Industry News
Create a Culture, Not a Classroom: Why Seating Charts Matter for Student Success
August 17, 2019
By: Kevin Behan
Source: EdSurge The start of a school year means a new seating chart for each classroom—full of students that the teacher likely hasn’t met. Without knowing the students, how does a teacher know where to assign their seats? This question comes up each summer as teachers strive to create the best learning […]
Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Made Sensory Love Notes to Support Kids with Autism
August 13, 2019
By: Melissa Locker
Source: Fast Company As the school year gets underway, Rice Krispies is thinking about what notes parents may want to tuck into their kids’ lunch boxes. (Exhausted parents, on the other hand, may be counting down the days until they can foist lunch-making duties back on to the school cafeteria, no judgment.) […]
4 New Studies Bolster the Case: More Money for Schools Helps Low-Income Students
August 13, 2019
By: Matt Barnum
Source: Chalkbeat Does money matter in education? The answer is increasingly clear. A 2018 overview of the research on education spending found that more money consistently meant better outcomes for students — higher test scores, higher graduation rates, and sometimes even higher wages as adults. It was enough for Northwestern economist Kirabo Jackson to say […]
Why An Autism Group Is Breaking Up With ‘Sesame Street’
August 13, 2019
By: Michelle Diament
Source: Disability Scoop Public service announcements featuring Julia from “Sesame Street” that encourage early screening for autism seem innocent enough, but a self-advocacy group says the advertisements lead unsuspecting parents to harmful information. The Autistic Self Advocacy Network says it is ending a years-long partnership with “Sesame Street” over a series of […]
Labor Dept Rules IEP Meetings a Valid Reason for Family and Medical Leave
August 13, 2019
By: Linda Jacobson
Source: Education Dive The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued an opinion letter stating parents and guardians are allowed to use the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) intermittently to attend Individual Education Program (IEP) meetings with teachers, school administrators and others involved in planning education services for children with special needs. […]
Study Links Positive Messages About Middle School to Better Grades, Behavior
August 12, 2019
By: Linda Jacobson
Source: Education Dive Sixth-grade writing and reflecting exercises that communicate how it’s normal for new middle schoolers to be anxious and worry they don’t fit in — and that these feelings are temporary — can contribute to better attendance, behavior and academic performance, according to a new study appearing in the Proceedings of the […]
Psychiatrists Considering Change To Intellectual Disability Criteria
August 12, 2019
By: Courtney Perkes
Source: Disability Scoop A proposed revision to the diagnostic criteria for intellectual disability is prompting concerns about underdiagnosis and a loss of services and legal protections for people with the condition. The American Psychiatric Association, or APA, is considering altering the entry for intellectual disability in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5, […]
I Started Talking About Disability in My Classroom. It Changed Both Me and My Students
August 12, 2019
By: Sarah Manchandra
Source: Chalkbeat For the first 22 years of my life, I denied having a disability. I invested all of my energy in hiding my blindness, praying for invisibility when I incorrectly copied down notes from the board, stumbled on words when reading aloud, or tripped over a step I couldn’t see. I […]
ICE Raids Send Schools Scrambling
August 8, 2019
By: Lauren Camera
Source: U.S. News The new school year started Tuesday for children in Mississippi’s Scott County, where the 4,000-student district situated about 50 miles east of the state capital in Jackson serves the communities of Lake, Morton and Sebastopol, along with the surrounding rural areas. The food processing industry drives the economy there, […]
Can Zack Gottsagen, a Boynton Beach Actor with Down Syndrome, Change Hollywood?
August 7, 2019
By: Ben Crandell
Source: Sun Sentinel Boynton Beach actor Zack Gottsagen faces life with a contagious optimism, an undaunted confidence in himself, and in others, that inspires people to accomplish things they may think impossible, even while they are doing it. It is all the more remarkable for someone who has spent much of his […]