News Desk (LD News: May 2007)

Announcements:

NCLD Anne Ford Scholarship Winner Announced
On April 25, at NCLD's 30th Anniversary Benefit Dinner, Ryan Makinson of Greensboro, N.C., was awarded the Anne Ford Scholarship, a $10,000 scholarship for a high school senior who struggles with learning disabilities and plans to attend a four-year college or university. Ryan also received a Kurzweil Lab pack.

NCLD Pete & Carrie Rozelle Award Winner Announced
The 2007 Pete & Carrie Rozelle Award winner is Public School 149, The Christa McAuliffe School, located in Jackson Heights, N.Y. Serving 1,050 children in kindergarten through grade five, this school has lived up to its mission: "To educate each child as if he/she were our own." The school received a $5,000 award, a $500 gift certificate from Brookes Publishing, a Kurzweil Lab pack and $200 gift certificates from Sopris West and Brookes Publishing.

30 Voices of LD
NCLD has announced the winners of the 30 Voices of LD Competition: Davin C., of Honolulu, Hawaii in the Adult category; George M., of Santa Ana, Calif. in the Teenage category; and Shane H., 12, of Honululu, Hawaii in the Children's category. Winners will receive a grand prize of $500 as well as being publicly recognized on NCLD's award-winning Web site. All artwork is available to view on our Web site.

Dr. Ruth Gottesman Appointed Chair of Board of Overseers
Dr. Ruth Gottesman has been appointed Chair of the Board of Overseers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, the first faculty member in the school's 52-year-history and the first woman to hold the position. Dr. Gottesman was a member of NCLD's first Professional Advisory Board.

Churchill School and Center Searches for Head of School
The Churchill School and Center, a source of information, counseling and support to parents, students and professionals in the learning disabilities community, has announced the search for a successor to Kristine Baxter, member of NCLD's Board of Directors, as Head of School. The deadline for submitting applications for this position is June 15, 2007.

Winners of Poster and Essay Contest Announced
The winners of the 2006 Annual National Inclusive Schools Week poster and essay contest, "Great Things Happen in Inclusive Schools," have been announced. Winning submissions are available for viewing on their Web site.

Call for Entries -- National Juried Exhibition
Artists ages 16-25 with physical, cognitive or mental disabilities are invited to enter a national juried exhibition of the theme "What moves you to create?" Prizes range in value from $2,000 to $20,000, and the deadline for entry is July 6, 2007.

LD in the News:

From Failure to Fonz: Winkler Aims To Inspire
Henry Winkler, popularly known as "The Fonz" in the 1970's sitcom "Happy Days," has released "The Curtain Went Up, My Pants Fell Down," the eleventh in a series of books about Hank Zipzer, a smart fourth grader with learning difficulties and a great sense of humor and adventure. Mr. Winkler is the 2004 winner of NCLD's Children’s Advocacy Award.

Timing and Duration of Student Participation in Special Education in the Primary Grades
A new brief from the National Center for Education Statistics finds that half of children who begin special education in kindergarten no longer receive special education services by grade three.

2007 Summer Institute on Student Progress Monitoring
From July 10-11 in Nashville, Tennessee, The National Center on Student Progress Monitoring will host a summer institute offering a variety of workshops about the Response to Intervention model and progress monitoring in reading and math. Registration is now open.

Inclusive Schools Week Date and Theme Announced
The 7th Annual Inclusive Schools Week will be held from December 3-7, 2007, with the theme of "Lessons from the World: Including All Children," and will provide an opportunity to focus on both international accomplishments and ongoing challenges associated with changing global attitudes, practices and policies toward better educational outcomes for students around the globe.

General News:

Principals Require More Authority to Enforce Stricter NCLB Accountability Standards
A new study from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and American Institutes for Research finds that as public school principals bear heavier burdens in the NCLB era, a large gap is forming between the increased authority that public school principals need in order to lead effectively and the fixed authority that they actually have in practice.

Buenos Principios: Latino Children in the Earliest Years of Life
According to a new National Council of La Raza study, one in five toddlers in the United States is Latino, and they are less likely than their peers to read daily. The study suggests investments in high-quality, comprehensive early childhood education programs can help narrow this gap.

