E-News—Issue 6, Number 8

Welcome to the November 2003 issue of E-News!

E-News is designed to keep individuals informed of new developments in urban education and inclusive schooling practices in urban schools. In particular, E-News includes brief items of interest around the work of the National Institute and other organizations engaged in similar work, current research, upcoming conferences and events, new online and off-line products and resources, and other news happening in the field.

Features this month:

• National Inclusive Schools Week Update: Celebrations across the country and beyond!
• National Institute Update: New hires!
• Publication Highlight: "Including Every Parent"
• Events: National Inclusive Schools Week teleseminar (Dec. 1) and online forum (Dec. 1-5); TASH Annual Conference (Dec. 10-13)
• Web Site of the Month: Family Involvement Network of Educators
• News Brief: Assistant Secretary Pasternack Resigned
• New Resources: TASH book on inclusive education; 24th Annual Report to Congress
• National Institute Support Desk
  

National Inclusive Schools Week Update

Celebrations across the country and beyond!

The 3rd Annual National Inclusive Schools Week is just around the corner, and we can already say that it's going to be an enormous success - thanks to all of you who agree that it's time to celebrate your hard work and commitment to creating schools that are welcoming and supportive of all children, including those with disabilities. It will be successful because so many of you - parents, teachers, school administrators, advocates, and others - have spearheaded activities and events in your communities that will allow you to not only celebrate how far you've come, but to also reflect upon where you need to go to improve your ability to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student population.

We know that thousands of schools across the country and the world will be participating in the Week. What we would really like to capture and then share with all of you are your personal stories and ideas for building inclusive schools where families are welcomed, respected, and engaged.

Here's just a handful of examples of who is involved this year and how they will be celebrating next week:

• On Monday, December 1, the Cooke Center for Learning and Development and New York City Parent to Parent, and Parents for Inclusive Education, and others will hold a kickoff breakfast to celebrate the Week, followed by a panel discussion, "Inclusion: Moving from Benevolence to Belonging." All those in the New York area are encouraged to attend. For more information,
  visit http://www.inclusiveschools.org/celebration2003.html#NY
• Mayor Jere Wood of Roswell, GA, issued a proclamation designating Dec.1-5 Inclusive Schools Week in Roswell. David Tolleson, Executive Director of the National Down Syndrome Congress in Atlanta and Georgia City Council member, was instrumental in securing the mayor's support.
• For a second consecutive year, the Arc of Maryland, Inc., will sponsor an essay contest for all middle schools in Maryland focusing on the benefits of building inclusive communities. This year, the contest will be expanded to include a poster contest for elementary school students.
• All of the National Institute's partner sites--Chicago Public Schools, Clark County School District (Las Vegas), Denver Public Schools, District of Columbia Public Schools, Hacienda La Puente Unified School District, Hillsborough County Public Schools (Tampa, FL), Houston Independent School District, Long Beach Unified School District, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and New York District 75--will be celebrating the Week with a variety of professional development and fun, social activities.

Additionally, inspired by the National Institute-sponsored celebration, the Canadian Association for Community Living recently launched its own week-long event "to highlight and promote inclusive education" in Canada.

Canada's Governor General Adrienne Clarkson supported the November 2-8 celebration of National Inclusive Education Week. Let us know what activities you are organizing, and how many students, teachers, and families these celebrations will touch. We want to understand how the Week is impacting your life and that of your students and children, and hope to hear from ALL of you. We encourage you to document the Week's activities with photographs and ask that you invite the press to your celebrations. Please send us any photos you take, complete with captions that describe the events; and newspaper or newsletter clippings or recordings of TV and radio coverage. Write letters-to-the-editor explaining what you and others are doing to make your schools more inclusive and how it is making a difference in your community. Share the published copies with us.

Send all correspondence to niusi@edc.org or to:
Bonnie Johnson Barry
National Institute for Urban School Improvement
55 Chapel Street
Newton, MA 02458

Thank you for celebrating National Inclusive Schools Week, and for considering ways families can be more actively involved in your school systems.

