Dear Catholic Secondary School Educator:

This edition of E-News features:

NCEA Updates

• Improving Outcomes & Containing Costs Conference, November 12-14, 2009, Chicago
• Smart Choices & Bold Designs for High School Leaders, February 4-6, 2010, New Orleans
• Regional NCEA Meetings: Where are the leaders in your region meeting?
• Catholic superintendents gather in Salt Lake City, UT for an annual conference
• Prepare for Catholic Schools Week with the National Marketing Campaign for Catholic Schools
• New Catholic High Schools?!  Congratulations to Texas’ THREE new schools

Public Policy Updates

• Title II-A funding for NCEA conferences
• Get the latest information about non-public education from the CAPE (Council for American Private Education) newsletter

Professional Development Opportunities

• PBS Teacherline is back and offering high quality, standards-based graduate-level courses
• Kids Can Make A Difference (KIDS), an effort to increase understanding of global poverty
• Online Conference on Building Emotionally Literate Schools: Prevention vs. Intervention
• Maximizing the Potential of Wireless Applications in High School Webinar, November 5
• Apply for a Fullbright to study and teach overseas
• Driving Achievement With Ed Tech, a webinar, November 5, 2009
• Jean Welles Worship Guitar Classes

Curriculum & Learning Opportunities

• Webinar about Integrating Catholic Social Teaching Across the High School Curriculum
• Google Apps for K-12: Tools and Tips for Teaching and Learning, November 10, 2009
• American Center for Educators Online at the National Constitutional Center
• Updated Resources from Education for Justice
• Professional Development Webinars with iEARN-USA (International Education and Resource Network)

Awards, Grants, Student/School Contests and Conferences

• The National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) now online
• Maryknoll 2009 Essay Contest
• 2010 CCHD Multi-Media Youth Arts Contest

In Other News

• The International Confederation of Principals (ICP) website, linking best practices across the globe
• Timely reports from The Wallace Foundation on leadership research
• Staying Positive During Hard Times Improves Leadership?
• Updates from the Student Youth Travel Association

NCEA Updates

Improving Outcomes and Containing Costs, the 5th annual instructional leadership conference, November 12 to 14, 2009, Chicago: The continued challenge for Catholic Schools is “to do more with less” while continuing to maintain excellent educational programs in the context of mission. Join K-12 Catholic Educators from around the country to explore ideas and strategies on how to “think outside the box” to achieve more learning with the same or fewer resources.  Teams of at least two people from a school are encouraged to register: presidents, principals, assistant principals, department chairs, lead teachers, superintendents and assistant superintendents.This year’s conference will be held in Chicago. This conference qualifies for federal funds.Registration information available here.

Smart Choices and Bold Designs, the annual winter leadership conference February 4 to 6, 2010, New Orleans: This conference explores leadership entrepreneurship for leaders at Catholic high schools and howto resource and link bold strategic planning, smart choices, and critical relationships.  The conference provides a national networking conversation that acknowledges leadership challenges during economic downturns as well as looks beyond at how leaders can move forward to sustain the Catholic high school mission.

• Engage colleagues on specific leadership concerns to build knowledge
• Improve communication and marketing of a clear vision
• Increased knowledge about practical and innovative leadership approaches

This conference qualifies for Title II-A funds—click here for a complete breakdown of the schedule and a copy of the conference brochure<<link to come>>.

Regional NCEA Meetings: Where are the leaders in your region meeting?:  Every fall, Sr. Mary Frances Taymans, SND, EdD, visits Catholic high school administrators and teachers at regional meetings held across the country.  This is a splendid time to meet with colleagues from across the country as well as hear Sr. Mary Frances offer a national perspective on Catholic education.  View the regional meeting schedule here and if you are not already in touch with your region’s executive committee member, email him or her today!

