This is a reminder of the town hall meeting with regional school district Special Education Directors and their delegates with Dr. David Schonfeld, Dr. Patty Manning and Dr. Donna Murray from CCHMC, Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics and The Kelly O'Leary Center, on Thursday, February 5, 2009, 3:00-4:30 p.m. Because of the number of people in attendance the meeting site has been moved to CRES, 1301 Bonnell, Third Floor Large Conference Room, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45215. If you have not registered, you are still welcome to attend since we have the larger meeting space. Feel free to call me with any questions.
M. Kay Brown, M.Ed., LISW-S
Coordinator
Regional Autism Advisory Council of Southwest Ohio
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
5642 Hamilton Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45224
M.L. 6015
(513) 636-7616 (office)
(513) 509-7491 (cell)
(513) 636-1759 (fax)
Kay.Brown@cchmc.org
Good Afternoon,
Today was a day that has been long anticipated. Governor Ted Strickland gave his annual State of the State address to the Ohio General Assembly. It is quite impressive and reassuring that the Governor has made education a priority of his administration.
In the State of the State, Gov. Strickland announced his plan to reform education in Ohio. While we do not have the final details of the plan, I do want to highlight several areas in his speech, including:
- A new evidence-based system for primary and secondary education will place resources where students most need them. All-day kindergarten will be funded for every district.
- The reform plan will be child-centered and will teach to individual student needs.
- The length of the school year will be extended by adding four days every two years until 20 additional days are phased in.
- Within ODE a Center for Creativity and Innovation will be created to monitor research and results from across the country and across the world to keep Ohio schools and Ohio educators informed of new advances.
- Standards, curricula and assessments will be revised to incorporate 21st century skills and to potentially reduce the number of indicators at each grade level in the core areas.
- The Ohio Graduation Test will be replaced by multiple performance measures including the ACT, end-of-course exams, service learning projects, and a senior thesis/capstone project.
- Teacher licensure will be changed to include a four-year residency program (which assigns a mentor during this period) prior to a permanent license.
- Lead teachers will mentor new teachers and a career ladder will be established.
- A new program, Teach Ohio, will be the path to licensure for professionals who have the subject knowledge but lack coursework in education methods.
- Administrators will be given the power to dismiss teachers for good cause, the same standard applied to other public employees.
- ODE will conduct fiscal and academic performance audits of all districts.
- Community school teachers must meet the same highly qualified definition as other public school teachers.
- ODE will oversee and monitor all community school sponsors.
- All early childhood programs will be under the direction of ODE.
- Districts will be required to report their spending plans before each school year and then account for every dollar at the conclusion of the school year.
- All school districts will receive annual fiscal and operational report cards.
- The plan lowers the local share from 23 to 20 mills.
- Districts will have the option of asking voters to pass a conversion levy, which maintains the existing millage on residential property for a district currently above 20 mills.
- Districts that use a conversion levy, and all districts whose tax structure already allows growth on 20 mills, will see their tax revenues grow with increased property values, helping schools to keep up with inflation.
On Monday, the Governor will release his Executive Budget for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011, which will include the education reform plan. This is an exciting time to work in education in Ohio. While we await further details of Gov. Strickland???s proposal, please know that the work you do every day for Ohio???s students is greatly appreciated.
The initiatives highlighted above will clearly need much work to ensure that they are rolled out in a thoughtful and strategic manner. All of the details surrounding each one will need to be identified and communicated as effectively as possible. As the plan develops and takes shape, I will keep you informed.
In case you missed it, the complete State of the State will be available at www.ohiochannel.org.
To view the text of the State of the State, click here, and for the Governor's summary of his Education Reform and Funding Plan, click here.
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Here's the criteria:
- male or female student athlete
- 2.75 grade point average
- proven commitment to the community
- varsity letter winner
- show financial need
There's an application to complete and a 1,000 word essay about what the scholarship would mean to them. Deadline is April 30.
