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Legislative and Policy Advocacy: IDEA Reauthorization
Council for Exceptional Children: http://capwiz.com/cek/home/
The legislative advocacy website from CEC, Council for Exceptional Children,
a membership organization for teachers and other professionals serving
children with disabilities. This site offers live links and ideas for
emailing or writing letters to legislators. It also offers CEC’s
perspective on what needs to be changed in the federal IDEA statute,
as well as on other federal legislation (such as NCLB/ESEA).
National Center for Learning Disabilities: http://capwiz.com/ld/home/
The legislative advocacy website from NCLD, National Center for Learning
Disabilities, a membership organization whose goal is to strengthen
public policy in relation to issues impacting individuals with learning
disabilities. This site offers live links and ideas for emailing or
writing letters to legislators on IDEA as well as on No Child Left Behind
(NCLB or ESEA legislation) and other issues pertinent to learning disabilities
issues.
DAWN: Disability Advocates: Wisconsin Network: http://www.dawninfo.org/
DAWN is a statewide grassroots cross-disability network of people who
care about disability issues. DAWN supports legislative change in the
programs and systems affecting people with all disabilities. DAWN focuses
on the most important issues affecting all people with disabilities.
It includes people with disabilities, family members, friends, service
providers and others who are committed to enhancing the lives of people
with disabilities.
Teaching Kids to Self-Advocate
Student’s Guide to the IEP: http://www.nichcy.org/stuguid.asp
What is your IEP? Why do you need to be part of your IEP team? How can
you help write your own IEP? NICHCY's Student's Guide to the IEP gives
kids the information they need. It includes handouts (easy to read)
and taped information. Free!
Kidzone at LD Online: http://www.ldonline.org/kidzone/kidzone.html
Plenty of easy-to-read, high interest, kid-friendly information about
learning disabilities, ADD and ADHD, coping in school, and more. Also,
links to additional information about students’ rights, planning
for life after high school. Most pertains to LD, ADD, or ADHD, but much
is easily applicable to the needs of students with other types of disabilities.
Starbright: http://www.starbright.org/
The STARBRIGHT Foundation offers a variety of projects and resources
that “empower seriously ill children to combat the medical and
emotional challenges they face on a daily basis.” STARBRIGHT projects
do more than educate or entertain: they address the core issues that
accompany illness – the pain, fear, loneliness, and depression
that can be as damaging as the sickness itself.
"Just Because We Have A Disability Doesn't Mean We BYTE!"
http://library.thinkquest.org/11799/
This site, developed by kids, for kids and others as part of a “Thinkquest”
competition, helps users understand how it is to be different. It discusses
both visual disabilities (the ones you can see, like cerebral palsy)
and invisible ones (such as bulimia or ADD) and how they affect one's
entire life. Simulations are offered to help users to step into another's
shoes. There’s a lot of reading, but print is large and reading
level is reasonable. Teachers or parents could easily use the concepts
here to develop their own projects or explorations.
Youth to Youth: http://www.childrenwithdisabilities.ncjrs.org/kids.html
Part of the federally funded Children with Disabilities website (http://www.childrenwithdisabilities.ncjrs.org/)
this site features links to various online resources for children and
youth with disabilities.
Disability Etiquette Handbook http://www.sanantonio.gov/planning/disability_handbook/
disability_handbook.asp?res=800&ver=true San Antonio, TX prepared
this “disability etiquette handbook” for its community members.
It includes tips, information, and general advocacy tips related to
living, working, and relating to individuals with disabilities. It would
be a good resource for discussion and practice, particularly for older
students, as they learn to self-advocate.
Self-Advocacy: http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/transition/transition_self_advocacy.html
This article, written for educators, includes ideas and references related
to increasing self-advocacy skills for teens and younger children.
Job Accommodations: http://janweb.icdi.wvu.edu/links/adalinks.htm
Many students with disabilities are never taught their civil rights,
or how to advocate effectively for them. The Job Accommodation Network
(US Dept of Commerce) offers a content-rich site on the ADA, with numerous
links to additional information, including plenty of information related
to accommodations in the workplace. Although the reading level is high
(adult), the content could easily be adapted for classroom use with
teens and preteens.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC): http://www.eeoc.gov/
This federal agency helps enforce federal laws related to discrimination
on the basis of age, sex, disability, equal pay and compensation, race,
etc. This site offers links to easy-to-understand resources. Links available
in Spanish, Hmong, Korean, and other languages.
