March 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

Public Comment Sought for New Competition to Build, Develop and Expand High–Quality Preschool Programs

The FY14 Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (Public Law 113–76) makes important education investments, including $250 million in new Race to the Top to States grants for improving early childhood care and education.

On February 4, 2014, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced on a call (Read the transcript, or listen to thecall) with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius that the Administration plans to use the $250 million for a major new competition to build, develop and expand high–quality preschool programs, working with local communities and with states across the country, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Note that this new Race to the Top competition is distinct from the Race to the Top –Early Learning Challenge (RTT–ELC), an initiative that currently supports 20 states as they design and implement an integrated systems of high–quality early learning programs and services to increase the number and percentage of children from low–income families that enter kindergarten ready for success, from birth through age five.This year’s Race to the Top funding will support President Obama’s callto provide high–quality preschool for all 4–year–olds from low–and moderate–income families through a new competition to expand and enhance preschool programs across States and communities.

Specific competition requirements, priorities, and selection criteria will be developed consistent with the language in the FY 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (Public Law 113–76):

“Provided, That $250,000,000 shall be available through December 31, 2014 for awards to States, in accordance with the applicable requirements of section 14006 of division A of Public Law 111–5, as amended:

Provided further, That the Secretary, jointly with the Secretary of HHS, shall use all funds made available under the immediately preceding proviso to make competitive awards in accordance with such section 14006 to States for improving early childhood care and education, except that, notwithstanding sections 14006(a) and 14005(d)(6) of such division, such awards may be limited to activities that build the capacity within the State to develop, enhance, or expand high–quality preschool programs, including comprehensive services and family engagement, for preschool–aged children from families at or below 200 percent of the Federal poverty line:

Provided further, That each State may subgranta portion of such grant funds to local educational agencies and other early learning providers (including but not limited to Head Start programs and licensed child care providers), or consortia thereof, for the implementation of high–quality preschool programs for children from families at or below 200 percent of the Federal poverty line:

Provided further, That subgrantees that are local educational agencies shall form strong partnerships with early learning providers and that subgrantees that are early learning providers shall form strong partnerships with local educational agencies, in order to carry out the requirements of the subgrant:

Provided further, That, notwithstanding the second proviso, up to 3 percent of such funds for improving early childhood care and education shall be available for technical assistance, evaluation, and other national activities related to such grants:

Provided further, That not later than 30 days prior to the announcement of a competition under such section 14006 pursuant to the requirements of this Act, the Secretary shall submit a report outlining the proposed competition and priorities to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate:

Provided further, That the Secretary shall administer State grants for improving early childhood care and education under such section jointly with the Secretary of HHS on such terms as such Secretaries set forth in an interagency agreement:”

The FY14 Appropriations Report states:

“The bill includes $250,000,000 for Race to the Top, which shall be available for obligation through December 31, 2014. Funds may be used for competitive awards to States to develop, enhance, or expand high–quality preschool programs and early childhood education programs for children from low–and moderate–income families, including children with disabilities.

If awards are made to States to build capacity related to high–quality preschool programs, the Secretary of Education shall award two types of grants to States, one to low–capacity States with small or no State–funded preschool programs and another to high–capacity States that have a larger State–funded preschool program.

Additionally, new bill language specifies that high–quality preschool programs should include comprehensive services and family engagement. As such, it is expected that funds will be used to help programs meet and sustain nationally recognized standards in those areas. Funds may also be used to help early childhood educators to attain higher credentials and degrees.

The bill does not provide authority for funding to be used for construction, renovation, modernization, or related activities. In addition, the bill permits States to determine the amount of funding distributed in subgrants to eligible entities for implementation of high–quality preschool programs from low–and moderate–income families.

A State receiving an award for this purpose shall ensure that any use of assessment conforms with the recommendations of the National Research Council’s reports on early childhood. The bill also requires that the Secretary submit a report outlining the proposed competition and priorities to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.

It is expected that the Department will consult with the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, Committee on Education and Workforce, and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), prior to the submission of the required report, including on the criteria to be used under a competition to define a high–quality preschool infrastructure and program. In addition, the Secretary shall continue to provide, on a timely and periodic basis, the findings from evaluations, including impact evaluations and interim progress evaluations, of activities conducted using any Race to the Top funds to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.”

