TABLE OF CONTENTS
UPDATE
NOTICE
SPOTLIGHT
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
RECOMMENDED READINGS
TOOLS YOU CAN USE
RESEARCH BASED PRODUCTS
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE UPDATE
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
FEATURED WEBSITE
DID YOU KNOW …
UPCOMING EVENTS
This eNEWS is sent formatted in HTML. If the graphics do not display properly, please go to: www.nccrest.org or www.urbanschools.org to view the eNEWS online. Back issues of the eNEWS are also available there.
The National Forum, Leadership for Equity and Excellence: Transforming Education, is February 7-9, 2007. Be a part of this powerful annual conference and register soon! Online registration closes on Friday, February 2nd. A limited number of people will be able to register on site, with check or cash.
And remember the keynote speakers will be…
Quality Public School: Education as a Civil Right
Robert P. MosesRespect, Justice, and Equality: Educational Themes
Sara Lawrence-LightfootThe Role of Leadership in Promoting Equity and Excellence in Education
Pedro NogueraTransforming Teaching to Benefit All Students: The Role of Caring and Critical Teachers
Sonia NietoFor more information or to register go to… www.nccrest.org
Be sure to attend this year’s conference, Leadership for Equity and Excellence: Transforming Education. Complete with 5 pre conference institutes, 95 concurrent sessions, 4 exceptional keynotes, table exhibits, an awards ceremony, an art contest, and entertainment! This year’s conference has amazing entertainment lined up throughout the Forum. Look forward to hearing from these two performers.
The Figureheads is a musical act turned non-profit organization using hip hop music to benefit a large developmental spectrum from kids to college students, parents to professional teachers and psychologists. Our vision is for community development through music and mentorship. We equip each audience of ours (kids, peers and professionals) with educational tools and musical resources to pursue healthy relationships and quality living, and most importantly, to find ways to connect with each other across generational, developmental and cultural lines www.figureheadsinc.org
Quique Aviles is a poet, actor, and community activist whose work is dedicated to addressing social issues through performance and poetry. Quique has been performing in the US for 20 years. In 1985, after graduating from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, he founded and directed the LatiNegro Theater Collective, an ensemble of African American and Latino young artists that brought its work to theaters, schools, prisons, universities and community organizations. Through LatiNegro’s work, Quique developed a writing and performance style that was unique for its boldness and frankness in dealing with touchy subjects such as race, identity and the plight of the poor. His work has always been known for being inclusive of his audiences both onstage and through post-performance dialogues and workshops.
For more information or to register go to… www.nccrest.org
BETSY
ROGERS
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After
being named National Teacher of the Year in 2003, she switched
to Brighton School -- Jefferson County's poorest school, which
held the longest run on that Alabama county's school-improvement
list. She took a job there as curriculum coordinator -- in essence,
a teacher for the teachers -- believing that beleaguered schools
ought to have the best instructors. But the challenge at the K-8
school was so steep that early on she couldn't even get out of
bed some days, reports Gigi Douban in The Christian Science Monitor.
At the end of 2004-05 school year, the school had failed to meet
the state's testing goals for seven years. Last academic year,
a breakthrough occurred. The school improved not only on the Alabama
Reading and Mathematics Test, which is the state accountability
measure, but also on benchmark tests throughout the year. Eighty-two
percent of last year's fourth-graders, for example, couldn't read.
This year, 73 percent of that same group are reading proficiently.
The relentless collective focus on effective parental involvement
and improving teacher quality are credited as large key factors
in the turnaround. By Gerald Campano
This powerful book demonstrates how culturally responsive teaching can make learning come alive. Drawing on his experience as a fifth-grade teacher in a multiethnic school where children spoke over 14 different home languages, the author reveals how he created a language arts curriculum from the students’ own rich cultural resources, narratives, and identities.
“Campano illustrates what it takes to be a teacher with heart and soul, not simply one who succumbs to the increasing calls for higher test scores and standardized curricula. There are many lessons to be learned from this gem of a book.”
-From the Foreword by Sonia Nieto
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MODULE
Culture and Cultural Responsiveness ModuleThe Module is divided into three academies Appreciating Culture and Cultural Responsiveness, Uncovering Diversity, and Power, Privilege, and Change. Academy 1 explores cultural responsivity as it applies to educators and education. In education, cultural responsivity involves creating equitable opportunities for all students. Academy 2 explores the complexity of identity and expands on the concept of culturally responsive pedagogy and practices for student achievement. The final academy examines social power and privilege as it plays out in society and in education. It also explores how power and privilege disparities within schools create inequitable educational opportunities and outcomes for students of color, students whose first language is not English, students who are economically disadvantaged and students who are labeled with special education needs.
To download this module go to www.nccrest.org, click on professional development, or follow this link.
