation

The U.S. Department of Education announced that its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has entered into an agreement with South Carolina Charter School District to ensure compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1972 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act for students with disabilities in the District.

OCR initiated a compliance review in 2013 to assess whether the seven Internet-based public charter schools that serve more than 8,700 students who live throughout the state of South Carolina provide equal access to persons with disabilities, including students and parents. Specifically, OCR’s investigation sought to determine whether persons with disabilities had an equal opportunity to access each school’s website and online learning environment.

“All persons—with and without disabilities—must be able to obtain school information on a full, equal and independent basis. This agreement will ensure that persons with disabilities are afforded equal access to the District’s internet-based public charter schools and any future District schools that will provide all or a portion of instruction via the internet,” said Catherine E. Lhamon, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. “I commend the South Carolina Charter School District for addressing these issues as part of its agreement with OCR.”

OCR determined that the schools’ websites and online learning environments were not readily accessible to persons with disabilities, including those who required assistive technology to access the Internet. The most frequent concerns were lack of alternative text attributes on buttons, especially on video controls; lack of synchronized captioning; inaccessible PDFs; and animations that were not fully labeled. Additionally, some materials provided by third party vendors were inaccessible. These problems prevent persons with disabilities, particularly those with visual, hearing, or manual impairments, or who otherwise require the use of assistive technology to access the website or the online learning environment in an equally effective and equally integrated manner as persons without a disability.

South Carolina Charter School District is the local educational agency for 24 charter schools in South Carolina. Seven of these schools are Internet-based and deliver instruction completely online. These schools include Palmetto State e-Cademy, Provost Academy South Carolina, South Carolina Virtual Charter School, South Carolina Calvert Academy, South Carolina Connections Academy, South Carolina Whitmore School, and Cyber Academy of South Carolina.

Under the agreement, the District will ensure that all websites and on-line learning environments are accessible to persons with disabilities, including those who use assistive technology to access the internet. The agreement provides that:

• The District will create a web accessibility committee to direct resources and provide technical assistance as schools work to ensure web accessibility.
• The District will develop and implement an accessibility policy that requires all schools that provide instruction via the internet to be readily accessible and useable.
• Each school will develop and implement a detailed accessibility plan to ensure that all programs and activities meet the standards in the accessibility policy, including recruiting material, online textbooks, mobile applications, testing, resources for parent/guardians, and audio and video recording recasts.
• Each school will regularly complete an accessibility report that measures the school’s compliance with the accessibility policy and will submit audit reports annually that describe steps taken to maintain the website’s accessibility, as well as steps taken to ensure that new programs and content are accessible.
• The District will develop and provide training on how to ensure accessible web design and implementation.
• The District will certify to OCR that the District meets the requirements of the accessibility policy.
• OCR will closely monitor the District’s implementation of the agreement.
  • A copy of the resolution letter can be found here: http://www2.ed.gov/documents/press-releases/south-carolina-charter-school-letter.doc.
  • A copy of the agreement can be found here: http://www2.ed.gov/documents/press-releases/south-carolina-charter-school-agreement.doc.
  • The office’s mission is to ensure equal access to education and promote educational excellence throughout the nation through the vigorous enforcement of civil rights. OCR is responsible for enforcing federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination by educational institutions on the basis of disability, race, color, national origin, sex, and age, as well as the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act of 2001. Additional information about OCR is available at http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/index.html.

States Continue Progress During Third Year of Race to the Top

The U.S. Department of Education released the year three Race to the Top state progress reports for the District of Columbia and the 11 states that received grants in the first two rounds of the program: Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Tennessee. These reports capture the highlights and obstacles that the states saw over the course of the 2012-13 school year.

“Over the last few years, we have seen Race to the Top states build on the systems and framework that they have been developing to lay the foundation for long-term, sustainable progress,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “In the third year of the program, states were able to shift to developing more tools, resources and supports for school districts and educators to strengthen their skills and build their capacity to tackle some of the toughest work in education. We know this work isn’t easy, but what has been most encouraging is that state and district leaders have had the courage to put these plans into action, and teachers and principals have shown up day after day with the same goal that we all share: making sure every single student is prepared to be successful in college and in their careers.”

