Imprimir - Cerrar ventana - Haz clic en Más en la parte inferior del correo electrónico para imprimir un solo mensaje Asunto: ED Youth Voices Newsletter De: U.S. Department of Education ([email protected]) Para: barrera.ruben@rocketmail; Fecha: Viernes, 31 de octubre, 2014 16:13:26 You are receiving this email because you have attended a youth engagement event or have shown an interest in this topic. We will be sending out a monthly email update with education hot topics in the news, things you can get involved in and tools for youth. We are always looking for ways to improve, so if you have suggestions about content or if there is an innovative program in your area please send them along. 31 October 2014 | Sign up to receive ED Youth Voices In this issue: First Lady Michelle Obama Announces Reach Higher Commencement Challenges The Office for Civil Rights Releases New Guidance Highlighting Hispanic Education Year-Round 2014 Scholastic Art and Writing Award Winners Featured at ED: They Gave Their Inspiring Voices and Visions Innovation in Higher Education through First in the World Secretary Duncan Hears From Veterans on Challenges to College Success Engaging Families, Ensuring Education Success: A Back-to-School Tour with the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics Investing in Evidence: Funding Game-Changing Evaluations First Lady Michelle Obama Announces Reach Higher Commencement Challenges Recently, First Lady Michelle Obama announced two commencement challenges via video as part of her Reach Higher initiative. Schools choosing to participate in the challenges will create video submissions to capture their efforts to make attending and completing college a reality for all students. Finalists could have the opportunity to hear from the First Lady at their commencement ceremonies in the spring of 2015. The Reach Higher initiative is the First Ladys effort to inspire every student in America to take charge of their future by completing their education past high school, whether at a professional training program, a community college, or a four-year college or university. In today’s economy, a high school diploma just isn’t enough. Students have to “reach higher,” which is why the First Lady is working to rally the country around the Presidents “North Star” goal — that by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. Learn more about the First Ladys challenge The Office for Civil Rights Releases New Guidance New Title VI Guidance Recently, Secretary Duncan announced guidance, in the form of a Dear Colleague letter, to states, school districts and schools to ensure that all students have equal access to educational resources such as academic and extracurricular programs, strong teaching, technology and instructional materials, and safe school facilities so that they have an equal opportunity to succeed in school, careers and in life. The announcement was made at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 2014 Public Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. The guidance, issued by the Office for Civil Rights, provides detailed and concrete information to educators on the standards set in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Under Title VI, states, school districts and schools must not intentionally treat students differently based on race, color or national origin in providing educational resources. In addition, they must not implement policies or practices for providing educational resources that disproportionately affect students of a particular race, color or national origin, absent a substantial justification. The guidance is one part of President Obama’s larger equity agenda, including the recently announced Excellent Educators for All initiative, and takes into account the ongoing efforts of states, school districts and schools to improve equity. Read more about the release of new Title VI guidance New Guidance to Address Bullying of Students with Disabilities In recognition of National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released new anti-bullying guidance in the form of a letter to educators. New guidance was released to remind public schools that they have a responsibility under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act to prevent bullying and protect students, particularly students with disabilities. If a student is being bullied, Federal Law requires schools to take immediate and appropriate action to investigate the issues and take the necessary steps to stop the bullying and prevent it from happening again. Since 2009, OCR has received more than 2,000 complaints about the bullying of students with disabilities. The new guidance builds upon the anti-bullying guidance released by the Department in 2013, 2010, and 2000. The most recent release makes it clear that the law bars any form of discrimination based on disability in all programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. Learn more about the anti-bullying guidance Highlighting Hispanic Education Year-Round It’s the middle of October. The leaves are changing colors, baseball playoffs are under way, and Hispanic Heritage month – celebrated each year from September 15 to October 15 – just came to close. It’s an opportunity to celebrate the rich history and the centuries’-worth of contributions the Hispanic community – a diverse community with roots in Mexico, the Caribbean, Spain and Central and South America – has made to this country. We first began celebrating Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968, and in 1988 the observance of Hispanic Heritage Month was enacted as law by the U.S. Congress. But the impact of this country’s Hispanic community has never been greater – and the importance of promoting success for Hispanic learners has never mattered more – than right now. Today, Hispanics are the largest, youngest and fastest-growing minority group. Yet our college attainment rates are among the lowest. A college education continues to be the ticket to the middle class, and improving educational outcomes for the Hispanic community is vitally important for the common good. In America, we fall or rise together. The success of Hispanic students is directly tied to the success of our democracy, and our ability