As sad as it is to see summer come to an end, NICHCY is extremely excited to share their Top Ten Resources for a Successful 2009-2010 school year for students, parents, teachers and school administrators!

 

1. Starting with the first "R"

Reading Rockets has posted some wonderful tips for both teachers and parents preparing for the start of the school year.
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/25997

 

2. Parents & educators, check out Bookshare!

This organization provides accessible books and periodicals for readers with print disabilities free for all U.S. students with qualifying disabilities. Student memberships are currently funded by an award from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). Don’t miss out on this great resource!

http://www.bookshare.org

 

3. So what is all of this talk about Response to Intervention???

IDEA Partnership has put together an easy-to-use, easy-to-understand set of “dialogue guides” to help parents, teachers, and school districts understand this new way to assess students. Use this tool to help facilitate discussion.

http://www.ideapartnership.org/page.cfm?pageid=28

 

4. ARRA: You’ve got the money, now what?

How can we possibly ignore all this money? The National High School Center has created a helpful tool for school administrators.

http://www.betterhighschools.com/docs/NHSC.ARRA.HS.Funding.Summary.pdf

 

5. Testing, testing, testing…

So with all of this talk about teacher accountability and progress monitoring of students, what does it actually all mean? Check out the National Center on Response to Intervention! They’ve put together a great toolkit for teachers and administrators.

http://www.rti4success.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1172&Itemid=150

 

6. What do you want to be when you grow up?

High school students, now is the time to start thinking about applying to college for early acceptance. Considering a career in teaching? Check out the Personnel Center’s database. You can find a program that fit your interest as well as FUNDING! That’s right, get paid to become a special education teacher.

http://www.personnelcenter.org/get.cfm

 

7. Just what are they talking about?!

Parents it can be intimidating and frustrating when you go into a meeting to discuss your child’s reading progress and you don’t understand all of the terminology. Reading Rockets has put together a great resource outlining key terms for you to know as the school year starts back up. (O.K., so we like Reading Rockets, but what's not to like?)

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/32802

 

8. Evidence-based practices and the innovation money.

As administrators are trying to think of ways to get a piece of the grant money from Race to the Top and the Innovation grant, check out the Center on Instruction’s research resources as you think of program development. Adolescent Literacy Walk Through Guide for Principals

http://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/Adol%20Lit%20Walk%20Through.pdf

 

9. You are graduating high school this year, now what?

Use this activity to help you set a goal for post-graduation. Teachers and students will find this helpful. (This is a really cool resource!)

http://www.nsttac.org/NSTTACVideos/PostSecondaryGoals.aspx

 

10. Bullying: deal with it early in the school year!

Administrators, District Contacts, Parents, PBS Coaches, PBS Teams, Specialists, and Teachers can be proactive after using this presentation for faculty.

For Elementary settings:

http://www.pbis.org/common/pbisresources/publications/bullyprevention_ES.pdf

 

And specifically for Secondary settings:

http://www.pbis.org/common/pbisresources/publications/BullyPrevention_PBS_MS.pdf

 

11. Did we see our top 10 favorite?

Mind if we add one more? Actually our site has a wealth of information and resources to help the back to school transition a positive one. Start on our "Educate Children" page to get started...

 

And you? Do you have favorite back to school resources you'd like to share? We'd love to hear about 'em -- feel free to add a comment below!