http://www.sedl.org/new/ Your source for news about SEDL projects and resources en-us Copyright 2010 SEDL Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:14:24 CDT http://www.sedl.org/common/images/sedl-logo-ffffff.jpg http://www.sedl.org/new/ 101 24 SEDL carries out an integrated program of education applied research and development, information provision, technical assistance, and professional development to improve teaching and learning for all students. http://www.sedl.org/new/pressrelease/20100125_216.html/new/pressrelease/20100125_216.html Leaders of afterschool and expanded learning programs know well the many challenges involved in managing, organizing, and operating a high-quality program. In addition to providing engaging activities that boost students' academic performance, afterschool leaders must oversee daily operations, support their staff, and sustain strong relationships with stakeholders. A new publication from SEDL's National Center for Quality Afterschool, A Practitioner's Guide: Building and Managing Quality Afterschool Programs, explores the practices that can help afterschool leaders cover it all—great programming, terrific staff, positive relationships—and provides plenty of resources to lead and sustain successful afterschool programs.  High-quality afterschool program can really make a difference in students' lives, especially for those who are struggling in school, says Catherine Jordan, a SEDL program manager and one of the book's authors. We're excited about the afterschool practitioners guide, because it outlines what steps afterschool leaders need to take to create an effective program. Produced with the support of the C.S. Mott Foundation, the guide is based on a 5-year research study of 105  afterschool programs across the United States that had evidence suggesting afterschool participants had improved academic performance. The guide offers practitioners a unique yet practical way to incorporate the study findings into daily practice. Practices are examined in four areas: program organization, academic programming, supportive relationships in afterschool, and achieving program outcomes. The guide also provides tools to help readers reflect on their own practices and create a plan for improving them. The guide is available for afterschool and extended learning practitioners at no cost. Shipping charges apply. Order online. Mon, 25 Jan 2010 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://www.sedl.org/new/pressrelease/20100113_214.html/new/pressrelease/20100113_214.html Systematic reviews have become increasingly useful in fields such as medicine, education, and disability and rehabilitation. Practitioners in these areas base their work on scientific evidence, and systematic reviews typically deal with research studies to determine the effectiveness of particular interventions. Service providers can identify what works through high-quality systematic reviews that use a clearly described protocol in order to eliminate bias in examining all the evidence around a focused question. To help more disability researchers learn how to conduct systematic reviews, the National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research (NCDDR) in SEDL's Disability Research to Practice (DRP) program is continuing a Web-based distance education series called Conducting Systematic Reviews of Evidence-Based Disability and Rehabilitation Research. Systematic reviews can be very challenging and time consuming to complete, explains SEDL program associate Joann Starks, who is one of the course facilitators. They're not something you can learn just by reading a book. By teaching more researchers to conduct systematic reviews, facilitators intend to help increase the number of systematic reviews available for disability researchers and practitioners. Participating teams have been asked to commit to completing a systematic review as an outcome of course activities. Facilitators also want to encourage researchers and practitioners to use systematic reviews. We want to raise awareness of the importance of systematic reviews as a way of knowing what works and planning future research studies, says Starks. Systematic reviews can benefit persons with disabilities in a number of ways. Professional organizations, such as the American Physical Therapy Association, can share systematic review findings with members and use them for professional development and clinical practice guidelines. In addition, organizations like the Campbell Collaboration, which supports the development of systematic reviews, provide user-friendly summaries of review findings. Persons with disabilities and their families can use these abstracts to increase decision-making options in discussion with service providers. The NCDDR course began in September 2009 and will continue through April of this year. Four teams of upper-level graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and researchers at universities and research organizations around the world were selected from a field of 10 teams that applied. Each team submitted an application and a tentative topic for a systematic review. In 2007, nine teams completed a similar course, resulting in one systematic review, The Use of Cultural Competency Educational Interventions to Improve Rehabilitation Service Access and Use Outcomes for Culturally Diverse Individuals With Disabilities.  Learn more about the course. Learn more about systematic reviews. Read January 2010 SEDL Monthly this article appears in.     Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://www.sedl.org/bulletins/sedl-monthly/dec2009.htmlhttp://www.sedl.org/bulletins/sedl-monthly/dec2009.html The National Center for Quality Afterschool is proud to present A Practitioner's Guide: Building and Managing Quality Afterschool Programs. Produced with the support of the C.S. Mott Foundation, the guide shares the insights gained from a 5-year research study of successful afterschool programs. Learn more. Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://www.sedl.org/new/pressrelease/20091130_212.html/new/pressrelease/20091130_212.html November 30, 2009 Austin, Texas Louisiana was one of eight states to be awarded a 4-year Striving Readers grant from the U.S. Department of Education on October 1. SEDL, a national education research organization, will evaluate the program's impact on adolescent literacy achievement and other teacher and student outcomes related to adolescent literacy. The Striving Readers program aims to improve the literacy skills of middle school- and high school-aged students who are reading 2 or more years below grade level and to help build a strong, scientific research base around specific strategies that improve adolescent literacy skills. With a grant of more than $5 million, Louisiana will implement a middle school supplemental reading program, Passport Reading Journeys, developed by Voyager Expanded Learning, Inc. To date, 134 districts and 435 schools have adopted the Passport Reading Journeys curriculum across 35 states. SEDL will evaluate whether students who use the Passport Reading Journeys program show greater advances in reading than students who receive typical supplemental reading services offered in their school. Through this partnership with the Louisiana State Department of Education and Voyager Learning, we will be able to both provide resources to many students who need support in reading, as well as assess the effectiveness of those resources in advancing reading skills, says SEDL CEO Wes Hoover. SEDL will also examine whether the program's impact varies according to student, classroom, and school factors. These include students' grade, gender, race or ethnicity; students' reading level when they begin the program and how much time they spend in the program; teachers' qualifications, how long they have used the reading program, and whether they do so appropriately; and geographic locale and region of the school. The Striving Readers project will provide Voyager the opportunity to rigorously and robustly evaluate the efficacy of our adolescent literacy intervention through a randomized controlled trial design in selected school districts in Louisiana, says Dr. Robert Pasternak, senior vice president of special education at Voyager Learning Company. We are excited to have the opportunity to work with the Louisiana State Department of Education and SEDL through the Striving Readers Grant. Dr. Michael Vaden-Kiernan, director of Research and Evaluation for SEDL, will serve as the principal investigator for the project. Dr. Vaden-Kiernan feels the timing is right for this type of study with this intervention. The widespread use of this program, years of delivering methods found to be effective in reading instruction for adolescents, and promising findings from quasi-experimental studies suggest the program is well positioned for an independent experimental efficacy trial to determine its effectiveness, says Dr. Vaden-Kiernan. Dr. Geoffrey Borman, professor of education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and deputy director of the university's Predoctoral Interdisciplinary Research Training Program, will serve as co-principal investigator. There has been considerable recent interest in replicable methods for improving adolescent literacy, as witnessed by the 2008 publication of the IES Practice Guide Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices, says Dr. Borman. As suggested by this practice guide, there is still a lot to learn regarding best practices. Working together with the state of Louisiana, it is our hope that this study will provide rigorous and relevant evidence about what works that will help policymakers and practitioners in the state make informed decisions about the best methods to increase the reading achievement of adolescent students. Some 1,200 students at 10 middle schools stand to benefit from the program. The need to improve reading achievement among our older students is serious and real. This grant will help ensure that struggling readers in these schools receive a literacy intervention targeted to their needs so they can get back on track and read at grade level or better, says Dr. Jill Slack, director of the Literacy and Numeracy Initiative at the Louisiana Department of Education. The grant period will last from October 2009 to September 2013. Contact: Laura Shankland Communications Associate Phone: 512-391-6556 E-mail: laura.shankland@sedl.org Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://www.sedl.org/afterschool/afterwords/nov2009/http://www.sedl.org/afterschool/afterwords/nov2009/ Afterschool and expanded learning programs often provide a more flexible learning environment than that of the regular school day. Although students and adults alike may enjoy this more relaxed setting, managing student behavior is still a crucial part of afterschool. However, not all staff may be trained in behavior management and discipline techniques or see students often enough to learn their behavior patterns. The November AfterWords provides suggestions on how to implement a discipline policy that supports safe and fun learning environment. Read more. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://www.ncddr.org/kt/products/tfpapers/index.html#positionhttp://www.ncddr.org/kt/products/tfpapers/index.html#position The National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research has established three task forces to assist the project in analyzing, understanding, and commenting on features of the evidence production process in disability and rehabilitation research. Two publications developed by the task forces are available online: When the Best Is the Enemy of the Good: The Nature of Research Evidence Used in Systematic Reviews and Guidelines The Challenge of Evidence in Disability and Rehabilitation Research and Practice  Access Publications   Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://www.sedl.org/new/newsitem/20091106_209.html/new/newsitem/20091106_209.html School improvement isn't just about schools. It's also about students and teachers, and how education leaders at all levels—state, district, school, and classroom—work together to help students succeed. The November 2009 edition edition of SEDL Letter explores school improvement in a variety of areas. The first story, Imagining the Possibilities