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Oregon tracks students with disabilities after high school
During their first year out of high school, more than one in four special education students in Oregon never held a paying job or enrolled even part time in college or job training, a new state report shows. It marks the first time that Oregon has tried to determine what happens after high school to students who received special education services. Telephone surveys of former students in every school district found that about 1,150 (27%) of the 4,200 special education students who finished their high school education in 2006-07 spent the next year without getting a job that paid minimum wage or any post-secondary education.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/oregon_tracks_special_ed_stude.html

Disabled local man making good as hospital intern
Casillas, known to his co-workers as Tommy, is one of five students in the Capistrano Unified School District's Adult Transition Program employed as interns at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo. Project Search, in its second year at Mission, assigns students with disabilities to various hospital departments to gain workplace knowledge and skills. The goal is to help the students achieve career placement and financial independence. Two graduates of the 2008 class are now employed at the hospital. Casillas works in the Sports and Wellness Center and Acute Rehabilitation Unit at the hospital. He goes to different areas each of the three days a week he works, spending some days organizing medical supplies, delivering or preparing food and interacting with patients.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hospital-students-casillas-2316484-program-mission

Students can't find Vocational Work in Bad Economy
Photos line the hallway outside the Elmbrook Work Center, showing smiling students delivering office mail, washing dishes, stuffing envelopes and shredding paper, part of contracts forged with private businesses and other entities. For the center based at the Elmbrook School District's Fairview South School, where job training is provided to students with disabilities, that kind of work has slowed to a trickle. It's a problem educators involved in all kinds of vocational education in the Milwaukee area are seeing during the economic slump. Some students have been laid off from youth apprenticeship jobs when the company they worked for downsized or, in the case of one automobile dealership, went out of business altogether. Others can't get placements or have seen their hours reduced. And the situation is only expected to get worse.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/42481122.html

Marketers Lend Voices to Show Support for People with Disabilities
Efforts in advertising to pay attention to people with disabilities are accelerating even as the business of many marketers is slowing. The seeming contradiction is not surprising because in harder times many consumers begin thinking about weightier matters than the size of their homes or the features on their phones. For instance, in a survey released last week by Hill & Knowlton. 75 percent of respondents said that companies “need to be even more charitable and responsible to their communities” during the economic downturn.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/business/media/31adco.html?_r=1

How the Recession Is Changing Students' College Plans
A recent survey found that the recession is forcing more than 70 percent of prospective college students to alter their plans for the upcoming school year, sometimes in drastic ways. When asked how their college plans might change, 53 percent of students said they are considering attending a less expensive college and 47 percent said they are planning to work as freshmen. The survey, which drew responses from 1,030 households representing a wide range of incomes in all 50 states, reveals the heightened anxiety of the 2009 freshman class. Only 28 percent of the respondents said the recession has no influence on their college enrollment plans.
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-education/2009/4/8/

Connecticut Shocked At Scores On ACT College Admission Test
Results from the 2008 ACT college admission test show that many Connecticut high school seniors are "appallingly" unprepared for college-level work, according to a state report. Of the 8,159 students who took the test, 35 percent of white seniors, 18 percent of Hispanics and 9 percent of African Americans were viewed as ready for college-level work. "It's an appalling figure to look at," said Frank W. Ridley, chairman of the Board of Governors for Higher Education. "Basically it says that, at the very best, only one-third of our students are succeeding." Ridley said he was disgusted by the low numbers, which were included in a state report about racial and ethnic diversity in higher education. He said the disparity in the scores of whites and minorities underscores the state's struggle to close the stubborn "achievement gap."
http://www.courant.com/news/education/hc-act-scores-appalling.artmar27,0,4292469.story

Plantation High students get hand pulling up their pants
Armed with 200 donated belts and an admonition from the president himself teachers and parents exhorted Plantation High students to pull up their droopy drawers. It was a new kind of crackdown in the halls of Plantation High on Thursday. The target: the droopy-drawered in need of waistband support. Jerry Mareus, 17, sporting a new black belt with his jeans and a tucked-in blue T-shirt, was one of them. ''They gave it to me,'' he said. `` 'Cause my pants were sagging.'' A group of teachers who had grown weary of seeing underpants on display organized the school's ''Pull Up Your Pants Day,'' echoing the disgust of officials in cities from Opa-locka to Flint, Michigan, where saggy-bottom pants have been banned.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/970030.html

Special Education Integration Fails Expectations
In the Montgomery County schools, phasing out of segregated classrooms for students with significant learning disabilities has been met with a district wide report raising serious questions about its success. The report showed that 100 percent of the students in transition out of the segregated classrooms scored at the lowest level on the Maryland state math exam, and 81 percent of them fared equally poorly on the reading portion. It also found that only about 25 percent of teachers used “differentiated” instruction with the special-needs students, meaning different assignments and varied presentations of the information to best reach each learner. A mandatory training for teachers receiving special-needs students into regular classrooms saw little more than 50 percent attendance.
http://www.dcexaminer.com/local/Report-Special-ed-integration-fails-expectations

You Do the Math: Explaining Basic Concepts Behind Math Problems Improves Children's Learning
New research from Vanderbilt University has found students benefit more from leaning the concepts behind math problems rather than the exact procedures to solve the problems. The findings offer teachers new insights on how best to shape math instruction to have the greatest impact on student learning. The research, by Bethany Rittle-Johnson, an assistant professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College and Percival Mathews, a Peabody doctoral candidate, is 'in press' with the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. “This adds to a growing body of research illustrating the importance of teaching children concepts as well as having them practice solving problems.”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090410143809.htm

