Find a Parent Information & Resource Center Near You -
click here.
Check out
yourteacher's certification status with
Michigan's Teacher Certification Lookup tool
- click
here.
No Child Left Behind: A Desktop Reference
-
This Desktop Reference outlines what is new under the No Child Left Behind Act
of 2001 for each program supported under the Elementary and Secondary Act of
1965 and other statutes. It also describes how the Act's four guiding principles
are brought to bear on many of these programs.
NCLB Parents Guide in Spanish - "No Child Left Behind: A Parents Guide"
is now available on the web in Spanish. It summarizes NCLB, answers questions
about the law, & tells what it means for parents.
Education Commission of the
States No Child Left Behind State side-by-side Comparison - To see progress on
the states of your choice, visit
http://nclb.ecs.org/nclb/ then click on "State Comparisons" on the left-hand
menu.
Department of Education's NCLB
workbook - click here (PDF;
size=213k).
No Child Left Behind Faces Charges - Unable to push education fixes
through Congress, the Bush administration is taking its own pen to the No Child
Left Behind law.
Schools Reclassify
Students, Pass Test Under Federal Law - Will C. Wood Middle School faced
a vexing situation when last year's test results came out in August. Most
students had met the mark set by No Child Left Behind. But African American
students' math scores fell far short of it, bringing the school into failing
status in the eyes of the federal law. One hundred students were categorized as
black when they took the test last spring. But if the school had fewer than 100
students in that group, their low scores wouldn't count. So Principal Jim Wong
reviewed the files of all the students classified as African American on the
test, he said, and found that four of them had indicated no race or mixed race
on their enrollment paperwork. Wong sent his staff to talk to the four families
to ask permission to put the kids in a different racial group.
MI
Dismantling Failing Schools Right Way to Stem Dropouts - The
devastating news that three-quarters of students who enter freshmen classes
in Detroit Public Schools aren't around on graduation day would be even more
horrific had it fallen on deaf ears, as have past reports on the performance
of Detroit schools. But new school Superintendent Connie Calloway got out in
front of the report from America's Promise Alliance with a surprise
announcement that the district will dismantle five of the city's worst
performing schools and replace them with smaller, innovative programs.
Law
Opens Opportunities for Disabled - As Montgomery County ninth-grader
Stephen Sabia reads "Romeo and Juliet" and studies the Holocaust and World War
II for honors history and English, his mother credits an important ally in her
years-long drive to secure the best education possible for her son with Down
syndrome: the federal No Child Left Behind law.
Detroit Schools Graduation Rate: 32% - Just 31.9 percent of Detroit
students graduate in four years, according to the first major study in Michigan
conducted using a method now mandated by the federal government.
Teens May Get 5 Years to Graduate - Some Michigan students would be able
to attend a fifth year of high school -- and not be counted as dropouts for
failing to graduate in four -- if the federal government grants a request the
State Board of Education will consider Tuesday.
Special Education Law Must ‘Give Way’ to NCLB, Court Says - A federal
appeals court has turned away a lawsuit by two Illinois school districts and
four families that said the No Child Left Behind Act was in conflict with
requirements of the main federal special education law.
The No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act: A Progress Report - This report examines the impact of NCLB and the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) on improving educational
outcomes for students with disabilities Over the span of six months, NCD spoke
with more than 35 staff members from 10 states: California, Florida, Georgia,
Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania
about NCLB and IDEA to compile this report which includes candid assessments of
progress and remaining obstacles.
6th Circuit Court of Appeals Rules: No
Federal Money, No NCLB Mandates - A school district does not have to
spend state or local money to comply with a federal "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB)
requirement that isn't completely paid for with federal money, the U.S. Court of
Appeals ruled Monday.
MI
What Now? Lessons from Michigan
About Restructuring Schools and Next Steps Under NCLB - CEP’s third
review of school restructuring in Michigan finds that over half of Michigan’s 90
restructuring schools improved student achievement enough to meet the state’s
AYP targets for two consecutive years, allowing them to graduate out of the
school improvement designation altogether. A CEP analysis of the restructuring
approaches used indicates that no single factor is most responsible for
improving student achievement. Instead, schools that implemented five more
reforms over the past two years were significantly more likely to exit
restructuring than were other restructuring schools.
'No Child' Commission Presents Ambitious Plan - The Commission on No
Child Left Behind proposed a wide-reaching expansion of the law yesterday that
would for the first time require schools to ensure that all seniors are
proficient in reading and math and hold schools accountable for raising test
scores in science by 2014.
Next round
begins for No Child Left Behind - When President Bush signed the landmark
No Child Left Behind Act five years ago Monday, he conducted a three-state road
show, touted its bipartisan roots, and promised it would put US schools "on a
new path of reform, and a new path of results." In the five years since, critics
and admirers of the bill tend to agree about the reform part, but say they're
still waiting for results.
NEA to Challenge
No Child Left Behind - A majority of the delegates at the National
Education Association’s annual convention overwhelmingly approved a plan that
would push for aggressive changes to the federal No Child Left Behind law, which
is up for reauthorization next year. The nation's largest union, whose leaders
have often complained they were not allowed to participate in the crafting of
the country's chief education law, approved a plan that calls on NEA members to
lobby Congress for reforms including establishing an accountability system that
no longer relies only on testing as the measure of success or failure. Instead,
the union recommends designing a system based on multiple benchmarks, including
teacher-designed classroom assessments, student portfolios, graduation/dropout
statistics, and college-enrollment rates, among other measures. The plan also
calls for smaller class sizes, more funding for schools, and revisions to the
definition of “highly qualified” teacher.