Helping ELLs Achieve Academic Success
The National High School Center has released a report outlining how states and districts can bring higher literacy to English Language Learners (ELLs), offering key policies and useful strategies for building capacity and creating learning environments conducive to the academic success of all students.

Immigrant Family Demographics in the U.S. Examined (PDF, 14 pages)
A research brief from The State University of New York at Albany and Child Trends on immigrant family demographics in the U.S. indicates among its findings that four in five children from immigrant families are American citizens and nearly one-half speak English and another language at home.

Discrepancy in America's Graduation Rates
A new publication from the Alliance for Excellent Education discusses the difference between graduation rates reported by the government and those reported by independent sources, a discrepancy that undermines efforts to understand and increase the nation's graduation rate.

Closing the Expectations Gap 2007 (PDF, 32 pages)
As a result of the discussion held at the 2005 National Education Summit on High Schools on the poor preparation of America's high school students and the effect this holds on the nation's position in the global economy, state activities to better prepare high school students spiked noticeably in the past year, according to a new report from Achieve, Inc.

Beating the Odds VII Finds Urban School Progress on State Tests
A new study from the Council of Great City Schools finds that the nation's big-city school districts continue to improve in reading and mathematics on state-mandated tests and that racial achievement gaps may be narrowing, though urban reading and math scores still fall below state standards.

The Child Well-Being Index
The 2007 Child Well-Being Index from the Foundation for Child Development finds that despite improvements in child health-safety and well-being, children's health continues to decline. Small improvements in teen pregnancy, violent crime and drug and alcohol abuse balance this decline and lead to an overall "standstill."

Leadership Matters
Pre-K Now has released the 2008 edition of its annual publication, Leadership Matters, intended to commend innovative and tenacious governors and expose the unsatisfactory work of others. Among its state-by-state highlights this year, the report indicates that 29 governors proposed an increase in Pre-K funding.

College Hopes and Worries Survey
The Princeton Review 2007 "College Hopes & Worries Survey" rates the most common hopes and worries of students and parents of students in the transition to college. Be sure to check out NCLD's Transition to College and Work for Teens page for more helpful resources.

Young Kids Watching TV
In a new interview from EdNews.org, Frederick Zimmerman, Associate Professor at the University of Washington, in Seattle, Washington, discusses his research on television viewing before the age of two.  According to his research, 40% of children are regular television viewers by three months of age; 90% are viewers by twenty-four months of age.

Typical Eighth Grader Falls Short of Mathematics and Science Proficiencies (PDF, 47 pages)
A new analysis by the American Institutes for Research comparing results from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) finds that the typical eighth grader in both foreign countries and America does not meet "proficient" levels on U.S. tests of mathematics and science.

Adults with College Degree Earn $25,000 Per Year More
According to a March 2007 report from the U.S. Census Bureau, adults with bachelors degrees earned more than $25,000 more than those with high school diplomas alone, and those with two-year associate degrees bring in an average of $8,500 more than those with only high school diplomas.

Comparing Credits of High School Graduates and Dropouts (PDF, 4 pages) 
The National Center for Education Statistics has released a new brief examining differences in the average number of course credits between high school graduates and dropouts, finding that high school dropouts earn fewer credits each academic year.

Event Dropout Rates for Public School Students in Grades 9-12
A new report from the National Center for Education Statistics Institute of Education Sciences compares public high school dropout rates for the 2002/3 and 2003/4 school years. Findings indicate an overall decline in dropout rates in 22 states and an increase in 19 states.

Community Colleges and Teacher Preparation: Roles, Issues and Opportunities
The Education Commission of the States has announced the release of an issue paper exploring and expanding the role that community colleges play in preparing quality teaches.

Where We Teach
Where We Teach, the second school climate survey conducted by the National School Boards Association's Council of Urban Boards of Education, shares teacher and administrator perceptions about safety, professional development, expectations, bullying, professional climate, parental involvement, influence of race, and trust, respect and ethos of caring.

"Making Writing Instruction a Priority in America’s Middle and High Schools" (PDF, 7 pages)
The Alliance for Excellent Education has released a new brief suggesting policy options that would support the improvement of students' abilities to write proficiently, a skill as telling for future success as the ability to read proficiently.