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	Home   Knowledge Center  Professional Development  Advocacy  Middle Level Leadership  Awards  Join Now June. 22, 2010
	E.S.R.  Star School Items  Character Ed Tools  Rydin Decal  Versa Products, Inc. A Struggle to Educate the Severely Disabled The New York Times    Share    Once predominantly isolated in institutions, severely disabled students have been guaranteed a free, appropriate public education like all children since the passage of federal legislation in 1975. In the years since, school districts across the country have struggled to find a balance between instruction in functional skills and academics while providing basic custodial care. A very small percentage of these students are classified as having "multiple disabilities," a broad category under the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act that refers to children who have at least two disabilities and severe educational needs. More The Case Against Algebra 1 for Everyone The Principal Difference    Share    The quest for improving student performance in mathematics often appears to be something akin to a circular tug-of-war. If A does not work then try B. When B flames out it is on to C. And so it goes until the newest idea is something called A. There have been so many different formats for Algebra 1 over the past few decades that it is beginning to rival the Star Trek franchise for sequels. The latest batch of bad news concerning math students in the United States compared to their peers around the world has brought on another set of "new" approaches. One of the most popular and potentially counter-productive is the concept of "Algebra 1 for all eighth graders." More Workshop: Differentiated Instruction for School Leaders NASSP    Share    At its most basic, differentiated instruction is simply good teaching. When teachers say they don't have time to differentiate instruction, they may be right - yet while there never seems to be enough time or resources to do everything we need to do, effective educators somehow manage to do it anyway. Join with colleagues across the country to learn practical tips on how school administrators and teacher leaders can make differentiation not only doable, but a preferred practice in their schools. Register now for a two-day workshop with renowned educator Rick Wormeli, July 12-13, in Reston, Va. More Seeking Manuscripts for Principal Leadership NASSP    Share    The editor of PL is seeking manuscripts for Fall 2010 and Spring 2011. Check the editorial calendars and see how you can contribute to shared knowledge in the field by writing about practices in your school. Take a close look at the November and December 2010 and January 2011 topics and think about sharing your expertise in building literacy, preparing all students for postsecondary education, and succeeding at reform. More Resources for Advisory Looking for a soup-to-nuts resource for creating a middle or high school advisory program? The Advisory Guide from ESR provides strategies for designing and implementing successful advisories and dozens of hands-on activities to get you started. Click here for this and other advisory materials. Do Whiteboards Engage Students? The Principal Difference    Share    A recent article in the Washington Post questioned the wisdom of using scarce resources to purchase interactive whiteboards, which will soon be a fixture in one of every three classroom across the country. The article refers to the interactive whiteboard as nothing more than a "giant interactive computer screen that is usurping blackboards in classrooms across America" and also stated that it "locks teachers into a 19th-century lecture style of instruction counter to the more collaborative small-group models that many reformers favor." More Family, School, and Community Engagement Webinar U.S. Department of Education    Share    Research over the past 30 years has shown that engaging families in their children's education increases student achievement and decreases drop-out rates. Leaning on this research, the U.S. Department of Education and its partners will host a free webinar on increasing family engagement from 1:30 to 3 p.m. EST on June 30. The Department will share what innovative and successful family engagement programs look like on the ground, especially within Title I schools. More As low as $ .69 School logo or School name printed on Lanyards. Includes Break-away Clip for student safety. 3-Screen Character-Building Assembly Programs Seen in over 2,000 schools each year, our assembly programs are designed to grab the attention of your students and give them a powerful message on character. Each assembly is filled with music from the top of the charts and real-life student human-interest stories to get your students thinks and talking about good character. Parking Permits: Hang Tags, Window Stickers, Bumper Decals Create your Parking Permits Online.  It’s Easy, it's Fun, it's Hassle-Free. Select from a wide variety of designs, colors and logos. Use Credit Card or Purchase Order. Click here for Hang Tags Click here for Stickers & Decals 800-448-1991 Districts Embracing Online Credit-Recovery Options Education Week    Share    Interest in online credit-recovery courses continues to surge, prompting some policy experts and educators to consider whether traditional rules requiring students to spend a certain number of hours in the classroom, rather than simply demonstrate their proficiency in the subject matter, are increasingly outdated. More The Right Way to Assess Teachers' Performance The Washington Post    Share    The Obama administration's Race to the Top program demands that teachers be evaluated by student test scores. Florida's legislature passed a bill in April to end teacher tenure and base pay increases on test-score improvement; although Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed that attempt, legislatures in Colorado, New York, Oklahoma and other states have also modified regulations regarding tenure with an eye toward Race to the Top. Teachers protest, but they are dismissed as union hacks