to compete in a global economy. Read more about the importance of Hispanic education 2014 Scholastic Art and Writing Award Winners Featured at ED: They Gave Their Inspiring Voices and Visions Each September brings a special day at the U.S. Department of Education: a day when the marble halls and foyers of the agency’s headquarters fill with excited crowds of students, teachers, families, local and visiting officials, and passionate supporters of the arts. This year was no exception: winners of the 2014 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards were honored for their accomplishments. The Department sponsored the opening of two exhibits, one of awardees from around the country and one of Portland, Ore., awardees, with a total of 80 works of art. Among the honorees were the five newly chosen National Student Poets. Read more about the 2014 winners and see some of their work Innovation in Higher Education through First in the World Innovation in higher education is key to ensuring that our nation’s colleges and universities continue to serve our nation’s students. As part of an ambitious plan to increase value and affordability in higher education, President Obama called for the First in the World (FITW) grant program to fund innovative practices at colleges and universities. Recently, ED awarded $75 million in grants to 24 colleges and universities across the country to fund innovative thinking that comes from educators working every day to ensure successful outcomes for students. All FITW projects focus on improving college success among low-income, first-generation, and underserved students. The winning projects represent diverse and exciting approaches to improving student success. Topics addressed by FITW grantees include strengthening the critical transitions from high school to college, improving remediation, and ensuring the accessibility of instructional technology for students with disabilities. Read more about the First in the World grant program Secretary Duncan Hears From Veterans on Challenges to College Success How do we as a country provide supports on college campuses for veterans and ensure they have access to high-quality education at an affordable price? This question helped focus a Student Voices Session that recently took place with Secretary Duncan in Washington, D.C. The goal of the conversation was to understand the issues student veterans face, identify institutions of higher education that are providing comprehensive supports, and take action at the local, state, and federal levels. The Obama administration is encouraging institutions to sign on to the 8 Keys to Veterans’ Success, a voluntary initiative through the Departments of Education and Veterans Affairs by which colleges and universities can support veterans as they pursue their education and employment goals. Already, over 1,000 schools have signed on to support service members in transitioning to higher education, completing their college programs, obtaining career-ready skills, and building toward long-term success. Abby Kinch, a current Florida State University (FSU) student and former Air Force Cryptologic Linguist, spoke about FSU’s Veterans Center, which provides veterans with a one-stop shop for on-campus support and a place to enhance their development as student leaders. Many of the students in attendance were impressed by the resources available for veterans at FSU and said they would like to see them replicated in their colleges and universities. Read more about Secretary Duncans meeting with student veterans Engaging Families, Ensuring Education Success: A Back-to-School Tour with the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics In Springdale, Arkansas, the Hispanic population grew by more than 150 percent between 2000 and 2011, largely driven by the arrival of mostly Hispanic immigrants. The school district’s public school population is now 44 percent Hispanic, and its English Learner population is also 44 percent of students. The city has done a remarkable job of embracing their newest community members and ensuring that all students and families are supported. As part of ED’s Back-to-School Bus Tour, the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics (WHIEEH) visited Springdale to learn about the city’s community integration efforts. For the visit, WHIEEH collaborated with the Cisneros Center for New Americans, an organization that works to accelerate the integration of new Americans into American society. One stop was at an early childhood center where newly enrolled families pose for portraits that are placed in the classroom, to help ease the child’s transition and alleviate separation anxiety. Coffee sessions between new and veteran parents help familiarize families with the center and the community. Another stop included the Turnbow Elementary School family literacy program where parents attend English language classes and scheduled PAC or “Parent and Child” time, in which parents join their children in class. They also learn about other subjects, including safety and financial assistance, from community partners such as the police and fire departments and local banks. Read more about WHIEEHs visit to Springdale, Arkansas Investing in Evidence: Funding Game-Changing Evaluations The U.S. Department of Education is committed to helping schools, districts, states, and the federal government use funds as wisely as possible – which means in ways that yield better results for students. As part of that, we are working to build evidence of effective practice – and one of the ways we do that is through conducting evaluations that offer useful guidance for future investments. We are looking to the field to help figure out what evaluations are most useful. The Congressionally enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014 allows the Department to strengthen the impact of our evaluation work by pooling resources across Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) programs. This makes it possible to fund rigorous evaluations of individual Federal education programs that currently lack sufficient evaluation dollars, and to evaluate the impact of various strategies that cut across a wide range of ESEA programs. Specifically, we are asking your help to identify what the most pressing education policy and/or practice questions are and how answering them could provide needed information to educators, parents and local, state, and federal governments to enable significant improvements in education. Our goal is to support the development of findings that have the rigor and power to inform significant improvements in how schools, districts, states, and the federal government provide services to students. We are seeking public input on the following questions: 1. What are the most critical P-12 questions that are still unanswered? 