In this Issue:

·        How to Arrange a Leadership Development Conference in Your Area (p.1)

·        Register Now for September Parent Liaison Certification Course (p.1)

·        Upcoming Conference Dates and Information (p.2)

·        Resources for Parents and Others (p.3)

·        Preparing for Back-To-School (p.3)

·        National Coalition of ESEA Title I Parents 33^rd Annual Conference, Nov. 1-4. (p3)

·        U.S. Department of Education Study Shows Progress in Reading First  (p.4)

·        U.S. Department of Education Raps States on Testing (p.4-5)

·        NEA Foundation Student Achievement Grants (p.5)

·        Technology - ‘Digital Dave’s Tip from ComputorEdge (p.6)

 
How to Arrange a Leadership Training Conference for Your Area

The California PARENT Center staff is now planning and scheduling conferences for the period of July 2006 through October 2006. One of these conferences could be in your area. If you would like to partner with the California PARENT Center to bring a conference to your area, let us know of your interest. Call Jeana Preston or Beth Sondak to discuss possibilities. Phone: 619-594-4756 or 877-972-7368 (877-9-PARENT).

Register Now for PARENT Center Conferences in September and October

Remember, research confirms that when parents are engaged and involved, students’ academic performance increases. In collaboration with the California Department of Education, the California PARENT Center has developed a two-day Leadership Development Conference that addresses how to build and strengthen School, Family and Community Partnerships. The conferences are based on Dr. Joyce Epstein’s framework for family-school partnerships.  We always urge those interested in attending to register well before the posted deadlines. See below.
 

UPCOMING CONFERENCE DATES

September 28-29, 2006 –OPEN– Los Angeles County area.  

Parent involvement Liaison Certificate Course – Level II.  – This course is open only to those who have previously attended a California PARENT Center training conference (like the ones listed below), and who want to earn a Parent Involvement Liaison Certificate, issued jointly by the California Parent Center and the SDSU College of Extended Studies.

Location:   Norwalk Marriott

                 13111 Sycamore Drive   Norwalk,  CA 90650.  
   

 October 5-6, 2006 –OPEN– Stanislaus/San Joaquin, CA area.  

Using Parent Involvement to Increase Student Success and Academic Achievement - A Leadership Development Conference for School, Family and Community Partnerships.

Location:  San Joaquin County Office of Education, Chartville Rm.

                 2707 Transworld Dr., Stockton, CA.  

October 19-20, 2006 –OPEN– Riverside County, CA area.  

Using Parent Involvement to Increase Student Success and Academic Achievement - A Leadership Development Conference for School, Family and Community Partnerships. 

Location:  Riverside Convention Center, 3443 Orange Street, Riverside, CA. 

To ensure your reservation, please immediately, fax your registration materials to the Center (including your Purchase Order # or your credit card number). This will allow us to reserve a space for you while the payment details are being handled.

For more information on any of our upcoming conferences, please call Beth, Yee.  or Barbara at 619-594-4756, or 877-972-7368 (877-9-PARENT) Fax: 619-287-6756 

California PARENT Center web site: http:/parent.sdsu.edu  

View Conferences and Training Opportunities page: http://parent.sdsu.edu/services/conferences/default.htm

CONFERENCE TOPICS

Conference Topics Include:  (1) Reaching out to under involved parents; (2) Setting up an effective action team to plan partnership activities that meet the NCLB Act parent involvement requirements; (3) Identifying strengths of culturally diverse school communities to build parent leadership; (4) Creating a welcoming school environment; (5) Building successful partnership strategies at elementary, middle and high school levels to increase student achievement; and (6) Finding funds to support partnership and literacy activities. Visit the Center’s web site Conferences and Training Opportunities page for program description, workshop content, and registration form.