2 States to Experiment With 'No Child' Changes - Under a new pilot program, North Carolina and Tennessee will be the first
states permitted to change the way they assess student progress under the
federal No Child Left Behind law.The "growth model"
assessment will allow the schools to be in compliance by measuring the progress
of individual students annually, instead of an entire grade of different
students.
IL
'Achievement Gap' Masked in Chicago Suburb - An
analysis of test scores across the country showed schools deliberately are not
counting the test scores of nearly 2 million students when they report progress
by racial groups. The way states avoid separating out the scores of students of
different races at the school level is to require a minimum number of students
in each “group” before they are counted. Illinois has set its cutoff at 45
students.
Testing? YES! --
Standardized Testing? NO! - Here, in three short sentences, is why No
Child Left Behind is dumbing down America's kids: 1. Teachers always teach to
the test. 2. Under NCLB, the only tests that count are standardized and machine
scored rather than teacher created and scored. 3. Machines can't evaluate and
attach a number to complex thought processes, so complex thought processes don't
get taught.
U.K.
Reading and Naughtiness 'Linked' - Research on 2,200 twins finds poor
behavior and reading in young boys - though not girls - are intertwined and
intervention can tackle either area. “To our surprise we found genetics did not
explain it. It's an environmental process, such as what goes on in the
classroom, and this is important because it can be changed." Programs that
target either reading problems or behavior problems during the pre-school and
early primary school years are likely to produce changes in both areas, the
research concludes.
The Center
for Rural Education - The U.S. Department of Education has launched a new
resource on the specific issues facing rural schools - particularly the
challenges in implementing No Child Left Behind. The Center will provide
information to local, state, and federal policymakers. Nearly 42 percent of the
country's public schools are in rural communities or small towns.
New Booklet Available on NCLB:
What Parents Need to Know - Parents and community leaders looking to
understand how the No Child Left Behind law benefits their children may glean a
greater knowledge of the legislation from a new brochure published by the U.S.
Department of Education. No Child Left Behind: What Parents Need to Know
summarizes the tenets of the 2002 law that seeks to ensure a high-quality
education for every student and to close the achievement gap between children
who typically perform well in school and those who do not—many of whom are from
minority racial and ethnic groups, have disabilities, live in poverty, or do not
speak English as their first language. The 12-page illustrated brochure
provides, in simple language, the principles of the law that hold accountable
all public K-12 schools, defining such terms as "accountability," "adequate
yearly progress" and "flexibility." The publication also explains how schools
are accountable to parents in providing report cards that reveal how a student,
the school, the district and the state are faring based on test results data.
Included is a sample graphic of a report card that simplifies these data. For a
copy of No Child Left Behind: What Parents Need to Know, visit
http://www.ed.gov or order it toll-free, while
supplies last, at (877) 4ED-PUBS with identification number EAT0264P.
New Rules to Aid 'No Child' Goals - Education Secretary Margaret
Spellings outlined new testing rules for disabled students yesterday,
formalizing an initiative that has already helped more than 100 public schools
in Maryland and Virginia meet the standards of the No Child Left Behind law.
No Child Left Behind in Indian Country (PDF) - Through the past year
National Indian Education Association (NIEA) has held eleven hearings on NCLB
and Indian education to gather information on the impact of the No Child Left
Behind Act of 2001 on American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian
students. Many witness identified unintended consequences upon culturally based
education including the use of culturally appropriate pedagogy and curriculum
connected to the social, cultural, and linguistic heritage of Native children,
the role of Tribal governments and the unique role of Native communities and
parents. Witnesses noted that NCLB has affected important traditional subjects
playing a central role in Native life such as music, literature, and the arts.
Witnesses also expressed concern that teachers were not expected by the statute
to be able to teach linguistically and culturally unique students as a skill as
an aspect of being highly qualified.
Failing Students, Rising Profits - Despite a
tarnished history and no independent evidence that its student-customers fare
better than in regular public schools, CEP uses political clout to carve a niche
market serving students the public schools don't want, and it makes millions in
the process. CEP's story is a primer on how the politics of education reform
serve business interests. Its success represents the triumph of free-market
ideology over sound pedagogy and the fallacy of the
accountability-through-testing approach to teaching.
Tech Helps Special-needs Kids Pass Key Tests - Whether, how, and how much
educators should deploy technology to help special-needs students on high-stakes
tests are complex issues in the era of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
[Free login/registration required.]
High School Overhaul Flunks
Out - In his State of the Union address in
January, President Bush hailed the progress of his No Child Left Behind Act in
the nation's elementary schools and called on lawmakers to extend the program to
high schools. But, "The president's idea was dead on arrival," said Robert
Schaeffer, longtime public education director of the National Center for Fair
and Open Testing. "Now it is well beyond rigor mortis."
NC
North Carolina's Near Perfect Graduation Rate, and Other Fables
- As they enter the fourth year of what they see as the oppressive No
Child Left Behind regime, our state governments are fighting back. But among
their acts of rebellion is one that, for some reason, I have yet to hear them
brag about. Many states are finding creative ways to misinterpret the rules for
reporting their statistics so that their school children seem to be doing
wonderfully even though that often is not the case. Now there is a new report on
how states are hiding their feeble high school graduation rates under thick
glops of statistical nonsense.
