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News
4TH ANNUAL NATIONAL INCLUSIVE SCHOOLS WEEK TO FOCUS ON
THE IMPORTANCE OF
"WORKING TOGETHER"
Denver, CO - "The 4th Annual National Inclusive Schools Week will be
celebrated December
6-10, 2004 in classrooms, schools, and communities
throughout the country. This Week recognizes the nation's progress and
promotes action towards increasing the capacity of schools and
communities to provide a quality education to an increasingly
diverse
student population, particularly to those who have disabilities. This year,
the National Institute will focus on the
value of "working together." ...
The Week is sponsored by the National Institute for Urban School
Improvement at the
University of Colorado, Denver and is a project of the
U. S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs....
National Inclusive Schools Week provides an opportunity to reflect on
how to ensure families, schools, and communities
across the nation are
working together effectively to provide a quality education for an
increasingly diverse student population.
The Week further emphasizes
the National Institute's message, "Inclusive Schools: Good for Kids,
Families, & Communities," which
highlights the benefits of inclusive
education for all children. The National Institute has updated the
increasingly popular
Celebration Kit, which contains publications that
outline the benefits of inclusive schools, suggested readings for children
and
adults, celebration ideas and lesson plans, and materials to use in
promoting the Week."
URL:
http://www.inclusiveschools.org/nisw04/info/week.html
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Funding
Youth Service America Announces Grant Programs Supporting
National Youth Service Day
"Youth Service America has announced the availability of a variety of
grants to implement
community service projects surrounding National
Youth Service Day, April 15-17, 2005. Organizations sponsoring grant
programs for National Youth Service Day 2005 include:" National Youth
Court Center at the America Probation and Parole Association
Mini-Grants
(sixty mini-grants of $250 each); Phi Alpha Delta Public Service Center
Mini-Grants (twenty-five mini-grants of $200 each); The Constitutional
Rights Foundation and Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago
Mini-Grants (one-hundred and fifty grants of $150 each); Family, Career
and Community Leaders of America Mini-Grants (one hundred and
twenty-five grants of $200 each); DisneyHand Minnie Grants (grants of
$500 each); YSA Youth Venture Funding (ten awards of up to $1,000 in
start-up
funds)
URL:
http://www.ysa.org/awards/award_grant.cfm
Referred by: The Foundation Center
International Awards Program to Honor Achievements of Children
With Disabilities
"The Foundation for Exceptional Children established the Yes I Can!
International Awards
Program in 1981 to acknowledge the achievements
of children and youth with disabilities; to overcome barriers caused by
public
misconceptions; to encourage children and youth with disabilities
to seek their highest potential; and to increase public
awareness of the
abilities, aspirations, and personal qualities of people with disabilities.
Each year children and youth
with disabilities are recognized for their
accomplishments through the Yes I Can! International Awards Program.
Three Yes I Can!
International Awards Nominees will be recognized in nine
categories."
URL:
http://yesican.cec.sped.org/awards/index.html
Referred by: The Foundation Center
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Resources
Ideas and Tools for Working with Parents and Families
"One of the most frequently accessed items on the CASEL web site is our
packet for parents,
consisting of four handouts on how parents can help
promote the social and emotional development of their children...
We are
pleased to announce that this popular resource, with support from the
Mid-Atlantic Regional Educational Laboratory
for Student Success, has
been substantially expanded. Titled Ideas and Tools for Working with
Parents and Families, the packet
now includes the four handouts above,
plus: Research: Background on the role of families in teaching SEL, and
how families and teachers can work together to promote SEL; Parents'
Voices: Parents' views on SEL programs being used at their children's
schools based on a series of interviews with parents; SEL Resources:
Books, organizations, and programs emphasizing SEL. In addition, the four
handouts for parents are now available in Spanish."
URL:
http://www.casel.org/about_sel/SELhome.php
Put Downs & Comebacks: How to Respond to a Discouraged Kid
"What do you do when a child is struggling with reading? It can help to
acknowledge that it's
hard and find appropriate materials. Reading
Rockets offers this and more advice for parents and educators."
URL:
http://www.readingrockets.org/helping/putdowns/putdowns.html
Referred by: Connect for Kids Weekly
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Research
HIGH SCHOOL RESEARCHERS FIND A GENERATION GAP
"Groundbreaking research by high school students in five states has
turned up troubling
discrepancies in how urban students and teachers
view their interactions with each other. The innovative What Kids Can
Do
organization supported high school students from Chicago, Houston,
Oakland, Philadelphia and St. Louis as they designed
and conducted
in-depth research in their urban high schools, surveying more than 6,350
of their peers and 466 teachers. The
students' insightful questions and
accessible language elicited responses that may surprise traditional
educators and policymakers,
and suggest ways in which students can
become actors in improving their schools. Survey questions covered
topics including academic pressure, cheating, school safety, race relations,
and tensions between teachers and students. In all five sites,
student
research teams presented their findings through workshops, retreats, and
public "summit meetings.""
URL:
http://www.whatkidscando.org/studentsasalliesintro.html
Referred by:PEN Weekly NewsBlast
Vital Difference: The Role of Race in Building Community
"Vital Difference is the first report from the Practitioner Knowledge
Initiative. The report
stresses the importance of practitioner knowledge
and the use of reflective learning to uncover that knowledge. Vital
Difference states its case by offering a glimpse into the extensive
knowledge that five community-based organizations ...
have developed
regarding race and community building."
"Vital Difference makes the case
that (1) practitioner knowledge is
critical
for advancing the field of
community building, (2) race is of fundamental
importance in
community-building work,
and (3) engaging race drives the
reinvention of
the tools and processes best suited to building meaningful
and lasting
democratic participation."
URL:
http://web.mit.edu/crcp/vitaldiff1
Referred by: Center for Reflective Community Practice
We welcome your feedback!
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