National Institute Update

National Institute hires new professional development coordinator and policy and evaluation coordinator

Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins is the National Institute's new Professional Development Coordinator. Carolyn has 30 years experience in working with general and special educators, students "at risk," and culturally and linguistically diverse students in public and private school settings in Ohio, Colorado, and nationally. Her experience has been in all aspects of urban education including teaching, supervising, school site leadership, central office administration, curriculum writing, professional development, standards-based education, teacher quality, and administrator preparation. Carolyn played a key role in establishing the alternative education programs in the Cleveland Public School District, Ohio, and has received awards for her advocacy for public education. Dr. Jefferson-Jenkins received a Ph.D. in Urban Education/Leadership from Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, and an Ed.S. in Curriculum and Instruction from Kent State University, Kent, Ohio.

Steve Kennedy, the National Institute's new Policy and Evaluation Coordinator, is in his 26th year as a public educator. He comes from the Sheridan School District near Denver, where he was Director of Special Education and Professional Development. Prior to that, Steve was Director of the Colorado School-to-Career initiative in the office of Lieutenant Governor Gail Schoettler, where he led a statewide systems change process in collaboration with local, state, and national business and education leaders as well as key policymakers. He has worked at all levels of P-12 education as director, principal, transition coordinator, school social worker, and teacher. In his 10 years with the Adams Twelve School District, also near Denver, Steve co-led the team that brought an effective Cities-In-Schools partnership to Adams County, Colorado. He started and chaired the first Adams County Transition Governing Board. Steve's career-long focus has been on bringing schools, community groups, and families together to build systems that provide the best possible education and employment opportunities and related services to children and youth.

Publication Highlight

Including Every Parent

During the 2002-2003 school year, teachers and parents at the Patrick O'Hearn School in Boston worked with the Project for School Innovation (PSI) to explore and document their school's effective parent involvement practices. Nearly 100% of parents are involved at the O'Hearn in some way.

In this how-to book, Including Every Parent, teachers, administrators, and parents can find a variety of specific strategies for encouraging parents to be 1) present at school, 2) participate in school events, 3) partner in their children's education, and 4) empowered to lead their own initiatives for school improvement. The same teachers and parents who worked with PSI to write Including Every Parent are also available to lead workshops and trainings for other schools interested in replicating their success.

To order your copy of Including Every Parent or to inquire about
trainings, please visit http://www.psinnovation.org/psi/btft08.html

Web Site of the Month

The Family Involvement Network of Educators (FINE)

Educators and family advocates who are looking for new ways to include and support families in their children's education should consult the Family Involvement Network of Educators (FINE)'s Web site: http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/fine.html.

Launched by Harvard's Family Research Project, FINE is a national network of over 2,000 people who are interested in promoting strong partnerships among educators, families, and communities. FINE believes that engaging families and communities in education is essential to achieve high-performing schools and successful students. FINE's Web site features monthly announcements of current ideas and new resources; research, evaluation, and training tools;
program models and perspectives on family involvement; and a member insight and opinion section. FINE offers a free membership to those who are interested in receiving updates on the latest family involvement research, toolkits, and training resources.

Events

Building Reciprocal Relationships with Families: Accountability, Personalism, and Culture in Special Education

A telephone seminar to kick-off the celebration of the 3rd Annual National Inclusive Schools Week

December 1, 2003 (12:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. EST) - REGISTER TODAY

The seminar features presenters Dr. Beth Harry of the University of Miami, and D.J. and Ursula Markey and Henry and Evelyne Milorin, family activists who are making a difference in the lives of children and youth who have disabilities. Ms. Stephanie Lee, Director of the U. S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs, will deliver a special opening message. Presenters will provide approaches to creating a climate of reciprocity and understanding between service providers and families.

Following their presentations, participants will be invited to ask
questions, and share their own challenges, successes, and resources in developing true partnerships between schools and families.