describes the beginning of SEDL's 4-year randomized controlled trial study of the Imagine It! reading program. Our research update then looks at recent research reports on an emerging trend for boosting achievement in low-performing schools: school turnarounds. In Uncharted Territory, we examine how a growing number of high schools are using Response to Intervention as a framework for promoting student achievement. We have devoted two articles to SEDL's Professional Teaching and Learning Cycle (PTLC), a professional development process in which teachers collaboratively plan and implement lessons aligned to their state standards. The first article, Recovery 101, describes how SEDL is helping Georgetown County School District in South Carolina implement the PTLC—an investment of federal stimulus dollars that can be sustained after the funding ends. Complementing this story is Creating a Community of Professional Learners, a more detailed overview of the PTLC and what it looks like in action. We also look at the different ways that SEDL is supporting school improvement in Louisiana and Texas. Building Bright Futures for Preschoolers in Madison Parish looks at the Early Reading First project in Madison Parish, Louisiana. Helping Texas Teachers Support English Language Learners outlines how SEDL's Texas Comprehensive Center is working with the Texas Education Agency to help teachers meet the instructional needs of English language learners. Although these two articles focus on different aspects of improving teaching, they both stress the importance of professional development and adapting instruction to meet students' needs. Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://www.sedl.org/afterschool/afterwords/oct2009/http://www.sedl.org/afterschool/afterwords/oct2009/ For afterschool and expanded-learning programs that strive to boost student academic achievement during the regular school day, tutoring programs can play an important role in reaching this goal. The October 2009 edition of AfterWords addresses afterschool tutoring, including homework, the use of technology for tutoring, and ideas for subjects such as reading, math, and science. Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://www.sedl.org/bulletins/sedl-monthly/oct2009.htmlhttp://www.sedl.org/bulletins/sedl-monthly/oct2009.html SEDL's Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) convened key leaders from state education agencies in six southeastern states at a summit in Atlanta, Georgia, to discuss various approaches to funding RtI. Learn more. Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x1675932763/Educators-go-beyond-back-to-school-night-to-get-parents-involvedhttp://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x1675932763/Educators-go-beyond-back-to-school-night-to-get-parents-involved Bakersfield.com Project director Lacy Wood talks about the importance of parental involvement in students' education. "Parent participation is a two-way street; it's incumbent upon schools to offer multiple ways to get involved in addition to the standard avenues of classroom volunteering, back-to-school night and conference." Read more. Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://secc.sedl.org/resources/newsletter/ebulletin/ebulletin_v4_n1.htmlhttp://secc.sedl.org/resources/newsletter/ebulletin/ebulletin_v4_n1.html In this edition of the Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) e-Bulletin we highlight the issues of teacher quality and the equitable distribution of effective teachers. While we all know the importance of this issue from the research on the impact of highly effective and ineffective teachers on student outcomes, many of us also know it through personal experience as educators and parents. As educators, we have watched some teachers struggle while others excel, and as parents we have been part of the discussion about which teachers we want our children to have in a particular school. While it is an issue that we know exists and has a tremendous impact on student achievement, we often struggle with how to address it through policy at the state or local level. Yet many of our children from high-poverty backgrounds are counting on us to ensure that they have the effective teachers they need in their classrooms every day of every year. We hope that the information included in this issue will provide you details on research and practice occurring both nationally and within our region. Be sure to read the stories from our states about their work in this area to find some innovative strategies for addressing both the teacher effectiveness issue and the teacher shortage issue that exists in some areas. Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://www.sedl.org/new/pressrelease/20091020_198.html/new/pressrelease/20091020_198.html SEDL Program Associate Dr. Sarah Caverly attended the Institute of Education Sciences' (IES) Training Institute on Cluster-Randomized Trials this summer. Caverly was selected through a competitive application process: all attendees were required to  have a doctoral degree and experience conducting research relevant to education. Only 30 applicants were selected. The institute took place from June 21 to July 3 at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. This is the third year IES has held the institute. Course sessions provided intensive training on planning and conducting cluster randomized trials. In these experiments, groups like classrooms or schools , rather than individuals, are randomly assigned  to study intervention conditions. Participants also attended hands-on data analysis sessions and learned to use several different advanced  statistical analysis software packages. Lead faculty at the institute included David Cordray, professor of public policy and professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University; Larry Hedges, board of trustees professor of statistics and policy research and faculty fellow at the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University; and Mark Lipsey, director of the Peabody Research Institute at the Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University. The institute provided a great opportunity to learn from some of the top researchers in the field and see what the trends are, Caverly says. Caverly will apply what she learned in the institute to projects like SEDL's research study on SRA/McGraw-Hill's Imagine It! reading and language arts program and the evaluation of the Bright Futures Early Reading First Program in Madison Parish, Louisiana.   Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://www.forbes.com/2009/09/04/education-parenting-teachers-forbes-woman-time-back-to-school.htmlhttp://www.forbes.com/2009/09/04/education-parenting-teachers-forbes-woman-time-back-to-school.html SEDL's research on the importance of parental involvement is mentioned in Forbes magazine in an article called Making Sacrifices for Your Child's Education online. Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://secc.sedl.org/resources/newsletter/spotlight/spotlight-v2n9.htmlhttp://secc.sedl.org/resources/newsletter/spotlight/spotlight-v2n9.html The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers have released draft college and career readiness standards, as part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, which is supported by 48 states and three territories. The goal of this initiative is to develop common core state standards in English language arts and mathematics for grades K–12. According to the initiative's partnership, the draft standards define the knowledge and skills students should have to be prepared to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing, academic college courses and in workforce training programs. The partnership is accepting feedback on the draft standards until October 21, 2009. Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://autism.sedl.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=37http://autism.sedl.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=37 During the webcast, held September 30, 2009, the presenter described the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Autism Spectrum Disorders Career Links project. The NIDRR-funded project conducts evidence-based research on vocational rehabilitation (VR) service models for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). The project is a collaborative initiative between VCU and the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Services (DRS). The project includes research in four areas: the impact of intensive, community-based work experiences on the employment outcomes of youth with ASDs; the postsecondary school participation and ultimate employment of college students with ASDs; the impact of personal digital assistants (PDAs) on the employment outcomes of individuals with ASDs; and a longitudinal analysis of VR service delivery and employment outcomes among DRS clients with ASDs. The project also includes dissemination activities such as web casts, fact sheets, evidence-based journal articles, and a toolkit on how to enhance VR employment models for youth with ASDs. Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://www.sedl.org/afterschool/afterwords/sep2009/http://www.sedl.org/afterschool/afterwords/sep2009/ The September edition of Afterwords includes articles on Involving Families and Communities in the Arts; the Afterschool Lesson Plan Database; Stories from the Field: Hser Ner Moo Community and Welcome Center; Training Tip: Community Involvement by Giving Back; and a poll: Has your afterschool program tried any of these family involvement activities? Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://www.ncddr.org/webcasts/webcast20.htmlhttp://www.ncddr.org/webcasts/webcast20.html Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most prevalent and debilitating conditions in the United States. Of the estimated 1.4 million individuals who sustain a TBI annually, about 1.1 million are treated and released from emergency departments, 235,000 are hospitalized, and 80,000 to 90,000 experience permanent disability from their injury. TBI typically affects an individual either early in their productive years or once they have established a productive life. Besides the economic impact of lost years of work on the individual, family, and society, research indicates that employment is one of the most important psychosocial predictors of well-being, quality of life, social integration, and recovery in survivors with TBI. Due to the high incidence of TBI in racial and ethnically diverse communities and an increase in minority survivors with TBI, recent studies have examined the role of race/ethnicity on return-to-work post-injury. The webcast aims to examine the effect of race/ethnicity on employment outcomes following TBI. We will review studies that: 1) Compare employment outcomes between African Americans, Hispanics and Whites at one, two, and five years post-injury; 2) Determine the influence of minority status on job stability after Traumatic Brain Injury; 3) Examine changes in employment over time within each race group; and 4) Compare the changes in employment over time between these racial groups. Finally, implications, conclusions, and recommendations for future research studies in this area will be highlighted and discussed in detail. Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://secc.sedl.org/resources/newsletter/spotlight/spotlight-v2n8.htmlhttp://secc.sedl.org/resources/newsletter/spotlight/spotlight-v2n8.html The September edition of the Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) Spotlight highlights the August, 2009 Regional Mathematics Institute and the Videoconference on A Toolkit for Title I Parental Involvement, also held in August. The spotlight also highlighted the SECC's state work in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina. Mon, 07 Sep 2009 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News) http://www.sedl.org/bulletins/sedl-monthly/sep2009.htmlhttp://www.sedl.org/bulletins/sedl-monthly/sep2009.html The September issue of SEDL Monthly, "Wrangling With Numbers: Making Math Work" provides resources for mathematics instruction. Visit the subscribe page to subscribe to receive SEDL Monthly via e-mail. Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:00:00 CDT info@sedl.org (SEDL News)