National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week

with the PACER Center

Once again, NEA is partnering with the PACER Center to promote the fourth annual National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week, Oct. 4 – 10, 2009. Children, teens, adults, schools, and communities across the country are encouraged to partner with PACER to prevent bullying.

The movement is enhanced with the launch of PACERTeensAgainstBullying.org—a relevant, edgy Web site created by and for teens. In addition to videos, stories, blogs, and social networking, the site features a toolbox of things teens and schools can do to address bullying—from creating their own videos to performing role plays for younger students.

The week is sponsored by PACER’s National Center for Bullying Prevention, which is for all children, including those with disabilities. National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week is cosponsored by the American Federation for Teachers, National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education, National Education Association, and School Social Work Association of America.

NOTE: PACER Centeris a national parent center located in Minneapolis, MN which servesall youth, with a special emphasis on children with disabilities. To learn more, visit PACER.org or call 952-838-9000; 800-53-PACER (Minnesota toll free); and 888-248-0822 (national toll free).

“Far from improving education, high-stakes testing marks a major retreat from fairness, from accuracy, from quality and from equity.”
                                                                                                            Senator Paul Wellstone
                                                                                                                            (1944-2002)

What happens when schools give high-stakes tests?  Corruption, pure and simple, according to Drs. Sharon L. Nichols and David C. Berliner.

In their new book, “Collateral Damage: How High-stakes Testing Corrupts America ’s Schools,” [Harvard Education Press, 2007] Nichols and Berliner lay out a compelling analysis of the effects of high-stakes testing.  They believe that the costs associated with high-stakes testing, summarized in the opening quotation from the late Senator Paul Wellstone, a teacher, are simply not worth it.

For teachers, administrators, parents, citizens, and policymakers, these are serious charges that demand attention.  They require us to re-examine decisions made at all levels about using high-stakes tests.

Nichols and Berliner cite Campbell ’s Law, brought to the attention of social scientists in 1975 by Donald Campbell, which stipulates that:

“the more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it was intended to monitor.”

Using examples from business, sports, and government, Nichols and Berliner point out multiple instances of what happens when indicators have high-stakes consequences attached.   “…the more importance that an indicator takes on, the more likely it, and the people who depend on it, will be corrupted.”

Nichols and Berliner are not against accountability.  They are not against standardized testing.  They are against high-stakes tests, because they result in cheating, in exclusion of students, in erosion of test validity, and in damage to the professionalism of educators.

Some of the ways in which education has been corrupted to make school test scores appear higher, and to make it appear that students have learned more, include:

1. a narrowing of the curricula,
2. an increase in time devoted to activities focused on how to take the test,
3. apparent increases in cheating by administrators and teachers,
4. forcing out low-performing students,
5. manipulation of dropout, special education and ELL rates, and
6. increased retention rates.

These are exactly the opposite of the stated goals of ESEA/NCLB.  Yet the high-stakes tests required by NCLB are making things worse by the year.

Increased use of high-stakes tests is not having the intended effect on student performance, either.   Achievement on audit tests (like NAEP) is not increasing and learning gaps are not closing.

What should be done?  Nichols and Berliner call for a moratorium on high-stakes testing.  They believe that alternative systems of accountability exist and should be used.  These include:

1. formative assessments, for example, assessments for learning,
2. reviews of schools by independent, expert teams,
3. end of course examinations, or
4. performance tests, including project and portfolio defenses, before judges.

In Kansas, what should you do to lessen the corrupting influences of high-stakes testing and ease the testing burden?

At the local level:

1. Identify how much testing you do.  Use a matrix to identify grade-by-grade and subject-by-subject, all the kinds of tests that are given to your students.  Include norm-referenced, criterion-referenced, state-mandated, teacher-made, textbook driven, all the different kinds.
2. Determine if some of the tests provide duplicate information or information that does not inform the instructional process.  Work with your administrators and local board of education to understand and eliminate the excess assessments.
3. Make sure your professional development program includes opportunities for teachers and administrators to improve skills in assessing student learning.
4. Provide time for teachers to work together to plan instruction and assessment, develop common assessments, and analyze students results.
5. Find out how much money is spent on external sources of testing.  [Tests like ITBS, Stanford, etc., run $6-$8 per student; NWEA/MAP testing costs over $12 per student]

At the state level:

1. Communicate with your State Board member about high-stakes testing.   Help him/her understand the damage it does. 
2. Provide evidence that other forms of assessment exist that provide alternate kinds of accountability.  [We used to do this with QPA.]
3. Suggest that Kansas spend its testing dollars on classroom-based, teacher-developed assessments.  In 2006-7, Kansas spent over $6 million on contracts to CETE and WestEd.
4. Ask for technology funding so that testing done via computer does not deprive other students and classrooms of needed technological learning resources.

At the federal level:

1. Contact your congressperson.  Educate him/her about the damaging, corrupting effects of high-stakes assessments.
2. Provide evidence about alternative accountability measures that emphasize classroom-based, teacher-developed assessments.

The following resources provide additional information about the negative impact of high-stakes testing:

www.fairtest.org   The National  Center for Fair and Open Testing.  This  organization’s website includes fact sheets about testing, resources for alternative assessment strategies, and links to other organizations.

www.rethinkingschools.org   This online journal includes information on standardized testing and its alternatives.   Search on the term “standardized testing”

www.alfiekohn.org   Alfie Kohn’s website provides information on standards, assessments, and “top down, test driven school reform.”

www.teachers.net   This is a website where many folks contribute information on a variety of educational topics.   Search on “standardized testing” for starters.

epaa.asu.edu   This online journal, Education Policy Analysis Archives, covers many topics, including standardized testing.   Of special interest is an article in Volume 14, #1, which you can find in the archives.

www.knea.org   In the Quality Schools section, click on “accountability” and on “student assessment” for many useful references.   Of special interest is a report, “Building Tests To Support Instruction and Accountability – A Kansas Response.”

You will also find a hyperlink to the appropriate section of the NEA website.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/03/12/27berliner.h26.html   At this link you can read a summary, written by Berliner and Nichols, of the arguments in “Collateral Damage.”

You can read a copy of David Berliner’s presentation at the NEA Visiting Scholars series, March 22, 2007, here.

Beginning in the 1960's, the federal government passed the original ESEA to support public schools.

As the act reached completion it has been renewed (No Child Left Behind is the catch phrase of the Administration for the Act) with the most recent rewrite occurring in 2001. The 1100-page law outlines funding, requirements for various projects (including Title Programs), assessment standards, etc.

The following links will bring you everything you need to know about ESEA.

2007: It's time for the reauthorization of ESEA/NCLB. What is NEA trying to do? Read NEA's Positive Agenda for the ESEA Reauthorization  to get the details of how Congress can "fix and fund" the so-called No Child Left Behind Act.

The ParaPro Assessment for prospective and practicing paraprofessionals measures skills and knowledge in reading, mathematics, and writing, as well as the ability to apply those skills and knowledge to assist in classroom instruction. This site includes test information, test preparation materials and a tutorial for the internet-based assessment.

ESEA contains the full text of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act on the US Government site. Access only the sections you want to see. The entire bill is approximately 1100 pages long.

Final regulations for Title 1 - Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged, (63 pp, PDF) housed on the USDOE web site. These regulations, published on Monday, Dec. 2, 2002, guide the implementation of ESEA. You can, as an alternative, read the Summary of final regulations for Title 1, (5 pp PDF).

No Child Left Behind: A Desktop Reference, published by the United States Department of Education, outlines what is new under the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" (ESEA) for each of the educational programs supported under the Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965 and other statutes. This reference guide for state and district officials also describes how the Act's four guiding principles are brought to bear on many of these programs. (PDF file, 181 pages)

No Child Left Behind Act is the web site for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act developed and maintained by the Bush Administration.