In addition, the FY14 Appropriations Report also provides that “Departments and agencies should be guided by the language and instructions set forth in Senate Report 113–71 accompanying the [Senate] bill, S. 1284, unless specifically addressed in this statement.”)The Senate Report 113–71 states:

“This program will award competitive grants to States to support their efforts to expand or create high–quality preschool systems for 4–year–olds from low–and moderate–income families, including children with disabilities. Preschool Development Grants will complement the administration’s Preschool for All proposal, which will provide matching mandatory funds to States for improving access to such high–quality preschool systems. The Department will award two types of grants, one to low–capacity States with small or no State–funded preschool programs and another to high–capacity States that have a larger State–funded preschool program. These grants will help States address fundamental needs including workforce development, quality improvement efforts, and the scale–up of proven preschool models. The bill allows States to subgrant funds to LEAs and to LEAs in partnership with other early learning providers. The Committee directs the Department to require any use of child assessments to conform to the recommendations and cautions of reports by the National Research Council on assessments of children.”

The two departments are very interested in your input. We encourage all interested parties to submit opinions, ideas, suggestions and comments pertaining to the new competition below.

This document will be posted for public input until 5:00 PM EDT on February 26, 2014, at which time the input section will be closed and we will begin consideringcomments received as we develop requirements, priorities, selection criteria, and definitions. Once the initial input from the field is collected and reviewed, we will draft an executive summary and post for comments that will, in turn, inform the final NIA.In order to run a rigorous competition and obligate funds to grantees before December 31, 2014, ED plans to waive rulemaking on this new program, pursuant to its authority in the General Education Provisions Act.

This is a moderated site.

That means all comments will be reviewed before posting. We intend to post all responsive submissions on a timely basis. We reserve the right not to post comments that are unrelated to this request, are inconsistent with ED’s Web site policies, are advertisements or endorsements, or are otherwise inappropriate. To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include personally identifiable information such as Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers or email addresses in the body of your comment. For more information, please be sure to read the “comments policy” tab at the top of the Web page.

The fine print

Please understand that posts must be related to the new competition and program, and should be as specific as possible, and, as appropriate, supported by data and relevant research. Posts must be limited to 1,000 words. All opinions, ideas, suggestions and comments are considered informal input. ED and HHS will not respond to individual posts, and these posts may or may not be reflected in the policies and requirements of the program. If you include a link to additional information in your post, we urge you to ensure that the linked–to information is accessible to all individuals, including individuals with disabilities. Additionally, please do not include links to advertisements or endorsements; we will delete all such links before your comment is posted.

Again, thank you for your interest in this historic opportunity to support high–quality preschool. We look forward to hearing from you.

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

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that nine states will receive morethan $71 million to continue efforts to turn around their persistently lowest–achieving schools through awards from the Department’sSchool Improvement Grants (SIG) program. The states that will be using the funds to make new awards are: Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Dakota. Wyoming will use the funds to make continuation awards.

“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 ImprovementGrants are helping some of the lowest–achieving schools provide a better education for students who need it the most.”

School Improvement Grants are awarded to State Educational Agencies (SEAs) that then make competitive subgrants to school districts thatdemonstrate 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 grants are improving, and some of the greatest gains have been in small towns and rural communities.

States announced today and their grant amounts are:

Connecticut $3,880,600

Florida $25,969,574

Idaho $2,016,193

Iowa $3,028,749

New Jersey $9,485,864

Ohio $19,157,881

Oklahoma $4,951,025

South Dakota $1,440,238

Wyoming $1,129,417

Seize the Day: Change in the Classroom and the Core of Schooling: Remarks of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

I am pleased to speak to ASCD’s leadership because I believe educators across the country today have finally reached a long–sought turning point.

All education stakeholders, many of whom are represented in this room today—teachers, principals, district and state leaders, non–profits, researchers, parents, and students themselves—all now have a once–in–a–lifetime opportunity to both dramatically enrich and accelerate learning and improve instructional practice.

This is the educators’ moment. This is your chance at an educational moonshot. Please seize the day.

ASCD’s recent report says that, thanks to college–and career–ready standards, which so many states have chosen, educators now face, quote, “an unprecedented opportunity for professional learning and collaboration.”

