The need for materials, training, guidance from district administrators, and access to staff with expertise in serving students with disabilities is especially acute in schools that serve primarily black and Latino students, a new survey finds.

Rural families are less likely to use special education or early intervention services than children living in urban areas, a new Centers for Disease Control survey reveals.

With the coronavirus pandemic pressing tens of thousands of the nation's school districts into extended closures, education administrators across the nation are wrestling with a complex and legalistic problem: how to keep services flowing for students with disabilities.

Amid coronavirus-related school closures, advocates worry Education Secretary Betsy DeVos may waive requirements of special education law if Congress signs off. Schools say it's difficult to meet some requirements during the pandemic.

I was just sitting down to write this week's column when the Red Arrows flew right over my head.

PARTICK Thistle today branded the SPFL a "disgrace" for failing to inform them that league reconstruction had been abandoned and revealed they are "deeply angered" by Ladbrokes Premiership clubs scuppering the plans.

David Gozal
Sep 1, 1998; 102:616-620
ARTICLES

G. C. Liggins
Oct 1, 1972; 50:515-525
ARTICLES

Coleen A. Boyle
Jun 1, 2011; 127:1034-1042
ARTICLES

Barbara J. Stoll
May 1, 2011; 127:817-826
ARTICLES

Mary Ellen Avery
Jan 1, 1987; 79:26-30
ARTICLES

Vinod K. Bhutani
Jan 1, 1999; 103:6-14
ARTICLES

Kate Costeloe
Oct 1, 2000; 106:659-671
ARTICLES

Cynthia L. Ogden
Jan 1, 2002; 109:45-60
ARTICLES

We talk a lot about blended learning opportunities in my district, asking ourselves whether we are offering the most beneficial learning opportunities for both staff and students. We're looking to provide quality online learning resources to students when they are outside of our classrooms, as well

The champion of disruptive innovation in business and education passed away this month. One of Christensen's co-authors of "Disrupting Class," Michael B. Horn, assesses the impact his late colleague had on schools.

As the world continues to face the ongoing impacts of the global coronavirus pandemic, Penn State President Eric Barron outlined Friday the University’s actions over the past five months to address the challenges, protect the health and safety of the University community, and prepare for the future.

A new study finds that materials often portray scientists as geniuses working alone—a framing that can make students think science isn't for them.

Lima, Peru, Apr 23, 2020 / 10:02 am (CNA).- As the ongoing coronavirus lockdown in Peru leaves the working poor in a vulnerable situation, one priest has been working to ensure that thousands in need have access to food.

Fr. Omar Sánchez Portillo is the secretary general of Caritas Lurín, on metro Lima’s south side.

Sánchez has distributed more than 15,000 food baskets, with the help of donors and volunteers at the Beatitudes Association, which he founded, since the nationwide quarantine was declared March 15. Peru’s Ministry of Health has confirmed 19,000 cases of coronavirus with 530 deaths.

Recently, Sánchez also received a donation of 5,000 live chickens from a poultry farm. He found himself needing to quickly process the chickens for distribution.

Sánchez turned to his fellow priests in the diocese of Lurín with an appeal on Whatsapp. To his surprise, almost 30 priests showed up to volunteer, including Bishop-elect Cristobal Mejía, who was recently named bishop of Chulucanas.

The priests and other volunteers worked all day, plucking, cleaning and preparing the birds for distribution.

“Today has been a long day,” Sánchez commented on his Facebook page. “Thank you dear priests! Thank you for your example, your work, and your joy. I feel proud to belong to a such an active, alive diocese so full of God, and to be part of a presbyterate full of holiness and enthusiasm for our priestly mission.”

In a statement to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner, Sánchez noted that in the Diocese of Lurín, which is comprised of 55 parishes, there are many poor people who do not have access to electricity or running water.

The priest estimates about 60% of the people in the diocese live in extreme poverty. Southern Lima, where his diocese is located, contains the third and fourth most COVID-infected areas in the country.

Sánchez also pointed out that most Peruvians lack the ability to save money, which leaves vulnerable populations even more at risk during the quarantine.

