Here are some resources available that may help you with your Hurricane Katrina assistance efforts. This collection will be updated as new materials and links become available.

The Department of Education's Hurricane Help for Schools website, http://hurricanehelpforschools.gov/index.html, provides a number of resources and links to provide assistance to schools serving students displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

*The Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement, has just released this Fact Sheet for Victims of Hurricane Katrina. Click here to retrieve the fact sheet.

* In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Connect for Kids has pulled together online resources for helping those affected. They are divided into three sections: Emergency Guidelines for Helping Victims looks at how government agencies are developing procedures for helping the displaced; Giving & Getting Help is a compilation of information on donating and volunteering, also on help available to those affected; and Help with Healing offers information on supporting kids and families dealing with trauma related to Katrina. To download the whole document, visit the Connectforkids website http://www.connectforkids.org/node/3372.

Here are a some links and essential downloads from the FEMA website:

*Home page for FEMA: http://www.fema.gov/ . The FEMA website also includes a FEMA Individual Assistance Center web page (from which an individual may submit an on-line assistance application). Registration can also be done by telephone at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or, for the speech or hearing impaired, at (TTY) 1-800-462-7585. Applicant guides are available in English and Spanish in pdf and txt formats.

*Here is a link to assistance from other agencies (links by disaster by state): https://disasteraid.fema.gov/IAC/DataView.do?page=disasters.

*There is also a Red Cross effort to help people find loved ones who are missing or have become separated. This webpage is operated in Spanish and French in addition to English at http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/katrina.

The National Association of School Psychologists has a "Coping With Reactions to Hurricane Katrina: Information for Parents" tip sheet on their website http://www.nasponline.org/NEAT/katrina_parents.pdf.

No Child Left Behind: A Parents' Guide (June 2003) summarizes the No Child Left Behind Act. It answers common questions about the law, explains what the law does for parents, and tells where to find additional resources. It is available at http://www.ed.gov/parents/academic/involve/nclbguide/parentsguide.pdf.

The U.S. Department of Education has developed a new back-to-school comprehensive checklist. In an August 5th press release introducing the checklist, Secretary Ron Paige says:

"States across the nation will soon be releasing their education report cards and revealing which schools did and did not meet their progress goals. Parents and other citizens will no doubt have a few questions about these changes under the No Child Left Behind Act and what they mean to their child, their school and their community. We've provided a checklist so that busy moms and dads can be sure to ask the right questions. Many factors go into a quality education. These are some that should be closely monitored." The Spanish version is available here.

See the Issues and Opportunities in Out-of-School Time Evaluation Briefs in Beyond the Head County: Evaluating Family Involvement in Out-of-School Time. Go to the Harvard Family Research Project's website at and click on Beyond the Head Count.

The Family Involvement Network of Educators (FINE) has updated our mid-year 2003 Bibliography of Family Involvement Research Family to cover all of 2003. It includes books, journals, dissertations and theses, reports, research briefs and papers. For more information, go to the website at Harvard Family Research Project.

As evidence of the importance of parental involvement in student achievement mounts, states have enacted legislation designed to increase parental involvement in the education process. Nearly all states have some form of parental involvement laws.

States have addressed this issue in a variety of ways, including enacting parental rights legislation and encouraging parents to take a more active role in their children’s education both at school and at home.

Additionally:

17 states direct all districts, boards of education or schools to implement parental involvement policies: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia

17 states have grant or award programs to encourage or recognize schools or districts operating programs involving parents in their child’s education: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Sough Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia (Mississippi operates an award program that recognizes parents who become involved in school improvement efforts.)

15 states encourage, urge, expect or direct employers to enable parents to attend school activities such as parent/teacher conferences: Alabama, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia

For more information, click here.

Harvard Family Research Project's evaluation periodical, The Evaluation Exchange, addresses current issues facing program evaluators of all levels, with articles written by the most prominent evaluators in the field. Designed as an ongoing discussion among evaluators, program practitioners, funders, and policymakers, The Evaluation Exchange highlights innovative methods and approaches to evaluation, emerging trends in evaluation practice, and practical applications of evaluation theory. It goes out to its subscribers free of charge 3–4 times per year. Subscription is free. For more information, or to subscribe, go to their website at Evaluation Exchange.

The Family Involvement Network of Educators (FINE) is a national network of over 2,500 people who are interested in promoting strong partnerships between children's educators, their families, and their communities. FINE's membership is composed of faculty in higher education, school professionals, directors and trainers of community-based and national organizations, parent leaders, and graduate students. For more information, go to the Family Involvement Network of Educators website.

Parents have a growing array of options in choosing a school, though the extent of the options varies from state to state. The enactment of the landmark No Child Left Behind Act of 2001; the rapid growth of the charter school movement; the increasing number of states enacting voucher, scholarship, and tax credit programs; the expansion of privately funded scholarship programs for low-income children; and the growing acceptance of homeschooling have all increased the choices available to families.

Choosing a School for Your Child offers step-by-step advice on how to choose among the schools available to your child. It identifies important factors you may want to consider before making a decision. As you and your child visit different schools, you may want to consider the questions in each section of this booklet.

To download the whole document, visit the Ed.gov website www.ed.gov/parents/schools/find/choose/index.html.

Innovations in Education: Creating Strong District Choice Programs is a new USDE publication which focuses on the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act’s public school choice provisions. This guide was designed to help school districts implement choice options more effectively. It draws on the concrete experiences of five districts that already had a history of implementing choice prior to NCLB. It provides ideas that have been implemented in these districts also, as well as relevant research, resources and sample communication tools to use with parents. Click here to view the publication. To order copies, contact ED PUBS at edpubs@inet.ed.gov.