Student Testing is Causing a
Shift in Tech Spending - Public schools pressured to keep up with state
and federal testing requirements are spending millions on high-tech systems to
track and catalog their kids at the same time the federal government is cutting
funding for the very same technology. The result: Instead of buying laptops for
students or updating old hardware, school systems are raiding technology budgets
to pay for data systems that keep track of test scores.
Maryland, Virginia Win 'No Child' Flexibility - Federal regulators grant
states waivers in some of the No Child Left Behind law's educational
requirements -- changes that could keep some schools from facing sanctions later
this year.
FL
Some Florida Schools Granted Reprieve from Failing Label in Unique Deal with
Federal Government - Florida has cut a unique deal with the federal
government to prevent nearly two-thirds of the state's public schools from being
labeled as failures. It also could save school districts millions of dollars and
affect whether thousands of parents will have the right to transfer their
children to higher-performing public schools or have them tutored at government
expense. The deal, which granted 825 schools "provisional" status for meeting
federal reading, writing and math standards, arrived just in time for Gov. Jeb
Bush's release of annual school grades in Tallahassee on Wednesday.
NEA, School
Districts Sue Dept of Ed over NCLB - The National
Education Association (NEA), eight school districts, and teacher
organizations in 10 states on April 20 filed suit in federal
district court accusing the Bush administration of failing to
meet provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) that
require federal funding sufficient to meet the demands of its
landmark law.
ED to Increase Alternate Assessment Cap to 3 Percent -
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) will announce this week that it
is tripling the cap on the number of special education students who can take
out-of-level tests and still have their scores count under the accountability
umbrella of No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
Involving
Refugee Parents in Their Children’s Education - “In our culture
[Somali], you send the kids to school and they are the schools’
responsibility...Sometimes when the teachers have a problem understanding
the mothers, I help them by translating for them. The first thing the mother
will ask is, “What is she complaining for? Isn’t that her job? Isn’t she the
one who is supposed to fix the child? Why is she telling me?” This article
offers research-based tips and resources for how to involve refugee parents
in activities at school.
Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to
Family-School Partnerships - This
innovative guide reveals how to build strong collaborative relationships and
offers practical advice for improving interactions between parents and
teachers, from insuring that PTA groups are constructive and inclusive to
navigating the complex issues surrounding diversity in the classroom.
National Coalition for
Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE) - NCPIE was founded in 1980,
at the initiative of what was then the National School Volunteer Program
(now National Association for Partners in Education), with funding from the
Ford Foundation and Union Carbide. At NCPIE, our mission is simple: to
advocate the involvement of parents and families in their children's
education, and to foster relationships between home, school, and community
to enhance the education of all our nation's young people.
Featured Website:
Give Kids Good Schools - Parents often want
to do more to ensure that their child is getting the best education
possible, but this can seem like an overwhelming task. This excellent list
of resources and ideas is a good place to start.
Best Practice
Brief: Parent Involvement in schools
(PDF) - This Brief is one of two developed on
behalf of those schools facing the necessity to improve student performance
scores. It summarizes information about the impact that parent involvement
can have and the multiple ways in which parents can be involved with
schools. The material is organized with bullets and checklists to facilitate
its use by school personnel.
Parents' Involvement Not
Key to Student Progress, Study Finds - A
new study examining why similar California schools vary widely in student
achievement produced some surprising results: Involved parents and
well-behaved youngsters do not appear to have a major effect on how well
elementary students perform on standardized tests.
Rethinking Parent Conferences - In most districts, parent
participation in conferences drops off significantly in middle school and
high school. Why do some parents, particularly those with children in the
upper grades, avoid parent-teacher conferences? Shelley Billig of RMC
Research Corp. gives three reasons: (1) Middle schools often put less effort
than elementary schools into forging strong school-family partnerships; (2)
Communication at the middle level tends to be one-way, mainly from
principals and teachers to parents and often dealing with students’ poor
academic progress and discipline problems; and (3) Middle school students
often discourage their parents from attending parent-teacher conferences and
from being visibly involved in school activities.
New Publication Introduces
"Complementary Learning" - In the 4th
edition of "The Evaluation Exchange," the Family Involvement Network of
Educators (FINE) examines "complementary learning" -- the idea that
narrowing the achievement gap requires solid and sustained investments in
nonschool learning supports, such as after school programs, early care and
education, families, libraries, museums, and other community-based supports.
The new Family
Strengthening Policy Center (FSPC) Web site is a clearinghouse of
information and tools dedicated to family strengthening practices, programs,
and policy. One of the principles on which the site is based is that
families are strong when they are supported by safe and thriving
neighborhoods. Resources include a number of policy briefs on topics such as
parental involvement in education, mentoring, and community violence
prevention.
Keeping
Middle School Parents Involved - This
useful article (which would make a good parent handout) notes that during
middle school "many parents begin to struggle to maintain the teaching role
that they have identified with during the preschool and elementary years. As
students begin to learn more specialized subject matter, many parents lose
confidence that they can be helpful.” The article introduces a model that
helps parents understand how adolescents learn "and how parents fit into
this learning process.
Parents Have New Lesson For Schools - Many are now actively
challenging leaders on curriculum, closings and more First in an occasional
series on parental involvement in local schools. They can be pushy, brash
and outspoken. And they can be a school board's worst nightmare, because
when they become passionate about an issue, they don't let it rest.
Report:
Building Strong Families - Parents are key
stakeholders in both schools and communities—yet, they often complain of
being left out of the discourse or not understanding it at all. The YMCA of
the USA and the Search Institute have published a national study on minority
parents that provides insights into their challenges. Although job loss and
difficulty making connections with other community members are obvious
issues, what parents really want is to spend more time with their children.
