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From: nccrest@cudenver.edu
Date: 03/01/05

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NCCRESt News, the electronic newsletter of the
National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems

Volume 3, Number 2 February 2005
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In this issue:

==> NCCRESt Update:NCCRESt's upcoming TA meeting for states; past events
==> Publication Highlight:Preventing Disproportionate Representation
==> Events:CAST Institutes on UDL (various dates); Improving Reading and
Writing in the Content Areas online workshop (March 14-May 2);
Understanding the Needs of Southeast Asian Americans and Refugees (April
21-23); Educational Opportunities for Hispanic Students (April 22-24);
Achieving AYP for Students with Disabilities (July 11-15)
==> Resources:Promising Practices for Urban Reading Instruction; Mental
Health in Urban Schools; Echoes of Brown
==> NCCRESt Support Desk
 
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NCCRESt UPDATE

==> NCCRESt to hold TA meeting for nine partner states, March 10-11

On March 10-11, NCCRESt will host its second state liaison meeting in
Denver, CO, for its nine partner states—Connecticut, Iowa, Louisiana, New
Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The
meeting will include an update on the new IDEA law and discussions about
how to have conversations about disproportionality and equity, using data
to target districts, and developing case studies to support best
practices. Representatives from the North Central, Northeast, Mid-South,
and Southeast Regional Resource Centers and the Harvard Civil Rights
Project will help support these important discussions.

==> Past Activities: NCCRESt Advisory Board Meeting and Presentations in
California

NCCRESt held its annual advisory board meeting February 24-25 in
Washington, D.C. The purpose of the meeting was to review progress over
the past year and receive advice and recommendations for the coming year.
Advisory board members attending this meeting included Leonard Baca,
University of Colorado at Boulder; Philip C. Chinn, California State
University, Los Angeles; Ronald Felton, Miami-Dade County Public Schools;
Betty Green-Bryant, Council for Exceptional Children; Asa Hilliard,
Georgia State University; Stephanie Hirsh, National Staff Development
Council; Joy Markowitz, National Association of State Directors of Special
Education; Kristin Reedy, Learning Innovations/WestEd, and Anthony Sims,
Institute for Educational Leadership.

NCCRESt also visited California in February for presentations with the
State Department of Education on the topic of technical assistance
(February 17) and Hacienda La Puente Unified School District on the topic
of looking at data to address the problem of disproportionality (February
18).

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PUBLICATION HIGHLIGHT

==> Preventing Disproportionate Representation: Culturally and
Linguistically Responsive Prereferral Interventions

Disproportionate representation of students from diverse socio-cultural
and linguistic backgrounds in special education has been a persistent
concern in the field for more than 30 years. In spite of continued efforts
by educators and researchers to identify contributing factors and develop
solutions, student enrollments in special education range from over- to
under-representation, depending on the disability category and the
specific racial/ethnic group, social class, culture, and language of the
students. Although examining rates of representation can alert educators
to the existence of a problem, a key question in dealing with
disproportionality in special education is, "Are we identifying and
serving the 'right' students?"

This new practitioner brief from NCCRESt focuses on four key elements of
culturally and linguistically responsive prereferral intervention for
diverse students. These elements are: 1) preventing school
underachievement and failure, 2) early intervention for struggling
learners, 3) diagnostic/prescriptive teaching, and 4) availability of
general education problem-solving support systems.

Downloadable copies of this practitioner brief may be obtained from
NCCRESt's Web site: http://www.nccrest.org/publications.html

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EVENTS

==> CAST Institutes on Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Various dates in 2005 * Wakefield, MA

CAST is offering a variety of two- and three-day institutes on topics such
as UDL and struggling readers, UDL and literacy for English Language
Learners, what the brain tells us about learning differences, and many
others.

The institutes have a maximum of 24 participants, which allows for small
group work, hands-on technology, individualized support, and direct
application to participants' practice. All institutes are held at CAST,
which is located in a suburb of Boston.

For more information, visit
http://www.cast.org/udl/ProfessionalDevelopmentforEducatorsandTechnologyProfessionals2376.cfm

==> Improving Reading and Writing in the Content Areas
March 14-May 2, 2005 * Online workshop

This six-session, online workshop will give teachers the tools they need
to integrate literacy strategies into content learning to help raise
student achievement. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able
to locate web-based tools, strategies, and lessons that foster literacy
skills in all content areas. They will also have developed a preliminary
lesson plan incorporating these tools and strategies. Graduate credit is
available through Antioch University.

For more information or to register, visit
http://www.literacymatters.org/pdonline/courses.htm

==> 25th Annual Conference of the National Association for the Education
and Advancement of Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese Americans (NAFEA)
"30 Years of Transformation: Understanding the Needs of Southeast Asian
Americans and Refugees"
April 21-23, 2005 * Seattle, Washington

This year's conference theme will focus on issues, challenges, and
opportunities facing Southeast Asian Americans today and the importance of
providing the necessary training and information to those whose leadership
will influence policy makers, educators, and service providers working
with the Southeast Asian population. Parents and students will discuss the
barriers they face within the community and schools to reach their full
potential. Proposals for workshops, panel discussions, and paper
presentations are being solicited on all topics regarding education,
community development, and health and social services.

For more information, please visit http://www.searac.org/nafea.html.
Please direct questions to Phouang Sixiengmay-Hamilton at 360-725-6152 or
phamilton@ospi.wednet.edu or Rithy Uong at rithyuong@lkh.lowell.k2.ma.us.

