Return-Path: <nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id h6QMos727728; Sat, 26 Jul 2003 18:50:54 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 18:50:54 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <002e01c353c7$8bbd1d50$18aab042@lop.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "ttweeton" <ttweeton@comcast.net> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ASSESSMENT:306] Re: PEN Weekly X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1158 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 13351 Lines: 251 . ----- Original Message ----- From: <Dirose7@aol.com> To: "Multiple recipients of list" <nifl-assessment@literacy.nifl.gov> Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 12:24 AM Subject: [NIFL-ASSESSMENT:250] PEN Weekly > Dear Assessment List Participants: > > A few important articles. What do you think? Would enjoy hearing from everyone again. > > Public Education Network Weekly NewsBlast > "Public Involvement. Public Education. Public Benefit." > ******************************************************** > "Providing extra help in students' correct grade, not in the grade behind their classmates, is more effective than holding students back, which both fails to improve achievement and exacerbates truancy problems.".............. I finally had a chance to read the article below that you sent about combating Truancy (rather late sorry. ) and have some thoughts. We have read about these solutions over and over. We all know what we SHOULD be doing. Although this author articulates solutions that don't cost money and are interesting possibilities, the other solutions she offers do! Alot of good things could be done with more money for tutors, and support personnel etc. " Personalizing counseling services " and "work ing with individualized groups" takes more money, time and staff. But our schools budgets are so pared down , those things are luxuries in most schools. Perhaps better and on going assessments much earlier in the students school career is a partial answer. Nipping these problems " in the bud", really paying attention to the assessment results in Elementary school, and investing time, money and energy in doing something about these results there ( which includes working with the parents) might make good sense . I do believe there is research about this . By the time students are in Middle School ,alot of the problems are much harder to reverse, and it is too late for many. > COMBAT TRUANCY BY MAKING SCHOOL WORTH ATTENDING > Although individual and family troubles contribute to truancy, writes Anne > Wheelock, the source of attendance problems goes beyond students' psyches. > School policies matter, too. Depending on how schools respond to student > problems, students with similar profiles may either stay motivated to > attend school or become convinced that "school is not for me." Sometimes > the things that erode student attendance have to do with the climate > unique to a particular school. Wheelock outlines strategies for reducing > truancy: reverse automatic fail policies, provide extra academic help, > increase school-community partnerships offering individual and group > services that strengthen motivation and commitment to school, personalize > counseling services, and create more awareness of post-secondary > educational opportunities. We can tell truant students they've made their > bed and should lie in it, writes Wheelock. But that message has > consequences of its own: Our truants of today will likely be our dropouts > of tomorrow. Alternatively, we can act against prevailing ideology and do > what is necessary to get all students to school and make staying there > worthwhile. > http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/05-03/05-16-03/a17op079.htm > > LEAVING TEACHERS BEHIND > ACORN has published a study documenting problems in the implementation of > the No Child Left Behind Act. (NCLB) The report analyzes data from 24 > states and 73 school districts, and finds that the Bush Administration and > the U.S. Department of Education are selectively following through on the > promises made under NCLB. The most important of these promises was to > make sure that every child has a highly qualified teacher. NCLB also > promised that teachers would be equitably distributed. The Administration > has deliberately pushed states and school districts to comply with other > provisions of NCLB while ignoring the two key requirements related to > teachers. The Bush administration has pushed states to implement NCLB > provisions related to school choice, supplemental services, and academic > testing. The choice and supplemental service provisions uproot students > and take money out of school district funds, which could be used to train > and retain more qualified teachers. The report concludes that the > Administration has not worked with the states to create the plans and > definitions necessary to place a highly qualified teacher into every > classroom, as the President committed to do when he signed the bill into > law. > http://www.acorn.org/acorn10/betterschools/releases/ltb.htm > > REVAMP RULES FOR CHOOSING ADMINISTRATORS, STUDY URGES > Forget about erasing the shortage of good principals and superintendents. > It won't happen, reports Scott Stephens. It won't happen, that is, using > the conventional strategy of developing leaders from within the education > ranks, according to a new study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and the > Broad Foundation. The study recommends replacing conventional > certification requirements for principals and superintendents with > criteria that stress leadership qualities rather than formal training and > education experience. It suggests recruiting school leaders from outside > the education field and boosting their salaries to be competitive with > other fields. > http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/opinion/105342342339440.xml?oc > > > SCHOOL CHOICE OFTEN ELUDES POOR AND MINORITIES, STUDY FINDS > Massachusetts' sizable web of school-choice options is "unevenly and > inequitably" distributed, leaving fewer chances for low-income or minority > families to leave low-achieving schools, a new report asserts. At least 25 > percent of Massachusetts' 1 million K-12 students attend school through > some sort of choice, including private schools, charter schools, > vocational schools, or a voluntary desegregation program that sends > children from inner city Boston to the suburbs. But many options remain > out of reach because of people's incomes, where they live, the > availability of the information, or other barriers, according to the > report, sponsored by The Boston Foundation. "If choice is a good thing for > some of our citizens, we ought to use public policy to make it available > more broadly," said Paul Reville, executive director of Mass-INC's Center > for