Special Report:
Strengthening Parental Involvement in Middle & High Schools
- Direct parental involvement in school decreases dramatically
when a child reaches his/her teen years, yet such involvement is essential
at the middle and high school levels and can be one of the strongest
predictors of a teenager’s scholastic achievements. What drives this
parental behavior and how can middle and high school educators improve
communication with, and involvement from, parents? To read a comprehensive
discussion with practical suggestions, scroll down to the “special report”.
MA
Schools Fund Parent Organizers - The Boston
School Committee approved a $712 million budget next year that includes
$895,000 to hire 35 parent organizers. "We want to put resources in play to
support families in schools and we want to do it in a worthwhile way," said
School Committee Chair Elizabeth Reilinger.
Accomplished Teachers and Their Interactions With Parents:A Comparative Analysis of Strategies and Techniques
- All elements of school improvement are more likely to succeed if
parents help students focus on learning and teachers create effective
partnerships with parents to ensure good schools and successful students
(Epstein, 2001). identifying the family involvement practices of the most
effective teachers remains largely ignored. Better understanding how
teachers interact effectively with all parents is crucial for improving
educational outcomes. Rick Ginsberg and Lauri Hermann-Ginsberg compare how
certified and noncertified teachers interact with parents.
How Can We Prepare Teachers to Work with
CulturallyDiverse Students and
Their Families - After videotaping
different parent-teacher interactions during conferences, Bonnie Rockafellow,
Education Consultant for the Michigan Department of Education, describes
common themes observed and provides advice for preparing teachers to
communicate more effectively with families during formal conferences and
suggests that teacher preparation courses need to incorporate more
interpersonal communication skill building into curricula so that teachers
are better prepared to develop shared meaning with families.
National PTA Survey on Local Impact of the No Child Left Behind Act
- The National PTA surveyed its members about the impact of the No
Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) on local schools and districts. Eighty-five
percent of respondents believe that NCLB is having a positive impact on
student achievement. Fifty-five percent of respondents said that parent
involvement provisions of NCLB are being implemented in their school or
district, but 32% were unsure of the level of implementation and 13%
believed that no provisions were implemented in their school.
MI
Parent Engagement Information and Tools: Moving Beyond Parent Involvement to
Parent Engagement - Michigan’s educators are among the best in the
world and when the state, school districts, schools and parents unite to
support one goal: to help Michigan’s children succeed, great progress can
happen. Today, with new federal mandates, including annual testing and
adequate yearly progress, increasing student achievement is more important
than ever before. To continue the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) and
State Board of Education’s commitment to increasing student achievement, we
have developed a wide range of information and resources to assist districts
and schools in their parent engagement efforts.
2 New Guides for Parent
Leaders - No Child Left Behind provides parents with access to a treasure
trove of data about the performance of their local schools. But the information
is useless if parents don’t know where to get it or how to use it. Using Data as
an Advocacy Tool, a new 8-page guide from KSA-Plus Communications, looks at how
parent leaders can get smart about their school’s data… identify which students
are being well-served and which students are not...and be able to ask the kinds
of questions that lead to school improvement. A 30-page Parent Leadership
Starter Kit, also from KSA-Plus, includes everything a parent leader needs to
know to become a more effective advocate and decision-maker, including quizzes,
checklists, a guide to using data, and lots of useful advice about making use of
the No Child Left Behind law. Both guides, plus other resources (many of them
free), are now available.
8 Tips on Using Your School’s Report
Card (PDF) - Under the No Child Left Behind
law, school districts must distribute a report card on how every school and the
district as a whole are performing. This report also must include data on how
different groups of students are doing. For many parents, this report card will
be new. It’s different from the reports you get from your child’s teachers
during the year. And it’s different from the test score reports that parents
often get toward the end of the school year. Those reports tell you how your own
child is doing. These new school reports tell you how your child's school is
doing — compared to last year and the year before...and
compared to other schools.
11 Tips To Help Parents Create Safer
Schools (PDF) - Help prevent school
violence and make your child’s school safer with this starter list of ideas.
Some require only individual action; some require multiple actions by many
people. Some address immediate crises;others address
the basic problems that cause violence. Consider this list a launching pad —
there’s lots more that can be done. Check out
www.ncpc.org/besafeto learn more about what you can do to make schoolssafer and to stop school violence.
The Case for Parent Leadership
(PDF) - When people are asked what parent involvement means, they most
likely imagine anelementary school and young
children. Then they think of helping with homework, going to parent-teacher
conferences, volunteering in the classroom or playground, and attending PTA
meetings. The purpose of this report is to argue for something more — a lot
more.
12 Things Parents Should Know About &
Expect From Your Schools...and Yourself (PDF) - At KSA-Plus Communications, we believe that knowledgeable, engaged parents
improve student achievement. Students win, educators win, communities win. We
offer a wide range of materials, workshops and strategic advice to parent
groups, community organizations, housing coops, faith-based groups, business
leaders, elected officials and educators who are committed to ensuring that allAmerican children, no matter what their background, get the kind of
education they’ll need to lead good lives.
10 Tips for Parents Who Choose To Stay Put
(PDF) - Since the No Child Left Behind law was signed in January 2002,
most of the attention has been on the choice provisions — particularly the
requirement that low-income schools that fail to meet their learning goals for
two years in a row must allow parents to transfer their child to a school with
higher scores. Headlines from New York to San Francisco have shown how tough it
has been to make this policy work: late and/or inaccurate data from states to
school districts, late notification from districts to parents, letters that
parents find hard to understand, and choices that they don’t like — such as a
long, cross-town bus or subway ride. In many rural districts, there are no
choices.