Prepare for Catholic Schools Week with the National Marketing Campaign for Catholic Schools:  A Joint Project of NCEA and USCCB, the National Marketing Campaign for Catholic Schools is the only authorized campaign and uses funds raised for Catholic school advocacy, research and leadership development.  Shop now at http://shop.klinemarketing.org/Marketing-CATHOLIC-SCHOOLS-WEEK-Material_c2.htm and get your school community ready for Catholic Schools Week. Orders already placed are being fulfilled now by a new vendor, Brown and Bigelow.  (We apologize for the delay during this transition and thank you for your support and cooperation.) Please call the NEW toll-free number – (877) 772-2289 – to order Catholic Schools Week items. Or use our Web site: www.catholicschoolsweek.org. If you have any questions, please call NCEA at: (800) 711-6232 and ask for Kathy Schmitt or Barbara Keebler.

New Catholic High Schools?!  Congratulations to Texas’ THREE new schools: High school football is about to get three times more exciting.  Three new Catholic high schools have opened in Texas this year!  They are Cristo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory School of Houston (Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston), John Paul II Catholic High School (Archdiocese of San Antonio) and St. Dominic Savio Catholic High School (Diocese of Austin).  Congratulations to these schools leaders, faculty and students.  We wish them all the best as they begin a wonderful journey of education and spiritual formation.

Top

Public Policy Updates

Securing Title II-A funding for NCEA conferences, Some Tips:
From the desk of Sr. Dale McDonald, PBVM, PhD, Director of Public Policy and Research at NCEA:  This is the time to be proactive! Private school officials, at the diocesan level or from an individual school, who negotiate for these programs on behalf of students should:

• be persistent in requesting that consultation take place as required,
• ask questions about formulas and distribution of funds—these are public records,
• insist that the services focus on the needs of the students not the convenience of the LEA,
• inquire as to how the students will be assessed and how the results of the assessment will be used to improve services,
• request a third-party provider if traditional providers are ineffective, and
• make available accurate and complete data required by the LEA.

Pursuing the benefits provided by the federal programs can provide many additional resources to serve Catholic school students and their teachers. Private and religious school students are in the counts that generate these funds and they should be the ones to benefit from them.

Get the latest information about non-public education from the CAPE (Council for American Private Education) newsletter:  The latest newsletter from CAPE includes a summary of the Office of Non-public Education’s conference in addition to progress on saving the DC Opportunity Scholarship.  CAPE Newsletter available here.

Top

Professional Development Opportunities

PBS TeacherLine is back and offering high quality, standards-based graduate-level courses:  PBS TeacherLine has a proven record of offering timely professional development opprotunities for PreK to 12 educators in an accessible online format that makes learning fun, flexible and collaborative. You can earn graduate credit, PDPs, or CEUs while gaining strategies and resources to bring directly to your classroom.
National Fall Term courses are open for enrollment, so browse their catalog to choose the one that's right for you.  Title II-A professional development funds can be applied.

Kids Can Make A Difference (KIDS), an effort to increase understanding of global poverty: Kids Can Make A Difference (KIDS) is an innovative educational program for middle school and high school students. It helps them understand the root causes of hunger and poverty and how they as individuals can take action. Teacher guides are available for purchase in addition to free information on its website.  Visit http://www.kidscanmakeadifference.org/ to learn more, or contact Neil Wollman; Ph. D.; Senior Fellow, Bentley Alliance for Ethics and Social Responsibility; Bentley University; NWollman@Bentley.edu; 260-568-0116.

ONLINE CONFERENCE: Building Emotionally Literate Schools: Prevention vs. Intervention: NYC Dept. of Education's Dist.75 serving 23,000 special needs students in collaboration with Dr. Marc Brackett, Associate Director of Health, Emotion & Behavior Laboratory at Yale University presents this webinar for school administrators and teachers. Date: Nov. 19th & Dec. 3rd, 2009. Time: 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm Registration: $95.00 Click here to register.

Maximizing the Potential of Wireless Applications in High School Webinar, Thursday, November 5, 2009: Hosted by Cellular Specialties, Inc., this webinar is designed specifically for parochial and private schools to address how technology has radically changed education. The webinar will focus on the beneficial role wireless networks will play and the potential funding sources to help pay for them.  The Webinar will open on Thursday, November 5, 2009, 2PM – 3PM EDT (11AM-12PM PDT) with a presentation entitled, Maximizing the Potential of Wireless Applications In High School,and features Arthur James Nelson, President of New Technology Associates.  Register at: http://www.cellularspecialties.com/seminar-registration.aspx?eventID=36.  Contact Crista LaCross at (866) 670-2205, clacross@csiwireless.com, with any questions.