Paraprofessionals and ESEA from Kansas Department of Education is a letter from Kansas Assistant Commissioner of Education Alexa Pochowski explaining the implementation of the paraprofessional quality provisions of ESEA. (PDF file, 1 page)

Supplemental Services Guidance Letter from Secretary Paige is the text of a letter from United States Secretary of Education Rod Paige providing guidance to states and school districts on the provision of public school choice and supplemental services. (PDF file, 5 pages)

Adequately Yearly Progress Guidance Letter from Secretary Paige is the text of a letter from United States Secretary of Education Rod Paige providing guidance to states and school districts on the Act's requirements in meeting adequate yearly progress. (PDF file, 5 pages)

Keys to Excellence in Your Schools

KEYS is a way to diagnose organizational health, explore remedies and adopt new ways of dealing with the important decisions that can yield quality teaching and learning. NEA researchers learned that successful schools consistently displayed the same 42 characteristics. The factors for success range from things that require financial resources to those that don't.

Surveys are administered and scored to support local schools in producing the changes that will help students improve their performance.

KEYS' ultimate goal is to help build quality learning environments where students improve their academic performance, where administrators, teachers and education support personnel are able to make good decisions, and where communities are proud of their schools.

The key to that quality is how a school go es about organizing itself for teaching and learning. The initiative centers on 42 indicators clustered within six "keys" that research has found predicts higher student achievement, namely:

• Shared understanding and commitment to high goals
• Open communication and collaborative problem solving
• Continuous assessment for teaching and learning
• Personal and professional learning
• Resources to support teaching and learning
• Curriculum and instruction

KEYS & KNEA

KNEA is excited to add this new resource to the services already available under the Quality Public Schools umbrella at KNEA.  A school or district can become part of the KEYS 2.0 initiative in a number of ways:

• Take the KEYS 2.0 survey and receive the data from a KNEA facilitator.
• Take the KEYS 2.0 survey, receive the data and assistance in interpreting the data from a KNEA facilitator.
• Take the KEYS 2.0 survey, receive the data and assistance in interpreting the data from a KNEA facilitator, and develop an action plan in consultation with the KNEA facilitator.
• Take the KEYS 2.0 survey, receive the data and assistance in interpreting the data from a KNEA facilitator, develop an action plan in consultation with the KNEA facilitator and work with KNEA to implement the action plan.
• The data from KEYS 2.0 will assist your school in furthering your QPA school improvement efforts.  The action plan would be the school improvement plan, including a results-based staff development component, required by QPA.  This would not be a duplicate plan, but instead a plan that incorporates the KEYS 2.0 data with all the other available data to inform your school improvement efforts.

The cost of using KEYS 2.0 varies, depending on the option selected and the amount of facilitator time required.

For specific information, contact Peg Dunlap   or Terry Forsyth in Instructional Advocacy.

Schools wanting assistance with school improvement efforts or the Quality Performance Accreditation process can apply to KNEA for help.  The Quality Public Schools Cadre is part of a goal to assist buildings and districts in meeting the QPA requirements.

Through the cadre, KNEA offers help at all stages of school improvement and accreditation. The KNEA process includes key players in all tiers of the district or building. The cadre will assist in the following areas.

• Reviewing data.
• Selecting a focus and target areas.
• Designing an intervention plan to be carried out by the faculty and assisted by trained experts from the cadre.

Support will be provided throughout the process. The fees include travel expenses and a scale rate proportional to the KNEA membership in the building or district.

Buildings and districts needing to review, revise or change to achieve quality performance accreditation can call Peg Dunlap at KNEA or e-mail peg.dunlap@knea.org

The University of Kansas, through their e-Learning Design Lab, is looking for mathematics teachers to help with a project, Blending Assessment with Instruction Program (BAIP). The BAIP lessons are designed to help teachers understand the Kansas mathematics standards and indicators and to provide ideas about teaching concepts that they may include in their teaching. Math teachers develop sample lessons , using a lesson design format .

KU has also created an e-learning model for delivering the lessons to teachers so they can select any aspect of a lesson and incorporate it into their own lesson plans. They are making significant progress in the development of lessons, but the number of lessons that they want to develop is very extensive. Their current plan is to develop four lessons for each assessed indicator for grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10.

KU needs more teachers to assist in the development of lessons this spring and summer to meet their goals for next fall. Each of the lessons is self-contained with no linking to web sites. These lessons are inclusive and provide the teacher detailed suggestions on teaching the concepts that are covered by the respective standards and indicators.

KU is paying teachers $300 per lesson. E-Learning Design Lab staff are available to consult with participating teachers as lessons are written. Each lesson is submitted to the e-Learning Design Lab where it is edited and reviewed to determine its application to the indicators before being accepted into the BAIP system.

If you are interested in additional information about this project, or want to write lessons, contact Cheryl Harrod, coordinator for outreach, at charrod@ku.edu or at 785-864-0760 or 785-864-0675.

New Resource Guide for Educators

NEA is pleased to announce the availability of a new guide for educators called "The Puzzle of Autism."

Across the country, the number of children diagnosed as having autism has increased substantially and many of these students are primarily educated in general education classrooms.  How can general education teachers and other education professionals who are unfamiliar with autism and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) address the complex communication, social and learning needs of these children? 

To assist educators in their daily work with children who have autism, NEA has produced a new resource in collaboration with the Autism Society of America, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the National Association of School Psychologists.

"The Puzzle of Autism"is a succinct informational guide for all education personnel who work with students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).  This 38-page guide explains common autistic characteristics and suggests effective classroom strategies for improving communication, sensory, social, and behavioral skills.

You can download the PDF at http://sites.nea.org/specialed/images/autismpuzzle.pdf.

by Marjie Blaufuss, KNEA Staff Attorney

Frequently Asked Questions AboutKansas School Safety Laws -- the updated version can be found here. Find it in the "Legal/Kansas Education Statutes" file. KNEA Members: get a password from you UniServ director to enter this area.

Historically, school safety and security has been the primary responsibility of the local school district. The Kansas Legislature's only venture into the area consisted of enactment of the Suspension and Expulsion Act. A number of highly publicized school shootings in recent years, however, has lead to action on the part of both the federal and state governments.

Gun Free Schools Act of 1994

This federal act requires every state receiving federal educational funds to expel for not less than one year any student who brings a firearm or explosive device to school. The act provides an exception when the expulsion would conflict with the special education laws. It also provides that the state must allow the superintendent to modify the expulsion on a case-by-case basis.

Weapons Free Schools Act

The Kansas Legislature complied with the federal mandate by adopting this Act in 1995. The 1999 Legislature expanded the definition of "weapon" to include a bludgeon, sandclub, metal knuckles, throwing star and switchblade.

The Legislature also eliminated an exemption for rifles that the "owner intends to use solely for sporting, recreational, or cultural purposes" because most school shootings that had taken place involved such a weapon.

Suspension and Expulsion Act

Several amendments have been made to this Act in response to the school safety issues. In 1995, the legislature changed this law to provide that no other school district is required to accept a student who has been suspended or expelled even when the student changes residence.

The 1999 legislature increased the maximum length a student can be excluded from school during a "short-term" suspension from five-to-10 school days if the student:

• carries a weapon to school or to a school activity;
• knowingly possesses, sells or uses illegal drugs while at school or a school activity; o;
• has engaged in behavior that resulted in injury to the student or others.

A short-term suspension remains defined as not more than five days in all other cases.

When a student who is 13 years or older is given a long-term suspension or expelled for a reason listed above, the superintendent must notify the division of motor vehicles in writing within three school days. The student's driver's license is then suspended or revoked for one year.

School Safety and Security Act - 1995

This Act requires teachers to report to the superintendent if they know that any pupil attending school has been expelled from some other district within the previous year for:

• conduct that endangers the safety of others;
• committing a felony;
• possessing a weapon at school; or
• being adjudged a juvenile offender for an offense that would be a felony if committed by an adult (even if the pupil was not expelled).
  

If the information is confirmed, the student's identity MUST be made known to all school employees providing school-related services to the pupil.

School districts are required to report any felony or misdemeanor crimes, including possessing any weapon on school property, to the appropriate law enforcement agency on behalf of any school employee who knows of such an infraction. While a knowing failure to make these reports is a misdemeanor, teachers, administrators, and board members are exempt from civil liability for complying with the Act in good faith.