Schools Must Engage Parents, Survey Finds - Parents who take time to help
teachers understand their child are less likely to feel like outsiders at the school and more likely to understand how to help their child learn, a new survey
concludes.
New
Parent Guide: No Child Left Behind - The National Center for Learning Disabilities and Schwab Learning have
developed a handbook to help parents navigate and coordinate the federal No
Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education acts. No
Child Left Behind requires schools to have a plan to help low-achieving
children, including the almost 3 million children with learning
disabilities, meet higher academic standards. The new 22-page guide
addresses the law's emphasis on accountability, an explanation of the
requirement of schools to improve test scores in math, science and reading
over the next decade, and what happens if a school doesn't meet its goals.
"Making the No Child Left Behind Act Work For Children Who Struggle to
Learn: A Parent's Guide" is available free of charge at
http://www.ncld.org/publications-a-more/parent-advocacy-guides/making-the-no-child-left-behind-act-work.
No Class:
Why
Are "Public" Schools Closed to the Public?- It's back-to-school time. Unfortunately, despite school report cards
and mandates like No Child Left Behind, many public schools still treat parents
like mushrooms: feed them guano and keep them in the dark.
This occurred to me when, like any good parent, I called the principal's office
at my local public elementary school to check it out before sending my son.
Back-to-School Resources Help Parents, Students, and PTAs- To make getting ready for school easier for parents,
students, and PTA leaders, National PTA has compiled resources and information
in an expanded website. Parents can find articles on helping with homework,
promoting good test-taking skills, keeping kids healthy, enhancing
parent-teacher communication, and much more.
NY
First-time School Parent Coordinators Making the Grade -
A whopping 96 percent of the city's rookie parent coordinators
received satisfactory or excellent ratings on their first annual report cards
from principals, preliminary returns obtained by The Post show. The job
evaluations showed that the coordinators met or exceeded expectations in helping
their school improve relations with parents to help boost student performance.
Parent Advocacy Needed Where American Schooling Has Failed Children of Color
- American schools have failed children of color due to a lack of
resources, such as, books, high expectations, and a rigorous curriculum, writes
Mary Johnson. To help parents become better advocates for quality educational
opportunities, for the last three years a group of parents from South Gate and
Lynwood, California have started a 13-week parent project to teach parents state
standards, policy, and research methods to help them learn how to navigate and
advocate for equal access for quality education for all children.
MI
Teachers: Parents Don't Talk To Us-
Michigan teachers say language barriers, unresponsiveness and time constraints
make communicating with parents a struggle, according to a survey released today
of more than 1,000 teachers statewide.
FL
Schools Lure Parents Back to School - With so many high school
graduates unsure of what they want to do afterwards, and with many of
their parents unaware of opportunities for their kids, schools are
trying to reach students through their parents. Greater efforts to get
parents -- at every level of school -- more involved in their child's
education are being made. More often, writes Christina Denardo,
schools are tailoring their outreach program to boost student
achievement and give parents what they want.
The Blame Game: Are Learning & Behavior Problems the Kids' Fault? -
Parents of special ed kids often say that they are intimidated and patronized by
staff at their children’s school. Are parents too sensitive? Do they misperceive
and misunderstand what happens in their contacts with educators? Or are parents
just over-protective of their children, as many educators claim? If school staff
believe that you or your child are responsible for your child’s problems, how
can you work with them to ensure that your child gets a good quality education?
No Parent Left Behind
- Educators have recognized for some time that parent involvement
plays a critical role in student achievement. Especially in urban districts it
has become increasingly clear that failure to enlist parents as partners
seriously hampers any school-reform efforts.
Parent Power - What sets this program apart
from most workshops aimed at parents is that each graduate of the institute is
expected to commit to planning and executing a project that addresses an area of
weakness in his or her school or district. [Note: Registration is required
before viewing this article at edweek.org.]
OH
Parents Can Track Students on Web - St. Joseph in Falls uses Edline to
let mom and dad peek at grade book. When St. Joseph School signed on to
the Edline at the start of the school year, the move brought groans from some
students but cheers from their parents.
No Child Left Behind: What’s in It for Parents - Readers earn about six leverage points that everyone can
use to ensureevery child receives a high-quality
education. You'll also find PDF links to six useful documents, including "What Must a Title I School Do To Promote ParentInvolvement?" and "What if Your Child's School Is 'In Need ofImprovement?'"
This guide takes a closer look at how the new federal law requires schools and
districts to involve parents in the hard work of school improvement. Readers
also will learn about six leverage points that parents and community members can
use to ensure every child receives a high-quality education. For each leverage
point, the guide suggests specific steps parents can take to ensure that their
schools are doing what the federal law requires of them. $15
Order
form (PDF, 397 KB) or download the pdf documents for FREE
below:
from "Monday Morning in Washington, D.C."
published by Jackie Golden of The Inclusion Research Institute of
Washington, DC
On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into law
the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The Act, which embodies his
education reform plan sent to Congress on January 23, 2001, is the
most sweeping reform of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
(ESEA) since ESEA was enacted in 1965. It redefines the federal role
in K-12 education and will help close the achievement gap between
disadvantaged and minority students and their peers. It is based on
four basic principles: stronger accountability for results,
increased flexibility and local control, expanded options for
parents, and an emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven
to work. Visit their Website at
www.ed.gov/nclb/. The new "No Child Left Behind" Website
offers: * An executive summary of the Act * A preliminary overview
of programs & changes * The text of the Act * The conference
committee report * What the Act means for your state.