It’s important to note that the year 3 reports demonstrate a snapshot in time—the progress that states made during that year. We’ve seen a number of states take steps to address the challenges that arose in that year over the past few months. It is also key to clarify that states cannot be compared to each other with these reports. The reports mark the progress that each state has made against the plan it set forth, and states are only compared to the benchmarks they have committed to in their plans. Ultimately, in the third year, a number of Race to the Top states posted encouraging signs of progress with improved scores on national benchmarks and access to more rigorous course work and resources like AP classes.

States reached a number of benchmarks in year three, as they began to put reforms into action in classrooms. As we near the four year anniversary of Race to the Top, states are implementing their unique plans, built around four assurance areas: implementing college- and career-ready standards and assessments, building robust data systems to improve instruction, supporting great teachers and school leaders, and turning around persistently low-performing schools. Some states made strategic investments to develop tools and resources for educators, students and parents; launch state-level support networks; or develop additional science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) schools or programs. Others launched new pipelines for teachers and leaders, supported key efforts to turn around low-performing schools, or implemented teacher and principal evaluations to better support educators and inform continuous improvement.

The Department’s Implementation and Support Unit (ISU) has partnered with states to track progress and provide feedback as they implement large-scale reform. Where states encountered delays and challenges, the ISU worked with them on adjustments to help move the work forward, while holding states accountable to their commitments. ISU officials will continue to provide annual updates about states’ progress under Race to the Top.

In addition to the year two state reports, today the Department posted Annual Performance Report (APR) data from states that received Race to the Top funding in phases one, two and three. This data helped to inform the year three reports, which were also developed with information from site visits, communications with state staff, and other performance reports. The APR helps to advance the Department’s efforts to provide transparent information and allow the public to follow grantees’ progress in implementing reform plans and meeting ambitious goals for student outcomes, including performance measures, student growth and closing achievement gaps.

The Race to the Top program, which made its first awards in 2010, has provided 24 states and D.C. with about $5 billion through three phases of the flagship competition and over $1 billion to support 20 states during the three rounds of the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge. In 2012 the Department launched the first Race to the Top-District program, which has now funded 21 applicants—representing 80 school districts across 13 states and D.C.—with over $500 million to support locally developed plans that will prepare every student to succeed in college and their careers. The Department’s fiscal year 2015 budget request includes $300 million for a new Race to the Top Equity and Opportunity competition to create incentives and provide resources for states and school districts to address persistent opportunity and achievement gaps. RTT Opportunity builds on previous RTT competitions and reform strategies to close gaps for high-need students.

For more information about the Race to the Top program, and to review the 12 state-specific year two reports and APR data, visit: http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html.

U.S. Department of Education Announces Awards to 10 States to Continue Efforts to Turn Around Lowest-Performing Schools

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that 10 states will receive more than $95 million to continue efforts to turn around their persistently lowest-achieving schools through awards from the Department’s School Improvement Grants (SIG) program. The following states are receiving awards: Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, Oregon and Texas.

“When schools fail, our children and neighborhoods suffer,” Duncan said. “Turning around our lowest-performing schools is hard work but it’s our responsibility, and represents a tremendous opportunity to improve the life chances of children. We owe it to our children, their families and the broader community. These School Improvement Grants are helping some of the lowest-achieving schools provide a better education for students who need it the most.”

Community engagement is an essential tactic for making school turnaround more effective. The U.S. Department of Education’s Reform Support Network (RSN) is releasing a paper, Strategies for Community Engagement in School Turnaround, which examines engagement in action. Between April and August of 2013 the RSN conducted reviews of 11 states and districts—urban and rural—with engaged communities surrounding low-performing schools. The enquiry yielded five primary lessons or takeaways about successful community engagement: make engagement a priority and establish an infrastructure, communicate proactively in the community, listen to the community and respond to its feedback, offer meaningful opportunities to participate and turn community supporters into leaders and advocates.

School Improvement Grants are awarded to State Educational Agencies (SEAs) that then make competitive subgrants to school districts that demonstrate the greatest need for the funds and the strongest commitment to provide adequate resources to substantially raise student achievement in their lowest-performing schools.

Under the Obama administration, the SIG program has invested up to $2 million per school at more than 1,500 of the country’s lowest-performing schools. Early findings show positive momentum and progress in many SIG schools. Findings also show that many schools receiving SIG funding are improving, and some of the greatest gains have been in small towns and rural communities.

