ASCD Leader to Leader (L2L) News is a monthly e-mail newsletter for ASCD constituent group leaders that builds capacity to better serve members, provides opportunities to promote and advocate for ASCD’s Whole Child Initiative, and engages groups through sharing and learning about best practices. To submit a news item for the L2L newsletter, send an e-mail to constituentservices@ascd.org.

 

• Register for the Leader to Leader (L2L) Conference. Learn more and register at www.ascd.org/l2lconference. E-mail l2levent@ascd.org with questions.
   
• Apply for the Whole Child Network of Schools by April 30. Learn more at www.ascd.org/wholechildnetwork.
   
• Register for the Whole Child Virtual Conference: Moving from Implementation to Sustainability to Culture, May 3–11, 2012. This event is free to all who wish to attend. Register now!
   
• Review the proposed changes to the ASCD Constitution for the upcoming vote. ASCD members will be asked to vote on a set of proposed changes to the ASCD Constitution in early May 2012. Click on www.ascd.org/governance to read a message from President Paul Healey and to access a copy of the ASCD Constitution with the proposed new language. Voting will open on May 4 here on the ASCD website.
   
• Submit a proposal for the 2013 ASCD Annual Conference. ASCD is accepting proposals until May 15 for the 2013 Annual Conference themed “Learning: Our Story. Our Time. Our Future”. Visit the ASCD website for more information and to access the online submission form.
   
• Write for Educational Leadership. Would you like to publish a manuscript in Educational Leadership? ASCD is looking for high-quality, original submissions that shed light on our monthly themes. We will also consider non-theme related articles for Special Topics. View the complete list of our upcoming 2012–13 themes and deadlines.

 

 

 

 

 

Leaders in Action: News from the ASCD Community

 

Hofstra University ASCD Student Chapter Helps Students in Kenya and Liberia

 Hofstra ASCD University has already donated $4,800 to help build schools in Kenya and Liberia, and they’re planning to donate more. Read their story on ASCD EDge.

 

Spanish Speaking Educators Support the Whole Child

These Spanish speaking ASCD leaders know “toda la persona es importante.” Watch and share the whole child video.

 

Outstanding Young Educator Award Winners Announced
Liliana Aguas, teacher at Leconte Elementary School in Berkeley Calif., and Matt McClure, superintendent of Cross County Schools in Arkansas, are ASCD’s 2012 Outstanding Young Educator Award (OYEA) Winners! ASCD honored Aguas and McClure at the 67th  Annual Conference and Exhibit Show in Philadelphia, Pa. The 2012 OYEA honorees are Tiffany Anderson, Daniel Kimberg, and Catherine Ousselin.

Learn more about the winners and the OYEA program at www.ascd.org/oyea.

 

Affiliate Awards Announced
At the Leadership Appreciation Luncheon on Sunday, March 25, 2012, ASCD honored ASCD affiliates for their exemplary service to the education community with Affiliate Excellence Awards.

This year, North Carolina ASCD received an Overall Excellence Award. Rhode Island ASCD and Virginia ASCD received Area of Excellence Awards. Read the press release on ASCD.org.

 

Colorado Common Core State Standards Summit

Nearly 500 educators attended ASCD’s Common Core State Standards Summit in Westminster, Colo., in early March. In addition to providing attendees with the latest information about the status of the state’s standards implementation efforts, school leaders gave feedback about their biggest challenges and needs in putting the standards into practice.

Learn more information about the partnerships and what was discussed at the Colorado Common Core State Standards Summit. 

 

Debra Hill Takes Office as ASCD President 

In Debra Hill’s career as an educator, she has worked at just about every level of education, from classroom teacher to superintendent to university professor. One thing she plans to focus on during her tenure as ASCD President is strengthening partnerships that support the Whole Child Initiative. “I believe the Whole Child Initiative can really help to refocus, reform, and revolutionize the conversation about education”, says Hill. Read more about Hill in the Conference Daily archive.

 

Emerging Leaders and Student Chapters Ignite ASCD Annual Conference

The afternoon of Friday, March 23, 2012, members of ASCD Student Chapters and Emerging Leaders presented at our first Ignite Session. With the motto of “Enlighten us, but make it quick,” this event was the first of its kind for ASCD. After watching a series of five-minute presentations on various topics, attendees participated in a fast-paced, hands-on networking activity. It was a unique opportunity for Emerging Leaders and Student Chapter members to meet and mingle together. Read the recap on ASCD EDge.

 

Legislative Committee Members Talk with U.S. Dept. of Education Representative about RESPECT

ASCD Legislative Committee members David Mathis, Marie Adair, Nick Dussault, Nancy Gibson, and Jeff Stephens (along with ASCD public policy staff) met with Gamal Sherif, a U.S. Department of Education Teaching Ambassador Fellow, during an Annual Conference luncheon to discuss federal policy issues. Sherif was most interested in hearing ASCD’s perspective on the Obama administration’s new RESPECT initiative and was very responsive to Legislative Committee members’ concerns about the need to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as well as the importance of providing support for teachers and principals in this difficult economic climate.

