http://www.michiganedusource.org/gomasa/ldr/2005/ldr120205/ldr120205.htm
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2 December 05 Vol. 1, No. 4
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| MASA news: | ||
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| legislative update: | ||
| MAISA news: | ||
| MDE news: | ||
| AASA news: | ||
| in case you missed it: | ||
| research report: | ||
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| professional development: | ||
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| leadership resources: | ||
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| hot
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Don't forget to complete and send in your petitions! You don't have to fill the page to turn it in. Have your spouse/other close friends sign, and send it in by December 1. Every signature counts and we need each and every one of you to send at least your own. Remember to read and follow the rules/directions for collecting and submitting signatures. They are posted on the K16 Coalition Web site at www.michigank16.org. One of the most common errors is separating the petition/signature form from the explanation sheet that is attached. THIS INVALIDATES THE ENTIRE FORM, even if you staple the explanation sheet back on. Other common errors are failing to fill in the county on the form and/or failing to fill out the circulator's information. Use only the original form and keep it intact. Generous economic development plan results in college dollars for Kalamazoo Public School students Kalamazoo Public Schools Superintendent Janice M. Brown could not hide her enthusiasm before the Board of Education meeting on November 10, 2005 as she was about to introduce The Kalamazoo Promise. “How can I stay calm,” she said, “I get to walk out there and tell our KPS families that we have their students’ post-secondary education covered.” A group of citizens interested in economic strength and quality of life in the City of Kalamazoo have made a tremendous contribution on behalf of KPS students. All students who graduate from Kalamazoo Public Schools, are residing in the district, and have been students four years or more will be given funding for college tuition and mandatory fees. The amount of available dollars depends on years of residency and the number of grades attended in KPS, up to 100% of tuition and mandatory fees. The funds will be available to use at any public university or community college in the State of Michigan . “There is no doubt in my mind,” said Brown, “that this will spur housing sales, attract new business development, and add to an already solid quality of life in Kalamazoo . The success of KPS graduates around the world is well documented, and now all of our resident graduates will have the opportunity to go on to post-secondary education. I believe we are the first and only school system in the nation where all resident graduates are promised funding for college through a private donation. We can’t wait to use this fabulous incentive as our way to improve the quality of education for our students. This incentive spells ‘all’ with a capital A.” Up to date information on the Kalamazoo Promise can be obtained at www.kalamazoopublicschools.com. Coming next issue: An interview with Janice Brown Looking for a chance to serve during the holidays? The American Cancer Society is asking for community members to share their good cheer with cancer patients by volunteering for the Road to Recovery program. The program provides free transportation to and from cancer-related treatments. The Society reports that 10-20 percent of newly diagnosed cancer patients are not getting treatment simply because they do not have transportation. And there is a noticeable drop in the number of volunteers for the Road to Recovery program during the holidays. For more information, call your local American Cancer Society. In Lansing, call 517.323.3300 or call the national office at 800.ACS.2345. |
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| MASA
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| MASA
Midwinter Conference 2006 It's time to sign up for MASA's 2006 Midwinter Conference to be held this year at the Detroit Renaissance Center Marriott hotel. This year's conference promises to be a spectacular event featuring highlights such as:
Reserve your hotel room early! The Auto Show and Superbowl activities are putting additional pressure on Detroit accomodations this year. For registration, hotel reservations, and other details, visit www.michiganedusource.org/gomasa/MW06.htm. Midwinter Conference to Honor MASA Retirees MASA will honor members who retired since June, 2005, or who are planning to retire by June, 2006 at a luncheon to be held on Thursday, January 19, 2006 at the Detroit Renaissance Hotel in Detroit. The following persons will be honored: Ronald Bennett, Edmond Beverly, Graydon Blank, Bert Bleke, Daniel Boals, Lynn Bollman, Patrick Bootz, Michael Bozym, Robert Brenner, Janet Burns, Richard Cross, Clifford Crossett, John Dardzinski, Ralph Darin, Ronald Ford, Gunnard Johnson, Rick Kent, Alfred Knutson, Thomas Kowalski, William Lammi, James Liebzeit, Gary Lipe, Robert Maxfield, Kenneth Micklash, Ronald Moore, David Morehouse, Brian Motter, Patrick Murphy, Jay Newman, Michael Oakes, Cindy O’Brien, Robert O’Brien, Ron O’Brien, Patrick O’Donnell, Robert Peterson, James Pinsoneault, Rosemary Reams, Tommie Saylor, Joseph Schulze, Samuel Sinicropi, Robert Staple, Penny Swanson, John Van Nieuwenhuyzen, Michael Washburn, and David Zuhlke. Each member will receive a Distinguished Administrator plaque. If there are others who are not listed above, would you please write, call, or email Kristy Barbour at: MASA, 1001 Centennial Way, Suite 300, Lansing, MI 48917-9279, 517.327.9262, email: kbarbour@gomasa.org MASA will create directory of interim service providers Attention retirees! As a retired school leader, you have valuable knowledge that can’t be found anywhere else. The experienced you gained working for your district, with your board, and on behalf of students can now be used to offer interim services to districts that are in the process of replacing a superintendent or other central office administrator. MASA is preparing a directory of retired school leaders available to provide interim services to districts. If you are interested in being included in that list, please send a $25 application fee to the MASA office and complete the following digital form, then click "Submit Information" (this will send your responses via an email program, say Yes to any warnings). MASA will keep this information on record and will share it with districts who inquire about interim services. You must be an active (paid-up) retiree member in order to be listed on the directory. Refer any questions to Linda Wacyk at 517.327.9268 or lwacyk@gomasa.org. Have you built a “better mousetrap” when it comes to leading your district to success? Could others learn from what you’ve done and get similar results in their districts? Why not share the idea with MASA members by submitting a nomination to the Winners’ Circle? Each year the MASA Membership Services Committee presents Winners’ Circle awards to members who have initiated a unique, successful program or implemented an innovative idea that has had a significant, positive impact on their school districts that can be used by other districts across the state. Nominations are received from throughout the state and the award recipients are determined by the Membership Services Committee. Winners are then recognized during an event at MASA’s mid-winter conference. This year, MASA will accept rolling nominations throughout the year. The Membership Services Committee will feature selected programs in the MASA Leader on an ongoing basis. We will continue to honor each year’s recipients at mid-winter conference. Nominations will be accepted at any time, but in order to be recognized at the 2006 conference, the member services committee needs to hear from you by December 23. Rules and forms can be found at www.michiganedusource.org/gomasa/FormWinCirc.htm. Questions can be directed to Linda Wacyk at 517.327.9268 or lwacyk@gomasa.org. If you participated in the 2005 MASA Fall Conference Exhibitor Show, please take a few moments to complete our online survey. Your feedback will help us do a better job of meeting your needs as exhibitors next year. There are only 6 quick questions, so you should be able to complete it in just a few minutes. Click here for survey. |
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| legislative
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Health Care Reform passes in the Senate; Retirement falls in the House After
a marathon session in the legislature yesterday, the Senate passed
Health Care Reform legislation (SB
895-898) while the House failed to pass Retirement Reform (HB
4947) but is currently working towards a compromise. NOTE: House
members will try to tell you they voted for the retirement legislation:
The bill was reconsidered. They will be asked to vote again. Keep
up the pressure! The
Roll Call went as follows: This was the climax of the nine-hour saga of HB 4947, which ultimately passed 55-52 with only Republicans supporting the bill, and throughout the afternoon and early evening only 51 were up on the voting board with green "yes" votes next to their names. The GOP holdouts during this period of the day were Brandenburg, Farhat, Kahn, Law, Moore, Nofs and Stewart. Speaker DeRoche told the news media that six Democrats had "given their word" to vote for the bill. The lawmakers the Speaker claimed had reneged on their promises were Reps. Frank ACCAVITTI (D-Eastpointe), Paul CONDINO (D-Southfield), Cushingberry, LaMar LEMMONS III (D-Detroit), LaMar LEMMONS, Jr. (D-Detroit), and Steve TOBOCMAN (D-Detroit). The role call vote is as follows:
YES REPUBLICAN (55): (Acciavatti, Amos, Ball, Baxter,
Booher, Casperson, Caswell, Caul, DeRoche, Drolet, Elsenheimer,
Emmons, Farhat, Gaffney, Garfield, Gosselin, Green, Hansen, Hildenbrand,