Special Education and School Discipline/Safety

As it was initially enacted, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) required a special education student's placement be maintained during the period in which a change was being considered. This "stay-put"provision greatly restricted the ability of a school district to remove a special education student who might be disruptive or a danger to others.

The revised IDEA regulations allow school districts to more easily discipline special education students. The Individual Education Plan (IEP) team may be reconvened if the discipline plan set out in the IEP is not effective. The special education student remains in the current placement during any review, but exceptions to the rule now exist.

If a special education student violates a school rule or code of behavior, a school may discipline the special education student in the same manner and extent that it disciplines any other student if the student's behavior is not a manifestation of his disability. When the behavior is a manifestation of the child's disability, the school now has more discretion in changing the student's placement.

School personnel may order a special education student suspended for up to 10 days at a time to the same extent that it would a child without disabilities. Although the district must continue to provide services to a disabled student suspended for more than 10 school days in one school year, the student may not be in the classroom.

If the student infraction involves weapons or drugs at school, the district can change the child's placement for up to 45 days pending any change of placement procedures.

Criminal Statutes

Teachers may report crimes, such as assault or battery, to local law enforcement. The IDEA makes clear that there is nothing that prohibits a school from reporting a crime committed by a child with a disability to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.

• Safe Schools = Safe Communities + Safe Families
• Mailbag - What makes your school safe?
  • Great Bend
• • Central Heights
  • Seaman
  • Logan
  • Frontenac
• Resources
  • From the KNEA Video Library
  • Legally Speaking: Laws teachers should know

Safe Schools

Prevention Works - Just Ask Greg Oborny

KNEA member and elementary school principal Greg Oborny creates a safe environment that promotes learning. What is Oborny doing that works so well first at Olathe's Regency Place?

"I start with a strong dose of Jim Fay and staff development, add a life skills program, and then let kids make enforceable choices," he says. "The combination of programs dovetail nicely together."

At North, staff development started with Fay's "love and logic" concepts and the Life Skills program and character traits developed by Susan Kovalik. A word of the week, such as responsibility, respect, integrity or perseverance, is focused on in-and-out of the classroom.

Greg Oborny watches students describe what appropriate behaviors look like and sound like.

The Leadership Squad recognizes students practicing life skills. Students meet in his office and describe what life skills they've used. "First graders hear what sixth graders do and vice versa. They see we're all in this together," he noted. Oborny calls parents and tells them their child was in his office "for a neat thing." His goal is to visit with every student throughout the year.

Oborny says KNEA's training such as "Bullyproof" have been a great resource and tie into the life skills program.

"The KNEA training is integrated throughout our program. The Bullyproof training offered us new information and made us think differently," Oborny added. "It changed our paradigms in terms of how we look at bullies - why kids bully, the target roles and the kids who invite bullies to pick on them. We're better able to know what to do when we see it."

Oborny says the identification of bullies and the proactive components of KNEA's bullyproof program are excellent.

"We've had the post-bully process in place. It was the prevention piece we were needing. Prevention is a nice piece of the puzzle to help stop it before it happens," he said.

When do teachers call Mr. O? If the student is directly disrespectful, fighting or if "there's nasty stuff on the playground." The discipline starts with giving students choices. They "choose" to go to Mr. O's office.

He handles discipline in many ways. It may be an after school community service or times when students take time to think. He'll have students write letters to themselves about what they could or should have done. Then he'll mail those letters home to the students. Think papers explore the situation, the problem and solutions. Sometimes students fill out a flow chart to help them understand how an incident happened.

Resources

KNEA Professional Development Workshops

While KNEA offerings can be used for various age groups, "Bullyproof" is aimed at fourth and fifth grade students, "Flirting or Hurting?" is for grades 6 through 12, and "Quit It!" is specifically for elementary students, K-3. These, plus workshops such as Dealing with Difficult People, are free to local associations. Some charges apply to school districts. For details, contact the KNEA Instructional Advocacy Office in Topeka.

National Education Association:
sites.nea.org

This site can also connect you to NEA state affiliates, other research, and national organizations. NEA's Works4ME Tips Library includes information on school safety that can be accessed through NEA's home page.

The following documents can be downloaded:

• Safe Schools Manual: A Resource on Making Schools, Communities, and Families Safe for Children
• Hate Motivated Crime and Violence: Information for Schools and Families
• NEA Action Sheets: Child Abuse and Neglect, Television Violence, School Violence: Perceptions and Solutions, Youth Gangs: Findings and Solutions for Schools, Communities and Families
• A Guide to New Federal Safe School Initiatives

U.S. Department of Education Resources on Safe and Drug Free
Schools and Communities
www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SEDFS/news.html

This site contains information about federal education programs, manuals, non-regulatory guidance, and links to other national school safety and substance abuse prevention organizations. The documents can be downloaded.

Prevention Yellow Pages
www.tyc.state.tx.us/prevention

A worldwide directory of programs, research, references and resources dedicated to the prevention of youth problems and the promotion of nurturing children.

Members are invited to e-mail the home page address of quality safe school Web sites to kneanews@knea.org.

From the KNEA Video Library

Teaching respect for others is one of the first steps in stopping violence in and out of schools. Toward that end the KNEA Human and Civil Rights Commission spent the last year reviewing materials that can be used to teach students respect for one another's differences. These materials can be ordered directly from the publisher or checked out from the KNEA Professional Library through the KNEA Instructional Advocacy Office

The Teaching Tolerance series by the Southern Poverty Law Center has several titles available free to classroom teachers when requested in writing by their principal on school letterhead.

Requests should be sent to: Teaching Tolerance, 400 Washington Ave., Montgomery, AL 36104, or FAX 334-264-7310. Internet address: www.splcenter.org. The series is limited to one free package per school or organization.

Starting Small - Teaching Tolerance in Preschool and the Early Grades combines film and text to profile seven approaches to the shared goal of fostering respect for diversity. The teachers demonstrate ways to point out what's unique about every child and what every child has in common. The package is free to early childhood educators when requested by a principal on school letterhead. There is a cost for secondary educators.

*America's Civil Rights Movement - This teaching kit includes a 38-minute video and the 108-page text Free At Last. The secondary school materials make the civil rights movement real for today's students with historical footage, profiles of participants and photographs.

*The Shadow of Hate - A 40-minute video of historical footage and personal stories is included plus the 128-page text Us and Them. The materials tell the story of Americans who were hated simply for who they were, what they looked like, or what they believed.

Also included in the KNEA Professional Library is In Whose Honor? This film addresses the insensitivity or ignorance of those who believe that naming athletic team mascots after American Indians honors them.

NEA developed a resource called "Strengthening the Learning Environment: A School Employee's Guide to Gay and Lesbian Issues" which addresses the issues of education, safety, health and the law. This publication and In Whose Honor? can be checked out from the KNEA Instructional Advocacy department.

*Like all of the Teaching Tolerance series, these materials are available when requested by a principal on school letterhead.

• Safe Schools = Safe Communities + Safe Families
• Mailbag - What makes your school safe?
• • Great Bend
  • Central Heights
  • Seaman
  • Logan
  • Frontenac
• Resources
  • Prevention Resources and Web Sites
  • From the KNEA Video Library
  • Legally Speaking: Laws teachers should know

Safe Schools

Mail Bag - What makes your school safe?

If you'd like to share what makes YOUR school safe, e-mail kneanews@knea.org or fax your comments to 785-232-6012. Be sure to include the name of your local association, building, school district and a telephone number or e-mail address.

Great Bend NEA
by Judy Johnson
Great Bend is proactive in promoting school and student safety. Before the tragedies in Colorado and other parts of our country, the district and the city of Great Bend began developing the position of school liaison police officer.

That officer spends 80 percent of his time in the schools. He coordinates Crimestoppers and a youth forum at Great Bend High School and at Great Bend Middle School. In a joint effort with the district and the police department, emergency procedures have been updated and revised.

This spring, Great Bend Middle School (GBMS) took a team of 12 students to the attorney general's "Increase the Peace" summit. The summit provided training for team-building, an opportunity for students to identify the problems in their own schools, and empowered the students attending to accept some control to self-monitor.