States announced their grant amounts are:
Hawaii—$1,783,393
Louisiana—$9,572,881
Maryland—$6,619,995
Maine—$1,703,898
Michigan—$16,757,681
Montana—$1,486,422
North Dakota—$1,110,048
Nevada—$3,725,820
Oregon—$5,530,729
Texas—$46,773,565

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Calls to Participate and New Projects

George Washington University’s Transition Special Education Distance Education Certificate Program
http://tinyurl.com/o5jj6xj
George Washington University seeks applicants for the summer 2014 semester of its 12-credit on-line Transition Special Education Certificate Program. Students who have enrolled in this program will be given priority when being considered for admission to the Master’s program and all credits earned will be easily transferred. The program responds to the ongoing needs expressed by educators and rehabilitation personnel, research concerning youth with disabilities, and legislative requirements to provide transition services for all youth with disabilities. Deadline for applications: April 15, 2014. For further information about the certificate and the application process, contact Dr. Michael Ward, Program Coordinator, at mjward@gwu.edu. Available in pdf (200 KB, 1 p).

National Youth Violence Prevention Week, April 7-11, 2014
http://nationalsave.org/
The National Association of Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE) is a founding partner of the National Youth Violence Prevention Campaign. The campaign’s goal is to raise awareness and to educate students, teachers, school administrators, counselors, school resource officers, school staff, parents, and the public on effective ways to prevent or reduce youth Violence. This week-long national education initiative will involve activities that demonstrate the positive role young people can have in making their school and community safer. SAVE offers a campaign Action Kit that serves as a planning guide, with suggestions for how to support the campaign, activity ideas, links to co-sponsors, and articles and interviews on violence prevention.

PACER Legislative Alert – Supporting Youth With Disabilities
http://house.gov/representatives/find/
Congress is considering changes to the Workforce Investment Act and the federal Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Program that assists youth and adults with disabilities to get the education and training they need to obtain and retain a job. While Congress is trying to strengthen the VR services that students with disabilities would receive as they transition out of high school, some possible changes would hurt families of youth with disabilities. PACER is asking families and others to call their representatives to make the following points critical to families and youth: (1) Oppose moving the Vocational Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology programs out of the Department of Education (the Senate version of this legislation seeks to move Vocational Rehabilitation to the Department of Labor and the Assistive Technology program to the Department of Health and Human Services, but separating these programs and moving them out of the Department of Education would disconnect them from a culture valuing parental involvement and the other programs that support students with disabilities, and such a move would damage the strong family connections and important services provided to youth and adults with disabilities by providing such services together in Department of Education); (2) Strengthen competitive employment awareness provisions (ensuring that young adults with disabilities transitioning from high school to employment are aware that jobs which pay the minimum wage and higher are available is an important aspect of providing individuals the opportunity to reach their potential, and the bill could be strengthened by ensuring that there are no exceptions to making sure young adults are made aware of the possibility of working in a competitive workplace, in addition to the non-competitive, often less than minimum wage, work possibilities). The phone numbers of Congressional Representatives can be found at the website.

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Special Education Resources

IES Releases Synthesis of Research on Improving Reading Outcomes (February 2014) 
Report
http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/pubs/20143000/
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has released “Improving Reading Outcomes for Students with or at Risk for Reading Disabilities: A Synthesis of the Contributions from the Institute of Education Sciences Research Centers,” a report on improving reading outcomes for students with or at risk for reading disabilities. The synthesis describes what has been learned from research grants on improving reading funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) National Center for Special Education Research and National Center for Education Research and published in peer-reviewed outlets through December 2011.

Supportive School Discipline Initiative (February 2014) 
Report
http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/school-discipline/index.html
The Supportive School Discipline Initiative (SSDI) has released an “Overview of the Supportive School Discipline Initiative” report. SSDI is a collaboration begun in 2011 between the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice to target harsh and exclusionary school disciplinary policies and in-school arrests that push youth out of school and into the justice system, a process also known as the school-to-prison pipeline. The Overview summarizes and provides links to recent findings on the impact of school disciplinary practices on students’ academic success and juvenile justice involvement.

Universal Design in the News at the Center for Universal Design in Education (2014) 
Resource List
http://www.washington.edu/doit/CUDE/
The Center for Universal Design in Education (CUDE) at the University of Washington has added a new item to its resource collection, “Universal Design in the News.” which shares recent articles and posts relevant to the application of universal design in education: to instruction, to student services, to physical spaces, and to information technology.