No Child Left Behind Website-
No State Left Behind: The Challenges and Opportunities
of ESEA 2001 by ECS which highlights where many states are in
relationship to some of the majorrequirements
http://www.ecs.org/html/Special/ESEA/NSLB_main.htm
New Rules Give
Credit to Underachieving Students for Making Progress
- More Pennsylvania schools this year are likely to make adequate
yearly progress on state tests because the federal government has approved a
measure that considers student growth, not just whether students are
proficient.
Grad Rates Likely To Drop With New
Formula - Look for Michigan's overall high school graduation numbers
to drop as the state prepares to release its data next week based on a new
formula agreed upon by the National Governors Association (NGA).
Click here for more information on high stakes testing.
Meeting the Spirit of AYP Through School Reform: Cohesion, Coordination, and
Alignment Lead to Student Achievement - This FOCUS on Results document
offers information on why cohesion, coordination, and alignment of critical
subsystems are essential for student achievement. This article looks at how
the five subsystems work together to support student learning within and
across programs through the process of educational change, systemic reform,
and re-culturing.
Agency to Examine 'No Child' Loophole - Under
pressure from lawmakers, the Bush administration outlined plans to examine why
some states are excluding huge numbers of children when reporting test scores
under the No Child Left Behind Act. The review comes after The Associated
Press reported in April that nearly 2 million students were not being counted
when schools reported yearly progress by racial groups.
MI
Feds Shoot Down MDE Changes -
The U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) has rejected portions of the
Michigan Department of Education's (MDE) Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) plans to
meet the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements. As a result, the
AYP school report cards will be delayed, more schools will fail to meet the
AYP and the MDE is likely to be assessed financial penalties up to $200,000
for 2007.
States Test Limits of Federal
AYP Flexibility - This report finds that states are continuing to find
new ways to calculate adequate yearly progress (AYP) under the No Child Left
Behind Act in order to raise the number of schools and districts that meet the
law’s student achievement targets. The report acknowledges that many of the
changes are necessary adjustments made in response to states’ difficulties in
administering the law, but calls on states and the U.S. Department of
Education to be more transparent about the approaches used to calculate AYP.
Education Secretary Hints of
Changes - Education Secretary Margaret Spellings showed growing support
Friday for letting states change how they score student progress, a
potentially major policy shift. Under the No Child Left Behind law, schools
are gauged based on how their current students perform compared with last
year's students on math and reading tests.
MI
Education Board Approves New Performance Indicators -
Schools this fall will have a new set of performance indicators to
consider for their Education YES! Report Cards. And this spring they will see
those indicators have a little less weight.
Testing Companies Mine for Gold -
There has been little public outcry over the fact that private,
multinational companies operating beyond public oversight are
determining which students, schools, and districts in the United
States are deemed "failures" and which are deemed "successes." Given
the secrecy that shrouds testing company operations, information is
negligible. What the public doesn't know, the public doesn't complain
about.
MI
Department of Ed
Faces $125,000 Fine - The Department of
Education (MDE) faces a $125,000 fine by the federal government for not
turning around the results of the 2004 Michigan Education Assessment Program
(MEAP) test for high schools until more than a month into the 2004-2005 school
year.
NC
State Tests Too Easy to Pass, Critics Claim - N.C. education
leaders will review making ABCs more demanding. With more than 70 percent of
North Carolina's students passing state tests, a growing chorus of critics
is complaining that it's too easy to meet minimum standards.
MI
109 State Districts Miss Mark on Academic Goals- For 109
Michigan school districts, not meeting strict state academic goals is more
than a challenge. It's just plain frustrating. And it's mostly because of
one number: 30. On Thursday, the Michigan Department of Education, for the
first time, identified school districts that do not meet academic goals. The
state previously has only identified individual schools.
DE
Delaware Education Chief Rips Extra Testing - The state's education secretary opposes a plan by President Bush that would
expand a national testing program to high schools, but superintendents had
mixed reactions.
MI
About 4 in 5 Meet AYP
Guidelines - According to the State
Department of Education, nearly 80 percent of Michigan's public school
districts met the federal guidelines for making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP),
as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
MI
109 School Districts
Fail To Make Federal Progress - State
education officials will announce today that 109 Michigan school districts --
about one in every five across the state -- failed to meet federal progress
standards this year.
MI
More Michigan High Schools Fail - Higher
standards are partly blamed for almost half missing the mark for No Child Left
Behind.
MI
Report Cards Target Specific
Groups of Students - High school report cards
due out today will focus attention on the academic progress of minorities,
children with disabilities and other subgroups of students that some say are
often overlooked. Schools will be graded on an A, B, C, D-alert or
unaccredited basis under the state's Education YES! program. At the same time,
parents will find out whether their children's schools made Adequate Yearly
Progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
MI
Schools Making AYP For One Year
- Preliminary calculations indicate that a number of schools that
wereimplementing some phase of NCLB consequences, because of not making adequate
yearly progress (AYP) in the past, have just made AYP on the 2004 EducationYES!
report cards.
MI
Schools That Did Not Make AYP -
Schools that are in Phase 3 (Corrective Action) and Phase 4 (Development of
Restructuring Plan) are reminded that NCLB - Section 1116(b)(8)(C) - requires
that a school district: * Provide prompt notice to parents and teachers of the
need for corrective action or restructuring planning, and * Provide parents and
teachers an "adequate opportunity" to: 1. Comment before taking any action, and
2. Participate in developing any plan. This is a reminder to schools that did
not make adequate yearly progress (AYP) on the 2004 preliminary school
EducationYES! report cards that were just issued.
