Engaging Families Newsletter: Volume III, Issue I Spring 13 March 2013 (MS Word)

Engaging Families

Supporting Students from Cradle to Career

Volume III, Issue I Spring 2013

Contributors: Cameron Brenchley, Michelle Draughn, Jennifer Padgett, and Melinda Malico.

Engaging Families is edited by Carrie Jasper and designed by Monique Toussaint of the U.S. Department of Education.

To subscribe, update your subscription, modify your password or email address, or stop subscriptions at any time go to Subscriber Preferences Page. If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please contact .

Note: This document contains information about and from public and private entities and organizations for the reader’s information. Inclusion does not constitute an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any entity or organization or the products or services offered or views expressed. This publication also contains hyperlinks and URLs created and maintained by outside organizations. They are provided for the reader’s convenience; however, the Department is not responsible for the accuracy of this information.

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Sequestration

Contributors: Cameron Brenchley, Michelle Draughn, Jennifer Padgett, and Melinda Malico.

Engaging Families is edited by Carrie Jasper and designed by Monique Toussaint of the U.S. Department of Education.

To subscribe, update your subscription, modify your password or email address, or stop subscriptions at any time go to Subscriber Preferences Page. If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please contact .

Note: This document contains information about and from public and private entities and organizations for the reader’s information. Inclusion does not constitute an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any entity or organization or the products or services offered or views expressed. This publication also contains hyperlinks and URLs created and maintained by outside organizations. They are provided for the reader’s convenience; however, the Department is not responsible for the accuracy of this information.

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Inside this Issue:

Feature

·  Sequestration

Other News and Events

·  Notice of Language Assistance

·  Relief from No Child Left Behind

·  Effective Parent Programs

Did You Know?

Family Engagement Team

Automatic, across-the-board spending cuts —also known as the sequester—have gone into effect since Congress failed to reach an agreement before March 1. The cuts will have real consequences for real people—especially teachers, young children in low-income families, and students with special needs.

Parents have been calling or emailing ED staff about what the sequestration will mean to their school district, how it will affect their child and their school and what the Secretary and the President are doing about it.

In February, Secretary Arne Duncan testified before the Senate about the negative effects of sequestration. “When the cuts hit, they will hurt the most vulnerable students worst,” Duncan said during his testimony. Duncan went on to explain that sequestration would cut Title I by $725 million, affecting 1.2 million disadvantaged students,

and risk the jobs of about 10,000 teachers and aides. Other cuts include $600 million in special education, requiring states and districts

to cover the cost of approximately 7,200 teachers, aides, and other staff. In Head Start, some 70,000 students could be turned away. “Doing that to our most vulnerable students is economically foolish and morally indefensible,” said Duncan.

Contributors: Cameron Brenchley, Michelle Draughn, Jennifer Padgett, and Melinda Malico.

Engaging Families is edited by Carrie Jasper and designed by Monique Toussaint of the U.S. Department of Education.

To subscribe, update your subscription, modify your password or email address, or stop subscriptions at any time go to Subscriber Preferences Page. If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please contact .

Note: This document contains information about and from public and private entities and organizations for the reader’s information. Inclusion does not constitute an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any entity or organization or the products or services offered or views expressed. This publication also contains hyperlinks and URLs created and maintained by outside organizations. They are provided for the reader’s convenience; however, the Department is not responsible for the accuracy of this information.

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President Obama has provided a plan to avoid these cuts using a balanced approach, and the White House has also released state-by-state reports showing how sequester will impact jobs and middle class families.

During a Sunday morning appearance on “Face the Nation,” Duncan noted that “We don’t have to be in this situation. This is not rocket science. We could solve this tomorrow if folks had the will to compromise, to come to the table and do the right thing for children and to try and keep growing the middle class.”

For more information:

§  State-by-State Reports – Overall Impact

§  State-by-State Title I Impact(xls)

§  Title I Impact Largest 100 Districts(xls)

§  State-by-State IDEA Impact(xls)

§  Article: Education Secretary Decries Sequestration

Other News and Events

Notice of Language Assistance

Many parents are not able to access any information from the Department simply because of a language barrier. Because of Executive Order 13166 which simply states that federal agencies will improve access to services for persons with limited English proficiency, seeking information will no longer be a problem.

A new Limited English Proficiency (LEP) directive on the U. S. Department of Education’s (ED) policies and practices has been written to ensure that LEP individuals have equal access to ED’s programs, services, activities, resources, and issues. As a result, ED has added six languages at the bottom of web pages on http://www.ed.gov: the Notice of Language Assistance: English | español | 中文: 繁體版 | Việt-ngữ | 한국어 | Tagalog | Русский that indicates other languages in which the information can be accessed. ED has telephonic interpretation where interpreters for more than 170 languages are available to assist ED in its outreach efforts.

Relief from No Child Left Behind

Have you heard about ESEA Flexibility? If not, what is it? If so, what does it mean to you and your child?