I applaud ASCD for its long history of promoting collaboration and aspiring to set high expectations for everyone in the profession. And I hope ASCD will continue to help lead this transformation at the classroom level.

I urge you to make sure your work continues to inform educators’ efforts to create rich, rigorous, and research–driven curriculum for all students.

I urge you to continue your leadership in providing professional development and preparation for teachers and principals, who are now implementing these demanding college and career–ready standards and far–reaching instructional shifts in classrooms throughout the country.

A decade ago, Harvard professor Richard Elmore wrote an influential essay in which he argued that education reform rarely succeeds at scale because it typically fails to change how teachers’ ideas about knowledge and learning are reflected in teaching and class work.

Professor Elmore’s thesis was that, quote, “the closer an innovation gets to the core of schooling, the less likely it is that it will influence teaching and learning on a large scale.”

There’s a lot of truth in Professor Elmore’s axiom. But I believe that we have learned from past efforts at reform, and that the next decade will be different in some basic ways.

Over the next few years, I believe we will see—and our nation will benefit from—afundamental shift in our expectations for students, and that this shift will be made and controlled by educators and state and local leaders.

I don’t have to tell you about the new college and career–ready standards. You know them well, and you know that they were initiated and developed by the states without federal input, and subsequently voluntarily adopted by states that chose to sign on, one at a time.

And since you are curriculum experts, I don’t have to tell you that the federal government has longbeen barred by law from mandating school curriculum and from selecting instructional materials for any school system.

Curriculum, instructional materials, and instructional practices—Professor Elmore’s “core of schooling”—are your business, not ours. And I want to recognize how essential your work is at this pivotal moment.

Now, these new college–and career–ready standards have the potential to be transformative for students, inspiring them, helping them to reach their full potential—but only if state andlocal leaders, principals, and educators implement them well.

This tough but transformative work of translating standards into curriculum, new instructional practices, new professional development, teacher prep instruction, and high–quality assessments isthe difficult on–the–ground work that truly can change the core of schooling in the classroom.

I want to briefly reiterate that standards and curriculum are two fundamentally distinct things, though they are sometimes confused in the public discourse.

Standards—learning standards, academic standards—are the goalposts, set by states, specifying what students should know and be able to do by a certain grade.

Curriculum, on the other hand, is what teachers work with to help students meet those standards—the textbooks, the reading assignments, homework, in–class exercises, handouts, papers, the planning and pacing guides used for a course, and, increasingly, the apps used for a course, and other content.

Curriculum doesn’t set the goalposts—in fact, its Latin root means a “course to be run.” Curriculum helps students to get down the field, but it’s not the goal line.

Unlike standards, curriculum is generally chosen at the district level or even at the school level—and in many cases, individual teachers decide onthe curriculum and classroom content.

In the United States, curriculum has never been nationally uniform. Our 15,000 locally–controlled school districts and more than three million teachers are just as likely to all eat the same breakfast every day as tochoose the same teaching materials.

As I mentioned a minute ago, the federal government is not going to assign any textbook or reading in schools. It’s not going to draft, create, or require a lesson plan in any school. It’s not going to tell teachers or local officials what to study—or what sequence to study in it.

In fact, not a word, not a single semi–colon of curriculum will be created, encouraged, or prescribed by the federal government. We haven’t done so—and we won’t be doing so, and that is how it should be.

Now, much of the hard work of developing rich, rigorous, and research–driven curriculum and instructional materials lies ahead. And an opportunity of this magnitude, to enrich and accelerate learning at the classroom level, is not likely to come along again anytime soon.

Educators today have an unparalleled opportunity to cultivate creativity, collaborate with their colleagues, deepen learning, and build a broad, rich curriculum that prepares the well–educated citizens that a democracy needs to flourish.

For every English teacher who lamented the lack of close reading by students and the shortage of opportunities for them to write and speak effectively, this is your chance to deepen learning and transmit your love of the written word to your students.

For every social studies teacher who worried that testing in English and math was narrowing the curriculum and shutting out history, this is the opportunity you’ve yearned for to have students read more primary sources and information—like letters, records, diaries, great speeches, and the U.S. Constitution.

For every parent who wanted teachers to go beyond the textbook and challenge and inspire their kids to really think and develop a lifelong love of learning, this is your moment.