ONPOINT
Mental Health in Urban Schools
By Howard Adelman, University of California, Los Angeles
Linda Taylor, University of California, Los AngelesFeatured OnPoint: Mental Health in Urban Schools
This OnPoint discusses mental health and the affect it has on students, families, school staff and the community. The authors explain what mental health is as well as offer ideas for what schools should be doing to address a range of mental health and psychosocial concerns. They explain that the emerging views on how to enhance mental health in schools involves much more than expanding services and creating full service schools. It is about becoming a collaborative part of comprehensive approaches that strengthen students, families, schools, and neighborhoods and doing so in ways that maximize learning, caring and well-being. This OnPoint offers schools monthly themes to help strategize and encourage a mentally healthy school climate.To download this OnPoint go to www.urbanschools.org click on ‘Publications’ then ‘OnPoints’ or follow this link.
A new report from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation finds that just eight states can claim even moderate success over the past 15 years at boosting the percentage of their poor or minority students who are at or above proficient in reading, math or science.
The study also finds that most states making significant achievement gains-including California, Delaware, Florida, New York, Massachusetts, and Texas-are national leaders in education reform, indicating that solid standards, tough accountability, and greater school choice can yield better classroom results."Many state officials have claimed credit for gains in student achievement," said Chester E. Finn, Jr., the Foundation's president. "But this study casts doubt on many such claims. In reality, no state has made the kind of progress that's required to close America's vexing achievement gaps and help all children prepare for life in the 21st Century. Nor are most states making the bold reforms most likely to change this reality. Real leaders will study these data, then focus on what needs doing, not what's been done."
The Fordham Report 2006: How Well Are States Educating Our Neediest Children? appraises each state according to thirty indicators across three major categories: student achievement for low-income, African-American, and Hispanic students; achievement trends for these same groups over the last 10-15 years; and the state's track record in implementing bold education reforms. (Click here for more information on the indicators and methodology http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/TFR06Methodology.pdf.) A table listing states' performance in all three categories is at
http://www.edexcellence.net/foundation/global/page.cfm?id=388#TFR06fullstategrades.
NSDC: NCCRESt representatives presented four sessions at the National Staff Development Council’s Annual Conference held in Nashville. Sessions were focused on transforming our current educational systems into culturally responsive educational systems, which requires changes in fundamental assumptions, practices, and relationships, in ways that lead to enhanced student outcomes. Participants examined culture and diversity, exploring its influence on everyday activity, on individual identity development, and on systems of power and privilege in our education systems.
North Carolina: North Carolina submitted a technical assistance application for NCCRESt to assist them in training their state trainers on two NCCRESt professional development modules: Understanding Culture and Diversity and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Practices. Twenty trainers received three days of training on the content and facilitation of the modules.
"Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom."
- George Washington Carver (botanist/author/educator)
Give Kids Good Schools is Public Education Network’s national campaign to guarantee a quality public education for every child in the nation. Through national activities and an interactive Web site – GiveKidsGoodSchools.org – the campaign will provide Americans with the information and resources they need to take action in their communities and improve their public schools:
Follow education issues more closely in their communities and nationally
Learn about the elements necessary to achieve quality public education for all children and share information with friends and family.
Understand key issues and decisions that impact quality public education and make quality public education a priority on Election Day and every day.
Demand quality public schools for every student by participating in Give Kids Good Schools Week and other activities.
Achieving the goal of quality public education for every child in America will require every one of us to take action. Visit GiveKidsGoodSchools.org to find out how you can Learn, Vote and Act on behalf of quality public education. Together, we can Give Kids Good Schools.
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6TH ANNUAL NATIN
Washington DC, January 29-30, 2007
http://www.nativefamilynetwork.com2ND ANNUAL NATIONAL FORUM: LEADERSHIP FOR EQUITY AND EXCELLENCE: TRANSFORMING EDUCATION
Brought to you by the National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems
(NCCRESt)
Washington DC, February 7-9, 2007
http://www.nccrest.org/events/events/national_forum_2.htmlMENTORING IN THE 21ST CENTURY INSTITUTES
Brought to you by Just ASK
Orlando, FL February 12-13, 2007
http://www.askeducation.com/institutes/institutemain.htm?sb1220072007 CONFERENCE ON INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
Presented by PEAK Parent Center
Denver, CO February 15-17, 2007
www.peakparent.org/conferences.aspAASA NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION
New Orleans, LA March 1-4, 2007
http://www.aasa.org/nce/FACING RACE 2007: DEFINE JUSTICE, MAKE CHANGE
New York, NY March 22-24, 2007
http://www.arc.org/content/view/487/111/CELEBRATION OF TEACHING & LEARNING
New York, NY March 23-24, 2007
http://www.thirteencelebration.org/RAISING ACHIEVEMENT AND CLOSING GAPS CONFERENCE
Greensboro, NC March 26-28, 2007
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/racg/conference/NATIONAL DIVERSITY CONFERENCE
Seattle, WA April 25-27, 2007
http://www.ediversitycenter.net/casde/index.php
CONFERENCE ON EQUITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE IN EDUCATION
The Richard Stockton College Pomona, New Jersey, April 28, 2007
http://talon.stockton.edu/eyos/page.cfm?siteID=84&pageID=1