Students need to go to www.cincinnatischolarshipfoundation.org and fill out the 2009-10 application for dependent students and submit the 1000 word essay by the deadline. Questions - 381-5437.
Need
Textbooks For the New Marking Period? |
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| Listed prices are valid through 1/30/2009. Looking for other titles? Call today for a quote! |
The memo below was distributed on December 30th and provides guidance regarding accommodations.
To: District: Test Coordinators, Special Education Supervisors, SST’s
From: Kathe Shelby, Ph.D., Director, Office for Exceptional Children
and Pat Corrigan, Interim Director, Office of Assessment
Re: Providing Accommodations for Statewide Tests
Date: December 30, 2008
It has come to our attention that some students with disabilities are being provided accommodations during statewide assessments that are not consistent with their individualized education program (IEP), particularly when the accommodation involves a read aloud or use of an English audio CD.
We want to gently remind administrators that accommodations in test format and/or test administration procedures can be made to facilitate the needs of an individual if such accommodations are specified in the IEP, Services Plan (for non-public schools) or 504 Plan and are consistent with criteria established in Ohio Administrative Code Rule 3301-13-03. Any accommodation that gives a student with disabilities an unreasonable advantage is not allowed because it does not allow for valid assumptions to be made from the results of the test.
The Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) 3301-13-03 defines four criteria for allowable accommodations:
1. The accommodation must be typically afforded the student in the classroom for classroom and district-wide tests, as is documented in the body of the IEP (i.e., not only for state assessments).
2. The accommodation cannot change the content or structure of the test.
3. The accommodation cannot change what the test is intended to measure.
4. The accommodation cannot change or enhance the student’s response.
These four criteria are the factors that must be evaluated for each accommodation determined by the IEP team and documented in the IEP, Services Plan, or 504 Plan. Any accommodations provided to students for statewide assessment must be coded on the student’s demographic form and answer document.
Educators who require assistance and clarification about eligibility of students with disabilities for assessment accommodations should call the Office for Exceptional Children at (614) 466-2650.
To obtain the chart that lists accommodations for statewide testing, type in “accommodations” in the search box on the ODE home page (www.education.ohio.gov).
Educators who require assistance about statewide test administration regarding an accommodation should call the Office of Assessment at (614) 466-0223.
COMMENTS ON THE DRAFT IEP AND ETR FORMS AND GUIDANCE DOCUMENT
We received hundreds of comments on the Guidance Document and the Draft IEP and ETR Forms. Thank you so much for taking the time to weigh in as your feedback is very important to the process. We will carefully review the comments and are targeting for February for the release of the new forms and Guidance Document. Those will be found at www.edresourcesohio.org.
CENTER ON EDUCATION POLICY
The Center on Education Policy (CEP) recently released a new report that examines how classroom practices in Illinois have been influenced by NCLB and by related state policies. Drawn from classroom observations and interviews, the report sheds new light on how teachers, principals and administrators have responded to the federal school accountability law. The report, Lessons from the Classroom Level: Federal and State Accountability in Illinois, found that elementary schools were impacted more by NCLB and state accountability policies than were high schools. In addition, the study found that there was a narrowing of the curriculum and a focus on test preparation in elementary schools. Many study participants also reported that they were using data more effectively, and high parental involvement was seen in both elementary and high schools. Lessons from the Classroom Level is based on case studies of six Illinois schools’ efforts to prepare students for the Illinois state assessments to meet NCLB testing requirements. Illinois is one of three states participating in a larger CEP study on the classroom impact of federal and state accountability. Last month, CEP issued a report on Rhode Island, and, in early 2009, it will begin studying schools in Washington State. The report is posted on the CEP Web site (www.cep-dc.org) under “What’s New” and can be downloaded free of charge.