Education Research and Policy, which authored the report. > http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/141/metro/School_choice_often_eludes_poor_and_minorities_study_finds+.shtml > > CONNECTING WITH FAVORITE BOOKS > Today, the lives and works of authors are made more accessible through > portals that aggregate author material from all over the Web, allowing > students and teachers to study, be inspired by, and connect with the > people behind their favorite books and characters. Perhaps the richest and > most exciting of these hubs is TeachingBooks.net. The goal of the site is > to give all educators easy access to children's book authors and > authoritative teaching resources. The huge multimedia children's > literature database uses "cutting-edge technologies to connect educators > and families with authors, books and authoritative teaching materials," > said Nick Glass, who, before launching the site, was an educator and a > bookseller. Glass is rightly proud of his accomplishment. He calls > TeachingBooks "the ultimate children's literature portal -- indexing by > author, title, subject and grade, all multimedia programs and resources > about trade books that are currently freely available on the Web." Among > the gathered goodies are teacher guides (more than 3,200!), National > Public Radio interviews, a wealth of multimedia links, and authors' > personal websites -- more than 6,500 links that are continually updated > and checked for reliability. > http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/living/columnists/joyce_kasman_valenza/5863031.htm > > > |---------------GRANT AND FUNDING INFORMATION--------------| > > "Classroom Lending Library Project" > >From May through June, 2003 -- or as long as supplies last -- the Hello > Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation will be giving away 800 classroom > libraries. The libraries are intended to reach under resourced, > mainstream, public school classrooms serving children who do not have > adequate reading at home. The Foundation is currently taking applications > from second grade teachers. The 2nd grade classroom lending libraries > include between 60 and 80 new fiction and non-fiction books, primarily > soft cover, with multiple copies of some titles. The Foundation will send > the boxed libraries to any mainstream 2nd grade public school classroom > teacher in the U. S. who can document significant need and who can receive > mail delivered by the U.S. Post Office (must have a five code zip code). > Because the number of classroom libraries is limited, applications will be > evaluated on the basis of need, plans for use, and date of application. > http://www.hellofriend.org > > "Advance Placement Incentive Program" > The Department of Education announces the Advance Placement Incentive > Program (API) that provides funds to eligible entities to enable them to > increase the participation of low-income students in both pre-advanced > placement and advanced placement courses and tests. Eligible applicants > include local education agencies, state education agencies, and national > nonprofit education organizations with expertise in advanced placement > services. Application deadline: July 3, 2003. > http://web99.ed.gov/GTEP/Program2.nsf/a5b8d6c38fdd4ca08525644400514f2c/8b59eeba26854f1485256882005c7590?OpenDocument > > > "Jordan Fundamentals Grant Program" > The Jordan Fundamentals Grants are awarded to teachers or > paraprofessionals who work with students in grades 6-12 in a U.S. public > school who also demonstrate instructional creativity and exemplify high > learning expectations for economically disadvantaged students. > Application deadline: June 15, 2003. > http://www.nike.com/nikebiz/nikebiz.jhtml?page=26&item=jordan > > "The Braitmayer Foundation" > The Braitmayer Foundation supports organizations and programs that enhance > the education of K-12 students through curricular and school reform > initiatives, professional development for teachers, and local community > efforts. Normally the grants are used as seed money, challenge grants, or > to match other grants to the recipient organization. Proposals are due by > June 30, 2003. > http://www.braitmayerfoundation.org/guid.htm > > "School Funding Services Grant of the Week" > Each week School Funding Services, a division of New American Schools, > features a new grant on their website. This week they highlight the > Jenesis Group Grant. > http://www.schoolfundingservices.org/newsViewer.asp?docId=2546 > > "FastWEB" > FastWEB is the largest online scholarship search available, with 600,000 > scholarships representing over one billion in scholarship dollars. It > provides students with accurate, regularly updated information on > scholarships, grants, and fellowships suited to their goals and > qualifications, all at no cost to the student. Students should be advised > that FastWEB collects and sells student information (such as name, > address, e-mail address, date of birth, gender, and country of > citizenship) collected through their site. > http://www.fastweb.com/ > > "Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE)" > More than 30 Federal agencies formed a working group in 1997 to make > hundreds of federally supported teaching and learning resources easier to > find. The result of that work is the FREE website. > http://www.ed.gov/free/ > > "Fundsnet Online Services" > A comprehensive website dedicated to providing nonprofit organizations, > colleges, and Universities with information on financial resources > available on the Internet. > http://www.fundsnetservices.com/ > > "Department of Education Forecast of Funding" > This document lists virtually all programs and competitions under which > the Department of Education has invited or expects to invite applications > for new awards for FY 2003 and provides actual or estimated deadline dates > 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 the Department > has previously announced, as well as those it plans to announce at a later > date. Note: This document is advisory only and is not an official > application notice of the Department of Education. > http://www.ed.gov/offices/OCFO/grants/forecast.html > > "eSchool News School Funding Center" > Information on up-to-the-minute grant programs, funding sources, and > technology funding. > http://www.eschoolnews.com/resources/funding/ > > "Philanthropy News Digest-K-12 Funding Opportunities" > K-12 Funding opportunities with links to grantseeking for teachers, > learning technology, and more. > http://fdncenter.org/funders/ > > "School Grants" > A collection of resources and tips to help K-12 educators apply for and > obtain special grants for a variety of projects. > http://www.schoolgrants.org > > > Diane Rosenthal > Assessment List Moderator > Executive Director > LVSG > Stamford, CT > (203) 324-5214 > >
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