GBMS team members presented to the student body a program explaining the district's expectations of acceptable behavior. The groups are planning regular assemblies, posters for the hall and other activities to model responsible behaviors throughout the year.

The Great Bend Middle School guidance department also uses the program "Flirting or Hurting" for classroom presentations. This KNEA program is an excellent visual for students to identify sexual harassment and provides empowering responses to those situations.

Administrators and other staff are highly visible in the halls and around the grounds. This is not a new policy, but rather something that has been encouraged throughout the district for a long time. I feel safe because of the level of trust I have in the students, the staff and the administration.

It may sound "Pollyanna," but I do feel that there is a sense of care and concern for one another.

Central Heights
by Darrell McCune, TEACH (The Education Association of Central Heights)

We have a uniformed officer on duty at the school at all times and we lock entry to several doors on the ends of the building in order to restrict access.

We have a code system in place and procedures to follow if an emergency were to occur. The procedures are visibly posted for a teacher or substitute to see and include lists of crisis management teams, chains of command and who to notify in an emergency situation.

Procedures are listed for fire, earthquake, bomb threat/explosives, tornado, intruder, runaway/abduction, serious injury or accident, death at school (homicide or suicide), death outside of school (homicide or suicide), utility emergency/asbestos release, chemical spill/hazardous material.

We have fire and tornado drills and have discussed the possibility of adding drills for other emergencies.

Besides our school nurse, we have a number of staff who, in addition to their regular duties, are certified EMTs (including myself). They are on call at the school in case of a medical emergency that requires more than one person or if the school nurse is gone.

Most teachers are certified in CPR, and we have held a number of classes here at the school for training. This is especially important for us, being out in the middle of a rural area 15 to 20 minutes away from an ambulance service or hospital.

We have installed two-way intercoms in all rooms. Administrators and other personnel, including the maintenance supervisor and deputy, have two-way radios to communicate with each other, the sheriff's department, and with classrooms (via intercom). All buses and school vehicles have cell phones. Buses also have two-way radios.

Our deputy officer has gone into the classrooms to give students talks on sexual harassment, especially as situations warrant it. This year, she will teach parts of the (KNEA) Bullyproof curriculum, as needed. We also do preventative conflict resolution in our Healthy Living classes and definitely with the deputy officer in the DARE program.

Our school building was made available to the Franklin County Sheriff's Department over the summer, so they could become familiar with the rooms. They practiced searches.

NEA-Seaman
by Karen Godfrey

Some of my school's rules seemed too strict to me until some of the recent school safety crises occurred. Now I appreciate their role in making our school secure.

Our students are never allowed in any part of the building unless a staff member is supervising, and our staff is visibly present in the halls and commons areas whenever students are there, especially between classes.

Students are not allowed to wear overclothing, hats, sunglasses or attire that might offend or provoke others. Nor do they carry book bags to class. Other than the front door, our doors are always locked, and all visitors wear visitor identification. I think the people in our building have good reasons to feel safe.

Logan NEA
by Becky Whitney

Some things that we do in our district to promote safe schools are:

• Received inservice training by Jim Fay (Love and Logic).
• Provide inservices for staff such as the bullyproofing workshop provided by KNEA.
• Fifth grade students participate in the DARE program.
• Representatives and patients of Valley Hope, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, do presentations for the junior high and high school students.
• Promote academic achievement by recognizing students through a "Student of the Month."
• Involve families through family reading nights, parent-teacher conferences, and Welcome Back to School nights.
• Various churches in the community host Fifth Quarter parties after ball games for students.
• Our school is currently in the process of writing a contingency plan so we will know what to do in case something would occur like in other schools around the country.
• Various classrooms deal with topics relating to hate crimes, laws and consequences that affect juveniles, problem-solving skills, ways to deal with anger, promoting good sportsmanship.

Frontenac Teachers Association
by Debbie Restivo

The doors are locked except for the main entrance. Visitor badges are mandatory and all staff and students are alerted to send anyone without a badge to the office to get one - no matter who it is. The crisis plan is posted by the door, practiced with students, and discussed with parents.

The Student Improvement Team meets weekly to discuss student needs, and to identify students who need extra attention. We are encouraged to read articles about early warning signs, violence prevention and school safety.

Quality
Performance
Accreditation

New regulations for Quality Performance Accreditation went into effect on July 1, 2005. There are some similarities to the current system, but there are many important differences. To help ensure that you, your colleagues and your school are able to navigate the system, here is a comparison of the old QPA and the new one, along with further explanation of how the accreditation decision for each school will be made.

The easiest way to think of the new system is with a mathematical sentence:
Quality + Performance = Accreditation.

In the new system, there are 11 Quality criteria and 7 (8 for high schools) Performance criteria. Status on those determines accreditation status.
The most up-to-date, detailed information is on the KSDE Web site, www.ksde.org/outcomes/psaccredition.html. This site is specifically for schools that are currently piloting the new system, but it is available to anyone.

The information below is based on that material, which is still in draft form. There are still some unanswered questions. That's part of what the pilot schools are helping KSDE accomplish.

Quality (QC)

Quality criteria 1 requires a multi-year school improvement plan that includes a results-based staff development plan. The presumption is that both will be driven by student performance data.

QC 2 requires an external technical assistance team. In the new system, each school has the flexibility to select people that they believe will best help them meet their goals.

QC 3 states that each school must have locally determined assessments aligned with state standards.

QC 4 requires formal training for all teachers regarding state assessments and curriculum standards. The presumption is that different teachers will have different training needs.

QC 5 requires that 100% of teachers assigned to teach in areas assessed by the state or described as core academic subjects for ESEA/NCLB must be fully licensed and endorsed for their assignments. 95% or more of all other faculty must be fully licensed and endorsed for their assignments.

QC 6 requires that each school meet the KSDE requirements regarding staff, minimum enrollment, student credit, interscholastic athletics, and athletic practice. These are found in accreditation regulation 91-31-34.

QC 7 requires graduation requirements that include at least 21 credits: 4 English language arts, 3 history/government, 3 science, 3 mathematics, 1 physical education, 1 fine arts, and 6 electives. These become effective for the class that enters 9th grade during the 2005-2006 school year. This applies only to high schools.

QC 8 requires that curricula are available that allow each student to meet the regent's qualified admissions program and state scholarship program. This does NOT require all students to take those curricula.

QC 9 requires all schools to offer programs and services in language arts, mathematics, science, history/government, physical education including health and human sexuality, fine arts, computer literacy, services for students with special learning needs, library services, and counseling services.

QC 10 requires all secondary schools to offer programs and services in industrial/technical education (including vocational agriculture), family and consumer sciences, business, and foreign language.

QC 11 requires local policies that ensure compliance with all other accreditation regulations and state laws.

The Quality Criteria will be monitored through assurances on the QPA Annual Report.

+ Performance

The Performance Criteria are closely tied with AYP.

Elementary schools must meet the AYP targets in reading and mathematics, the participation rate, and the attendance rate. They must also meet State Board-determined targets in history/government, science and writing.

Secondary schools must meet all of the above plus the AYP target for graduation rate.

= Accreditation

Accredited schools meet the performance and quality criteria.

Schools that are accredited on improvement have, for two consecutive years, failed to meet one or more of the performance criteria for all students assessed OR one or more of the performance criteria for any subgroup assessed OR three or more of the quality criteria. Those schools must, at the least, be assigned a technical assistance team from KSDE.

Schools that are conditionally accredited have, for three consecutive years, failed to meet one or more of the performance criteria for all students assessed OR four or more of the quality criteria. [Notice that only all student data is used for this level, not subgroup data.] These schools must also have a KSDE technical assistance team.

Schools that are not accredited have, for five consecutive years, failed to meet one or more of the performance criteria for all students assessed or four or more of the quality criteria.

Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd)

The Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd) helps state and local education leaders to integrate instructional technology for all students to achieve high educational standards by providing resources on evidence-based practices, innovative online technical assistance tools, professional development, communities of practice and evidence-based, promising, and emerging practices based on the latest research.

The Center is funded by a federal grant.

