E-News

Be a Partner in National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week, Oct. 21 – 27

Sign up today to participate in PACER’s second annual National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week. Visit www.PACER.org/bullying/bpaw/index.asp to see the list of national and international partners, find a complete classroom tool kit for discussing bullying prevention during the week, and much more. Learn how to become a partner in preventing bullying for children with and without disabilities.

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Hearing on Proposed Special Ed Rule Amendments is Dec. 3

The Minnesota Department of Education is revising rules pertaining to special education in order to reflect recent changes to federal regulations. Areas of important change include discipline and eligibility criteria for Specific Learning Disability. View the proposed rules here. A hearing on these proposed amendments will take place Dec. 3, 2007, at the Department of Education. PACER Center is reviewing all of the proposals and will participate in the hearing. All members of the public are welcome to attend the hearing and to submit their comments on the proposed rules.

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Free Webinar on National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS): Implementation Issues and Solutions

The Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd) and Don Johnston, Inc., are offering a Webinar series, “Moving Forward with Technology.” This offering in the series is on Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 2 p.m. CDT. This hour-long Webinar will address how NIMAS affects educators and school districts. It will be presented by Chuck Hitchcock, chief officer of policy & technology at the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), and Ruth Ziolkowski, president of Don Johnston, Inc. The Webinar is free, but registration is required.

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“Giving Parents Options” Now Available

“Giving Parents Options,” a new national resource for local and state administrators and educators, provides concrete strategies and tips for informing parents of educational options for students. It recommends effective ways to implement public school choice and supplemental educational services (SES) under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Produced by the U.S. Department of Education, it includes a range of ideas, such as ensuring readability of parent notices, coordinating public school choice under NCLB with other choice programs and options, and managing SES at the school level. It’s available for free as a hard copy or download.

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OSEP Grant to Expand Resources for People with Print Disabilities

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has made a five-year, $32 million award to Bookshare.org, an organization that increases the accessibility of books for people with visual or other print disabilities. The funding is to fully support all U.S. schools and students with qualifying print disabilities, K-12 and postsecondary, with access to the Bookshare.org collection of accessible electronic books and software for reading those books. As a result of the grant, Bookshare.org no longer charges schools or students to become members. Bookshare.org plans to add more than 100,000 new titles to its resources.

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Federal Disability Programs Need Improvement

A recent report by the watchdog U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) said that “…social and legal changes have promoted the goal of greater inclusion of persons with disabilities in the mainstream of society, including adults at work. For example, the Americans with Disabilities Act supports the full participation of persons with disabilities in society and fosters the expectation that persons with disabilities can work and have the right to work. However, GAO’s reviews of the largest federal disability programs indicate that such programs have not evolved in line with these larger societal changes and, therefore, are poorly positioned to provide meaningful and timely support for persons with disabilities.” The report further cites the looming crises in the slowdown in the nation's labor force and the low rate of return to work for individuals with disabilities receiving cash and medical benefits.

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