with lousy skills, intent on protecting their cushy tenured jobs because they could never cut it in the real world. More PlascoTrac Restores Peace & Quiet In Your Hallways Simple, effective software proven to reduce tardiness by 50-80%. More than tardy tracking, PlascoTrac provides relentless support, the most features, and risk-free trials. Try it at your school for FREE! Schools Struggle to Meet New Race-Labeling Rules The Associated Press via The Seattle Times    Share    Washington school districts are struggling with a new federal requirement to gather more specific information on the ethnicity of their students, a policy that encourages officials to guess when parents don't supply race information. Federal Way Superintendent Tom Murphy calls the new policy for the 2010-11 school year bizarre. For years, parents have been asked to identify the race and ethnicity of their children, but now the federal government has changed the rules, eliminating the choices of "unknown," "multiracial," or "declined to answer." More NYC Proposes to Suspend Students Who Are Caught 'Sexting' New York Daily News    Share    Public school kids soon should think twice before pulling out their cell phones: The city Education Department is set to ban "sexting" - even on students' own time. Under proposed new rules, kids face suspensions of up to 90 days for texting each other suggestive pictures or notes, even outside school hours. They also can be booted from class for "cyberbullying" - targeting a victim with nasty texts or online posts. More The Agony of a Girl Who Just Wanted to Fit In The Boston Globe    Share    Lexi would suffer in many ways during her first year at an affluent suburban Boston high school. Her grades plunged. She withdrew socially and coped with painful self-doubt. Unlike 15-year-old Phoebe Prince, the South Hadley High School student whose suicide in January triggered a criminal investigation, public soul-searching, and a new antibullying law in Massachusetts, Lexi's ordeal did not end in death or attract widespread attention. But in many ways, her case illustrates forms of bullying that are far more common, and is more instructive of the difficulties that school administrators across the state are likely to face this fall as they try to comply with Massachusetts' new antibullying law. More New Evidence of Racial Bias on SAT Inside Higher Ed    Share    A new study may revive arguments that the average test scores of black students trail those of white students not just because of economic disadvantages, but because some parts of the test result in differential scores by race for students of equal academic prowess. The finding — already being questioned by the College Board — could be extremely significant as many colleges that continue to rely on the SAT may be less comfortable doing so amid allegations that it is biased against black test-takers. More Dramatically Reduce Tardies for FREE Tardy Calculator is the innovative leader in reducing tardies & disciplinary infractions up to 80%. Let us do the same for you! -- FREE for 45 days. MORE $20 Million Gift to Fund Principal Program The Boston Globe    Share    The former manager of Fidelity Investments' Magellan Fund is giving $20 million to Boston College to establish a program to train and mentor principals in the city's schools. Starting in January, the Lynch Leadership Academy will award 25 yearly fellowships to principals or assistant principals nominated by superintendents or other educators. The fellows will be chosen from the city's 135 public schools and 16 charter schools and the 135 area Catholic schools. More School Officials May Seek Oil Spill Compensation Education Week    Share    State education officials throughout the Gulf Coast, worried about economic fallout for already-strained K-12 coffers from the massive BP oil spill, are weighing whether to seek reimbursement from BP to make up for it. Meanwhile, at least one top school official is raising the specter of health concerns for students in schools near the oil-tainted gulf—and even the prospect of relocations. More Microsoft 'School of the Future' in Philly Finally in a Groove? USA Today    Share    When the Microsoft-designed School of the Future opened, the facility was a paragon of contemporary architecture, with a green roof, light-filled corridors and the latest classroom technology, all housed in a dazzling white modern building. It might as well have been a fishbowl: Educators and media from around the world watched to see whether Microsoft could reform public education through innovation and technology. More Versa Products Inc. Specializing in American Made Computer Furniture, VersaTables.com sells a wide variety of tables, desks, carts, pedestals, and wall mount stations directly from their Los Angeles factory to your home, school, or business! They include Free Shipping anywhere in the 48 contiguous United States, and every product they sell comes with a Free Lifetime Warranty! more		Odyssey of the Mind We're blooming with creative ideas! Find a tournament near you: Click Here! Direct from the factory prices! The #1 selling two-sided markerboards in the US. DryEraseOnline.com Evans Newton Incorporated Helping educators implement sustainable best practices in school transformation and turnaround since 1973. Click here to learn more. Office of Distance Education (ODE) ODE provides interactive video distance learning classes to schools that want to expand their curriculum cost effectively. More info. Tardy Calculator 10 Years of Reducing Tardies & Other Infractions Tardy Calculator arms schools with the tools required to combat disciplinary violations. More Follow NASSP on the Social Web

NASSP Principal's Update James DeBois, Director of Advertising Sales, 469.420.2618   Download media kit Steve Brittain, Content Editor, 469.420.2625   Contribute news This edition of the NASSP Principal's Update was sent to phines@riasp.org. Did someone forward this edition to you? Subscribe here -- it's free! Recent issues June 15, 2010 June 8, 2010 June 1, 2010 May 25, 2010 7701 Las Colinas Ridge, Ste. 800, Irving, TX 75063