“A lot of people are out of work and out on the street, a lot of them are temporary workers, many of them earn a living day-to-day,” he said.

So far, volunteers have distributed 75,000 food baskets throughout the South Lima area. However, the needs remain great.

“Every day in the parishes there are people out looking, knocking on doors, that haven’t gotten any food, or what they have gotten isn’t enough and has already run out,” he explained.

 

Penn State Behrend faculty member Michael Campbell has been named distinguished professor of biology. Campbell, who joined the college in 1994, also directs the Lake Erie Regional Grape Research and Extension Center.

Penn State Brandywine’s Sustainovation Team has partnered with Tyler Arboretum to host an online discussion club for podcasts, offering a creative solution for the local community to stay connected during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Don't expect Amazon to use this Print-Color display in a new Kindle any time soon, but we could see Print-Color eReaders in some form by mid-2020.

The Brooklyn District Attorney released data to show the disparities in arrests. The NYPD released data to show the demographics of summonses.

The U.S. coronavirus death toll has surpassed 77,000.

When she began the biology program at Penn State Schuylkill, senior Dominique Varra thought she wanted to study plants. But after conducting field research studying gray catbirds with Luke Redmond, assistant professor of biology, she has discovered a passion for ornithology. And all of her accomplishments have inspired the next generation of scientists, chiefly her five-year-old daughter Hayden, who hopes to follow in her mother’s footsteps.

North Carolina officials' switch in reading-test vendors just weeks before the new school year got underway is spotlighting the often murky process of contracts and procurements for K-12 services.

Allegations that some students lied about having disabilities so they could get special accommodations on college entrance exams have the disabilities community worried about a backlash.

Penn State Law in University Park will host "A Take on the Term" with Sarah Harrington and Erin Murphy, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, March 5, in the Sutliff Auditorium of the Lewis Katz Building.

The Coronavirus and International Affairs Roundtable, taking place 9:30 a.m. Friday, April 17, via Zoom, will bring together experts in law and international affairs from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America, and the Caribbean to discuss the broader impact of COVID-19.

For their longstanding support of the Center for the Performing Arts and the Penn State community, Deb and Stan Latta have been named the center’s 2020 Distinguished Service Award recipients.

A district added unarmed guards to all schools as national uproar over an alleged rape case involving two football players continues to mount.

Elon Musk confirms that Disney+ is 'coming soon' to the Tesla Theater.

Priced this low, it could sell out at any moment, and this deal is only valid until January 19, so order now.

Apple's new $4,999 Pro Display XDR monitor (and its $1,000 stand) may sound mighty expensive on the surface. It has the potential to upend a whole industry, however—it's made to compete with panels five to ten times the price. We have one in-house, and here are our first impressions.

Not exactly an impulse buy but priced well below Wacom pen displays like the Cintiq 16, the Wacom One is a fine product for students, doodlers, and casual artists who'd like to write and sketch digitally.

Apple's Pro Display XDR provides exceptional color accuracy and build quality at a price that's quite competitive with those of reference-grade pro monitors. It's exquisite enough that swallowing the wildly extravagant cost of its Pro Stand is worth it.

030 - Venues for finals of UEFA 2015 club competitions chosen

Don't rely on Facebook's self-regulation to save us from election interference in this year's critical elections. In fact, despite a PR push to the contrary, the company is doubling down on the access it sells to would-be meddlers.

A new survey of school districts and CMOs will provide new insights into trends, and complement other data on teachers and principals.

Source: www.youtube.com - Friday, May 08, 2020

CNA Staff, May 1, 2020 / 12:09 pm (CNA).- The Turkish foreign ministry on Wednesday rejected Turkey's inclusion in a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, charging that the report comes from a “biased mindset”.

“The report contains baseless, unaccredited and vague allegations as in the past years while trying to portray isolated incidents as violations of religious freedoms through far-fetched accusations,” Hami Aksoy, a spokesperson for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said April 29.