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) provided our country’s first

broad assurance of equal access to public education for all children. ESEA has been reauthorized—revised and renewed by Congress—seven times, most recently at the end of 2001 by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). ESEA reauthorization usually occurs every five years;

however, NCLB has governed elementary and secondary education for over a decade, and

Congress has yet to act to fix some of the law’s flaws. The U.S. Department of Education, under the leadership of Secretary Arne Duncan, is responding to state and local requests for flexibility from certain parts of the current law. This flexibility will enable states and school districts to move forward with significant reforms that are designed to increase the quality of instruction and improve academic achievement of all students. States that choose not to request flexibility under ESEA, or that don’t have a solid plan for improvement, will still be bound by the current law.

The benefits of ESEA flexibility for parents include accurate and descriptive information about their children’s progress and honest accountability that recognizes and rewards success and – where schools fall short – targeted and focused strategies for the students most at risk; and for students, a system that measures student growth and critical thinking to inspire better teaching and greater student engagement across a well-rounded curriculum. To learn more about ESEA flexibility, go to http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/esea-flexibility/index.html.

Effective Parent Programs

The public often asks ED staff for examples of effective parent programs. Starting with the spring edition, each issue of the newsletter will highlight one or two examples.

Parent University started in 2010 as an initiative of the Office of Family and Student Engagement in the Boston Public Schools (BPS). Free courses are offered throughout the academic year in a variety of languages to parents and family members of BPS students. Classes range from math and science to learning how to apply for college, financial aid, and nutrition advice courses. The sessions are held on the campus of Northeastern University. The program is funded through federal Title I funds.For more information, contact Boston Public Schools Communications Office at 617-635-9265 or .

Home Visits are not “drop ins”, but rather appointments set between two a teacher and a parent, for example, in a setting where teachers are outside of the school. Teachers visit families once in the fall and then again in the spring. The focus of the first visit can be on building a relationship. In this visit, teachers and parents get to know each other, and teachers learn about families’ and students’ strengths. The focus of the second visit is for teachers to share important and meaningful tools and information with families. A home visits project and training is based on principles of family empowerment, endorsed by state and local teachers unions, local interfaith organizing groups, and championed by school district leaders who want to do business for the sake of student success. Nine states have adopted and adapted the model of parent/teacher home visits: Alaska, California, Colorado, Montana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, Ohio, and Virginia. To learn more, visit www.teachervisits.org or call 916-448-5290.

Did You Know?

Many parents have questions about how to pay for college. They want to know about financial assistance, loans, entrance exams, work study programs, etc. Now your questions can be answered by experts from the Office of Federal Student Aid. Join #AskFAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) on the last Wednesday of each month at 5:00 p.m. (EST) for #AskFAFSA Office Hours. The live Q&A session on Twitter is an opportunity to get questions answered by the experts. #AskFAFSA features a different topic each month related to federal student aid. Tune in during the live event, submit questions, and join the conversation using the hashtag #AskFAFSA.

Family Engagement Outreach Team

The Office of Communications and Outreach contacts work with state and local education agencies to empower parents with the information to help them be full partners in the education and academic progress of their children.

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Olga Pirela

Region I

(CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)

POCH Building

5 Post Office Square

9th Floor, Room 24

Boston, MA 02110

617-289-0100

Jacquelyn Pitta

Region II

(NJ, NY, PR, VI)

Financial Square

32 Old Slip, 25th Floor

New York, NY 10005

Elizabeth Williamson

Region III

(DC, DE, MD, PA, VA, WV)

100 Penn Square East

Suite 513

Philadelphia, PA 19107

Jonava Johnson

Region IV

(AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN)

61 Forsyth St. S.W.,

Suite 18T15

Atlanta, GA 30303

404-974-9450

Shirley Jones

Region V

(IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI)

500 W. Madison St.,

Suite 1427

Chicago, IL 60661

312-730-1706

Patrick Kerr

Region VII

(IA, KS, MO, NE)

8930 Ward Parkway,

Suite 2043

Kansas City, MO 64114-3302

Diana Huffman

Region VIII

(CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY)

1244 Speer Blvd. Suite 615

Denver, CO 80204-3582

303-844-3544

Joe Barison

Region IX

(AZ, CA, HI, NV, AS, GU, CNMI)

50 Beale Street

Room 9700

San Francisco, CA 94105

Linda Pauley

Region X

(WA, OR, ID, AK)

915 Second Ave., Room 3362

Seattle, WA 98174

206-607-1655

Carrie Jasper

Headquarters

400 Maryland Avenue S.W.

Room 5E310

Washington D.C. 20202

202-401-1524

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Contributors: Cameron Brenchley, Michelle Draughn, Jennifer Padgett, and Melinda Malico.

Engaging Families is edited by Carrie Jasper and designed by Monique Toussaint of the U.S. Department of Education.

To subscribe, update your subscription, modify your password or email address, or stop subscriptions at any time go to Subscriber Preferences Page. If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please contact .

Note: This document contains information about and from public and private entities and organizations for the reader’s information. Inclusion does not constitute an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any entity or organization or the products or services offered or views expressed. This publication also contains hyperlinks and URLs created and maintained by outside organizations. They are provided for the reader’s convenience; however, the Department is not responsible for the accuracy of this information.

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