 

Events

• California ASCD presents a networking event for young educators in San Francisco on May 11, the first of three events to be held in the state.
• Indiana ASCD presents an information session on April 18 from 5-7p.m., Teacher Evaluations and the Common Core State Standards: What’s Coming and What You Need to Know!
• Iowa ASCD in collaboration with the Iowa Department of Education, presents Iowa ASCD Curriculum Leadership Academy.
• Massachusetts ASCD is planning a joint workshop on creativity in July. It will be a combination of research presentations, hands-on demos, technology and time for district teams to create projects to share. 
• New Hampshire ASCD presents Middle & High School Common Core Math Workshop.

 

Other News

• Arkansas ASCD leaders met with House Education Chairman John Kline (R-MN) to discuss ESEA reauthorization. Chairman Kline said he expects that his ESEA bills will be sent to the House floor sometime this summer.
• Missouri ASCD is working on getting a Whole Child Resolution passed this legislative session.
• ASCD Multiple Intelligences Professional Interest Community facilitator Tom Hoerr published an article on The Whole Child and Maslow in ASCD Express.
• ASCD Professional Learning Communities Professional Interest Community wishes to thank everyone who attended the “Professional Learning Communities: Lessons Learned” at Annual Conference.
• New Jersey ASCD hosted a P-16 summit on the Common Core State Standards on March 30. The symposium was attended by more than 200 educators.
• South Carolina ASCD has instituted a Whole Child Award, which will recognize schools making sure children are healthy, safe, engaged, supported and challenged. Awards will be presented at the South Carolina Fall Conference.
• Virginia ASCD’s Influence Committee initiated a push to make the Virginia General Assembly Representatives and Senators aware of its organization and purpose. The focus of a visit with delegates was to introduce the Virginia ASCD, pointing out its purpose and discussing critical issues that face educators in Virginia. Currently, school divisions are still waiting for a final state budget from the General Assembly and the Governor.

 

 

 

 

Throughout April on www.wholechildeducation.org : Whole Child Network of Schools

In May, ASCD will select a small group of schools from across the United States and Canada to become part of our Whole Child Network (WCN). WCN schools will receive a $10,000 grant for the 2012–2013 school year and individualized support from ASCD in developing a plan to implement a whole child approach to education in their schools, including a needs assessment and implementation support to ensure a sustainable, comprehensive approach. The schools chosen for the WCN will commit to a comprehensive school improvement process that will use the Whole Child Tenets—healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged—and their indicators (PDF) as their sustainable approach.  ASCD’s WCN is open to all schools (e.g., public, charter, private) of any grade level within the United States and Canada.

To apply go to www.ascd.org/wholechildnetwork   Deadline: April 30^th, 2012

 

 

ESEA Reauthorization: The Never-Ending Story

What will happen if our nation's leaders fail to reauthorize ESEA this year, and current law continues to operate on autopilot? ASCD’s spring edition of Policy Priorities examines this question, drawing on insight from education leaders from across the political spectrum and across job responsibilities. The policy newsletter succinctly captures NCLB’s deep, structural flaws; outlines the House and Senate’s current efforts to overhaul the federal education law; describes the Obama administration’s attempts to circumvent the trickiest parts of the law by offering states NCLB waivers with strings attached; and summarizes transition challenges states are likely to face as they implement Common Core State Standards within NCLB’s outdated framework.

  

Something to Talk About

·         Preparing Next Generation Citizens with iCivics,  ASCD Inservice

·         Three Questioning Strategies for Any Lesson,ASCD Inservice

·         Gaps Close When Whole Child Beliefs are Matched with Actions, ASCD Inservice

·         Most recent blog posts on ASCD EDge

·         Most-clicked stories from ASCD SmartBrief.

 

Association News

·         ASCD Debuts Digital 2011 Annual Report—ASCD announces the release of the association’s 2011 Annual Report, entitled “Creating Revolution: The Next Chapter in the ASCD Story.” Designed to convey the perspective of real educators, the report details how each component of ASCD’s work in 2011 positively affected the education practice. The exclusively digital report is easy to access and share on Internet-ready devices anywhere in the world. Read the full press release on ASCD.org.

·         ASCD and Pearson Debut New Principal Compass™ Online Professional Development Tool—At the association’s 67thAnnual Conference and Exhibit Show, ASCD and Pearson, the world’s leading learning company, debuted the new online, comprehensive leadership program, Principal Compass. Created in collaboration with Robert Marzano and the Marzano Research Laboratory, Principal Compass is a cloud-based program that helps increase leadership effectiveness for K— 12 principals and their teams. Read the full press release.

·     ASCD Publishes Guidebook for Coming Out on Top Even When Teaching Gets Tough—ASCD is pleased to announce the release of When Teaching Gets Tough: Smart Ways to Reclaim Your Game, a new book by seasoned educator and school psychologist Allen Mendler. Read the full press release.