“The importance attached by Turkey to protect religious freedoms, including those of religious minorities, is expressed at the highest level by our Government officials. Our authorities make it clear that any harm to the religious freedoms of our citizens will not be tolerated,” Aksoy added.

In its 2020 report, USCIRF recommended that the State Department add Turkey, as well as 10 other countries, to a “Special Watch List” of countries where abuses of religious minorities are taking place, but not at a level as severe as in those designated as “countries of particular concern.”

The commission wrote that “religious freedom conditions in Turkey remained worrisome” in 2019, “with the perpetuation of restrictive and intrusive governmental policies on religious practice and a marked increase in incidents of vandalism and societal violence against religious minorities.”

It cited the Turkish government's prevention of the election of board members for non-Muslim religious groups and its limitations on the election of the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople.

The report added that Alevis, a group related to Shia Islam and the country's largest religious minority, “remained unable to gain official recognition for their gathering houses (cemevleri) as places of worship or to exempt their children from compulsory religious classes, despite European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings finding that these policies violated Alevis’ rights.”

According to the US commission, Turkish religious minorities “expressed concerns that governmental rhetoric and policies contributed to an increasingly hostile environment and implicitly encouraged acts of societal aggression and violence.”

The report also drew attention to the permission given for a museum, that was originally a Greek Orthodox church and later a mosque, to be reconverted into a mosque. It noted also that president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called for the same thing to happen to the Hagia Sophia, which has the same history.

USCIRF also said the Turkish government has “continued to dismiss, detain, and arrest individuals affiliated with, or accused of affiliation with, the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, for alleged complicity in a July 2016 coup attempt or involvement in terrorist activity.”

Gülen has lived in the US since 1999, and is considered a terrorist by the Turkish government.

The Turkish foreign ministry charged that Gülen's mention in the report “amounts to deliberately turning a blind eye” to the coup attempt, and added: “We invite the US authorities to earnestly examine the evidence we have provided” about the Gülen movement “and to engage in effective cooperation in line with the spirit of alliance in order to reveal the true nature of this terrorist organization.”

Aksoy added that the recommendation of adding Turkey to a “special watch list” for religious freedom “is a clear indication of the biased mindset behind it and the circles under whose influence it was drawn up.”

“In the report that is supposed to include global trends that threaten religious freedoms, the Commission does not mention a single word about xenophobia, Islamophobia and discrimination on religious grounds that is on the rise in the West and the US,” Aksoy stated.

“This clearly reveals that the purpose of the report is not to protect religious rights and freedoms. It is clear that the Commission, which has been accused of being anti-Muslim in the past, has drawn up this report based on its unwarranted agenda and priorities under the influence of circles that are hostile to Turkey, rather than objective criteria. We recommend the authors of this report to look in the mirror and engage in self-criticism.”

Earlier this year, Turkish authorities arrested a Syriac Orthodox priest on terrorism charges after he provided bread and water to members of a Kurdish separatist group that has been deemed illegal.

Nairobi, Kenya, May 3, 2020 / 06:01 am (CNA).- At a one-room house outside Nairobi, a 23-year-old girl with disabilities claps her hands and throws herself at Sr. Rose Catherine Wakibiru, who has been visiting girls with disability at their homes since the Kenyan government closed schools last month over coronavirus.

The girl, referred to as Faith, “is deaf and dumb,” Sr. Rose Catherine of the Assumption Sisters of Nairobi, told ACI Africa April 27. “She is autistic and has cerebral palsy and so she doesn’t know anything about social distancing. She has pure love in her heart and she can’t stop embracing people to show how happy she is.”

Faith lived at Limuru Cheshire Home along with 60 other girls who have physical or intellectual disabilities, before the pandemic.

Sr. Rose Catherine, administrator of the home, called the girls’ parents and guardians to retrieve their children when schools were closed. 

“Most parents we called were not ready to pick their girls,” Sr. Rose Catherine said, adding that many girls at Cheshire home are drawn from poor backgrounds and that most come from informal settlements around Nairobi.