Friends: Connecting People with Disabilities and Community Members (November 2013)
Manual
http://ici.umn.edu/index.php?products/view_part/579/
“Friends: Connecting People with Disabilities and Community Members” is a manual from the Institute on Community Integration’s Research and Training Center on Community Living that provides concrete “how-to” strategies for supporting relationships between people with disabilities and other community members. It describes why such friendships are important to people with disabilities and why it is important to promote community belonging and membership. The manual includes specific activities to guide users in creating a plan for connecting people. This manual is designed for agency staff, but can also be used by parents, support coordinators, teachers, staff, and people with disabilities to support community relationships. Additional Activity Worksheets are available.

eTrac Online Job-Seeking Information
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tr-wugIZOU
eTrac provides job seeking/retention information in a YouTube video to help promote independence and confidence. Midwest Special Services (MSS), a non-profit serving adults with disabilities, developed eTrac based on their own experience and best practices to help job seekers achieve employment success. The program walks the job seeker through every step, from the initial job search, to the interview process, and the skills necessary to retain and advance at work. Assistance accessing the on-line video (for information on pricing or to pre-view a demo copy of the program) is available from MSS by emailing or calling Josh Franzen (jfranzen@mwsservices.org or 651-777-7220).

Alliance for Excellent Education Archived Webinar: Assessing Deeper Learning: The Ohio Performance Assessment Pilot Project (January)
Archived Webinar
http://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.

Lessons of Reciprocity and Relationships (January 2014)
Essay
http://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.

The Soul of a Teacher (January 2014)
Essay
http://tinyurl.com/kdwt455
“Community Works Journal,” an on-line magazine for educators, has posted “The Soul of a Teacher” as a featured essay on the importance of keeping in touch with the unique experience of each teacher’s interactions with the students and with other educators. Each learning opportunity, each conversation, each perception, is worth taking the time to listen for it, and to allow and encourage it to be expressed, and not letting it be lost under the weight of standards, testing, scales, and standardized curricula.

Vera Institute Launches Status Offense Reform Center Web Site (December 2013)
Toolkit & Resources
http://www.vera.org/project/status-offense-reform-center
The Center on Youth Justice at the Vera Institute of Justice has launched the online Status Offense Reform Center. This Website, supported by funding from the MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change Resource Center partnership, is a one-stop shop of resources for policymakers and practitioners interested in diverting youth engaged in noncriminal offenses – such as truancy or running away – from entering the juvenile justice system. This interactive site provides a toolkit for planning, implementing, and sustaining status offense system reforms; profiles of reform efforts nationwide; research briefs; Webinars; podcasts; a blog; and a help desk.

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Latest Employment Opportunities Posted on NASET

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Funding Forecast and Award Opportunities

Forecast of Funding Opportunities under the Department of Education Discretionary Grant Programs for Fiscal Year 2014
http://www.ed.gov/fund/grant/find/edlite-forecast.html
This document lists virtually all programs and competitions under which the U.S. Department of Education has invited or expects to invite applications for new awards for fiscal year 2014 and provides actual or estimated deadlines for the transmittal of applications under these programs. The lists are in the form of charts organized according to the Department’s principal program offices and include programs and competitions previously announced as well as those to be announced at a later date.

FY 2014 Discretionary Grant Application Packages
http://www.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/grantapps/index.html
This site, from the Department of Education, provides information on grant competitions that are currently open.

ING Unsung Heroes Program Invites K-12 Educators to Apply for 2014 Class Project Awards
https://unsungheroes.scholarshipamerica.org/
Each year, the ING Unsung Heroes program selects 100 educators to receive $2,000 to help fund their innovative class projects. Three of them are chosen to receive the top awards of an additional $5,000, $10,000 and $25,000. ING Unsung Heroes Awards Program is administered by Scholarship Management Services, a division of Scholarship America. Scholarship Management Services designs and manages scholarship and tuition reimbursement programs for corporations, foundations, associations and individuals. Deadline: April 30, 2014.

Earthwatch Institute: Fellowships
http://earthwatch.org/education/teacher-fellowships/edfelfund/
The Earthwatch Institute offers educators fully funded fellowships for hands-on learning with leading scientists doing field research and conservation on projects around the world. Maximum award: fully funded fellowship. Eligibility: elementary, middle, and high school educators and administrators of any discipline. Deadline: two weeks after educator-interest application is submitted; ultimate deadline May 1, 2014.