Apply for a Fullbright to study overseas: The Distinguished Awards program offers fellowships to highly accomplished U.S. and international teachers to receive a grant to study at a university, conduct research, teach classes and workshops, and develop a capstone project pertaining to their field of educational inquiry during a semester overseas. This year's participating countries include: Argentina, Finland, India, Israel, Singapore, South Africa, and the United States. Deadline for applying to the Distinguished Awards program is January 15, 2010. *Additional countries may be added prior to the January 15th deadline.

For application forms and more information on both programs, please visit www.fulbrightteacherexchange.org.

Driving Achievement With Ed Tech, a webinar, November 5, 2009: Ed tech is only useful if it improves academic achievement. So what techniques can you use to ensure that technology is advancing achievement, not adding distraction?  On Thursday, November 5, at 2p.m., Education Week will discuss practical methods to use to boost achievement, not confusion, with Ed. Tech.

• Learn how online courses can affordably help rescue students who are in danger of dropping out, giving them a second chance in real time that would otherwise not be available in their brick-and-mortar schools.
• Discover how districts can more effectively analyze data to help improve academic achievement, including specific advice on how teachers should be using data-based decision-making to guide instruction.
• Find out how one-to-one computing can give your students access to higher-quality curricula, topical experts, and multimedia tools.

Don't wait to register. The early-bird rate of $99 ends this Friday, October 23!

Jean Welles Worship Guitar Classes:  Are you already a worship leader but have a difficult time finding musicians to back you?  Are you taking guitar lessons, but looking for more sources to learn from?  If so, check out these popular DVDs and learn dozens of new chords, strumming and fingerpicking patterns and more!  For more information, go to www.worshipguitarclass.com.

Top

Curriculum & Learning Opportunities

Webinar on Integrating Catholic Social Teaching Across the High School Curriculum:  Hosted by NCEA, Education for Justice and Catholic Relief Services, this webinar will enhance instruction, improve learning and affirm Catholic social values in our schools.  High school teachers from all academic disciplines and administrators are invited to engage around this important topic. Research points to increased learning when students see concepts threaded through several disciplines at once, and greater connection across disciplines leads to greater knowledge retention and wider application of content.  Instruction that integrates CST across the high school curriculum offers greater depth and breath in learning and imparts better appreciation of the significance of the whole. 

In addition, we have prepared a brief survey to help us design the webinar.  Please forward this link to your faculty and encourage their participation: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/survey-intro.zgi?p=WEB229MUKRLTPG.  ontact Christiane Connors, cconnors@ncea.org, with any questions. 

Webinar on Google Apps for K-12: Tools and Tips for Teaching and Learning, November 10, 2009:  For those concerned with making your classrooms interactive and collaborative using Google Apps for Education, there will be a live, 60-minute Webinar on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET.  Today's educators are being asked to integrate more and more technology into their schools and classrooms. Google Apps offer a variety of tools to make it easy for educators to communicate with other teachers and students. How can educators, staff & students use these Google tools to create a more interactive learning environment in your school? Register at
http://www.pbconferences.com/MP/0/2/p31VENc/p3KKQ1ZNi/p0e

American Center for Educators Online at the National Constitutional Center:  The American Center for Educators Online is now offering coursework that teachers can apply to their professional development requirements, e.g., 3 credits, 90 hours or certificate of completion.  To learn more about the modules offered, check out: http://www.ace-ncc.org/E37/A5X/?ID=2725837965&C=90011&E=1&T=B&fr=BA.

Updated Resources from Education for Justice: Education for Justice has been upgrading its web site and designing a new and improved interface for members, including features like a login memory, more online workshops or 'webinars,' and an always exciting line-up of new resources. If you are a member, check out the site today.  If your school is not a member, then what are you waiting for?  For an extremely low fee, your faculty will have outstanding resources at their fingertips that address core subject areas with attention to Catholic Social Teaching and justice-related issues.  Sign up now and see what you are missing at http://www.educationforjustice.org/.