The nun explained that Faith initially lived with her mother and three siblings in a Nairobi slum, but they moved to another settlement “three weeks ago when their house was washed away in floods.”

When their house was washed away, Faith’s mother gave out her children to different well-wishers and looked for a place to stay herself. Later, friends helped her to get a single-roomed house where she stays with her three children and goes out to look for menial jobs to sustain her family.

Such jobs are hard to come by amid the restrictions due to coronavirus, and the family may be thrown out of their home as the mother is unable to pay for it.

Sr. Rose Catherine said five residents of the Cheshire home were taken in by other families, as they had nowhere to go.

“I know all [the] families that have their daughters here and I have an idea of those that can accommodate a girl [who] isn’t their own. So when I made those calls, I would ask a parent if they were willing to take care of an extra girl. That’s how I got all the five girls a place to stay,” said Sr. Rose Catherine.

To ease the burden of the foster parents, Limuru Cheshire Home supplies the girls with basic necessities such as food, soap, and sanitary materials in their new homes.

Some families were reluctant to have their daughters back home, and Sr. Rose Catherine said the biggest challenge for girls with disabilities and their families during coronavirus is poverty.

Most of the families “live on daily wages, and with their girls around they can’t go out and work as they used to. All the girls at the facility are special needs cases and they need someone to look after them” at all times, the nun said.

The girls also come last in families that grapple with lack of basic needs, such as food. When there is little food to share, children with disabilities do not get any of it, Sr. Rose Catherine reported.

“I have been to a home where I found my girl watching her siblings eat. When I asked her brother why her sister wasn’t eating anything, he said there was very little food in the house,” Sr. Rose Catherine recounted. “Children with disabilities are treated as second-rate individuals. People only think about them when everybody else has had their fill.”

Many of the girls’ families have asked the Assumption Sisters of Nairobi for help since having the girls returned to their care, and Sr. Rose Catherine has made at least eight home visits in recent weeks.

On each home visit, families are supplied with food, masks, and sanitizer.

“What we have at the moment is only enough to keep the families going for one more week, yet we have outreach plans for next week. We can only plan and hope that well-wishers will come on board to touch the lives of these vulnerable girls and their families,” Sr. Rose Catherine said.

 

A version of this story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA's African news partner. It has been adapted by CNA.

Rural schools struggle with high and lows more commonly associated with urban schools, including high rates of poverty, low literacy rates, and low college attendance rates, a new report finds.

Principals who also teach are a long tradition in a rural Maryland school system, where teachers and school leaders alike attest to the benefits. But some education leadership experts argue the double duty wouldn't work in all schools.

Ahead of the Black Friday sale, Fin24 presenter Moeshfieka Botha talks to Vincent Hoogduijn, the CEO of e-commerce at Media 24, about discounts, spending your money wisely and Black Friday FOMO.

Jane's Skype conversations with Fariha across the world in Bangladesh helped Fariha learn English while providing an opportunity to share the love of Jesus.

The pharmaceutical retailer says it was forced to increase prices of surgical masks because of suppliers' inflated quotes and to match competitors, while the commission says retailers could have been following Dis-Chem's lead.

Everyone's thinking about the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), and wondering if there are any cases near where they live. I recently used SAS Software to create a dashboard with a world map showing which countries had reported cases. And now that the virus has spread around the world, a world/country-level [...]

The post Tracking the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the United States appeared first on Graphically Speaking.

Now that COVID-19 is spreading in the US, I thought it might be helpful to view the data at a more granular level. Follow along as I plot the county data on a map and discuss how the color-binning can influence people's perception of the data. Maps like this can [...]

The post Tracking Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the US at the state/county level appeared first on Graphically Speaking.

Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) along with Governor Markell and their partners today held the 2012 Governor’s Conference on Housing. The event brought together over 400 housing professionals and residents from throughout Delaware and surrounding states to discuss important issues in housing ranging from homeownership, affordable rental housing, special needs populations and other hot topics. Attendees had the opportunity to discuss regional, state and local perspectives on today’s affordable housing climate, and the event provided strategies to address current and future housing needs.