For every principal who watched low academic standards encourage drill–and–kill memorization and straitjacket pacing guides for teachers, this is your chance to provide the instructional leadership that made you want to become a principal in the first place.

For every learning specialist, and literacy coach and math coach who saw how their states’ low standards had led to dumbed–down curriculum that bored students and turned them off from school, your opportunity is now.

And for every district curriculum officer and every district technology officer who wanted to collaborate with their peers in other states but struggled to do so because those states had different academic standards, this is your chance to collaborate across boundaries to advance learning in the classroom.

Now, I am absolutely optimistic that change at the classroom level, change for our students, will happen because I see it starting to happen all across the country—thanks to the leadership, creativity, and courage of teachers, principals, district and stateleaders, non–profits, teachers unions, and associations like ASCD.

I know some teachers are concerned about the pace and scope of change in their classrooms. But at the same time, many teachers are excited by the prospect of teaching to high standards, ofcreating classrooms and learning opportunities that feel very different for their students.

No one knows better than teachers the need to develop the higher–order skills and habits of mind that students need to succeed—not just in school, but in life.

Gene Carter, your esteemed Executive Director, summed it up well when he said that ASCD has “found a thirst for knowledge and information” about the new college–and career–ready standards. Teachers and school leaders, he says, “are eager to be part of a transformational movement that prepares students for college, careers, and citizenship.”

Let me give you just a few examples of this transformation that is happening in classrooms across the country.

At Belle Chasse Primary School in Louisiana, the district andthe school held voluntary professional development sessions throughout last summer to work on new curriculum in response to their state having the courage to raise the bar for expectations of student performance.

Almost every day, 20 or more teachers showed up to brainstorm new lesson plans, sometimes working into the evening hours.

Like so many of the teachers at Belle Chasse, first grade teacher Debbie Giroir made big changes to her instructional practices. As reported in the Hechinger Report, she no longer has a teacher manual that spells out what to do on day one, and day two, throughout the semester.

It’s been a challenge for Ms. Giroir to see herself as in charge of the pacing of lessons and units. But the changes she instituted in her math classes are visibly accelerating her students’ math skills—and make her think she’ll be able to introduce abstract word problems much earlier in the school year.

In Amy Lawson’s fifth grade English class at Silver Lake Elementary School in Middletown, Delaware, thegoal is no longer just to have students remember basic details about the plot of a short story. In the past when students read a short story, Lawson might have had them fill out a work sheet, asking students to identify what characters in the story said what.

But as the Associated Press reported, when Lawson taught a Judy Blume short story this, she instead assigned each student a character in the book, and told them to write an email message from that character to a friend.

That very different assignment forced her students to think more deeply about their designated character—and made them critically question whether their character was an honest narrator.

Andrew Vega, an eighth grade English teacher at the Orchard Gardens K–8 Pilot School in Boston wrotethat he used to be afraid of the Common Core standards and their impact on his teaching performance.

As many teachers do, he struggled to adjust in his first year under the standards. Change always is hard. And by his own account, his students initially struggled on new, more difficult assessments.

But Andrew, his fellow teachers, and the principal at Orchard Gardens are nothing short of amazing—together they have led a remarkable turnaround of their school. Student achievement there is soaring.

They stayed the course, and didn’t choose the easy path of dummying things down again. And in their second year with higher standards, Vega found his students thought more deeply and participated in classroom discussions with greater ease. They moved fluidly from discussing Tim O’Brien Vietnam War novel, The Things They Carriedto discussing primary source materials from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

At Madison Crossing Elementary School in Mississippi, teachers have formed professional learning communities at each grade level and are busy collaborating to incorporate the new standards into their teaching.

They are creating new curriculum and new metrics for grading student writing under the leadership of principal Martha D’Amico. Every week, Principal D’Amico meets with each professional learning community. And as she told a reporter, her first grade teachers are no longer just “teaching five facts of caterpillars and having [students] copy them down into a journal.” Instead of just being graded largely on punctuation and grammar, the school’s first–graders will have to research topics, and write explanatory responses using details.

All across the country, principals and teachers are also reaching out to parents to explain how the higher standards will impact their children’s learning in the classroom.

In St. Louis, Missouri, fifth grade teacher Jenny Kavanaugh is using Parent Night meetings to discuss the higher standards—and plans to post the learning goals being addressed week–by–week in her parent newsletter.