2. How could answering these questions provide information that could be used by schools, districts, and States to improve student outcomes for all students and/or particular groups of students? 3. What type of study could answer these questions and produce findings that are reliable and generalizable? 4. What implications would these findings have for existing practices, policies, and federal programs? Please mention the specific practices, policies, and programs by name if possible. Find out how you can submit your comment Quick Bit Stories Statement from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on the school shooting in Washington State “My thoughts are with the students, educators and families at Marysville-Pilchuck High School near Seattle. Gun violence has no place anywhere, least of all at our nation’s schools, and we must do more to keep guns out of the wrong hands. My Department will do everything it can to help as the Marysville community works to heal from this tragedy. Read the statement here. 35 States and Puerto Rico Submit Applications for New Preschool Development Grants Competition to Increase Access to High-Quality Preschool Programs U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell announced today that 35 states and Puerto Rico have applied for grants under the new $250 million Preschool Development Grants program (See list below). Over 25 high-need communities in approximately 12-15 states will benefit from Preschool Development Grants funding by significantly expanding their preschool programs so that a large portion of their at risk 4-year-olds start school prepared. More information about these grants. U.S. Education Department Announces Final Rule to Strengthen Federal Direct PLUS Loan Program Recently, the U.S. Department of Education announced publication of a final rule to strengthen the Federal Direct PLUS Loan Program, helping more students and families pay for college, and ensuring they have the tools and resources to make informed decisions about financing their educational pursuits. The new regulations will both expand student access to postsecondary education and safeguard taxpayer dollars by reflecting economic and programmatic changes that have occurred since the program was established more than 20 years ago. Learn more about the final rule. U.S. Department of Education Announces Upcoming Cities on is First-Ever School Environment Listening Tour for Native American Students The White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education (WHIAIANE) has announced additional locations it will visit during its first-ever School Environment Listening Tour. The WHIAIANE will hear from schools and communities on ways to better meet the unique educational and culturally-related academic needs of Native American students. More information about the listening tour. U.S. Department of Education Announces Final Rule to Help Colleges Keep Campuses Safe The Obama Administration today announced publication of the final rule implementing changes made to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act) by the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA). Learn more about the final rule. Things You Can Do The FAFSA Completion Tool was created to help financial aid professionals, school administrators, and practitioners track and increase FAFSA completions. The Tool—updated biweekly throughout the spring—provides every high school in the United States whose students have completed five or more FAFSAs with information about how many applications were submitted and completed for the 2014–15 application year as well as comparison data from the 2013–14 FAFSA application year. School-by-school data is a great way to encourage healthy competition among your high schools. The Financial Aid Toolkit, is designed to assist educators, counselors, and others by consolidating financial aid resources in one place, making it easier to find and access information to help students and parents understand the financial aid process, apply for aid, repay loans, and generally prepare for college. For instance, there are tips on how to host a FAFSA completion workshop—something First Lady Michelle Obama and I did recently with families in Virginia. The toolkit also contains links to sample tweets,Facebook posts, videos, blog posts, infographics and other resources that can be used to encourage and help students and parents to fill out the FAFSA. Ashoka’s Youth Venture is a youth-focused component of Ashoka, the global pioneer of social investment and social entrepreneurship, and the world’s largest and most prominent network of leading social entrepreneurs. Youth Venture spans 23 countries and annually engages thousands of young people each year in launching and leading their own ventures that address today’s pressing societal needs. Over the past 18 years, Youth Venture has launched nearly 10,000 youth-led social ventures, engaging over 200,000 young changemakers and impacting millions of people’s lives. Ashoka’s Youth Venture engages schools, after-school programs, and youth agencies interested in their students cultivating core changemaking skills: leadership, teamwork, empathy, and problem solving. Through Youth Venture’s curriculum, students identify issues in their communities (their classrooms, schools, local communities, or global community) and create projects, or ventures, to address such problems. Students have created projects that are revolutionizing solar-powered technology, offering affordable transportation in low income neighborhoods, and creating learning opportunities through games. During the process of creating their projects, students work in