Hoogendyk, Huizenga, Hummel, Hune, Jones, Kahn, Kooiman, LaJoy,
D. Law, Marleau, Meyer, Moolenaar, Moore, Mortimer, Newell, Nitz,
Palmer, Palsrok, Pastor, Pavlov, Pearce, Proos, Robertson, Rocca,
Schuitmaker, Shaffer, Sheen, Stahl, Stakoe, Steil, Stewart, Taub,
Vander Veen, Van Regenmorter, Walker, Ward, Wenke) This bill is still on the House Floor and will be voted on again next week. Continue to put pressure on your Representatives. Did school administrators contact their legislators? You may be aware from the emails this week that MASA is providing you with a NEW GRASSROOTS SERVICE. This service directs you to a prewritten email that you may edit and send on to your elected officials (and also forward to your grassroots network). This eliminates the time you spend drafting a letter to your lawmakers while providing you with key points, accurate information, and ready-to-send language, thus maximizing your impact in Lansing. This service allows MASA to monitor our success rate and direct resources to areas most critical for successful legislative efforts. So, have school administrators been contacting their lawmakers? Of the current School Administrators in the State, we only have a registered rate of 11 percent through emails and 8 percent through phone calls. If HEALTH CARE REFORM is really a “priority,” we need to ramp up our grassroots efforts. Keep
in mind that this is the same service that the MEA uses! In conversations
with lawmakers yesterday, the MEA has been very effective with their
email pressure. This is an easy and effective tool that must be
taken advantage of if we are to be successful in influencing legislators
to make sound, informed decisions for the education of Michigan's
children and schools. If you have not taken advantage of it yet
please click the following link. |
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| MAISA news: | ||
MASA, MAISA and MSPRA team up to create Michigan EduSource The Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators (MAISA) Public Relations Committee, in cooperation with MASA, MAISA, and the Michigan School Public Relations Association (MSPRA), has been working on the development of a “one-stop” online information resource for educators throughout the state. The website, www.michiganedusource.org will be used by all three associations as a repository for reports, conference notes, templates, examples, etc. of education-related material in a variety of topic areas. EduSource will also be a great place for you to share materials that you think your colleagues across the state could use, including articles, model documents or language, templates, research reports and more. Current categories include: -
Awards, Scholarships, and Recognition If you have resources to share that other educators could find helpful and that fit one or more of these categories, please consider submitting them to the EduSource site. To submit items, go to www.michiganedusource.org and download a submission form and guidelines. You will need to provide your name, contact information, and topic category from the above list along with the material. We have three simple criteria for all items. Submissions must:
We hope you’ll consider sharing your work on EduSource. By collecting our best efforts in one place, we are confident we can all be more effective and efficient in our common mission to serve students. Questions? Contact jscofield@gomasa.org. |
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| MDE news: | ||
High School graduation requirements proposed at November Board meeting State Superintendent Mike Flanagan rolled out his recommendations for the State Board of Education on high school graduation requirements for Michigan students. You can access this recommendation, along with other materials from the meeting at www.michigan.gov/mde; then click “Improving Outcomes for High School Students.” The MDE encourages school leaders to review these materials and provide feedback to MDE related to your thoughts, support and concerns. MDE promises pupil protection act resources The Michigan Department of Education has promised to send all Superintendents a sample letter to share with all school employees regarding new laws requiring background checks and fingerprinting of all employees, new and existing (PA 121-131). The MDE has also promised a question and answer sheet for every district to use as they see fit. We were told that this information would be sent out in late November or early December. Meanwhile, the Michigan Education Association has published information about the acts at www.mea.org/clients/pdf/ppl_102605_overview.pdf. |
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| AASA
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Michigan reception to be held during AASA in San Diego MASA will host the Michigan Reception during the AASA Annual Conference and Exposition on Saturday, February 25th from 5:30-7:00pm at the Marriott Hotel in the Columbia II Room. The Michigan Reception is open to MASA members and their guests. |