Just to be clear, the college–and career ready standards that many states have adopted together are one path to stimulating richer, more rigorous ways of teaching and learning, but they are not the only path.

In the handful of states that have chosen not to adopt the Common Core State Standards, many schools are preparing students for colleges and careers, and educators are working within their state to transform their practice.

In Virginia, for example, which did not adopt the Common Core State Standards,Hanover County has initiated a Teacher Leader Cohort to identify and develop leaders and teachers to ensure that all students in the districts meet the expectations of college and career readiness. And those teacher leaders are accountable for documentingwith clear evidence how they are making strides to improve student achievement.

Across the country, many other states and districts are also showing a lot of innovation in creating new curriculum and supporting new instructional shifts in the classroom.

In Kentucky, the integration of higher standards into the classroom has been taken on both by the state and by a strong non–profit sector.

The Kentucky Department of Education built a rich online technology platform that offers lessons, tests, and curriculum materials, and allows teachers to post their own materials and share and rate resources. It also includes podcasts by higher education faculty, to help introduce teachers to new instructional strategies for the new college and career–ready standards.

Already, two–thirds of Kentucky’s teachers have used the new online platform to create lesson plans, and two–thirds of teachers in the state have used it to create assessment items.

Kentucky Educational Television also had a great idea of creating online modules for parents and teachers to explain the new standards. We all know that teachers and parents should be talking about the new standards together. We have to strengthen the partnership between school and home.

And AdvanceKentucky and Project Lead the Way, two non–profits that promote STEM education, have helped develop new science and math courses.

The state of West Virginia, meanwhile, plans to provide extensive professional development to all its teachers on the transition to higher standards. Teams of teachers there have already created project–based learning units to fill gaps in the state–adopted curriculum materials.

Work done by teachers for teachers, is almost always more helpful than work done by outsiders.

Last summer, Tennessee used Race to the Top funding to provide 30,000 teachers with intensive professional development for the transition to higher standards, with sessions led by 700 well–trained teacher coaches. These coaches helped their fellow educators to identify units and tasks they could use in their own classrooms.

A rigorous evaluation of Tennessee’s teacher–led training sessions found that both the quality of teachers’ questions to students and their instruction in problem–solving techniques improved. And student achievement rose more quickly in the classrooms of teachers who participated in the training than in the classrooms of non–participants.

As Tennessee has both raised the bar and relied on teacher leadership, great things are happening for students. Tennessee improved at a faster rate on the recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) than any other state in the nation.

There are also great examples of non–profits, associations, and teacher unions stepping up to take on the challenge of developing better instructional tools to meet college–and career–ready standards.

Non–profits like America Achieves, Student Achievement Partners, and the Aspen Institute are producing free, high–quality instructional materials, including videos with examples of great teaching.

Two years ago, the American Federation of Teachers launched its free Share My Lesson digital platform, which now has more than 250,000 resources on it to help guide teachers in implementing higher standards.

And earlier this month, the National Education Association launched its partnership with BetterLesson, which features more than 3,000 lessons from over 130 master teachers of effective classroom instruction, by district and grade level.

At the Council of Great City Schools, big–city districts are workingsmarter, more collaboratively, and moving outside of their traditional silos. They are pooling their significant collective purchasing power to demand that publishers produce textbooks and instructional materials that are closely aligned with the higher standards—and not just in name only.

Other districts and states can learn from the example they are setting. The idea of 15,000 districts all buying books individually is a waste of scarce resources that could be much better spent in the classroom.

There are multiple routes, and never one path for improving instruction at the classroom level.

A group of math educators, for example, decided to form the Mathematics Teacher Education Partnership to redesign teacher preparation programs, so secondary school math teachers would be better prepared to teach to high standards.

In less than two years, that partnership now spans 30 states—and includes nearly 90 school systems, close to 70 universities, and nine community colleges. Last, but not least, I want to give a big shout–out to the invaluable work that the team here at ASCD is doing to support professional development and classroom teachers in the transition to implementing college–and career–ready standards.

Your free EduCore digital tool has attracted more than 130,000 users—130,000—and the site provides videos of great teaching, example lessons, and other resources, including professional development opportunities and instructional materials from some of the great non–profits that I just mentioned.