teams and practice creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communication. For more information on Youth Venture, visit our website at youthventure.org or contact Autumn Williams and Kelsei Wharton at [email protected] or [email protected]. Do you love Spanish? Are you interested in a $15,000 scholarship? If your answer is yes, then you should apply for the #LoveSpanish scholarship competition. All students, 13 and older, are eligible to apply by writing a Tweet or Facebook post about why they #LoveSpanish. The best eight applicants will receive $15,000 in scholarships. The deadline is October 31st. For more information click here. Income-Based Repayment (IBR): Income-Based Repayment (IBR) is designed to reduce monthly payments to help make loan debt manageable. If you need to make lower monthly payments, this plan may be for you. To qualify for IBR, you must have a partial financial hardship. You have a partial financial hardship if the monthly amount you would be required to pay on your IBR-eligible loans under a 10-year Standard Repayment Plan is higher than the monthly amount you would be required to repay under IBR. Your payment amount may increase or decrease each year based on your income and family size. Once youve initially qualified for IBR, you may continue to make payments under the plan even if you later no longer have a partial financial hardship. Find out whether you’re eligible The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is now accepting applications for their youth photography competition. Anyone between the ages of 18-30 is encouraged to apply. The winner will receive a $500 prize and the chance to have their work printed in the new Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report and a variety of other media outlets. Photography submissions should illustrate ideas linked to youth, education, literacy, skills and/or the world of work among members of your community over the past fifteen years. All submissions are due by Sunday, November 9th. For more details, click here. The launch of the Seat Belts Save Challenge is one week away! The 2014 NOYS Seat Belts Save Challenge is a campaign designed to educate teen drivers about the dangers of riding in a car without wearing a seat belt (in any seating position with any driver) and increase the number of teens who regularly wear a seat belt in the car. Registration opens September 30th. To apply, visit seatbeltssave.org. For more information contact Elizabeth Vermette at [email protected]. The American Youth Policy Forum has created a blog series dedicated to school discipline disparities. This blog series, From Discipline to Dialogue: An AYPF Blog Series, focuses on some of the research, policies, practices and solutions that are transforming the way schools discipline students. To check out the series, click here. Tools For You Civil Rights Data Collection Are you looking for data on enrollment demographics, SAT/ACT, teacher experience or a range of other topics?: Check out ED’s Civil Rights Data Collection, a collection de of wide-ranging education access and data collected from our nation’s public schools. College Scoreboard The College Scoreboard makes is easier to search for colleges that are the best for you. You can use the College Scorecard to find out more about a college’s affordability and value, so you can make more informed decisions about which college to attend. All you have to do is enter the name of a college that interests you or select factors that are important in your college search. To get started, click here. The Corporation for National & Community Service Are you looking for Community service opportunities?: Check out the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America that leads President Obamas national call to service initiative, United We Serve at nationalservice.gov/ Credentials for Youth Tool “Credentials for Youth”: The U.S. Department of Labor, Division of Youth Services, recently launched the “Credentials for Youth” tool, which provides a step-by-step process for helping youth attain credentials in high demand occupations and connects users to resources that can help them find high demand occupations in their local area using labor market information Voters Guide Vote411.org: Enter your address to find your polling place, build your ballot with our online voters guide and much more! With our voters guide you can see the races on your ballot, compare candidates positions side-by-side, and print out a ballot indicating your preferences as a reminder and take it with you to the polls on Election Day. Check out our resources for military and overseas voters! VOTUS Are you ready for the midterm elections? Head over to VOTUS to get your v-score and see how your political views compare with your friends and elected officials. For more information, click here. Don’t forget to “like” us on Facebook ED Youth Voices Robert Gomez, Samuel Ryan and DeRell Bonner ED Youth Outreach Team ABOUT THIS MESSAGE: This and other messages about major U.S. Department of Education news are routinely sent by the U.S. Department of Education’s Youth Outreach Team to contacts. We maintain the confidentiality of this information and never share it without contacts’ expressed permission. Comprehensive information about U.S. Department of Education news, policies and programs is at ed.gov. If you’d like more information on an item, want to “un-subscribe” to this list or would like to add an additional subscriber, please contact or write to [email protected]. If you’re interested in getting more comprehensive U.S. Department of Education news regularly sent to your inbox, consider also subscribing to EDReview, our biweekly newsletter. This newsletter contains hypertext links to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for the user’s convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this outside information. Furthermore, the inclusion of links is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed, or products or services offered, on these sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites. Questions? Contact Us STAY CONNECTED:
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 00:41:27 +0000
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