The Center's free resources offer help in providing high-quality instruction for all students and are especially important for serving students with disabilities. Resources include professional development and research on implementing technology to improve student achievement.

Find resources in the Learn Center especially identified for teachers, administrators, technology coordinators, and professional development coordinators. Use My Center to collect, save, and share resources and toolkits with colleagues. Join their free webinar series, Moving Forward with Technology, and access free technical assistance.

Guide to Special Education and new Special Education Materials from KSDE

The “Guide to Special Education” has been revised and is now available on the Student Support Services website under http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=3139  “The Guide” has been developed primarily for parents and self-advocates.  It is used by Families Together, Inc. for education advocate training.  It is intended to be easy to read and understand. 

IDEA Regulations

The Revised Kansas IDEA Regulations can be found by clicking on this link; 

http://www.ksde.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=fp6xwWeNOe0%3D&tabid=3152&mid=8268&forcedownload=true

There will be Public Comment meetings to be held in November in Colby and Girard. The state board will hear comments in December. The time and specific meeting locations will be posted on this site as they become available.

These are the IDEA regulations.

http://www.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/idea2004.html

The document as posted is double-spaced and is 652 pages long, so don't automatically click the print button! Try re-formatting the document in Word so it's single-spaced and a smaller font. It comes out to be a little over 200 pages. You can do this for yourself by using the "select All" function under the "Edit" key on the screen, hitting "copy" and then pasting it into a blank Word document on your computer.

The following links are excellent resources for teachers working with Special Education students. Wrights Law provides an excellent review of IDEA and the companion Regulations. The Council for Exceptional Children link will provide another resource about IDEA and other areas of the field of Special Education. The Special Ed Resources on the Internet is a series of links that will provide information for all areas of educating exceptional children.

http://www.wrightslaw.com/
Wrights Law

http://www.cec.sped.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home
Council for Exceptional Children

http://seriweb.com/
Special Ed Resources on the Internet

Highly Qualified and Special Education

The most frequently asked question by Special Education teachers this week is "Do I have to fill out the new KSDE Special Education HOUSSE rubric checklist in order to be Highly Qualified?" The answer for the majority of Special Education teachers is "no."

If one of the following descriptions fits you and your teaching position, you do not need to use the SPE Rubric to be Special Education Highly Qualified:

1. You teach only elementary special education students and have an elementary endorsement.
2. You teach middle school special education students and you are not the teacher of record in a content area. This means that you do not provide direct instruction in a content area.
3. You teach high school special education students and you are not the teacher of record in a content area. This means that you do not provide direct instruction in a content area.
4. You are a special education teacher who assists students with study skills, organizational skills or reinforce instruction that the student has already received from a highly qualified content area teacher and you do not directly instruct students in core academic activities.
5. You teach high school or middle school special education students who work at the functional level.

You need to complete the HOUSSE Rubric to be Highly Qualified if:

1. You teach middle school special education students and provide direct instruction in a content area and you do not have an endorsement in that content area.
2. You teach high school special education students and provide direct instruction in a content area and you do not have an endorsement in that content area.
3. You teach elementary special education students and provide direct instruction in a content area and you do not have an elementary endorsement.

IDEA Reauthorization

Congress has reauthorized the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The IDEA was reauthorization on Friday, November 19, 2004 by a vote of 397 for and 2 against. IDEA was last reauthorized in 1997.

NEA gave qualified support to the reauthorization (H.R. 1350). Given its overall positive impact for students with disabilities and special education professionals, the bill's passage ensures no further delay in addressing member needs in serving exceptional children. Concerns, however, remain.

NEA was an insistent voice throughout the debate and negotiations and won key changes for an IDEA focused on improved services and learning, rather than paperwork and process. The resulting bill:

• Significantly increases support for professional development
• Launches the reduction of burdensome paperwork
• Provides new flexibility in meeting the "highly qualified teacher" requirements legislated in the ESEA/"No Child Left Behind Act"
• Protects educators' rights to participate in individual education plan (IEP) meetings
• Simplifies and better balances discipline procedures while continuing to protect fundamental civil rights of students with disabilities
• Enhances educators' ability to provide early intervention for struggling students
• Provides fair ways to reduce litigation between parents and schools

Challenges Remain

There is no extension on the timeline for meeting the federal "highly qualified" teacher provisions. For more information regarding the IDEA definition of "highly qualified" please see http://sites.nea.org/lac/idea/highlyqualified.html

The legislation provides a six-year timetable and a formula for achieving full funding of the federal share of special education, but without a guarantee to appropriate the funds. The funding issue remains on the table.

Student learning is the ultimate goal of quality public schools.  Knowing what students know and how well they know it is essential information for teachers, as well as for students and their families.

To obtain that information,teachers use various assessment strategies.  These include formative assessments, so that teachers know what students already know before instruction begins, and summative assessments, which occur at the conclusion of an instructional sequence to tell teachers and students and families what has been learned and how well.

Some particularly helpful resources include:

• The Assessment Training Institute, founded by Rick Stiggins, helps K-12 educators improve student achievement by integrating student-involved classroom assessment with day-to-day instruction.
• Many resources on student assessment are available to KNEA members through the KNEA Resource Library, searchable online.
• The Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), a non-profit organization, works with partnering school districts and educational agencies throughout the United States and is dedicated to improving teaching and learning.  Many Kansas USDs use NWEA's MAP, Measures of Academic Progress, as a formative assessment tool.
• NEA also has a collection of resources and links regarding student assessment.

And, in this high-stakes world of ESEA/NCLB, state assessments are important. At the KSDE website, you can find up-to-date information about

• State assessement calendars
• Examiner's manuals,   including Appendix A: Appropriate testing practices
• Information about alternate assessments, modified assessments and accommodations
• Kansas curriculum standards
• Tools you can use to analyze state assessment results
• Assessment fact sheets

Reading will take you through time and space!

Kansas NEA's literacy campaign Read Across America  celebrates Dr. Suess' birthday every year. 

"KNEA encourages principals, teachers and all adults to read with a child and to model a love of reading and a love of learning," said KNEA President Christy Levings. "Providing children motivation to read is an important factor in student achievement. Dr. Seuss epitomizes a love of learning and his books are effective in teaching young children basic reading skills. His wry sense of humor keeps even teenagers and adults actively involved in reading," she said.

From Elk Hart to Atchison and St. Francis to Baxter Springs, readers all over Kansas rev up every year for the largest reading event ever. Thousands of kids and adults participate each year in everything from poetry slams and reader theaters to reading parades and community leader "read-ins". NEA and KNEA provide many user-friendly resources to plan Read Across America.

Some History of KNEA's Read Across America

Who: Past Honorary Read Across America Chairpersons are Nobel Prize winner Jack Kilby, Olympic Gold medal winner Tara Nott, K-State Football Coach Bill Snyder, KU Basketball Coach Roy Williams, KNEA Reading Wrangles (Kansas high school rodeo champions), Kansas City Royals Baseball great George Brett and Kansas Governor Bill Graves.

What: NEA's Read Across America, the celebration that annually salutes reading and Dr. Seuss's birthday. KNEA's version is Read Across Kansas.

When: March 2 or 3 (the good doctor's birthday - March 2. The the years March 2 falls on a Sunday the official celebration is on Monday, March 3.)

Where: All schools and towns across Kansas plus all 50 states plus countries overseas … to find out what's going on in locally and to get NEA resources (the toolkit), contact your KNEA local association leader or log on to sites.nea.org/readacross.

Here's just a sampling of what happens around Kansas. Check out past activities in the news archives .

