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DuPage Educational Foundation c/o DuPage Regional Office of Education 421 N. County Farm Rd. Wheaton IL   60187

Helping Children of Military Families
The departure of a parent for military service can turn a kid’s world upside down. With worries about their parent’s safety and their home life drastically changed, schoolwork will often slip.

DuPage Regional Superintendent of Schools Dr. Darlene Ruscitti was one of the featured presenters at a two-day training conference to help local teachers and school officials better deal with students whose parents serve in the military.

For more information, read the Naperville Sun article at -- http://napervillesun.suntimes.com/news/12129460-418/educators-get-ideas-on-how-to-help-students-deal-with-a-parents-military-service.html

Educators Come Together to Address Bullying
The statistics are staggering and heartbreaking:

• 13 million kids will be bullied in the US this year.
• 3 million kids are absent from school each month because they feel unsafe.
• Two-thirds of middle school faculty and staff report frequently witnessing bullying in their schools.
• One-third of middle school students report feeling that school staff does not do enough to prevent bullying.

These are some of the facts revealed in the documentary movie, Bully which follows the lives of five American teens who have been the target of repeated bullying.

For two evenings in April, the DuPage Regional Office of Education hosted screenings of the movie, with over forty teachers and administrators. The ROE offers support to schools in the area of social-emotional learning and helps educators develop and implement anti-bullying policies and strategies.

After viewing the movie, educators discussed insights and shared ideas for using the film to further develop bullying prevention efforts in their school districts. The movie gave educators an opportunity to consider how their districts were responding to bullying. Some educators wondered if their districts “were doing enough” to protect kids.

Others shared strategies that they felt were working in their schools. One district was intentionally focusing on empowering bystanders. Another district had used a “one book, one school” approach to create common language among parents, students and educators. One educator indicated students had written first person essays about being bullied and read them at a Board of Education meeting. One educator called upon schools to have “uncomfortable conversations” about bullying.

Many educators voiced a desire to provide more staff training, develop more open dialogue with parents, and address behavioral policies and expectations not just in classrooms, but throughout a student’s school day.

For more information on bullying prevention support from the DuPage Regional Office of Education, contact Mary Ellen Young, at myoung@dupage.k12.il.us

New performance evaluation system training plan in place, training to start soon
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois State Board of Education has chosen the CEC Partnership Group – made up of six different entities – to design and implement a performance evaluation-training program that considers student growth measures as well as assessments of professional practice.
This move will enable school districts in Illinois to meet the requirements of the Performance Evaluation Act (PERA) of 2010.
Over an 18-month period, the CEC Partnership Group will develop the training program for approximately 9,000 teacher and principal evaluators and will have a sustainable impact on the quality of teaching and learning and student achievement.
The Consortium for Educational Change is the lead organization and fiscal agent of the Performance Evaluation Growth Through Learning project. Its partners are:

• Center for the Study of Educational Policy at Illinois State University;
• DuPage Regional Office of Education;
• Teachscape;
• The Danielson Group;
• And, Value-Added Research Center at the University of Wisconsin.

PERA requires all Illinois districts to implement a standards-based principal-evaluation system with student achievement indicators by 2012 and teacher evaluation systems with student achievement indicators by varying dates in 2016.
By May 2012, the CEC Partnership Group will begin its initial prequalification trainings. Training content, materials and assessments will be developed and validated by a statewide committee of experts in order to make sure they are of the highest quality.
The CEC Partnership Group also will provide technical assistance to districts developing highly effective teacher and principal evaluation systems, including providing web-based support and an online library of resources.

In My View: School Panel Must Get Results This Time Around - by Darlene Ruscitti
You may recall my colleagues and I were thrust squarely into the
spotlight last summer when Gov. Pat Quinn decided to veto funding for
regional superintendents' salaries and services. We were able to get our
pay restored through the legislature, but the resulting bill also made
that funding temporary and created a commission to look more closely at
both the Regional Offices of Education and the State Board of Education.
I now want to make clear our priorities for this review process. More

Dr. Ruscitti’s vast experience in collaboration and creating efficiencies will be beneficial to this commission in making recommendations to the General Assembly in 2012.

Certification Fee Increases take effect January 1, 2012
Please click here to find out more information.

Student Safety Always a Top Priority
“Recent events reported in the news have once again brought the issue of student safety to the forefront of public awareness,” said Dr. Darlene Ruscitti, DuPage Regional Superintendent of Schools. “Let us take this as a time to be reminded of our legal and moral responsibilities to the students in our charge.”

“The safety and security of students has always been and will continue to be a top priority for the DuPage Regional Office of Education (ROE) and the educators of our county,” Dr. Ruscitti continued. “Over the past few years, the ROE has taken significant steps, including the development of model policies, to secure the well-being of our students.” more...