There is still time to register, and several people may participate
together around one speaker phone. For more information or to register, visit http://www.inclusiveschools.org/teleseminar2003.html

Transitions: Managing Change Through and After School

A FREE online forum
December 1-5, 2003

The National Institute invites you to join a free online discussion,
"Transitions: Managing Change Through and After School," which is taking place on http://www.inclusiveschools.org as part of National Inclusive Schools Week. This discussion will explore how students and families handle change as young adults grow and become more independent and self-determined.

Facilitators include Robin Foley of the Federation for Children with Special Needs; Stelios Gragoudas of the Beach Center on Disability, University of Kansas; Kristin Powers of California State University, Long Beach; and Hilda Sramek of California State University, Long Beach. They look forward to engaging you in this very important conversation about the journey of persons with disabilities' from school to life's opportunities and obstacles outside of school.

Log into the discussion at http://www.inclusiveschools.org anytime between Monday, December 1 through Friday, December 5.

TASH Annual Conference

December 10-13, 2003 • Chicago, IL

The TASH conference is the largest international conference that focuses on strategies for achieving full inclusion for people with disabilities. It brings together the hearts and minds in the disability movement, and features over 450 breakout sessions, exhibits, roundtable discussions, poster sessions, and much more. Keynote speakers will include Wanda J. Blanchett, Nicholas Dupree, John Irvin, and Luanna H. Meyer. Strands will focus on a number of important issues in urban education: multicultural issues, positive behavioral approaches, people of color and their families, and much more.

Pre-register by Friday, November 28! For more information or to register, visit http://www.tash.org/2003conference/index.htm

News Brief

Assistant Secretary Pasternack Resigns

Robert H. Pasternack has resigned, effective January 2, as assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services, a post he has held since August 2001. In a letter to President Bush, Dr. Pasternack said he feels he "can continue to serve children with disabilities and their families in the private sector while at the same time trying my best to achieve the educational goals that you have set for our country." To read the complete press release, visit
http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2003/11/11182003.html.

New Resources

New TASH book on inclusive education!

TASH recently published the second edition of "The Foundations of Inclusive Education - A Compendium of Articles on Effective Strategies to Achieve Inclusive Education" Diane Lea Ryndak and Douglas Fisher, Editors; with a foreword by Steve Taylor. This book includes articles covering both the conceptual underpinnings of inclusion as well as the strategies that have proven effective across the country--both the "whys" and "hows" of achieving true inclusion in today's classrooms. The book is organized according to the following subject areas:

1. LRE and School Inclusion: Concepts, Advocacy, and Personnel Preparation
2. Strategies for Teaching and Learning in Inclusive Classes: Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating Instruction
3. Strategies for Providing Supports in Inclusive Classes: Engaging Peers and Paraprofessionals
4. Outcomes of School Inclusion: Short and Long Term Effects

For a complete table of contents or to order online, visit: http://www.tash.org/publications/foundations_for_inclusion.htm, or call 410-828-8274 (ext. 0).

24th Annual Report to Congress now available

The 24th Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of IDEA is available for distribution. The report details information on the following:

• Special education teacher quality
• Special education spending in 1999-2000
• Children with disabilities in low-income families
• Use of the developmental delay classification for children ages 3 through 9
• Infants and toddlers, preschoolers, and students ages 6 through 21 served under IDEA
• Individual and household characteristics of high school students with disabilities
• School-based speech-language pathologists
• Social adaptation and problem behaviors of elementary and middle school special education students
• Educational environments for students with disabilities
• Study of state and local implementation and the impact of IDEA
• High school graduation among students with disabilities
• Results experienced by children and families one year after beginning early intervention

To download a copy of the report, visit the Office of Special Education Programs' Web site at http://www.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/osep/index.html. Additional copies of the report may be ordered online at http://www.edpubs.org/webstore/Content/search.asp, by phone at 877-4-ED-PUBS, by fax at 301-470-1244 or by writing:

ED Pubs
P.O. Box 1398
Jessup, MD 20794-1398.

National Institute Support Desk

Previous issues of E-News can be viewed at: niusi.obiki.org/enews.htm.

For more information about the National Institute for Urban School Improvement, please feel free to contact us.