• All KNEA members get an official Read Across America poster in the KNEA Issues.
• Local parades sometimes include Book-Cart Drill Teams that entertain crowds while admonishing everyone to "check out" their local library.
• University students visited visit local elementary schools and reading to students and promoting literacy.
• School Parent Teacher Organizations sponsor events such as a "Dr. Seuss Family Reading Night" featuring guest readers, games, story telling and crafts for all to enjoy.
• Many events involve singing "Happy Birthday" to Dr. Seuss and eating some concoction of Green Eggs and Ham - cookies, sandwiches etc.
• The whole community gets involved in the celebration and businesses donates prizes for drawings at the end of the evening.
• Several schools hold a Read-a-Thon!
• Elementary schools put a "foot punch-out" down on the floor for each book a student reads during the week.
• Students recite the Reader's Oath after the Pledge of Allegiance. In some communities, local and district judges hold a "swearing in" of children who promised to be life-long learners.
• Many schools hold a Dr. Seuss book scavenger hunt throughout a school or community.
• Local dignitaries and parents come to schools and read books to children in literally every school in Kansas.
• Schools hold all-school assemblies and some featured a Surprise Someone wearing a "Cat in the Hat" hat read a famous Dr. Seuss story.
• Students do buddy-reading with different grade levels.
• Many schools organize Dr. Seuss "centers" that include trivia contests, making hats, bookmarks and much, much more.
• Some schools start in January reading books from the 50 states list.
• To show students how reading is important in all academic areas,  K-6 school students write poems using the letters in Dr. Seuss's name.
• Physical education classes perform  Dr. Seuss rhymes while doing jump-rope tricks.
• Music teachers teach a Dr. Seuss song and elementary students complete PowerPoint presentations based on a Dr. Seuss book.
• Different grades are involved in different ways: junior high students read to first and second graders. Upper level students made books for the first and second graders to take home.
• Many schools created a Cat and the Hat "Wall of Fame" for students who read a Dr. Seuss book wearing the traditional red and white-stripped hat. "Wall of Fame" certificates were often presented at a Green Eggs and Ham breakfast.
  

• Rubric for QPS Standards
• Class Size
• Collaboration 

Quality Public School (QPS) Standards

KNEA sets standard for Quality Public Schools

Standards for Quality Public Schools
Standards for a Quality Staff
Working Conditions that Impact Student Achievement
Background

Standards for Quality Public Schools

KNEA believes that a Quality Public School:
· is learner centered.
A Quality Public School (QPS) establishes clear goals for learning and expects success of all staff and students.

· requires a caring, competent and qualified teacher in every classroom.
Well-prepared teachers can increase the cumulative educational achievement for students. What teachers know and can do makes the crucial difference in what children learn.

· seeks and accepts meaningful engagement of all staff, students, parents and community.
A QPS promotes and supports strong, positive relationships between and among groups and members of groups. All persons embrace their responsibilities and see their roles as vital to the success of the school.

· demands individual and collective accountability for student learning.
A QPS provides meaningful learning opportunities, which benefit students equally regardless of differences. All staff, parents and students accept responsibility for student achievement.

· is organized to promote learning.
A QPS makes decisions based on student learning. The school expects collaboration and provides time for in-depth planning by the staff. It also requires class size limits of fewer than 19 in the first through third grades.

· has the necessary financial, technical and political support.
A QPS is an integral part of a community-wide system of agencies and organizations which regard the success of students as a measure of their own success. The community and the systems that serve it provide consistent resources to accelerate student learning in a safe environment which is conducive to learning.

· maximizes teacher success.
A QPS offers effective induction for new teachers, quality mentoring and peer assistance, meaningful evaluation for improvement of instruction, support for National Board Certification and job-embedded professional development that meets the teachers' needs.

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Standards for a quality staff

The staff of a Quality Public School:

· has clarity of purpose.
All staff of a QPS cultivate and maintain a focused vision that evolves over time.

· Is willing to change to ensure that all students can learn.
All staff of a QPS approach school with an attitude of inquiry and a willingness to reflect on practice. Changes are based on the needs of students and support student achievement.

· chooses strategies based on evidence of success.
All staff of a QPS continuously assess student and school progress and choose strategies and methods which are supported by research or by professional experiences. The school supports systematic, collaborative problem-solving and innovative approaches consistent with school improvement goals.

Working Conditions that Impact Student Achievement

Those Seven Working Conditions found to be most critical for student achievement and supported by research are:

1. Class size limits of less than 19 in the 1st through 3rd grades;
2. Collaboration time; -- LINK TO SEP ARTICLES NOW in evaluation
3. Effective mentoring and peer assistance; TO MENTORING IN STP
4. An effective evaluation system; TO BE DEVELOPED -- STP EVAL PAGE
5. Professional development that meets the needs of teachers; STP PD PAGE
6. Support the nationally certified teachers; and STP NBC
7. A caring, competent, qualified teacher in every classroom LINK TO KCTAF - STP FUTURE TEACHERS

Background

The members and staff of KNEA spent three years working and researching standards for quality public schools.

In addition to the standards, KNEA has taken teacher-based and research-driven standards for quality pubic schools and included what research has proven to be seven conditions that count for student achievement.

"Student achievement for all students is our goal," said KNEA President Christy Levings. "These conditions are as important for post-secondary education as they are for pre-K through 12," Levings said. "While the list may seem perfectly obvious, what is helpful is research that demonstrates the links to student achievement."

The standards have been reviewed and modified by the KNEA Representative Assembly and have been officially adopted by the KNEA Board of Directors.

Collaboration Time

Public Law 10-62 (The Education Council Act of 1991) established the National Education Commission on Time and Learning as an independent advisory body. The Act called for a comprehensive review of the relationship between time and learning in the nation’s schools. The legislation created a nine-member commission and directed the commission to prepare a report on its findings by April 1994.

[As Oliver Hazard Perry said in his famous dispatch during the War of 1812: “We have met the enemy and they are [h]ours.”]

The report states:

“Unyielding and relentless, the time available in a uniform six-hour day and a 180-day year is the unacknowledged design flaw in American education. By relying on time as the metric for school organization and curriculum, we have built a learning enterprise on a foundation of sand, on five premises educators know to be false.

“The first is the assumption that students arrive at school ready to learn in the same way, on the same schedule, all in rhythm with each other.

“The second is the notion that academic time can be used for nonacademic purposes with no effect on learning.

“Next is the pretense that because yesterday’s calendar was good enough for us it would be good enough for our children – despite major change in the larger society.

“Fourth is the myth that schools can be transformed without giving teachers the time they need to retool themselves and reorganize their work.

“Finally, we find a new fiction: it is reasonable to expect ‘world-class academic performance’ from our students within the time-bound system that is already failing them.”

Much of the data on planning time/collaboration time was taken from a 1997 American Federation of Teachers study. ⁴ This study emphasized that good teacher working conditions make a vital contribution to educational success, and poor working conditions create nearly insurmountable obstacles to student learning.

This study found that U.S. teachers spend more time with students than teachers in any other nation studied. Excluding duty-free lunch time and preparation periods, US primary teachers spend more than 30 hours per week in contact with children. Japanese teachers spend only 17-20 hours a week in front of students and German teachers spend 21 hours a week in instruction. Along with England, Scotland, Ireland, and The Netherlands, US secondary teachers have the largest number of instructional hours per week – approximately five classes a day for five days. US secondary teachers easily have the highest number of required work hours per week in all activities.

To allow the United States to conform more closely to international standards for teacher pay and working conditions, a recommendation was made concerning time: Reduce daily student contact to give teachers more time to plan and prepare (especially primary teachers) while increasing the number of student attendance days.

Class Size

The benefits of smaller classes with qualified teachers are clear. Available research, including the Tennessee STAR study, the Wisconsin SAGE program, and California's class size reduction initiative, show that small classes with qualified teachers lead to higher student achievement, more individualized attention for students, and fewer classroom disruptions.

Small classes in the early grades give students a strong foundation in basic math and reading skills. Small classes also provide long-term payoffs, including fewer students retained in their grade, higher student achievement each year even after students are placed in larger classes, and better student preparation for college. Additionally, students who are proficient readers by the end of third grade are more likely to succeed academically and graduate from high school. ⁵

Class size reduction in the early grades leads to higher student achievement, with significant effects of class-size reduction appearing when classes contain somewhere between 15 and 20 students. Achievement continues to increase as class size approaches a one-to-one ratio.

