Center News
Webinar Recording Now Available
A recording of the webinar "Measuring Teacher Effectiveness in New England," presented by Dr. Douglas Harris and co-hosted by the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Island, the New England Comprehensive Center, and the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality is now available. View >
Adolescent Literacy Resources Now Available
ONLINE: Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices, a webinar featuring Professor Michael Kamil and co-sponsored by NECC and the Regional Educational Laboratory—Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI) last month, is now available.
Regional Stakeholders Confer on Education Reform Opportunities
PORTSMOUTH, NH: With unprecedented federal funds available for education reform, education leaders, advocates, and stakeholders in the six New England states met with Tony Miller, Deputy Secretary of Education, in Bedford, New Hampshire on November 10 to discuss ways to improve outcomes for the region's students. At the invitation of the New England Comprehensive Center and other regional organizations, Miller engaged in a dialogue on the four federal reform priorities: high-quality standards and assessments; effective teachers and education leaders; data systems that inform decision-making; and intensive support for struggling schools. (November 2009)
Margaret Heritage Webinar Now Available: "What Does Formative Assessment Mean to a State Department of Education?"
ONLINE: At the request of the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE), NECC collaborated with the Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center (AACC) to offer a webinar on Formative Assessment featuring national expert Margaret Heritage. Peers from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire departments of education joined representatives from Rhode Island for the event. (June 2009)
Reducing Dropouts: New York City Educator Shares Approach with Massachusetts Educators
SHREWSBURY, MA: Stories from New York City's dropout prevention and recovery struggle were the focus of the second conference of the Massachusetts Dropout Prevention and Recovery Work Group, a subset of the state's Urban Superintendents' Network. More than 100 people from 16 urban districts and charter schools attended in teams to work on district plans and hear JoEllen Lynch, former CEO of the Partnership Support Organization of the New York City Department of Education, describe the impact of a comprehensive study of dropouts in that city. (June 2009)
NECC Webinar Looks at PLCs from SEA and Field Perspectives
ONLINE: The May entry in NECC's ongoing series of webinars on professional learning communities (PLCs) featured Susan Kennedy of the Connecticut Bureau of School and District Improvement and Amy Brodesky, a project director at the Education Development Center. (June 2009)
NECC Staff to Support New Hampshire Conference Work on RTI
CONCORD, NH: With support from NECC, the New Hampshire Response to Intervention (RTI) Task Force and the New Hampshire Department of Education hosted a statewide institute on RTI July 7–9, 2009. The institute featured Shannon Harken of the Heartland (Iowa) Area Education Agency. Discussion and action planning groups were set up to facilitate team interactions and strengthen participants' abilities to support the Response to Intervention framework in their home schools and districts. An Interactive Guide to RTI in New Hampshire is due out soon on the New Hampshire Department of Education's website. (June, 2009)
Iowa Expert Shares Knowledge with New Hampshire RTI Task Force
CONCORD, NH: Shannon Harken of the Heartland (Iowa) Area Education Agency (AEA) spoke on "Lessons from the Implementation Trenches" before the New Hampshire Department of Education’s Response to Intervention (RTI) Task Force on April 7. The Task Force work is supported by staff members of the NECC as part of its New Hampshire initiative. Access the task force’s work through its wiki. (May, 2009)
New Hampshire Summit Continues Work on High School Graduation
CONCORD, NH: The New Hampshire Department of Education planned and conducted a statewide Governor's Summit on High School Graduation on Friday, April 10 for a large audience of superintendents, principals, business leaders, community agencies, and policy makers. (April, 2009)
Nellie Mae, Gates Foundation Commit to Reinvent High School in New England
QUINCY, MA: In a groundbreaking effort to reinvent secondary education, four New England states have formed a regional alliance to prepare every New England student for “college, career, and civic responsibility” in the global economy and community by 2016.
With $1 million from the Nellie Mae Educational Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the New England Secondary School Consortium will bring together education leaders from Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont to share resources, talents, and expertise and explore cost-saving efficiencies. Participation is open to Massachusetts and Connecticut as well. (January, 2009)
Recording now available: "Knowing Mathematics for Teaching" Webinar
Noted mathematics education researcher Deborah Loewenberg Ball, Dean of Education and Professor of Education at the University of Michigan, presented at a November, 2008 NECC webinar on the kind of mathematics knowledge teachers need to have. The recording of this webinar, along with a copy of her Powerpoint presentation, is now available. (January, 2009)
"Formative Assessment: Improving Teaching and Learning" Now Available
"Formative Assessment: Improving Teaching and Learning," a webinar conducted by Margaret Heritage and Ellen Osmundson of UCLA’s National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST), is now available online. The 90-minute webinar covers a broad range of ways to improve formative assessment in schools and classrooms. Access to the webinar and ancillary materials is available at http://www.schoolsmovingup.net/cs/wested/view/e/3352. (January, 2009)
State news
Connecticut www.state.ct.us/sde/
Massachusetts www.doe.mass.edu/news.asp
Maine www.maine.gov/education/news.htm
New Hampshire www.ed.state.nh.us/education/news.htm
Rhode Island www.ridoe.net/news/
Vermont www.state.vt.us/educ/new/html/mainnew.html
NCLB news
New and archived NCLB news from the U.S. Department of Education
www.ed.gov/nclb/
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