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News items are listed chronologically. To read a news item, click on the link to access the information. For previous news items, please click on Archived News.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Fine Arts and Essay Display
New York State schools are invited to submit student artwork based on Dr. King's Six
Principles of Nonviolence and essays on celebrating his birthday throughout the year.
The categories are writing, painting, drawing, sculpting and photography. All entries
must be postmarked by December 5, 2008 and will be placed on display for viewing
one week prior to the King Holiday January 19, 2009 in Albany, New York. Please encourage your students to take part in this historic celebration of Dr. King's life and ideals.
This event is co-sponsored by the New York State Education Department and the NYS Office of General Services.
http://www.oms.nysed.gov/hr/MLK08Arts_EssayMemo.html http://www.oms.nysed.gov/hr/2009mlk.pdf (pdf)
http://www.oms.nysed.gov/hr/2009mlk.htm (html)
The National Council of Teachers of English Releases "Writing Now"
NCTE's newest policy research brief "Writing Now" explores what writing means in our changing world. The brief defines key terms, debunks common myths about school-based writing, outlines our understanding of writing now, and shares research-based recommendations for effective writing instruction and assessment.
http://www.ncte.org/library/files/Publications/Newspaper/Chron0908Policy_Writing_Now.pdf
New Center on Instruction Document on Struggling Learners
Meeting the Needs of Significantly Struggling Learners in High School: A Look at Approaches to Tiered Intervention [6-12].
This 2007 brief developed by the National High School Center describes issues related to the implementation of RTI at the high school level. It provides an overview of RTI, describes current research on RTI and secondary education, and provides an example, the Long Beach, CA school district, that implemented RTI so successfully at the high school level that they are applying it to their middle schools. The document is available for download at http://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/Meeting%20the%20Needs.pdf (pdf)
Center on Instruction: http://www.centeroninstruction.org/index.cfm
New Center on Instruction Resource: Effective Instruction for Adolescent Struggling Readers Professional Development Module
A new component of the "Effective Instruction for Adolescent Struggling Readers" is now available from the Center on Instruction's website. A professional development module consisting of a PowerPoint presentation with speaker notes and a Facilitator's Guide enhances the previously released meta-analysis and practice brief on the subject.
This suite of resources is designed to guide instruction for adolescent struggling readers, particularly secondary interventions within the general education context. Its purpose is to advance the knowledge of technical assistance providers working with state departments of education and local education agencies concerning reading-related issues for students with reading difficulties and learning disabilities. The collection enhances understanding of selected research-based instructional practices associated with positive effects for adolescent struggling readers and provides a professional development tool to train facilitators on how to implement these research-based practices.
Results of the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) writing assessment are now available. It was administered to a nationally representative sample of more than 165,000 eighth- and twelfth-graders from public and private schools. In addition to national results, the report includes state and urban district results for grade 8 public school students. Forty-five states, the Department of Defense schools, and 10 urban districts voluntarily participated. http://nces.ed.gov/naep3
National Poetry Month was inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. Read-Write-Think offers classroom activities to celebrate National Poetry Month, including lesson plans, web links, and texts
http://www.readwritethink.org/calendar/calendar_day.asp?id=478.
Please see the Academy of American Poets National Poetry Month website for additional information, including resources and programs http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/41.
The Center on Instruction Special Education Strand hosted a WebEx on February 20, 2008, focused on writing as a critical aspect of literacy and one in which effective instructional techniques and models for intervention are needed. Presenter Dr. Steve Graham, co-author of Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle & High Schools, described the results and the implications for selecting and implementing effective instructional methods for adolescent writing, especially for students who are struggling or have learning disabilities. The PowerPoint presentation and the synopsis of the Writing Next document are available for download below.
For details and to access these professional development events/ materials from the Center on Instruction, please refer to www.CENTERONINSTRUCTION.ORG
The Grades 3-8 English Language Arts Tests 2008 School Administrator's Manual for Public and Nonpublic Schools and the English Language Arts Tests Teacher's Directions are available on the Office of State Assessment website. http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/elintela.html
This "quick start" guide for principals of both middle and high schools identifies three goals for secondary school literacy initiatives and provides elements of instruction required to meet these goals. It then outlines the critical elements of a school-level literacy action plan.
http://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/Principal%20s%20Guide%20Secondary.pdf
The Office of State Assessment has posted the following information regarding high school examination schedules at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/sched.html
* Memorandum Regarding the June 2008 Regents Examination Schedule
* June 2008 Regents Examination Schedule
* January 2008 Examination Schedule
* Regents Examination Dates for January and June, 2007-2009
The U.S. Department of Education is pleased to announce the names of the 2007 American Stars of Teaching award winners. Parents, students, colleagues, school administrators, and others nominated these exemplary teachers believed to have the qualities to be an American Star of Teaching. New York's 2007 winner is Nick Timpone, Harlem Village Academy, New York.
View a complete list of all American Stars of Teaching @ https://www.t2tweb.us/AmStar/Prior.asp
Nominations for 2008 American Stars of Teaching will open in January at
www.ed.gov/teacherinitiative
http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/tools/initiative/index.html
Grades 3,4, and 5
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/elaei/gr3-5tdc08.pdf
Grades 6,7, and 8
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/elaei/gr6-8tdc08.pdf
Teaching All Students to Read in Elementary School: A Guide for Principals [K-5] This "quick start" guide for elementary school-level instructional leaders is based on scientific research on reading and reading instruction as well as on studies of successful schools and interviews with successful principals. It includes critical elements of an effective reading program in elementary school, critical tasks for principals as literacy leaders, and special considerations for reading instruction after third grade.
http://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/Principals%20Guide%20Elementary.pdf
The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, in partnership with Target Stores and in cooperation with affiliate state centers for the book, invites readers in grades 4 through 12 to enter Letters About Literature, a national reading-writing contest. To enter, readers write a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre-- fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic, explaining how that author's work changed the student's way of thinking about the world or themselves. There are three competition levels: Level I for children in grades 4 through 6; Level II for grades 7 and 8, and Level III, grades 9 - 12. Winners, announced in the spring of each year, receive cash awards at the national and state levels. For information contact the LAL Project Director at lal@epix.net. Deadline: December 14, 2007.
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES)/What Works Clearinghouse publishes practice guides in education to bring the best available evidence and expertise to bear on the types of challenges that cannot currently be addressed by single interventions or programs. The What Works Clearinghouse was established in 2002 by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences to provide educators, policymakers, researchers, and the public with a central and trusted source of scientific evidence of what works in education.
IES practice guides consist of a list of discrete recommendations for educators that are intended to be actionable, are written by panels of nationally recognized experts, and are subjected to rigorous external peer review and include such titles as Encouraging Girls in Math and Science, Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Student Learning, and Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction for English Learners in the Elementary Grades. http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/practiceguides
This resource, as well as online public access catalog, is available from the New York State Library. http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/libs/publibs
The NEA Foundation will make $1,000 awards to public schools serving economically disadvantaged students to purchase books for school libraries. The NEA Foundation makes these awards in collaboration with the National Education Association. The 2008 NEA's Books Across America Library Books Awards are made possible with support from individuals who donated to NEA's Books Across America fund to bring the gift of reading to students. Deadline: November 12, 2007 Contact: http://www.neafoundation.org/programs/BAA_2007.htm
Adobe offers free PDF to HTML conversion for vision-impaired users at
http://access.adobe.com/simple_form.html