If class size is reduced from substantially more than 20 students per class to below 20 students, the related increase in student achievement moves the average student from the 50th percentile up to somewhere above the 20th percentile. Student, teachers and parents all report positive effects from the impact of class-size reductions on the quality of classroom activity. ⁶

Pupil-teacher ratio and class sizes are two very different areas. Pupil-teacher ratios include teachers in specialized areas, counselors, media personnel, and other school employees. Class size refers to the number of students who regularly appear in a teacher’s classroom and to whom the teacher is primarily responsible and for whom the teacher is accountable.

Many schools lack extra classrooms for smaller classes. Schools have tried different approaches to address this problem, including:

• assigning two certified teachers to teach in a single classroom either for part of the school day or for the entire school day;
• hiring an additional certified teacher for a grade level (e.g., providing three teachers for 2 third-grade classes) and dividing the students among the larger number of teachers for sustained instruction each day in priority subjects such as reading or math,
• hiring an additional certified teacher who works with half the students in a class for reading and math instruction, while the other half remains with the regular classroom teacher, or rotate students through a year-round schedule. ⁷

Recruiting teachers to fill empty teaching positions is becoming difficult. Districts have been successful in rehiring teachers who had retired or left teaching by offering them the opportunity to teach smaller classes and to work closely with other teachers.

A competent, caring, and qualified teacher in every classroom is the most important factor in increasing the educational achievement of students.

What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future sets out a blueprint for recruiting, preparing, supporting and rewarding excellent educators in all of America’s schools. ⁸

In 2000, the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future ⁹ provided another report that showed evidence that a competent, caring, and qualified teacher is essential to student achievement.

A Tennessee study revealed that students with three highly effective teachers in succession made tremendous leaps in learning – regardless of family background. ¹⁰

Other states and organizations have conducted similar studies and have arrived at the same conclusion. ^{11 12}

2 Mentoring, Peer Mentoring Training Materials, by Marilyn Rogers, NEA Training and Organization Development, Affiliate Capacity Building, 1999.

3 The Status of Peer Assistance, Peer Assistance and Review, Teacher Evaluation, and Professional Development in Kansas School Districts: A Report of the KNEA work team on Strengthening the Teaching Profession by Don Anderson, Mark Desetti, Marilyn Flannigan, Tim Schultz, June 1, 1999.

4 “How US Teachers Measure Up Internationally, A Comparative Study of Teacher Pay, Training, and Conditions of Service", by Nelson and O’Brien, 1993.

5 Local Success Stories, REDUCING CLASS SIZE, US Department of Education, November 1999.

6 Reducing Class Size: What Do We Know, RIE November 1998.

7 Local Success Stories, REDUCING CLASS SIZE, US Department of Education, November 1999.

8 What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future, Report of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, September 1996.

9 Solving the Dilemmas of Teacher Supply, Demand and Standards: How Can We Ensure a Competent, Caring Qualified Teacher for Every Child, Linda Darling-Hammond, National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, 2000.

10 Put Students First, The Kansas Commission on Teaching and America’s Future,, May 2000.

11 Educational Testing Service: Teacher Classroom Practice Matter Most for Student Achievement, October 2000.

12 Good Teaching Matters, How Well-Qualified Teachers Can Close the Gap, A Publication of The Educational Trust, Summer 1998.

Also “The Certification System of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards: A Construct and Consequential Validity Study”; The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 2000. (As described by Education Week on October 25, 2000)

Excerpted from REPORT FROM THE KNEA PROFESSIONAL WORKING CONDITIONS WORK TEAM, August 2001

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• Special Education Websites
• IDEA Regulations
• Online IEP Tool

Online IEP Tool Available

NEA launched an online IEP (Individual Education Plan) tool which may be very helpful in efforts to reduce paperwork.

It's located at the NEA MarketPlace, which offers many free instructional products to you, thanks to your KNEA membership. The online IEP tool is part of the NEA Teacher Toolkit . We hope it will be especially helpful in demonstrating that a comprehensive, student-focused IEP that is aligned to state standards can be done in seven early steps.

School community partnerships have been identified as one major factor influencing school improvement.  As a result, NEA has assembled resources and examples of effective partnership efforts around the country.  Further, Kansas NEA is involved in a project with Public Agenda that has a proven track record for supporting school improvement.  Learn more from the links below.

• NEA links for Parental Involvement

• Northwest Regional Educational Lab has assembled resources and examples of partnerships

• One major partnership in Kansas that also has a national presence is the Learning First Alliance.  Resources at this site include support for parents and teachers particularly for reading, mathematics, and professional development.

• Kansas Parent Information Resource Center
  

Public Agenda's web site highlights the difference between public engagement and public relations.  KNEA is a source for training on providing "Community Conversations" programs as outlined by Public Agenda.

K-12 Resources for Teachers, Students and Parents

This is compilation of Internet resources that provide information, documentation and materials (lesson plans, practice material, instructional videos, etc.) in the area of test preparation. These are worthy of your review and use as may be useful. They are not presented in any special/preferential order. Information in parentheses alongside the web address is the title of the web page being accessed.

Overcoming Test Anxiety
http://teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/showknow/default.html  - a great resource; much, much information and worthy of close review. Coverage of many topics and provides access to a teaching video on test taking strategies for instructors. Well worth the time to explore in depth (home page of the Los Angeles County schools).

Objective Test Taking skills
http://www.sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl/tests.objective.html - geared for teacher-made tests; gives brief, surface level tips; much focus on test-wiseness skills; appropriate for older students (gr. 7-12).

No Pain, High Gain: Standardized Test Preparation
http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/assessment/nopain.htm - concise and provides sound strategies for teaching reading and math (as associated with testing formats) as well as more general strategies for test taking skills; good ideas for elementary teachers and students, and does a nice job of linking instructional approaches to test preparation.

Taking the Stress Out
http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/assessment/take_out_pencils.htm - core suggestions for reducing test anxiety in students; short and to the point, it is worth an inspection; internet references to other documents/materials also provided.

NEA and Kansas NEA support accountability and measuring student learning.  A cornerstone of the many federal education mandates is an emphasis on school accountability.  The focus is to find schools that are "failing" based on assessment of student learning. But the professional educators in KNEA choose to emphasize the role of assessment in school improvement rather than seeking to punish schools with the highest level of need and the greatest educational challenges.  In fact, KNEA has developed a cadre to assist schools that are having difficulty as measured by the QPA (Quality Performance Accreditation) system.  

A recent report cosponsored by NEA focuses on appropriate uses of testing and assessment.  Find a summary on the NEA web site.  Additional resources include

• The NEA Testing Plus site includes NEA policy statements and links to topical information.

• The Center for Performance Assessment contracts to provide services to schools to assist them in implementing more effective assessment systems.  Their web site includes resources that may also be helpful.

• Information about accountability AND data on performance by state is available at the home page for Education Trust.  Kansas NEA is working with the Kansas State Department of Education to implement new requirements for assessment in federal legisation in a manner that will support school improvement, student learning and minimize interference with the ability of teachers to teach and students to learn.

New Sources for Clearinghouse Materials

Although the ERIC clearinghouses are now closed, most have moved their electronic archives to the following new homes on the Web:

· Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation: http://www.edresearch.org

· Clearinghouse for Community Colleges: No URL

· Clearinghouse on Counseling and Student Services: http://counselingoutfitters.com

· Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education: www.cec.sped.org

· Clearinghouse on Educational Management: http://cepm.uoregon.edu

· Clearinghouse on Information and Technology: www.eduref.org

· Clearinghouse on Higher Education: No URL

· Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics: www.cal.org

· Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication: www.kidscanlearn.com

· Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools: www.ael.org

· Clearinghouse on Teaching and Teacher Education: www.aacte.org

· Clearinghouse on Urban Education: http://iume.tc.columbia.edu

SOURCE: Cheryl Grossman, Center on Education and Training for Employment, Ohio State University

In a major lobbying victory for the National Education Association, the U.S. Department of Education  extended the deadline for paraprofessionals to meet the "highly qualified" requirements of the so-called "No Child Left Behind" act. Paraprofessionals working in Title I schools now have until the end of the 2005-2006 school year -- the same as teachers.