MI
Tutoring at Work:
Extra Help Gives Some a Boost
- Darlene Stanfield never would be able to afford after-school
tutoring for her school-age children, so she's thrilled she can get it for
free. Seven of her nine children -- who attend four different Detroit public
schools -- are getting the extra help at Sylvan Learning Center. "They're
doing the same things they're doing in school -- it's tied to the school
program, and they're anxious to go," Stanfield said.
MI
The Many Ways to
Flunk AYP under NCLB: Different Approaches, Different Results -
Michigan Department of Education officials said today it shouldn't come as a
surprise that some of the state's best schools were labeled as not making
"Adequate Yearly Progress" (AYP) under the new federal guidelines, noting that
a school has some 50 ways it can trip up.
MI
Nearly
900 Michigan Schools Don't Meet Progress Goals - Nearly 900 Michigan schools didn’t meet progress requirements and 112 must
begin planning for a restructuring under a tough federal law mandating that
schools improve standardized test scores. Under the state’s accreditation
system, nine schools were unaccredited -- the equivalent of failing -- in
first-ever school report cards made public Friday. Of the schools that got
grades, most received Bs and Cs.
U.S.
Severely Disabled
Students Get Own Rules -
Students with the most severe learning disabilities can be held to
standards designed just for them rather than those used for classmates, which
could ease pressure on schools struggling to make yearly progress, Education
Department officials said Wednesday.
MI Parent
Notifications Required in Michigan by No Child Left Behind Act - The
purpose of this memorandum is to summarize the notifications that school
districts and public school academies are required to provide to parents under
the No Child Left Behind Act, and to clarify these requirements in light of the
delay in the availability of 2002-03 MEAP results and calculation of 2002-03
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
MI Difficulty
Making Adequate Yearly Progress Linked to Lead Poisoning - This map (click
here for PDF map) overlays 2001-02 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status
over elementary school attendance area in the city of Grand Rapids. The map then
plots elevated blood lead level cases that are greater than or equal to 10 ug/dL
in 2000 by elementary attendance area. Statistical analysis of these data (a F
Test) indicated that schools having more children with lead poisoning greater
than 10 ug/dL is significantly related to not achieving AYP status.
MI
School Report Cards
To Be Used For Guidance - State School Superintendent Tom Watkins told a
gathering of Oakland County educators, student parents, government leaders and
interested residents on Monday that school report cards expected to be released
this fall are not meant to characterize underperforming schools as failing.
MI
Ed Yes! Report
Cards Still Planned for September - Problems
with a contractor developing a new database for Michigan Educational Assessment
Program test scores has delayed release of those scores, but the Department of
Education is still aiming at having report cards under the new Education YES!
accreditation system to schools by mid-September, officials said Tuesday.
MI
Michigan Schools
Continue to Improve - Reports compiled
according to federally mandated Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) formulas
indicate that 88 percent of Michigan’s elementary and middle school buildings
are making progress toward achievement testing goals.
Frustration
Grows as States Await 'Adequate Yearly Progress' Advice
- State
officials are frustrated and worried over a lack of federal guidance
on setting annual performance targets for schools, as required by the
nation's major education law. Fueling their concerns are preliminary
simulations in more than a dozen states that suggest a majority of
their schools could be identified as needing "improvement."
The Michigan Department of Education releases
Phase 2
Schools Continuing to be Identified for Improvement that Did Not Make AYP in
2001-02.
View
the list of schools in pdf - click here.
- The schools in this group must revise their school improvement plans and
submit them to the district for peer review and approval. They must also use
at least 10 percent of their Title I funds for professional development to
support the revised plan. The district must notify parents of students
attending these schools and offer the option to transfer to a school in the
district that is not identified for improvement, with transportation provided
by the district.
The Michigan Department of Education releases
Phase 3
Schools Continuing to be Identified for Improvement that Did Not Make AYP in
2001-02.
View
the list of schools in pdf - click here.
-
The schools in this group must continue to implement their
revised school improvement plans and use at least 10 percent of their Title I
funds for professional development to support the revised plan. The district
must also notify parents of students attending these schools, offer the option
to transfer to a school in the district that is not identified for
improvement, and offer students from low-income families the opportunity to
obtain supplemental educational services from a state-approved provider.
The Michigan Department of Education releases
Phase 4
Schools Identified for Corrective Action that Did Not
Make AYP in 2001-02. View the list of schools in pdf -
click here. - The district must
notify parents of students attending these schools, offer the option to
transfer to a school in the district that is not identified for improvement,
and offer students from low-income families the opportunity to obtain
supplemental educational services from a state-approved provider. The district
must also take at least one of the following corrective actions with respect
to each of the schools: Replace staff relevant to the failure to make AYP;
Institute a new curriculum and provide appropriate professional development;
Significantly decrease management authority at the school; Appoint an outside
expert to advise the school; Extend the school year or school day; Restructure
the internal organization of the school.
MI MIRS
9-12-02
Education YES! Another
Deadline Doomed? - Do it now or do it right. That is the
dilemma facing the State Board of Education as it attempts to meet
another self-imposed December deadline for implementing its
accreditation system for Michigan's public schools, Education YES! – A
Yardstick for Excellent Schools.