Professional Development Webinars with iEARN-USA (International Education and Resource Network): iEARN-USA is announcing an exciting new Professional Development opportunity for its members and prospective members.  We will use Elluminate to conduct webinars to present interactive workshops through the Internet.  The purpose of these is to help teachers get started and effectively use iEARN projects in their classrooms. Registration and information about either of the two webinars, "Adding Multimedia to iEARN Projects," Wednesday, Nov. 4, 6:30-7:30 PM EDT and "Getting Started in iEARN," Tuesday, Nov. 17, 5:30-7:00 PM EDT, is available at http://media.iearn.org/webinar/register or by emailing inquiry_prof_dev@us.iearn.org.

Top

Awards, Grants & Student/School Contests

The National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) now online:  The annual National Catholic Youth Conference will take place on November 19-21, 2009 in Kansas City.  For the young people that can’t make the trip, but would be interested in participating are encouraged to sign up at My Catholic Voice: A Virtual Pilgrimage for 2009NCYC.  The Virtual Pilgrimage offers interactive multimedia that will allow young people to listen to performances by Liam Lawton, Last Day, Matt Maher and Steve Angrisanom and speeches by Fr. Laurence Freedman on “The Art of Happiness” other notable leaders and feel the energy of the Conference.

Maryknoll 2009 Essay Contest:  Every year, Maryknoll distributes nearly $3,000 in scholarship money related to the annual essay contest as well as coverage in its magazine.  This year’s theme is "It's all about me" is a popular slogan for many young people today. But Jesus tells us, "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Luke 10:28). Students are asked to explain how a person can follow Jesus' words in today's self-centered culture.  Students in grades 6–8 (Division I) and grades 9–12 (Division II) qualify. Please specify the division to which the entry is being submitted. The essay should be 500–750 words, and pages should be typed and double-spaced or neatly handwritten in ink and stapled. Entries must be postmarked no later than Tuesday, December 1, 2009. Winning entries will be published in the May/June 2010 MARYKNOLL magazine and online at www.maryknoll.org/winners. For more information, click here, or call 1·888·627·9566, and ask for Student Essay Contest, ext. 2368.

2010 Catholic Campaign for Human Development Multi-Media Youth Arts Contest: The Multi-Media Youth Arts Contest is an annual contest organized by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). The 2010 contest theme is: “Empowering Communities, Uprooting Poverty.” Lesson plans and activities, contest information, and rules can be found here. Please note that all art forms are welcome! Entries are due by March 31, 2010. Please contact Jill Rauh, the CCHD Youth and Young Adult Coordinator, at jrauh@usccb.org for any questions about the contest.

Top

Useful Research Sites & Other News

The International Confederation of Principals (ICP) website, linking best practices across the globe: NCEA members receive reports and research collected by ICP on (1) education systems, (2) general education research, (3) learning and teaching practices and (4) Leadership.   Type in username NCEA and password washington to access these free resources and feel connected to leaders from across the globe. http://www.icponline.org/

Timely reports from The Wallace Foundation on leadership research:  The Wallace Foundation supports and shares research on effective ideas and practices to strengthen education leadership, arts participation and out-of-school learning.  For timely research reports on education leadership, bookmark The Wallace Foundation.

Staying Positive During Hard Times Actually Improves Leadership?:  “How can school leaders learn to sustain positive energy in negative times? How can they find enough inner positive strength to empower other leaders, who in turn support them in nurturing energy throughout the school culture? One key to claiming this positive attitude? Resilience. Resilience is not about merely surviving. It's about emerging from life's storms stronger than before. A resilient leader recovers, learns, and grows stronger in the face of adversity.”  Read more of this article from Educational Leadership, October 2009, vol. 67, no. 2.

Updates from the Student Youth Travel Association: As a NCEA member, you benefit from NCEA’s partnership with Student Youth Travel Association and receive free access to their magazines, newsletters and online resources.  SYTA is the non-profit, professional trade association that promotes student & youth travel and seeks to foster integrity and professionalism among student and youth travel service providers. Check them out at http://www.syta.com/.

Top