Top Stories

Last month the NDPC partnered with MENTOR at the National Mentoring Summit in Washington, DC, where Big Brothers Big Sisters presented their Youth Outcome Report showing statistically significant improvements for youth during the first year of enrollment in the organization’s nationwide mentoring program.

Survey: U.S. earns average grades in education policy--A grade of C for its education policy efforts and results, in Education Week's "Quality Counts 2012" survey, which annually measures education policies, student achievement, and other factors.

Equipping U.S. Schools for the Global Fast Lane
Education Week's "Equipping U.S. Schools for the Global Fast Lane" examines the nation's international standing in education, and lessons to be drawn from high-performing countries.

Study Lauds Role of Early Ed
According to a UNC-Chapel Hill study, one of the longest-running child-care studies in the United States, poor children who get high-quality day care as early as infancy reap long-lasting benefits, including a better chance at a college degree and steady employment.

Sound Connections

Listen to this interview with Dexter Chaney II and Leah Luke, USDOE Classroom Teaching Ambassador Fellows recorded during the 23rd Annual National Dropout Prevention Network Conference.

Listen to archived Solutions to the Dropout Crisis webcasts on areas of concern in the educational field.

Digging into the Service-Learning Standards, Feb. 7, 5:00 p.m. CT. National Youth Leadership Council digs deeper into what the K-12 Service-Learning Standards for Quality Practice could look like in everyday practice with a free webinar.

Media

This video discusses how use of technological devices enables communication for students with autism. Some students at a Texas private school for children with autism use handheld Vantage Lite computers to communicate, which teachers say helps alleviate frustration and behavioral difficulties for some students.

Policy Uupdates

Changing outcomes by changing organization and management. A National Education Policy Center review of Organizing Schools to Improve School Achievement from the Brookings Institution says the report sheds light on important but overlooked policies related to the organization and management of schools.

Middle School Model Re-thought. Cincinnati.com addresses the age-old question, where to put the middle school students (grades 5-9) that has long stumped educators and policymakers. Read expert opinions on solutions to this old question.

In light of President Obama’s State of the Union Address, NDPC author, Franklin Schargel, writes in the Huffington Post “President Obama’s Plan to Raise the School Dropout Age Will Not Work.”

International

From Finland, an Intriguing School-Reform Model. An article published in the The New York Times about Finland, a nation of 5.5 million people who start school at age of 7 years, because Finland scored at the top of a well-respected international test in 2001 in math, science, and reading and yet has a disdain for homework and testing until well into the teenage years.

Funding Sources

· Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation: Christopher Columbus Awards
· LEGO: Children's Fund Grants
· After School Advantage Grants
· The Fund for Teachers - Deadlines vary by state
· Ben & Jerry's Foundation: Grassroots Grant Program
· Brown Rudnick Charitable Foundation: Grants to Help Inner-City Educators
· $25K and technology tools for outstanding educators
· Sustainable Energy Award - Feb. 10
· The Earthwatch Inst. fellowships - hands-on learning w/leading scientists - Feb. 13
· Luther I. Replogle Foundation: Grants for Youth Services Costas Awards - Feb. 15
· Intel Foundation: Schools of Distinction Program - Feb. 15
· Jenzabar Student Leadership Awards - Feb. 20
· Build-A-Bear Workshop Huggable Heroes Awards (nominate kids 8 to 18) - Feb. 27
· Disney Friends for Change Grants - Feb. 29
· 2012 Do Something Awards - March 1
· Up to $150K for art programs - March 1
· Ezra Jack Keats Minigrants - March 15
· Ecology/Environmental Science Teaching Award - March 15
· Pathways Within Roads to Reading - March 30
· Captain Planet Environment Grants - May 31

Resources, Tools, and Information of Note

February is African American History Month
National Green Week can be any week from February 6 to April 22
Random Acts of Kindness Week - February 13-19
International Mother Language Day - February 21
Group: PBIS - Join other educators as they share challenges and successes involved in implementing this evidence-based schoolwide model.

RTI and Classroom & Schoolwide Learning Supports: A Guide for Teachers and Learning Supports Staff. This guide from UCLA’s Center for Mental Health is designed to: broaden perspectives of response to intervention, provide frameworks for contextualizing the work in classrooms and schoolwide, and generally enhance practices.

Surprising statistics about boys' educational performance from the Boys' Initiative.