Achieving "High Quality" in the Selection, Preparation and Retention of Teachers
- Although the typical age of college graduates has risen from age 22 to age
26, it is still generally true that most of those preparing to teach are college
age youth, that is, late adolescents and young adults. Approximately 80% of
those preparing to teach are youngsters below age 26 and approximately 20% are
older "non-traditional" post baccalaureate students or adults in alternative
certification or on-the job training programs.
No States Meet Teacher-quality Goal Set in Federal Law -
Not a single state will have a ''highly" qualified teacher in every
core class this school year as promised by President Bush's education law. Nine
states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, face penalties.
Bill Summary:
The
Ready to Teach Act - Congressional
Republicans are targeting the nation's teaching colleges with the first in what
will be a series of bills to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA). The
Ready to Teach Act seeks to ensure that teacher training programs are producing
well-prepared teachers to meet the needs of America's students.
E-tutoring Now More Viable - Before the Internet revolution, parents
drove their children to tutoring centers. Now, students are a computer click
away from help.
IL
Chicago To Get Relaxed Tutoring Rule - The Education Department plans to
allow Chicago Public Schools to provide tutoring to struggling students even
though the district itself has not met academic standards -- a waiver of federal
rules that could have national implications, officials said Tuesday.
No Child Left Behind:
Supplemental Educational Services Non-Regulatory Guidance - The U.S.
Department of Education has issued guidance to further clarify the roles of
states and districts in implementing supplemental educational services under the
No Child Left Behind Act. The document, ³Supplemental Educational Services
Non-Regulatory Guidance,² features ideas for connecting parents to supplemental
education services providers, who offer free tutoring and other academic
enrichment activities to qualified students whose schools aren¹t meeting their
yearly progress goals. The guidance was last updated in 2003, and since then the
Department has made several important policy decisions to address concerns from
states, school districts, parents, and academic service providers.
PA
Schools' Tutor Program Must Change, U.S. Says - The Philadelphia School District must make changes to its after-school
program by September to continue as an approved tutoring provider under the No
Child Left Behind law, the U.S. Department of Education
has ruled.
SES Ruling Leaves
Thousands Behind - A recent decision by the
U.S. Department of Education (ED) gives a huge lift to private companies that
supply after-school tutoring and other supplemental education services (SES) for
the nation's schools--but it also could result in a disruption or loss of
service for tens of thousands of students in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS)
and other districts of similar status.
Supplemental
services for students in failing schools: Helping eligible students in public
schools “in need of improvement” receive the free, high-quality tutoring
services they need. Visit
LA
New Orleans Students Snub Free Tutoring - Fewer than 500 of 7,500
eligible New Orleans public school students have signed up for free, one-on-one
tutoring that chronically poor-performing schools now are required to offer.
U.S.States Suffer Halting
Start On Tutoring - At least five
states have been operating under the impression—mistaken, according to
the Department of Education—that none of their public schools must
meet a key requirement in the new federal education law this school
year.
Is My Child Eligible For
Supplemental Educational Services? - Children in schools receiving Title
I funds that have not made adequate yearly progress for three years are entitled
to supplemental educational services (SES)—free tutoring and other extra
academic help outside of the regular school day. Also included, information on
the Supplemental Educational Services Tool Kit.
INDIA
Online Math Tutoring is Soon to be a Possibility - The offices of Educomp
Datamatics in Delhi looks like any other Indian call center, apart from one
crucial fact: Its staff are math tutors offering support to students in the U.S.
Because of the Bush Administration's 2002 No Child Left Behind Act, if schools
do not improve their pass percentages, they lose state funding. This has led
some schools to turn to American tuition companies for help. Known as
Supplemental Education Service providers, some of the larger ones such as
Tutors.com, Smart Thinking and eSylvan, can charge up to US$40 an hour. Educomp
Datamatics in India, on the other hand, charges only US$20-25 an hour.
Brochure Available To Help Inform Parents About Free Tutoring Under NCLB
(PDF) - Thanks to No Child Left Behind, parents are
receiving more options than ever before to help their children succeed in
school. Under NCLB, low-income students in schools that do not meet state
standards in reading and math for three consecutive years are eligible to
receive supplemental educational services such as free tutoring.
Teachers' Unions Seize Opportunity to Provide Supplemental Services
- The Rochester Teachers Association in New York and the Toledo
Federation of Teachers in Ohio have both become approved supplemental-service
providers in their states and are working with their districts to tutor children
from low-income families and those who are struggling academically. [Free
login/registration required.]
NCLB:Free Tutoring Resources
Available Online - The American Institutes of
Research's Supplemental Educational Services Quality (SESQ) Center has announced
the launch a website that will help parents of children attending public schools
"in need of improvement" take advantage of new, free tutoring opportunities
provided by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Tutorsforkids.org provides
information and tools to help parents, educators, policymakers, and program
providers ensure that eligible children get the free, extra academic help they
need. Resources provided include: Basic information about supplemental
educational services (SES); Detailed guidance on SES for families, providers,
educators and policymakers; State by state profiles of SES implementation;
National trends data on SES implementation across states; and Links to tools and
resources on SES.
MI
Supplemental Educational Services
Memo from MDE to LDA and ISD Superintendents - If you have Title I
schools in your district, one or more of them may be affected by a decision
that has just been made regarding schools that made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)
in 2001-02, but are still identified for improvement or corrective action
because they did not make AYP in either 1999-2000 or 2000-01.
Policy:
Supplemental Educational Services Guidance (Word File) - Guidance on
supplemental educational services, which refer to additional academic
instruction designed to increase the academic achievement of students in
low-performing schools