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| in
case you missed it: |
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Report finds schools can save money by sharing services Shifting just a quarter of non-instructional costs to shared services could save public schools $9 billion a year, according to a new report from Deloitte Research and the Reason Foundation. The report, titled “Driving More Money into the Classroom: The Promise of Shared Services,” concluded that sharing services is a better money-saving alternative than school district consolidation because it combines the educational advantages of a small district with the buying power of a larger one, according to a press release issued by the report's authors. While the private sector has practiced cost sharing for years, and the trend has become more common in the public sector, it is rarely used in public schools, the report said. About 40 percent of education dollars in most states are not spent in the classroom, the report said, but rather on business operations such as food service, janitorial, maintenance and transportation. Sharing those services among school districts would not only save money, but also attract more qualified staff, allow for mandatory minimums and provide greater transparency by dividing budgets into instructional and non-instructional categories. The report cites a 2002 Michigan State University survey that found 43 percent of Michigan residents favor sharing resources as a way to cut costs, while only half as many people favored consolidation. Source:
Reason Foundation, "Driving More Money into the Classroom:
The Community Partners team up to promote high-achieving Detroit schools The Detroit Regional Chamber, Skillman Foundation and Detroit News recently released copies of a Good Schools Guide, which highlights high-performing, improving, and aspiring schools in the city of Detroit. This first edition, which is part of the Skillman Foundation’s “Good Schools Making the Grade Initiative,” was published by the Detroit News and features 76 elementary schools that applied to the program for ranking. The goal of the project is two-fold, according to the sponsors. First, they want to help Detroit area parents make good choices when looking for schools for their children. Second, they want others to study the principles these schools use to boost achievement. “The global economy requires that employers have aces to an increasingly educated and skilled workforce in order to compete,” wrote Detroit Regional Chamber president Richard E. Blouse Jr. in the report’s introduction. “We encourage our members to play a role in building that workforce by becoming more involved in the education system that will produce that workforce. You can start by arranging to visit one of the… “Good Schools Making the Grade.” Source: Good Schools Making the Grade, Detroit News. For more information contact Greg Handel at 313.596.0331 or ghandel@detroitchamber.com. Researchers tally costs of education failings The United States could recoup nearly $200 billion a year in economic losses and secure its place as the world's future economic and educational leader by raising the quality of schooling, investing more money and other resources in education, and lowering dropout rates, scholars argued last week. Researchers presented evidence at a symposium held at Columbia University that the nation’s health-care, crime, and welfare costs could be devastating in the decades to come if the inadequate schooling received by too many American students isn’t vastly improved. Source:
Education Week, 11/2/05 www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2005/11/02/10adequacy.h25.html |
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| research
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| Preparing
All High School Students for College and Work: High schools that provide all students with high-level courses, qualified teachers, flexible teaching styles, and extra tutorial support are more successful in preparing their students for college and work, according to a new study by ACT and The Education Trust. The study defines, for the first time, the specific rigorous academic skills that need to be taught in English, math, and science courses for high school graduates to be ready for college and work. “Our previous research has shown how important it is for students to take not only the right number but also the right kind of courses in high school,” said Cynthia B. Schmeiser, ACT’s senior vice president for research and development. “With this study, we take the next step forward by specifying what these courses need to look like to successfully prepare students for college-level work.” The new study, titled On Course for Success, looked at 9 high schools across the U.S. that are already meeting high standards and overcoming the odds—schools that have a diverse student population (40 percent or more minority and/or 50 percent or more low-income) and are producing a higher than average proportion of graduates who are ready for college based on ACT’s College Readiness Benchmarks. The findings point to four major characteristics shared by these high performing high schools:
Source: On Course for Success, ACT/Education Trust, available at www.act.org/path/policy/pdf/success_report.pdf. The Classroom of Popular Culture Young people today are often exposed to more creative and challenging learning experiences in popular culture than they are in school. The principles on which video-game design is based are foundational to the kind of learning that enables children to become innovators and lifelong learners. Yet how many of today’s classrooms actually incorporate these principles as thoroughly and deeply as these games do? In the November/December 2005 issue of the Harvard Education Letter, James Paul Gee challenges readers to examine how educators can make learning in or out of school more “game-like”—not in the sense of playing games in class, but by making the experience of learning as motivating, stimulating, collaborative, and rewarding as the experience of playing a well-designed video game. Engagement & achievement rise when students are given a voice In many schools, keeping kids silent is a thing of the past, and from what studies show, the change is happening none too soon. Giving students a voice in classroom decisions —such as suggesting themes and topics to study— and in school policies—such as homework regulations -- makes schools less autocratic and more democratic. And democratic schools, reports Susan Black, tend to have fewer discipline problems, more civic involvement, higher student engagement, and higher achievement. Plus, schools that genuinely seek and appreciate students’ ideas are more likely to see their school improvement plans succeed. Even so, the idea of giving students a voice in school matters sometimes meets with skepticism and open resistance. www.asbj.com/current/research.html Advancing High School Reform in the States: Programs and Policies A new report produced by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and KnowledgeWorks Foundation identifies the policies states have enacted that align with and support NASSP’s federal legislative recommendations for reforming the nation’s high schools. Of special interest is the section on Promising State Policies and Programs, which highlights strategies such as Increased academic rigor, personalized instruction, targeted strategies to support low-performing students, improving reading and writing literacy skills, assessments, high-quality school leaders, and highly qualified teachers. Read the report online. Department of Education releases graduation rates The U.S. Department of Education reports slight improvements on high school graduation rates for public high schools in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, five territories, and Department of Defense bases overseas. The percentage of high school students who graduate on time, four years after they enter, increased nationwide from 72.6 for the class of 2001-02 to 73.9 percent for the class of 2002-03. Thirty-nine states saw their rates rise, one experienced no change, and 11 saw declines over this two-year period. For the class of 2002-03, the rate ranged from a high of 87.0 percent (New Jersey) to a low of 59.6 percent (District of Columbia). Fourteen states had rates of 80.0 percent or higher, while 10 states and the District of Columbia had rates below 70.0 percent. Michigan’s averaged freshman graduation rates increased from 72.9 percent in 2001-02 to 74 percent in 2002-03. Read the full report at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006601. |
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| professional development: | ||
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January
26, 2006 This second part of a two-part session will provide the most recent information, professional advice, and proven strategies for those aspiring to the Superintendency. Part 1 took place on November 17, 2005. You can attend the second session without having attended the first. Speakers include: Mike Flanagan, Superintendent of Public Instruction; Nancy Colflesh, Educational Consultant; Joanne Weilhan, Executive Director of MEMSPA; Kathy Hayes, Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB); Carl Hartman, MASB; and Doug McCall, Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals (MASSP). Cost of this session is $100 for members/$125 for non-members. Visit www.gomiem.org to register. Safety Legislation Video Conference January
26, 2006 Video sites include: AMA ESD; Bay-Arenac ISD; Berrien ISD; Calhoun ISD; Coor ISD; Copper Country ISD; Gogebic-Ontonagon ISD; Ingham ISD; Livingston ESA; Macomb ISD; Marquette-Alger RESA; Monroe ISD; Oakland Schools; West Bloomfield Hills School District; Ottawa Area ISD; St. Clair ISD; Traverse Bay Area ISD; and Van Buren ISD. On January 1, 2006, Michigan School Districts must comply with a series of 18 Public Acts (PA 121-139 of 2005) which amend the Revised School Code, Teachers’ Tenure Act, Criminal Code, and Sex Offender Registration Act. Thrun Law Firm, P.C., in conjunction with MIEM, is offering a half-day seminar which will address both the legal and practical implications of these new laws. This program is designed for superintendents, board members, human resource officers, central office administrators, and principals. This seminar will address the following topics: Criminal