Guide to Disability Rights Laws: http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/disabilityrights.html
This guide, prepared by the National Council on Disability and the National
Urban League, provides a summary of federal civil rights laws that ensure
equal opportunity for people with disabilities. Summarizes and links
for all the federal disability rights laws (ADA, IDEA, 504, Fair Housing,
and more).
Self-Advocacy Guides: http://www.acdl.com/selfguides.html
The Arizona Center for Disability Law offers several self-advocacy guides
covering different disability-related legal issues free of charge. Topics
include housing, employment, education, fair housing and more. Written
for adults, the materials (mostly PDF files) could be adapted to work
with students unable to access the reading level.
People First Wisconsin: A Self-Advocacy Movement: http://www.peoplefirstwi.org/
Find out (and have your students learn) about People First, a growing
self-advocacy movement. This site offers links to articles and information
and allows students to join the organization. Educators and others can
join as well, as “Friends of” members. Members receive the
publication “On the Move” as well as other benefits.
Recreation, Sports, and Travel: http://www.icdi.wvu.edu/others.htm#recreation
Links to organizations and companies providing assistance and opportunities
for travel and recreation for individuals with disabilities. This site
will probably open the eyes of many educators, parents and students
as to what really IS possible for individuals with disabilities of every
type!
Primary Audience: Students, educators, parents
Evaluations via the Educators' Reference Desk: http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/res.cgi/Evaluation
Resource guides, question archives, and ERIC database searches.
Testing Students Unable to Take Standardized Tests (Wisconsin):
http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dlsea/een/assmt_api.html
Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction offers extensive information
on how and why IEP Teams and districts use Alternate Assessment and
Alternative Performance Indicators (APIs). This site also includes sample
APIs, questions to consider when developing APIs, and a downloadable
worksheet that IEP Teams and educators can use.
Diverse Opinions Regarding the Import of Standardized Testing:
http://www.enc.org/topics/assessment/testing/
Read a wide variety of opinions and review current research regarding
the impact and appropriateness of standardized testing on this website
hosted by the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and
Science Education. ENC's mission is to "identify effective curriculum
resources, create high-quality professional development materials, and
disseminate useful information and products to improve K-12 mathematics
and science teaching and learning."
Guide and Caution on High-Stakes Testing: http://www.aera.net/about/policy/stakes.htm
American Educational Research Association (AERA) is "the nation's
largest professional organization devoted to the scientific study of
education." This position statement on high-stakes testing is based
on the 1999 Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. The
Standards "represent a professional consensus concerning sound
and appropriate test use in education and psychology." They are
sponsored and endorsed by the AERA together with the American Psychological
Association (APA) and the National Council on Measurement in Education
(NCME). This statement is intended as a guide and a caution to policy
makers, testing professionals, and test users involved in high-stakes
testing programs.
Accountability, Standards and Reform
Educators' Reference Desk: Standards: http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi/Resources/Evaluation/Standards.html
A collection of links to websites offering a variety of views on standards
in education and the standards/reform movement. Articles include "classroom
view" perspectives, as well as critique and analysis by such educator
groups as the American Federation of Teachers, and an annotated list
of websites with information on K-12 standards.
National Center for Special Education Accountability Monitoring:
http://www.monitoringcenter.lsuhsc.edu/
The National Center for Special Education Accountability Monitoring
(NCSEAM), also known as the National Monitoring Center, is federally
funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) of the U.S.
Department of Education to assist states, local agencies, and OSEP in
the implementation of focused monitoring and evidenced-based decision-making
about compliance with federal law so that improved results are achieved
for children with disabilities and their families. NCSEAM is housed
at the Human Development Center at Louisiana State University Health
Sciences Center, New Orleans.
Special Education in an Era of School Reform: Accountability, Standards
and Assessment: http://www.dssc.org/frc/pubs/erickson.pdf
This is a 46-page PDF document written by Dr. Ronald Erickson for the
Federal and Regional Resource Centers Network. It is part of a series
on contemporary school reform and its impact on special education. While
it is not "light reading," it is very informative and offers
research-based information.