Resources for Parents and Others

PREPARING FOR BACK-TO-SCHOOL 

The weeks leading up to school can be challenging, particularly for busy parents. Joe Bruzzese and Jason Womack believe it is possible to guide your children in the creation of strategies and systems that can sustain academic success and result in a more enjoyable start to the school year. Great parents, like inspirational leaders, create the environment and systems that provide the necessary infrastructure to transform their child’s learning experience. In a world where students are struggling with academic overload and growing demands on their time, parents need to provide their "knowledge workers" with the information, tools and systems they will need to successfully manage their academic responsibilities. How can parents maximize their end-of-summer preparation while minimizing anxiety and frustration? Three ideas will help pave the way towards a more successful and enjoyable school year for both students and parents: (1) Create an academic biography that outlines educational weaknesses, challenges, interests, and dreams: (2) Define year-long goals at your family meeting; and (3) Set up and maintain a dedicated academic work station. Source: PENN Weekly NewsBlast, 8-10-06. For more:  http://www.sbfamilylife.com/f06aug3p.htm

NATIONAL COALITION OF ESEA TITLE I PARENTS 33^RD ANNUAL CONFERENCE NOV 1-4, 2006 IN LOS ANGELES, CA.  

The National Coalition of ESEA Title I Parents will convene its 33^rd annual conference November 1-5, 2006 at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel.  More than 1000 parents, Title I parent leaders and educators from around the country will attend.  The conference theme is “Renewing Partnerships for the Success of Our Children.”  The conference will assist in preparing parents for a strong voice in the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).  NCLB is an extension of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Title I of the Act is the largest federal assistance to state and local school districts.  The purpose of Title I is to provide financial assistance to help level the education playing field for students in low income schools. The role of parents is an integral requirement in the law.  The conference highlights include: No Child Left Behind reauthorization discussions, partnerships to support our children, family involvement research.  Featured speakers include: Anna Weselak, National PTA; Dr. Jackie Jackson, U.S., Department of Education; Dr. George McKenna, Pasadena USD, Warlene Gary, National PTA, Dr. Joseph Johnson, San Diego State University, David Valladolid, Parent Institute for Quality Education, and Dr. Reginald Clark, parent involvement researcher.  

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION REPORT SHOWS PROGRESS IN READING FIRST IMPLEMENTATION AND INSTRUCTION.  

Children in Reading First classrooms receive significantly more reading instruction and schools participating in the program are much more likely to have a reading coach, according to the Reading First Implementation Evaluation: Interim Report, released July 24, 2006 by the U.S. Department of Education. The report shows significant differences between what Reading First teachers report about their instructional practices and the responses of teachers in non-Reading First Title I schools, which are demographically similar to the Reading First schools. "The goal of Reading First is to help teachers translate scientific insights into practical tools they can use in their classrooms," Secretary Spellings said.

Reading First respondents reported that they made substantial changes to their reading materials and that the instruction is more likely to be aligned with scientifically based reading research; they are more likely to have scheduled reading blocks and spend more time teaching reading; they are more likely to apply assessment results for instructional purposes, and they receive professional development focused on helping struggling readers more often than non-Reading First Title I schools in the evaluation.  Highlights of the report include:
·         Teachers in Reading First schools reported, on average, they spent significantly more time on reading than did teachers in non-Reading First Title I schools—a difference of about 19 minutes per day, or about 100 minutes per week.

·         Reading First teachers were significantly more likely than their counterparts in non-Reading First Title I schools to place their struggling students in intervention programs.

·         Reading First schools were significantly more likely to have a reading coach to support teachers in the implementation of their reading programs than were non-Reading First Title I schools.

·         Teachers in Reading First schools were more likely to report applying assessment results for varied instructional purposes (e.g., for planning, grouping, progress monitoring and identifying struggling readers) than their non-Reading First Title I counterparts.

Source:  The Reading First Implementation Evaluation is available online at http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/opepd/ppss/reports.html#reading

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION RAPS STATES ON TESTING

Lynn Olson, EdWeek staff writer.

The U.S. Department of Education has notified 10 states that it intends to withhold a portion of their state administrative funds under the Title I program for failing to comply fully with the testing provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act by the end of the 2005-06 school year. Those funds would instead be diverted directly to school districts.  Twenty-five additional states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico also could have a portion of their aid withheld if they fail to meet timelines for having their testing systems fully in compliance

with the federal law by the end of the coming school year.

