Jan 2009
“Obama Pledge Stirs Hope in Early Education”
This New York Times article explains Obama’s education platform, which includes making poor children a priority and providing care to infants and toddlers. Federal monies would also be available to states developing universal early education programs.
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Dec 2008
“Homeland Insecurity”
“Homeland Insecurity” has been updated with state, national and international comparisons. Every Child Matters is calling for investing $500 billion in kids over the next ten years to improve child well-being in all states.
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Mar 2009
Wrightslaw Game Plan: SMART IEPs
IDEA 2004 requires the IEP team to describe the child's "present levels of academic achievement and functional performance." The present levels of performance should describe the child’s unique needs that result from the disability.
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Dec 2008
The Measure of America Quiz
What do you know about the “factors that shape the quality of life for average Americans?”
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Apr 2008
The Kinship Caregiver Bill in Congress
Research shows that children raised in foster care with relatives fare well. This bill would create a Kinship Navigator Program that would help relative caregivers to access services and support, and a Guardianship Assistance Program that would provide assistance to relatives who become the legal guardians of children in foster care.
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Mar 2009
The IEP
The IEP is a document that must be written in a careful, thoughtful, rational manner, following the procedure carefully set forth in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. IDEA recognizes you as an expert on your child. You are to be a valued member of any group that makes educational decisions for your child. Each step is designed to produce a document that first considers the needs of your child, then considers where the team wants to see your child a year from now, then designs the services and supports necessary to make meaningful progress.
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Mar 2009
Tested Tips for IEP Meetings
This brief document offers suggestions for convening successful IEP meetings. It includes preparation tips for parents and educators.
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Jan 2008
Starting Early, Starting Right Act Introduced in Congress
On May 5th, Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania introduced legislation to better fund child care, which is still at about FY 2002 funding levels. The legislation would “make a significant investment in the child care subsidy program in order to increase access for low-income families, raise reimbursement rates for providers, and improve the quality of care through training, monitoring, and new initiatives.” (Center for Law and Social Policy)
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Mar 2009
PWN is a Powerful Tool
PRIOR WRITTEN NOTICE (PWN) is a Powerful tool to ensure your child is appropriately evaluated and receiving services that meet their individual needs. This is a particularly great tool if you disagree w/ your school/district, or they ignore or refuse your request for bogus reasons or w/out an explanation. Use it to your advantage!!! This is federal law under IDEA.
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Aug 2008
Providing Resources Early for Kids Act (the Pre-K Act)
This bill in the U.S. House of Representatives would “expand high-quality early education and provide incentives for states to ensure their pre-K programs meet children’s developmental and educational needs.” (National Institute for Early Education Research) The bill was recommended in Committee to be considered by the House as a whole.
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Feb 2008
President’s Budget Cuts Early Care and Education Funding
(From the National Institute of Early Education Research--NIEER) “President George W. Bush's recently submitted budget [for fiscal year 2009] freezes discretionary funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant for the seventh year in a row, cuts Head Start funding by $10 million despite that program's recent reauthorization, and cuts funding for support services such as Even Start, the Social Services Block Grant and 21st Century Community Learning Centers.” According to the Center for Law and Social Policy, “the cuts will result in 200,000 children losing access to services by next year.”
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Apr 2008
Preschool Education Hot Campaign Issue
An article in Politico says that preschool is a hotter election issue than No Child Left Behind, but candidates need to be pinned down on specific proposals.
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Mar 2009
Parent Tip #1 Preparing for an IEP
Tracy recently wrote about parents who are not actively involved in their child’s’ IEP. In my work as a parent liaison, I have a bagful of tips I offer to parents to be more prepared to participate in their child’s IEP. This is the first tip in series I will post on this blog.
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Aug 2008
New Website Helps Citizens Track Bills
Confused about the status of legislation in Congress? Search by the name of a bill, its number, or a subject area on GovTrack.us, a website created and maintained by a graduate student at The University of Pennsylvania.
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Feb 2009
Montana's Annual Application for Funds under IDEA part B
Montana's Annual Application for funds under IDEA Part B for federal fiscal year 2009 is available for review and comment
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Jan 2008
How to Use a Parent IEP Attachement
Prior Written Notice clearly states that concerns and requests made by the parents must be accepted or rejected -- and that the IEP team must list the reasons for accepting or rejecting the parent's proposal.
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Mar 2009
Helping Struggling Students Who Don't Qualify for Special Services
Has the public school determined that your child doesn't have a learning disability or qualify for special education services — yet she continues to struggle in school? What can you do to help her?
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Jan 2009
Fostering Connections To Success and Increasing Adoptions Act
This Act was passed by Congress and signed by President Bush. The Children’s Defense Fund and the Center for Law and Social Policy provides a summary of the bill and how it will help foster children.
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Mar 2009
Financial Help for Parents of Kids with LD and AD/HD
Raising a child with a learning disability can be expensive. Learn about resources that might help defray some of the costs.
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Aug 2008
Education Begins at Home Act
This bipartisan bill in Congress would create a “federal funding framework to help states develop, deliver, and evaluate home visitation as a core component of early childhood services.” (Harvard’s FINE newsletter) The director of the Harvard Family Research Project testified about this bill before a House Committee. See a video of the testimony and a transcript.
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Jan 2009
Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Side-by-Side
This document from First Focus, National Association of Community Health Centers, and Children’s Health Fund compares proposals in Congress for the reauthorization of SCHIP.
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Aug 2008
Children’s Budget Legislation
This federal legislation in the Senate would require Presidential budgets to include an accounting of expenditures for children.
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Aug 2008
Children’s Budget 2008
This publication from First Focus gives information about 180 federal children’s programs. Some of the major findings include: only one penny of every “new, real non-defense” federal dollar has been spent on children’s programs; the share of the non-defense budget spent on children is only about 10%; the children’s share of the non-defense budget has dropped 10% during the last five years; and “real discretionary spending on children has declined by more than six percent since 2004, while at the same time all other non-defense discretionary spending has increased by more than 8 percent.”
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Aug 2008
Children and Family Issues on the Campaign Trail: Polling, Politics, and Policy
This is a free audio recording from the Urban Institute that analyzes how the public’s beliefs about candidates’ positions “overlap or conflict with the research and policy evidence and the demographic and economic trends that shape family life” and how this “might play out in the policies of the next administration and Congress.”
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Mar 2009
Can a School be Forced to Evaluate a Child?
Is the school forced to do psycho-educational testing when the child's school team agrees that testing would not provide information relevant to the child's educational planning?
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