A child's success as a reader begins much earlier than the first day of school. Reading, and a love for reading, begins at home. The Reading Rockets team, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, know how busy parents are! That's why they have put together 5 sets of tips that offer easy ways for parents to help kids become successful readers. To see the tips, just click on one of the photos below. Or take a look at their one-page handouts, which contain shortened versions of the tips. You are welcome to photocopy the handouts and pass them out if you wish. Click on http://www.pbs.org/launchingreaders/parenttips.html.

For more information, visit their website www.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/parents/know.pdfl.

For more information, visit their website www.ncpie.org/nclbaction/parent_involvement.html.

This fact sheet outlines the No Child Left Behind provisions to give schools new flexibility and ensure accountability for students with limited English proficiency. Click on Fact Sheet - LEP provisions.

The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education's (OESE) latest Web cast deals with Title I, Part A requirements for "meaningful parental involvement." The production features the perspectives of a school district superintendent (Sonia Diaz-Salcedo of Bridgeport, CT), a state education agency executive (Ronald Houston of Delaware), and a technical assistance provider (Robert Witherspoon of RMC Research Corporation). A transcript of the panel discussion is also available. To view the Web cast or transcript, visit www.ed.gov/admins/comm/parents/webcast/pntinvwebcast.html .

The long-awaited Parental Involvement Guidance is now available on the U.S. Dept. of Education’s website. This guidance is geared to help States, districts and schools meet the parental involvement requirements under Title I, Part A, of ESEA. To download the Guide, go to Parental Involvement Guidance.

The PAT Standards and Self-Assessment Guide promotes fidelity to the PAT model and quality service delivery- key components of accountability for child and family outcomes.

The Parents as Teachers standards and quality indicators establish a blueprint for quality implementation of PAT, based on best practices in the field of early childhood home visitation. The standards are intended not only to provide programs and parent educators with clear guidelines for implementing the PAT model, but also to continually propel programs to even higher levels of excellence in serving families.

The standards provide assistance to programs in:

· initial start-up

· ongoing program development

· a self-assessment process that results in useful, timely and meaningful information about how well a program is implemented

· development of strategies to further improve the services provided to children and families

The guide presents the standards and quality indicators, as well as directions and tools that programs can use to engage in a comprehensive self-assessment. A Closer Look can be ordered through the PATNC online catalog (item S67 - $40) – go to http://www.patnc.org.

Many PIRCs are helping eligible parents understand the SES opportunity. This "Questions Parents Should Ask about SES" resource from Tutors for Kids is an excellent resource.Tutors for Kids is part of the SESQ Center, funded by the OII, USDE.

The "Questions for Families to Ask SES Providers" is available in both English and in Spanish.

Would you like to know more about how you can help your child succeed in school? This publication answers questions frequently asked by parents of elementary and middle-school-aged children who—like you—want to help their children learn and succeed. It suggests effective ways you can support your child's education. Click on http://www.ed.gov/Family/agbts/Questions/.

Despite a 50 percent increase in per pupil spending over the past two decades, nearly one third of public high school students fail to graduate, and two thirds of all students leave high school unprepared for a four-year college, according to the Manhattan Institute. Given the diminishing economic prospects for Americans without a quality education, the need for reform is clear.

Policymakers, educators, and individual parents are working hard to improve our schools, and they deserve respect and gratitude for taking on such a difficult challenge. However, education leaders are often forced to make critical decisions based on incomplete information, simply because there hasn't been a national, easily searchable clearinghouse for education information and analysis-until now.

SchoolMatters gives policymakers, educators, and parents the tools they need to make better-informed decisions that improve student performance. SchoolMatters will educate, empower, and engage education stakeholders.

The information and analysis will educate Americans about how schools and school districts are performing and help them understand the complex relationships between achievement and investment.

SchoolMatters will empower educators and policymakers, giving them easy access to the information they need to craft strong education policies.

Finally, SchoolMatters will engage the public in a widespread movement to improve our nation's school systems. For the first time, parents and the general public will have instant access to a wide range of data on local schools and schools districts, enabling them to make informed decisions, ranging from policies they advocate to the schools their children attend.

For more information, visit their website www.schoolmatters.com.

The People for the American Way Foundation provides a handy tool-kit for parents including such subjects as The Parents' Bill of rights, Dealing with Disciplinary Issues, and Your Child & Standardized Tests, among other important issues.

This information sheet is handed out at U.S. Department of Education regional meetings on No Child Left Behind. Click on Supplemental Services - Title I, section 1116(e).

The Partnership is dedicated to improving outcomes for students and youth with disabilities by joining state agencies and stakeholders through shared work and learning. Tthe Partnership work is described in the row of buttons across the top of the page. The front page will always hold the most important new information on IDEA 2004 and NCLB. Other important information can be accessed by clicking on “Latest News”. Information, resources, and services can be found along the left side. The information unfolds in a natural way and provides links to important information.

The IDEA Partnership is funded by the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and located at the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE). If you feel it is useful, you may want to consider adding the IDEA Partnership website as a link on your organization’s website.

You can call The IDEA Partnership toll-free at 1-877- 4332-4636 (1-877 – IDEA-INFo) or email at partnership@nasdse.org.

The April 2003 NCPIE meeting's keynote speaker provided a comprehensive overview of the issues and opportunities for families in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, with primary emphasis on its Title I Provisions. It highlights the Connecticut PIRC's FirstDay program.

NCPIE Update, May 2003, features "Title I and No Child Left Behind: A Look at the Impact of the NCLB Legislation on Parent Involvement in America's Title I Schools". It highlights the Mississippi PIRC Parents for Public Schools.

This brochure lists the ED tried and true parent publications to use as tools for student success.