Arthur Vining Davis Foundations Seeks Proposals to Strengthen Secondary Education
http://www.avdf.org/FoundationsPrograms/SecondaryEducation.aspx
The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations offers $100,000-$200,000 grants to support a wide range of innovative professional development programs that strengthen teachers in grades 9-12 and their teaching. For example, projects might be designed to improve professional development for in-service and pre-service teachers, strengthen teaching skills, support practical research in teacher and high school education, or encourage innovative use of technology and new techniques for presentation of classroom materials in high schools. Projects should aim to develop solutions with potential for wide application or replication by others. Requests to support well-established programs should be for initiatives with the potential to improve the program significantly. Special consideration will be given to projects in their early stages that address the concerns and problems of secondary education on a national level. In considering proposals to support high school teaching, sustained partnerships between the faculties of colleges (e.g., arts and sciences and education) and school districts, or collaborative efforts involving reform organizations, colleges/universities, and high schools are encouraged. Eligible institutions include but are not limited to public and private colleges and universities, graduate schools of education, and freestanding educational institutes. Ongoing deadlines.

Discover: Pathway to Financial Success Grant
http://www.pathwaytofinancialsuccess.org/get-a-grant
Discover is investing up to $10 million in financial education, and any high school can apply for a grant toward a financial education curriculum. Applying schools must have implemented or be looking to implement a financial education curriculum; have a measurement tool planned or in place to assess participation in and comprehension of the financial education curriculum; and agree to share overall results of the measurement tool’s pre- and post-curriculum testing with Discover upon the program’s completion to assess what worked and what didn’t. Maximum award: varies. Eligibility: high schools in the United States. Deadline: none.

Dollar General: Beyond Words Library Disaster Relief
http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/awards/166/apply
Dollar General, in collaboration with the American Library Association (ALA), the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) and the National Education Association (NEA), is sponsoring a school library disaster relief fund for public school libraries in the states served by Dollar General. The fund will provide grants to public schools whose school library program has been affected by a disaster. Grants are to replace or supplement books, media and/or library equipment in the school library setting. Maximum award: up to $15,000 to replace or supplement books, media and/or library equipment. Eligibility: public school libraries Pre K-12 located within 20 miles of a Dollar General store, distribution center or corporate office that have lost their building or incurred substantial damage or hardship due to a natural disaster (tornado, earthquake, hurricane, flood, avalanche, mudslide), fire or an act recognized by the federal government as terrorism; or have absorbed a significant number (more than 10% enrollment) of displaced/evacuee students. Deadline: none.

Fender Music Foundation: Grants
http://www.fendermusicfoundation.org/grants/?sec=info
Fender Music Foundation grants of instruments and equipment are awarded to music academies, schools, local music programs and national music programs across America, particularly in-school music classes, in which the students make music; after-school music programs that are not run by the school; and music therapy programs, in which the participants make the music. Maximum award: up to 8 instruments. Eligibility: established, ongoing and sustainable music programs in the United States, which provide music instruction for people of any age who would not otherwise have the opportunity to make music. Deadline: rolling.

AASA: National Superintendent of the Year
http://www.aasa.org/content.aspx?id=3404
The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) National Superintendent of the Year Program pays tribute to the talent and vision of the men and women who lead the nation’s public schools. Maximum award: recognition; a $10,000 scholarship to a student in the high school from which the National Superintendent of the Year graduated. Eligibility: Any superintendent, chancellor, or top leader of a school system in the United States, Canada, or international school who plans to continue in the profession. Deadline: varies by state.

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Acknowledgements

Portions of this month’s NASET Special Educator e-Journal were excerpted from:

• Committee on Education and the Workforce
• FirstGov.gov-The Official U.S. Government Web Portal
• National Center on Secondary Education and Transition, an electronic newsletter of the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET), available online at http://www.ncset.org/enews. NCSET is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.
• National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth
• National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities
• National Institute of Health
• National Organization on Disability
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
• U.S. Department of Education
• U.S. Department of Education-The Achiever
• U.S. Department of Education-The Education Innovator
• U.S. Department of Labor
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration
• U.S. Office of Special Education
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

The National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET) thanks all of the above for the information provided for this edition of the NASETSpecial Educator e-Journal.

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