ACHIEVE AND THE EDUCATION TRUST PULICATIONS AND TOOLS
Achieve and the Education Trust have developed a new series of publications
and tools that help define the next generation of standards, assessment
and accountability reforms. Measures
that Matter identifies guiding principles for the development
of next generation assessment, data and accountability systems including:
· Curriculum matters
· "Proficient" should mean "prepared"—High
school tests should measure whether students are college- and career-ready,
which means most states need new and better assessments. Those tests
should not become "exit" exams but rather open doors for students
to higher education and good jobs.
· More testing is not the goal; smarter testing is—If states
add new tests, they should also take others away. Students and schools
are already feeling over-tested.
· Schools should be held accountable for more than test results—While
assessments should remain a central measurement tool, accountability
indicators need to be expanded to reflect whether students are progressing
toward, achieving and exceeding college and career readiness.
· Accountability should be more about supporting improvement
than punishing failure—Too often accountability systems have been
heavy on sanctions, light on supports and even lighter on positive incentives;
that balance needs to change.
For more information, go to www.achieve.org/measuresthatmatter.
USDOE ANNOUNCES GUIDANCE TO HELP STATES AND DISTRICTS IMPLEMENT PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE AND SUPPLEMENTAL EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced the release of non-regulatory guidance to assist states and local educators in implementing the public school choice and supplemental educational services (SES) provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. These provisions are intended to help increase academic achievement by giving parents of eligible students, in Title I schools identified for improvement, the options to transfer to another better public school in the district or to receive free tutoring.
“Families want choices in education because they know their children benefit from them. By offering a range of educational options for parents and injecting competition into the system, we support innovations that help students do better,” said Secretary Spellings. “SES and public school choice are lifelines for students who need more resources and parents who want more options. Research shows that students participating in SES are improving in both their reading and math skills.”
The two non-regulatory guidance documents released today update and expand upon previous versions of the guidance. The guidance addresses issues related to the new Title I regulations released in Oct. 2008, and includes information on other major policy guidance the Department has released over the last few years. The new guidance documents include information on the following topics, among others:
· The requirements for districts to notify parents of their transfer options at least 14 days before the start of the school year;
· The requirements for districts’ SES notices to parents;
· The requirements for districts to post certain information on public school choice and SES on their Web sites;
· The allowance available to districts for costs associated with parent outreach and assistance as part of their 20 percent funding obligation;
· The requirements for districts that do not meet their 20 percent funding obligation;
· The requirements for states to approve and monitor SES providers.
To read the public school choice guidance document, please visit <http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/schoolchoiceguid.doc>
To read the SES guidance document, please visit: <http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/suppsvcsguid.doc>
SUMMER INTERNSHIPS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES—SPEND THE SUMMER IN WASHINGTON D.C.
The American Association of People with Disabilities is looking for college students with disabilities to apply for: The 2009 Summer Internships for Students with Disabilities in Washington, D.C. Accepted candidates will spend the summer in Washington, DC, working either in Congressional offices or the IT Divisions of Federal Government Agencies. Roundtrip airfare, accessible housing, and a living stipend will be provided to each intern. To apply or for more information, visit http://www.aapd.com/internships.html.
NATIONAL TRAINING INSTITUTE ON EFFECTIVE PRACTICE--ADDRESSING CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR CONFERENCE
(This is not an ODE sponsored event)
The focus is on behavior challenges in early childhood settings.
ADDRESSING CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR
National Training Institute on Effective Practice
Supporting Young Children’s Social Emotional Development
Sheraton Sand Key Resort - Clearwater Beach, Florida
March 22-25, 2009
Additional information on the conference can be found here: www.addressingchallengingbehavior.org
OAPSA OCASE WINTER WORKSHOP--FEB. 5-6, 2009
Message forwarded on behalf of OAPSA (This is not an ODE sponsored event)
Ohio Association of Pupil Services Administrators and the Ohio Council of Administrators of Special Education Winter Workshop. To view information on the February 5th & 6th Winter Workshop at the Embassy Suites in Columbus use the following link: http://www.highlandschools.org/OAPSA/Calendar.html.