==> Northwest Conference on Celebrating Educational Opportunities for
Hispanic Students
April 22-24, 2005 * Boise, Idaho

The conference, co-sponsored by the school board associations of Idaho,
Oregon, Washington, and Nevada, is designed to present innovative programs
and strategies that strengthen the education of Hispanic/Latino
students--strategies that can be applied across a variety of student
groups. By showcasing successful models, the conference aims to assist
school districts in developing their own programs to support educational
opportunities for Hispanic/Latino students as well as the entire student
population.

The conference will emphasize the governance and policy role of school
board members in implementing such programs. It will also provide valuable
information for superintendents and district-level staff responsible for
the education of English language learners, migrant students,
Hispanic/Latino students, and other diverse student populations.

For more information, please visit
http://www.idsba.org/Events/index.html#2005%20Northwest%20Conference or
contact contact Clifford Green at 208-854-1476 or cliff@idsa.org.

==> Harvard Summer Institute, Critical Issues in Urban Special Education
Achieving AYP for Students with Disabilities
July 11-15, 2005 * Cambridge, MA

This year's Institute on Critical Issues in Special Education will focus
on what schools and districts can do to improve learning outcomes for
students with disabilities, thereby increasing scores on standardized
assessments and positively impacting state performance requirements. The
institute will examine a number of research-based organizational,
instructional, and resource allocation strategies for improving outcomes,
and look at how these strategies have been successfully used by schools
and districts.

Faculty will include Thomas Hehir, Professor of Practice and Director of
the School Leadership Program, Harvard Graduate School of Education;
Jeffrey Howard, President, The Efficacy Institute; Nonie Lesaux, Assistant
Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Diana
Pullin, Professor of Education Law and Public Policy, Boston College;
David Riley, Institute Co-Chair and Executive Director, Urban Special
Education Leadership Collaborative; George Sugai, Professor, Educational
and Community Support, University of Oregon and Co-Director of the
National Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports; and
John Verre, Institute Co-Chair; Director of Compass Consulting, Boston,
MA.

For more information, visit http://www.gse.harvard.edu/ppe/k12/index.html

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RESOURCES

==> Promising Practices for Urban Reading Instruction

This collection of research-based articles is framed around the
International Reading Association (IRA) position statement "Making a
Difference Means Making It Different: Honoring Children's Rights to
Excellent Reading Instruction," This statement presents 10 "literacy
rights" of every child and outlines what children need to become competent
readers and writers. The volume includes two or three articles pertaining
to each of the 10 rights, an annotated bibliography of related IRA books
and articles published since 1990, and a list of Web sites that provide
additional information about promising practices in urban reading
instruction.

Promising Practices for Urban Reading Instruction is an important step in
identifying promising practices for making children’s literacy rights a
reality and provides direction about the next steps for educators involved
in urban reading instruction. NCCRESt Co-Principal Investigator Dr.
Janette Klingner wrote the introduction associated with the fifth right:
"Children have a right to reading assessment that identifies their
strengths as well as their needs and involves them in making decisions
about their own learning."

For more information, visit
http://marketplace.reading.org/products/tnt_products.cfm?Subsystem=ORD&primary_id=518&product_class=IRABOOK&action=Long

==> Mental Health in Urban Schools

Many people hear the term "mental health," and they think of mental
illness. Others hear "mental health in schools," and they think it is only
about therapy and counseling. But these terms are not just about the
activities that mental health professionals do in their offices, such as
providing students with therapy or counseling. According to this new On
Point from NCCRESt’s partner, the National Institute for Urban School
Improvement, mental health in schools should also be about:

* Providing programs to promote social-emotional development, prevent
mental health and psychosocial problems, and enhance resiliency
* Providing programs and services to intervene as early after the onset of
learning, behavior, and emotional problems as is feasible
* Supporting the mental health of families and school staff
* Building the capacity of all school staff to address barriers to
learning and promote healthy development
* Addressing systemic matters at schools that affect mental health, such
as high-stakes testing (including exit exams) and other practices that
engender bullying, alienation, and student disengagement from classroom
learning
* Drawing on all empirical evidence as an aid in developing a
comprehensive, multifaceted, and cohesive continuum of school-community
interventions to address barriers to learning and promote healthy
development

Authors Howard Adelman and Linda Taylor of the University of California,
Los Angeles, focus on the mental health programs that most urban schools
currently provide and what can be done to enhance these programs to create
better, healthier school climates.

Free, downloadable copies of this publication are available at
http://www.inclusiveschools.org/publications/on_point.htm

==> Echoes of Brown: Youth Documenting and Performing the Legacy of Brown
v. Board of Education

Whether you are studying the history of Brown or discussing issues of
diversity and racial equality, this multi-media resource is an invaluable
teaching tool. Echoes of Brown, which includes a DVD, book, and teaching
resources, features a performance by a diverse ensemble of youth from
suburban and urban schools who speak to the victories and continuing
struggles for justice and democracy in public schools. The program weaves
youth spoken word and dance with rich video interviews with "elders,"
including Arthur Kinoy (1921–2003), Sonia Sanchez, Judge Jack Weinstein,
Roscoe Brown, Esther Lee, Thea and Bailey Jackson, and Adam Green.

For more information or to view a video clip, please visit
http://store.tcpress.com/0807745162.shtml
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NCCRESt SUPPORT DESK

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Archives of NCCRESt News are available at
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For more information about NCCRESt, please contact:
Shelley Zion, Project Coordinator
National Center for Culturally Responsive
Educational Systems (NCCRESt)
1380 Lawrence Street, Suite 625
Denver, CO 80204
Phone: 303-556-3990
Fax: 303-556-6141
Email: shelley.zion@cudenver.edu
Web: www.nccrest.org
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NCCRESt is a technical assistance center funded by
the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education.
Project Officer: Grace Zamora Duràn. Award No. H326E020003.
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