Coupled with a recent threat to withhold money from states that fail to meet the law’s requirements for “highly qualified” teachers, the move signals a significant toughening in the enforcement of the federal law, a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.  Nebraska and Maine are the only two states that received an initial designation of “nonapproved,” the lowest possible category, and must enter into a compliance agreement with the federal government. Mr. Christensen (Nebraska Commissioner of Education) said he felt “blindsided” by the decision and disappointed in his interactions with federal officials, who refused a face-to-face meeting before a decision was made.

Full Approval - Maryland, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia

Full Approval with Recommendations - Arizona, Delaware, Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah

Approval Expected - Alaska, Connecticut, Louisiana, Massachusetts

Approval Pending, No Withholding, Level 1 - Alabama, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia

Approval Pending, No Withholding, Level 2 - Arkansas, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming

Approval Pending, Withholding Funds - Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, South Dakota, Texas

Not Approved - Maine, Nebraska

Note - Because of Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi received a one-year extension, until 2006-07, to meet testing requirements.

Source:  EDWEEK 7-13-06.  For More, go to: 
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2006/07/12/42peer.h25.html

NEA FOUNDATION STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT GRANTS

The NEA Foundation Student Achievement Grants provide funds to improve the academic achievement of students by engaging in critical thinking and problem solving that deepen knowledge of standards-based subject matter. The work should also improve students’ habits of inquiry, self-directed learning, and critical reflection. Maximum Award: $5,000. Eligibility: practicing U.S. public school teachers, public school education support professionals, or faculty or staff at public higher education institutions. Deadline: October 15, 2006. For more, go to:

http://news.publiceducation.org/t/5468/222727/163/0/   Source: PENN Weekly NewsBlast 7-14-06

TECHNOLOGY – DIGITAL DAVE’S TIP FROM COMPUTOREDGE

As we have noted in prior issues of the E-News, one of our favorite staff resources for computer information is ComputorEdge.  In California there are both hard copy and web-based versions of this plain talking computer magazine. Digital Dave’s tip from this week follows:  “I get a lot of e-mail advertising. No, not the unsolicited type we call ‘spam’, which we all hate. These are ads by companies that I do business with, and occasionally there is a new product or a special sale I want to take advantage of. The trouble is, I usually don't have time to peruse the ads when I'm combing through the flood of e-mail I get every day. I want to get those ads out of my Inbox, but really don't want to just delete them in case I want to look at them later.  My solution is to create a mailbox called Ads, where I dump the advertising messages as soon as they come in. I even have filters for some that show up frequently, automatically moving those messages to the Ads mailbox.  Since the messages in the Ads mailbox are already sorted by date received, it's a simple matter of deleting the ones that are more than a month old, which keeps the size of the mailbox file reasonable.  If I suddenly decide I need a new gadget for my bicycle, I can quickly sort and read the Performance Bike ad messages. Of course, if the sale the ad is touting was over last week, I'm out of luck, but at least my Inbox is cleaned up.” Source: ComputorEdge 7-21-06 For more, go to:

http://webserver.computoredge.com/editorial/prg/online.mv?issue=2429&zone=SD&article=toc&session=

The California PARENT Center always welcomes the exchange of information and input from the community. We invite you to visit our web site at: http://parent.sdsu.edu/. If you would like to sign up to receive the California PARENT Center E-News Monthly, please send a request with your name, mailing address, and zip code to cpclist@projects.sdsu.edu. If you know anyone who might be interested in receiving the E-News Monthly, please send this issue to them – or send their email address to us. Read previous issues of the California PARENT Center E-News, located on our web site at http://parent.sdsu.edu/e-news. Also, please remember to update the Center if you change your email address.  The California PARENT Center does not rent, exchange, or give away contact information from its email or mailing lists. We keep this information confidential.  If you do not wish to participate in this network, please send e-mail with "Remove" in the subject heading of the email to cpclist@projects.sdsu.edu. We will promptly remove your address from our lists.