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Bully
Prevention Experts 
The January issue of "...what's for lunch?"
is now available at the link below.
This Month's Headlines Include:
-NSLP and FORMS - Working together to "Feed More Kids"
-How to Improve the School Lunch Experience
-Lunchroom Best Practices: More Choices, More Sales
At FSS, we strive to make each issue of the ??????what???s for lunch????
e-newsletter as enjoyable as it is informative. We???d love to hear your
feedback/reaction to this month???s editorial content. If you have any
suggestions for articles that you???d be interesting in reading about
in future issues, we???d love to hear that as well.
Please send your suggestions and comments to: lercanbrack@foodserve.com.
Attached
you will find the Culturally
Responsive Leadership Course flyer. If this course is of interest
to you please visit STARS online to register https://safe.ode.state.oh.us/portal/
Help us spread the word about this exciting course by sharing this
flyer with your colleagues.
Thank you!
Sent for Seena Skelton
By: Terri Densford, Support Staff
Hamilton County Center for Regional Educational Services (CRES)
State Support Team Region 13 (Bonnell Location)
513-674-4278
terri.densford@hcesc.org
Hello Leonard,
A few months back I emailed you an article on The Top 12 Teen Addictions. It was written by my partner, Scott Gallagher who works with students on all kinds of addictions, health and bullying issues across Canada and the U.S.
Scott has just written another article called The Root Causes of Destructive Behaviors, Bullying and Addictions. It looks at whether addictive habits of all sorts are symptoms of a deeper problem -- and explains why he emphasizes the Power of Choice, and replacing destructive habits with healthy habits, rather than the "just say no" or "powerless" approaches to addiction.
l have attached a copy below which can also be viewed on our website by clicking http://tinyurl.com/ax7d8a
Could you help us by passing this on to your Guidance, Counseling or Phys Ed department, staff who work with at-risk students, or those responsible for booking speakers at your school?
l'd truly appreciate it.
Thank you for your time and help!
Cindy Harris
www.integritychoices.com
cindy@integritychoices.com
___________________________
The Root Causes of Destructive Habits, Bullying and Addictions
by Scott Gallagher
When we were little children, at a very early age before we perceived anything was wrong in the world, life was joyous and wonderful. And then something happened; some specific event. It could have been anything. It did not have to be tragic or dramatic.
But when that something happened, we asked a question - a destructive question. We asked, "What's wrong?" And by approaching the meaning of the event with that question, we came up with an even deadlier answer. For the first time, before we had any problems or became addicts or bullies, we told ourselves, "Something is wrong with me."
From then on, our minds worked day and night to confirm that opinion of ourselves, flooding us with ideas about our wrongness, burying us in a condemning concept of ourselves. This was all done unconsciously without any real intention; yet despite that, the more our mind probed into our wrongness, the worse we felt. The end result?
We chose not to take responsibility for the world we created, but instead tried to find some way, any way, to feel better about ourselves.
One of the first ways we did this was by flipping the blame away from ourselves onto someone or something else. We said, "Something's wrong with YOU!" or "Something's wrong with THEM!" or "IT," whatever IT was. In other words, we created a view of the world where we were victims of SOMEONE or SOMETHING outside of us.
Addiction is More Than Substances
Over the years, I have met and worked with many addicts and they all, without exception, had one thing in common. They all played the victim. Besides their core addiction, they were all addicted to blaming and complaining. My belief now is that this destructive self-victimization which led to blaming others and themselves came first. Then came their addictions.
To me, the destructive behavior or addiction that a person demonstrates is not the real problem. It is a symptom of the problem. The real problem is rooted deeper, in our hopeless view of the world. That is, in the belief that we have done something wrong and are a victim of something or someone else. This is the fundamental cause of the pain that leads someone to escape into some form of addiction. At least that's my conclusion today after recovering from my own multiple addictions, working with hundreds of other addicts of all ages, and reading or speaking with some of the top addiction authorities in the world.
