May Newsletter

Differentiated Instruction Webinar
Thank you to all who participated in our April 25th webinar, "Differentiated Instruction: An Overview and One Classroom’s Transformation,” presented by Dr. Melissa Storm from the Access Center and Lori Centerbar, a teacher at Fredrick H. Tuttle Middle School in South Burlington, Vermont. If you were unable to attend the live event, we encourage you and your colleagues to view the recording, along with the Power Point slides and handouts.  

District Information Sharing Community Meeting
In late April, the Access Center hosted a face-to-face meeting in Washington, DC for the District Information Sharing Community. Representatives from Baltimore, Detroit, Irvington, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Wichita joined together to engage in dialogue and dynamic sharing about federal legislation, three-tier models, progress monitoring, and professional development. Thanks to the community for being so open in sharing district perspectives and successes and challenges. We look forward to continuing the conversation throughout the coming year via webinars, teleconferences, and other activities.

The Access Center is working with Asheville City Schools in North Carolina, assisting the district with implementation of their inclusion model. The work in Asheville is patterned after the inclusion work in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, which was presented at the 2006 Council for Exceptional Children's (CEC) Annual Conference, and after inclusion work in Clark County, Nevada, which was highlighted at the Access Center's recent District-to-District Information Sharing Community. Access Center staff will be helping Asheville conduct a summer institute and will provide professional development for the district throughout the 2006-07 school year on the topics of inclusion awareness, differentiated instruction, co-teaching, and research-based strategies.

Tool Kit on Teaching and Assessing Students with Disabilities
On April 25, 2006, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings unveiled an initiative focused on improving teaching and assessing students with disabilities.  The Tool Kit on Teaching and Assessing Students with Disabilities is a great new resource that provides the latest research briefs and resources in the areas of Models for Large-Scale Assessment and Technical Assistance (including Assessment, Instructional Practices, Behavior and Accommodations).  This resource also includes letters from the Secretary and Assistant Secretaries of Education and Departmental Investments related to the Tool Kit.  Please visit the web site today to view this exciting new resource! http://www.osepideasthatwork.org/index.asp

Project Forum
State and Local Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (SLIIDEA) Series:
The following Project Forum documents were recently prepared under Federal Cooperative Agreement H326F000001. This series of In-Brief Policy Analyses synthesizes three sections of the SLIIDEA report and provides implications for policy:

• Increasing the Use of Positive Approaches for Addressing Behavioral Issues of Students with IEP's

• Placing and Serving Children with Disabilities in the LRE

• Increasing Involvement of Parents of Children with Disabilities

Each document in the series synthesizes findings from The Study of State and Local Implementation and Impact of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: Final 2nd Interim Report (2002-2003 School Year), completed by Abt Associates, Inc.

Unified Early Childhood and Early Childhood Special Education Teacher Certification: State Approaches
States are increasingly offering what they describe as a “single certificate” for early childhood and early childhood special education (i.e., certification that covers children both with and without disabilities). This document describes states’ approaches to these single certificates based on a survey of 17 state staff members and an interview with seven of them. The findings are reported based on the purpose and nature of the unified endorsements including staffing, personnel preparation, certification procedures, barriers and outcomes from the implementation of these endorsements.

NCLB Commission Holds First Hearing on Teacher Quality
On April 11, the Commission on No Child Left Behind held its first of five nationwide hearings on teacher quality in Pomona, California. Its focus highlighted issues such as teacher quality, recruitment, retention, and distribution. In the upcoming months the Commission – led by former Secretary Tommy Thompson and former Governor Roy Barnes – will host additional hearings to assist in the formulation of policy recommendations to Congress in preparation for the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind. Hearings will be held on:

• May 9 in Hartford, Connecticut – Testing: Making it Work for Children and Schools
• May 22 in Atlanta, Georgia – Holding Schools Accountable for Student Achievement: Comparing Models to Evaluate our Schools
• June 9 in Madison, Wisconsin – Successful Interventions: Helping Schools Achieve Academic Success