And youare walking the walk when it comes to professional development. Your one–day and two–day institutes covering the new standards in math and English language arts, taking place all across the country, are helping educators learn new instructional strategiesfor teaching the new standards.

We need more of that collaboration across states and districts. Teachers in West Virginia should be sharing and learning from teachers in Delaware, and vice–versa. There is no good reason to reinvent the wheel in tens of thousands of schools across the country. What’s working we should take to scale—quickly. What’s not working should be dropped much more quickly than it has in the past.

Now, I hope that, even as you help educators implement these big instructional shifts in the classroom, you will also work to continue to study curriculum and instructional materials for their effectiveness in enriching and accelerating student learning.

As I mentioned earlier, the federal government does not and will not have a role in creating or requiring curriculum and instructional materials in our schools. But our Department has a long history, dating back to the days of Ronald Reagan, of sponsoring research on curriculum to determine if it is effective in boosting learning.

From the What Works guides of Ronald Reagan’s administration, to the Exemplary and Promising Practices Panels of the Clinton administration and the What Works Clearinghouse established under George W. Bush, the federal role has always included sponsoring research on the effectiveness of curriculum and other educational interventions.

All told, our department has now funded more than 200 randomized control trials of a variety of educational interventions.

The reason for that rigorous research is simple—we want curriculum and instructional materials to be based on compelling evidence and the findings of cognitive science where possible, rather than on fancy marketing fads or popularity.

In randomized studies, some popular curriculum programs fail to produce positive effects, while others have a large impact or generate unanticipated benefits.

Our studies have also found, not surprisingly, that effective implementation of a new curriculum takes time—and some patience is always warranted before judging it a success or failure. Many of our evaluations, for example, build in a practice year in which schools or teachers get used to implementing the curriculum and supporting materials.

So, this transformation of classroom practice isn’t going to happen overnight. We all know there will be bumps along the way in implementing higher standards and new assessments to better measure students’ progress, growth, and gain.

I know that states and districts will make mid–course corrections as they see fit. And we must be both nimble and humble. We must learn from each other—and challenge each other with the hard questions. Our children deserve no less.

This is extraordinarily demanding work. And it is tough for teachers and principals to absorb all this change in a relatively short period oftime.

We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to our nation’s educators for having the commitment, courage, and caring to rethink their classroom practice. As is the case in all true professions, the need to learn and grow is constant.

Yet if the challenges are great, the opportunity to now advance learning and help all of our children to fulfill their true potential is even greater.

The rich, well–rounded, rigorous education that once seemed like an impossible dream for too many of our students is now no longer so impossible to imagine. With your help, educators can and will collectively embrace this opportunity—and seize the day.

Partners in Progress: Turning Around a Washington, DC School Takes Teamwork and Joy

There’s a transformation occurring at an elementary school in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the nation’s capital and it begins, each day, with chants and song. “Stand up!” and “C–O–L–L–E–G–E! College is the place for me!” ring out of the cafeteria where students gather for a daily morning ritualof activities designed to build school culture and student confidence. Just a few years ago, DC Scholars Stanton Elementary struggled with chronic underperformance and was long known as a place ruled by chaos, where neither students nor educators felt it was possible to focus on learning. Today, the school is turning around. With the help of strong partnerships and engaged stakeholders, chaos is being replaced with joy, as educational outcomes improve for the school’s young “scholars.”

On Monday, SecretaryArne Duncan visited DC Scholars Stanton to observe the school’s progress and to participate in a roundtable discussion, highlighting the importance of partnerships in the effort to dramatically improve teaching and learning in persistently low–achieving schools.

Secretary Duncan joined a group of local leaders and stakeholders including District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray, District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) Chancellor Kaya Henderson, Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) CEO Wendy Spencer, and City Year Co–Founder and CEO Michael Brown, for the visit.

Three years ago, DCPS engaged in a partnership with Scholar Academies, a national nonprofit education management organization, to run Stanton. As Chancellor Henderson noted, “Back then, there was a sense that if you went here, you were coming because you could go nowhere else.”

Third grade teacher Sheryl Garner spoke poignantly about the school’s transformation. She remarked that before the turnaround, almost daily she was “kicked and punched by students,” many of whom had difficult backgrounds and limited understanding of how to manage their emotions in school. She said, “I’m glad I decided to stick with it because I’ve seen so much growth here.”