Parents Schooled in Learning How to Help With Math
One recent morning, seven parents left their homes and jobs and drove to an administrative office to sit through a two-hour tutorial on addition and subtraction. They were not seeking a refresher on arithmetic, but rather a better understanding of the mathematics lessons their children were studying in class and bringing home with them every night. The adults from the Prince William County, VA district were taking part in a school-sponsored math workshop for parents, the sort of forum that has become a fixture in districts across the country. Schools and districts arrange the events to encourage parents to take an active role in their children’s math learning, as well as to answer questions and concerns about what students are learning.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/02/25/22parents_ep.h28.html?tmp=221656772

Some say video games teach math, other skills
The software company, which publishes "Gears of War," is studying the reactions of avid gamers to see whether video gaming can promote learning skills that carry over into the classroom. The game was created by Cary, NC-based Epic Games. "We want to figure out what's compelling about the games," said John Nordlinger, head of gaming research for Microsoft. "If we can find out how to make the games fun and not make them so violent, that would be ideal." Microsoft has put up $1.5 million to start The Games for Learning Institute, a joint venture with New York University and other colleges. The goal of the research is to see whether video games and not just software specifically designed to be educational can draw students into math, science and technology-based programs.
http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1415570.html

Teaching Autistic Teens To Make Friends Science
During the first week of class, the teens' eyes were downcast, their responses were mumbled and eye contact was almost nonexistent. By Week 12, though, these same kids were talkative, responsive and engaged. That's the result of a special class designed at UCLA to help teens with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) learn to interact appropriately with their peers. In a study appearing in the April edition of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, UCLA clinical instructor of psychiatry Elizabeth Laugeson and colleagues report that in comparison with a control group, the treatment group taking the class significantly improved their overall social skills and interactions with their peers.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090407174813.htm

New Online Software Package Aims To Help Educate Students with Autism
With a rate of a new diagnosis every 21 minutes, autism is the fast growing developmental disorder in the United States. Virtual Expert Clinics has launched AutismPro, a customizable package of tools, content, and programming to help educators and administrators improve the learning experiences for students with autism through the effective use of technology.
http://www.thejournal.com/articles/24143

Scoop Essentials: Behavior, Taming The 800-Pound Gorilla
Behavior doesn’t have to hold you hostage any longer. In this installment of Scoop Essentials, behavior specialist Deborah Lipsky shows you how to distinguish a tantrum from a meltdown and how to control and prevent both. A consultant who regularly works with schools and individuals to develop behavior plans, Lipsky also speaks from personal experience. She has autism and learned to self-regulate her own behavior.
http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2009/03/02/behavior-800-pound-gorilla/2374/

Educator Condemns Lack of Respect for Teacher Preparation
Citing American students’ relatively poor showing in math and science on international tests such as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), a nationally renowned professor of education at Stanford University is calling for strengthening rather than bypassing teacher-preparation programs to improve student achievement. Pointing out that student-achievement gains are more influenced by classroom teachers than any other factor, the focus should be on providing new teachers with enough tools to be successful. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2006/03/01/25teachnote.h25.html

Microsoft Helping Schools Attract Stimulus Funding
Microsoft has been studying the fundamental components of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) with a view toward helping schools obtain some of the approximately $91 billion in education stimulus funding included in the legislation. Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft has been training its education sales teams to help schools identify and apply for stimulus funding opportunities. Instead of pushing its products and technology, Microsoft is providing schools with processes for obtaining stimulus funding and using it in a way that will lead to broad, long-lasting changes to the education system as a whole.
http://www.crn.com/software/216403574

What Facebook Users Share: Lower Grades
According to a study by doctoral candidate Aryn Karpinski of Ohio State University and her co-author Adam Duberstein of Ohio Dominican University, college students who use the 200 million member social network have significantly lower grade-point averages (GPAs) than those who do not. The study, which was be presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association on April 16, surveyed 219 undergraduate and graduate students and found that the GPAs of Facebook users typically ranged a full grade lower than those of nonusers 3.0 to 3.5 for users versus 3.5 to 4.0 for their non-networking peers. It also found that 79% of Facebook members did not believe there was any link between their GPA and their networking habits.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1891111,00.html

Hudson alumna named ‘teacher of the year’
A Napoleon High School teacher and 1989 Hudson High School graduate has been named teacher of the year by the Michigan Council for Exceptional Children. Pamela Pence received the Dr. William Morse award at the 69th annual MCEC conference in Grand Rapids. The award is presented to teachers, administrators and college students pursuing special education careers, as well as those in education who support children with special needs. Pence, who learned math and special education at Napoleon for eight years, said she was notified in early February that she won the award.
http://www.lenconnect.com/news/x110650138/Hudson-alumna-named-teacher-of-the-year

FRONTLINE's Digital Nation invites Students and Educators to Contribute Their Stories
FRONTLINE's Digital Nation is a multiplatform project that includes an interactive Web site and a one-hour FRONTLINE documentary to air nationwide on PBS in early 2010. The project aims to capture life on the digital frontier and explore how the Web and digital media are changing the way we think, work, learn and interact. Over the course of ten months, FRONTLINE's Digital Nation Web site will feature video reports from the production team, regular blog updates from the field, live online forums and other interactive tools for users to share and connect around. Topics will rotate regularly and may focus on education and technology, online games and more. The producers will capture what they learn in the field, on the Web site and from users and present the story in the upcoming early 2010 documentary.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/us/

50 best websites 2008
Scroll through the list of Time Magazine's fifty best websites of 2008. The websites are broken down into five categories advice and facts, info and gossip, handy tools, fun and games; and hobbies and interests. For each website there is a description explaining its appeal, the use of the site, and a direct link to the website.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1809858_1809957,00.html

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