Conviction/Record Checks Cost of this video conference is $75 member/$90 non-member. Register now at www.gomiem.org. Highly Qualified Teacher Compliance January
31, 2006 Come get the latest federal and state information related to teacher quality. The Panel will be made up of representatives from the Department of Education, local education agencies and organizations. Cost of this half-day session is $60 members/$75 non-members. Visit www.gomiem.org to register. What’s
Happening in Michigan: January
31, 2006 This session will provide an update on where we are from the state perspective in relation to complying with NCLB, High School Reform, the Michigan Merit Exam and 3-8 Testing Updates. Presenters include: Tamara Bashore-Berg, School Improvement Consultant; Yvonne Caamal Canul, Michigan Department of Education; and Dr. Jeremy Hughes, Michigan Department of Education. Cost of this half-day session is $60 members/$75 non-members. Visit www.gomiem.org to register. Online learning available to all Michigan educators Taking an online course has become easier for Michigan educators now that Michigan LearnPort, www.learnport.org, has over 40 courses available at no cost. Through federal professional development funds, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) and Michigan Virtual University (MVU) have created an online professional development portal to assist in taking courses, tracking professional development and providing helpful communication tools and resources. This initiative can also help Michigan teachers become highly qualified and enable school districts to meet the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation. Michigan LearnPort can be used to satisfy many requirements for professional development to maintain teacher or administrator certification. Online professional development can assist new teachers to fulfill some portion of the requirement of fifty-one (51) hours of professional development within the first three years of employment. Or help administrators accumulate eighteen hours of continuing education credits (State Board-CEUs). Michigan LearnPort also has no-cost courses required of all school employees to fulfill annual mandatory compliance training in the area of blood borne pathogens and Right to Know. Other no-cost courses available through Michigan LearnPort include Family Education and Right to Privacy (FERPA), CPR, Playground Safety, and 25 separate U.S. Department of Education Teacher to Teacher courses covering a variety of content areas. Just coming online this fall are no-cost courses developed by Michigan ISDs and professional associations as a result of eight Michigan LearnPort grants. A few of the grant-funded courses include Inquiry Based Science for Elementary Teachers and Integrating Core Democratic Values in Social Studies through Technology. One unique consortium that created five online courses is COPE (Coalition for Online Professional development in Education). This effort was coordinated by MACUL, with the active participation of the REMC Association and a few ISDs. Michigan LearnPort is currently looking to identify ISDs or local districts that are interested in using Michigan LearnPort as their professional development management portal. For more information contact Michigan LearnPort Director, David Myers, dmyers@mivu.org or 517.664.5468. MELG organizations to host program on health insurance alternatives Sign up now for the Helping with Health Insurance Web cast to be offered December 8, 2005 from 3:00-6:15 p.m. at the Lansing Community College-West Campus. Co-sponsored by MASA, MASB, and MSBO, the program is designed to help districts understand the alternatives for reducing their health costs. It will be presented in two parts. The first deals with benefit design and funding options. The second is devoted to alternate methods and strategies for negotiating health insurance with unionized groups. If you are unable to attend in person, the session is also available via Web cast and group rates are available. For more information go to www.msbo.org, “Upcoming Events.” Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program Applications Available The Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund (JFMF) Teacher Program allows distinguished primary and secondary school educators in the U.S. to travel to Japan for three weeks in an effort to promote greater intercultural understanding between the two nations. This year, up to 600 educators will be selected to participate in the 2006 Program. Participating educators will begin their visit in Tokyo with a practical orientation on Japanese life and culture and meetings with Japanese government officials and educators. They then will travel in groups of 20 to selected host cities outside of Tokyo where they will have direct contact with Japanese teachers and students during visits to primary and secondary schools as well as a teachers college. They also will visit cultural sites and local industries in addition to a brief homestay with a Japanese family. Primary and secondary school educators throughout the United States can apply to take part in one of the three trips to Japan scheduled for 2006, as guests of the Japanese Government. Teachers of all disciplines, including art, physical education, English, ESL, history, geography, math, science, and special education, from every region of the United States, are encouraged to apply. Applicants are not required or expected to have previous knowledge of Japanese or Japan. The application deadline for all 2006 trips is December 10, 2005. For more information about the 2006 competition, please refer to www.fulbrightmemorialfund.jp or contact 888.527.2636 (888.Japan.FMF) or jfmf@iie.org. All applications must be completed online. Toyota International Teacher Program The Toyota International Teacher Program also offers a unique study abroad opportunity for US educators. It provides a first-hand professional development experience in an international setting. Up to 20 participants will be selected for a fully funded 10-day study tour of Japan. Full-time secondary teachers in grades 9-12 are encouraged to apply by January 9, 2006. Apply online at www.iie.org/programs/toyota or by calling 877.TEACH-JP. |
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| leadership
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“Making
time to quiet myself and travel inward is difficult at times. I
find I have to schedule those moments of reflection.” "School
improvement is child improvement. The whole key to me is to find
that individual child's success." “We
bused students and lined the route when they left. I anticipate
we will do the same again. We just have some logistics to work out.
I’ve got the flag I waved when they left. I plan to wave it
again when they return.” Project PERFORM offers resources for families of children with special needs Looking for free resources for your students with special needs and their families? Project PERFORM provides information, referrals, support, and resources through its toll-free line at 800.552.4821, its Web site www.wash.k12.mi.us/perform, 21 free information folders on disabilities and educational topics, and its lending library. Their Web site has over 1,700 documents, links to other Web sites, and resources. Housed at Washtenaw Intermediate School District, Project PERFORM staff members are parents of children with special needs who have been trained in listening, problem-solving, and communication skills. A free Project PERFORM brochure can be downloaded and distributed to parents and professionals in your district. Additional resources can be obtained through Project PERFORM’s partners including, the Arc Michigan Family Information Exchange (FIE) and Parent Coalition, 800.292.7851, www.arcmi.org/ and Citizens Alliance to Uphold Special Education (CAUSE), 800.221.9105, www.causeonline.org/. Project PERFORM is an Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Mandated Activities Project (MAP) parent support and education grant awarded by the Michigan Department of Education and Early Intervention Services. MACUL members benefit from new TECH4LEARNING Partnership Tech4Learning and MACUL (Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning) announced an agreement which will provide classroom subscriptions to Recipes4Success for every active MACUL member. MACUL members will be able to take advantage of tutorials and references guides for common software tools, as well as online tools for creating customized training materials, rubrics, graphic organizers, and citation lists for classroom projects. A
Classroom Recipes4Success Subscriptions includes: For more information on Recipes4Success, or any of Tech4Learning’s products, visit their Web site at www.tech4learning.com. Tech4Learning, Inc. is a provider of products, information, and services that enhance student learning, supporting K-12 educators with tools to apply and integrate effective educational technology. Michigan Social Studies Olympiad Mark your calendar for the Michigan Social Studies Olympiad to be held on April 29, 2006 at the Malow Junior High in Shelby Township. This will mark the event’s 20th year. Early registration ends January 13, 2006; Late registration ends February 10, 2006. For more information and to register online, visit www.michcouncilss.org. Innovate
Technology Consulting Group Integrated
Design Solutions Job
Skill Technology, Inc. |
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Michigan
Association of School Administrators 1001 Centennial Way, Suite 300 Lansing, MI 48917-9279 517-327-5910 |
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