Now, there is order in the classroomswhere university pennants line the walls, reminding students that higher education is within their reach—and a goal that they can strive for each day. In addition to college banners and achievement awards, it’s not uncommon to see students working in classrooms and hallways with City Year AmeriCorps members—who represent another key element in the story of progress at DC Scholars Stanton.

City Year has partnered with the school for six years; but this year, DC Scholars Stanton was able to double its numberof City Year service members. These young people provide intensive before–, during–, and after–school support to students in reading, math, and social–emotional skills development. Principal Rena Johnson and Assistant Principal Sanja Bosman also credit City Year members with helping to improve overall school culture.

Eighteen City Year AmeriCorps members work at the school now through a federal School Turnaround AmeriCorps grant, jointly administered by the Department of Education and CNCS, which is celebrating the 20thanniversary of the AmeriCorps program this year. Wendy Spencer, CNCS CEO, noted, “This partnership expands the role of AmeriCorps members in helping students, teachers, parents, and school administrators transform schools into models of achievement.”With the help of Jeff Franco, executive director for City Year–Washington D.C., approximately 150 City Year members serve in more than a dozen schools across DCPS.

Students and families at DC Scholars Stanton also benefit from a home visiting program, coordinated by the local Flamboyan Foundation, a private, family organization focused on improving educational outcomes for children. Through the program, teachers are trained to visit families and build relationships with parents and caregivers, with the aim of helping students to succeed in school.

Secretary Duncan acknowledged the efforts of all the partners at DC Scholars Stanton, saying, “Turning around a school is some of the hardest, most controversial, and yet most important work in the country. … Together, you are doing something remarkable.”

The hard work is beginning to show results. Since 2011, students at DC Scholars Stanton have improved their proficiency rates in mathematics from 10 to 42 percent. Reading proficiency rates have doubled from 10 to 20 percent.

As Mayor Gray stated, “Education reform is never done.” There is still much to do to ensure all Stanton scholars achieve to their fullest potential. But, even though the work is ongoing and challenging, Lars Beck, CEO for Scholar Academies, summed up the experience, saying, “You might think it’s crazy, but working together to turn around schools is … exciting and exhilarating … it can even be joyful.”

Tiffany Taber is senior communications manager in the Office of Communications and Outreach

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Calls to Participate and New Projects

National Youth Violence Prevention Week, April 7–11, 2014 nationalsave.org The National Association of Students AgainstViolence 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 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

Friends: Connecting People with Disabilities and Community Members(November2013) Manual ici.umn.edu/index.php“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 Informationwww.youtube.com/watch–wugIZOUeTrac 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 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(January2014) Essay 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(January2014) Essay tinyurl.com/kdwt455“Community Works Journal,” an on–line magazine for educators, has posted “The Soul of a Teacher” as a featured essay onthe 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 allowand 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(December2013) Toolkit & Resources www.vera.org/project/status–offense–reform–centerThe 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

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Implementation Cooperative Agreementsbeta.samhsa.gov/grants/grant–announcements/sm–14–002 The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has announced the availability of System of Care Expansion implementation cooperative agreements to support state, community,and tribal efforts to develop, expand, and sustain a system of care that will provide mental health services for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances and their families and/or caregivers. Deadline: March 21, 2014.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Planning Grantsbeta.samhsa.gov/grants/grant–announcements/sm–14–001The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has announced the availability of System of Care Expansion planning grants to support state, community, and tribal efforts to develop, expand, and sustain a system of care that will provide mental health services for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances and their families and/or caregivers. Deadline: March 19, 2014.

ING Unsung Heroes Program Invites K–12 Educators to Apply for 2014 Class Project Awards 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 earthwatch.org/education/teacher–fellowships/edfelfund/ The Earthwatch Institute offers educators fullyfunded 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 www.avdf.org/FoundationsPrograms/SecondaryEducation.aspxThe 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 Grantwww.pathwaytofinancialsuccess.org/get–a–grantDiscover 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 www.ala.org/awardsgrants/awards/166/applyDollar 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: Grantswww.fendermusicfoundation.org/grants/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 Yearwww.aasa.org/content.aspxThe 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, ortop 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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