Interventions to Reduce Stereotype Threat in the Classroom

Stereotype threat arises from a fear among members of a group of reinforcing negative stereotypes about the intellectual ability of the group. The report identifies three randomized controlled trial studies that use classroom-based strategies to reduce stereotype threat and improve the academic performance of Black students, narrowing their achievement gap with White students.

NCSER Report on HS Exprience of Students with Mental Retardation

The National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) within the Institute of Education Sciences has released "Facts from NLTS-2: Secondary School Experiences and Academic Performance of Students with Mental Retardation." The report uses data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2) to provide a national picture of the secondary school experiences and academic achievements of students with mental retardation who received special education services. The NLTS2, initiated in 2001 and funded by NCSER, has a nationally representative sample of more than 11,000 students with disabilities.

REL West has new report on state implementation of RTI

The report provides descriptive information on state-level RTI policies and procedures in 9 states (including Nevada).

Great new K-12 teaching resources!

A grant funded project led by UNLV Libraries has created a new digital collection focused on Nevada history. They also brought in a consultant to create standards-based teaching activities which use these resources. Here is their announcement:

The UNLV University Libraries are pleased to announce the launch of a new digital collection with features designed for K-12 educators:

Southern Nevada: The Boomtown Years, 1900-1925
http://digital.library.unlv.edu/boomtown/

Southern Nevada: the Boomtown Years 1900-1925 is an online collection of over 1,600 primary source documents and over 30 standards-based activities that can be used in K-12 classrooms. The collection brings together digitized materials from the UNLV Libraries Special Collections, the Nevada State Museum and Historical Society in Las Vegas, and the Clark County Museum to document the history and development of Southern Nevada from 1900 to 1925. Photographs, selected newspapers, maps, mining reports and surveys, stock certificates, correspondence, and more give a detailed account of life in the Boomtown years of Southern Nevada and provide a unique opportunity to show students what life was like through the eyes of those who lived it. Teaching activities are available for all grade levels and eleven subject areas and are meant to engage students in higher-level thinking while directly interacting with the primary sources housed in this collection.

The Libraries welcome your feedback on this collection! You are invited to view the collection and respond to a quick survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Y5rxIAt9_2fMhIGT_2fipw9GvQ_3d_3d. Comments, questions, and feedback are always welcome. Bookmarks, flyers, and in-class demonstrations are available by contacting the Libraries. Please forward to other interested parties.

Stories for Change

I'm intrigued by this website I ran across that offers a forum for posting and hearing/watching digital stories about fostering change. The website is: http://storiesforchange.net/
and the home page describes their mission as an "online meeting place for community digital storytelling facilitators and advocates. Learn more about how we're using this unique medium for social change..." Some of the categories for their stories include Education, Family, Identity, Youth, and Immigration.

A Wealth of Data: The new Higher Ed Almanac is out

Even though prices are posted for print and online purchase, lots of data at the state and national level is available from the Chronicle's new edition of The Almanac of Higher Education. Basic demographics, students enrollments, faculty salaries and more.

U.S. Performance Across International Assessments of Student Achievement

This Special Supplement to The Condition of Education 2009, for the first time, pulls together the evidence from the most recent international assessments taken by nearly a million students from 85 countries worldwide. This includes three internationally benchmarked exams -- the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)--to reveal how the United States compares with other countries across all three core subjects (math, science, reading) at the elementary, middle and high school level in terms of students' average scores and the percentage of students reaching internationally benchmarked performance levels. It also examines trends in U.S. student performance and the range of performance for the highest- and lowest-scoring students in each country.
The executive summary with major findings as well as links to the full text of the report is available here: http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2009/analysis/

Writing assignments can improve minority school achievement

A recently published study finds that personal writing assignments can improve both improve GPA and reduce the level of grade remediation. This is particularly effective for low achieving African American students. You can see the full article here.
Geoffrey L. Cohen,^1* Julio Garcia,¹ Valerie Purdie-Vaughns,² Nancy Apfel,³ Patricia Brzustoski³ (2009). Recursive processes in self-affirmation: Intervening to close the minority achievement gap. Science, Vol. 324. no. 5925, pp. 400 - 403

Web resources on Response to Intervention

EDWeek has put together a page of resources called "Spotlight on Response to Intervention."
One of the articles led me to these two additional sites described briefly by Douglas Fuchs, professor and Nicholas Hobbs Chair in Special Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University:
"First, there is a newly established National Center on RTI funded by the U.S. Dept. of Education's Office of Special Education Programs. Its email is: rticenter@air.org. The Web site has important pages and links that will lead you to what you're looking for. Second, there is the RTI Action Network. I highly recommend these sites."
The National Association of State Directors of Special Education also have information on RTI here.

Webinar on 2nd wave of education stimulus funding

Stimulus: The Second Wave

This event is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 20, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern time. The U.S. Department of Education is gearing up to award $5 billion from the federal economic-stimulus package to school districts, states, and education nonprofit organizations through several competitive grant programs. What are the requirements for Race to the Top, innovation, and other grant programs? How can leaders best compete for those awards? And how can the money be used to drive education reform? Join our guests, two high-level officials from the education department and a state education commissioner, as they discuss the details of the grant competitions and the education reform challenges ahead for K-12 leaders. Presenters: Joanne Weiss, Race to the Top director at the U.S. Department of Education James H. Shelton, assistant deputy secretary for innovation and improvement at the U.S. Department of Education Susan A. Gendron, Maine’s commissioner of education and board president of the Council of Chief State School Officers See registration info here

NCSER issues new reports on alternate assessments

Two new reports are out from the National Center for Special Education Research. The national report is available here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/pubs/20093014.asp
The state level reports are available here:
http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/pubs/20093013.asp
The National Study on Alternate Assessments (NSAA)was mandated by Section 664(c) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) to examine alternate assessment systems in 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Black-White achievement gaps persist

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute of Education Sciences has released a new report analyzing Black-White achievement gaps at both the national and state levels, using NAEP scores as a common yardstick. The study examines data from all main NAEP mathematics and reading assessments through 2007, supplemented by data from long-term trend NAEP results through 2004. Readers will find context for understanding these gaps, as the report examines both the changes in the performance of Black and White students and the changes in the Black-White achievement gap over time.

Research Funding Webinars from IES

The Institute of Education Sciences conducts online seminars on various aspects of their funding process. The schedule includes some grant writing and application sessions. Transcripts and powerpoint slides from previous sessions are available here.

Follow the money

This map shows "national and state-by-state breakdowns of funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that has been budgeted for distribution by the U.S. Department of Education, based on estimates by the department. These amounts...do not include funds that are to be awarded through competitive grants...

For current news as well as a collection of articles and opinions (blog posts), see EdWeek's "Schools and the Stimulus" page:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/schools-stimulus/index.html