Paraprofessionals or teacher assistants are educational support personnel (ESP) and they take care of children every day and make sure they have the tools they need to succeed in Kansas schools and classrooms.

When President Bush signed the federal education law, he increased the federal role in education more than ever before.

The majority of the reforms are being phased in over the next several school years, but there is one aspect of the law that will take hold immediately - school report cards.

Starting this fall, states and school districts receiving Title I funds from the federal government, about 95 percent of all public schools, must provide parents and the public with annual report cards.

The report cards will list several indicators of educational quality for states, school districts and individual schools.

State report cards must show the performance of the state as a whole, as well as individual districts. School districts must prepare report cards on the academic achievement of all schools in the district and the performance of each individual school within the district.

In the case of an individual school, the report card will include how its students performed on the state test compared to the school district and state as a whole. It also will show whether the school has been identified for improvement. Currently, only four states - California, Florida, Utah and Wisconsin - report student achievement information for the groups of students specified in the law.

In addition to student report cards, public schools must disseminate the school and district report cards among parents and the community. These campus report cards must be disseminated widely through public means, which might mean postings on the Internet, distribution to the media, or distribution through public agencies.

Public report cards will tell parents whether their school has met annual achievement targets, is in need of improvement, or is subject to corrective action. Depending upon these designations, parents will know whether their child is eligible for public school choice or after-school tutoring.

"Information is power," said KNEA President Christy Levings. "We have long said that parents should know how qualified their child's teacher is; nothing is more important to student learning."

Also under the law, parents of children in Title I schools must be notified annually of their right to request and receive information about the professional qualifications of their child's teachers. Currently, approximately 14 states make public the number of uncertified teachers in each district.

While the law opens the doors of communication among parents, schools, teachers and the community, there are concerns about the issues the new mandate raises. For example, no funding has been provided for states to implement the new report card system; states which already offer report cards might have to change their system to meet the new federal requirements. North Carolina, for instance, reports on the progress of students over time, which is a valuable measure for educators and school administrators, might not be allowed under the new law.

Levings cautioned that the report cards might be used to punish schools and districts, rather than as a tool to identify the schools and districts that need greater help.

"When a school isn't doing well, we need to go in and help it out," she said. "That's what should be done. It only makes common sense to provide assistance when there's a call for help."

• Special Education Websites
• IDEA Regulations
• Online IEP Tool

Understanding Special Education

Useful, User-Friendly Web Resources

1. A New Era: Revitalizing Special Education for Children and Their Families, 89 pages (PDF). This is the report of President Bush's Commission on Excellence in Special Education, and is likely to serve as a blueprint for the administration's recommendations during the upcoming reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The first nine pages provide a summary of findings and an executive summary of the Commission's recommendations.

2. IDEA 2004

3. The Special Education Expenditure Project (SEEP) publishes lots of information on special education spending. State Special Education Finance Systems - Part I, 78 pages (PDF) presents findings from CSEF’s 1999-2000 survey of state special education funding systems. It discusses the types of funding systems used by states and describes each state’s funding formula in detail. The latest SEEP report, Total Expenditures for Students with Disabilities: Variation by Disability, 30 pages (PDF), examines how special education expenditures vary by student's disability category. The report, What Are We Spending on Procedural Safeguards in Special Education, 1999-2000, 53 pages (PDF), is also available.

4. The United States Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) website. The site provides links to special education research reports and plenty of information on the Bush Administration's current thinking about IDEA reauthorization.

5. Kansas State Regulations for Special Education, site contains the complete text in PDF format of the state special education regulations.

6. Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act, housed on the web site of the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights. Here you can find the law as well as additional information on requirements and frequently asked questions.

The Kansas NEA offers detailed information about achievement gaps and the importance of addressing them.

NEA's Priority Schools site , where you can find resources for dealing with many issues related to student learning. While "priority schools" are usually defined as schools who are not successful in meeting state learning standards, the resources included at this site can be used in any school interested in improving student learning.

The Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence , contains excellent information on 5 standards for effective pedagogy: teachers and students working together, developing language and literacy skills across the curriculum, connecting lessons to students' lives, engaging students with challenging lessons, and emphasizing dialogue over lectures. Detailed information on implementing these standards is available at the site.

"Classroom Instruction That Works: Research-based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement"  is an excellent resource that describes instructional strategies that are proven effective for meeting student learning needs.

The Center for Applied Linguistics offers the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol, SIOP, for use with English Language Learners. The strategies explained at the website are also valuable for use with any students who need assistance with literacy skills.

Politicians and the Media began referring to schools in which student learning was lagging as Low Performing Schools.  The NEA has begun to turn that label around, though, by referring to these as High Priority Schools.  We believe that, if student learning and success is low, the solution is to devote additional resources and provide assistance to students, school personnel, and the community to turn the tide and raise student achievement.  Below are several web resources selected from the NEA web site to help a school (any school) make improvements and focus on increased student learning.

NEA Keys to Excellence in your School (KEYS)

Ever wonder what high-achieving schools have in common?  So did the NEA.  We looked at how a school's organizational structure affects teaching, learning, and student achievement.  See what we discovered at KEYS 2.0.  

 Other sites that may be of interest:

• The Rural School Network

• No Child Left Behind (from the White House)  

• Safe Schools = Safe Communities + Safe Families
• Mailbag - What makes your school safe?
  • Great Bend
  • Central Heights
  • Seaman
  • Logan
  • Frontenac
• Resources
  • From the KNEA Video Library
  • Legally Speaking: Laws teachers should know

Safe Schools

What can a local association do to promote safe schools?

Local Education Associations can facilitate safe schools by implementing the equation, Safe Schools = Safe Communities + Safe Families. Here are some suggestions:

Within the Schools

• Help establish a school safety committee in your district. Make sure that its members represent the local education association, governmental and community agencies, clubs, private and service organizations and professional groups. And hold at least two meetings.
  
  First, the committee should address the school's immediate problems and begin long-range planning. Then, it should assess the community's problems and their school manifestations, with members gathering socioeconomic, crime and violence data about the community and school; discussing crime and violence in the school, community, and family (including child abuse); and identifying those involved in criminal and violent activities.
  
  
• Help the school safety committee develop and implement two plans, one for continuous action and one for crisis management.
  
  The action plan should address school management, including discipline codes, crime and violence reporting, off-campus crime, student involvement, and alternative educational environments. It should also address curriculum relating to school safety policies, peer mediation, conflict resolution and multicultural education.
  
  It should also address the physical environment, including whether or not to use metal detectors, eliminate lockers, improve lighting, oversee areas where students congregate and reduce school size.
  
  The crisis management plan should specify who does what, when, and with whom in the event of a crisis, such as a shooting on school grounds. It should address communications with the media, parents, staff and police; assistance to be provided to victims, offenders and police; and counseling for students and staff.
  
  
• Help the school safety committee monitor and assess data from the school and surrounding community. These activities entail collecting socio-demographic data (population shifts, unemployment, and poverty), crime data (arrests for robbery, drugs, and prostitution), and violence (assault, child and spousal abuse, and gang- and drug-related activity).

Within the Community

• Involve key community leaders in the process of making schools safe. Such involvement can include a one-day seminar for formulating a common vision and deciding on conducting a school and community assessment. It should culminate in the formation of a community task force or board that will oversee the violence reduction effort and design and carry out needs assessment studies, crisis and long-term action plans that are compatible with community resources and existing programs, and evaluations of the effectiveness of strategies.
  
  
• Enable communities to take charge of their own violence reduction efforts by helping to develop the skills people will need to implement their programs and decide which parts are effective and ineffective.

Within Families

• Involve parents in mentoring, reading and other involvement programs.
• Develop child care programs for parents.
• Train education employees to identify, report and deal with child abuse.
• Facilitate training or parenting skills, where necessary.

The Kansas Education Resource Center (KERC) was developed by the Kansas State Department of Education to assist educators in knowing, understanding and using the Kansas curriculum standards, especially as they align with the Kansas state assessments. The website provides free, quality lesson plans and resources aligned to the state standards, with new content continually reviewed for inclusion on the site. A Powerpoint presentation regarding KERC is available here.