Meeting the Educational Needs of Students Displaced By Hurricane Katrina

The National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, the National Center on Homeless Education, and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, September 2, 2005

http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/9-05/Katrina9-2-05.html#top

Many students from Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama displaced by hurricane Katrina are seeking refuge in other states. The purpose of this memo is to provide initial guidance about serving the educational needs of storm victims and other homeless youth.

A Successful First Day Is No Secret

Harry and Rosemary Wong, Teachers.net, September 2005

http://teachers.net/wong/SEP05/

This example is so incredulous that you may think it’s fiction. It’s not. It is a true situation.

Bridges4Kids Featured Resource: Youthhood.org

http://www.youthhood.org/youthhood/index.asp

Youthhood.org is a dynamic, curriculum-based tool that can help young adults plan for life after high school.

D.C. Juvenile Reform Official Quickly Shakes Up Attitudes

Lindsay Ryan, Washington Post, August 29, 2005

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/28/AR2005082801112.html

Vincent Schiraldi made the rounds, forgoing the handshake in favor of the chest bump, a greeting not in the standard repertoire of most city officials.
 

In The Name of Treatment: A Parent's Guide to Protecting Your Child From the Use of Restraint, Aversive Interventions, and Seclusion (PDF)

The Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions, and Seclusion (APRAIS), 2005

http://www.bridges4kids.org/inthenameoftreatment.pdf

Includes detailed information on restraint, aversive interventions, and seclusion. Also included is a "No Consent Form" for parents to give to their school to deny permission to use aversive procedures. Note: Images included are of children being restrained. Some viewers may find these images disturbing.

Bridges4Kids Featured Resource: The George Lucas Educational Foundation and Edutopia

http://www.edutopia.org/

The George Lucas Educational Foundation has 30 full-time employees, a $4 million annual budget and a headquarters on the founder's Skywalker Ranch in the Marin County hills. It publishes a magazine, produces documentaries, supports projects in both public and private schools, distributes an e-mail newsletter and maintains an extensive Web site, www.glef.org. As Mr. Lucas tells it, "Our platform is to say that there are time-tested ways of learning." To illustrate those concepts the Lucas foundation identifies and illustrates examples from the real world - a teacher in California who uses hip-hop lyrics as a route for his students to understand poets like Dylan Thomas; a school in Washington that makes the field study of rare lizards a way of teaching such fundamental subjects as reading, writing and math.

Bridges4Kids Featured Resource: The Funkamentals

http://www.funkamentals.org

This Arizona hip-hop group uses music to teach students everything from the periodic table of the elements to the metric system to state capitals. FUNKAMENTALS has a collection of fourteen songs that cover a full range of academic subjects.

High School Overhaul Flunks Out

Johanna Neuman, Los Angeles Times, September 1, 2005

http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/9-05/LATimes9-1-05.html#top

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."

Letter from US Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to State Chief Education Officers regarding Hurricane Katrina Relief and NCLB

Margaret Spellings, Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, September 7, 2005

http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/9-05/Spellings9-7-05.html#top

"Given the differences in the nature and extent of the damage and circumstances among States, we believe an individualized, case-by-case approach is the most effective means for meeting the needs at this time. However, I wanted to describe for you some of the available resources and examples of the areas in which flexibility will be available."

IL Chicago To Get Relaxed Tutoring Rule

Ben Feller, Associated Press, August 30, 2005

http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2005/08/30/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.

For more information on No Child Left Behind, visit http://www.bridges4kids.org/ESEA.html

Improving Your Child's Achievement By Building Stronger Home-School Connections

Loreena Parks and Karen Schulte, Department of Special Education Eastern Michigan University

http://www.bridges4kids.org/ld/articles/EMU9-05.htm

Educators often lament the lack of parent involvement in children’s educational programs. Parents, particularly those of children with disabilities, often express frustration over the lack of options available to them for meaningful involvement. The discrepancy between these perceptions is a strong argument for developing meaningful ways to build stronger connections between home and school.

Getting Behavior in Shape at Home

Laura Riffel and Edited by Ann Turnbull

http://www.bridges4kids.org/PBS/articles/Riffle9-05.htm

Positive behavior support, often called PBS, is not just for schools. Parents can use the same ideas to create a better environment for the entire family.

Michigan Senate Panel Still Exploring Teacher Pensions

Gongwer News Service, August 31, 2005

http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/9-05/News8-31-05.html#top

The Senate Education Committee will still move legislation yet this fall moving teachers from a defined benefit pension system to one where contributions are set, but not until all outstanding questions are answered, said Sen. Wayne Kuipers (R-Holland), chair of the committee.

 
Teachers Must Get New Fingerprints Again

MIRS, August 31, 2005

http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/9-05/News8-31-05.html#2

The Michigan Education Association believes as many as 295,000 school teachers, cooks, bus drivers, teachers aides and even volunteers will have to be re-finger printed because the Michigan State Police destroyed the first batch of prints.

Go Figure - Two Sides To Education Numbers Game

MIRS, September 1, 2005

http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/9-05/MIRS9-1-05.html#top

The old saying, "there's two sides to every coin" appears to be holding true in the numbers debate over the K-16 guaranteed school funding debate.

Top Ten Things I Wish Students With ADHD Knew About Their Medications

Patricia O. Quinn, M.D., The Official Newsletter of the Association on Higher Education And Disability, April 1998

http://www.bridges4kids.org/ld/Quinn9-05.htm

Today, ADHD has been widely accepted to have a neurobiochemical basis, and stimulants remain the drugs of choice for the appropriate pharmacological treatment of this disorder. Research has indicated that a majority of individuals with the disorder continue to display symptoms which affect functioning into early adulthood.

Parents and school personnel are often confused about what constitutes an independent educational evaluation (IEE) and how the evaluation is to be used. This article addresses what constitutes an IEE, the value of an IEE, what the law requires of school districts, and who is financially responsible for an IEE.