E-News—Issue 7, Number 2

Welcome to the February 2004 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:

• Events: Common Solutions: Inclusion and Diversity at the Center (March 19-20); Harvard Summer Institute on Critical Issues in Urban Special Education (August 2-6)
• Web Site of the Month: Helps identify achievement gaps and trends
• Resources: New NCLB hotline for superintendents; What Every Principal Needs to Know About Special Education; LEP Advocacy listserv
• National Institute Help Desk

Events

Common Solutions: Inclusion and Diversity at the Center
March 19-20, 2004 (Post-conference: March 21) • Syracuse, NY

This conference will explore how schools and communities can address social justice issues in integrated ways through curriculum, pedagogy, school climate, teacher/staff training, advocacy, and policymaking.

Keynote speakers will include:

• James Banks, Russell F. Stark Professor and Director of the Center for Multicultural Education, University of Washington and author of "Cultural Diversity and Education"
• Norman Kunc, longtime activist and spokesperson on disability and inclusion

Organized by Syracuse University, the event is designed for anyone interested in disability rights, disability studies, and inclusive education. For more information, visit http://soeweb.syr.edu/prodev/conferences.htm.

2004 Harvard Institute on Critical Issues in Urban Special Education

Improving Student Results and Accountability in Times of Scarce Resources
August 2-6, 2004 • Cambridge, MA

This summer's Harvard Institute will explore the feasibility and effectiveness of "universal design" as a guiding framework for examining and restructuring schools. It will clarify the current educational context, explore possibilities for universally designed policies and approaches, and help participants develop plans for their schools and districts. The evidence on universal design will be examined along with the impact of the No Child Left Behind legislation and the challenges of a reauthorized IDEA as they relate to improving student results and accountability.

David Riley, Director of Networking and Dissemination for the National Institute, is the Institute's Co-Chair. Other faculty members include:

• Richard Figueroa, Professor of Education at the University of California at Davis
• Beth Harry, Professor of Special Education at the University of Miami, Florida
• Thomas Hehir, Lecturer in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Director of the School Leadership Program.
• David Rose, Lecturer in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and co-founder of CAST (the Center for Applied Special Technology)
• George Sugai, Professor, Educational and Community Support, University of Oregon and Co-Director of the National Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports
• John Verre, Institute Co-Chair and Director of Compass Consulting

For more information or to register, visit http://www.gse.harvard.edu/ppe.

Web Site of the Month

Helps identify achievement gaps and trends

The American Association of Higher Education established Education Trust to encourage colleges and universities to support K-12 reform efforts. Ed Trust focuses on the institutions most often left behind in plans to improve education--those serving concentrations of low-income, Latino, African American, or Native American students.

Education Trust's Web site--http://www2.edtrust.org/edtrust--features:

• "Ed Watch Online," a user-friendly source of national and state data on achievement patterns and education opportunities by race and class kindergarten through college
• "Getting Away With It: What Happens When No One's Minding the Store," a report which details new state data about highly qualified teachers and graduation rates
• Presentations from the 14th Annual Education Trust National Conference, "Zap the Gap: Learning from the Frontier," which showcase the successes of high-performing schools, districts, and states from across the country
• "Don't Turn Back the Clock," a letter to Congress, the White House, and all of the Democratic Presidential candidates in which over 100 African American and Latino superintendents voice their support for the accountability provisions in Title I.

New Resources

New NCLB hotline for superintendents

A new toll-free phone line is now available for school superintendents who are seeking key information about No Child Left Behind. The new resource line (888-NCLB-SUP or 888-625-2787) offers information about all facets of NCLB, including accountability and school progress; supplemental educational services; public school choice options; Reading First grants; and the highly qualified teachers provisions of the law. The information line, staffed weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST, will provide superintendents with a direct link to the U.S. Department of Education for targeted, quick, and concise responses to questions about NCLB.

What Every Principal Needs to Know About Special Education

This new book is designed to help school leaders understand the foundation of good instruction and sound special education policy. Written by Margaret J. McLaughlin of the University of Maryland and Victor Nolet of Western Washington University, it contains the information that every principal needs in order to effectively educate students with disabilities, including resources on how to:

• apply the features of "effective special education practices"
• become comfortable with the core special education legal foundations
• include students with disabilities in assessments and new accountability systems
• use data for school improvement
• create collaborations between general and special education teachers
• foster a climate of shared responsibility for learning

For more information, visit the Web site of Corwin Press: http://www.corwinpress.com/book.aspx?pid=9879.

Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Advocacy: Federally Conducted and Assisted Programs

Individuals with limited English proficiency often are delayed equitable access to and participation in the public policies, programs, services, and benefits to which they are legally entitled. The National LEP Advocacy Task Force has created a new listserv to address the importance of qualified interpretation and translation services in federally conducted and assisted programs. List participants work to build awareness of the need and methods to ensure LEP persons have meaningful access to important federal and federally assisted programs, and to ensure implementation of language access requirements under Title VI, the Title VI regulations, Executive Order 13166, and all applicable laws in a consistent and effective manner across agencies.

To join, send an email to lepopen-subscribe@topica.com. For more information, visit http://www.leptaskforce.org, or contact Kathy Poulos-Minott at lep@maine.rr.com.

National Institute Support Desk

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