If this "view of ourselves" is what actually leads us to addictions, we can then say that there are no real victims, whatever the form of addiction, aggressive behavior, or bullying. The culprit is not ultimately a person, an event, society or the drug. It is the mind of the person who has succumbed to his own wrongness, who has re-created the world in his own bad image.
This point of view sheds a whole new light into why people get addicted or how kids become bullies. Rather than tell a kid that his addiction or behavioral problems are the result of a genetic inheritance, environmental circumstances, or upbringing, we can give the power back to the mind of this young man or woman who has misinterpreted his or her value and relationship to the world. As Eleanor Roosevelt said so well, "We shape ourselves and we shape our lives. The choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility."
Yes it's true that some difficult and even tragic events happened in our past. I will never deny that; they happened to me too. But we alone are the ones who assigned meaning to those events. No one outside our own skins can truly interpret this for us. And, if we have made a mistake in creating this meaning, only we can go back and change the meaning we have of our past.
But if we revisit our past in an empowered way and reinterpret the meaning of certain events, we can find our inner strength and power again, and invent a new future for ourselves where there was only survival before. If we commit ourselves to developing healthy habits of thought, feeling and action, we can truly change our lives.
Not Everyone Agrees With This
Many people have different viewpoints on what causes addiction. Heredity, biology, disease, environment, upbringing. In my perspective, these are all valid. Programs and approaches such as Alcoholics Anonymous have helped me greatly in my own recovery. Therefore my intention is not to say that "I am the authority" or that these ideas are "the truth" but simply to offer them as my own best understanding at this time. I also offer them because I've found that they empower youth.
Henry Ford once said, "If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." In other words, the mind is very, very powerful. Here's just one example.
When I was a kid, I was raised mostly by my mother. However for about 2 years, I went and lived with my father. When I began living with him, I wanted so much to be like him and accepted by him that I would do almost anything to show I was worthy of being his son.
My dad told me that he had arthritis and he often used to complain about his pain. And in the short period of time that I lived with him, I actually got arthritis. Doctors diagnosed it and gave me pills for it. The same thing happened with ulcers. My father used to complain about his and I too ended up getting ulcers and being treated for them by my doctors. Amazingly, both the arthritis and the ulcers lasted only as long as I lived with my father.
That's how powerful the mind can be. And that's why I'm now very careful about telling kids about the "cause" of their addictions. If we tell a child that addiction is hereditary or a disease, and that's the ONLY way it is, those can actually be self-fulfilling prophecies.
Just to reiterate: I'm not saying that those who believe in the heredity, disease or other models are wrong. I'm simply saying that they might not be the best or most empowering message we can share with kids. The power of belief is huge, and way beyond what we currently understand. Noted addictions authority, Dr. Stanton Peele, writes a lot about this and it's one of the reasons he is so controversial. He says if you believe that you have this disease and you're teaching others that addiction is a disease, you're actually teaching people to become powerless.
That's why I focus on the power of choice, and replacing destructive habits with healthy habits. These have enabled me to recover more fully, by seeing beyond my own powerlessness. And daily I see these same ideas helping kids I work with.
After years of working in this field, these insights into "the real problem" have given me new hope and tools and the belief that with new, healthy habits, we can build for ourselves a better and brighter future.
_____________
In his "THE POWER OF CHOICE" school assemblies, Scott shows how he developed these views on life that led to his addictions, and how he created new ones that empowered him. When kids hear his story, many identify with it and are motivated to do the uncomfortable work that is part of his 28-Day Healthy Habits Program.
For more information: Call 905-771-5771 and speak with Scott's assistant, Cindy Harris. Visit our Web Site at: www.integritychoices.com Or email Cindy at cindy@integritychoices.com